Hi, I'm getting ready to throw down the cash for a Wii, but I have a few specific questions first that someone with a Wii will be able to help with.

1. The AC (mains) adapter: does it do voltage switching? What I mean is, does it say something like INPUT: 100-240V on it? I'm buying one in the States for use in Europe too.

2. The Wii Charge Station. Does this also do voltage switching? Or is it just a piece of plastic with the power cord running out of it? I'm afraid to use any voltage converter that I own on something like this. Voltage converters don't usually convert perfectly. I find that my European appliances run a bit slow in the States and my American appliances run a bit fast. I wouldn't want a battery charger to run a bit too fast over here, don't want explosions or the such.

3. Is it useful to also buy a classic controller for the Wii? I want to play some Gamecube games on it because I never owned a Gamecube and there are some games I feel I missed out on. Maybe I should buy a Gamecube controller instead then? They work with the Wii, right?

4. Probably going to pick up one of those guns (e.g. The Perfect Shot), a guitar, and a driving wheel. Any caveats that I should know about? I also see a lot of these cheap Chinese plastic golf clubs and tennis racquets being sold, but I don't need any of that crap, right?

5. S-video and/or Component video cables. Which come with the Wii itself? Can anyone say for certain that Component video makes a difference over S-video with regards to the Wii's graphical capabilities?

6. Does the Wii have an optical out port for audio?

7. The memory cards. I've noticed these are your basic, ubiquitous SD cards. Can I use any SD card with the Wii? Or will I have to use Wii-specific cards? If so, are there any adaptors in existence that will allow regular SD cards to work? Does the Wii come with a memory card to get me started? It sucked when I bought a PS2 a while back and it came with JACK SH-T.

8. Finally, what's the MSRP on the Wii? I've looked a bunch of places, but can't find a real number because of all the bundles and demand has pushed the prices up on some websites. I'm thinking it's 299$, as that's about what they're going for on eBay.

Thank you for your help!

Oh and you may know this already, the US Wii won't play most europe/asia games due to region codes, and the wii connection to the tv has to be the same or whatever ( i don't know what it is, just that it is an issue that must be looked at).

Okay, so #3, #4, #5, #7 and #8 are settled.

What about #1, #2, #6? Do you have an actual Wii that you can look at for #1 and #6?

Yes, I know about the region codes. There's no way I'll buy games in Europe. Where I live, your typical Wii game is over 100$US. It's much cheaper to buy them on eBay and have them shipped over here, then pay 25% VAT (which I can typically avoid through numerous tricks). I'd buy a Wiikey and a soldering iron for 20$ before I buy a 100$ game.

Unfortunately I'm at work and can't check on my wii.

The wii charge stations are just a piece of plastic with a cord coming out. No switching on them. They are convenient, but not needed. I'd buy them and use them in the states, but swap out for regular rechargeable batteries in EU.

I would buy 2 of each the gamecube and classic controllers if money is not a huge issue. You can use the gamecube controllers for virtual console games, but many gamecube games won't work with the classic controller. However the classic controllers are very convenient and work better for SNES, Genesis, and NES games on the virtual console.

There is no need for the silly sports add-ons. The Nintendo official gun thing comes with link's crossbow trainer, which some people have really liked. I haven't tried it myself.

If you have an HD-TV, you might want to get some cheap off brand component cables. They improve the picture a little, but not a tremendous amount. However for the price of the offbrand cables, it is probably worth it. Do be aware however, that some combinations of TV and wii will not work in HD mode without a receiver. I am not sure what causes this but if it doesn't work, it isn't a huge loss.


I can't remember if it had optical audio out or not. I really should check on that since I have a spare TOS cable and a receiver that can make use of it now. If I remember when I get home, I'll give you an update on this and #1.

I am using a standard issue off brand 2 gig SD card in my wii currently. No problems so far. Also the wii comes with 512Megs of flash memory built in but no removable card. If you put in an SD card that is in addition to the built in 512 so it is kind of nice. I do wish there were two SD card slots though so you could transfer from one to the other without juggling and using the built in memory.

A standard no frills wii pack should run you $250. Some places still only sell it in bundles however so you would end up with a game or two you may or may not want, an SD card, a couple extra controllers, and maybe some other junk. Use gamestop or EB as a last resort as they are the worst for the bundles. Hope this helps.

Ya the virtual console is just one of the channels... it's the area where you play all the games from a boat load of consoles, all available for download. most are 500-1000 "points". $1=100 points.

From memory there are genesis, NES, SNES, N64, Turbo Graphix16, and NeoGeo. I think there are others but I can't remember for sure.

If you are up for some old school fun, there is plenty to be had there. I think they overcharge a little bit for the old games but not too badly.

Most nintendo games are $5, most SNES and genesis games are around $8 and most N64 games are around $10 if I remember right.

Hahaha

Wow, that's quite a few old systems. I like retrogaming, but I actually have all those old games in rom format. Even the Neo-Geo and TG16 ones

I guess I'm really just interested in Wii and Gamecube games, Infornography42 and Boonality, but thanks for the information on the old stuff. That other service you talked about, however (the one on my other thread), sounds very interesting. A service to download and play newly-designed retro-style games. Nice Can't wait to check that out!

I went looking and found a switching power supply specifically for the Wii on eBay. I might pick that up then if I need it as I'll have plenty of time to test the Wii out this summer before coming back. The lack of optical audio out is a slight bummer, but not enough to keep me from buying the system.

I want to thank all of you for your help. It might seem strange, so many questions that is, but I have this little complex you see. I can't buy anything without thoroughly researching it and checking it out. I'm sure I'm not the only one

Excellent! I've got the really great Logitech Z-5500 which I'm planning on using.

How do you post if you are at work?

I would imagine with his internet browser!

He means he's at work and can't pick up his Wii and look at the PSU as it's at home.

Could be worse- I'm sorting out the shocking HTML FrontPage generates!

Why do they have to make up their own version?
Why has it set this webpage to a width of 107%?!
Why doesn't it close paragraphs?!?

You win.

Thanks RobWright, you saved me the trouble of starting a new "Recommended Gamecube Games" thread

This is what I was thinking for the Wii: Wii Sports Pack, Wii Play, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart, Mario Party 8, Metroid 3, Super Smash Bros Brawl, Zelda Twilight Princess, Guitar Hero, Mercury Meltdown Revolution, Paper Mario, Dance Dance Revolution?? (for the girl), No More Heroes, Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, Okami

And for the Gamecube: Beyond Good & Evil, Zelda Wind Walker, Zelda Four Swords, James Bond: Everything or Nothing, The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction, Super Mario Sunshine, SSX 3, Viewtiful Joe, Metroid Prime 1 & 2, Super Paper Mario, Pikmin, Smash Bros. Melee, Eternal Darkness, Cellda

How do these sound? I'll have to add Star Wars Rogue Squadron II and Killer7 to the list. XIII was one of my favourite games of all time, so I guess I need to try Killer7. Oh, and when it concerns Resident Evil 4, I've played the PS2 and PC versions at length so that might be enough, though I've heard the Wii version is the definitive one. Sounds like it's worth a spin.

Personally, I think Metroid Prime 1 is one of the most overrated titles of all time. I hated it. Then again, I know a lot of people who think Killer7 is horrible, but to hell with them I'm going to start work on Okami for the Wii today, so I should have more on that soon.

I firmly believe that RE4 for the Wii is the definitive edition. The controls for the GameCube (aiming with that tiny thumbstick) was really the only flaw for me with the original version, but the Wii Remote targeting system solved that issue brilliantly. If I ever get around to writing a full review of it, I'd give it a 10 out of 10, no question. And yes, there is such thing as a 10 out of 10: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/ [...] ame-worthy

I'll take that under advisement. Do the sequels all flow together? Or can I skip straight to 3 and start playing? I was watching the 17 minute review on Gamestop and it didn't look like much to me. I mean, a Metroid FPS. But the guy kept saying "I know it looks stupid, but it's soooo not", which sort of convinced me since I really thought it was stupid.

I think in my next life I want to be a video game reviewer.

I just checked prices at an online discount electronics shop here in Norway.

A Wii here costs 519$US and Zelda Twilight Princess costs 110$US. That is just insane. No wonder piracy for personal use carries no penalty and isn't punishable here!

yeah, he does win. but then again, im going to do 6-8 mo out on the ocean working 14-16 hr days 8 days a week. now that is awesome!! who in their right mind would do such a thing??

If I want to play Gamecube games on the Wii, do I need a Gamecube memory card? Or is the SD card used for the Wii enough?

I know that I need the GC controller.

The SD card is fine. The only game I played on the Wii for the first few months was Resident Evil 4 (GameCube version), and then it was on to Eternal Darkness.

Another question for you guys: I'm going to pick up Zelda: Twilight Princess. I've read that it's really a Gamecube game graphics-wise. But what most people are saying is that after playing it on the Wii and spending a couple of hours getting used to the controls, they can't imagine playing this on the Gamecube with a standard controller again.

Any feelings about that?

I played Twilight Princess on the Wii and actually enjoyed the controls quite a bit. I never felt like the Wii Remote actions were being forced on the gameplay (which is a frequent complaint of mine for PS3 games and the SIXAXIS motion). And I actually loved the graphics -- nothing too fancy but they had style.

My chief complaints about the game are simple: 1) it starts slow. Very Slow. 2) the presentation felt very dated (i.e., no voice acting, child-like characters, long subtitles, etc.) but then again those are classic Zelda elements and I'm not much of a Zelda traditionalist. 3) aside from the wolf aspect, the story seemed rather boring and made the game feel like it was just wandering aimlessly. I kind of lost interest in what was happening halfway or two thirds of the way through, and ultimately felt like the story was getting in the way of the gameplay. And for the record, I liked Twilight Princess but the fact that it scored so many perfect 10s (go check out Metacritic) really threw me for a loop. Not a bad game, just a supremely overrated one.

Oh, I have another question. This time about the batteries that go into the Wiimotes. Are they regular rechargeable AA batteries, or a battery pack of some kind? I'm in the process of ordering some rechargeable batteries for other purposes from my favourite distributor and I would like to add something for the Wii, if it's something they have.

Also we left one wiimote off of the charger for a week or so and it was still working fine. I don't know how long they will go without needing charging because we usually dock them when we are done, but it is decently long.

Okay, that sounds good. I'll have to look and see if they sell these things in Europe, however. I'm not going to buy the 110V version in the States and use a voltage converter over here. These converters never get the voltage entirely right, and we all know that rechargeable batteries have the propensity to explode. I don't want to play around with that.

By the way, I bought some batteries a couple of years back that have blown me away over and over again. I use them for everything now. They last FOREVER, I get around 700 pictures with my camera per charge. I take a lot of photos, but sometimes I can take 700 pictures over several months. These things just don't discharge like ordinary rechargeable batteries, they keep working where they left off. The recharge time is fast, if that even matters. I'll give you guys the link to them and the place I bought them from. Very friendly folks there.

http://thomasdistributing.com/maha [...] teries.php

I suspect that the life of the batteries is also prolonged by the charger I have. It's simple looking, yet superior in every way. It's the MAHA MH-C204W, you can find it at that same website, if you're interested.

Does the Wii take SDHC cards? I'm not sure if I would even need a card with more than 2 Gb, but I could buy a 4 Gb card if necessary. I actually have a 4 Gb SD card that runs at 150x that works on devices incapable of using SDHC that I could always use too. Any advice on how much memory I'll need? I ended up buying one of those 64 Mb memory cards for the PS2 when I bought my console. I never got close to filling it up, it says I still have 40 Mb free.

I'm ordering all my stuff from Newegg right now and wondering if I should throw in an SD card.

I believe that this is my last question I think