Wii: Remembered as Another Nintendo 64/GameCube?

Nintendo surprised many when the company unveiled the Wii. It's design was even more compact than the GameCube, and it's controller, the Wii Remote, which resembles a TV remote with far less buttons, stood out from anything that came before it.  The Wii was also vastly under powered when compared to Sony and Microsoft's systems, being only slightly more powerful than it's predecessor. While this undoubtedly was a negative to some, this also kept the cost of the system down, making it affordable to just about everybody before the price drops that would come years later. Inferior specs did not stop the Wii from dominating. The accessible controller, marketing and pack-in game, Wii Sports made the Wii fly off the shelves. In terms of sales, I don't think anyone can really call the Wii a failure. With worldwide sales close to 90 million units, the Wii is easily Nintendo's most successful console. Bringing in the most green of all three current generation platforms, the Wii has placed The Big N back in the number one spot.

Game wise, however, is a different story. Many Wii owners will comment that their Wii doesn't see much play time and collects dust as a result. With it's motion-based controls granting more accessibility to a wider audience, the Wii has attracted a reputation for being a system for the casual gamer. Hardcore games do exist on the Wii but they aren't in the vast numbers of what one would find on the PlayStation 3 or Xbox 360.

I didn't buy a Wii until March of 2010 and I've wanted one since it launched in the fall of 2006. My Wii doesn't collect dust because it's always being played, though this may be due to the fact that I was a late adopter. Currently I own 30 games for the Wii and there are still more I want to pick up. For me, the draw from the Wii comes from Nintendo's first and second party games. There's also the Virtual Console service, which is home to a plethora of fantastic old-school games. I have 70 games I downloaded for the Virtual Console and there's still more I want to add to the collection. Along with the regular Wii games, the Virtual Console is a great addition, even if there are dry spots between releases.

That being said, it's not hard to see why the Wii may be remembered as another N64/GameCube. Both of those systems had quality titles but the quantity was severely lacking when compared to the competition and it's previous systems, the NES and SNES. Nintendo has preached quality over quantity in the N64 days and that seems to be something that has lasted across three generations of home consoles. Quality games is fine but why can't there be a nice blend of both?

Well for one, as was mentioned above, the Wii isn't packing the same technical punch as the PS3 and 360. For this reason, a lot of high profile games get passed on the Wii in favor of it's rivals. The other reason, which kinda goes along with the first one, is a lack of third party support. The Wii gets most of it's good third party titles from Sega, Capcom and Ubisoft. Good companies to get support from, but when compared to the PS3 and 360, it's almost like a drop in a bucket.

It's funny. Both the Saturn and the Dreamcast died premature deaths outside of Japan, yet each of those systems is viewed in high regard as some of the best consoles one can own. The N64 and GameCube lived out full console lifespans and take heat for not being on the same level as the NES and SNES. Why is that? Is Nintendo held in a higher light than Sega? No, because the PSP is in a similar situation to the Wii. Yeah it has some awesome games, but not as many as the DS, which also received far more third party support than Sony's portable. But that doesn't make the PSP worthless, same with the Wii. Unfortunately we live in a gaming industry where if something is good, but not as good as what came before it, in some way, it's still inferior. So while the Wii has games that are worth owning, in the end, it will more than likely be viewed by most as a system that paled in comparison to the 360 and the PS3, despite outselling both by a wide margin.