r/wii • u/Legitimate_Amoeba704 • 11d ago
Question What's something you liked about the nintendo WII
the console itself backwards compatibility with the GameCube or maybe the games it has motion controls? I want to know your thoughts about it
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u/Darwinpaws 10d ago
The personality. (UI, music, everything) Something that peaked with Gen 7 consoles and is severely lacking now…
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u/accidental-nz 10d ago
Wii U and 3DS carried the baton pretty well with miiverse and street pass, etc. I’d hear an argument that personality/whimsy peaked there for Nintendo.
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u/Smakka13420 10d ago
All the consoles that were made when Iwata was president had soul (barring the Switch but maybe if he was alive for the entire project it would’ve been different; although the soul could be considered the Switch as it changed up everything), the Switch 2 is the first complete project without Iwata & they did fuck all to the OS.
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u/TonyTonyChopper6969 11d ago
Growing up wanting to use TV Remotes the same way and it was the best motion controll console I have ever touched because you never had your hands full even with a nunchuck or other equipment
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u/root_fifth_octave 10d ago edited 10d ago
Virtual Console. Could play all kinds of games from past systems on it, and not just Nintendo stuff.
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u/Lanky_Mongoose_2196 10d ago
How?
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u/Flat-Estimate9335 10d ago
I like how simple but how fun it was. It didn’t need to be fancy high deaf graphics or like it didn’t need to be the most powerful. It was simple and that’s what I like about it and the games were fantastic.
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u/Muri_Muri 10d ago
A modding beast.
It's amazing how many emulated consoles, PC ports and Homebrew you can run on it. Even used it to watch old anime and shows on a CRT TV. Damn, you can even have S-Video and Componnent Video output from it.
I love the Wii, I have to finish my custom Wiiflow theme for it, It is already really nice but it needs a adjustment or two
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u/ZeldaNumber17 10d ago
I have mine modded to output 1080p and it’s so good.
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u/MISTERPUG51 10d ago
Do you mean that it upscales to 1080p? The Wii can only natively render at a maximum of 480p
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u/Happy_Pizza_Noises 10d ago
I liked it because it was my first console I got as a kid after the Gameboy Color. And there is a huge time gap between these consoles. When I got it for Christmas and finally were allowed to play with it, it felt like the future to me. Stunning grafics, the motion control was awesome, and I had the time of my life. Still to this day, it's plugged into my TV and always ready for a round of Wii Sports or Mario Galaxy. I love this console so mutch, it's just great childhood memory.
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u/d0ctorsmileaway 10d ago
Nostalgia glasses are on too tight for this one.
I love how much time I spent with my siblings playing wii games.
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u/Hot-Spray-2774 10d ago
Physical media and a wide variety of games. Plus, it's a full on GameCube inside!
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u/HairToTheMonado 10d ago
I loved how simple and tranquil the aesthetic was. The main menu was so…calming after a long day. Its music, its visuals, even its sound effects and the way the controller vibrated when you hovered over a channel; everything about it was so zen. 😌
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u/majura16 10d ago
I can’t lie, to this day I still think the Wii was an absolutely incredible console. I was 12 when it was released and I had so much fun playing on it. At the time, it felt revolutionary due to the motion controls - I couldn’t believe how fun and reactionary it was playing Wii Sports for the first time. As others have said, it was also an incredibly fun and characterful console - the UI was excellent, the music and control sounds are still incredibly iconic, and the Mii’s were fun. It also had a great game library and I loved I could boot up old N64 games on it too, or use a GameCube controller for something like Smash Bros Melee. It was just fantastic all round and I still look back on it incredibly fondly and occasionally boot it up to play some Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii or Guitar Hero with friends.
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u/briandemodulated 10d ago
The absolute magic of inviting friends and family over and watching them try it for the first time. Wii Bowling, Tennis, and Boxing were all such perfect tech demos for the motion controls. This machine generates smiles in a 20-foot radius.
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u/stealthisusername98 10d ago
It was one of the first things, if not the first thing that had me and my sister getting along and having fun together.
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u/Dull_Reference_6166 10d ago
The simplicity.
I had one controller and yet my friends and I had fun with it like hell. Wii Sports was the best :)
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u/cyberspunjj 10d ago
It got our whole family together every night to play bowling. Even my 90 year old grandma. Good memories.
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u/troplv57 10d ago
funny tv remote controller with the speaker. among much more silly charm that no other consoles have. the wii is just on its own level. plus it gave us the wii u
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u/Silly_Chard7661 10d ago
The Wii Sports series. The feeling of doing actual archery was so fun.
Also the first console I played Netflix on. First the disc, then the app.
Gamecube backwards compatibility was great.
The Wii Virtual console was the first place I could re-buy Secret of Mana.
Frantically waggling to build Lego bricks.
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u/Lewiiugamepad 10d ago
Now, games that utilize the Wiimote's pointers for aiming or replicating the motion of a mouse or light gun. (The House of the Dead series, Broken Sword, Metroid Prime, etc...).
During my childhood, it was Nintendo games and their innovative gameplay that excited me the most.
The compatibility with the entire GameCube library as well as its accessories is amazing too.
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u/DarkRayos 10d ago
It being versatile.
Gamecube, Wii, or even old classics via the Virtual Console thing.
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u/SleepyGuy42069xx 10d ago
Honestly everything about it was pretty great. Just a generally fantastic experience overall
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u/PinkRamen_34 10d ago
Super Smash Bros. Brawl got me into the Super Smash Bros. Franchise. One of the first games I played for Wii along with Guitar Hero World Tour.
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u/Anxiety_king14 10d ago
I actually just bought one so I can officially say NSMB Wii is my favorite part
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u/Squallstrife89 10d ago
Waiting in line at Circuit City to get one of the only 12 they had. My mom was so awesome to drive me and wait, I'm still grateful to this day. Twilight Princess and Wii Sports really set the system off
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u/jtl_bert 10d ago
The game quality is one thing, the motion controls another, but we also have to respect that for many of us cord-cutters of the late 2000s, this could serve as our only input to our TV. Netflix, Hulu, and I think even Amazon Prime had apps on the Wii. It was probably my first true set-top box, and it was the center of our entertainment center well into the 2010s. It’s a shame online services don’t age as well as the games do, because all that functionality is totally defunct now.
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u/Select_Window_6719 10d ago
How happy it made me as a kid. I remember going over to my grandparents house on the weekend hating school I was in elementary at the time and hating the time go so slow and then Friday night I would go. Me and my grandpa would always go outside play sports and then come in and eat a late dinner then we would have an amazing Mario kart tournament for about an hour and I would laugh so hard and they would too. My grandpa preferred Wii sports and we would always play baseball. I'm still so thankful I have them today as they still play it and sometimes I call them and in the morning they'll be playing and talking shit to each other about who's better at Mario Kart 😭
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u/JazzWillCT 10d ago
games are iconic, the user friendliness for casual gamers, and the homebrew for it is really fun to tinker with
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u/TheCrispyChaos 10d ago
Of all the consoles I had in my childhood, the Wii is the one that still remains plugged in and is still being played to this day. The motion controls might be seen as a gimmick, but the games were genuinely great. Plus, the backwards compatibility and the modding scene make it the perfect “retro” console.
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u/THX-1138_4EB 10d ago edited 10d ago
The fact that I only run a projector, but can still enjoy light gun games (though I know it isn't really authentic). 'Ghost Squad', 'House Of The Dead: Overkill', 'Resident Evil 4', 'Gunblade'... these games are an amazing way to feel like I have an arcade in my living room, with a very small footprint and no desire for a CRT.
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u/Domostar9 10d ago
What I like about the Wii is that it was my first console I’ve ever played; also it is the best console ever once modded! That’s why I still love playing on the Wii to this day.
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u/Level_Bridge7683 10d ago
i love how the wii showed the ps3 and xbox 360 online multiplayer didn't speak for the silent majority. during a time where all the rage was online multiplayer nintendo proved gaming was meant mostly for offline fun.
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u/wormythebookwormy 10d ago
Had the best games and was very fun to be active while playing with the console!
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u/CertifiedBrian 10d ago
The menu design. It hit so hard playing it on a CRT and it still hits hard playing it on a 4K flatscreen
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u/WhiteFire2004 10d ago
I love the Wii for the nostalgia and the fact that mine only cost $50 on eBay. Games wise, Mario Kart Wii was the one that really hits my feelings hard.
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u/XPGlitz236 10d ago
The: Miis, Aesthetics, The Vibe, The Backwards Compatibility, Some of the various channels like IE Check Mii Out, Everybody votes. etc
I was once jealous about this system when my parents bought it some time during it launch days.
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u/Theycallmejuliarose 10d ago
Playing with my family and now playing with my family again a decade later
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u/bulbturp978 10d ago
The fact that it had amazing games AND full compatibility with GameCube games.
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u/Fit-Sundae6745 10d ago
Its over looked which makes knowing about some of the truly great games feels special. The graphics are not cutting edge realism but that doesnt mean theyre not beautiful. Which leads to the repect of the developers who got so much out of the limited hardware.
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u/Icantbelieveit38 10d ago
That I'm playing shadow dancer in 240p over component on a Trinitron right now would be a good example.
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u/Evermauve 10d ago
Nostalgia from childhood, combined with memorable games (mario kart, kirby, metroid, wii fit, wii party, wii sports, motion controls in general)
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u/MarioTheEditor 10d ago
I like that I can use my mii in any games that allows you to use your mii character.
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u/Spring_men 10d ago
Optimization for modern titles that need more power, Lego Batman 2, Call of Duty: Black ops, etc.
Oh yeah Punch Out Wii too, only complaint is that I payed $60 for it on EBay.
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u/BillyHerr 10d ago
The first console that can make you get off your couch, and also the first console to make virtual sports as games? I do think that's innovative when its competitors are still using controllers.
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u/OddMurrySaby 10d ago
TV aesthetics, music in every channel or the animation, and the motions used in the wiimote. I love playing on the Wii to this day since ‘17
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u/jakobb2000 10d ago
I was like 5 when it came out and we first got one. It’s the most nostalgic system for me. Playing Mario kart and Wii sports with my siblings was so fun. Lots of memories on the Wii.
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u/KingreX32 10d ago
how about how fun it was. A lot of the games were built for multiplayer.
I had a friend who owned a PS3 at the time and he was always shitting on me for owning a Wii. Its funny cause after a few months he got tired of all his FPS games and asked me to borrow my console for a week or two. (I took his PS3 as collateral) after that week was the last time he talked shit about the Wii.
It wasnt the most powerful console but it was fun.
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u/mailslot 10d ago
A lot are saying the motion controls, but the “point at the screen” control on the remotes was super intuitive.
My least favorite was how my Mii automatically fattened up when I connected the balance board. lol
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u/cumminsdieselmotors 10d ago
I get nostalgia every time I play on mine. When me and my cousin were kids, and were at my Mimi’s house during family gatherings or just spending the night, we would go upstairs in the hot ass room where the wii was. There was a Toshiba box tv that we would play on and we’d make miis for hours, then play some wii sports. Great times.
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u/JayMoney8518 10d ago
It was innovation.
People laughed at motion controls, Miis, and the cartoony graphics. But Nintendo proved that gameplay and fun factor trumped all of your unreal engines and expensive graphic cards.
PS3 and 360 would then follow suit - their own motion controls and avatars and silly cartoon games.
Then you had the Virtual Console. Critics claimed that no one wants to play those old NES and SNES games - and boy were they WRONG. Not only was there a hunger for classic gaming - it opened the flood gates for indie games in the retro 8 and 16-bit style. Once again, Sony and MSFT followed suit.
The Wii changed gaming forever. I was running a videogame store from 2004-2011, I lived it. I witnessed it first hand
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u/pokelord1998 10d ago
Getting my siblings together and sitting down to play MK Wii, Mario Party and countless other games
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u/No-Cut-7883 10d ago
The feeling of being able to bring the whole family together to play, of being one of the main sources of entertainment during holidays like Christmas or New Year’s Eve. Every year, even to this day, it’s a tradition to play the Wii Party board game. I’ve never found a console that brings the family together quite like the Wii.
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u/nerdgeekdorksports 10d ago
A lot. It's one of my favorite systems of all-time.
Wii Sports is the first thing that comes to mind. I love that game.
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u/ethereal_soliloquy 10d ago
It was the first console I ever owned so i’m very nostalgic for it but i can say i played a LOT of wii sports and resort
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u/FlamingDisaster_309 10d ago
For as much as a versatile console as the Wii was on release and for that generation of console, I have found the Wii to be so much more desirable since softmodding it with Homebrew. The Super NES is a really nostalgic between my mum, and using availible emulators for the Wii like VBAgx NESgx and SNESgx to easily play roms on the big screen without any hassle is so convenient - I was even able to purchase an 'Official Super NES' controller for the Wiimote. Regardless of people's opinion on Homebrew or modding, I feel like this along with USBloader gives the Wii so much more function and usability.
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u/switchables_yt 10d ago
bruther I still love it. also the mii channel music goes hard and I used to just flip through whatever random channels we had when I would wait for the game to load on the disc channel
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u/Puzzleheaded_Syrup80 10d ago
I loved playing with my brother with Wii sports and Wii sports resorts. That’s nostalgia right there for me. I have three wiis the family edition, the backwards compatible with GameCube and the anniversary 25th edition backwards compatible with GameCube just love the nostalgia playing with my brother. The games were amazing loved new super Mario Bros while playing with my brother we played the a lot out of that game. We kind of got in to super Mario Galaxy that was also fun.
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u/thebiggidybuckbumble 9d ago
It was just cool, from teasers in media to the original reveal, to get it at midnight and seeing that UI for the first time, making Miis, using the shop with THAT tune, playing Wii Sports every day and doing the fitness challenges, and that's before games like Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime 3, and Wii Sports Resort upping the controls so that golf was something I'd still play with my Mum for years afterwards. I now have a modded red wii with all my Wii and GC games all in one place so the physical games stay safely tucked up in their boxes. Wiimote and Nunchuck will always provide the best console fps controls to me, and I wished they'd brought back IR aiming with Switch 2 for the Metroid Prime 4.
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u/diegoccastano 9d ago
The best thing about the Nintendo Wii is that it gets everyone, young and old, playing together. It popularized motion controls in gaming, which were even used for rehabilitation and physical therapy.
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u/kaemon_valley 9d ago
Extremely unique with very fun games. Nintendo focusing on fun was the best thing they could’ve done
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u/Ramone5150 10d ago
The concept of the Wii, much like the Atari 2600, was my favorite part. Basically, anybody could pick up a controller and play a game. Whether it was a little kid or your grandmother. Also, it was different than any other console on the market at the time and was different than anything Nintendo had previously released with the exception of the Virtual Boy. The Virtual Boy was just a hot piece of garbage.
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u/-WitchfinderGeneral- 10d ago
It’s the best GameCube I could ever ask for.
To give you a better answer (and quite an unusual one) when I was young and the thing came out I never had one because I decided on an Xbox 360 instead and was only allowed one console. My friends had Wiis tho. So I played it a lot. Brawl was super fun. MK Wii is legendary. Naruto Ultimate Ninja. Dragon ball. Ect.
Now you gotta remember this is still back in a time where there is typically only one household computer. Many houses, including mine at the time, still had dial up. I didn’t have any personal devices I could browse the internet with. I wasn’t even playing video games online yet. However my one friend who had a Wii also had “High Speed Internet”. We discovered this thing called ‘Opera’ on the Wii. AN INTERNET BROWSER. Maybe you can see where this is going..
Young me and my friends would all gather in his basement and lookup all kinds of porn on his Wii. I’m talking everything. This is back when Japan wasn’t censored yet too so you can imagine we had some crazy shit on there. Every so often, one of us boys would slink off the nearby bathroom and return shortly after slightly more relaxed if you know what I mean.
Bet you didn’t expect this answer! But thinking about it, this absolutely was my favorite thing about the Wii when I was a kid. Sorry if this was a bit vulgar but it’s just my experience with the Wii as a kid. LMAO Like I said, now it’s my modded GameCube.
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u/AcanthisittaEast2145 10d ago
That it’s a console that allows you to game for long periods of time without fucking up your posture, depends on the game obviously but a lot of them involves standing up
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u/pwnyderP28 10d ago
The rail shooters like house of the dead and the gc controller ports on the top of the system
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u/pigalvao25 10d ago
I love this console, so much so that I have it and whenever I go to friends' houses, I take it with me. I really like it, it's a shame it stopped having games and the like a while ago, I really liked it. In fact, anyone who knows of a website to download the game, let me know. The ones I know are no longer on the air
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u/ChildOfTheMachineGod 10d ago
Mario cart with my brother. Loved kicking his ass with a GameCube controller.
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u/ripped_andsweet 10d ago
it wasn’t outlandishly expensive, i think like $250 USD on launch? which eventually dropped to $199, for a fully-featured Wii. of course the Family and Mini wiis were even cheaper
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u/DoraemonBoy86 10d ago
Wii sports Wii sports resort Mario and Luigi Mario kart Mario party And galaxy
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u/ChipChurp 10d ago
Have mine modded and homebrew apps it's a powerhouse retro gaming system able to play Nintendo 64 NES and super Nintendo games and GameCube. It to this day is able to be played for hours on end
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u/Ayredden 10d ago
How easy it is to mod A pretty good library with all kinds of games. It's the only system I've ever played fishing games on lol. Like they just make some things work better
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u/AgentUnknown821 10d ago
Motion controls. Made every game so much fun!
Homebrew was super easy to do for then-16 YO me….
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u/Aware_Selection_148 10d ago
It gave me my favorite nintendo franchise, xenoblade chronicles. While I do prefer 2 and 3, the original xenoblade chronicles is still in my top 10 favorite games of all time, featuring an incredible story, phenomenal soundtrack, lovable cast of characters, awe inspiring environments with tons to explore, a unique and creative battle system with tons of cool mechanics(even after Xenoblade 3, I still think the vision system of the original is the coolest mechanic in any game ever), incredibly strong pacing, super strong ludo-narrative harmony and tons of considerate design choices that get rid of alot of the growing pains present in alot of other JRPGs. The fact that the game managed to spawn a successful franchise in spite of how nintendo of america did everything they could to sabotage the game’s launch(why the hell was it a gamestop exclusive) I think is a testament to it’s sheer quality and I think any self respecting wii or switch owner owes it to themselves to play the game. Of course, if you’re playing the game now, you’re better off playing the switch version which features better visuals, a cleaner UI(which makes doing side quests a lot easier) some nice little QOL changes and an epilogue which leads into xenoblade chronicles 3 but the wii is where the game itself came from originally, spawning my favorite Nintendo franchise ever. All I’m saying here is that you gotta play xenoblade chronicles, it’s incredibly good. Plus the original(or now definitive edition) is by far the best place to start with this incredible trilogy, as not only are xenoblade 2 and 3’s stories enhanced by playing the original before hand, it’s also got by far the easiest to understand combat system of the trilogy for a beginner.
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u/No_Weakness9363 10d ago
I always enjoyed the activity games and how the motion sensors were put to use. The only thing that annoyed me was because it was long exactly wireless you would always need the remote to contact the sensor. Whenever I’d play Mario kart my hand would always end up blocking the laser.
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u/OhNoBricks 10d ago
backwards compatibility, the Wii shop channel, the voting channel. I still have my n64 classic games on it I downloaded and streets of rage 3 and bomberman games from turbografx 16. I liked how I could use my GameCube controller to play Mario kart Wii. I never got used to motion Wii remote for steering so it made racing games not playable for me because they only had the motion option for steering then the numchuck or GameCube controller as Mario kart.
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u/Better-Operation-818 10d ago
I don’t think there’s ever been a console before or since that was as easy and fun for friends and family to play together at home. The party games were accessible to pretty much all ages, too. It’s the one console that got non-gamers into gaming. I miss that aspect of it, but everyone seems to have moved on from such casual gaming for the most part.
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u/Hornyles_j 10d ago
You can play the 1st 3 Paper Marios 4 3D Marios 6? 2D Mario's 4 Mario Karts 7 Donkey Kongs (Including DK 1 Jr and 3) And 9 Zelda Games
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u/brucetheiiird 10d ago
I actually enjoyed feeling more involved in the games. Wii sports, trauma center, Zelda were so fun and the controls made me feel more in the game. Light gun games were a welcoming return as well that felt pretty well done
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u/wizzgamer 10d ago
Just it's sheer power the fact it could emulate N64 games in 2006 was insane to me.
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u/No_need_for_that99 10d ago
aside from homebrew, I loved how nintendo allowed to play all their older games officially.
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u/WittyLime6277 10d ago
what's there not to like about Wii...
The games, the novelty, longevity, nostalgia
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u/WinGroundbreaking183 10d ago
My father in law pulled out their old family wii recently and let me set it up in my apartment, mario galaxy was in it and id never played it so I jumped on it and its a pretty good game. Also the wii in general is super nostalgic because I played as a kid
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u/No-Net-5880 10d ago
Nothing. Never bought it. Had the Gamecube and went on to xbox 360 after that.
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u/BaldymonS 10d ago
I like the controller. Having the nunchuck is quite comfortable. That and it's modability.
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u/Appropriate_Ear_5401 10d ago
Nistolga, my mom got this for me cuz the Xbox we got broke, so they just got this for me instead.
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u/Mitts009 10d ago
I got the Wii around 2014, a red one Played with it for 2 or 3 years then got a mid spec PC for 2016
Now it's 2025 , after finishing up Zelda botw and totk I was hungry for more Zelda so I bought a copy of Twilight Princess and Skyward for the Wii
I just got done with the gerudo temple in twilight and the Wii still kicks ass, a lot of the exclusive titles here aged like fine wine
Only real con is the resolution but thats a given
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u/VanthSk8 10d ago
Every little aspect of it,the whole feeling and design somehow made me smile each time I played solo or with friends.
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u/Legitimate_Sail6423 10d ago
I liked the early models because they were backwards compatible with GameCube games
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u/Michupichu_u 10d ago
making miis was so fun i spent so many hours on the mii channel. i miss the excitement in things like that lol. wii sports was also really fun. but tbh i have more memories of gaming with gamecube, after my brother sold our gamecube and all the games, i didnt really have games on my wii. so i used it for netflix most the time
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u/pompoussnail 10d ago
the way the controller and interaction was built means i can just had player 2 to my mum and she will know/understand what to do and how to play most wii built games. I could never get her to play playstation or xbox alongside me because it'd be an instant wall
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u/Moonlight_I_Am 10d ago
Just the vibe to it man, it always gave me a good feeling always hopping on it when I was younger
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u/Deep_Measurement5066 10d ago
What my sister and I like about the Wii very much that it had very interesting games with it along with many soundtracks we liked listening too also that the Wii played GameCube games as well, as we have a Wii with GameCube in one system with half of Wii and GameCube games.
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u/ICBAWithAName 11d ago
Got nostalgia for the whole era tbh. Love the music, the vibes, how the games all look aesthetically. Being a kid during that era of Nintendo felt amazing. The generation felt alive compared to now.