Progressive scan kicks ass.

I finally received my Wii component cables in the mail today, much to my delight, effectively putting an end to the enhanced definition moratorium so wrongfully imposed upon me by only shipping Wiis with compositve video as the sole output option. I mean, c'mon, Microsoft was kind enough to include a composite/component hybrid cable in the box with their Xbox 360, so couldn't Nintendo at least follow suit? Apparently not.

Anyway, apathetic business practices aren't the focus of this post, so let me move on to what is: the Wii's progressive scan output. While I heard from other sources that running your Wii in 480p isn't worth the time or money to be invested, I can simply say, "Sorry, you're wrong. Dead wrong. And now I'm going to kill you." You have to understand one thing when I say this: I was running my console at the lowest possible resolution for video output (480i) through a composite connection. (I suppose that I could've been using an RF adapter for an even worse picture, but let's not pick nits, okay?) So when I hooked up the component cables and got everything running through my system selector, it was most definitely the proverbial "night and day" when I enabled progressive scan output in the Wii's settings. The colors are crisp, clear, and vibrant, and the overall resolution and sharpness of menus and text is incredible. I played Super Smash Bros. Brawl for a bit, and the in-game video is every bit as sharp and clear as I hoped it would be.

However, the one thing that's worth upgrading to progressive scan for on the Wii is the Virtual Console: all the VC games output at 480p. That's right, you're reading that correctly: you can now play classics like Super Mario 64 in progressive scan output. I fired up a few other VC titles I purchased (like Devil's Crush and Bomberman '93), and they fare incredibly well from the 480p treatment. What a nice little surprise from such a small investment ($29.99 + free shipping, or even less if you're a cheap asshole and don't mind third party bullshit).

Take my word for it, the difference is real, ladies and gents, and you must have it. God bless these cables.