WiiWare; Memories & Mourning | Hardcore Retro Gaming

Ex
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 19:48:57 GMT -5

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Post by Ex on Feb 1, 2019 19:48:57 GMT -5

Yes indeed, as some of you surely know by now, the Wii Shop Channel ceased to exist on 1/31/19. This latest example of a shortsighted digital-only storefront means tons of exclusive WiiWare games are now lost to the void. Now only existing on surviving Wiis which downloaded them, and beyond that merely in the memories of their players. Yes something to the order of 350+ WiiWare games disappeared because Nintendo.

So were you one such WiiWare player? Did you enjoy WiiWare games while they were still obtainable? Got any favorites to tell us about?

This being HRG we're only supposed to talk about games that are 2009 and older. In that regard, here's a list of compliant WiiWare titles:

SPOILER: Click to show

Defend Your Castle 12-May-08
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King 12-May-08
LostWinds (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 12-May-08
Pop 12-May-08
TV Show King 12-May-08
V.I.P. Casino: Blackjack 12-May-08
Critter Round-Up 19-May-08
Star Soldier R 19-May-08
Dr. Mario Online Rx 26-May-08
Family Table Tennis 26-May-08
Protöthea 2-Jun-08
Toki Tori 2-Jun-08
My Pokémon Ranch 9-Jun-08
Block Breaker Deluxe 16-Jun-08
Cocoto Fishing Master (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 16-Jun-08
Gyrostarr 23-Jun-08
Magnetica Twist 30-Jun-08
SPOGS Racing (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 7-Jul-08
Major League Eating: The Game 14-Jul-08
Pirates: The Key of Dreams (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 21-Jul-08
Pong Toss! Frat Party Games 28-Jul-08
Wild West Guns 4-Aug-08
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 1: Homestar Ruiner 11-Aug-08
Midnight Pool (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 18-Aug-08
Helix 25-Aug-08
My Aquarium 1-Sep-08
Groovin' Blocks 8-Sep-08
Potpourrii (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 15-Sep-08
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 2: Strong Badia the Free 15-Sep-08
Mega Man 9 22-Sep-08
Plättchen Twist 'n' Paint 22-Sep-08
Art Style: ORBIENT 29-Sep-08
Bomberman Blast 29-Sep-08
MadStone 6-Oct-08
Midnight Bowling 6-Oct-08
Art Style: CUBELLO 13-Oct-08
World of Goo 13-Oct-08
Tetris Party 20-Oct-08
The Incredible Maze 20-Oct-08
Art Style: ROTOHEX 27-Oct-08
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 3: Baddest of the Bands 27-Oct-08
Alien Crush Returns 3-Nov-08
Home Sweet Home 3-Nov-08
Brain Challenge 10-Nov-08
Yummy Yummy Cooking Jam (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 10-Nov-08
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 4: Dangeresque 3: The Criminal Projective 17-Nov-08
Target Toss Pro: Bags 17-Nov-08
Boingz 24-Nov-08
Sudoku Challenge! 24-Nov-08
Pit Crew Panic! (delisted in 2011) 1-Dec-08
Space Invaders Get Even 1-Dec-08
Bruiser and Scratch (delisted in 2011) 8-Dec-08
Hockey Allstar Shootout 8-Dec-08
Big Kahuna Party (delisted in 2017) 15-Dec-08
Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People - Episode 5: 8-Bit Is Enough 15-Dec-08
Fun! Fun! Minigolf 22-Dec-08
Tiki Towers (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 22-Dec-08
Maboshi's Arcade 29-Dec-08
Pool Revolution: Cue Sports 29-Dec-08
Sandy Beach 5-Jan-09
Jungle Speed (delisted in 2011) 12-Jan-09
Planet Pachinko (delisted in 2011) 12-Jan-09
Family Glide Hockey 19-Jan-09
High Voltage Hot Rod Show 19-Jan-09
Niki – Rock 'n' Ball 26-Jan-09
Lonpos (delisted in 2011) 2-Feb-09
Snowboard Riot 2-Feb-09
LIT 9-Feb-09
Evasive Space (delisted in 2011) 16-Feb-09
Onslaught 23-Feb-09
Family & Friends Party 2-Mar-09
Gradius ReBirth 9-Mar-09
Bit.Trip Beat[3] 16-Mar-09
Pop 'Em, Drop 'Em SameGame 23-Mar-09
Bonsai Barber 30-Mar-09
Equilibrio[4] 6-Apr-09
Party Fun Pirate 13-Apr-09
Crystal Defenders R1 20-Apr-09
Cocoto Platform Jumper (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 27-Apr-09
Penguins & Friends: Hey! That's My Fish! (delisted on March 30, 2012) 4-May-09
Family Pirate Party[5] 11-May-09
Crystal Defenders R2 18-May-09
Silver Star Chess 18-May-09
Adventure Island: The Beginning 25-May-09
Bubble Bobble Plus! 25-May-09
Final Fantasy IV: The After Years 1-Jun-09
Texas Hold'em Tournament 1-Jun-09
Fish'em All 8-Jun-09
Swords & Soldiers 8-Jun-09
Eduardo the Samurai Toaster (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 15-Jun-09
Let's Catch 15-Jun-09
Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure! 15-Jun-09
Drill Sergeant Mindstrong 22-Jun-09
Family Mini Golf 22-Jun-09
Neves Plus (delisted in 2011) 22-Jun-09
Reel Fishing Challenge 29-Jun-09
Silver Star Reversi 29-Jun-09
Water Warfare 29-Jun-09
Bit.Trip Core 6-Jul-09
Bust-A-Move Plus! 6-Jul-09
Heracles Chariot Racing (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 6-Jul-09
Ant Nation 13-Jul-09
Bit Boy!! 13-Jul-09
Incoming! 13-Jul-09
5 Spots Party 20-Jul-09
Battle Poker 20-Jul-09
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord 20-Jul-09
HB Arcade Cards 27-Jul-09
Tales of Monkey Island - Chapter 1: Launch of the Screaming Narwhal 27-Jul-09
The Three Musketeers: One for all! 27-Jul-09
Overturn 3-Aug-09
Sexy Poker 3-Aug-09
NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits 10-Aug-09
Rock N’ Roll Climber 10-Aug-09
Family Slot Car Racing 17-Aug-09
PictureBook Games: Pop-Up Pursuit 17-Aug-09
Mr. Driller W 24-Aug-09
3-2-1, Rattle Battle! 31-Aug-09
Tales of Monkey Island - Chapter 2: The Siege of Spinner Cay 31-Aug-09
ColorZ 7-Sep-09
Contra ReBirth 7-Sep-09
Mart Racer 14-Sep-09
Spaceball Revolution (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 14-Sep-09
Texas Hold'em Poker 14-Sep-09
Family Tennis 21-Sep-09
You, Me, and the Cubes 21-Sep-09
Arkanoid Plus! 28-Sep-09
Driift Mania 28-Sep-09
Word Searcher 5-Oct-09
Gravitronix 12-Oct-09
LostWinds 2: Winter of the Melodias (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 19-Oct-09
Shootanto: Evolutionary Mayhem (delisted in 2011) 19-Oct-09
Ghost Mansion Party 26-Oct-09
Tales of Monkey Island - Chapter 3: Lair of the Leviathan 26-Oct-09
"Aha! I Got It!" Escape Game 2-Nov-09
Carnival King 2-Nov-09
Family Card Games 2-Nov-09
Dragon Master Spell Caster 9-Nov-09
Excitebike: World Rally 9-Nov-09
Frogger Returns 9-Nov-09
Pokémon Rumble 16-Nov-09
Bit.Trip Void 23-Nov-09
Harvest Moon: My Little Shop 23-Nov-09
Learning with The PooYoos: Episode 1 (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 23-Nov-09
Little Tournament Over Yonder 23-Nov-09
Christmas Clix 30-Nov-09
Copter Crisis 30-Nov-09
My Zoo 30-Nov-09
Tales of Monkey Island - Chapter 4: The Trial and Execution of Guybrush Threepwood 30-Nov-09
Flowerworks 7-Dec-09
Magnetis 7-Dec-09
My Dolphin 7-Dec-09
Stop Stress: A Day of Fury 7-Dec-09
Diatomic (delisted as of January 29, 2019) 14-Dec-09
Moki Moki 14-Dec-09
Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: RUSH 14-Dec-09
Stunt Cars 14-Dec-09
Eco Shooter: Plant 530 21-Dec-09
Happy Holidays: Christmas 21-Dec-09
Pallurikio 21-Dec-09
TV Show King 2 21-Dec-09
Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth 28-Dec-09
Eat! Fat! FIGHT! 28-Dec-09
Rabbids Lab 28-Dec-09
The Magic Obelisk 28-Dec-09

If you want to talk about WiiWare games newer than 2009, just keep it short and sweet. Thanks

-

I'll add my own tidbits later.

Last Edit: Feb 1, 2019 19:54:55 GMT -5 by Ex: edit: made the title more better

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Sarge
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 20:29:31 GMT -5

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Post by Sarge on Feb 1, 2019 20:29:31 GMT -5

Well, the important ones are covered, and that's the ReBirth series. I bought the Contra and Castlevania ones, and enjoyed them both. LostWinds is also really cool, and made great use of the Wii remote. Mega Man 9 stands right alongside the best of the NES games, even if it has a real sadistic streak.

I also hit up the Virtual Console before it shut down, and while it never quite realized its true potential, it was still much better than what we're getting now. I wish they'd put more games on sale at the end, but no dice.

EDIT: Oh, and Strong Bad's Cool Game For Attractive People. I'm still a big fan of Homestar Runner, as evidenced by my snagging the Trogdor board game they're about to release.

8-Bit is Enough was a splendid endcap for the episodic series.

Last Edit: Feb 1, 2019 20:31:59 GMT -5 by Sarge

Xeogred
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 20:43:32 GMT -5

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Post by Xeogred on Feb 1, 2019 20:43:32 GMT -5

Yeah, nothing good to say about this really. Hopefully those that care knew ahead of time and grabbed what they could. I made sure to get the Konami Rebirth series at least. I thought I heard Konami stating they were going to release these again later, when I first heard of this news. But why would you ever trust contemporary Konami? Probably never happening.

Castlevania Rebirth was pretty solid but it's not really one I see myself revisiting again. I just need to play Gradius & Contra Rebirth sometime now.

Mega Man 9 doesn't feel that old... even though it's purely in the NES style too, haha. It's amazing, but at least this one is available elsewhere.

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Sarge
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 20:56:54 GMT -5

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Post by Sarge on Feb 1, 2019 20:56:54 GMT -5

I'm going to go ahead and throw this out there as well: this is my biggest opposition to digital storefronts. While you don't lose these games, if the system goes, your games go with it. Poof. Into the ether. Probably one of the reasons I recommend going ahead and hacking your Wii and making a backup.

Or just installing anything you want these days, 'cause I mean, dead system at this point.

chibby
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 21:14:09 GMT -5

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Post by chibby on Feb 1, 2019 21:14:09 GMT -5

I didn't have any WiiWare on my Wii, so I'm not feeling this loss personally, but it does makes me wonder if my sense of lasting security with Steam is ill founded. I mean, they're no Nintendo, but the ruler of basically all corporations is the bottom line, and it's not impossible that one day...

Actually, as I'm typing this I can't decide if I'm feeling more fear/dread or relief at the idea of having that GIANT chunk of my backlog obliterated. I mean, it'd be a real waste of some of my money, but is that really any different if I'm not going to play most of these games anyway?

Sarge
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 21:17:30 GMT -5

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Post by Sarge on Feb 1, 2019 21:17:30 GMT -5

It's really not. Imagine if the Epic Games Store, as implausible as it sounds, really puts the hurt on Steam. I know we see corporations as unstoppable juggernauts, but that doesn't always hold.

Thankfully, since it's PC, there are lots of ways to get at those games, crack them, all that jazz. So while it would hurt (I mean, I'm sitting on 1200+ games, of which I suspect I might have installed 10% of at most), there are workarounds.

I also highly recommend GOG. I always purchase there if I have that option.

Xeogred
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 21:30:45 GMT -5

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Post by Xeogred on Feb 1, 2019 21:30:45 GMT -5

The irony is how I'm hearing that piracy is ramping up again, with both television splintering off into more exclusive streaming services and now games even on PC with multiple digital storefronts and greedy Epic starting to hold exclusives hostage. I know some of you here don't like Steam, but Epic could be a far bigger issue going forward. I'm not liking the current trends of these things at all.

Any worthwhile reason to hack a Wii nowadays? I actually bought the Rebirth games through my Wii U. My original launch Wii got stolen from me in a way, I forget if I told that story here. But I sold it online via craigslist before finalizing and receiving the pay on my end. Cleared out my personal data but it had tons of virtual console games too. Learned my lesson.

Then I bought another Wii awhile later, only to realize after I bought it that Nintendo pretty much secretly released a later variant that doesn't support Gamecube games. So then I ordered one of the rare red ones that I think does support Gamecube games. Think I used it to play one game then boxed it up forever along with the other one. So I have two Wii's doing nothing.

Last Edit: Feb 1, 2019 21:41:59 GMT -5 by Xeogred

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Ex
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 22:13:50 GMT -5

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Post by Ex on Feb 1, 2019 22:13:50 GMT -5

Feb 1, 2019 21:14:09 GMT -5 chibby said:

I mean, it'd be a real waste of some of my money, but is that really any different if I'm not going to play most of these games anyway?

If they were physical games, or if you actually owned those games in a transferable format (digital rights), you could at least sell them, regardless of whether you played them or not. As it stands, you are leasing a bunch of games from Valve, who if they so wished could make them inaccessible to you as they see fit.

Sarge is right, if you're going to buy digital PC games, do so via GOG. You can download GOG games and archive them offline. You can install them on an offline computer, and play them offline, because they have zero DRM. With GOG, you never have to install an online nanny acting as a totalitarian gatekeeper between you and your games.

Steam is dumb, I hate it, have always hated it. If GOG had the same library width as Steam, nobody would bother with Steam. Nobody in their right mind anyway.

Feb 1, 2019 21:30:45 GMT -5 Xeogred said:

Any worthwhile reason to hack a Wii nowadays?

Well yeah, hacking a Wii allows you to manually load long lost WiiWare games onto it. And hacking a Wii can get rid of its region locking, so you can play fun games that never came to the USA. You can also play homemade Wii games, as well as load emulators on it.

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toei
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 22:17:16 GMT -5

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Post by toei on Feb 1, 2019 22:17:16 GMT -5

The avatars on this forum have gotten so manly lately. Chibby has a muscleman with a crewcut, Sarge has a muscleman with a scruffy beard, and now Xeo has a goddamn sunglasses-wearing wolfman with a robotic arms, one of which is also a gun. I might just have to change mine to something out of Saturday Night Slammasters.

I also propose we change the forum's name to "Hardcore Tough Guy Gaming" for a week.

Sarge
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WiiWare; Memories & Mourning Feb 1, 2019 22:51:13 GMT -5

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Post by Sarge on Feb 1, 2019 22:51:13 GMT -5

Heh. Yeah, you're right. Mine's supposed to be Sabin, by the way. There's a guy that does great sprites of classic game characters, goes by AbyssWolf. I almost went with Cyan, my other favorite from FFVI.

ahruon.tumblr.com

EDIT: Seriously, check out the other FFVI characters.

Last Edit: Feb 1, 2019 22:59:13 GMT -5 by Sarge