Let’s go back in time to 2008. More specifically, to what some consider to be the worst E3 in recent memory: E3 2008. The Nintendo presentation was labeled as a big, fat joke. No killer apps were announced, and a lot of the presentation was focused on their casual game lineup; it was just plain laughable. But the cherry on this ice cream of disappointment came in the form of Wii Music, a game first announced during the early days of the Wii, which finally came to reality later that year.

The presentation of Wii Music is unfortunately implanted into Nintendo history. The room goes black, steam covers the stage, and a giant screen opens up to reveal…a guy air drumming like crazy with a Wii Remote and Nunchuk. Yes, Nintendo pretty much delivered the video game equivalent of a Rick Roll. What looked to be the epic unveiling of a Wii killer app was actually the official reveal of a casual game title. I remember it like it was yesterday. Gamers were set on hating the game based on principle alone. Add this to the fact that, in the same year, Wii Music and Animal Crossing: City Folk were Nintendo’s sole big titles for the holidays and disappointment spread throughout all of the Nintendo fanbase.

Many fans felt a lot of shame watching adults flail their controllers around on stage

Despite all the bitterness the internet bathed itself in, however, Nintendo fully believed in the title. They promoted it as grandly as they do some of their big killer apps. Multiple presentations of the game sold it as a musical tool that would allow players of any type and any skill to pick up the controllers and create his or her rendition of a classical piece of music. Creation was the word of the day for Wii Music. Such was Nintendo and Miyamoto’s beliefs of this title being a gateway game towards music and creation that it was even sold as an educational tool for children, since there was no “right” and “wrong” in how you played the songs, just unique musical interpretations.

Still, the cynics and the unimpressed critics believed that the game wouldn’t be as successful as their other Wii titles, such as Wii Sports and Wii Fit. For some, casual gamers need an objective to accomplish in order to get satisfaction out of a game experience. In short, in order for Wii Music to sell, it had to have some form of objective for players to reach. Not everyone can claim to be creative, and those that weren’t saw a throwaway game from very talented developers.

Regardless of the reactions the game got, there is some joy to be had in Wii Music.

Love or hate the game, there is no denying that Wii Music marks an important moment in Nintendo history, one that a lot of gamers felt very close to their hearts. Now, what about my history with this game? While at first I didn’t believe in the game, I began to see what it was really all about. I didn’t see it as the horrible abomination that many claimed it was. Instead, I saw it as a sweet, simple game that not everybody could enjoy. So much so that I tried to defend the game from its naysayers on various forums; I just loved the idea the game had to offer.

In early 2008, things were going very well for me personally. By the end of the year, however, I was unemployed and my family went through hard times. However, Wii Music made things better. Much like Wii Sports did way back in the Christmas of 2006, it brought my family a little closer and made us forget for a little bit all of the drama going on.  But the ones that stuck with the game were me and my nephew, as we spent hours coming up with silly and cool interpretations of the different songs. It became our thing to do during the week. I would remix a song, and then send it over to his Wii via WiiConnect24, and vice versa. We did this for months, and even stayed up late one Christmas Eve of that same year and played the game until the early hours of the morning.

This became a tradition with me and my nephew, and every Christmas Eve, we load the game up and make up whatever silly song we can. The reason why is because Wii Music is designed to create these kind of experiences, one where it isn’t as being extremely competitive or trying to beat each other. Wii Music is about just chilling and taking in the joy of the moment.

Rocking out to "Do Re Mi" has never been so satisfying.

I am not in any way a qualified composer, but even I felt like I could create some amazing songs in Wii Music. The design of the gameplay was designed to be that way, but I felt that a lot of its charms lie directly in the hands of the players. If you don’t care for it, the game becomes useless. If you are, however, interested, there are a lot of options to explore.
Those that knew me from the NWR forums days know that I made a lot of videos and shared them with everyone. Some were good, others were great. So, the game is a reminder of my days before I became a staff member.

One thing I liked to do was to create themed videos. I would either make or download Miis based off of famous characters and use them in a video. For example, I created a Frank West (of Capcom's Dead Rising fame) Mii and I downloaded a zombie Mii. I then created a music video starring Frank West and his zombies, all jamming to the tune of Earth, Wind and Fire's "September". Some laughs were indeed had.

So that’s Wii Music, or to be clearer, my experience, in a nutshell. Funny how a game that was maligned by a large chunk of the industry became one of my most cherished experiences. Nintendo sold both Wii Music and the Wii as a whole as games anyone can enjoy and create memories with friends and family. Not everyone will agree with me, for sure, but I say Nintendo got that right.