What was the Wii? What did it mean to you? How do you feel about the system? Is it great? Underrated critically? Bad? Overatted? Mediocre? 

I put this in "Gaming discussion" because I genuinely want to see perspectives from everybody, not just Nintendo fans. 

This topic was inspired by Curl-6

I just can't pin down what the Wii is! What do I believe?!?!?!

So I've been thinking about it recently ... and out of all the consoles that have come and gone, the Wii's reception is still the most polarizing I can think of. Even compared to the Gamecube, which has recieved almost universal praise in hindsight. It's kind of interesting because most major consoles seem to get nothing but love in retrospect. Even commercial failures like the Saturn or Dreamcast have had huge love given to them when looking into the past. The Wii is a console that seems to be more and more mixed as time passes. It seems well documented that it was beloved conceptually before it's release and well into it's first two years, even hardcore gamers seemed to be appealed by the concept(though you can find old Youtube videos shitting on the Wii). Years into the system though? Nowadays? It's pretty much remembered as a fad, a gimmick machine that allowed Nintendo to actually make the high selling console in a generation for once since the SNES. There even seems to be an attitude around that the fact that the Wii U failed just goes to prove what a fad the Wii was, and how it was almost an "illegitimate" succeess. 

That being said, I've seen a lot of interesting perspectives on the Wii ... 

Here are more or less the three perspectives I've seen the most, ranked from most popular to least : 

1. The Wii was a gimmick, a bad or extremely mediocre machine

2. The Wii was an "ok" console with some good games

3. The Wii was a great underrated console 

The third perspective is one I haven't seen too often, but it seems to pop up more and more with time. What's odd is that there's some sort of detachement I feel, from the Wii and it's software, where a lot of people will say the system has great amazing games, but it is a bad system. I usually don't hear this with the likes of the Saturn or Dreamcast. Of course there are obvious nuances, i'm just pointing out an interesting dichatamy. 

I guess i'm mostly interested in this because I love learning about video game history, despite being much newer to games then most people. The quality of the Wii, seems to be one of the most opinionated things in recent memory. I was 7 when I got a Wii, and for me it was just a Mario Party/Kart/Wii Sports/Super Smash Bros. machine. But i'm so interested in how it was to be there, with the mind of a consumer, who easily understands what they want and what games to follow and how that affected the system for them. 

It's funny because a lot of the Wii's output was reboots of old beloved series like Super Mario Bros., Donkey Kong Country, and even a partnership for the creation of Sin and Punishment 2. Fun fact, I've somehow stumbled across two seperate stores with new copies of Sin and Punishment before, one in Arizona and one in Oregon ... THIS YEAR!!! No other Wii stuff was on the shelves!!! While Super Mario Bros. and DKCR were more casual affair(mainly the former) they still reinjuvenated a series of 2D platformers hardcore fans dearly missed. Nintendo launched the system with what was considered the true hardcore Zelda experience at the time, and while that wasn't really a big statement seeing as it was a port, Nintendo even advertised fairly well (though not as great as they should have...as IGN will confirm) Metroid Prime 3. 

The system also has a myraid of niche cult-classics. Games like Xenoblade Chronicles, The Last Story, Pandora's Tower, Zack and Wiki, Red Steel, and No More Heroes. Even more interesting was that a lot of Wii exclusive games from third parties like No More Heroes 2 or ... MySims, ended up selling worse when they became multi-plats.

One thing that I think is kind of interesting, is that the two internet personalities that I know love the Wii - thought the Gamecube was mediocre. Mizzah Tee and Top Hat Gaming.

Now at this point you're probably thinking - "Alchemist. Why are you trying to get me to think the Wii is cool?" And i'm not! Hahaha. I'm simply providing what I think are some interesting facts to consider when talking about the system. I honestly don't really have an opinion on the Wii. But i'm so interested in it's mysteriousness, that along with the PS3, i'm almost tempted to go and buy a Wii and pick up old Wii titles.

So what was the Wii to you? How did you like it? DID you like it? What did you think of it's library? What were it's best/worse games?

In terms of actual quality games, honestly thought it was about on par with the GameCube. It just had the motion gimmick that brought in a temporary amount of gamers before they discovered free casual games on iPhone were better for them.

I was one of those casuals who bought a Wii near launch, solely to play Wii Sports, and rarely touch it after that.

I did play some high profile games like Brawl, Super Mario Galaxy, and Skyward Sword, but I always just viewed the Wii as that "underpowered console with amazing Nintendo games."

I did later discover Xenoblade around 2014, and fell in love with that game, and played through Metroid Prime Trilogy this year, which is now probably my favorite Nintendo franchise, and I am curious on some games I missed out on, specifically the No More Heroes duology, and The Last Story.

I didn't get into Xenoblade Chronicles, but I did play Metroid Prime 1 with motion controls! Amazing!

It has some great games, but I didn't like the console. I don't like home consoles in general, I don't like motion controls either (for most games), so the Wii is probably my least favorite console.

Does that mean you only like handheld systems? 

I loved it a lot of really good games. They just drowned in a avalaunch of not so good games.

Also a lot of games that you could actually play with people not so interested in playing video games.

Oh and Wii Sports Resort is a real hardcore game, had some fierce golf matches and (this sticks to my mind) archery matches with my gaming friends.

Indeed. Luckily, handheld gaming has gotten a lot better in recent years. The Wii U can be played as a handheld most of the time and the 3DS has some amazing games. The Switch is like the perfect console for me, high quality games on a handheld!

The Wii was a fresh, family-friendly little console that provided something new in a sea of sameness. I enjoyed it for what it was.

To start with, the Wii was that weird thing my teenage nephew would bring round and plug into the TV and we'd all have a laugh at making Mii's and playing Wii Sports. I never had any intention of getting one until we felt the kids were old enough to make it worthwhile. That was in 2010. It must have been one of the last available that was backwards compatible with the Gamecube.

It came bundled with Mariokart, complete with the racing wheels, and we got it at a discount. Then we went all out and got Wii Fit plus, that came with the balance board. Despite telling my eldest he was too young for Smash, one of his friends got it for him as a birthday present a year later.

It was Smash that revived the inner gamer in me, which I thought had died when my Atari 2600 gave out its last gasp back in the 80's. So, yes, I've played a lot of Brawl and Mariokart Wii, and not just when the kids wanted me to. But I did use the Wii Fit Plus regularly, too. A friend of mine lost over 30lb using Wii Fit Plus as the centre of his exercise regime.

The Wii is still connected and still gets used regularly, mostly by my youngest, but I still play on it occasionally. We have a cupboard full of Wii games, including some second hand Gamecube ones, such as Sunshine, Luigi's Mansion and Double Dash.

We never transferred our data from the Wii to Wii U, because we decided we still wanted to use it as a current console, alongside the Wii U. It's been repaired once, and that was only to remove dust from the internal disc reader. It's still working perfectly.

To sum up: Because we got the Wii very late into the cycle, to me it was excellent value for money with a huge library of games that we're still benefiting from 7 years after getting it.