The Final Days of the Wii

[Nz17]

As the last days dawn on the waning year of the Wii, which releases do we have to look forward to during these final months? As far as I know, for North America there is Skylanders Super Chargers and Rodea the Sky Soldier. Skylanders Super Chargers is compatible with two crossover Amiibo, Hammer Slam Bowser and Turbo Charged Donkey Kong, which make them the only Amiibo which are compatible with the Wii. Rodea the Sky Soldier for Wii U will also include Yuji Naka's original version of Rodea on a separate Wii disc as well. Are these two games well and truly the only remaining North American Wii releases? And what of Japan - are there still more Wii releases due over there?

[chronic_archaic]

Just Dance - Disney Party 2 is coming to Wii later this year.

In Japan the Wii hasn't gotten any new releases since 2013, iirc.

Strange first post for sure.

[YoshiM]

Looks like Nintendo will be the first to bury it's last gen system. I wonder will be next-the 360 or the PS3?

[Niku-Sama]

I wonder if i can still find a new Wii mini. I still want one

[kai123]

Looks like Nintendo will be the first to bury it's last gen system. I wonder will be next-the 360 or the PS3?

I think of the two the PS3 will have a little longer shelf life based off of it's Blu-Ray abilities. Take the MSRP down to $100 or so and it can go a little longer. With the XBONE pushing it's BC mode I would think the shelf life of the 360 will be shorter if they can get their key titles on the list.

[SparTonberry]

Was there even a Wii game released in 2014? (I'm guessing there was but nothing notable.)

The last Wii game I recall was Pandora's Tower in 2013, the final game "Operation Rainfall" begged for.

[Leo_A]

There are a half dozen or more retail releases in 2014 for the usual suspects like tie-ins with CGI animated kids movies, Just Dance, Skylanders, FIFA, Let's Sing, etc. Casual releases have remained fairly regular.

The last notable release, at least in North America, is definitely Pandora's Tower. But Rodea the Sky Soldier seems to be garnering some interest and won't be out for a few more weeks, so it could still be supplanted.

[Aussie2B]

Yeah, to be completely honest, I thought the Wii was already done receiving new releases, so I'm surprised that there are still some to come. Like others, Pandora's Tower was the last that I paid any attention to.

[The 1 2 P]

To me the Wii died years ago but technically you can still go into stores and buy new Wii games and a console at some stores. But by this time next year I think the consoles will either all be discontinued or on clearance with all the games. I enjoyed when the Gamecube was on clearance because I got multiple systems brand new for $30 each and then ended up selling the Metroid Prime bundled system years later for $250. I don't think new Wii's will ever go for that much any more though.

[RPG_Fanatic]

I wonder if i can still find a new Wii mini. I still want one

I still see them at Toys 'R' Us around here.

[Bojay1997]

I still see them at Toys 'R' Us around here.

I've seen them at a number of Target and Best Buy locations as well in the past few weeks.

[theclaw]

I wonder if i can still find a new Wii mini. I still want one

All we have to go on are reported sightings and the like. NOA has yet to acknowledge discontinuing Wii (including backwards compatible units) or Wii Mini.

[Leo_A]

Still kicking slightly outside of Japan and the US. 40,000 units were sold, presumably largely in Europe, from April through June this year. Hardware sales ceased a couple of years ago in Japan and North America didn't register enough to round up to 10,000 units.

Helped no doubt thanks to the Nintendo Selects program having actually been supported over there, unlike Nintendo of America that released a budget console but no budget rereleases to complement it. The program died almost as quickly as it started over here, with two sole rounds of rereleases in 2011 followed by two GCN New Play Control ports belatedly making an appearance in North America in 2012 under this banner. Europe on the other hand consistently saw additions as late as last November, after the program was revitalized in conjunction with the release of the Wii Mini after a period of idleness.

Software sales still seem alive worldwide in small numbers though. During this period, Japan moved 130,000 games despite Wii console sales having concluded in the region, North America saw 360,000 units sold (One to me, likely the last Wii game that I buy new at a B&M store), and the region encompassing the rest of the world like Europe sold 630,000 games (No doubt helped by the Nintendo Selects line in Europe).

I want a Wii Mini, so hopefully there is a deal on Black Friday for $50.

[Tanooki]

The one thing I think if I really wanted to 'collect' again I think I'd for some sadist reason I'd go for again would be DS. No one really wants it, it's cheap, outside of select things people attempt to gouge for that keeps them up more than others, but those were also the same ones trolls did it to when the game was new anyway because of some weird reasoning like a deluxe box with a cool audio CD (like the Atlus stuff.)

It would be the easiest to attempt anyway seeing that the 3DS(any) runs the things and they don't take up a lot of space. A little more than my game boy games in a tray, but not much. I still have ONE game I've stubbornly have held onto, Final Fantasy III which came with that neat velcro topped FF3 white/black trim westsuit material system case. It's such a good size it has served me well also for GBA and GBC too. The DS is the Wii companion as far as era goes much like the 3DS is to the WiiU basically. It's in that valley where it will fairly well stay for some time until either collectors foul it up, or people hit the disposable income age and want a flashback. Sure the 3D games will more or less all age horridly, but the 2D stuff will keep that GBA-esque feel that keeps it feeling fine. The last DS game was a horribly Winx girls game that came out around Thanksgiving just last year so it really hung in there, even if it did terribly towards the end.

[Niku-Sama]

I want a Wii Mini. Hopefully there is a deal on Black Friday for $50.

yea I didn't think of that, I am sure theres a ton sitting in a warehouse still. maybe i'll do that.

I have 3 wiis already, 1 launch, 1 Walmart black Friday blue and 1 I got for $5 because it was "broken". it started right up. go fig.

the blue one is still sealed up as it was a potential rarity and it cost me a lot less than $100.

[Jorpho]

It's strange that there was never an official price drop announced for the Wii Mini, but then again if the Wii in general isn't particularly supported anymore, then there would be no purpose to that.

When it was first announced it seemed like a pretty great idea, but it's never been particularly cheap. I would still be much more inclined to find a nice used Wii that can still run homebrew and with GC backwards compatibility. (Last time I checked, no one was particularly inclined to hack the Wii Mini.)

[Leo_A]

The only things that bother me with the Wii Mini, since I think the cost cutting largely made sense, were why component video support via the multi-out port was eliminated and why the USB ethernet adapter wasn't supported.

While not too many Wii Mini purchasers would've been interested in taking their new budget console online or buying the best cable possible for it, the option would've been nice to see since the cost savings surely wasn't much of anything (Reminiscent of the SuperNes redesign losing the easily restored S-Video capabilities).

Losing WiFi, the SD slot, and the carrying over the lack of GCN compatibility from the previous revision all made sense from a business perspective for a system aimed largely at parents shopping for the first videogame console for their young child for Christmas or a birthday gift.

But something like support for the ethernet adapter was free, thanks to the presence of a single USB port on the Wii Mini. Why actually deliberately disable it from working?

[Nathan Dunsmore]

Some 2014 releases...

Rise of the Guardians/Croods Prehistoric Party Double Pack
How to Train Your Dragon 2
Fifa 2015
Let's Sing 2015
Let's Dance 2015
Skylanders Trap Team
Penguins of Madagascar

Planes: Fire and Rescue came out in Europe.

[Niku-Sama]

The only things that bother me with the Wii Mini, since I think the cost cutting largely made sense, were why component video support via the multi-out port was eliminated and why the USB ethernet adapter wasn't supported.

While not too many Wii Mini purchasers would've been interested in taking their new budget console online or buying the best cable possible for it, the option would've been nice to see since the cost savings surely wasn't much of anything (Reminiscent of the SuperNes redesign losing the easily restored S-Video capabilities).

Losing WiFi, the SD slot, and the carrying over the lack of GCN compatibility from the previous revision all made sense from a business perspective for a system aimed largely at parents shopping for the first videogame console for their young child for Christmas or a birthday gift.

But something like support for the ethernet adapter was free, thanks to the presence of a single USB port on the Wii Mini. Why actually deliberately disable it from working?

you can add the components but until some one finds a firmware hack its still a dead end.

I kinda see it as every other Nintendo mini system, over time people will notice its better at X thing and become the desirable one.
maybe it'll be the one that plays games better without being connected because the firmware is different
maybe its better because it doesnt have a slot load mech (new generation toaster nes connector problem)
maybe it'll be the one you can modify easily to do 720p or 1080p

who knows!

[Leo_A]

you can add the components but until some one finds a firmware hack its still a dead end.

For homebrew?

That's not what I'd be buying it for. I'd be buying it because for some reason I find it appealing, although I'll likely never use it regularly due to the composite limitation. Still, if there's a deal during the Christmas shopping season, it would be easy enough to justify/rationalize since you'd spend $50 just on a brand new 1st party Wiimote and nunchuck.

If one wants homebrew though, this really doesn't make any sense (Unless someone discovers something like you're saying). Even if you managed a way via USB or something, you're still missing the SD slot and you're still missing the GameCube controller ports that many appreciate. A first generation Wii really is the best way to go for homebrew.