No Dual GamePads for Wii U Virtual Console - Controller Assignment Only

Images of control schemes in the Nintendo Wii U virtual console service claiming dual GamePad support have been misinterpreted.

A photo that's been doing the Internet rounds today shows one of the options available to Nintendo Wii U Virtual Console players. Rather than adding a second Wii U GamePad to the mix as suggested in some reports, the option shown gives players the ability to change which player number the current GamePad is hooked up to.

We tested this in our downloaded copy of Balloon Flight (NES), where if playing two player using on a Wii Remote, the GamePad would need to be re-assigned to second player in order to let Wii Remote join in due to syncing issues (see image below).

The Wii Remote defaults to player one, so the GamePad has to be shifted onto player two in order to play.

Likewise if playing a Nintendo 64 game in the future, the GamePad user might be assigned to one of the four ports available. This screen would allow another player who is using a Wii U Pro or Classic Controller Pro to become first player and the GamePad user to switch.

Those with Wii Remote Pro controllers are unaffected as these automatically sync into second player.

We know that Nintendo is planning to eventually roll out the ability to use more than one GamePad per console at the same time, so this could change in a future update.