It won't be long now before the little white console that could rides off into the sunset to make way for the Wii U. As the vast majority of members here are Wii owners, I thought it might be nice to discuss the fun times we've had with this revolutionary (at the time) console as a tribute. Simply tell us your favourite games, which of its final lineup of games you're looking forward to and what you love the most about it.
The first time I tried it was on December 8th 2006. Know how I remember? That's the release date. The Science Museum in London was holding a history of video games exhibit so you can imagine I was eagerly awaiting to get inside. Not only did they have many consoles, young and old, they also had free try-outs of both the Wii and the Playstation 3. I first bought mine back in August 2007 in a bundle package. It came with three games of our choice. I got Mario Strikers Charged Football, my brother got Twilight Princess and my sister got Pirates Of The Carribean 3. I remember getting really excited to get home and play it. I'm sure many of you remember playing Wii Sports for the first time and thinking it was the next Sliced Bread.
Now as expected, the Motion Control thing lost its novelty over time and this certainly wasn't helped by Sony and Microsoft essentially copying it (hey, don't complain to me fanboys, you know it's true). But the Wii had its share of great games and some absolute stinkers. Many third-company developers tacked on as many games in order to cash in. It was partly thanks to this that the Wii got a bad rep from others. And to be honest, I can't blame them. The only good third-party games I can remember are No More Heroes 1 & 2, Zack & Wiki, Tatsunoko vs. Capcom, Sonic Colours and of course, Okami. There's probably a couple more but that's all I can think of as of now.
One thing I absolutely loved about the Wii right from the start was the Virtual Console. The service was responsible for sparking the beginning of fandoms I have right now such as Mega Man and Kirby. Along came the WiiWare service which was... sub-par at best. Only a couple of titles were produced by Nintendo themselves but again, most of these were made by people trying to cash in and failed. I mean who thought 'My Fireplace' was a good idea? Really? Again, only some of the titles in there were enjoyable; Mega Man 9 and 10, Tales of Monkey Island series, LostWinds and Strong Bad's Cool Game 4 Attractive People series (yes, that's really what it's called).
Whether you liked it or hated it, nobody can deny the Wii certainly made an impact in this cut-throat industry we call gaming. You'll be gone soon, Wii, but never really forgotten... especially with that name (seriously, when you first heard the 'Nintendo Wii', did you really look at that with a straight face?). Here's hoping Skyward Sword, Kirby's Return To Dreamland and Mario Party 9 give you the send-off you rightly deserve.