The Weturn of the Wii?

A few months ago, I bought our two young sons a second hand Wii console and some games, with the intention of getting them used to the controls, gestures and concepts of games with wireless controllers before we eventually upgrade them to a Nintendo Switch. The waiting period has been unintentionally extended, as they are both having a blast with the Wii and the stack of games I've picked up. Some games are the typical Wii novelty titles full of mini games, while others star branded characters like Sonic, Mario, Lego Batman, Transformers, Ben 10 and the like.

My wife and I have had a ton of fun reacquainting ourselves with old songs on the Just Dance games, and our bank balance hasn't been harmed by the console or the games, as I picked the console up for £18 from CEX, with the Wii games I bought priced from 50p to £5. The prohibitively expensive prices of Nintendo Swicth games have kept us checking CEX shelves and charity shops for cheap Wii games to maintain the family interest, and during this time I've noticed that we're not alone.

The price of second hand Wii consoles has risen recently (I've seen them selling for £25-£30 for the console and one controller in some electronics/second hand stores), and some games are currently selling for £15-£18 used! It appears that we're not the only family that has bought an older console for the kids (yes, and us) to enjoy, as interest in gaming fun at prices that are manageable in these times of Austerity and national uncertainty. Families with young children, a mortgage, a car and all of the costs that go with those things can't risk spending upwards of £50 for a single game that may not be any good. We want some fun, but it has to be within a price range that won't stop us eating for a week, y'know?

Wii games may be dated by current standards, but they are fresh enough to maintain the interest and don't yet look as old-school as the 16 bit games I play while bathing in nostalgia for my Megadrive days. In addition, the consoles available second hand work fine, even after a decade or so of use, and with so many games available for very little outlay (or games like Super Mario Wii for around £15 – which is still manageable), it's understandable that a reliable old favourite like the Wii may make something of a resurgence.

What made me think about this? It was seeing the ads for the most recent Just Dance before Christmas. This was advertised as being available for the Nintendo Switch, and also the Wii! After all this time, a new Wii gamegetting a release is of note as it shows that people do still use them, and it also shows that games companies are aware that not everyone will have access to the latest console. It makes business sense to have a version available that families can pick up without a massive outlay for a new console. I think that with the Wii, Nintendo hit on something that was so iconic and game-changing (as it were) that whatever followed it wouldn't have quite the same cultural impact.

The Nintendo Switch is fantastic, but I'd say it's yet to reach the same heights as the Wii. I'm reminded of Blu Ray coming along, and while it wiped out HDDVD, regular old DVDs still hang on for dear life as the newer format didn't change the physical disc concept, and also came with a higher price tag for players. It's not a case of 'if it ain't broken, don't fix it', more a case of 'If it ain't broken, we can't afford to upgrade for the hell of it'. So grab your controller and wave it at that screen like it's 2008 all over again.