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The Wii is Underrated

Joined
Apr 3, 2012
Location
Narnia
Can we have a thread about how woefully underrated the Wii is?

I never really got into the Wii's library until the beginning of 2012, and boy, all those people who write it off as a "kiddie" console are missing out.
-All those great 1st party titles
-Some of the best JRPGs of that generation (Monster Hunter 3 Tri, Xenoblade, The Last Story)
-Dem exclusives
-Dat virtual console

How much do you love or hate the Wii?
This is a Wii thread, posts yo' thoughts


Also, what are some other great Wii RPGs I should check out?
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
May 26, 2010
Location
Akkala
Gender
Hylian Champion
I honestly detest the Wii; its library is about 70-80% shovelware, and a great deal of its first party entries have been lackluster (TPWii, Skyward Sword, Mario Sports Mix, both Mario Parties...the list could go on although Sports I think was actually SE, and maybe the MPs were Hudson?).

It obviously has some great titles (most of the JRPGs, SSBB, Galaxy games), but they're few and far between.

EDIT: I'm drunk so disregard everything above. :I

EDIT1: FE10 is a nice game for Wii owners. I'd say its much too easy thanks to forging and stuff (FE12 and 13 have forging but higher difficulties are ridiculously hard...Maniac++ my bro), but still it's enjoyable.
 
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Kirino

Tatakae
Joined
Jun 19, 2010
Location
USA
I thought the Wii was pretty good. SS, TP, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Other M, among many others.

As for other Wii RPG's you should check out, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Fantastic game, but it features a permanent death system (like all Fire Emblem games). Although it may turn some away from it, it made the game much more fun. It's not like the game is overly hard or anything. The game is slightly above average in difficulty on normal difficulty. I suggest playing on Easy, as normal difficulty could be too hard for some. But if you don't mind playing a somewhat difficult game, go normal. The reason I say all of this is because when people hear that the game has permanent death, they get all scared and think the game is going to be all difficult. It's a turn-based strategy RPG by the way.
 

Austin

Austin
Joined
Feb 24, 2010
I'm not aware of anyone that seriously puts the Wii down other than your local middle schoolers.

Overall I feel the Wii is an average console, but I do think that all consoles this generation have been slightly overwhelming. We're nowhere near Super Nintendo level these days, in terms of games. There have certainly been good games on the Wii, but it's nowhere near a Nintendo golden age. And mostly, I don't really hear people saying otherwise, so I would say that the Wii isn't really underrated at all.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2012
Location
Narnia
I honestly detest the Wii; its library is about 70-80% shovelware, and a great deal of its first party entries have been lackluster (TPWii, Skyward Sword, Mario Sports Mix, both Mario Parties...the list could go on although Sports I think was actually SE, and maybe the MPs were Hudson?).

It obviously has some great titles (most of the JRPGs, SSBB, Galaxy games), but they're few and far between.

EDIT: I'm drunk so disregard everything above. :I

EDIT1: FE10 is a nice game for Wii owners. I'd say its much too easy thanks to forging and stuff (FE12 and 13 have forging but higher difficulties are ridiculously hard...Maniac++ my bro), but still it's enjoyable.

What is FE10?
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
I wouldn't label the Wii as one of the greatest consoles ever made, but it was outstandingly better than that run-of-the-mill box we call the GameCube. It didn't have a great deal of 3rd party support, but it did have a fair amount of fantastic titles (Galaxy, Brawl, Prime 3, Monster Hunter Tri, DKC Returns, Other M, Galaxy 2, Skyward Sword), so when looking back on it, I have mostly fond memories. It's an underrated console in every sense of the word.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2012
Location
Narnia
I'm not aware of anyone that seriously puts the Wii down other than your local middle schoolers.

Overall I feel the Wii is an average console, but I do think that all consoles this generation have been slightly overwhelming. We're nowhere near Super Nintendo level these days, in terms of games. There have certainly been good games on the Wii, but it's nowhere near a Nintendo golden age. And mostly, I don't really hear people saying otherwise, so I would say that the Wii isn't really underrated at all.

Most of my friends are either PC fanatics, or are into consoles that are not the Wii. They don't think the library warrants a purchase. It's underrated where I'm from because no one even gives it a chance.

I thought the Wii was pretty good. SS, TP, Galaxy, Galaxy 2, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption and Other M, among many others.

As for other Wii RPG's you should check out, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn. Fantastic game, but it features a permanent death system (like all Fire Emblem games). Although it may turn some away from it, it made the game much more fun. It's not like the game is overly hard or anything. The game is slightly above average in difficulty on normal difficulty. I suggest playing on Easy, as normal difficulty could be too hard for some. But if you don't mind playing a somewhat difficult game, go normal. The reason I say all of this is because when people hear that the game has permanent death, they get all scared and think the game is going to be all difficult. It's a turn-based strategy RPG by the way.

I've been trying to find Fire Emblem games for MONTHS but to no avail :\
 

Hanyou

didn't build that
The Wii is certainly underrated. It's a big step up from the Gamecube, even if you just look at Nintendo's flagship franchise. Super Mario Sunshine, for instance, was an unfortunate sidestep in an otherwise awesome series; Galaxy and Galaxy 2, despite the hand-wringing about "gimmicks," might just be the most refined Mario games in existence.

On top of that, there are the named games and plenty of less popular ones. Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility and Animal Parade never won any Game of the Year awards, but I think they were a couple of the best games in their series, as well. And laughable as it may seem, that's a series I really care about.

The Wii and PS3 stood head and shoulders above the Xbox 360, which boasted what, a bunch of inferior versions of games available on PC? The games on the Wii are some of the best in Nintendo's library and, while I'd rate it below the SNES and N64, I had a much better time with it than the Gamecube or even the NES.

The DS, PC, and arguably PS3 were better than the Wii, but the Wii was great. Not Nintendo's best, but it had a far better library than the sea of shooters that defined this generation. It was unique, and for that it gets lambasted as not being "hardcore." Well, if that's the case, then thank God it's not hardcore.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2012
Location
Narnia
I wouldn't label the Wii as one of the greatest consoles ever made, but it was outstandingly better than that run-of-the-mill box we call the GameCube. It didn't have a great deal of 3rd party support, but it did have a fair amount of fantastic titles (Galaxy, Brawl, Prime 3, Monster Hunter Tri, DKC Returns, Other M, Galaxy 2, Skyward Sword), so when looking back on it, I have mostly fond memories. It's an underrated console in every sense of the word.

Run-of-the-mill-box? Why so?
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
The Wii and PS3 stood head and shoulders above the Xbox 360, which boasted what, a bunch of inferior versions of games available on PC?

You gotta be honest, though. The Wii versions of multiplatform games were inferior to the HD ones. I agree that it was better than the 360 as a whole, but that last statement doesn't really help your point.

Run-of-the-mill-box? Why so?

I do not hide the fact that I'm not a big fan of the GameCube. Most first party titles saw a significant drop in quality on that console, specifically Mario and Zelda (the only one to actually get BETTER was Metroid), and most titles on it were merely good instead of great. It had a few gems -- Melee, Prime, Eternal Darkness -- but it was by far Nintendo's weakest console and the weakest of its generation.
 
Joined
Apr 3, 2012
Location
Narnia
That generation as a whole was fantastic though, and I honestly believe it was the golden age of gaming. People argue for the 4th and 5th generation, but the 6th had three fantastic consoles with outstanding libraries. I suppose an argument could be made that gen 4-6 was the golden age, but still.

As for the Gamecube, Twilight Princess is my favorite Zelda, Metroid Prime is one of the best games ever made, Resident Evil 4 was best played on the GC, Pikmin, Second Sight, Fire Emblem: PoR, F-Zero GX, Tales of Symphonia, Skies of Arcadia (superior by far to the Dreamcast version), gesit, Spartan Total Warrior, Pokemon games, Melee, Double Dash, all were fantastic.
The only thing that really held it back for me was the controller for shooters and Tony Hawk games, but oter than that it was great.

Did we play the same console? :p
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
That generation as a whole was fantastic though, and I honestly believe it was the golden age of gaming. People argue for the 4th and 5th generation, but the 6th had three fantastic consoles with outstanding libraries. I suppose an argument could be made that gen 4-6 was the golden age, but still.

As for the Gamecube, Twilight Princess is my favorite Zelda, Metroid Prime is one of the best games ever made, Resident Evil 4 was best played on the GC, Pikmin, Second Sight, Fire Emblem: PoR, F-Zero GX, Tales of Symphonia, Skies of Arcadia (superior by far to the Dreamcast version), gesit, Spartan Total Warrior, Pokemon games, Melee, Double Dash, all were fantastic.
The only thing that really held it back for me was the controller for shooters and Tony Hawk games, but oter than that it was great.

Did we play the same console? :p

Resident Evil 4 is such an overrated game. The horror is virtually non-existent despite it trying to be scary, and the action is bland and repetitive. Literally, the game starts repeating itself once you get to the mansion. I also hate Double Dash due to its boring level design and horrid physics and stiff controls.

If the GameCube were to be Nintendo's console of this generation (I'm talking games, not hardware), I'm pretty sure people would absolutely shred it. I only see nostalgia when people praise the console for being great.
 
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DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Being the most popular console in its gen, I fail to see how it could be underrated. No, I think it's very overrated. It had good games, but only 5 Wii games satisfied me. And half of those were ports from other consoles.

Skyward Sword

Super Smash Brothers Brawl

Okami (port)

Twilight Princess (Inferior port to the GC)

New Super Mario Brothers Wii

But Mario Kart Wii was awful. I haven't touched it in years. The races were casualized and the battles were ruined beyond belief. I sit there in awe, unable to comprehend why they didn't give you an option to set all that crap off and go for a traditional battle.

Super Paper Mario was good in its own right, but it wasn't a Paper Mario Game.

Super Mario Galaxy, while a good game and better than MK Wii, was the biggest disappointment in a Mario game next to Sticker Star. The courses were horribly linear. The original SM64 excelled in exploration and freedom. In fact, it was balanced perfectly. SMS failed because it took some of this away and gave us linear paths in non-linear courses. SMG was even worse because it took almost all of that away...it gave us linear paths in linear courses. They may as well have made it 2D, really. Even Zelda isn't this linear and at least Zelda has reason and benefit from being linear. Mario does not. The gameplay was horribly repetitive and the powers were pointless. SMG2 was no better. Overall, I was more pleased with Kirby Returns to Dreamland than this.

Oh and MP still hasn't recovered.

Being honest, my top 3 games (SS, TP, and Okami) are on the Wii. So it's really not a complete loss. I'd put it at a tie with the Gamecube. Why? Because while the Wii gave me my favorite games, it also presented the most disappointments. GC had a few disappointments compared to the N64 (tWW, SMS, MP), but the Wii had more (SMG, SMG2, SPM, MP, and MKW)
 
The Wii has a few gems but overall I feel as though the console is one large marketing gimmick and a break from the core audience that propelled Nintendo to its current height.

While third party support including Okami, Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition, Monster Hunter Tri, Sin & Punishment: Star Succesor, and Madworld is great there aren't enough of these titles to cater to a large portion of the gaming audience which includes thriller games of every type be it Action-Adventure, RPG, Shooter, or Survival Horror.

I agree with the assessment that Nintendo's flagship franchises were not at their all-time highs during the Gamecube era but more so than recent years, Nintendo offered compelling new IPs including Pikmin and Battalion Wars. Old IPs were revisited as well and more than the standard Mario, Zelda, and Metroid fare. Familiar faces like Star Fox and Captain Falcon were sorely missing from the Wii. Perhaps above all, Nintendo was no longer behind competitors with a very powerful machine able to compete and in some respects surpass the Xbox and PS2. While it lacked online functionality sans LAN support, the Gamecube was privy to a bevvy of third party support including high profile games like Resident Evil 4, Viewtiful Joe, and Eternal Darkness Sanity's Requiem.

I enjoyed the Wii into its third year after release but it didn't feel like a complete package to me and appeared more an attempt by Nintendo to expand its target audience than present a case for a compelling game system. Unlocking additional functions through homebrew definitely opens new windows of opportunity but it's a shame Nintendo failed to provide solid support for its system and convince other developers to look past expensive developments costs and capitalize on the Wii's innovation.

Before anyone prompts me to remove my nostalgia glasses, I want to clarify that I don't hate on modern entertainment and love Nintendo's games and platforms. The Nintendo DS is my favorite portable system with the 3DS looking to overtake it. That said, I never could find satisfaction with my Wii after the point when HD gaming exploded and a plethora of AAA titles released on 360 and PS3-not those gritty shooters everyone dismisses but the small downloadable gems like Flower, Journey, and The Walking Dead which reminded me of an older Nintendo, one willing to take software risks and enthrall gamers with another gorgeous world to explore.
 

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