Do you even Wii, bro?

I  recently spoke to a friend who let slip that they have never owned a Nintendo, a shocking and heinous revelation, I know.  So up popped the question, if you’ve never owned a Nintendo console, which one should you get? 

My answer may have surprised some people; in fact I’m sure many would laugh at my proposition. I didn’t choose the NES and its plethora of franchise, spawning classics. I didn’t choose the SNES with its timeless, 2D sprites and genre defining games. I didn’t choose the N64 with its pioneering 3D platformers and its unbeaten multiplayer greatness. I didn’t even pick the beloved Gamecube with its impressive hardware and oh-so-comfortable controller. No, I picked the Nintendo Wii. The console your Nan probably still has gathering dust under her TV after those few Christmases spent playing Wii Sports.

The Wii is a strange anomaly in gaming history, selling over 100 million units worldwide it was a success few could have predicted.  Largely attributed to the aforementioned Wii Sports, the Wii and its new-fangled motion controls became the must own accessory to all good living rooms. Yet despite its success it has a reputation as being an underpowered, gimmicky, shovel-ware machine which no true gamer would be seen dead playing.

Now it’s true that of the one-thousand-seven-hundred-and-seventy-seven (gotta love Wikipedia) games released over the consoles lifespan, the vast, vast majority were absolute turds, many trying to quickly cash in on the consoles success and fool a new audience of uniformed gamers into buying their tat. Inevitably though, in every rough there are diamonds and if you dig a little, the plucky white box has them in abundance.

Now this might shock you but, I too was once one of the great unwashed who overlooked the Wii, dismissing its waggle controls as silly and as a result saw many a great title pass me by. It took me until 2011 to finally pick up the system, a full 5 years after its launch, paying the measly sum of £27 with a copy of House of Dead 2 & 3. From there I began acquiring the obvious big hitters on the console, Super Mario Galaxy 1 & 2, Donkey Kong Country Returns, Mario Kart Wii, but it took me a long while to realise just how deep the rabbit hole goes.

At the time of writing I currently have over 70 games in my Wii collection, only a few of which I’m mildly embarrassed by (the ones my wife picked mainly), and it’s an ongoing collection that grows by the month. The console is currently in that sweet spot, where it is superseded by a new machine (the excellent, but also underappreciated Wii-U) but not old enough to gain the attention of retro-gaming shelf collectors. The happy result is that the games are cheap (for the most part), plentiful and easily available. What’s more the console itself can be picked up for around £25-30 or probably considerably less if you’re the kind of person who frequents car boot sales on a Sunday morning (I won’t judge…).

Now I know what you’re all thinking. Why would I want to play games where I have to wave my arms around like a man possessed, when I can sit on a couch, avoiding unnecessary activity?  Well the Wii-mote and Nunchuk can be a tough sell to many, a lot of games added in motion controls as an afterthought replacing what could have easily been achieved with a simple button press. However the games that implemented motion controls well can give you an experience unlike anything else. Some require you to get up and active like the frantic Sci-Fi western Red Steel 2, the motion plus enhanced Wii Sports Resort or wacky-maraca- rhythm game, Samba De Amigo. Mostly though the motion controls are nothing more than the occasional flick of the wrist, and possibly having to use the wii-mote as a pointer. Some great examples of this are Donkey Kong Country Returns where you drum with the Wii-mote and Nunchuk to make the eponymous ape satisfyingly slam the ground and roll. In Super Mario Galaxy you shake to perform a spin jump which allows the surprisingly athletic plumber to extend and heighten his already impressive jumping skill. Also by pointing the Wii-mote at the screen you can collect the various gems littered around the screen. The whole experience feels seamless and natural and can be achieved comfortably sitting on your sofa. In fact I would go one further and say being able to move both my hands independently makes this particular controller set-up one of the most comfortable I’ve ever used. If you’re still not sold, Nintendo have you covered as many games support the more traditional Wii Pro Controller, which is feather light and really quite comfortable.  In fact many games even support the Gamecube controller…

Yep, the Wii also has a neat trick up its sleeve; it has a Gamecube inside it. Concealed under a flap in the top of the console you’ll find four controller ports and two memory card slots (remember when they were a thing?).  The Gamecube had a small but perfectly formed library of over six-hundred games, some of which still feel fresh as a daisy over a decade on.

Okay so I’m kind of getting away from the original point, which was, which console would I recommend to someone who’d never owned a Nintendo before. Well I suppose to really answer that I guess we have to decide what makes owning a Nintendo console different to owning another console? Seldom have Nintendo consoles been powerhouses of graphical prowess, for a long time they have struggled with cross platform games, often alienating developers, so if not that, then what?  In short it comes down to the quality of its exclusive first party games. Nintendo fans can be a tenacious bunch, ready to defend the company at the hint of a critique, but this isn’t without good reason. Nintendo games have a quality and charm that give it them a certain magic that few companies can achieve. Many people talk about and revere the magic of Disney, and to put it simply Nintendo are the Disney of video games.

Okay that sounds a bit melodramatic and your mileage may vary on that. I can’t make you like the games I love any more than you can make me love that Nickelback song you always put on (don’t lie, I know you do) but I can’t help but be passionate about a company that has given me so much joy over the years. This is a place for enthusiasts isn’t it?

The point is the Wii is well stocked when it comes to first (and second) party titles. I’ve already mentioned the Mario Galaxy games and Donkey Kong Country Returns but there’s also;

• Metroid Prime Trilogy
• Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess & Skyward Sword
• New Super Mario Bros
• Kirby: Epic Yarn & Return to Dreamland
• Super Smash Brothers Brawl
• Super Paper Mario
• Super Mario All-Stars
• Wario: Smooth Moves and Shake Dimension
• Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn
• Mario Kart Wii
• Punch-Out!!
• Mario Party 8 & 9.

The list goes on and on to be honest and if you add in the Gamecube back catalogue you also get incredible games such as Windwaker, Super Mario Sunshine, Pikmin 1 & 2, F-Zero GX and too many others to mention.

If you want more of the classic Nintendo experience, the Wii virtual console is still active, where you’ll find pretty much everything you’d want (79 NES games, 64 SNES games, 21 N64 Games). Weirdly you can even get a large amount of classic Sega Mega Drive, Master System, TurboGraphx, NEO-GEO and arcade games on there too.

Now of course the best way to play these classic games is with a physical copy on their respective original hardware but the retro gaming market is becoming ever more challenging as prices go up and the more elusive games get snapped up by rabid collectors. The Wii gives you a convenient way to legitimately revisit these classics, and in a way that actually supports the games industry.

A few games have also been given a remake or even a sequel exclusively for WiiWare (the Wii’s eshop for new content). If you fancy playing revamped versions of Excitebike, Tetris, Dr Mario, Castlevania Adventure, Blaster Master, Contra or even sequels to the original Megaman games you can do so.

So there you have it, if you've never owned a Nintendo, consider a Wii. Or not. Whatever. It's your life...