Wii Game Downloads

[Bartsfam]

I just downloaded 'Star Tropics', my favorite NES game from the Wii download center. I downloaded it on to an SD card.

 

Can I take out my SD card, and play this game on a friend's Wii? Or do they have it so I can only play it on the Wii that I downloaded with?

 

And, if I only can play it on my Wii, what if my Wii dies for good? Will I lose all of my downloads??

[RevEng]

I just downloaded 'Star Tropics', my favorite NES game from the Wii download center. I downloaded it on to an SD card.

 

Can I take out my SD card, and play this game on a friend's Wii? Or do they have it so I can only play it on the Wii that I downloaded with?

 

And, if I only can play it on my Wii, what if my Wii dies for good? Will I lose all of my downloads??

The game is locked to your Wii. If your Wii dies, then you lose all of the downloads.

 

There are ways around this, if your Wii is hacked. You can backup and restore games with different consoles, or even better you can just run homebrew emulators instead.

[Metal Ghost]

I just downloaded 'Star Tropics', my favorite NES game from the Wii download center. I downloaded it on to an SD card.

 

Can I take out my SD card, and play this game on a friend's Wii? Or do they have it so I can only play it on the Wii that I downloaded with?

 

And, if I only can play it on my Wii, what if my Wii dies for good? Will I lose all of my downloads??

The game is locked to your Wii. If your Wii dies, then you lose all of the downloads.

 

There are ways around this, if your Wii is hacked. You can backup and restore games with different consoles, or even better you can just run homebrew emulators instead.

 

 

Wait a second. I've never downloaded anything off of Wii, so I have no first-hand knowledge. However I do know that on Xbox 360 you can go to your download history and re-download previously purchased (or free for that matter) content that you've already downloaded. So long as it's still on their servers, you can re-download it as many times as you want.

 

There's really nothing like that on Wii? It's 'you download it once and never again, and by the way you can't back it up somewhere'??

[RevEng]

The game is locked to your Wii. If your Wii dies, then you lose all of the downloads.

 

There are ways around this, if your Wii is hacked. You can backup and restore games with different consoles, or even better you can just run homebrew emulators instead.

 

Wait a second. I've never downloaded anything off of Wii, so I have no first-hand knowledge. However I do know that on Xbox 360 you can go to your download history and re-download previously purchased (or free for that matter) content that you've already downloaded. So long as it's still on their servers, you can re-download it as many times as you want.

 

There's really nothing like that on Wii? It's 'you download it once and never again, and by the way you can't back it up somewhere'??

You can download it as many times as you want to the same Wii. You can backup to SD card and restore to the same Wii.

 

You can't download games purchased on one Wii to another Wii, and you can't restore a backup from one Wii to another Wii. (not without hacking your Wii, anyway)

 

When you purchase a new Wii, there's no way for you to transfer the key from one Wii to another, though Nintendo has been known to do it in select repair cases, and usually only after some complaint.

Edited January 25, 2011 by RevEng

[DickNixonArisen]

I have that issue. Mine died with cave story and star soldier R on it. That is to say, the drive failed. I can still play the downloaded games should I want to hook it all up for those two. Worse, many savegames won't transfer, meaning i lost my whole saves for both endless oceans (near completion), smash Bros, a few others. I'd say only about 10% of saves wouldn't transfer. Still pissed me off.

 

Does the New Wii need to be hacked, or both?

[Atariboy]

If your Wii with your downloads fail, you have to have Nintendo repair it to maintain your downloads, keep your locked saves, etc.

 

They're transfered as part of the repair process if certain components of the system have to be changed, or the more likely scenario that you get sent a different, previously repaired console in place of your current system to speed up response times and simplify logistics.

Edited January 31, 2011 by Atariboy

[RevEng]

I have that issue. Mine died with cave story and star soldier R on it. That is to say, the drive failed. I can still play the downloaded games should I want to hook it all up for those two. Worse, many savegames won't transfer, meaning i lost my whole saves for both endless oceans (near completion), smash Bros, a few others. I'd say only about 10% of saves wouldn't transfer. Still pissed me off.

 

Does the New Wii need to be hacked, or both?

If you want to backup/restore the games then both Wii units need to be hacked.

 

Your saves that wouldn't backup are likely locked. Nintendo does that to some games to stop people from using traded saves in online games, like Smash Bros. Those saves can be transferred using homebrew utilities, if both Wii's are hacked.

 

If you're adept enough at opening things up, the Wii drive is relatively easy to replace, and you can get them for less than $50 shipped on ebay.

 

Or you could hack the old one and play the games from it via a USB hard drive. You'd still need a way to get your game disc images onto the hard drive - either from a hacked Wii with a good drive, or downloaded the same games from the net.

[Bartsfam]

All this sounds too confusing and time consuming. I just hope my Wii lasts as long as my Gamecube and other Nintendo systems. They are usually pretty reliable. However, I will definitely limit my downloads now that I know this information. Also, what about the next generation system? I hope I'll be able to transfer all of my Wii data to the new system in a couple of years. I didn't lose any game save info. from the Gamecube to the Wii......