I actually recently received an email about a few VC games:

1st emailJust wanted to let you know, you have games listed on WiiSave that it is impossible to get save files for.

The Wii Virtual Console allows you to suspend games to the internal memory, so that you can continue later. However, these suspend files will only work on the Wii console itself. If the original game did not have a battery save function in the cartridge, you will NOT be able to copy the data from the Wii to the SD card (it will give an error message).

If a game has both a save game option and Wii Suspend functionality, you will only be able to copy across the saved game - not the suspend data.

The following games you have listed on WiiSave do not have any save functionality (only suspend), and therefore you will be unable to get any save files for them:

Altered Beast (GEN)
Donkey Kong (NES)
Ecco the Dolphin (GEN)
Golden Axe (GEN)
Gomoku Narabe Renju (NES)
Ice Hockey (NES)
Mario Bros (NES)
Pinball (NES)
Solomon's Key (NES)
Soccer (NES)
Sonic the Hedgehog (GEN)
Super Star Soldier (TG16)
Super Mario Bros (NES)
Urban Champion (NES)
Wario's Woods (NES)

It might be worth removing these games from the site, so that people don't try and upload the wrong files! This has already happened with Super Mario Bros - someone uploaded the 'Channel Data', which is unusable on any other Wii console.

2nd emailAs a matter of fact, the NES games that had a battery save function (such as Zelda 1 and Kirby's Adventure) can in fact be copied. If the save file contains both suspend data and battery save data, it'll let you copy the file to your SD card.

On the screen, it'll say that there was some data that could not be copied - but don't worry about it. This just means it couldn't copy the suspend data to the SD card, but the battery save data has been copied. This battery save data can be uploaded and downloaded via the Internet, and copied back to the Wii just like normal Wii saves.

Let's take Zelda 1 as an example. If you have suspended the game in the middle of a dungeon, then copy it to the SD card, someone else could download that save. However, they would not be able to continue from the middle of the dungeon - only from what was saved in the game's own save system.

On the other hand, games that have no battery save (such as Super Mario Bros 1) will not let you copy the file to the SD card at all, as it contains only suspend data. It'll say the file could not be copied.

Oddly, N64 games CANNOT be suspended like the other VC games. They can save using their own system (Mario 64 is a good example), but if you return to the Wii menu it will not create a suspend point - even if you don't copy the file. N64 saves can be sent over the Internet just like normal Wii saves though.

Hope this clears up any queries you have about the save system.

So.. yeah, they just wont work. We'll most likely be deleting those games.