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~~Leo656~~ · 10-30-2021, 12:05 AM

I actually was still having a hard time finding one of these until 2009. That's when I finally got mine.

Most stores around here only ever got a couple in stock and they always sold quickly. So for literally years, every time I remembered "Hey, I should get one'a them Wii gimmicks" and went out to buy one, it was "We just sold our last one this morning."

Eventually I got lucky, and I got Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to go with it. That kept me pretty busy for a good long while, that and Wii Sports. I never ended up getting a TON of Wii games but I eventually did build up a decent collection. There was definitely a TON of absolute crap for that system, like honestly it probably has the worst Crap-To-Good ratio of any major console ever released, BUT there's still a lot of really good or even great games for it. It's unfortunate that there's so much junk to sift through, but that doesn't erase the quality of the better games.

I had an absolute blast with stuff like Speed Racer, Tatsunoku vs. Capcom, Smash Bros., Madworld, and of course Super Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. There's a few I'm definitely forgetting. It's another console I haven't honestly hooked up in a very long time but I've definitely had a blast with it over the years, off and on.

I need to sell some blood to afford a copy of Arc Rise Fantasia, and then I'll pretty much have all the Wii games I want.

The motion control gimmick definitely didn't work great for everything, and I'm glad it wasn't forced into more games more prominently than it was. When it worked well, it was fine, when it was crammed in just to get it in there it was more of a hindrance than anything. Like I know I definitely said, more than once, "This game would honestly be better without the damn motion controls", about a few different games. But in some games it was a neat little addition.

The flipside being, they sold a billion units and got grandmas who'd only ever played Tetris to play video games again. That was the mission, and they succeeded. Obvious downside being, all the worthless shovelware. But you gotta take the good with the bad.

History shows us that MOST of those "lapsed" people who bought a Wii and otherwise hadn't played video games before didn't stick around. It was a semi-expensive novelty item or something to pull out at holiday parties, for most of those folks, and they didn't go on to become "serious" gamers; like the grandma who loved Wii Bowling didn't eventually become a PS3 or PS4 owner or whatever, they're not playing the FF7 remake on PS4 and they didn't buy a Wii U (they might've bought a Switch, but most of 'em probably not). For the most part, the many people who bought a Wii as their first game console, it was also their last. So that's kind of unfortunate, but also, somewhat expected. Like the entire point of the Wii was to sell games to people who were intimidated by the whole concept of gaming, and they did that, but it's the kind of trick you can only pull off once in a row successfully.

I was really attracted to the Wii Shop and all those retro games, but back then I didn't have a reliable enough internet connection to take any real advantage of it. And frankly a lot of the games seemed a little bit more expensive than they should've been, but eh. I thought it was great how they had so many games from other consoles on there, though.

I technically have two Wiis. Wife's mother got one way before we did, they bought like two games and never played it more than like twice. Wife asked if we could have it after we noticed it collecting dust for like, a year, and of course she got snippy at us for even asking, because people are ALWAYS like that, with everything.

So we got our own like a year later. Then like two years ago she just plain gives it to us anyway. Because of course. So I've got mine and I've got the "spare".

All in all, fond memories. Other than the Wii U, it's the console I own the fewest games for by far, but at the same time it doesn't really bother me, because except for Manhunt 2 I really, really liked everything I played on the Wii. I might "only" have like 30 games for it, but that's still plenty and most of them were really fun. So I got everything I wanted out of it.

10-30-2021, 12:05 AM	#3
~~Leo656~~ Banned Join Date: Mar 2003 Location: nWo Country Posts: 27,703	I actually was still having a hard time finding one of these until 2009. That's when I finally got mine. Most stores around here only ever got a couple in stock and they always sold quickly. So for literally years, every time I remembered "Hey, I should get one'a them Wii gimmicks" and went out to buy one, it was "We just sold our last one this morning." Eventually I got lucky, and I got Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess to go with it. That kept me pretty busy for a good long while, that and Wii Sports. I never ended up getting a TON of Wii games but I eventually did build up a decent collection. There was definitely a TON of absolute crap for that system, like honestly it probably has the worst Crap-To-Good ratio of any major console ever released, BUT there's still a lot of really good or even great games for it. It's unfortunate that there's so much junk to sift through, but that doesn't erase the quality of the better games. I had an absolute blast with stuff like Speed Racer, Tatsunoku vs. Capcom, Smash Bros., Madworld, and of course Super Mario Galaxy and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. There's a few I'm definitely forgetting. It's another console I haven't honestly hooked up in a very long time but I've definitely had a blast with it over the years, off and on. I need to sell some blood to afford a copy of Arc Rise Fantasia, and then I'll pretty much have all the Wii games I want. The motion control gimmick definitely didn't work great for everything, and I'm glad it wasn't forced into more games more prominently than it was. When it worked well, it was fine, when it was crammed in just to get it in there it was more of a hindrance than anything. Like I know I definitely said, more than once, "This game would honestly be better without the damn motion controls", about a few different games. But in some games it was a neat little addition. The flipside being, they sold a billion units and got grandmas who'd only ever played Tetris to play video games again. That was the mission, and they succeeded. Obvious downside being, all the worthless shovelware. But you gotta take the good with the bad. History shows us that MOST of those "lapsed" people who bought a Wii and otherwise hadn't played video games before didn't stick around. It was a semi-expensive novelty item or something to pull out at holiday parties, for most of those folks, and they didn't go on to become "serious" gamers; like the grandma who loved Wii Bowling didn't eventually become a PS3 or PS4 owner or whatever, they're not playing the FF7 remake on PS4 and they didn't buy a Wii U (they might've bought a Switch, but most of 'em probably not). For the most part, the many people who bought a Wii as their first game console, it was also their last. So that's kind of unfortunate, but also, somewhat expected. Like the entire point of the Wii was to sell games to people who were intimidated by the whole concept of gaming, and they did that, but it's the kind of trick you can only pull off once in a row successfully. I was really attracted to the Wii Shop and all those retro games, but back then I didn't have a reliable enough internet connection to take any real advantage of it. And frankly a lot of the games seemed a little bit more expensive than they should've been, but eh. I thought it was great how they had so many games from other consoles on there, though. I technically have two Wiis. Wife's mother got one way before we did, they bought like two games and never played it more than like twice. Wife asked if we could have it after we noticed it collecting dust for like, a year, and of course she got snippy at us for even asking, because people are ALWAYS like that, with everything. So we got our own like a year later. Then like two years ago she just plain gives it to us anyway. Because of course. So I've got mine and I've got the "spare". All in all, fond memories. Other than the Wii U, it's the console I own the fewest games for by far, but at the same time it doesn't really bother me, because except for Manhunt 2 I really, really liked everything I played on the Wii. I might "only" have like 30 games for it, but that's still plenty and most of them were really fun. So I got everything I wanted out of it.