Wii to Wii U game transfer question

[bb_hood]

So I got a wii u (new), and I have a regular wii system which I purchased used. The previous owner of the wii had purchased about 75 games for the virtual console. I would like to use the transfer tool to transfer all of the wii virtual console games over to the wii u, but this process seems a little confusing so I have a few questions.
First of all, will there be any problems since I was not the original buyer of the wii virtual console games?
Second, not all of the virtual console games fit on the wii system memory. Most are stored on a SD card. The transfer tool says that it is a 'one-time' transfer. Does this mean you can only do the transfer once? Or does it mean each game can only be transferred once? Because if I can only do the transfer once then I cant move all of the games over.
Third, it says i need a SD card to perform the transfer. Can I use the same card that holds all the wii games or could that cause problems?
Forth, I saw some video mentioning about paying some fee? It was like 1$ for each nes game.. 1.50 for each snes. Is this needed to transfer games or is it some fee for something else totally unrelated?

Any advice would be appreciated since I would have to move consoles around and hook up other stuff. I just dont want to rearrange everything then find out I cant move all the games. Also if anybody has any opinions on wheter or not the transfer is a good/bad deceision please let me know. I would rather have the games on the wii u.

[SparTonberry]

The fee you speak of is for games that have been released on both Wii Virtual Console AND Wii U Virtual Console. The "fee" is actually a re-purchase price if you would like to buy the Wii U VC version. From what I read, the big difference is the ability to remap buttons (something they should've put in the first place, I know) and Restore Points (aka one savestate slot to use as you want, in addition to the standard Suspend Point/quicksave).
Otherwise you should be able to keep playing the Wii VC version for free.

[Mr Mort]

You can run the utility multiple times if needed in order to transfer all your games over. Once you initiate the transfer, it deletes the game(s) off the Wii's memory or the SD card in question.

The games are tied to the system itself, not your Nintendo ID, so you can transfer the games over from the Wii even if you bought it used.

As for the transfer itself, it froze on me twice as it was copying the files, but I re-initiated the transfer and it picked up right where it had locked up.

In short, stop worrying, and transfer your games over & enjoy them.

[bb_hood]

thank you both for the input!!

[Leo_A]

The main benefits of paying the upgrade fee has been explained well, but a big advantage was missed. Paying the fee to upgrade a Wii Virtual Console download to its Wii U counterpart allows you to utilize Wii U controllers to play it.

The big benefit that this provides is enabling off-screen play with the Wii U gamepad and allowing the fully wireless Wii U Pro Controller to be utilized in lieu of a tethered Wii Classic Controller.


First of all, will there be any problems since I was not the original buyer of the wii virtual console games?

You're good to go. :)

Wii downloads are tied to the hardware, not to a user account. Since you own the hardware, you own the downloads residing on it. There is no account information they could even ask for you to enter to initiate the transfer.



Second, not all of the virtual console games fit on the wii system memory. Most are stored on a SD card.

Don't worry about it. Anything not residing on the Wii's 512 MB's of built-in memory simply has to be redownloaded on your Wii U via the Wii Shop's download history. The licenses will transfer over for everything even if the game file itself isn't transferred over since it didn't fit on the Wii's internal memory.

In fact when I did it, I only transferred one game over directly by having it placed on the Wii's internal memory before initiating the transfer. That was SimCity and I only did it because it was delisted and someone proclaimed that he was unable to retrieve a delisted game after doing the transfer. But he simply didn't know what he was talking about, since you retrieve it via your download history rather than looking for a now non-existent shop page for the game (Which is what he must've did by mistake).

I did that since I figured that the less content that has to be written to the SD card and then read back on my Wii U, the less likely that there would be a hiccup during the transfer process (As Mr. Mort suffered from). It worked as planned since no errors occurred.

And I of course was able to successfully redownload several dozen WiiWare and Virtual Console downloads just fine afterwards, just as you will be able to do.



The transfer tool says that it is a 'one-time' transfer. Does this mean you can only do the transfer once? Or does it mean each game can only be transferred once? Because if I can only do the transfer once then I cant move all of the games over.

Yes, you only do the transfer once. All your DLC licenses for your games residing on the Wii's flash memory and SD card will be carried over even if the game file itself wasn't since it didn't fit. And you're then locked in to that Wii U since the license transfer doesn't allow for Wii U to Wii U transfers or a Wii U to Wii transfer.

And do not cancel the transfer while it's in-process like was suggested. You are not supposed to do that and you risk losing everything if you try such a foolish thing. Mr. Mort was lucky when it crashed twice that he was able to still successfully finish it, since others haven't been so fortunate. The last thing you want to do is to deliberately disregard instructions since you think you should be doing multiple transfers since everything doesn't fit on the Wii's flash memory. That's where redownloading comes in for the DLC that can't be accommodated on the Wii's flash memory.

Multiple transfers are allowed, but not in the context he's suggesting where you split up the content of your Wii and do multiple transfers to get it all transferred over. It simply means that you can transfer everything to your Wii U and if for some reason you bought another Wii with downloads on it or even downloaded new VC/WiiWare games to your old Wii that you had previously transferred everything over from, you can still transfer that DLC over to your Wii U despite having previously done a transfer.

It will integrate with your existing DLC that was already on your Wii U (Either bought directly or previously transferred over) for as many system transfers from as many different Wii's as is necessary.


Third, it says i need a SD card to perform the transfer. Can I use the same card that holds all the wii games or could that cause problems?

That's fine and there won't be any problems.

But note that for everything that's left on your SD card when you initiate the transfer, don't be fooled when it shows up as normal on your Wii U. Your games that were residing on your SD card when you initiated the transfer won't work on your Wii U even though they show up as they always did on your Wii U. That's because these downloads are still tied to the old Wii.

You have to delete each file and then redownload them via the Wii Shop's download history to get new downloads that are tied to your Wii U.

[Leo_A]

Looks like I've explained this to you before. ;)

http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?172630-Will-quot-legit-quot-ownership-of-digital-games-be-a-reality-in-the-next-decade&p=2013869&viewfull=1#post2013869

I know that you're hesitant to believe that this works, but trust me, it certainly does. You're not going to fall afoul of some odd issue that Nintendo failed to foresee like losing some of your DLC since you had too much to be accommodated on the Wii's limited internal memory.

This DLC is yours and it's a moot point where it originated from. And Nintendo has taken eventualities like the limited storage space into account when designing their Wii to Wii U license transfer utility.

Just follow the on-screen instructions and you'll be all set.

[bb_hood]

Looks like I've explained this to you before. ;)

http://forum.digitpress.com/forum/showthread.php?172630-Will-quot-legit-quot-ownership-of-digital-games-be-a-reality-in-the-next-decade&p=2013869&viewfull=1#post2013869
.

I know! It stuck in my mind because at the time it seemed to good to be true. Like, being able to re-download someone elses' virtual downloads is pretty sweet.
I guess I was a little confused because they make it seem like they are transferring the games over from the wii but they are actually transferring over the purchase records, so I had to manually download almost every game. So far ive spent maybe 3-4 hours downloading the games and I still have about 10 more to download. The previous ower of the wii must have spent a fortune on downloads, theres like 75 games here.

I probably wont be playing many however, mario maker is really awesome.

[BlastProcessing402]

It's probably less hassle to hack your Wii and Wii U Wii mode then just use homebrew tools to move stuff yourself. As a benefit, it won't get wiped from your Wii in this sort of transfer.

If the legalities make you shy away, well, then you shouldn't transfer at all, as the Wii terms of service agreement say that when the previous owner sold/gave you the Wii he should have wiped all the stuff off of it rather than leaving them on there for you. Ridiculous, and I would never give a damn about it, but it's in there.

[Leo_A]

There's no hassle since it's an extremely easy utility to use. Hacking the Wii U's Wii mode is in no way the easier option of the two.

I'd suggest minimizing your DLC that has to be carried over via SD card though. Cut it to just your game saves, your content licenses that will allow you to redownload everything, and your Miis if you want to save those (You'll get that option during the process).

Settling on just redownloading all your DLC from the Wii Shop on your Wii U afterwards minimizes the chances of a hiccup during the entire process. It's only logical that the less material that has to transfer, the less opportunity for an error to crop up during that process.