The Nintendo experiment

[Matthew Jabour]

To those who dislike the new direction the games have been headed in, for those who never liked the Wii and have no hopes for the Wii U, I suggest a little experiment that may help you understand the appeal.
1. Get a Wii. (Oh, shut up, they're only about $100 by now.)
2. Get New Super Mario Bros. Wii. (NSMBU would work better, but you probably don't want to break the bank on my account.)
3. Invite over your mom, your dad, or someone else that's never played videogames in their life.
4. Play the game with them. (Be patient, they'll suck at first.)
5. Notice how much fun you're both having.
Congratulations, you have now discovered the target audience for the Wii and had some fun in the process.
NOTE: If you didn't have fun, here's a plan B for you:
Plan B: Now that you have a Wii, just buy Zelda: Twilight Princess. Even the Grinch would have fun playing that.

 

[go-10]

or you could just watch old videos where Nintendo discusses who their target audience for the Wii was and save yourself wasting $100 :/

 

[piinyouri]

Yyyyyeah.
*slides Wii in front of door to hold it open*
*points at it*
There ya go.

 

[The_Scrivener]

I did this experiment with my girlfriend. She didn't have fun and neither did I.

F-.

 

[Dominic Crossman]

You got step 2 wrong op, try replacing that game suggestion with super smash brawl or mario kart and result will be much better
My reasoning nsmb is one of the most frustrating multiplayer coop games I have ever played in my entire life
Like it solo though

 

[Dragonbums]

But some people are just not interested in videogames.
I tried to get my dad to play Portal once.
The end result being that he couldn't even understand the controls long enough to get out of tutorial mode, and denounced the game as nonsense.

 

[Shoggoth2588]

Or there's the alternate plan for people who just can't get into the Wii. Go to Amazon, e-bay or better yet, an independently owned game shop and purchase either a retro multi-console or the retro console of your choice. Continuing to utilize either of those above choices, find game cartridges that you either played as a kid or, that you've seen people Let's Playing and purchase those. Congratulations! You have just become a retro gamer!

 

[Exius Xavarus]

But some people are just not interested in videogames.
I tried to get my dad to play Portal once.
The end result being that he couldn't even understand the controls long enough to get out of tutorial mode, and denounced the game as nonsense.

Mine's the complete opposite. My dad will play any FPS or TPS and have a blast.

Except...that's the only kind of game he'll play.

 

[Yopaz]

Seriously, try to understand that the Wii and the Wii U aren't for everyone. I am a huge fan of Nintendo and pre-ordered a Wii U and I am loving it. I loved my Wii, but I also love my PC, my 360 and my PS3. If someone doesn't like Nintendo, maybe they simply aren't the target audience and wont like it regardless?

 

[Ratties]

Do like the fact that Nintendo consoles are usually a sure thing. Of course the Gmecube and the Wii are both good systems. Do know that by the end of the day, I will have at least 15 games on a Nintendo console that I wanted. Here is my Wii collection.

Donkey Kong Country Returns
Muramasa: The Demon Blade
Super Mario Galaxy 1 and 2.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Xenoblade Chronicles
Rayman Origins
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Okami
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

 

[thiosk]

oook?

This is like 5 years too late.

Next you'll be singing the portal song and proclaiming about to whom all our base belong.

 

[COMaestro]

Yeah, my wife, brother-in-law and I (who are all competent at games) tried to play NSMBW, and we got so frustrated with each other after just a few levels that we stopped playing. There is almost no fun to be had in multiplayer because you interfere with each other so much. It's too easy for one person to grab all the power ups, or to accidentally get above someone else when they are jumping forcing them to fall. Even with just two of us, it was only okay. Single player was the same fun that 2D Mario games have always provided though.

Stick with Wii Sports (Resort) if trying to get someone who normally doesn't play games to give them a chance. Being able to relate to the game in question seems to help. If they're having fun with that, then try branching out to a party game, or Brawl/Kart and just keep going from there, as long as they're having fun.

 

[Olas]

There are a number of problems with this "experiment"

1. OP assumes everyone who has a problem with Nintendo and/or the Wii doesn't already own one and hasn't played Wii games before. Not true at all.
2. OP thinks it's reasonable asking someone to drop over a hundred dollars upon his simple request. (Not really but he's at least acting like he thinks it's reasonable)
3. OP assumes your parents will want to sit down and play videogames with you when most probably have little to no interest.

Alternatively how about everyone just reserves their judgement to things they've actually played instead of bitching about every Mario and Zelda game being the same from a huge distance. For the most part I'll defend Nintendo from haters, but even then I don't think any Nintendo game is for everyone, nor do I think forcing people into trying something is a good way to change their mind about it.

My suggestion: try starting off with a Nintendo IP that seems interesting to you, maybe Metroid, Zelda, or Pikmin, or SSB if you're into multiplayer, and you'll probably be surprised by it.

 

[Sealpower]

oook?

This is like 5 years too late.

Next you'll be singing the portal song and proclaiming about to whom all our base belong.

Hey, what's wrong with singing the portal song? it's quite a catchy piece...

Oh... nevermind. I'll go and stay in the corner.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I own a Wii. (Because of Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower and The Last Story.)

I also own New Super Mario Bros. Wii. (Fuck me, not even the Street Fighter franchise has titles that redundant.)

I have also played said game with my brother. (not my mom or dad, you idiot, even when once in a blue moon I can convince them to pick up a controller, their fingers cramp up because the Wii mote is horribly designed.)

And as I was playing, three things came to mind:

1) Why are the turtles enemies posing when the music does the *bap* sound?

2) Is this just a remake of Super Mario Bros 3 in disguise?

3) Why are we playing this when we could be playing LittleBIGPlanet?

Plan B: I own Zelda: Twilight Princess, picked it up for ? 15 or 20. It's been laying there for five months, still haven't found an excuse to actually play the thing. I'm just not looking forward having to point the damn stick at my screen the entire time. (Why can't all Wii-games come with the option to play with the classic controller like Xenoblade Chronicles?)

 

[FoolKiller]

Plan B: Now that you have a Wii, just buy Zelda: Twilight Princess. Even the Grinch would have fun playing that.

Hardly. That games sucks. It's great on Gamecube though so I would recommend that.

 

[ultrabiome]

I did this experiment with my girlfriend. She didn't have fun and neither did I.

F-.

I did with my wife, and it was also absolutely no fun. For some reason, Nintendo thought it would be fun for everyone to bounce off each others heads and push each other around, and it was totally frustrating. My wife is actually pretty good at Mario Bros, but trying to coordinate to actually complete levels together was a nightmare. I don't want to steal powerups and push my wife off the rotating bar platforms.

Now, try it with DKCR, that was fun. We couldn't kill each other, and she could always climb on my back if it got really hard for her and I could get us past the obstacles.

 

[CrystalShadow]

Yeah...

Granted the Wii U is still lacking decent games. (Nothing new here really for a new console.)

But the irony of the Wii is how many games there were that people apparently just overlooked.

I own more than 20 games, and I'd say less than 25% of those could reasonably be termed 'casual'. (even a lot of those are questionable. Is mario Galaxy a 'casual' game? It's not exactly easy in places)

Then again I own Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story... Pandora's tower... You know, all those games all those Americans were begging Nintendo to release... XD

and Fear & Punishment... Which is just... One of the oddest things ever.

Seriously though, people that say there were no good games on the Wii obviously weren't looking.