I remember playing one of these at a party in college. I thought it was dumb and not hardcore enough for me. But with the release of Nintendo Switch, I wanted to catch up on old Nintendo 1st party titles. Found an ultra-cheap bundle on eBay. Anyway the Wiimote is gimmicky for standard (lazy) ports. But games designed for it are actually kinda cool, bordering on awesome. I just did about 45 minutes of Wii boxing and I'm sweating... I'm sure that says more about me than Wii boxing. But there is something to be said about the immersive interaction. I'll probably get Punch Out and the 3rd party weighted gloves. The flip side is you have to be super interested in the immersive experience for the payoff. So far I've only enjoyed it on Tennis and Boxing. I'm finding RedSteel to be a bit of a chore and want to play it from my couch (my current A/V setup requires me to stand to play). Might consider the gun add-on to see if it makes it more immersive. I'm loving the rock bottom accessory pricing. I haven't owned it long enough to rescind calling it gimmicky and declare it an overlooked gem. But it's possible I may have been too quick to write it off all these years.
The Wii U has a few games that still use the Wii controller and Nunchuck. Despite being so old I like it better than most controllers. For starters, my arms feel more comfortable with my hands about 18 inches apart rather than crammed together on a single controller. The position is similar to a mouse and keyboard position which I also prefer. Secondly, motion control on the right hand is similar to mouse control which I like. Overall I feel the Wii controller design is superior to all current, past, and future controllers but it's been branded as a gimmick and will probably never come back. As far as gaming on the Wii, I never really cared for it.
So this is your first time owning a Wii? It will seem really cool for like a week, then it will sit and collect dust. You will come to the realization very fast that the waggle controls aren't really good for much other than Wii Sports. I will give credit where credit is due. Nintendo was right about there being a vast untapped market of casual gamers and non-gamers. But this market ultimately flourished on smartphones and tablets, not home consoles. The Wii did really well, for awhile, but then got stomped by the mobile device revolution started by the iPhone. Nintendo sort of recognized this too. It's why the WiiU was a tablet type thing.
@cmdrmonkey Yeah, this is the first time I've owned a Wii. Should get the regular controller for games like Zelda? @bfun @alterego I get what you mean. It feels good to hold them apart. In fact, last night I was wondering if it could be extended even wider... I impulse bought the system because it was cheap. Now that i'm looking at Nintendo AAA titles, they are crazy expensive for a system this old. They range from $15-40... I was hopping to buy a dozen for like $20.
Wii is notorious for being a system that sits forgotten and collecting dust. Can guarantee you can buy big game collections on ebay and/or craigslist for very little money like bfun said.
My personal problem with the Wii was the first party offerings fell far short of the Gamecube's high quality titles. The general problem with the Wii was two-fold: - Casual gamers abandoned it for smartphones and tablets. - Hardcore gamers don't want change. The motion controls are fun and interesting, but once you try to apply it to the core gaming experience, it falls flat versus a normal controller. I learned this first hand back when Metroid Prime 3 came out. This was the last "hardcore" game I bought for the Wii. The motion controls were hyped up as the answer to PC shooters, but in practice, as lazy as it sounds, it was just too much work to point at the TV for long play sessions. Plus the IR pointer was not accurate. The remote for my LG TV uses only accelerometers and is far more precise than a Wiimote ever was. There is finding a niche and there is finding a fad. The Wii looked like it was making its own niche, but in hindsight, it really was just a very profitable, well timed fad. Motion controls are almost non-existent now, except for VR accessories.
lol, the wiimote was so bad for first person shooters. I still remember trying Red Steel all excited that consoles might finally have something comparable to keyboard and mouse, and quickly realizing that it was actually complete garbage. The IR sensor was actually really bad at picking stuff up, even when you put a lot of effort into like positioning and calibrating it. Way more imprecise than thumbsticks and holding your arms up gets tiring fast.
I would say that the games someone should play on Wii are.. Super Mario Galaxy Super Mario Galaxy 2 Mario Kart 7 Donkey Kong Country Returns New Super Mario Brothers Wii Metroid Prime Trilogy The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword I owned a few other games but those were the only really good ones.
Oh I forgot that I do play New Super Mario Brothers Wii on the Wii U Wii emulator. Great game. My kids play the Raving Rabbids game which I think are pretty horrible but it gets non-stop laughter from them so I guess it's good.