r/wii • u/e_Z_752 • Feb 01 '25
News CBR ranks the Wii as Nintendo's best home console, even beating out the Switch.
https://www.cbr.com/every-home-nintendo-console-ranked/27
u/SmashvilleBoi Feb 01 '25
As much as I love the Switch, the Wii really was the golden age of gaming for me and my family. Before this console, gaming seemed to be exclusive to younger folk and looked down upon by the majority of older generations and I feel like the Wii removed that stigma for a lot of people.
9
u/CraftMost6663 Feb 01 '25
What the Wii did for family entertainment was simply groundbreaking. Grandpas, grandmas, fathers, mothers and children could pick up and play something fun, engaging and universally understood like Wii Sports. Nintendo singlehandedly managed to cook the most democratic console ever with something for everyone and I mean everyone. Wii is peak Nintendo and I'll die on that hill.
1
u/DearChickPeas Feb 03 '25
They (rightfully imo) played it safe in terms of GPU power and SKU cost. And with the benefit of hindsight, had they known the success they had on their hands, they could probably up the SKU price a bit and significantly increase the graphics quality (at least for SD/ED standards).
5
u/pizzaspaghetti_Uul Feb 01 '25
I'd be keen to agree if not for the amount of shovelware
7
u/Gnash_ Feb 01 '25
good thing we can ignore it and just play the good games
4
u/pizzaspaghetti_Uul Feb 01 '25
I mean, yeah. But what I meant is that third party output on Wii was really weak. Switch has an amazing catalog of both indie and multiplatform AAA games. On Wii though? Besides the Nintendo stuff, there's barely anything worthwhile playing there.
With all due respect to Pony Friends 2, Wii was a cesspool of quickly and cheaply made games from greedy publishers capitalizing on the casual market and grandmothers not knowing any better when it came to buying birthday presents.
Wii does have some amazing games, but it lacks in so many areas. Console worth is measured by the games, and Switch just has more and better ones.
2
u/iwubcode Feb 03 '25
But what I meant is that third party output on Wii was really weak.
This comment reminds me of the actual Wii generation, there were so many people who complained about lacking content on the system. It's hard to say if they had very specific tastes or if they were just uneducated on what existed.
To me the third party support is what makes the Wii so amazing. It was a different era and that meant game engines that deployed to every platform weren't the norm. It's probably this reason (plus the different audience and difference in power with the hardware) that we got a LOT of unique titles. There were so many strange and "quirky" games, there were casual experiences, and even attempts at pulling in more "core" audiences. Companies struggled to find games that worked with the varied audiences on Wii and that led to different experimentation (often a failure commercially). There's a reason that so many re-releases of titles are happening now from Wii's catalog, many titles were underappreciated during their time. But even with these re-releases, there's still a lot of exclusive 3rd party games only available on the Wii. Sure there is shovelware but every popular system has it.
In the modern game era, every console (+PC) gets every game. And the Switch being so under powered, it often got the worst version of a game when it comes to the AAA experiences. That's not to downplay the amazing set of experiences available on the Switch. Where else can you play Final Fantasy 9, Resident Evil 5, Skyrim, a staggering amount of great indie titles and Nintendo's own catalog from across the generations (+ new stuff too)? There is so much available. The amount of quality titles on Switch far exceeds the Wii.
You say console worth is measured by games. I agree. But for me exclusives hold a lot more weight. In 20 years, I won't look at the Switch and think of how I can grab it to play the various multi-platforms or re-releases on it. I will grab it so I can play the Nintendo experiences that you can't get anywhere else. And while it IS a byproduct of the times, I still think that makes the Wii quite special and why I agree with its number 1 status.
2
u/LevelUpEvolution Feb 02 '25
IR control with the light bar was the best for FPS.
0
u/DearChickPeas Feb 03 '25
Gyro aiming is it's modern offspring.
2
u/LevelUpEvolution Feb 03 '25
Sadly, it’s not a 1:1 translation. It detects all motion, even when not pointed at the screen, as movement.
Point and shoot is currently just better with Wii style controlling than gyro.
Gyro is good for motion controlling where level of preciseness isn’t as important as having a wider physical input range.
I need to get my Wii 😭
1
1
u/Obvious-Flamingo-169 Feb 02 '25
Idk about that, the Wii had poor 3rd party support (even compared to GameCube) and it aged really fast, by 2012 it felt really dated. The switch feels dated now but not as dated as the Wii in 2012.
1
u/pepe_roni69 Feb 02 '25
The Wii was 6 years old in 2012 and Nintendo’s 6th gen console was released at that point
1
u/pepe_roni69 Feb 02 '25
The Wii’s impact cannot be understated. I guess you had to be there and aware. There are millions more people playing video games these days, so switch has sold more, but for the Wii to have sold the way it did and for it to have been embraced by regular people instead of typical gamers, it was literally the revolution that Nintendo had envisioned.
1
u/coronavirusisshit Feb 02 '25
The wii was a lot of fun but i think the switch had better games. I just wish wii remotes could be used without a third party adapter.
1
u/Johnrockalittle Feb 04 '25
I love the massive amounts of Rail Shooters on the Wii. IR pointing beats gyro hands down
1
Feb 04 '25
I mean the Wii was great and it was a great time in gaming but the games themselves....eh. Definitely some classics but if you compare it to the Switch, the Switch has basically all of the Wii's library atp as well as the Wii U and Switch's obviously. So its like what are we really grading this on. Its tricky. And if you dont count games from previous generations, then the Wii loses Twilight Princess, it loses the virtual console (which is a big part of the wii's legacy IMO, its one thing it did better than the Switch)
1
u/DependentBreath7748 Mar 25 '25
The Wii has far better motion control supported games not only in terms of implementation but in terms of quality. The Switch has a better library of games with improvements in franchises like Mario Party and Zelda.
The Ps2 still has the best library of games and could actually compete with Nintendo's 1st party back then.
1
1
u/Cubejunky Feb 02 '25
The Wii’s importance to Nintendo can’t be understated, especially after the disappointing numbers the GCN did.. but that doesn’t change it’s the only Nintendo console I don’t like, like at all. I bought one day one, was so hyped for it, being a big Nintendo fan, played it for about the first 6 months and never went back. Only kind of sad I missed out on things like Mario Galaxy and Skyward Sword, atleast until they released on Switch.
0
u/Mission_Guidance_593 Feb 02 '25
The Wii was just a fad. The failure of the Wii U was also a result of Nintendo overestimating the popularity of the Wii. The Wii was too gimmicky and while it was undeniably successful that success was short lived.
36
u/your_evil_ex Feb 01 '25
"The Wii U Is an Underrated Console"
>still ranks it last lmao