Newbie questions about Wii memory card importance

[Luigi182]

I've been scouring the interweb and have been unable to get a clear answer concerning memory cards for the Wii. For you see, I just got a Wii and Wii Play as a wedding gift last week and am having a blast playing both Wii Sports and Wii Play with my wife.

The problem is, I want to buy:

1. Another nun-chuck (so I can finally play 2 player boxing)
2. A classic controller (I really, really, really want to buy it)
3. About 4000 Wii points (So I can finally d/l all the games I've been reading about here at VCarchive.)
4. Elebits (Which my wife has been drooling over since she saw it in the store)
5. Super Paper Mario
6. A 1Gb memory card.

I plan to buy all this stuff later this month when Mario Party 8 comes out as I've just pre-ordered that the other day. When that happens I may only have about $200 to $300(US) at the most, if I'm lucky.

So, with all that said, onto my barrage of questions:

1. How vital would it be to get a memory card?
2. Am I gonna be strained for memory space on my Wii after downloading a few games?
3. Can Gamecube memory cards be used to store VC d/l's?
4. Do I have to buy the official sd card with the Wii logo on it to store my VC titles?
5. Does Nintendo's warning about using offically liscenced products on it's consoles apply here?
6. Is Elebits really all good?
7. What among my above list can I wait 'till later to buy?

[Dazza]

You've come to the right place my friend!

Originally Posted by Luigi182

1. How vital would it be to get a memory card?

Not important at all

Originally Posted by Luigi182

2. Am I gonna be strained for memory space on my Wii after downloading a few games?

No, you get 512MB of onboard flash memory. Enough for loads of game saves and VC games

Originally Posted by Luigi182

3. Can Gamecube memory cards be used to store VC d/l's?

No

Originally Posted by Luigi182

4. Do I have to buy the official sd card with the Wii logo on it to store my VC titles?

At present you can only store VC games on the SD card for backup, not play them from the SD card. Internal memory only. An SD card is an SD card, there is no advantage in paying more money for a Nintendo branded one (unlike with Gamecube memory!!)

Originally Posted by Luigi182

5. Does Nintendo's warning about using offically liscenced products on it's consoles apply here?

They would say it does probably. Ignore it, 3rd party SD cards are OK.

Originally Posted by Luigi182

6. Is Elebits really all good?

It wouldn't be my first choice, but it is a good enough game. Here's a handy review:

Elebits review

Originally Posted by Luigi182

7. What among my above list can I wait 'till later to buy?

1. Another nun-chuck - GET!

2. A classic controller - GET!

3. About 4000 Wii points - GET!

4. Elebits - WAIT!

5. Super Paper Mario - GET!

6. A 1Gb memory card - WAIT!

I hope that helps!! Good questions!

[iNma]

Good advice

[Luigi182]

Thank you for the help. I've got a litlle bit clearer picture now. Except, now I have even more Questions:

Dazza wrote:

No, you get 512MB of onboard flash memory. Enough for loads of game saves and VC games

1. Of course that begs the question, how big are the file sizes for VC downloads? (I know that 512MB=2000+blocks, I surmised that from watching the d/l info when I got news, weather, internet, and everybody votes channels.)

2. How many games can be on my console at once before my memory is gone?

3. What about bringing games to my friends house? In the past, all I'd have to do is bring the disc or cartridge and a memory card. Now, I've read there's this big long process to do what was once very simple.

4. What do I do when I run out of memory?

5. I've read Nintendo has this policy of if you d/l it once and lose it, you can recover it by d/l-ing it again for free. How good is there restore policy?

I'm guessing I'm a little paranoid after reading all the funky stuff off of the 'net regarding d/l's and file saves.

[Tennant]

Originally Posted by Luigi182

2. How many games can be on my console at once before my memory is gone?

3. What about bringing games to my friends house? In the past, all I'd have to do is bring the disc or cartridge and a memory card. Now, I've read there's this big long process to do what was once very simple.

4. What do I do when I run out of memory?

5. I've read Nintendo has this policy of if you d/l it once and lose it, you can recover it by d/l-ing it again for free. How good is there restore policy?

2. I've downloaded 22 games, including 3 N64 games, and I've got a load of space free. That's as well as the Internet and Everybody Votes Channel, and Wi game saves.

3. You cannot play downloaded VC games on a different Wii. There's a lock of some sorts, meaning if it's downloaded on your Wii, it'll only work on your Wii.

4. You can always delete the game, and download it again at a later date. Or, like me, yoiu can save it to an SD card, and then whenever you fancy a go on that game, copy it from the SD card to the Console, then delete afterwards. Saves having to go to the Shop Channel and redownloading it.

5. Very good. You can download, delete, and recover months down the line, without any other costs. So long as you've got sufficent memory to resave that game again.

[Luigi182]

Originally Posted by Tennant

2. I've downloaded 22 games, including 3 N64 games, and I've got a load of space free. That's as well as the Internet and Everybody Votes Channel, and Wi game saves.

Well, that eases my mind a bit.

Originally Posted by Tennant

3. You cannot play downloaded VC games on a different Wii. There's a lock of some sorts, meaning if it's downloaded on your Wii, it'll only work on your Wii.

So if I say download Military Madness and want to go a round with my friend, I'll have to either invite him over to my place or take my entire Wii to his place. Damn, I was kinda hoping the SD card compatibility would fix this problem since he has a Wii as well.

Originally Posted by Tennant

4. You can always delete the game, and download it again at a later date. Or, like me, yoiu can save it to an SD card, and then whenever you fancy a go on that game, copy it from the SD card to the Console, then delete afterwards. Saves having to go to the Shop Channel and redownloading it.

5. Very good. You can download, delete, and recover months down the line, without any other costs. So long as you've got sufficent memory to resave that game again.

Cool beans, I was afraid Nintendo was gonna charge me for the same thing twice. I guess I was being paranoid for nothing. Shows what the digg.com members know. :P

[ixodic]

4. You can always delete the game, and download it again at a later date. Or, like me, yoiu can save it to an SD card, and then whenever you fancy a go on that game, copy it from the SD card to the Console, then delete afterwards. Saves having to go to the Shop Channel and redownloading it.

thats a wonderful idea, for some reason i cant manage that to work.. if i try to copy the VC data to an SD card it says its not a file that can be copied.. any idea why this is???

[iNma]

Unless I'm mistaken, I think you have to download it onto the memory card, as opposed to copy it from the Wii. The you copy it onto the Wii to play, and erase it again later, only to have it available on the SD card for next time

[RMA]

Originally Posted by iNma

Unless I'm mistaken, I think you have to download it onto the memory card, as opposed to copy it from the Wii.

That's news to me...is it possible to delete the file from your wii and re-download to the SD card?

[kelvingreen]

You should be able to. As long as you've downloaded the game once, it's available for free download from then on.