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Reprise
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Re: Wii: A failure

by Reprise Fri Jan 01, 2021 3:40 pm

Alright, I'll wade into this and go with yeah, in many ways, it was a failure.

It was a flash in the pan fad with no longevity, that aged quickly (and poorly) and no staying power. Hardware flew off the shelves, it was the hottest item for Christmas for a couple of years, but compared to the PS3 and 360 they struggled to push software.

It was clear from the initial success that Nintendo wanted Wii to become a brand, like iPhone or Playststion, hence the Wii U, and in that regard they failed.

The library itself is less than stellar and whilst it has a number of interesting and unique titles, as well as hidden gems, overall it's limited. On Metacritic, just 14 Wii games have a Metacritic rating of 90 or above. Compare that to the PS3 which has 49 games with a rating of 90 or higher.

And how many Wii games do people look back at, remember fondly and are featured regularly in lists of the best games? I can think of Metroid Prime Trilogy, which is mostly an enhanced port (2 games being from the Gamecube) and the Mario Galaxy games.

The Wii has aged like milk and that's not me saying that in 2020. It had already gone sour in 2010.
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Re: Wii: A failure

by prfsnl_gmr Fri Jan 01, 2021 10:52 pm

Reprise wrote:The Wii has aged like milk and that's not me saying that in 2020. It had already gone sour in 2010.


So...now, it’s like a ten-year cheddar?
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Re: Wii: A failure

by Sarge Sat Jan 02, 2021 12:50 am

I probably waded into this at some point, but I'll still defend the Wii. Really dig it - lots of hidden gems, and perhaps Nintendo's best slate of first-party offerings since the SNES. (Yeah, I went there.) It also made for (and honestly still does) a great little emulation rig, and it's even capable of pushing out 240p, something the XBOX can't actually do (yet is also a really great emulation rig).
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Re: Wii: A failure

by SpaceBooger Sat Jan 02, 2021 2:03 pm

Sarge wrote:I probably waded into this at some point, but I'll still defend the Wii. Really dig it - lots of hidden gems, and perhaps Nintendo's best slate of first-party offerings since the SNES. (Yeah, I went there.) It also made for (and honestly still does) a great little emulation rig, and it's even capable of pushing out 240p, something the XBOX can't actually do (yet is also a really great emulation rig).

I think you can say that about the Wii U too... I know different consoles but the same idea. Hear me out - with the Wii (and Wii U) seeming like gimmicks to 3rd party developers, Nintendo was trying to make real games not just cash in on the console's install base. The games that Nintendo made were awesome and stood out because A) They were Nintendo quality, B) They implemented the "gimmicks" into the games seamlessly and relevantly, and C) They were "Nintendo" games (I had to say it again to make my point).
Nintendo's first-party games are always on point and I feel Galaxy is the best 3D Mario series ever and multi-players on the screen at once reinvigorated the side-scrolling platform Mario experience.
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Re: Wii: A failure

by RCBH928 Sat Jan 02, 2021 6:58 pm

Sarge wrote:I probably waded into this at some point, but I'll still defend the Wii. Really dig it - lots of hidden gems, and perhaps Nintendo's best slate of first-party offerings since the SNES. (Yeah, I went there.) It also made for (and honestly still does) a great little emulation rig, and it's even capable of pushing out 240p, something the XBOX can't actually do (yet is also a really great emulation rig).


Really? I feel Mario 64, Wave Race, banjo-kazooie, goldeneye, zelda 64, killer instinct, mario kart (3D!), Starfox 64, SuperSmash were more innovative and groundbreaking for their time over the Wii offering. Even if we consider Nintendo's own IP I would say Zelda, Mario 64, SuperSmash, and Mario Kart were more of a reason to buy the N64 over their sequels on the Wii.

As for 3rd party support, shouldn't the switch be surpassing it by now with game offerings? Its been 4 years since launch I am not sure if its end of life for the Switch as Nintendo prepares to release something more modern or they will make it a midlife and continue feeding their gold laying goose.
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Re: Wii: A failure

by opa Sat Jan 02, 2021 8:07 pm

The wii was great. End of story.
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Re: Wii: A failure

by AwesomeMonstar Mon Nov 22, 2021 1:59 pm

From a game art perspective, there's something really special about the Wii. While everything else was drifting towards PBR and HD textures, the Wii remained steadfast in hand made UV's.

It's probably the last console the retain that 'ps2' style, and arguably has the best examples of what that can look like as a result. Great low poly models, pre-mocap rigs, and 'hand drawn' texture work that would quickly get replaced by substance painter and high res normal maps, etc.

I know this isn't as substantive a defense that some folks may want for the console, but I think being the last vestige of how 3d art was done for DECADES is pretty cool.
Don't that just look oh so tasty?
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Re: Wii: A failure

by marurun Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:20 pm

I don’t remember the video game drift towards Pabst Blue Ribbon.
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Re: Wii: A failure

by AwesomeMonstar Mon Nov 22, 2021 2:31 pm

marurun wrote:I don’t remember the video game drift towards Pabst Blue Ribbon.

ah, inside baseball terms! sorry!

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Physicall ... _rendering

This stuff!
Don't that just look oh so tasty?
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Re: Wii: A failure

by nickfil Tue Nov 23, 2021 9:10 pm

alienjesus wrote:Its been eleven fucking years since this topic was started and nothing has changed about the discussion. :roll:


13 years now.

I saw this post and I was like "i'm going to respond to that for sure." and then I scrolled and realized I was the first to respond to it 13 years ago.

FWIW- I'm still playing my wii. Sold my n64. Mothballed my wii u. The wii is still good.

I'm playing through Fire Emblem Path of Radiance right now on stream, and I'm about to dig into the Radiant Dawn on the wii on stream.

The console never put out anything more than 480p. PS3 and 360 put out mostly 720p for games. Weirdly, that kind of works in the wii's favor now. Each of the resolutions look like shit on 4k. The great thing about the wii is that you can downscale it to 240p in the video options and run it on any CRT television no problem. It'll put out a *perfect* picture for the wiiware snes/nes/tg-16 stuff at their native resolution. And it is so easily hackable. It is an emulation powerhouse.

I also can't see a lot of the games being ported to other places. The motion controls are so unique that love or hate them, the wii is it. Everything on ps3 and 360 is going to get ports if the game has enough of a fanbase behind it. I doubt a lot of the wii's games are going to get ported.

I wasn't playing my wii a bunch against my 360 and ps3, but I'm still playing my wii occasionally, and its competitors are collecting dust. IDK. I think in the long term the modding/hacking community made the wii more interesting than the other systems out there at the time. I have love for all 3, but I wouldn't call the wii a failure by any means.
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