You know what? The Wii was an awesome console

[New Frontiersman]

I always enjoyed my Wii I thought it was a awesome console:, I loved the games, I thought the motion controls were good both the "waggling" and pointing, Hell I found Skyward Sword to have some of the best combat in any game ever, and in general I had, and still do have, fun playing it.

I just tend to ignore the people who shit on it, they tend to be the kind of people who just hate Nintendo in general and for the most past tend to shit on them no matter what they do. Sadly they're just so abundant on this site. But if you liked the Wii you shouldn't care what others think, all that matters is that you liked it!

We should exchange friend codes and play Monster Hunter or Brawl or something together sometime!

"The medium is the message", said Marshall McLuhan.

Oh? I remember reading about McLuhan quite a bit in my communications classes. He was never my favorite theorist, I always thought "the medium is the message" was a rather silly theory, but it's interesting you should apply his theories here to video games and to the Wii in particular. In retrospect I bet it would have been interesting if I had, for my final paper, applied McLuhan's theories to the medium of video games, looked at what message the medium of video games delivered.

So what do you guys think? Does the Wii deserve its sordid reputation amongst 'hardcore' gamers? Or in spite of the protestations of it being a fad was it secretly a great console?

I don't think it deserved a negative reputation at all, I loved my Wii. I still do. I'm going to keep playing my old Wii games on my Wii U and I'm going to keep using my Wii top lay GameCube games. I do think it's a great console, but I don't think it's much of a secret how great it was.

 

[Hero of Lime]

I loved the Wii, it's not my favorite Nintendo console, but it had so many great games. It even got the most use between the three consoles, even when some of that use was playing Gamecube games because I was too lazy to set it up. The main problem with the Wii was the long droughts between the amazing games, I remember times when it would be almost a year between new purchases.

 

[windlenot]

Yeeeah, no, I'm not going to agree with this. I didn't really care much for the games you mentioned or any of Nintendo's main IPs anyways. I was incredibly bothered by the controllers and never actually got around to playing a game where the controls felt "natural." The fact that it has great classics and the virtual system is all right, but, for the most part, these downloadable titles can't keep my interest the same way good retail games do. I have no reason for a Wii, nor do I think I ever will. I hated the Wii and will probably continue to do so.

 

[Exhuminator]

If there was one cliched statement that I got tired of hearing this gen, it was; "Time to dust off my Wii" every time a new big ticket Wii title was released. Sometimes reviewers would say; "Time to dust off your Wii" at the beginning of a big ticket Wii title review as well. These statements irked me because they imply there's hardly any games on the Wii, so only once in a blue moon do you need to play it. The truth is however, there's a vast amount of games available for the Wii, and not all of them are shovelware bargain bid crud by a long shot. Aside from the plethora of Nintendo developed titles, there are dozens upon dozens of third party developed Wii games that are quite creative and/or unique. This concept is illustrated well in an off forum thread: http://www.romhacking.net/forum/index.php?topic=15488.0

I think the Wii was the third best console Nintendo ever produced. It is only preceded by the SNES and NES.

 

[Yopaz]

Some of my best memories this gen are on the Wii. Specifically Metroid Prime Corruption was beautiful. Also Xenoblade (though I still havent finished it). And RE4. I actually bought Re4HD on the PS3 but I cant get into it after having played RE4 on the Wii. I think a lot of folks who complain about RE controls havent played the Wii version.

As sort of a guilty pleasure, I dont think I have laughed more during a game than during Far Cry on the Wii!

And yea, the party games. I guess that was the "casual" aspect. But the Wii brought people together in my living room. My Ps3 tends to separate me from others.

Resident Evil 4 on the Wii was amazing. It had the graphics of the GC version and the extra content of the PS2 version. Of course, the controls were what made that version awesome. I loved that so much, you felt like such a badass and could really get into it while playing Mercenaries and gunning down enemies with such ease. I also got really into it. Mouse and keyboard is the only thing that gives me more control while aiming.

OT: The Wii was a good console, not awesome, but pretty good. It had its fair share of good games and more than its share of crappy shovelware and the console kinda drowned in those and they overshadowed all the good games. I like all the 3 consoles, though lately I have been ignoring my Xbox and Wii in favour of the Wii U and PS3 (I got a PS3 10 months ago so I'm late to the party) and the Wii is as far as I'm concerned on par with the other 2 in terms of games. If I had to pick a favourite right now it would be the PS3 because it's amazing to have 2 Tales of games for one console with Symphonia and Xillia 2 coming up.

 

[AnthrSolidSnake]

I always admit that there were a whole crap ton of games that I know I would have enjoyed playing on the Wii, however I don't enjoy gimmicky controls. I don't play games to move. At all. I play games to unwind, and the Wii-mote didn't always allow that unless it was a basic platformer. And no, the Wii classic controller and others like it don't count since those don't come with the console.

 

[sextus the crazy]

I liked the Wii. It was a good back up Gamecube. Also, it probably had some good games on it.

 

[scorptatious]

The Wii was a very good console. It had a ton of shovelware yes, but there were also a bunch of good games for it as well. Like Super Mario Galaxy, Skyward Sword, Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Kirby's Epic Yarn and Return to Dreamland, SSBB, ect.

 

[TelHybrid]

It's nice to see some love for the Wii.

The problem with the Wii is its best games are somewhat obscure, compared to stuff like Mass Effect and Uncharted. The reason being their marketing strategy. The pulled in a casual market, and unfortunately for game developers for the Wii, this meant that when it came to the game buying habits of this new audience, they were (yep you guessed it) casual.

Seriously, the amount of people I knew (older relatives/friends parents/even gamers) who owned a Wii, and never bought any games for it, but claimed they were bored of the Wii was overwhelming. I know I'm using anecdotal evidence, but I'd be surprised if it's not a trend.

A lot of people would play Wii Sports to death, then never play their Wii again. Maybe buy Wii Fit or Just Dance.

 

[Exhuminator]

Seriously, the amount of people I knew (older relatives/friends parents/even gamers) who owned a Wii, and never bought any games for it

I experienced this phenomena myself often. Non-gamers buying the Wii for Wii Sports or Wii Fit, having their fill, and then never touching the console again... a highly common occurrence.

The same thing was true for the DS. People would buy it just for Brain Age or Nintendogs, got bored after a while, and then the DS sat in a closet ever after. Well I guess those folks keep their smartphones dust free now.

 

[MysticSlayer]

I have no shortage of hate for the Wii and how horribly Nintendo (and others) screwed it up.

Still, it is hard not to love. It offered some of the best games of this generation, including Xenoblade Chronicles, Super Mario Galaxy 1&2, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Donkey Kong Country Returns among others. The Virtual Console offered arguably the best selection of classic games of all the consoles, and it still kept the spirit of local multiplayer, something the other consoles forgot. It had its problems, and you could argue that it wasn't as good as its competitors when you take everything into consideration, but it was still a good console overall.

 

[Tom_green_day]

It was a new idea but for making me hate Monster Hunter series it's really got a black mark for me.

 

[Weaver]

I liked the Wii early on in its lifespan. There were lots of great games, including a fantastic Paper Mario and it had a great appeal to me. Nintendo then just kind of let it flop around and die ,sealing the deal with Skyward Sword; probably the worst "core" Zelda title in the last 15 years. It kind of ended its life in a shameful whimper.

I've been thinking of getting a WiiU though. Yes, just to play Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate.

 

[Poetic Nova]

As someone who loves the Nintendo Gamecube: I don't like the Wii at all, to much shovelware and only a handfull of games that are actually good, which isn't making me wanting one. Not a fan of the controls either, in most cases it is more gimmicky then anything else.

 

[Alarien]

I have no specific love for the Wii, but the Wii did EXACTLY what the Wii intended to do. It brought a casual audience BACK to console gaming, that had not been there since the early 1980's. That's quite the feat. Good for the Wii. Certainly, the machine was bad for all of us hardcore gaming nerds, but even if it created a few new serious gamers, it did a service to us all.

 

[thiosk]

The wii was the only console worth buying, because as soon as I bought a pc I had absolutely no need for the yearly COD shooters. I only missed out on red dead redemption by only having a wii and pc.

 

[Sandjube]

You know what? The super smash brothers was an awesome game. That's basically what this translates to, for me, since it's the only game I actually ever play and have played on all my nintendo consoles. Guess I'm getting a wii u.

 

[AlbertoDeSanta]

The problem with the Wii, is not a problem of the Wii. It's a problem of humanity. We're very judgmental, to the point where those who don't spend an ungodly amount of time gaming are called 'casual'. And it's become a negative term. I will always state that we should ditch these two insanely negative terms,because we should all be able to enjoy Video Games as a medium of entertainment WITHOUT putting a label on someone who has a different style to you.

OT: I liked the Wii too. It worked, and the motion controls were not that bad, albeit they weren't as good as they should be. It had amazing titles, and I really did enjoy what titles I had for the Wii.

 

[Catfood220]

I'll save you my usual lapsed Nintendo fanboy speech about how the Wii had potential but I only ended up playing my old Gamecube games as well as Resident Evil 4 over and over again before trading it in for a PS3. I've said that all many times before.

I will say however, that the Wii had some good games, but not enough to keep me interested in the console in the long run. I actually bought a Wii again when Skyward Sword was released, but now it just sits under my TV collecting dust while my PS3 get all the game time.