Cubed3 Special | Five Years of Nintendo Wii Page 1

Happy birthday, Nintendo Wii! December 8th 2011 marks the fifth anniversary of Nintendo's current home console on the UK market. Following our Nintendo History article focusing on Wii's launch, Cubed3 staff and contributors past and present huddled together to celebrate and share their favourite memories of Nintendo's fifth home console...

Jorge Ba-oh, Founder

I've always been a SEGA lover at heart, practically born and raised, in the Sonic playground I spent most of my days. There was a point where the likes of Super Mario Bros and The Legend of Zelda were completely alien and it had to take something special to lure me into Nintendo's mystical world. Alongside the Game Boy, the answer came with the Nintendo 64 and its revolutionary controller. The trident setup, analogue stick and trigger button brought players from a rigid 3D setup into a roaming sandbox of unmatched exploration.

Since the company's initial fascination with polygons, Nintendo refined and improved the experience with the rich graphics and sound on the GameCube. I was hooked. With each of the handful of gems released, moments of joy were sewn into my gaming quilt. I still snuggle with it today. But with flailing sales and third parties scuttling away, Nintendo needed that revolutionary moment again; so queue the slightly ambitious 'Revolution', or "Revo" as it were better known in back-alley Mario circles. Then the Japanese gaming house rebranded the concept 'Wii'. British scoffing and urine aside, in five years the console is King of Casual; everyone and their great aunt can experience a game of Wii Sports Tennis or break a sweat in Wii Fit. The console opened up the doors for the mainstream and invited hardcore players to try something a little less conventional - early attempts including The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Red Steel, though not perfect by any means, showed the Wii Remote's early potential.

Aside from sports and slaying monsters, my first slice of Wii came in a Nintendo event with WarioWare: Smooth Moves. Twist, turn, poke, prod and zap. Everything felt so natural and different; I just had to have my very own Wii. Lectures skipped. Trawling through the streets of London. Asking a local pimp... Nothing. One of the biggest hardware launches I’ve ever experienced, and the white box of tricks still sells by the bucket load today, regardless of configuration. Whilst not every game really utilised the technology to its potential, Wii refined classic designs in Super Mario Galaxy, Donkey Kong Country: Returns, Metroid Prime Trilogy and numerous others, culminating in a well-deserved champion of motion control, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.

The console and concept is everywhere, even borrowed by the once strictly conventional competitors. I can without hesitation say that "Wii" is synonymous with "video gaming"; that's how much Nintendo have turned things around in a relatively short space of time, and despite a slowing output, it's still a strong household name. With Wii U around the corner, let's hope Nintendo can truly capitalise on the motion play and lessons learnt during this half decade of Wii Remotes and Nunchuks.

Adam Riley, Senior Editor

I always look at my Wii with affection, laughing at the comments seen around the Internet about how it is basically two GameCubes joined together. Where do these jibes come from, though? Are they merely mindless mumblings from the machismo mob trying to mar its reputation? Actually, the comments are not entirely unfounded, and the Wii Remote surprisingly did indeed start off as a sheer add-on for the underperforming home console predecessor that many thought look liked a toy or even a purple lunchbox. Personally I thought when it was turned on it looked like a dog’s face, with its right eye winking, the tiny orange light being its tongue, big black circular section its nose, and the unusual handle being its hair. Whatever the case, Nintendo wanted to extend its life by releasing all manner of peripherals, one of which was the addition of a motion controller that had been in development back when Factor 5 was working on Star Wars: Rogue Leader.

However, with GameCube sales flagging considerably, inevitably another plan had to be put in motion. Therefore, although others criticise Wii for being nothing more than a glorified GameCube, I prefer to see it as the re-birth of a classic system that deserved far more credit that it received. Developers like WayForward, Capcom, Monolith Soft and Mistwalker have all managed to squeeze visuals out of the diminutive hardware that sometimes is even on par with or surpasses PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 efforts viewed through standard definition. It truly is a smart box of tricks, with the inclusion of MotionPlus technology and the sublime creation that is the Wii Balance Board going to show how Nintendo can make the most of its platforms without the requirement for breathtakingly realistic graphics.

The one area in which Wii was lacking had to be third party exclusives; yet again this was an area that both Sony and Microsoft also struggled to gain a foothold in due to cross-platform releases becoming the order of the day in the turbulent economic climate. Developers were often too scared to dive into Wii development, though, falling back on the age-old arguments of either Nintendo having a stranglehold over the market, or the Wii being aimed at children and older folk that are not into genres such as first person shooters. Call of Duty and Metroid Prime's sales say otherwise. In the absence of any F.E.A.R., Batman Arkham Asylum/City or Football Manager, however, a 2D platform revolution occurred that proved engaging in its own right. Starting with Wario Land: The Shake Dimension and then eventually expanding to A Boy and his Blob, LostWinds, New Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country Returns, Kirby’s Epic Yarn, and even newcomer Rayman Origins, Wii has gone from strength-to-strength not only with party, dance and fitness titles, but core releases that appeal to casual and core gamers alike. Wii will remain in the memory almost as strongly as the Super Nintendo still does.

Mike Mason, Reviews & Features Editor

Nintendo’s E3 2006 press conference was probably the best that I’ve ever seen. To see the lid blown off a system that had been kept so harshly under wraps was incredible and drove levels of hype to ridiculous levels before Wii’s release. When the console did eventually land it didn’t disappoint, despite its relative lack of power and omission of high definition output. Wii Sports truly was the revolution that the company had promised, dragging gamers old and new into a world of motion controlled fun and changing the home console landscape and leaving doubters Microsoft and Sony scrabbling in the wake of record-breaking sales.

Unfortunately this underestimation of the little white box was something that extended beyond rival hardware manufacturers to the very developers that were meant to be populating the console with quality titles. Though some third parties had a fair grasp on the system - SEGA and Rising Star Games spring to mind as companies that provided a variety of well-considered titles - it was often left to Nintendo to pick up the slack despite the popularity of the system, the console painted as a home of casual gamers where any old shovelware could be dumped.

Yet Wii, for its perception misfortunes, is one of Nintendo’s best consoles. The Mario Galaxy titles almost assure that alone, but then when you consider the additions of Metroid Prime Trilogy, Xenoblade Chronicles, Muramasa: The Demon Blade, No More Heroes, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword, Excitebots: Trick Racing, Zack & Wiki, Punch Out!! and dozens more, it really hits home how good the system has been.

Wii also played a large role in the long-overdue resurgence of the 2D platformer, a genre that had lain near-dormant for far too long. One of my very favourite times with the console was just this year. During a week off work I returned to my childhood with game after game based on a 2D plane: Donkey Kong Country Returns, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, A Boy and his Blob, Kirby’s Epic Yarn. I struggle to recall another string of games that delivered me quite as much consistent joy in recent years as those titles did that holiday, and it’s all thanks to Nintendo’s fifth home console.

Rudy Lavaux, General Writer

Some could consider that Wii was never really so bright in the software department and I disagree with that. Despite not being quite the lead platform in terms of third party support, considering how many great IPs it missed out because it wasn't on level with the competition as far as raw horsepower is concerned, it still got a wealth of worthy titles. I can see that just from looking back now at my personal Wii library. I still have quite a few games left to even play on the system...and a nice little list of games already released that I need to get a hold of. Quite frankly, anyone today who has Wii as their single home gaming platform might be left unable to sample some of the huge releases that the competition has to offer, but they still have quite a vast array of gems to choose from.

Times haven't always been so bright though, and one particular moment that stands out in my memory is the wait. Yes, the wait for what was called the (holy) Triforce back in 2007. As the Wii wasn't seeing a lot of big releases in its early life, once the launch period had come and gone, the sights of every Wii owner were turned towards the future and a certain trio of huge games: Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Super Mario Galaxy and Super Smash Bros. Brawl. Those three wouldn't come until the tail end of 2007 and early 2008, and meanwhile, Wii owners didn't have a lot to choose from.

That period still saw the release of a couple other great games, such as Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, Excite Truck, or even Super Paper Mario, but those were nowhere near as highly hyped as the aforementioned three. This makes that particular time of the Wii lifecycle a grim one, and thankfully this changed in the three subsequent years. This is a moment that really stands out in my personal recollection of the Wii life cycle because after that came the spring, and the console's library really started to build up.

Karn Bianco, Contributor

I vividly recall my first experience with the Wii; the first of any Cubed3 staff member, in fact. It was at a press event aimed primarily at the non-games press (some of my original write-up is here). I was in a pure white room surrounded by massive TVs, a camera crew for some television show or other, and journalists from the likes of the Radio Times and the Guardian. Even then, just a couple of months after the console’s E3 debut, Nintendo were making it clear who the target audience for the Wii was.

I also remember being entirely smitten with the system and its technology, seemingly so advanced as to be indistinguishable from magic. The console’s original codename 'Revolution' was still fresh in everyone’s minds, and curiosity was at an all-time high among fans. Could this dinky little white box really live up to the innovation-oriented hyperbole being thrust toward it? My initial opinion was “yes!” Cynicism be damned; Wii Sports felt fantastic, and that first joy at seeing your own bodily motions be reflected in-game did feel like a breath of fresh air. I was sold.

Looking back over the last five years, though, I find that my fondest memories are of games that make little use of the Wii’s motion controls. Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel are the defining Wii experiences for me, but they would have worked almost as well with a regular controller. They, too, invoke a feeling of magic, but it’s not the same one I was describing earlier. I’ve always enjoyed, but never felt entirely satisfied with, Wii’s motion controls. I had a blast with games such as Red Steel 2 and Wii Sports, but they always came second to conventional titles.

Has the Wii been a disappointment, then? Maybe in part. But just because I’ve lost some of my passion for motion controls it doesn’t mean the Wii is without value. It just means that Super Mario Galaxy, Twilight Princess and Super Smash Bros. Brawl - to name but a few - are the games that will stick in my mind after the Wii is dead and gone. Of course, I haven’t fully played Skyward Sword yet...

Ross Marrs, Podcast Editor

I don’t remember ever being as excited for a console as much as Wii. When the system launched in Europe I was lucky enough to get it on day one, which was very fortunate considering the system sold out just about everywhere, making it clear that I wasn’t the only one who was excited about playing games in a fresh manner. The feeling of playing Wii Sports for the first time is as good a memory as playing Super Mario 64 for the first time for me. It may not be the most ambitious game from a technical sense, but it highlighted the system’s new control method and it was a great feeling. Even Twilight Princess was a new experience with its fantastic IR pointer controls, which helped streamline aiming. Sure, it had waggle controls, but I can’t deny the first feeling from slicing my sword through grass as Link jogged through it was nothing short of amazing.

Throughout the years the system hasn’t exactly had the best feedback, but no one can deny it has brought gaming to a larger audience - heck, even my grandad played and enjoyed Wii Sports. I actually appreciate that, since gaming was seen as something more obscure before. Bringing a wider audience to the console wasn’t Wii's only positive. Nintendo brought the games too, with what I’d say is the best line up they’ve ever brought to one of their consoles. There were the magical masterpieces that were Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel - a testament that Nintendo could still produce high quality games. We got two Zelda games, one of which captured perfectly how the Wii Remote was original intended to be used, and furthermore two Metroid games, one of which used the Wii Remote’s IR sensor for super-precise aiming.

Overall, the Wii has been fantastic for its library of games and that’s the most important thing, right? We are playing videogame consoles and Nintendo have done a fine job of making sure that's what their console was all about.

Sam Turner, Freelancer

I can still remember seeing Wii for the first time. Opening my flat mate’s door at university to reveal the white box perched on the floor, him hovering over the edge of the bed waving the iconic white remote at a 14” screen. From the outset it wasn’t the most appealing advert but I was engrossed by watching him play a console that encouraged such a kinetic response. This memory is only equalled by the recollection of the weeks that followed, signing up to websites for notifications to find out when units would become obtainable. I’m sure that many would recount the hustle, panic and limited availability of the console in those formative years, something that only fuelled my desire for it more.

Wii Sports was to become my unrecognised vocation. Whenever I think of the Wii I think of Wii Sports, specifically bowling. My muscles can still tell you of the technique I developed through hours of play and I can still bore you with the tale of the perfect game that got away. In fact, sports games permeate through many of the years I’ve spent with the Wii. It is the only console to fully understand the mechanics of football, golf and tennis. Games that might look better on its competitors were outstanding in terms of gameplay on Wii.

When friends can gather around one controller trying to perfect the ideal golf stroke and see their physical hard work pay off on screen, is an experience that will long stay in my memory. What Wii has done more than anything is embrace the natural response we have with games and make it functional and practical. Anyone who pushed a controller up to make Sonic jump higher, or turned it on its side to make a car go round a corner faster, found their home on Wii. A console that made all that possible.

Peter Willington, Freelancer

If someone mentions the word "Wii" the first feeling I have is one of empowerment and ultra-violence, emanating from the day I played the opening boss fight of No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle. New to the series and to Goichi Suda's work in general, I'd heard mixed reports on how No More Heroes 2 played and was cautious in expecting too much from my newly purchased Wii - all I'd experienced to this point was Wii Sports, a Tiger Woods title and a few sub-par minigame collections.

As series protagonist Travis Touchdown traded blows and insults with Skelter Helter, this bizarre, gritty universe of what could be Athenian heroes - were it not for the constant blue language and Beam Katanas - hooked into that part of my brain that craves the medium to present me something genuinely new. Folks have compared Suda51's sequel to the films of Tarantino, but my mind raced to my theatre days and Anthony Nielson's plays Penetrator and The Wonderful World Of Dissocia. No More Heroes and those two texts both blend ludicrous situations and bleak humour with cold, grimy, death. "Here," I thought, "here is something wonderful, something fresh."

Hacking through the encounter, clumsily coming to grips with Desperate Struggle's mix of button tapping, wild Remote swings and seedy 'recharge' gestures, I ground out a victory against my opponent. As he explained why he wanted me dead, I understood that Travis had a past, that what he did in the previous outing had set up the unfortunate series of events to come, much like the leads of classic Greek tragedies. In this story of sex and death, Oedipus was naturally first in my mind.

History lesson over, it was time to dispatch Mr Helter. An arrow prompt appeared along the ridge of his spine and I instinctively slashed a broad horizontal arc, severing his head and his neck cleanly. I had destroyed my enemy and I had done it in style, with grace and power. As his head came tumbling to the floor, my heart pounding from a mixture of aggression and excitement at what lay ahead, I had two simple thoughts that changed my opinion of the hardware forever: "I can't believe Wii can do that... I can't believe I just did that..."

Stuart Lawrence, General Writer

When I got my Wii at launch on December 8th, I got really excited for Christmas (for it was to be a Christmas present). It didn’t disappoint. The first games I got for it were The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and Call of Duty 3. Twilight Princess was a blast to play through, if a bit easy, and I loved Call of Duty 3’s controls despite the fact that the hard mode was terribly broken. Wii Sports was also a highlight, and it took me quite a long time to finally beat my dad at golf. From then on it seemed like the games would be coming thick and fast, with a lot of news centring on Wii through E3. The next year brought the awesome Metroid Prime 3 and the beautiful Super Mario Galaxy. There was also disappointment with the cancellation of games such as Project H.A.M.M.E.R and Sadness, but in hindsight it mattered not. Then came Super Smash Bros. Brawl and, despite its incredibly slow online, I put tons of hours into that game simply trying to unlock all the trophies. I still haven't managed it.

Although third party support wasn’t as good as it was on other consoles, there have been some truly great games from them on Wii. From No More Heroes to Muramasa: The Demon Blade, there were quite a few games that could satisfy almost any gamer - they were just overlooked when focus was put on big names on other consoles. Launch title Red Steel sold decently, but its sequel, which pretty much perfected MotionPlus control, didn’t sell nearly half as well, which is a shame because I’m sure it was one of the factors for third parties not supporting the motion-improving peripheral well.

More recently Wii has been the place to go for RPGs, with my favourite game on the system so far being the simply amazing Xenoblade Chronicles. With The Last Story and Dragon Quest X coming out next year, I’m sure Wii will have a great ending to its life before Wii U's release.

Aaron Elias, General Writer

For the first time ever, I was not too bothered about a new Nintendo console’s launch. Wii and its motion controls just weren’t doing it for me. Perhaps the weak software line up contributed to that as well, though. But, after a couple of years, I picked one up, and it proved to be a quality decision. By then, a fair amount of good games were available.

I was able to experience the final game in the Metroid Prime trilogy, and was amazed at the accuracy and responsiveness of the point and shoot controls. Super Mario Galaxy proved to be everything people had been raving about, and I had the pleasure of playing plenty more great titles in Donkey Kong Country Returns, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Metroid: Other M and No More Heroes 2. What I will remember most fondly with Wii are the countless online Mario Kart sessions me and my mate would have until 3am in the morning. Equipped with nothing but booze, Pom-Bears and two GameCube controllers, some of the most fun I’ve had with Wii came from these nightly events.

However, despite being a long time coming, it was the next Zelda I was truly craving for. After five years of waiting, Skyward Sword was well worth it, and is hands down my favourite game on Wii. I was engrossed in the game in a totally new way thanks to the motion swordplay, and the story and characters were exceptional.

Wii wasn’t the next-gen console I was hoping for, yet it provided stellar single player titles and some of the best online multiplayer fun I’ve ever had. I’d like to think Nintendo used Wii as a testing grounds of sorts for Wii U, and will be able to deliver everything else I wanted this generation in the next.

Shane Jury, General Writer

As fresh in my mind as the March 11th DS purchase in 2005, December 8th 2006 was the day I, like many others, picked up my Wii unit. Blustery cold day it was, but first in the queue at GAME were I, and a Wii with Wii Play, Twilight Princess and Red Steel became mine. Everyone in my family loved Wii Sports, and later on my mum got addicted to the WiiWare game Dr Mario (actually, it has the highest amount of playtime in my console records - for shame), so the machine provided more than enough for the price of admission, and not just for me.

I guess if anything, I'll remember Wii for being the retro powerhouse it was and still is; no other machine in history can offer the quality playable back catalogue of Virtual Console together with GameCube and Wii retail games, and hopefully Wii U can continue to take this further. The machine gave me many surprises, be it through reviews of games that I initially thought were going to be lacklustre but proved otherwise (Bakugan Battle Brawlers, Minon Everyday Hero), and games I already knew to have reported high quality but was unprepared for exactly how much (Okami, Little King's Story). As I was a latecomer to the internet world, Wii was my first proper online gaming experience, and friend codes aside I had a whale of a time on stuff like Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.

It has been a shame to see Wii's more eccentric and underplayed titles get ignored when questions of exclusives and worthy purchases get raised, but I feel that given enough research and faith in new experiences, the machine's catalogue of games could stretch another few years even with the release schedule rather barren between now and Wii U.

James Temperton, Contributor

'Shake the controller to attack' - the legacy of Wii is waggling. A merry band of developers think it is perfectly acceptable, nay, that it is clever, to attach a furious waggling motion to any given movement. Shake to run, jump, attack, fly and swim. This has become irritating. It became irritating quite some time ago.

Looking back on five years of brain-calcifying waggling, two memories stick out for me: the joy of playing Super Mario Galaxy non-stop for a week and the despair at playing another piece of reprehensible shovelware. But the joy, the sheer enraging giddiness of plumbers in space, prevails. Nintendo has always had the capacity to make me smile like a kid. The waggling and fitness games march on in a terrifying mix of confusion and Lycra, but five years on Nintendo still makes me feel like an excited 12 year old.

Now that we've shared some of our favourite thoughts about Wii, what've been your stand out memories of the system? The first rally in Wii Sports, a jaunt on Just Dance, or a slip through Muramasa: The Demon Blade's gorgeously painted backgrounds? Let us know in the comments below!