The Forgotten Nintendo Wii Mini… in 2020

The Nintendo Wii is one of the most popular and iconic video game systems of all time and one of the few consoles to truly ever break into the mainstream the we attracted any type of person not just gamers anyone could pick up a Wii mote and swing it around to play tennis it was simple it was fun it was accessible and that's why it's remained such an icon even in pop culture today hey how's it going I'm Josh from ninety one tech and I'm sure all of you know all about the Wii but you may not know much about its final iteration so today we're taking a look at the forgotten nintendo wii mini

before we take a look at the Wii mini itself I think it'd be good to get some context behind the Wii in general so I will have timestamps in the description if you just want to jump ahead so without further ado follow me on social media and let's get right into this the idea for the nitendo we spawned the same year as the Gamecube was released 2001 Nintendo game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said the concepts focused on player interaction as opposed to just powerful hardware which was pretty much the opposite of competitors at the time and

They did just that with the launch of the Wii in 2006 the Wii was a cultural phenomenon being cheaper than competing consoles and a lot more unique and interesting to consumers a console where you didn't just push buttons but actually move physically this wasn't a completely new thing but it had never been as accessible as a box hitting under your TV in your living room some of the original ads for the Wii had random pen just showing up to people's houses with the Wii the residents who were confused but let them in and next thing you know they're all having a

Fantastic time just playing Wii Sports the premise was silly but the message is solid the Wii is something that anyone could pick up play and have a good time your mom your grandpa unless you had no soul it was really hard not to smile at the charm of your Mii beating up other memes on screen the Wii wasn't perfect of course with the focus on motion controls the hardware was relatively underpowered and wasn't much better than the GameCube because of this the games really haven't aged well graphically as the we can't display more than 480 P high-definition really does help hold

Games feel new but unfortunately besides emulation that there really isn't a way to make the we look properly good on a widescreen TV or at least a modern one we had other key features of the era such as Wi-Fi and Bluetooth that launched in 2011 a new revision known as the Wii family edition or RVL 101 removed all GameCube support which was a pity come 2012 and the Wii U wasn't the only new console launched by Nintendo the Wii mini also hits doors in Canada mate so on your way to buy some maple syrup and hockey sticks you could also pick up the $99 we mini and it's okay

I'm Canadian I can make fun of us but yeah cana-do's basically the test market for the wii mini I actually personally remember seeing one of these in the store I don't know if it was before or after the US launch but regardless the US launch did happen in 13 the Wii mini was only slightly smaller than the Wii but it completely changed the design it's a matte box with a black top and then red everything else to be honest I really really loved this look in my opinion it's a lot nicer than the actual Wii is just so unique and it looks really nice on the entertainment

Unit with that read the disc tray is pretty cheap on here though it just pops up like that so before you know with the we would just slide the disc in and it would move in all the way by itself similar to the ps3 not with the wii mini you have to hit a button and yeah it feels a bit cheap but it works fine so I've got no problem with that but what I do have a problem with and what a lot of people had problems with back in the day was the lack of features like the family Edition the Wii mini had no GameCube compatibility but it also didn't have an SD card slot or any internet

Capabilities the only ports on the back were for the sensor bar TV power and a single USB port I kind of understand leaving out Wi-Fi and tend to want to make this a stripped down experience that only played games plain and simple but I do think they could have at least put an Ethernet port or something in the back disallowing it completely seems really arbitrary but that's what they did in their defense the wii mini was actually a pretty fantastic deal while the Wii mini came out at the end of the Wiis life the Wii in general actually stayed relevant for quite a while thanks

To the failure of the Wii U actually the last game made for Wii is Dance Dance 2020 while the last game made for Wii U was Dance Dance 2019 so the Wii outlived the Wii U that is quite something the Wii mini clocked in at $99 and in 2013 began shipping with Mario Kart Wii included along with that there is also this red Wii mote with Motion Plus and a red and unshot what's nuts is if that you were to buy just a Wiimote and Nunchuk and Mario Cart it would probably cost a similar amount to just buying the Wii mini bundle for all its flaws the wii mini actually still managed to be a

Pretty great deal that didn't make the lack of internet okay though the wii mini also couldn't actually even output 480p as it can only use composite connections as opposed to component making it even worse than a 2006 Wii in terms of graphical power again considering the price this is fine but you have to wonder how many people bought this thing with a they would be missing out as far as I can tell the box or ads for the Wii mini never really were clear about the lack of internet don't forget this was back in 2012 and 2013 a time when not

Everyone had devices capable of streaming say YouTube and Netflix so when you bought a home console like this that was actually a very appealing feature the Wii for years was one of the most popular Netflix machines and the lack of it on the Wii many was disappointing ironically this doesn't matter anymore as everyone and their mothers has access to Netflix in one device or another I accept if you only have the switch for some reason the switch can't access Netflix I don't know why but if you have a Nintendo Wii with Netflix installed Bing Congrats you're

Technically superior to switch owners in that sense the lack of SD card support and internet support also made me wee mini completely unable to be home brewed something very popular among wee enthusiasts at least this was the case until relatively recently in late 2019 a parent brony github user for the hell v released a method of home brewing using bluetooth as this is literally the only way to connect this console without an SD card slot or internet the process is fairly straightforward but you do need a Linux computer to accomplish it with home brewing your entire we experience

Can be unlocked emulation on Wii is one of the best of any home brewed console simply because of how easy it is to do and how well everything tends to work you can emulate any Nintendo game on here up to the n64 we don't have an SD card slot but with that USB port you can load apps off of a flash drive after the initial homebrew process even with that though the original Wii is still a much better choice when it comes to buying one of these old things as not only can it play GameCube games but it also has the original ports for controllers and memory cards not to mention it's much

Easier to homebrew in the first place ultimately back in 2012 and 2013 the Wii mini was the cheapest way to play classic Wii titles like Mario Kart Mario Galaxy and dozens more the lack of online functionality likely didn't affect most players and for the price it was really a good deal you might scoff at we many users as not getting the true experience but they were able to play the same games as you and I'm sure many out there have a lot of nostalgia attached this console nowadays though there's a reason this wii has been more Forgotten Louie in general doesn't get a

Ton of attention anymore but this limited version really just doesn't hold up in any aspect except for again that design if you already own a Wii mini I'd encourage you to look into home brewing and actually that goes for if you have a Wii in general home brewing is fun don't buy this anymore don't buy the family edition weave you're gonna buy we buy the original one it's pretty straightforward I don't have a lot more to say about this we I think it's super cool I love the design I think it looks awesome and yeah all in all it's just kind of a strange product to come from

Nintendo it was unexpected then and even now it just it doesn't look or really even feel like a Wii but it is did you ever have the Wii mini let me know in the comments down below if you found this video interesting maybe hit that like button and consider subscribing for more content just like this you can follow me over on twitter and instagram at 91 underscore tech if you'd like to through some reason and with that all being said thank you so much for watching i'm josh from ninety one tech and i will see you all next time