How to prepare a Wii U to sell

[Nintendologist]

Hi guys and girls. Hopefully someone can help me navigate the minefield of (mis)information that litters the Internet about this process.

 

Basically I want to sell my Wii U. Sad times. But how I go about making sure I've removed the necessary accounts etc seems SO complicated! I probably won't purchase a Wii U again, but I may buy a second hand Wii in the future. I don't have a 3DS.

 

When I bought the Wii U, I had a Wii, from which I transferred some Wii Store games etc across from via the SD card transfer process.

 

My thought was to go into the Wii U System Settings and choose the last tab to "Delete all content and settings from the console". However, on the next screen it says "If you wish to transfer ownership of your Wii U console to another persons, please first remove the Wii Shop Channel account under Settings/Other in the Wii Shop Channel before deleting all content and settings from the console here." So... I go back, choose the Wii menu and load into the Wii Shop Channel (where I can see my few purchased games and 700 points etc) and go to the option to remove the account, it makes it pretty clear I lose my points and software (as I guess they are linked to this console)

 

Now my question(s):

 

1) If I remove the Wii Shop Channel and then purchase a 2nd hand Wii in the future, can I sign in again with the same login and redownload my games/get my 700 points back?

 

2) If I delete all content from the Wii U via the System Settings page, I understand I just need to note down my Nintendo ID, password and the Wii U console serial number, so just in case I do buy a new Wii U in the future, I can telephone Nintendo and get them to manually transfer the ID across to the new console - right?

 

3) Am I doing this right, or does someone have a proper 1-2-3 guide I have missed somewhere? (Google search does not help)

[S.C.G]

As far as I know, you lose everything unless you have a My Nintendo account linked to a NNID but even then it's not clear.

 

Essentially though, if you sell your Wii or Wii U, don't expect to have access to all of the games you bought at this point.

 

It's a really terrible system, worst of all apparently Nintendo can do some kind of transfer on their end which they will only perform in dire circumstances which is hardly ideal.

[Nintendologist]

Is there a Wii U to Wii transfer? I can't find one, but I was thinking this might help the issue of NNID transfer..

[S.C.G]

Is there a Wii U to Wii transfer? I can't find one, but I was thinking this might help the issue of NNID transfer..

 

As in trasnferring stuff from the Wii U back to the Wii?

 

Not as far as I'm aware... you can transfer stuff from Wii to Wii U once but that's about it.

 

The whole situation is a mess, I know it sounds daft but if you don't want to lose anything, then your only option is to keep your Wii U.

[Ike]

Your Wii purchases won't be tied to your NNID. They might still be tied to your Club Nintendo I suppose.

 

Remember to unlink your NNID and not delete it because when you would lose your Wii U purchases.

[S.C.G]

Your Wii purchases won't be tied to your NNID. They might still be tied to your Club Nintendo I suppose.

 

Remember to unlink your NNID and not delete it because when you would lose your Wii U purchases.

 

But even after unlinking your NNID from the Wii U console, you can't then just link it to a new Wii U in the future, can you?

 

Plus even when it's unlinked, once it's deleted from that Wii U console, doesn't it cease to exist or something similar?

 

Now even I'm confused...

[Dcubed]

But even after unlinking your NNID from the Wii U console, you can't then just link it to a new Wii U in the future, can you?

 

You can't do it yourself, but Nintendo can do it for you if you ring them up (and like you said, it's at their discretion. It's not a service they normally provide)

 

As for Wii content? You can't transfer it back to a Wii after going to Wii U. Forward only. From here, you can only transfer it to another Wii U and you have to have both machines present to do so via Wii U-Wii U System Transfer (found in the System Settings menu).

 

Now my question(s):

 

1) If I remove the Wii Shop Channel and then purchase a 2nd hand Wii in the future, can I sign in again with the same login and redownload my games/get my 700 points back?

 

2) If I delete all content from the Wii U via the System Settings page, I understand I just need to note down my Nintendo ID, password and the Wii U console serial number, so just in case I do buy a new Wii U in the future, I can telephone Nintendo and get them to manually transfer the ID across to the new console - right?

 

1: No, that won't work. You can't go backwards with Wii content and the only way to transfer Wii content is by either Wii-Wii U System Transfer or Wii U-Wii U System Transfer. Both transfers require the source and target consoles to be physically present.

 

2: You might be able to do that, but it's entirely at Nintendo's discretion.

 

Personally, I would hold off on selling it until the NX comes out. If it ends up being backwards compatible (which is fairly likely), you will probably need access to your Wii U if you want to move your content forward over to it. If it ends up being non-backwards compatible, then the value of the Wii U probably wont really go down much and you haven't lost out on much, if anything, at all).

Edited June 27, 2016 by Dcubed

[Fierce_LiNk]

I wouldn't sell it. Would you really get that much money for it, anyway? It's not worth the hassle of sorting out bullshit due to lack of proper accounts.

 

Was this all part of Nintendo's plan? To make it so unnecessarily complicated so that you HAD to keep it forever?

[Mr_Master_X2]

I know this isn't helpful, but you'll get jack-shit for selling a Wii U so your best bet to keep your stuff is to simply not sell.

[nekunando]

I was actually just about to echo the previous suggestions Keep your Wii U!

 

At the very least, it offers some great games that you can't get anywhere else

[Guy]

I'd keep it at least until we know if/how NX will be backwards compatible. It might be that there's some insane transfer option released for NX that'll let you get all that software you purchased digitally bound to your account and then redownload on NX.

 

I can also see the gamepad becoming a pretty rare item in a few years when they start dying. Unless some third party comes along with a solution, which in all fairness they probably will.

 

If you are super keen on selling it though, you can always give Nintendo a call or email and ask them. Warning, this may just make things more confusing.

[Nintendologist]

Thanks for all the advice above. I'm taking what people have said onboard and I'm going to keep the Wii U for a few weeks - I've got a Wii from eBay for a bargain £14 (with the component cable!) and I'm going to try accessing my Wii Shop Account on there before I do anything on the Wii U. I'll let you know what the outcome is and where I go.

 

The reason for wanting a Wii is the GC backwards compatibility - I've acquired a back catalogue which I missed out first time around and I now have the time to play and appreciate them!

 

It's such an odd system re: NNID - I don't think they've intentionally made it this hard, as they've got to consider hardware may fail, people will sell their consoles on and so on.

 

Once again, all the input is appreciated.

 

P.s. I've been away from the site for just under ten(!) years but I'm so pleased to see I've come back and people are still as helpful and friendly as I remember - one of the reasons why I came back here for advice

Edited June 28, 2016 by Nintendologist
Additional information to avoid double posting