Topic: Where is the love for the original Wii?

[LABcrab]

When Nintendo released the Wii mini on December 7, 2012, it gave a sense of hope that the console would continue to be supported for at least a couple of years.  America received the SNES in late 1991, but despite that, over 150 licensed games for the original NES were released from 1992 to 1994 respectively.  The classic NES and revised NES-101 still had plenty of life left, with its final game being Wario's Woods in Christmas 1994.  Such extended NES support is impressive.
 
 Meanwhile, the Wii is Nintendo's best selling home console so far.  There was a lot of excitement for its Christmas 2006 release and its key launch titles Wii Sports and Zelda.  A lot of people liked the Wii Remote and Balance Board because some games would encourage players to exercise with these.  The Wii could also play many of the titles available for the NES, Super NES, Nintendo 64 and GameCube, so it was great to have numerous consoles combined into one.

Christmas 2012 brought the Wii U.  The console's main selling points are its HD capabilities and the bundled GamePad mini tablet.  The graphics are a welcome improvement, but don't make a huge difference when looking at the cartoon art Nintendo is known for.  As for the GamePad, how different is it compared to the Dreamcast VMU, the GameCube-to-GBA cable or even the (3)DS-to-Wii wireless link?  Plus, there is the uDraw tablet for the original Wii.  In short, the U fails to have a killer feature to convince many people to want it over the Wii.


Further irritating is the amount of games being released for the U when they would play just as well on the original Wii.  Such games include Sonic & All-StarRacing Transformed and Sing Party.  Clearly, these games are unavailable for the Wii simply in hopes that people buy the $300 U console.  It hasn't even been six months since the U launch, yet so far this year, it seems the only decent Wii title is Pandora's Tower.


Overall, it's upsetting that Nintendo is pushing so hard to sell the U that several people do not want right now, while the Wii is nearly abandoned in terms of new releases.  Maybe people need time, up to a year or two, to catch on and be convinced about the U.  Once they are ready, nearly all their Wii games are compatible with the U.  Nintendo should build on their success with the NES and Super NES and improve on that in regards to the Wii and U.

[lolmonade]

I believe the Wii Mini's release was more about squeezing whatever was left of the low-budget gaming market, especially considering they gutted everything but it's ability to play Wii discs.  It would be more apt to compare the release of that to Sony's PS2 slim, and how that console still sells in continents that may not have the same wealth/infrastructure as US/Canada/Europe/Japan.
 
I can't speak to it too much, given that I have 0 experience in programming, but I'd be wary of assuming it would be an almost-effortless task for Sonic & All Stars Racing and Sing Party to be ported to the Wii.  Businesses don't just make their decisions on whether or not a product would be profitable at all, but more importantly, which investments they make will produce the most profit out of all their options. 
 
Sure there's a high % of ownership for the Wii, but how many people are actually actively buying Wii games anymore?  Every retailer I got to has a big pile of Wii games just dying on the vine, while they slowly try to push them out with sales and let the Wii U games creep in.  It certainly doesn't help that some Nintendo games (New Super Mario Bros Wii., Super Mario Galaxy 2) are still being priced at a full $50!
 
All that being said, I would assume the most important reason Nintendo is no longer supporting the Wii is that they have come out with the Wii U, and with reports coming out that they're stretched so thin between the Wii U and 3DS, they most likely do not have the adequate resources to support the Wii with any software.

[Ian Sane]

The Wii just got Pandora's Tower and it isn't like the Gamecube was getting anything at this point in it's life.  I was mad when Nintendo had seemingly abandoned the Wii years before the Wii U came out but at this point I think it's normal.  Sure something like Sonic & All-StarRacing Transformed and Sing Party could work just fine on the Wii but the Wii U NEEDS every game it can.  The Wii is the past and it just makes sense to focus on the Wii U.  The NES getting games until 1994 is exceptional as other Nintendo systems didn't get support that long after their successor came out.  I think it came entirely from the SNES being the first succeeding Nintendo console and Nintendo just wasn't sure if people would upgrade or not.  Now everyone is used to the idea of upgrading to the new system so Nintendo doesn't feel the need to keep the old one going.

[Adrock]

Considering how thin Wii U is even on first party software, imagine if Nintendo continued supporting Wii with more releases and waited even longer to begin work on Wii U. It's understandable to be upset that Wii dragged itself through the last couple years, but it's not difficult to see why. That doesn't make it okay. Nintendo poorly managed time and manpower, and they should be held accountable for their shortcomings. If Nintendo cannot support a smooth transition for one generation to the next, something is seriously wrong. This isn't the first time either. Opening new studios and filling it with talent is not as easy as it sounds, but seriously, get on that. If there's a hole, plug it... or sink. With Nintendo struggling to convince third parties to fill in the gaps in the release schedule, Nintendo has a responsibility of filling it themselves.

[Pixelated Pixies]

When Nintendo released the Wii mini on December 7, 2012, it gave a sense of hope that the console would continue to be supported for at least a couple of years. 

Did it?
 
I think the intention was to eventually launch it in Brazil and make as much money as possible. I don't think there was any intention to actually support it with new games.

[jvgsjeff]

It does seem like Nintendo gave up on Wii earlier than they should have. At the time, I thought it was because they were putting all their resources into having a large game library on Wii U, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It makes you wonder what all they've been doing the past couple years (unless they moved their Wii teams to 3DS instead of Wii U).

[Shaymin]

It does seem like Nintendo gave up on Wii earlier than they should have. At the time, I thought it was because they were putting all their resources into having a large game library on Wii U, but that doesn't seem to be the case. It makes you wonder what all they've been doing the past couple years (unless they moved their Wii teams to 3DS instead of Wii U).

* Shaymin looks at the 2013 3DS lineup

Yeah, pretty much.

[RarityGamer]

I know its a bit sneaky, but I'm surprised they didn't just fill the start of the Wii U's life with HD remakes. Certain games on the Dolphin look amazing.

[pokepal148]

I know its a bit sneaky, but i'm surprised just to fill the start of the Wii U's life they didn't make HD remakes. Certain games on the Dolphin look amazing.

tbh I want them to basically roll out the nintendo selects games as eshop titles.

[Louieturkey]

I know its a bit sneaky, but i'm surprised just to fill the start of the Wii U's life they didn't make HD remakes. Certain games on the Dolphin look amazing.

tbh I want them to basically roll out the nintendo selects games as eshop titles.

I'd probably be a sucker and buy those, as long as they were $20 or hopefully less.

[LABcrab]

Thanks for all the feedback so far!  Sorry for not being able to reply earlier.

lolmonade, it was mostly porting games from GameCube to Wii that was a walk in the park.  It's sad in a way that few such ports were actually made.  The original Wii and the Wii U, on the other hand, have quite different hardware.

i'm still one to believe the Wii will last throughout this year, and maybe even the next.  It deserves to have a longer life span than the GameCube.  i'm hoping to post a commentary video on the Wii Mini soon.