Nintendo Wii Fanboy

I don't know about everyone else's TVs but mine has multiple screen format options including 4:3. Whenever I play my multitude of VC games I just set it to 4:3 and keep it moving. For those wondering I use a middle of the road Philips 2PF7320A/37B, so nothing fancy at all, just a nice feature to have when switching back and forth between wide and full screen programs and the like.

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I've gotten used to switching the aspect ratio on my TV when I play VC games that I've played in the past. I've found that I'm unable to even play games like Super Mario Bros. when it's stretched because I'm so used to the original aspect ratio after having played the game for so many years. When the game is stretched, the distance Mario jumps, the apparent speed at which he runs, etc. are exaggerated. I don't worry about the OAR as much for games I never played, since it's a whole new experience anyway.

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ugh, i hate playing the VC on my HD. For some reason, the graphics go all 'shakey' on the screen. They seem fine whenever i press the home key on wiimote, but start shaking again whenever i resume the game. It drives me crazy.

Just to note though, this isn't a fault with the Wii, it just seems to be a problem with my TV. the games work fine on the other HD I've tried it on and obviously they look great on my standard CRT telly :-)

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It is a pain, but I only play on the HDTV every once in a while, and pressing the little "Aspect Ratio" button on my TV remote isn't enough trouble for me to constantly complain. So, yeah, it sucks but it's not like it is a deal breaker or anything, just a minor annoyance. Kind of like the 360's noise or the fact that sometimes the Wii remotes won't connect to the console right away.

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I called Nintendo about this and they were unaware. I compared it to the fillers on the GBA adapter for the Cube, and they instantly understood my question. I can't imagine that the problem would be too difficult to fix in an upcoming patch. Hopefully Nintendo will get the message if enough people request it.

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...This also happens with any standard 16:9 TV, and it also happens with Gamecube games. I think the signal that is usually sent denoting the aspect ratio is omitted on the Wii, it'll just stay on whatever you had before (in this case the Wii menu in widescreen).

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Well, I hate to say this, but someone has to..."I paid for that screen, I am going to use ALL of it." But the option to play in the original format would be nice...for the nostalgia.

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All TVs have this "problem". Signal passed through composite, S-Video, and even component (HD) cables doesn't have any concept of whether the picture is widescreen or not. Those "widescreen-enhanced" DVDs and such are actually "pre-distorted" on the disc so that they look correct on an HD set.

If the Virtual Console added borders or black-boxed the game image for widescreen monitors then you would in fact be LOSING image quality since that border data would be eating up the pixels that would otherwise be serving actual game data. This would make games look worse than they originally did.

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The VC games are NOT widescreen. Just like a 4:3 Wii disc, you have to change the mode on your widescreen display so that it doesn't stretch it. The Wii doesn't send the anamorphic flag to the monitor like a DVD player does, so you have to do this switching yourself, instead of it automatically happening.

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I honestly didn't know what resolution the VC games were, until i hit the Home button, then saw those massive icons stretched across the screen

But i really don't see what the big deal is, my HDTV scales up EVERYTHING to 16:9, so i couldn't get the genuine experience if i tried, and its funny playing some N64 games (like Kirby 64) in stretched out 16:9 glory (i can reduce the TV itself to 4:3, but those borders are very irritating)

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This is really annoying, I have to agree. Here in most of Europe we use the Scart RGB cable to get the best picture (a tad better picture quality than S-Video, still not HD) and the Scart cable has the ability to send a "Wide" signal to the TV. That is, if the devide is showing something that is supposed to be stretched out on a 16:9 TV it's stretched out, if not it's in 4:3.

My DVD player (6 years old) switches between these modes depending on the DVD being in anamorphic widescreen or not and my X-box does the same.

The Wii, however, doesn't. It just sends the "Wide" signal to the TV all the time, making anything shown on the Wii stretched out, and making the VC games look like crap. Of course I can change the setting on my TV to force it to 4:3 when i play VC but the question is: Why has Nintendo completely ignored this function while still charging $40 for their Scart RGB cable?

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I have a 46" 1080p Samsung (love it) and all I have to do is hit 1 button to switch aspect ratios, which is what I do if I feel like kickin som TJ&E oldschool - but it doesn't even bother me that much - it kinda depends on what I'm playing. I play alot of super mario world, and I like to switch it for that, but I actually prefer F-Zero in wide format for some reason. And those are the 2 games I play the most right now - so I guess you could say I'm kinda split.

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It really doesn't matter to me. I have a Sharp Aquos and when it stays 4:3 when I turn on my Wii. I have to set it to stretch if I want to play something in wide screen. So if I want to just play a VC game it's actually 4 less button pushes to go through.

Although, I wish it would automatically go wide screen when booting up the Wii ;p

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hmm... well I have an HDTV, but I don't change the aspect ratio when I'm playing VC games. Actually, the only VC Title I play a whole lot is Ice Hockey. In that game, I don't care too much about everything being stretched. My players look even fatter when I put it in wide screen! SCORE!

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I hate pushing that one button on my TV remote, to change the ratio. JC, you make it sound like a big deal. It's not for most HDTV users.

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Please don't ask Nintendo to "fix" this!! :(

Unlike digital signals, the component video signal coming out of the Wii isn't really 16:9 or 4:3, it's just a stream of color that your TV can display at the width of its liking. Right now 4:3 games being output from the VC use the entire width of this signal, meaning that a 16:9 TV in "FULL" mode will indeed stretch the video too wide. But this is a good thing in disguise!

The way it's currently set up uses the maximum horizontal resolution of the 480p signal. The only way Nintendo could "fix" it would be to add in bars ("pillars") on the left and right of the game signal, and smoosh the game into the reduced space. This would create multiple problems:

- Reduce the resolution of the game. This might not matter too much, because the games themselves were low resolution to begin with, but the pixels may look more "smeared" and less crisp than they do now.

- Gets rid of the ability to easily choose to play the game in 16:9 stretched, if you want to.

- Some TVs which are susceptible to burn-in use gray bars or other patterns. Having the Wii generate the bars instead of your TV reduces flexibility.

So anyway, end of my long geeky rant as to why the Wii already does things correctly. :)

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You know, I wouldn't mind it if Nintendo did this favor for us. They could also change it to 4:3 for all the Gamecube Games automagically with the exception of games such as F-Zero, Star Fox Adventures, Soul Caliber, and any other game that actually offers a 16:9 output.

While we are doing this, Nintendo could also throw in an optional Gamecube ratings database into the Wii so that when a Gamecube disc is played in the Wii, it can effectively make use of its parental controls. (I know, all you 12 year olds out there thinks that parental controls suck. But us parent type folks like them)

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See, things like these (not to mention price tag) are the reasons I'm perfectly happy with my old SD CRT for the foreseeable future. HD, widescreen, and flat panels all have too many tradeoffs right now.

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"(I know, all you 12 year olds out there thinks that parental controls suck. But us parent type folks like them)"

Yea, and the nazi's loved concentration camps. Idiot.

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I wasn't even aware this was a problem. My TV is 16:9 and my Wii is set to output in 16:9 as well. When I run a VC game it's also in 16:9, but looks normal, not stretched... isn't that the way it's supposed to be? So if I hooked this up to a 4:3 TV would VC games be letterboxed or something?

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I didn't know of this issue. I want to get a wii, but this thing makes me think if/when I get it, I wont be big on the VC. I like the option you get with 360 with like every 4:3 game (mk, ms pac man, etc) to adjust it in the game settings which is added to every classic 4:3 game that comes out to the xbox360. You could stretch it any way you want. You could have it defaulted at 4:3 or just change it to widescreen if you want. Hope they fix this somehow, with a patch or some built in option for wiis in the future! ^_^

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I second HeXatic's comment. You would be losing resolution if the Wii tried to compensate for your TV's aspect ratio, as irritating as that is. Even worse is that the pixels would not line up right at all, and you would get severe blurring or aliasing effects.

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ok i will come clean - i play the vc games without resetting the aspect ratio. just doesn't bother me much.

guess i am too lazy to search for the remote...

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I have a "WIDE" button on my remote to cycle through aspect ratios, so the switch is easy.

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I would probably switch the aspect ratios if I didn't have to cycles through them all one way. If it were as simple as having up and down buttons with respect to changing the ratio setting, I'm sure I would.

Alas, I am lazy like that and don't really give a damn, anyway.

Plus I hate the bars on the side. I don't mind wide screen/horizontal bars, but vertical bars just stand out like a sore thumb to me.

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I wish they'd fix this, if it can be done. I'm not 100% sure of the way the signal works. When my Xbox (1 or 360) sends an HD signal (720p or 1080i), it seems to send aspect-ratio information as well, and my HDTV picks up on that appropriately -- if it's set to "Aspect Ratio: Set by Program", it will go 16:9 with wide data, and 4:3 with narrow data. For some reason, my 480p EDTV Wii signal is shown in 4:3 no matter whether I tell the source to display as 16:9 or not. Is it possible to ever display 480p content in 16:9 automatically on a set like mine (LG 30fz4d)? One of the biggest reasons I wanted to get component cables (thanks, Nintendo shortages, BTW) was not for the better picture quality but because I thought I'd finally be able to stop mashing the RATIO button on my remote -- those 7 modes take a long time to cycle through. Unfortunately, it never worked, and now I don't even bother forcing to to 16:9 on the menu, since the only games I've been playing lately don't even support wide aspect...

::sigh::...

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I do switch ratio every time.

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I dont care. Stop whining. I never change my ratio for anything and everything looks great on my HDTV.. before this post.. I hadnt even noticed that my VC games were getting stretched..

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