All Wii haters: this is what you missed out on

17 December 2014

If you never had the privilege of owning a Nintendo Wii, then you missed out on some awesome gaming moments.

Soaring through the galaxy collecting Star Bits, swinging your controller around wildly while playing tennis, exploring Hyrule with one of the most iconic heroes in gaming – this was all possible on the Nintendo system.

Sorry if this makes you a bit jelly, but it is your own fault for not buying a Wii.

The Nintendo Wii

The early success of the Wii took Nintendo by surprise, following the announcement of the console in 2005. Critics were concerned the Nintendo console would only be seen as a “casual gamer’s platform”, and that it would be difficult to make waves in the hardcore gaming scene.

These concerns were put to rest when Nintendo produced an array of games which captured the attention of gamers worldwide.

During its lifetime the console underwent a controller design upgrade, with the Motionplus attachment giving the control new depth and functionality.

The Wii also received a Family Edition which removed support for GameCube games. The last revision was the Wii Mini in 2013, which further removed online functionality and the SD card slot.

The Games

The Wii had a vast library of games, some of which rank among the highest-rated games released to date. As of March 2011, just over 895 million Wii games had been sold worldwide – with 103 of those titles passing the million mark.

The best-selling Wii games

  1. Wii Sports – 82.54 million copies
  2. Mario Kart Wii – 35.53 million copies
  3. Wii Sports Resort – 32.58 million copies
  4. New Super Mario Bros Wii – 28.65 million copies
  5. Wii Play – 28.02 million copies
  6. Wii Fit – 22.67 million copies
  7. Wii Fit Plus – 21.03 million copies
  8. Super Mario Galaxy – 12.22 million copies
  9. Super Smash Bros Brawl – 12.14 million copies
  10. Wii Party – 7.94 million copies

The highest rated Wii games

According to Metacritic.

  1. Super Mario Galaxy – 97
  2. Super Mario Galaxy 2 – 97
  3. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess – 95
  4. World of Goo – 94
  5. Super Smash Bros. Brawl – 93
  6. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – 93
  7. Rock Band 2 – 92
  8. Xenoblade Chronicles – 92
  9. Rayman Origins – 92
  10. Rock Band 3 – 91

Cue the trailers

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Xenoblade Chronicles

Super Mario Galaxy

Wii Sports

Super Smash Bros. Brawl

Share your fond memories of the Wii, in the comments and forum.

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  1. James Phillip
    17.12.2014 at 16:00

    Haven’t touched my Wii since about three months after Mario karts came out.

    EDIT: Just googled, wow haven’t touched it in 5 years. Wonder if it still starts.

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