I'm currently looking to play some old GC games I picked up (namely Zelda Ocarina of Time and Wind Waker) but I don't have a console. I understand that Nintendo Wii systems that have the product code RVL have 100% compatibility will Nintendo GameCube games, and have been considering finding one of these instead of getting GameCube.
I understand both use a GameCube controller and memory card, but are there any differences when playing on one or the other? Does the Wii output at a higher resolution that the original? Does a Wii have different connections for my TV than a GameCube? Are the loading times any different? Are there any other differences?
Thanks.
Best Answer
The really aren't many differences at all. It's hardware level emulation, essentially a Wii has all the hardware that GameCube does. The only difference you'll notice when playing GameCube games is that with a Wii you'll have to go through the Wii's menu to start the game, where a real GameCube will boot right into the game.
Other than that the differences are in the GameCube specific hardware you can connect to the Wii. GameCube controllers and memory cards will work, along any other device that connects to the same ports, like the GameCube microphone or the Donkey Kong bongos. Other hardware that connects to other ports won't work because these ports don't exist on the Wii. Things like the broadband adapter that Michael Madsen mentioned, the modem adapter and the Game Boy Player won't work.
There's one big advantage that the Wii has over the GameCube in terms of hardware that can or can't be used with the console and that's component video cables. A real GameCube requires an expensive cable that was hard to find even when Nintendo was still making GameCubes. Component cables for the Wii however are cheap and easy to find. Component video cables provide much better video quality than composite video cables and allow playing games in 480p progressive scan, at least for the few GameCube games that support it.
Otherwise a GameCube game will look and play on a Wii exactly like it does on a GameCube. There's no quality improvements, the exact same performance, loading times and resolutions.