Will the Wii-U be compatible with Gamecube games?

Question

So despite some initial confusion about whether the WiiU was an accessory or a console successor to the Wii, I now understand that it is, in fact, a new console.

During its initial presentation, Nintendo lavished about the fact that the WiiU would be fully backwards compatible, at least with the Wii.

I have also heard that it will use similar disc-based technology as its predecessor, and I was wondering if that applied to the Gamecube mini-discs as well (which the Wii was able to play).

Asked by Raven Dreamer

Answer

According to the specifications found on Nintendo of Japan's website, the drive doesn't accept GameCube's small 8cm discs, only the new high-density discs for Wii U and the normal 12cm Wii discs - so no, it won't be compatible.

This also fits with the likely strategy they use for backwards compatibility; they shut all the new stuff off so the console behaves just like the Wii - that's how they do it on the Wii for GC stuff, on the 3DS for DS stuff, and on the DS for GBA stuff. AFAIK, that technique doesn't work very well if you're trying to chain it like this, since the Wii part would have to turn all of its stuff off to switch to GameCube mode, and that ends up getting way too messy.

Answered by Michael Madsen

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