My Renewed Interest in the Wii

By
Alice Williamson
– June 17, 2012Posted in: Columns, Featured, Why Won't You Play with Me?

It’s been at least two years since I last played my Wii. I admit that I was one of those who was swept up in all of the excitement when the Wii released in 2006. It’s hard to believe that it’s been about six years since its release. I was a sophomore in high school and some of my classmates were skipping school for the launch of the 360 the year before.

Oh how the mighty Wii has fallen.

Nintendo Wii

Mine hasn’t quite reached this level of disuse

Most people who ever wanted a Wii have already bought one and sold it back for a fraction of the original price, my sister included. While I can see the appeal behind the motion sensing technology, it really isn’t that great. Combine that with an avalanche of awful third party titles and you’re stuck with a big old regret. Thankfully, knowing that it was the cheapest console this last generation takes a bit of the edge off.

Honestly, I love Nintendo. I’ve bought every single console they’ve put out since the N64 (except the GameCube and Game Boy Micro), with the Game Boy Color being my first console. While I’m a fan of pretty much anything Pokemon or Mario, almost everything on the Wii screamed childish to me. Aside from No More Heroes and the Trauma Center series, it was all one big pile of fluff. I fail to see how a console that caters to families fails to engage a good portion of that exact demographic, the adults.

I’m an adult and I wish to be treated like one, so stop lining the shelves with these terrible sim games and start making something more thought-provoking or insightful. Don’t get me wrong, there are good games on the Wii. Those good games are heavily outweighed by the bad though, which is why my Wii is collecting dust next to my TV.

Batman: Arkham City Armored EditionAfter watching Nintendo’s E3 conference, my attitude towards the Wii and its successor began to change a bit. Please know that I am talking about the first half of the conference and not the second, which made me incredibly sad. The Wii U is actually a pretty cool piece of technology and I’m glad that Nintendo is listening. The Wii’s friend code system was so bad that I never used it, so I’m glad that the Wii U is stepping up its networking capabilities. The new console has a decent launch lineup with some games that actually carry a mature rating. And since this is Nintendo we’re talking about, the usual bunch of family-friendly games are there. There seems to be something for everyone starting off.

I plan on picking up Pikmin 3 on launch and trying out Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition as well as Rayman Legends a little later down the road. I’m still not sold on the whole Miiverse thing but that’s fine. I’m not supposed to fall in love with every single feature a console has to offer.

Since I’m excited for the Wii U, I’ve decided to revisit the Wii and catch up on some of the better games that I just couldn’t play due to either a lack of time or money (mostly the latter). I’ll try to recapture that initial excitement I had for my Wii. I’m going to start off with Super Mario Galaxy and work my way from there.

What other Wii games should I play? Which ones should I stay away from? Please tell me what you think in the comments.

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