LogFAQs > #949733254

Several Wii games were available for download on the WiiU, including Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime Trilogy, and Xenoblade Chronicles. Twilight Princess was remade on the WiiU (arguably a GC game and not a Wii one, but given that the GC version came out after the Wii launched, I don't think you can call that a 2-generation gap). Pikmin 1 and 2 were given enhanced ports with Wii controls, as were Metroid Prime 1 and 2 (the aforementioned trilogy) and Resident Evil 4 (which had already lost its exclusive status to the PS2, but I feel it can still count). Ocarina of Time was ported to the GC with exclusive content (Master Quest) that you could only get if you preordered Wind Waker, then again alongside Majora's Mask (and LoZ and AoL) for the Collector's Edition disc that was only available through Club Nintendo's predecessor.
And that's just off the top of my head, without getting into the technicality that "at least two generations" means that systems with only one generation between them could also count (i.e. WWHD, the GBA port of ALttP...). This really isn't anything new. It's unusual for it to happen to such an extent, certainly, but as I've said, it's unusual for a console to sell as poorly as the WiiU did. It's both expected and reasonable that Nintendo and their studios would step up that porting in an effort to actually turn a profit on those games.

The Wii games on Wii U eshop technically weren't ports, they are just digital downloads. Nintendo only ported a small fraction of Gamecube games to Wii. Nintendo promised to support the Wii U, part of support means proper exclusives.

Your experience with games you played 4-5 years ago is retroactively ruined by new content coming out that costs more than you're willing to pay? As in, you enjoyed it, but now that you realize you could enjoy it even more but won't because it's too expensive, you no longer like the games? That's just plain silly.

If the games were complete when you bought them, then they're still complete. It's the same game you enjoyed back then. Anything else that's been added since is just a bonus, and it's thoroughly unreasonable to be this bothered by not getting that bonus content on your terms

I am bothered because I will NEVER be able to play this content because they will NEVER sell it to me at a reasonable price because they are locking it behind a port. And no, this isn't bonus content, it's an entire game (albeit a really short one) that I can never play because they will never sell it separately. Even if it was a bonus content, I still shouldn't be locked out of it forever because they are asking $60 for it which is the same as not selling it, because no bonus is worth $60.
If I buy a game, that shouldn't mean that I have to give up on any "bonus" content that comes later forever. I should have the option to buy anything I want period. Having to give up on content forever each time I buy a game ruins videogames for me, and therefore ruins my life.

And if I miss out on any content I want from any game because the devs are locking it behind a port, that retroactively ruins any enjoyment I ever had. I only enjoy playing a game if I don't regret buying it ever.

So you would rather they not port the game, meaning you still don't get the new content, plus nobody else gets to enjoy the game and the publishers don't get to make the money they deserve for producing such quality games? Because that's really the only other option here. Developing the added content as DLC for the original versions wouldn't be impossible, but it would almost certainly not be commercially viable given how low the install base is on those original versions and the fact that most people that own them have already played their fill and aren't exactly eager to buy new DLC for them. That really just leaves not porting them as the only alternative. That, or porting them with no added content, but that's also not exactly a commercially savvy move.

If they can't sell me the new content at a reasonable price they should not be adding content to these ports and make new games instead.

Pikmin 1: 8 years
Pikmin 2: 8 years
Metroid Prime: 7 years
Metroid Prime 2: 5 years
Metroid Prime 3: 2 years (it was rereleased as part of the Trilogy, not even the next generation)
OoT: 4 years
Super Mario Bros: 3 years (packaged with Duck Hunt)
SMB 2: 5 years (All Stars)
SMB3: 3 years (All Stars)

Again, this is nothing new. SMB got bundled with Duck Hunt 32 years ago, then rereleased on an entirely different system 5 years later (along with 2 and 3).

Those were only a handful of games. Most exclusives on NES and Gamecube were never ported.

The WiiU sold so poorly that if the exclusives weren't ported, they generally wouldn't be remembered either way. Having great exclusives doesn't mean much if hardly anybody gets to play them. As it stands, most people do know them as WiiU games (at least to as much of an extent as matters at all) despite them being ported, much like nobody thinks of OoT as a GC, Wii, or 3DS game. It was an exclusive in its time, and that's all anyone pays attention to.

And if they do forget? I genuinely struggle to think of anything that matters less than that. It certainly doesn't matter to enough of an extent to demand that Nintendo not rerelease the games on the Switch for the sake of preserving that legacy, and it certainly doesn't matter to enough of an extent to be angered by such ports.

Saturn and Dreamcast sold less than Wii U and were far better consoles and will be remembered much more than Wii U. And I do care if Wii U is remembered as a shit console because that makes Nintendo a shit console maker no better than Atari. Microsoft will never make a shit XBox. Sony will never make a shit numbered Playstation. That is how they care about the console biz. Nintendo made a shit console after 30 years of great consoles. That is the ultimate console maker sin. Sega went out of the console biz for far less.