Wii U's a Downgrade for Playing Wii Games

I think the most important thing I learned in this video is you can boot straight into Wii mode on a WiiU. I’ve had this console since 2014 and didn’t know that.

For 10 years. For 10 years I didn't know the gamepad was also a sensor bar.

Something for everyone to keep in mind: If your display itself is Limited Range, than this isn't an issue. Using Full Range on Limited Range displays actually results in a washed out image. Same with Vice Versa.

I did NOT know about holding B to boot straight into Wii mode, that's very useful

Ok Jon I am sorry but I am watching this on the YouTube app on my Wii THROUGH my Wii U so what are you gonna do now??? Huh????? HUH??????

Jon mentioned that you can use the Wii U Gamepad only as a display for GC and Wii games, however some of the Wii games that you can download on the Wii U eShop actually have support for the Wii U Gamepad, it's not that many sadly, but some of them do (Xenoblade Chronicles for example can be played in its entirety with the Wii U Gamepad itself)

0:41 green shell jumpscare

Wait I've owned a WiiU since 2014 and used Wii mode a decent amount AND DIDN'T KNOW THAT YOU COULD BOOT STRAIGHT INTO WII MODE BY HOLDING B ON THE GAMEPAD!? That's the most important lesson in this video today Jon.

HDMI limited range vs HDMI full range isn't really a question of picture quality. It's more a question of two different standards for color representation and just needs to be in sync between console/PC and monitor/TV. So the Wii U should not look worse just because it's only capable of limited HDMI, you just need to set your display to also use limited. There just seems to be some variance in colour reproduction between different consoles. Really appreciate your exploration of video options and quality otherwise!

0:42 the timing on that cut though

When you talked about the black border in Wii mode on Wii U, the Wii actually has that too it is just that some TVs by default have an overscan setting that crops the image so you don’t notice it. Turn off overscan on your TV while using the Wii and the black border is there. That said, I do think that Nintendo should have scaled the image to get rid of it like they did on the game pad. You do have the option to go in Wii U settings and shrink the display area, then turn on overscan on the TV to crop the black border Hopefully Homebrew one day can fix the issues. I only use my Wii U for Wii stuff because it is convenient for me to just have one system for everything + installed all of my Wii games as Wii U menu apps so I can boot in and out of Wii games much faster

I'll be honest...I never notice any of this stuff. And even when comparisons are shown, I have a hard time spotting any differences. I just play the game. So, videos like this just go right over my head. I did learn one thing, though. Simply holding the B button to go straight into Wii Mode is something I never knew was a thing until today.

I'm mixed on this. I can definitely see the differences. Especially with the deflicker. But I don't get why we're talking as if it's an objective downgrade. It's clearly different, but both methods absolutely have their pros and cons. It's always a tradeoff between blurriness and more visible artifacts, and results definitely vary on different TVs. To tell the truth, almost all my experiences connecting SD consoles to HDTVs have been atrocioust, but I've only gotten good results with Wii U's Wii mode through HDMI. Especially on a monitor, which is how I mostly use modern consoles these days. And if you ask me, the best way to play Wii games is with a crt anyway. Neither of these methods is ideal. I can definitely see why others would rather use an HD TV though.

I noticed the quality dip when I played Sonic Colors and while I was recording for my upcoming review of Kirby's RTD/Deluxe, something looked off when playing it on my friend's Wii U. Very informative video, Jon!

I suspect those saying that 480p looks better have screens with better upscaling. Because, unless you're playing on a CRT, the graphics do have to be upscaled to the native resolution of the display.

One thing to note about the WiiU is that if you set your TV to limited range (all TV-brands will have different name for this, My LG TV call it "Black Levels"). Contrasts and colors will look near identical to full range if the TV is setup correctly.

I haven't watched this video yet but I remember doing a side by side with Skyward Sword. On Wii U, the colours were slightly worse but the overall image was slightly cleaner. The image was slightly cleaner simply because it was running through HDMI which is a cleaner signal compared to component on Wii

Great work as always Jon, I love these image quality videos 🙂 One thing though; I was under the impression that limited or full range didn't matter as both should look the same, the only caveat being your TV has to have matching settings (which is sometimes labelled as black level low or high). If a TV is set to RGB full for instance, a console giving it RGB limited will look terrible and washed out, but if the TV was also limited it should look the same as both devices at RGB full. Likewise, an RGB full console to an RGB limited TV will be overly saturated I may be wrong on this and apologies if so, it gets confusing easily 😅 maybe someone else in comments can confirm the RGB range situation

the biggest thing to keep in mind, is that modern TV's simply loos video quality for component cables. HDMI is near lossless for video quality. Endless you have the time and money to fork out the best video quality out of a wii, wii u will most likely look better. especially after homebrew video quality.

I've never been one for spotting visual differences, but learning you can get straight to Wii mode by holding b when booting the Wii U? Blown my mind!