Wii: Difference between revisions

Due to being the original hardware the game was designed for, the Wii is the preferred system to play ''Brawl'', especially in tournaments. The game has never been re-released on another system, forcing players with physical copies to only use Wii compatible systems. While the Wii U can play Wii games by being compatible with discs and controllers, the unintuitive nature of accessing the console's Wii mode, the native incompatibility with Gamecube controllers and the generally poor sales of the console make it a cumbersome option for competitive players and tournament organizers. Emulators like Dolphin also exist, but they sometimes possess bugs and performance issues not present on Wii. However, the aging hardware that is becoming progressively less reliable have forced the competitive scene to consider and experiment with these alternatives before the game becomes unplayable, and emulation developers have made great strides in making a nearly identical experience, though this niche is not quite as developed as efforts for GameCube yet.

The Wii is also commonly used to play ''Melee'', due to its backwards compatibility with the GameCube. GameCube games played on the Wii are functionally nearly identical to those played on the original hardware, and the Wii's much greater sales compared to the GameCube make it a readily available option for tournament setups. It should be noted that later Wii models have removed backwards GameCube compatibility, but these constitute a minority of Wii in circulation, and they are rarely if ever used to play ''Brawl'' as well due to their lack of GameCube controller ports. It is also possible to solder GameCube controller ports onto a family edition Wii through hardware modding.

By contrast, the Wii is almost never used to play ''Smash 64'', despite its availability on the Virtual Console, due to numerous emulator bugs affecting this version; as such, the competitive community almost always prefers playing on original N64 console or emulators for PC, which are considered more reliable. As of 2019, with the closure of the Wii Shop, it is also no longer possible to legally acquire the Virtual Console version of Smash 64.

Just like how it is possible to dump Wii disc and SD card data onto other systems, some have found ways to make their own discs compatible with Wii and download data onto SD cards. This allows pirated games, mods and fan-games to be played on original hardware, including the many based on ''Brawl'' and ''Melee''. In this area, the Wii has the biggest scene of any ''Smash'' game due to possessing more industry standard hardware compared to its predecessors and the ease of defeating the console's copy protection and anti-piracy firmware to allow mods. The best known example is ''[[Project M]]'', which would go on to have its own competitive scene that overshadowed ''Brawl'' itself before development suddenly ceased over fear of legal ramifications.