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Nintendo DS News is a News and downloads site for All Nintendo Handhelds and Consoles including the Gameboy, NES, N64, Snes, Gamecube, Wii, WiiU, NDS, 3DS, GBA and Snes, We have all the latest emulators, hack, homebrew, commercial games and all the downloads on this site, the latest homebrew and releases, Part of the
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THE LATEST NEWS BELOW
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November 24th, 2006, 17:07 Posted By: wraggster
It's barely been out for a few weeks yet rumor is already spreading that Nintendo has plans on releasing a high-def-capable Wii. In an interview with gaming site Game Informer, Nintendo's Reggie Fils-Aime states that Nintendo made "tough choices about not including a DVD player at the start, tough choices about not including high-definition capability at the start." Nintendo has already confirmed a DVD-playing Wii for Japan, so could this mean we can expect a high-def Wii in our future or is this just really hopeful thinking?
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November 24th, 2006, 17:02 Posted By: wraggster
Heres an excerpt:
There was a split in opinion when Nintendo first showed off Wii sports back in May at E3. Some were stunned and excited at the prospect of waving the Wii Remote around to hit the ball in tennis, while others took one look at the graphics and went back to the Xbox 360 booth.
Wii Sports is a package of five simple sports games: tennis, baseball, boxing, golf and bowling. As you can see, it doesn't sport much in the way of depth, neither in the graphics department nor its features, but the straightforward gameplay shows off the capabilities of the Wii very well.
Tennis is undoubtedly the best game in the package. Although you don't control the movements of your character - the computer does that automatically - you are in full control of the timing, positioning and power of your shot, all done by swinging the Remote like a tennis racquet, and it feels great.
But we don't care about the fitness score - we just have good fun playing the challenges. The boxing challenges has you hitting dummies and targets, bowling gives you, like, a million pins (slight exaggeration) to hit and there are all sorts of cool tennis games, like the target practice mentioned earlier.
Wii Sports is neither bulging in features nor graphically impressive, but when you put everything together, you have a fun package that, although better in places than others, is varied enough to keep you entertained for a good while and brilliant in multiplayer.
We'd have paid £20 for it. You're getting it in the box with your Wii. You can't complain but we're sure some of you will.
Full Article at CVG
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November 24th, 2006, 16:58 Posted By: wraggster
Developers Broadsword Interactive, makers of Dakar Racing, will release both of their new off-road racers, previously in development for PS2, on Wii as well.
Both games are based on Baja racing, which takes place in the desert. Baja Mania is the realistic game of the two, with a selection of dune buggies and trucks to thrash in Career and Arcade modes on various off-road terrains.
Baja Destruction is a less serious, more chaotic take on the sport, with weapons including rockets to blow up opponents, and crazy low-gravity races on the moon.
The cars in both games are upgradeable as you progress through the Career modes, and each game apparently stretches over 400 square meters of virtual land.
The Wii version is expected to receive graphical tweaks over the PS2, including bump-mapping (makes flat surfaces appear to be bumpy surfaces) and better lighting.
As you'd expect, both games will also use the Wii Remote's tilting functionality to steer the cars.
First screens are expected before Christmas, with the games due out in early 2007
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November 24th, 2006, 16:56 Posted By: wraggster
The small, square-headed Sims look like a cross between Lego men and characters from Harvest Moon.
Although EA has yet to disclose gameplay details, one of these in-game screens demonstrate the ability to customise your town, setting the position of your house using the Wii Remote.
It also appears to set you free in a bustling town with various buildings and shops to explore, rather than confining you to a single household as the series traditionally does.
Sims Wii is set to launch in Japan in 2007.
Screens Via Comments
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November 24th, 2006, 16:46 Posted By: wraggster
Although we suspected that Metal Slug Anthology on Wii would have to be played using either the Classic Controller or GameCube pad, it will actually allow gamers to choose from multiple control schemes using the Wii Remote and Nunchuk.
The Nunchuk Control scheme lets you control your character with the Nunchuk while using the A and B buttons to jump and shoot. Or you can turn the Wii Remote on its side and it alone to control the game, using its D-Pad and face buttons like a traditional pad, or a stranger scheme letting you tilt the controller left or right to move your character and jumping, shooting and throwing grenades with the D-pad and 1 and 2 buttons.
Hardcore arcade nuts can also choose a scheme that uses the Wii Remote to emulate an arcade stick, gripping it vertically and lean it in the direction you want to move and shoot.
The Anthology, which will include Metal Slug 1, 2, X, 3, 4, and 6, will be released on Wii early next year and, being one of our favourite arcade games of all time, we honestly can't wait. For now, just appreciate the chaos in these new screens.
Screens Via Comments
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November 24th, 2006, 03:21 Posted By: gunntims0103
news via palgn
Good news for the retro purists: news filtering through from the US suggests that games downloaded on the Wii's Virtual Console are proving to be unerringly authentic, right down to the resolution. See, it turns out that the majority of NES and SNES games originally sported resolutions of 256×224 or 256×240, and upgrading those on-screen resolutions for the Wii would actually make the VC version of titles look worse on high definition sets. Meaning standard definition sets would actually display NES and SNES games best. It's like raaaaaain on your wedding day. Y'know, ironic.
Anyway, it turns out that the clever old Virtual Console switches between 480i and 240p when you fire up a title from the NES and SNES years. Meaning that - for once - owners of SD sets are the ones with the last laugh. And quite right, really - there'd be something horribly wrong about playing the original Super Mario Bros. in spangly new high definition.
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November 24th, 2006, 03:19 Posted By: gunntims0103
news via apcstart
As if to dangle a gold medal of some sort in Intel's face, AMD is flaunting -- no, gloating over -- sorry, congratulating Nintendo on its release of the Wii console.
It would seem AMD is squeezing its acquisition of ATI for all the juice it's worth, as it is an ATI graphics chip that pumps-out Wii's adequate graphics. Although, no longer ATI, as AMD has imaginatively decided to name the Wii's GPU the 'AMD Hollywood' graphics processor.
One of the unique aspects about the Wii is its focus on fun and gameplay as opposed to the technology within the unit.
Not interested in emphasizing the highly-usable nature of its technology for the Wii, AMD is only too keen to pick up the bulk of the credit for the greater focus on game innovation. It confidently declared the sufficient Hollywood chip "... resulted in Nintendo delivering a brand new level of immersive gameplay and interaction ..."
Fans should be praising AMD for implementing such a reasonably-capable graphics chip into their Wii. Such a fine pedigree of gameplay, we hear, wouldn't have been possible with any other brand.
"Nintendo's vision is to do something radically new and different with Wii," AMD says el presidente of Nintendo America said, continuing "... the technology hidden in the system allows us to deliver an intuitive and fun gaming experience in a silent and beautiful form factor," wrestling back some credit for the Wii's gameplay.
Thanks to its unique controller, which we hear AMD had no part in, AMD says Nintendo's bigshot said the Wii "... not only changes how people play games, but redefines how they interact with both the system and their televisions." This goes against the norm of redefining how you don't play games.
Cementing its position as making superbly-existent graphics chips for Nintendo, AMD's Dave 'ATI-of-yore' Orton says "Having powered the graphics in the Nintendo GameCube, AMD is delighted to ..."
No, seriously, the rest of that quote will put you in a coma.
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November 24th, 2006, 00:17 Posted By: Is'lan
One of my earliest childhood memories was watching my brother play such games as Super Mario Bros. for the original NES, and Final Fantasy 2 and 3 for the SNES. Of course, at the time, my own ventures in the gaming world was limited mostly to multiplayer bouts with my family. Once I was old enough to buy my own video games, however, it was in the Playstation hay-day, and once I saved money enough I finally got my PS2 when I was 17. The Nintendo in that age was different to me from the Nintendo of before, a company that I felt more indifference to than craving at its center bastion of creativity.
But those days changed as I lay knelt before my bed, slowly opening this small, white box sporting a small, three-letter word. The Wii stood for something new, something different, something innovative. And now it was mine, the first person to get it from GameStop as the hour struck midnight, marking the beginning of the 19th of November.
I slipped open the box neatly, not even needing to cut any tape off. What awaited me were two slide-out compartment-shelves. I slipped open the first one, to find a flock of instruction manuals, the sensor bar, the nunchuck, but more importantly, the wiimote. I slipped the protective sheath off the tiny saber, instantly noticing that it seemed smaller than predicted, and, despite reading a review that spoke to the contrary, incredibly light. So light, in fact, that it almost seemed absurd how much the item really costs.
The second shelf I pulled out. And there it was. Taking its protective coat off, I curled the white obelisk within the dark folds of my arms, a demon embracing an angel. "It has been far too long, old friend," I muttered to it. Nintendo, I am back.
Setup
The setup was easy enough as any standard gaming console, barely even bothering to look through the instruction manuals, of which there are quite a few, including three copies of the same one (one in English, one Spanish/Mexican?, and one French). The only thing about the setup that really made it different from any other system was the sensor bar: small, thin, and well-balanced, it fit neatly atop my television, its thin wire draping from behind it, up into the compartment that held my Wii. And by thin, I do very-much-so mean thin, almost to the point of fear of too much weight being put on it, and long, quite long, which may come in very useful one day.
The power adapter, audio/visual cables connected, and the sensor bar all connected in the back, it was time to fire this baby up. One thing I noticed was that the standby-light on the Wii came immediately on when I plugged the power adapter in. Though I have not even bothered reading any manual yet, I must come to the current conclusion that it is in fact impossible to turn off your Wii short of unplugging it outright.
Turning It On
I sat back on my couch, and pressed the little power button on the Wii-mote. Instead of getting some nice, happy-sounding startup sound like I was hoping for, however, I simply got a safety-warning/caution from Nintendo before moving on to the mundane task of filling out such things as the time, date, and location/language. At the end of it all, though, came the time to actually name my Wii. Though I take great delight out of naming my computers, I have never received any inspiration to name any of my consoles. After much deliberation, I decided on Evereska, punching in the words from an on-screen keyboard with the wiimote. Indeed, these first trials with the wiimote felt very responsive, if making a notice of my hand's own unsteadiness. One nice feature I liked was that the wiimote pulses as the cursor moves over selectable buttons. Feels like you are really moving over them.
Once the name was complete, I was brought to the Wii Channels page. Since the box did not come with the Wii StartUp Disc like I was expecting (as some have reported), I decided to jump right in and put a game in.
Wii Sports
Of course, the first thing I try out is Tennis. I used this opportunity to experiment with the wiimote, letting the system tell the difference of power of my strokes. I even tried to see if a light swing would be detected in order to set the ball right over the net: turns out that that is not a recommended strategy, with motion not seeming to be picked up at all. Really, you only seem to have two moves in this game, front-swing and back-swing, along with changing the height of your racket to hit the ball. Though I tried playing this game sitting down at first, me and my friends found that it was more fun standing up. Though a simple game, we found it mildly enjoyable for it's simplicity.
Next my friend Jesse gave a shot at bowling. I'm not sure if it is the same in real life, but at first we discovered that there is a natural tendency of the ball to drift to the left, causing us to move more to the right in order to get a strike. However, as he got more used to the controls, Jesse started being more powerful with his throws, which seemed to cancel out the drifting. One fine moment of physics was when he was able to pick up a two-set spare, launch one pin into another for the win.
Our next undertaking was boxing, which is, in our opinion, the best. It is the only one that we have played that uses the nunchuck attachment (for some reason all other games make you remove the nunchuck before playing), using both to box in normal fashion, setting them inwards to block, and leaning them left and right to effectively swerve. This combination of features quickly became lots of fun, though we discovered that the game doesn't like it when you move the wiimote too fast.
Though I would not say that this game is money-worthy, Wii Sports is a very nice addition to the game system, and an excellent item with which to first test out your new controls. (Oh, and remember: you can make your own personal Mii with which to play Wii Sports, as well as other future planned games). But now, it was probably time for a real game.
Red Steel
I really wanted to pick up Zelda: Twilight Princess at launch, naturally, but unfortunately GameStop had them already fully reserved (silly me, I only preordered the console itself). However, they did have plenty of copies of Red Steel, which was in my head the next-best game for the launch. So I inserted the disc and selected the game channel from the Wii Channel page. The disc ran for a while before it finally loaded, bringing me to a new interface. The wiimote seemed to slow down, and I was brought to a very odd menu screen after all the initial messages (I do get tired of seeing the same ones very every single game you play). I new from the beginning that this was going to take some getting used to as I had to use the wiimote, not only to select a menu item, but had to click and drag it on to a billboard for some reason.
I quickly found myself dropped in the story, which I must say seems quite bland. The immersion factor seems quite wanting, with the fact that it is a video game being reminded to you every time an NPC talks. My first trials, of course, involved simply moving the camera around. The "bounding box," as IGN puts it, or, the invisible area on-screen that acts as a turning-point when the wiimote pointer strays to it, felt more responsive than I had feared. However, there were still some performance problems, such as the cursor seeming to get stuck one of the right-hand corners, not wanting to come down, thus making it difficult if you wanted to, say, look up-right and then smoothly move to just right-pan. There was also a time when a sensor-mishap with the wiimote resulted in my character's arms apparently twisting upside-down on screen.
There is also a certain care you have to find yourself taking with wiimote. For example, I quickly found that sitting straight up and forward instead of slouching makes a big difference. Also, try to have a centering-point for the wiimote and nunchuck, namely to where your elbows are glued to your sides with your forearms pointing out and a little inwards (at least with my not-very-big screen that I have to deal with). There is also a necessary feature in Red Steel where you can zoom in on enemies by holding A and pushing the wiimote towards the screen. Several times I had a problem, though, when I'd be under cover, and my arm would be sticking out but it would not be zoomed in. What can a guy do? Well, stretch yourself out to lean even further in, as uncomfortable as that is.
I also had some initial fears of the sword-fighting system put to rest: your movement is not fixed, though the camera is (on your opponent), and the parry and dodge system is not as repetitive-feeling as I thought that it would be. However, don't expect to be using your wiimote like a real sword. The attacks, so far that I have seen, are rather limited, and without a clear command with the wiimote, it becomes very finnicky.
All-in-all, I only played the first twenty minutes of the game that really only acts as an introduction to the gameplay, so there is a chance for improvement as the game continues.
Networking Connection
For my final task I decided to at least try to connect to the internet; though I did not myself have a wireless router, I live close enough to my college campus that I just might be able to find a connection. And, lo and behold, I could, given the option to select one of two wireless access points (their icons showing which signal strength was stronger). The actual connection, however, took quite a long while. Also, when I put my Wii into standby and turned it back on, it seemed that it needed to connect again, which seems to me that it goes against the claim that the Wii remains connected to the Internet even when it is in standby.
Well, that is all for my initial review. Though so far I am at least not used to this new control scheme, I still have high hopes for this game console. Why? Because Nintendo is actually trying to be creative. The actual fate of it, however, lies in the game developers.
UPDATE 11/23/06
As I thought Red Steel does get better, although the sword-fighting system remains pretty buggy and unresponsive to the point of annoyance (but can somewhat be enjoyable just for visual appeal if nothing else). Often I find myself laughing at the terrible dialogue. I have also run into a few glitches in the game, such as when one sword-fighting match started, instead of switching to my sword automatically, I still had my uzi equipped. So I tried to simply shoot the guy. That failed, and instead it then switched to my sword, only the sound-effect the uzi firing kept on going, and remained throughout the rest of the scene. As for the enemy AI, it is both good and yet at the same time not so good. They are very good at hiding at cover, but kneeling down behind a box of crates doesn't help when I'm already on the other side of said crates. Though I rather wish I had not spent $50 on it, I still enjoy having it.
I have also managed to pick up Zelda: Twilight Princess, and must say I am more than impressed just with the use of colors in this game. My only gripe is that sometimes the gameplay feels as if you are really just trying to find out what you are suppose to do, and it's easy to do once you find out what it is, rather than the other way around, but that in no way keeps me from enjoying it. I'm in the third dungeon currently, and I must also praise their creative level designing. This is simply a winner and a must-have for all Wii owners.
Also, I was a little worried about power to the wiimote. The AA's that came packaged definitely did not last the promised 60 hours, but my rechargeable 2500mAh seem to do the job perfectly. Also, if you let your wiimote sit for awhile, it'll automatically shutdown to save power (you can't manually turn it off though without turning off the Wii).
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November 24th, 2006, 00:11 Posted By: gunntims0103
news via nintendorevolution
Go Nintendo kills the Wii rumor
Nintendo Wii Bluetooth Is NOT Picture HungryThere's been a bizarre Wii rumor floating around that seemed so darn unlikely, even we didn't post about it. It all stemmed from a Nintendo forum user (This is becoming a trend, no?) that posted the following:
I just went in my photo channel just to look at the opening menu (I had no pictures on the SD card, or so I thought) when I clicked on the left button. It said that there were 12 pictures available. So, I was like “what’s going on here” and viewed them. It turned out to be pictures from my brother’s phone.
The allegation was that Wii was magically synching with nearby cellphones via Bluetooth and downloading the photos of 'em.
Pure nonsense, says Go Nintendo.
This is 100% not true. Bluetooth devices have to be paired with one another to get them to see each other. On top of that, there would be no reason that an SD card would have to be inserted to get this to work. To further prove that it doesn’t work, I even tried it multiple times just to give a first-hand confirmation that this isn’t true.
Another day, another rumor debunked.
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November 23rd, 2006, 23:41 Posted By: I heart Nintendo
There is a brand new trailer for Metroid prime 3: corruption! *screams* And I have it right here!! I do not want to hear anybody badmouth the graphical capabilities of the Wii, because as you'll see shortly - this game looks frackin' hot! The game was slated to release on the same day as Wii, but was pushed back to 2007 not long after e3.
Watch the new trailer:
The game looks awesome and appears to have this epic and grand feel about it. Between this, Super Mario Galaxy and Smash bros. brawl - I think it's safe to say Nintendo have 2007 in the palm of their hand. Fingers crossed for on-line play...
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November 23rd, 2006, 22:36 Posted By: wraggster
Shash has posted more of his work on the DS emulator DeSmuMe, heres whats new:
Today I've been working on the capture unit, which, from the examples (and games) I've been able to get my hands on is used mainly for using 3D output on both screens of the DS, motion blur or screenshots. Of course there're a lot of other uses (much more that I can think at the moment), but for example, it's used on the menus of "Metroid Prime: First Hunt" for all the moving stuff on both screens. My implementation right now is very vague (just did today in a few hours) and lacks support for all the modes, but at least got the menus showing better in Metroid.
Also did some misc bugfixing here and there, that's not even interesting to talk about. Only one of the minor tweaks in the texture handling routines, that I thought would give crappy results, fixed hell a load of stuff.
More info --> http://shashemudev.blogspot.com/
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November 23rd, 2006, 22:26 Posted By: wraggster
cooliscool posted this news/release:
Here's a new version of Dolphin Memory card maker (GCI>Memcard_x.raw) which should actually work. Been working on it on and off and it's much more dynamic, should work. Note that I haven't tested it as I have no GCMs/ISOs.
What it does is allows you to download .GCI saves from say, gamefaqs, and convert them to usable Dolphin Memcards. Just open a .GCI in the program, and click "make dolphin memcard." From there, just overwrite (or make a new one, doesn't matter, though you'll eventually have to overwrite) your old memcard_a.raw or memcard_b.raw file, and run the game. Currently it only supports injecting on a per-file basis (as in, only one game per memcard_x file), but the next version will fix that. Keep in mind that the "data" folder is necessary, and that no other memcard_a.raw will work if placed here (so keep a backup!).
Future versions will be a bit more fancy, such as banner loading, game name recognition (to an extent.. internal names), etc.
Requires .NET framework 2.0.
Edit: Download removed.. undergoing a fix.
Edit 2: Error fixed, tested and works (tested with Wind Waker only, though it'll work with all others theoretically). Source (VB .NET.. uncommented, sorry), and binary are attached.
Download and Give Feedback Via Comments
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November 23rd, 2006, 20:28 Posted By: gunntims0103
news via computerandvideogames
Flash website lets you create and play mini-games on the Wii
Do you fancy making your own mini-games for people to play on their Wii? Wiicade.com is a Flash-based mini-games website that is designed specifically for use on the Wii's Opera Browser.
Cleverly, all the games on the site are played using the mouse pointer which, when browsing on a Wii console, will be operated with the pointer functionality of the Wii Remote. So you'll be able to play the games with the Remote.
The best part is that it has an option that allows users to create and upload their own games for other Wii users to play - essentially starting a homebrew scene of sorts on Wii.
There is already a decent selection of cool games, from shooter to puzzle games, all made to fit the ration of a TV and many of them even imitating the visual style of the Wii's interface menus.
Now we're just waiting for someone to make a Flash version of Duck Hunt. It's bound to happen.
we could see a mini homebrew scene for the wii come from this
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November 23rd, 2006, 19:08 Posted By: wraggster
New from SuccessHK:
AiAi and all his friends have rolled their way onto Nintendo's new console with new mind-blowing puzzle levels and a wealth of new and exciting Party Games specifically designed to fully exploit the innovative Nintendo Wii controller. Other titles will have a difficult time matching the multitude of possible variations in game control as presented in Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz.
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November 23rd, 2006, 19:06 Posted By: wraggster
New from SuccessHK:
Price:USD 31.88
Product Features of Nintendo Wii Nintendo Wii Points Card - 2000 Points
Download Extra Features and Content
Download gretest games from old consoles
Worth 2,000 points
More Description of Nintendo Wii Nintendo Wii Points Card - 2000 Points
Wii Points Card. Downloading extra features and content, including the greatest games from the NES, Super NES, N64, Sega Genesis and NEC TurboGrafx video game consoles, will be as easy as entering a Wii Points Card code at a Wii onscreen menu. Worth 2,000 Wii Points, each separately packaged Wii Points Card contains a scratch-off patch concealing the code that allows you to redeem your Wii Points.
Buy at SuccessHK:
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November 23rd, 2006, 19:02 Posted By: wraggster
New for the Nintendo Wii from SuccessHK:
Price:USD 50.32
Product Features of Nintendo Wii Nintendo Wii Remote Controller
can be a Sword, a Steering Wheel, a Paintbrush, Golf Club, Airplane for different games
Wireless
More Description of Nintendo Wii Nintendo Wii Remote Controller
Wii Remote Controller. Wireless and motion-sensitive, the Wii Remote offers an intuitive, natural way to play games.
Buy at SuccessHK:
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November 23rd, 2006, 19:00 Posted By: wraggster
New for the Nintendo Wii from SuccessHK:
Price:USD 26.85
Product Features of Nintendo Wii NintendoWii Nunchuk Controller
Nunchuk Controller
Same Motion-Sensing Technology
Analog Stick to Assist in Character Movement
Ambidextrous Design
More Description of Nintendo Wii NintendoWii Nunchuk Controller
Wii Nunchuk Controller. Connect the Nunchuk controller to the Wii Remote and get ready. The Nunchuk controller and the accelerometer contained within it are the next leap in gaming. In first-person shooters, the controller carries the burden of movement, freeing you to aim and fire using a more natural motion with the Wii Remote. In a football game, you can make your quarterback elusive with the Nunchuk controller while you look for an open receiver to throw to using the Wii Remote.
Buy at SuccessHK:
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November 23rd, 2006, 18:54 Posted By: wraggster
New for the Nintendo Wii from SuccessHK:
Price:USD 26.85
Product Features of Nintendo Wii Nintendo Wii Classic Controller
Wii Classic Controller
More Description of Nintendo Wii Nintendo Wii Classic Controller
Wii Classic Controller. Over the years, Nintendo has innovated with controllers and control schemes that have become industry standards. The Classic Controller blends elements from Nintendo's NES, Super NES, and N64 controllers to allow for seamless play control over the titles that span the Virtual Console library.
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November 23rd, 2006, 18:26 Posted By: wraggster
One mans review of the Virtual Console:
I bought 1000 points and spent 800 of them on SimCity, the charming SNES port of Will Wright's classic city-building simulation. I started the game, and just as jiji said, it was in true low-res (aka 240p)! If you're not a tech geek, that means... well, it's hard to explain succinctly. Suffice it to say that, assuming you're on a regular TV (not HD), the game looks 100% exactly like it would on a real SNES. Perhaps better, if you're using the Component cable and haven't seen a real SNES output RGB. This is an achievement that very few recent commercially emulated games can claim. Most developers choose to present old, low-res games in 480i, a high-res interlaced graphics mode which makes the images appear swimmy, blurry, and sometimes blocky. Basically, 480i sucks for old games. This is not dissimilar to presenting a classic movie in the wrong aspect ratio. An essential, if often overlooked, quality of the original presentation is lost.
Speaking of aspect ratio, there have been complaints that Virtual Console games appear stretched on widescreen-configured sets. This is true. However, this is a necessary consequence of preserving the original low resolution. The low-res graphics mode used by old games is typically 320x240 or lower. SNES is actually a measly 256x224 (aspect ratio 8:7), but we'll talk about 320x240 (4:3, just like an old TV) for simplicity's sake. These low-res modes have a distinctive appearance due to the SD CRT-exclusive phenomenon of scanlines. You see them as dark bands that run across every other line of the screen. They're an artifact of how non-HD CRTs used to work, and the graphics of most old console games were designed with them in mind. They help soften sharp edges and reduce pixelation. That's why losing them, as happens on a sloppy retropack or on an HD set, makes a low-res game's graphics look the worse for wear.
Anyway, 320x240 has a 4:3 aspect ratio. It's not widescreen (obviously) and it would be impossible to give a 320x240 game a widescreen presentation on a 320x240 screen without doing something stupid like scaling down the game's graphics (which is ugggggggly and worse than interlacing) to make room for borders. Classic games use the entire 4:3 screen, leaving no room for letterboxing or other types of widescreen effects. There's nothing that can change that without increasing the screen resolution beyond 320x240 and losing the original look of the game. For 100% accurate image quality you want one pixel on the screen for every pixel in the game. No more, no less. Adding pixels (scaling up from 320x240) or subtracting pixels (scaling down from 320x240) hurts the image quality in different ways.
(If you're playing on an HD set, you can't ever get a 100% accurate SD image, since the HDTV's line doubler automatically kills the scanlines. HDTVs don't like anything less than 480p. They're dumb that way.)
A valid workaround for both the aspect ratio and scanline concerns would be for VC titles to support Wii's sole progressive (HD) screen mode, 480p. The 16:9 852x480 resolution* would allow for widescreen presentation with the 4:3(ish) game centered in the middle of the screen. The game would appear small, however. A 2x resolution doubling (a simple line doubling, basically) would fix that without introducing scaling artifacts, and would in fact give the emulation software room to insert virtual scanlines on every other horizontal row. Depending on how well-done the fake scanline effect was, the end result could look very similar to the original, low-res game image. This would be A-OK with me as long as they left in the original low-res, native 4:3 option for those who want the 100% authentic, true SDTV look.
*Oops! Look what happens when I assume... GAF's collective wisdom sez that the Wii's widescreen is not 852x480 but a mere 640x480 stretched to 16:9. That throws a big old wrench in the VC widescreen suggestion above. Maybe there is no really good workaround to get a good 240p-like picture in progressive widescreen.
Everything else about SimCity appears to be similarly spot-on. It controls fine with a Wavebird. It's been almost 15 years since I last played my friend's copy, so my recollection of the music is sketchy. It sounds good to me though. I would need to play a SNES game I'm more familiar with to really judge the sound's accuracy. As for the gameplay, it's both slower and simpler than I recalled, though this is surely just my perception. I found myself building my stuff quickly and then waiting impatiently at the fastest game speed for the year to end so I'd get precious tax revenue to fund further building. I remember being a lot more... engrossed before. Busy. In any case, SNES SimCity is a very cool, well-done port of a classic game and I'm glad to be able to play it again.
What's most surprising to me is that, picky retro enthusiast that I am, I don't really mind owning the game in the Wii VC format. That's solely because Nintendo seems to have done a stellar job of getting the presentation SNES-perfect, or so close to it that I can't tell the difference yet. SimCity VC seems just as good as the original SNES cart; better if you consider the dead battery factor. (VC also lets you make a quicksave which is erased when you resume.) It's even got a decent online manual. Unless you want to own physical versions of everything (which is a valid viewpoint) the VC game is extremely compelling.
This is absolutely fantastic news for old games and the folks who love them. One of the industry's ongoing challenges is figuring out how to keep old classics in circulation (ala classic movies) while making good money in the process. Ham-fisted emulation usually leads to versions inferior to the originals, but if every VC-supported system's emulation is as flawless as VC's virtual SNES is, Nintendo will have gone a long way toward not only preserving the classics as they were meant to be experienced by the original creators, but making a lot of bank while doing so. They didn't have to do such a stellar job with the presentation, as most gamers aren't aware of these issues. That they did anyway is really encouraging to me and makes me feel slightly less like a ranting madman. Clearly, some folks at Nintendo share these concerns. I have my fingers crossed that every VC emulation engine will be similarly impressive. NES and SNES are both confirmed good; that's a big fun chunk of history right there. Great, great news.
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