Best way to “preserve” Wii U eshop downloads?

[Donl1282]

I downloaded a lot of virtual console games on Wii U plus the classic games transferred to Wii U from the original Wii. Since I spent quite a bit to download these games, my concern is after Nintendo takes down the Wii U eshop, will all my downloads be gone for good if my console and hard drive die? I assume after the eshop on Wii U is removed there’s no way to redownload any games. Anyone else share the same concern?

[emailking]

The only ones I bought were Super Mario World (which I didn't play through again but wanted to just have it) and Link to the Past, which was my first time ever playing it. My understand is that they are tied to your Wii U and there's no way other way to access them or even back them up. I'm concerned about it I guess, but not too concerned since it's only 2 games and there are other ways to obtain them. But I definitely understand where you're coming from since you have a lot and maybe some can't be obtained another way. Nintendo should have had a better solution for this.

[dyne]

Originally Posted by Donl1282

I downloaded a lot of virtual console games on Wii U plus the classic games transferred to Wii U from the original Wii. Since I spent quite a bit to download these games, my concern is after Nintendo takes down the Wii U eshop, will all my downloads be gone for good if my console and hard drive die? I assume after the eshop on Wii U is removed there’s no way to redownload any games. Anyone else share the same concern?

There's no official ways to do so but the homebrew community has you covered.

[jimidini]

Remember: Wii U allows you hooking up 2 hard drives at once, which then allows to make copies onto the second hard drive.

These copies will still only work on that specific Wii U, but at least you can make a copy. Most other consoles do not support such a setup.
Most others will in fact nuke the encryption key, which means your original hard drive will not work anymore. Sony does it this way on PS3.

Also maybe you should re-think purchasing digital content.
Go physical instead, that you do own and you won't have to backup the games, because the games will simply work on another Wii U.

[jimidini]

Originally Posted by emailking

My understand is that they are tied to your Wii U and there's no way other way to access them or even back them up.

No, they are tied to your account. And your account is - just like on other consoles - tied to your specific console.

On other consoles you can log in on another console and download "your digital games", but you will need to have internet all the time, otherwise they will boot you out of "your" games. I'm not sure if Wii U offered that or not, but let's be real - it doesn't matter, because in all these cases you need to ask for permission to change your home console, where they allow you to play without 24/7 internet.

This means they pull servers (and all will at some point) and you are locked onto your specific console and when that breaks down, all your games will be gone. That's a simple fact. Meanwhile if you bought physical games, these tend to still work.

And personally I even prefer the Wii U way, where you need to even call Nintendo to unhook the user and thus be able to log in to another Wii U, simply because hacking your account will simply not work. On PS3 there are tons of hacked accounts for FIFA cards, and Sony doesn't check a thing.

[x] Logged in via US, California the last 5 years
[x] Now logging into new console located in Ukraine
[x] Totally doesn't look fishy at all
[x] Purchases FIFA packs, no, not fishy at all

Nintendo on the other hand verifies that you are actually the one that owns the console. They do that by for example asking for the serial number of the console, which no hacker will be able to provide. And the last x games purchased Now that is good security.

Worse yet Sony did in these cases hold your account hostage. You do a charge back and they lock your account with "your digital games" on it.

At least right now it seems they even force people to use 2FA without telling anyone about it at least on PS3 (regular passwords don't work, but this is only true for some accounts).

[emailking]

I don't follow all of that, but I believe if you buy a digital game for Wii U, you can play it on that Wii U and there is no other way to play it. That's different from other consoles. For example, on the PS4 you can buy a digital game and play it on that PS4 and there is a way to play it on any other PS4 that you want to as well.

[Derb]

I still have a rather large digital collection on my WD 2TB.

However Nintendo changed the Wii shop when they went to the Switch so have no clue about signing in etc. to access my games.

[jimidini]

Originally Posted by emailking

and there is a way to play it on any other PS4 that you want to as well.

Nah, you can play these digital games on ONE PS4 that you marked as home console (without Sony's permission you can't change this home console, aka when servers go down, you can't change that) - and on any other PS4 you need internet 24/7 and Sony server access otherwise these PS4s will boot you out of your game.

You can't play your digital games on other PS4s without Sony's permission too aka online DRM.

Back on PS3 you were able to mark TWO as home consoles, maybe even 3 originally. Sony changed that to 1 PS4, because tons of people abused that system.

See here: https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/boards...ion-3/68612392

Four, two home consoles and two portables.

If one of your consoles breaks and you can no longer activate your account on a new one, go to their website and you can deactivate your account on all consoles it's active on regardless of whether or not said console still exists (as in, you could vaporize your PS3 and it won't stop you from deactivating your account from it) and it'll reset your active consoles to 0.

Note: This can only be done once every six months, so if you've done it recently to free up your active accounts, buy a new PS3 and it breaks, then buy another one and it breaks, then buy a third, you're screwed until that six month period is over and you can do it again.

For all of these changes you need Sony's permission. Without Sony servers handling that, you can't change any of that and when your 2 PS3s break down, your digital games are gone. Meanwhile I can play my physical PS3 games on other PS3s without problems.

There is also some silly CMOS battery issue. At least they fixed that on PS4 last year. It meant that when your CMOS battery runs out of power, you can't play any game at all anymore unless you get connection ONCE to Sony servers after replacing the battery. Yeah, nothing works not even physical games anymore.
On PS3 there is a similar problem, which hasn't been patched. I don't know the details anymore, but it affects digital downloads. Without Sony servers I think you can't play digital games anymore after battery replacement. CMOS batteries run around 10 years.

Physical >>>>>>>> digital downloads

(of course all the updates are another problem, especially on PS4, but also on PS3, without Sony servers you won't get any patches anymore, this means even with physical you only get the version that was pressed onto the disc, that's why I try to buy GOTY editions all the time with all patches included on disc/cart. For Switch at least Nintendo is sort of nice and put Breath of the Wild on cart with ALL updates and ALL DLC, I will be able to play that even when Nintendo turned off Switch servers)

On Wii U especially the first party releases were properly tested, this means there were almost no patches as in bugfixes. Some games got patched and new content was added like for Captain Toad Treasure Tracker. That content will also be gone when Nintendo shuts down update servers. That's why the Switch situation is really bad with all the tons of updates and that's why you should always keep an eye on everything being on cart, because when you have to download half of the game via internet, that content will be missing in the future and in the worst case the cart will be 100% worthless.

TL;DR: digital downloads are not "the future"

[jimidini]

Originally Posted by Derb

I still have a rather large digital collection on my WD 2TB.

However Nintendo changed the Wii shop when they went to the Switch so have no clue about signing in etc. to access my games.

I'm pretty sure that you can keep playing these digital games until your console breaks down. In such a case you need Nintendo's help to transfer your games to another Wii U.

aka when they don't do that anymore, your digital games are stuck on your current Wii U and when that breaks down, it's over. Same is true for PS4, and also true for PS3. You always depend on the corporations giving you permission.

Of course you can install homebrew and keep actual backups of your games in that case to protect yourself, but that's a gray area.

[Talal86]

damn all these years later and jimidini is still lying and making up weird scenarios to prove the wii u wasn't a complete piece of shit? I honestly respect the dedication

[emailking1]

Originally Posted by jimidini

Nah, you can play these digital games on ONE PS4 that you marked as home console (without Sony's permission you can't change this home console, aka when servers go down, you can't change that) - and on any other PS4 you need internet 24/7 and Sony server access otherwise these PS4s will boot you out of your game.

That doesn't contradict what I said. On PS4, there is a way to play a digital game on any PS4 you want (home console or not). On Wii U, there is no way to play a digital game you bought on anything other than a single Wii U.

You can also change your PS4 primary console though so that ongoing PSN access isn't required, but there are limits as to how often.

[Eidolon]

Nintendo have announced now that the Wiiu and 3ds eshops are due to close next year, and you've only a couple of months to add money to your accounts and buy software.

[CrowKiller]

This isnt as big deal as people are making it. Once the Nintendo Nazis shut things down, just jailbreak your consoles (super easy) and download the games by "questionable" means. If they don't want your money, that's their problem, not yours. Feel no guilt.

I have zero problems download things by "questionable" means if that's the only way to acquire it. I call it preservation, not piracy. If it wasn't for "piracy" of old games, most of them would of been lost to time, only a distant memory. F Nintendo. So anti-emulation, while being a textbook example of why emulation is so important. If the community isn't preserving things, nobody will.

[Eidolon]

With the impending store closures on both the WiiU and 3DS, i've been planning on getting SD Cards for both, and downloading what I can of interest before the good stuff's gone. I've not had a chance yet, with eveything else getting in the way.

From what I gather, inserting an SD Card in the WiiU's front slot is useless. You have to put one in the back with a USB adaptor, at which point the WiiU treats it as a HDD.

Regarding backing stuff up on both systems - Can I copy everythign to my computer, and then just transfer it back onto the relevant SD cards when I want to use it (as there won't be enough room on the cards to keep everything), or is there more flaffing about needed? Thanks.

[CrowKiller]

Originally Posted by Eidolon

With the impending store closures on both the WiiU and 3DS, i've been planning on getting SD Cards for both, and downloading what I can of interest before the good stuff's gone. I've not had a chance yet, with eveything else getting in the way.

From what I gather, inserting an SD Card in the WiiU's front slot is useless. You have to put one in the back with a USB adaptor, at which point the WiiU treats it as a HDD.

Regarding backing stuff up on both systems - Can I copy everythign to my computer, and then just transfer it back onto the relevant SD cards when I want to use it (as there won't be enough room on the cards to keep everything), or is there more flaffing about needed? Thanks.

Not sure about WiiU, but I know 3DS/2DS and Switch, you can just copy over a folder to your PC. Then leave it or copy it to a bigger/new card and just put it in. They are system specific though, meaning for instance you cant put your sd card from your console into another console but as long as it's only being used on that one console, it's okay. Otherwise, you have to login and redownload stuff everytime.

[Eidolon]

Originally Posted by CrowKiller

Not sure about WiiU, but I know 3DS/2DS and Switch, you can just copy over a folder to your PC. Then leave it or copy it to a bigger/new card and just put it in. They are system specific though, meaning for instance you cant put your sd card from your console into another console but as long as it's only being used on that one console, it's okay. Otherwise, you have to login and redownload stuff everytime.

It's just a matter of finding suitable cards then, and then downloading whats of interest. Trying to find cards of a suitable size, and that are compatible. Unfortunatley the WiiU store doesn't acrually seem to have a lot of interest on it. There's one game that I really like the look of, but it's really overpriced

[bhampton]

Originally Posted by Talal86

damn all these years later and jimidini is still lying and making up weird scenarios to prove the wii u wasn't a complete piece of shit? I honestly respect the dedication

Wii U is amazing. You should pick one up.

[Talal86]

Originally Posted by bhampton

Wii U is amazing. You should pick one up.

I have one unfortunately

Anyway, to answer the topic question, the best way to preserve the wii u library is to get a Switch

[bhampton]

I bet I love my Wii U more than you hate yours.

All kidding aside, Does it bake you noodle when you realize the great Switch games are actually Wii U games ? Like do you not play Breath of the Wild because it's one of those dern Wii U titles? What's your thoughts about those ?

The other day I got a used Wii U pro controller and yesterday I got a Wii Balance Board. I'm on the Wii U pretty much all day and my PS5 is jealous.

Anyway, Best of luck to the OP.

[CWCprime]

Originally Posted by Talal86

I have one unfortunately

Anyway, to answer the topic question, the best way to preserve the wii u library is to get a Switch

I understand the sentiment behind this answer, but it's just factually incorrect. The true answer to this question, as already stated, is to use homebrew and create your own back-ups. There is stuff that the Wii U does better than even a PC or Switch can do, such as DS emulation. It's more than just the software, but the hardware as well that simply can't be replicated.

I also say this as a person who generally dislikes the Wii U as well.