Gaming So... Nintendo Wii was released 12 Years ago.

[Maeson]

I always thought that the system was released first in Japan, but I looked and so it happens that it really was released first on North America on this very day, 12 years ago. Goddamn, time flies.

I still remember Iwata announcing the Virtual Console, the buzz on E3 and how people flipped with Metroid Prime 3 and Galaxy...
And how people ran like mad to try it.


Mine has been always plugged since I bought it back in 2010, and I've been using it regularly... In fact it's probably the home console I've used the most, which is a wild claim, now that I think about it, but between what it had to offer officially and homebrew, makes sense.

Anyway, Happy Birthday, Wii, may you keep getting Just Dance until the end of time!

...

Spoiler

 

[Deleted User]

I remember the day the Wii came out in Europe here.

Couldn't get one in all of my local game and toy stores. But 1 hadn't opened yet.

So me, mom and dad waited in the car to see if it would open. Then some other people showed up and went and stood at the door. So I went and did the same.

About an hour in the freezing ass cold, a queue of about 30 people had shown up. And about another 15 minutes after that, a store worker shown up. Announced to the crowd that they only had 4 units to sell. Fucking 4.

Well there was the 3 fellas infront of me, then me, then this kid with his family.

So me and the 3 fella's go into the store. Got our units, and were in the queue. As we're all paying for the units, we realised that 1 guy was only accompanying the other 2, and wasn't getting one. Immedeietely, we all went over and pointed out the kid, who was crying, upset that he wasn't getting a Wii.

Well fuck, I've never seen a kids face light up like that in my life. Advised him to pick up TLoZ: Twilight Princess and Red Steel.

Good, happy memory. I wonder if he ever liked those games sometimes. I sure hope so.

 

[Naendow]

The Wii was the most important console in my childhood, even if it wasn't the best of all imo.
It had Virtual Console, I was able to play my GC games on it, there have been a few channels that were pretty cool these days for a kid and then there have been all the Wii games that are still damn good looking today (except for the resolution). And the choice of controllers have been huge on some games, which I love until today.

Sadly, the Wii didn't aged that well for me. The WiiMote isn't really great to hold, my purchased VC games haven't been used for years, and the Homebrew scene is pretty much dead because we have nearly everything we can imagine. Also, to be honest, the resolution sometimes is disapointing for a console produced in 2006. But there are still more than enough reasons to play some games from time to time. It was a great time for gamers and most games like SSBB have aged pretty good imo. And mods like CTGP-R are able to show you a new side of some games so they aren't getting "too old". The missing online mode also isn't any problem thabks to Wiimmfi.

All in all, I still love the console. Even if I mainly use my Wii U for the most Wii games. It is still fun to use it today.

 

[Hanafuda]

The missing online mode also isn't any problem thabks to Wiimmfi.

Is it really that good? Wiimmfi, I mean. I have yet to install it since I'm not playing any Wii games that would be online right now. I'm guessing it's predominantly Mario Kart and Smash? What else?

I remember when they came out on stage and announced the new console was called, "Wii." There had been so much hype, headset fantasies and Iwata's gonna drop the bomb, etc., and then .... Wii. The next hour was about the funniest time I ever spent on the internet.

 

[Naendow]

Wiimmfi is even better than the original servers at some points. Of course, not everything is implemented, but it is very agradable to use. Try it if you want.

 

[MaxiBash]

Hmm... memories.
I just got my first DS and we collected a lot of money for our first actual console. The first console I shared with my siblings was (unironicly) a v-Tech Smile.
Then, my mom came home with a Nintendo Wii. Unfortunatly, we really only used it to play disc-based games. We never touched the Wii Shop, the News or Weather Channel, not even the Photo Channel, but we did went online for Mario Kart Wii, and that was for me a blast for 4 years (until it shut down).

Many years later... This thing still deserves a second life, so I installed the Homebrew Channel, like any normal person .

And hey, it still works!

 

[FancyNintendoGamer567]

Wish I can give a similar story, but I was only (very) few years old around 2006-2007. So I didn't have any experience with the Wii until sometime around the early 2010s?

--------------------- MERGED ---------------------------

Though, I do have great memories playing MKW and Brawl online. I think I remember getting max (9999) VR on MKW. ANd also, my main controller was sideways Wiimote/Wii Wheel.

 

[PersonThatLikesGames]

I remembered when the Wii was the best console I used to have... Those days were good.

 

[GreyWolf]

I remembered when the Wii was the best console I used to have... Those days were good.

I remember when it was still the best console I have because it's still the only one I own.

 

[tbb043]

I didn't buy one until 2 years later, and even still, they were hard to get ahold of. I had to settle on a used one from gamestop, but I wound up saving FIFTY DOLLARS that way, and it worked just fine. Still does, I assume, but since getting a Wii u i've barely bothered to boot it up.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

12 Years... wow. That's like playing SNES during the Wii era, which means I'm actually playing Retro when turning on the Wii.

 

[duwen]

My memories of the Wii... well, same story as with many others - couldn't get one at launch because, y'know, Nintendo supply and demand bullshit... managed to import one from Germany (for some reason Germany seemed to be the only country in Europe that wasn't utterly sold out for weeks solid)... enjoyed it for a short while before the gamer in me came to terms with the early library just being the whole waggle gimmick for casuals... became disillusioned with console gaming as a whole, and jumped into pc gaming for a few years (aside from a few weeks of Mario Kart Wii and Tatsunoko vs Capcom addiction)... barely touched a console again until I got the X360 a couple of years later, and thankfully realised that console gaming still had a future despite Nintendos best, subversive, efforts.

Seriously though... now that we can look back at the Wii's reign, it was a truly impressive thing that Nintendo accomplished with that little box; there are some absolutely classic titles for it (among the almost console defining shovelware shite)... like it or loathe it, the tech innovation was an industry changer.
I probably use my Wii more now than I ever did when it was the hot new thing (or more accurately, vWii on my Wii U).

There was a lot of lessons that should have been learned from the Wii's biggest successes - it's just a shame that the competition thought that the Wii's biggest successes were solely due to the motion controls, rather than it's online store, backwards compatibility, and diverse library of exclusive titles.

 

[UltraDolphinRevolution]

The unique controls were a big part of it. But the actual star wasn't waving/tilting but pointing.
I am retrospectively trying to enjoy as many titles as possible that used the pointer (even extremely low budget titles).

 

[VinsCool]

Makes you feel old when you realise that it's the childhood console for many of our youngest members in here.

 

[duwen]

Makes you feel old when you realise that it's the childhood console for many of our youngest members in here.

Nah... the Switch is the childhood console for many of the youngest here.
My childhood 'console' wasn't even a console - it was a ZX Spectrum!

 

[ofthriceandmen]

I didn't get mine until the spring after launch for my birthday. It the first time I didn't have to pay for my own console (saving up for both a GC and a GBA when you're a kid is difficult to make yourself do.)

 

[EmulateLife]

I was one of those standing in line on launch day. I've never done that for any other console. Not sure why the one I did was the Wii lol.