Great text about Nintendo Wii. Part 2 – the world beyond the license

The last part of the text, due to its informational purpose, turned out to be a kind of overview and descriptive. The author’s opinion appeared infrequently and briefly. The text below was intended differently: there are fewer descriptions, more ratings, and there’s also a hint of a guide. Happy reading!

Today Wii how the platform is considered dead. She died not because of unpopularity, but because of her age – the console was released back in 2006 and managed to sell 102 million copies. There has been no production for over seven years, online services do not work, and the latest support has recently ceased. In other words, Wii has outlived its century successfully. We end here and part ways.

But… (pretentious and perhaps unnecessary pause) necromancy comes to the rescue! No, you don’t need to show the way to the cemetery, and black robes are left to your personal discretion. In this part I’ll tell you how to refresh your Wii even when there is a shortage of disks. I don’t promise to return the old lady to her previous state, but the functionality will improve. Typical zombie, All in all.

The text below is divided into conditionally independent sections. The most important to read is the first one, and the subsequent ones complement. You can meet them in any order. If you want a believable zombie, read everything.

The most important

The main thing is that the suit fits! Sorry, it came out. The main thing in seventh generation consoles is firmware. Not a system version, but a hack, as a result of which the console stops being picky and runs games without a license, and also works faster and brings tea to the monitor. Stop, this is from another text, sorry again. Too often goes the wrong way.

What is the console firmware of the 2000s?? Most often this is special chip, which is soldered to the set-top box board and blocks the internal protection of the device from unlicensed media. Due to interference at the hardware level, the console receives a banhammer in online services. Chipovka is the main method of flashing Xbox 360 and the first two PlayStation. At first, the Wii was also flashed exclusively with a chip, but later the software method became popular – softmod. It does not make changes to the “stuffing” of the console and does not lead to a ban. It turns out to be a nice addition to the existing functionality.

Piracy is not supported here, so I won’t describe the hacking procedure. Also, I won’t say that there are a lot of detailed guides on the RuNet. And I certainly won’t explain that for the softmod you will need an SD or SDHC card of up to 2 or 32 GB, respectively, and the process itself takes up to half an hour, with 20 minutes spent on a not-so-obligatory backup.

Although the softmod looks like a magic pill that makes the Wii world perfect, in reality for the player nothing will change. The console refuses to read unlicensed games, and online services still do not work. Hacking a console is more like a key to a treasury, the riches of which the player takes away himself. More specifically, the softmod adds a channel for installing external (homebrew) applications. They create with the prefix of lewdness of an improving nature.

Disks are outdated

After hacking and the shamanism described above, the Wii becomes pliable and understands games from blanks. The news is good, but let’s face it, in 2021 nobody does not use discs for recording games. Therefore, we need a more modern solution. Here we remember (and some will know) that on the back of the console there are actually two USB ports for connecting peripherals. The one closer to the edge is suitable for all kinds of flash drives and even external hard drives.

In the era of digital distribution, storing games on physical media seems strange, but for consoles whose services do not work, there is no other option. Owners freeboot‘The crazy Xbox 360 won’t let you lie: a 500 GB external HDD stores approximately infinity games. This was an era when projects could fit on DVDs, and therefore the space occupied did not grow to galactic proportions. Alas, I don’t have a portable “screw”, but I do have a scattering of unnecessary flash drives of 16 and 32 GB. That’s where the games went. An unexpected advantage of the approach: compact media does not require additional space, unlike hard drives, which you still have to find somewhere to put.

However, you can’t just take it launch the game from a flash drive. Firstly, it (the game, that is) still needs to be recorded in a special way. Secondly, to read the media you need a separate application called a loader. Here we learn that Anglicisms are sometimes unnecessary: why the community doesn’t like the “downloaders” option is completely unclear. Among the palette of five or six loaders, the following stand out: USBLoaderGX And ULoader. Which one is better? The first has a nice interface in the style of the standard console menu, and the second launches games for WiiWare And Virtual Console, about which later.

Aesthetic comparisons are unnecessary

Down with restrictions!

We’ve sorted out searching and recording games, but we’re faced with a second problem. Have you seen abbreviations? PAL or NTSC in the description, but didn’t pay attention? Congratulations: the probability that the recorded image will work on the console drops to 50%. Even worse: the wrong version can permanently hang your Wii. As I wrote last time, a $250 brick is a bit expensive.

Equipment for the uninitiated: consoles of previous generations had limitations: games from one region did not run on the console of another. In fact, there are more regions, but globally there are NTSC (North America, island Asia) and PAL (all others). The differences appeared in the era of analogue television, when the screen refresh rate was directly dependent on the voltage frequency. In our digital age, regional restrictions on console games are fading into oblivion, but 10-15 years ago we had to keep them in mind. For the Wii, the issue of region is acute, because many copies were brought to Russia from abroad. The place of purchase does not give an accurate understanding of the region: for example, my set-top box came from Spain, but is tied to NTSC.

Find one difference; except that the first image is a photograph and the second is a scan

I lead to the fact that unpleasant restrictions require getting rid of. As in the case of loaders, there are several applications for this, of which I suggest Priiloader. It does not appear in the menu, removes restrictions from games and most channels – Let me remind you, this is what applications are called in Wii. Also, Priiloader, at the user’s request, disables checking disks for licensing. There are problems: after closing a game in another region, the console often freezes, and only a reboot helps. However, this may not be the case for everyone.

Great, but what to play??

What you like is logical! A small https://bcgame-casino.co.uk/ list is in the first part of the text, but here I will give a more detailed introduction to the Wii games that I managed to try personally.

Xenoblade Chronicles. The reason the list is so short. Part of a series little known in Russia Xeno was a Wii exclusive for ten years, and only in May 2020 a remaster was released for Nintendo Switch. Xenoblade Chronicles is a truly huge project: completing the prologue alone took more than five hours. At first glance, we have a classic jRPG: the game flaunts an epic plot, demonstrates a large and beautiful techno-fantasy world and leaves no room for role-playing. However, the combat here is different and there are no bored people random encounter‘s. Unlike, say, Final Fantasy XIII, battles in Xenoblade Chronicles take place in real time. The mechanics are reminiscent World of Warcraft: the character aims at the target and periodically attacks it, and the player uses special abilities as necessary. What’s interesting: the game does not use Wii motion controls “at all,” which does not prevent it from regularly being included in the lists of the best projects for the console.

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. And this is already a personal favorite and one of the main reasons to buy a Wii. The game has an excellent, albeit disposable, plot. The controls use the console’s features so well that at times you wonder why the industry has gone wrong. Unfortunately, the project was hampered by its connection to the famous series, and therefore the ratings were average and the circulation was low. I don’t recommend skipping Shattered Memories or at least reading my full review.

Just Dance. Choose the part yourself, I settled on second. What most people don’t know is that the series originated on the Wii and all the games before Just Dance 2020 included on consoles. They were sold here better, than the versions for Xbox One And PlayStation 4 taken together. Just Dance doesn’t teach you how to dance, but it is entertaining and, surprisingly, a fun way to practice. Honestly, I use it myself instead of morning exercises: it’s both a warm-up and broadens my musical horizons.

Wii Sports. After the words "82 million copies" comments become redundant, but the entire text is one big comment. I’ll be honest: I tried each of the six games in the collection, but I only got stuck in tennis for a long time. He is sucked in: more than once or twice he told himself “one more drink and that’s it,” but did not keep his word. Tennis in Wii Sports is a prime example of the rule "Easy to learn, Hard to master", but a flexible difficulty scale promotes rapid development. If the console is available, but for some reason there is no game, then this needs to be fixed urgently.

Bonus: a meaningless screenshot of a bowling alley. Not addictive, but intriguing

Wii Party. Another collection Nintendo, along with Wii Play or the above Wii Sports. Upon introduction, the game demonstrated great potential: there are many mini-entertainments and they are so diverse that it is difficult to choose a single comb. Even the listing will take one and a half pages. Alas, with all the volume of Wii Party there is no way I can’t advise, because the Russian language is not supported, and you will have to read the rules. The ease of perception breaks down, which is why the game ceases to be interesting.

There should also be Wii Play here, but a lot has been written about it in the last part.

Set-top box

For consoles dating back to the 2000s, backward compatibility is commonplace. The most famous method used for PlayStation 2/3, looks like this: the first revisions are equipped with an additional chip ensuring compatibility of the new hardware with old technologies. In subsequent versions of consoles, chips are removed to reduce costs.

Wii is no exception, but it breaks the logic a little. As I wrote in the last part, from a hardware point of view, the console is an upgrade of the previous GameCube: the architecture and processors are extremely similar. So hardware compatibility is simpler, no additional chips are needed. However, only the revision officially supports GC games RVL-001: in the next two, ports for gamepads and memory cards have been removed. However, note "officially" it’s worth it for a reason, and a flashed Wii is capable of running GC games. After additional manipulations, of course; will also need Classic Controller.

Another way of backwards compatibility is emulation. More often this term is used in the context of launching console games on a PC, but there are other cases. For example, he likes to play around with emulation Sony, yes and on Xbox Series recently launched an emulator RetroArch and try out PlayStation 2 games. However, this seems to be a post about the Nintendo console, not its competitors. Let’s finally get to the point.

The Japanese corporation has prepared a mountain of emulated games for the revolutionary console and called it Virtual Console. A gigantic job has been done: the Wii runs games from its predecessors up to NES and once competitive Sega Master System And Sega Genesis. That’s not all: for those with specific tastes, the library includes games with Neo Geo, MSX, Commodore 64 and even Turbografx-16. Not all of them are available, but the most famous ones are being launched.

Metal Gear 2, first released on MSX. What’s interesting: the console menu switches to Japanese automatically

At least they should, but the reality is disappointing. Largely due to the fact that I struggled with retro games for a long time, the second part was delayed; The release was originally planned at the end of January. The torment was multi-stage: first none the game did not start, but after three or four reinstallations the younger one gave up Nintendo 64, which was immediately followed by the rest, except for the 8 and 16-bit consoles of Sega and Nintendo. By tinkering with the settings and abandoning special launchers, we managed to launch Shogi games. Ironically, the NES and SNES never opened the doors to my Wii, leaving most of the Virtual Console library without. Some strange programmers at Nintendo.

What else? Almost nothing. Games, although not all, work. Remote in a horizontal position it replaces the gamepads of retro consoles, and in case of emergency there is a classic gamepad at hand. With it, the controls are sometimes not obvious, but you get the hang of it through trial and error. It’s nice to play Sonic and compare current impressions with memories of 15 years ago.

Sonic the Hedgehog 2 for the Master System is completely different from the game for Genesis/Mega Drive

Another service goes hand in hand with Virtual Console – WiiWare. They are implemented in a technically similar way, distributed in the same way and on the discussion forums WW and VC are combined. So the section is general. WiiWare is a service for small games like Xbox Live Arcade, For example. However, the positioning differs: WiiWare, in addition to the nascent indie, includes projects in already established franchises of serious publishers. A striking example is the spin-offs of the spin-offs of the Final Fantasy series with long titles Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King And Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord. The first is an urban planning strategy, and "The Life of the Lord of Darkness" made in a genre that was not yet popular Tower Defense. In addition, later games were distributed through WiiWare MegaMan, Tales of Monkey Island and games of the series Ace Attorney. What’s interesting: WW projects launched almost immediately, much earlier than backward compatibility.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord. When the expression Tower Defense is taken literally

VC and WW games were distributed through Wii eShop, whose servers are no longer working. Nowadays, all that remains is to download to your computer and install in the same way as Wii channels. Games are saved in the console’s memory, so you won’t be able to play a lot. An alternative way is to emulate NAND memory on a USB flash drive or memory card, but then the probability of startup is even lower.

Full console. Almost

The life of the Nintendo Wii did not fade away immediately. In the summer of 2013 he went offline WiiConnect24, with which social services perished. A year later due to death GameSpy official multiplayer disappeared. Wii eShop lasted until 2019, but time has swayed it too. It’s time to move on to the necromancy promised at the beginning, in which the project will help RiiConnect24.

What is WiiConnect24 (distinguish the letters) and why is it so important? This service provided the network side of the Wii. Some analogue PlayStation Network or Xbox Live with one exception – within the scope of WiiConnect24 tasks not included online game modes. Updates and additions to games were downloaded through WC24, the service supported access to information and social applications. More often than not, Nintendo advertised maintaining a constant Internet connection even when the console is turned off. All of the above has not worked for more than five years.

To solve the problem, craftsmen are creating analogues of WiiConnect24, and RiiConnect24 is the most famous. It restores the operation of Wii information services – news and weather forecast – and partially social. Why partially? Nowadays no one uses the same thing anymore Check Mii Out. So services are working, but there are no people. Downloading add-ons for games or firmware updates is also outside the scope of RC24.

About maintaining an Internet connection. During the Wii’s heyday, this function was implemented through standby mode: the console ran at low power consumption, which was useful for downloading the next 200MB update. After disconnecting WC24, a problem began with the consoles: the standby mode begins an endless search for a connection to the service. Installing RiiConnect24 does not solve the problem – the yellow standby LED will continue to burn endlessly, and this is critical. The point is that in this mode Wii processor works, but cooling doesn’t. What can happen, guess for yourself. Cases of console failures number in the hundreds, if not thousands.

In the last part, when listing standard application channels, the names popped up News Channel And Forecast Channel. They are included in the information category primarily, but they also include Today and Tomorrow Channel, which determines the user’s luck for the day. How? Looking into the horoscope, judging by the cover. After setting up RiiConnect24 these three channels work again. Fireworks end, that’s not all. Setting up information services is possible for those countries that are supported by the console, and Russia is not among them. Hardly anyone cares about the weather in Texas.

Why then do we need RiiConnect24?? Firstly, the section as a whole is devoted to an attempt to make the current Wii something like a full-fledged console. This means that you can’t do without services, even if they are cut off and interfere. Secondly, “social media” Everybody Votes and Check Mii Out are not complete, but they work and look interesting. Finally, sometimes it’s fun to look through the news of other countries and see how different the views and problems of people in different countries are.

Another service to replace the disabled ones – WiimmFi. His job is to replace Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection and support the operation of online game modes, which the service copes with. At least the statistics show regular online Mario Kart Wii And Animal Crossing Wii; the rest launch less often. In theory, The following is a story about my own experience using WiimmFi, but my friends don’t have a Wii, which means the author has no one to play with. Although NHL2K11, for example, very curious.

To talk about "full-fledged console", there are few services, and the creators of the Wii knew this, equipping the Wii with its own browser. Internet Channel – this is the name of the special version of the then super popular Opera. The browser installs easily on the console, although it prohibits removing regional restrictions. It’s possible to surf the Internet in general, but not in particular. Websites perceive Wii as push-button mobile phone and open adapted versions – this is good news. The bad news is that the vast majority of pages simply do not open, demonstrating error 244002. There is no need to explain once again that the browser is not able to show modern sites, but I did it.

There is also an official application for Wii YouTube. Doesn’t work, but exists.

In conclusion

This text was originally intended to show, what the Wii can do, if you delve into the software. Like, the Internet works, and you can check the weather – a universal machine. But in the process of preparation and writing it turned out that shamanism only works at most half, and therefore the message was distorted. Instead of a story about how deep the potential of the Wii is, we ended up with a guide on the topic: “What can be done and how it will work”. I hope someone liked the review and evaluation format, albeit instead of a more useful text.

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