Why there won’t be a Wii U version of Retro City Rampage

One great feature of the Wii U is its Wii backward compatibility. We gamers can play Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Wii Sports, and many fun Wii games, including downloadable WiiWare games, in the newer Wii U console playable with the Wiimote and other controllers. Still, some downloadable WiiWare games have been brought over to the Wii U’s Nintendo eShop. So, why are we not going to see a Wii U port of a game that has been and still is available in various platforms? The developer of Retro City Rampage can explain.

According to the Wii U page on the Retro City Rampage web site:

“Unfortunately, Wii U is a completely different system from Wii. Wii code cannot be simply put on Wii U with the push of a button. It’s different architecture, a different SDK/API, with different platform requirements. Developers must deal with game ratings (PEGI, ESRB, etc.), business/paperwork/production, e-manuals, icons, store assets, localization, testing, certification, a new round of marketing, etc. — it wouldn’t be trivial and would take months from start to finish. In the end, it would be 95% identical to the WiiWare version.”

The developer shares many more reasons why it should be okay to play the WiiWare version on the Wii U. Among those: “the game itself has no load times,” it supports various controllers (Wii Remotes, Classic Controller, Classic Controller Pro and Game Cube controllers), and RCR uses the minimum video quality of 240p.

While the game has seen success in the PS3, Steam and Nintendo 3DS releases, it just has not been the same with the WiiWare one. Only 1% of sales come from the WiiWare version.

Making a port is time-consuming. With the ability of playing downloadable WiiWare games on the Wii U (via Wii mode), does it seem neccessary to have a Wii U one?

Check out the source and read the long post about why he won’t work on a Wii U version of the game, why people thought RCR was a Wii exclusive when it never was, the health condition he was in during the making of the 3DS version, and more.

[Source]: Retro City Rampage: Wii U.