It's been four years since the Wii first debuted but if you haven't jumped in on the bandwagon, now is a pretty good time to do so.
In the eyes of the public and industry alike, the Wii is seen as a very accessible gaming machine with games that are easy to pick up and play much like the original Nintendo Entertainment System was back in 1985. To a lot of gamers, though, they see the system as not having a lot of worthwhile titles to play. People are constantly saying their Wiis are in the closet or collecting dust. They're not lying. I have a lot of close friends who literally have their Wiis boxed up in their closets. The reasons are probably because of the Wii's lack of a unified online infrastructure or it's lowered graphically fidelity in comparison to this current gen's home consoles. But here I am, buying my second Wii.
I consider myself a hardcore but well-rounded gamer. I like playing the Call of Duty and Halo games that everyone else is playing but I love the Marios, Kirbys, Metroids, Zeldas, and just about everything else, too. The motion control of most games is tacked on and extremely gimmicky, but it can still provide for a very fun experience when done correctly. I'm also an extremely retroactive gamer. I love, love, love games of old and that's one of the biggest selling points of the Wii for me. I'm 22 years-old so a lot of these old games I play are first time experiences. The Virtual Console feature of the Wii is a very large library of old games you can download from the Wii's Shop Channel with a straightforward pay-per-title payment structure. You can download games from past Nintendo home consoles from the NES to the Nintendo 64. You can also download games from other non-Nintendo platforms such as the Sega Genesis, TurboGrafx, and even arcade. There are also Wii exclusive downloadable "Wiiware" games and a limited variety of apps such as Netflix so you can stream movies and TV if you're a subscriber to Netflix. So obviously lower quality graphics don't bother me, though, I must admit the maximum resolution that the Wii can output at 480p is rather disappointing, especially as time goes on. It won't bother a lot of people, especially kids, but I game on my PC too at super resolutions so I longingly wait for the day I can play my Nintendo games in HD. The overall reproduction of games in the Virtual Console though is mostly spot on, which is more than I can say for a lot of other retro ports of classics. The Wii can also play Gamecube games by simply inserting the games and plugging in a Gamecube controller. One thing that is a bit disappointing is that not all old games are on the Virtual Console. Nintendo tries to release more when they can but it can be hard for them at times due to licensing royalties and fees, especially when the license holding companies don't exist anymore and multiple parties own the rights.
Anyways, that's my opinion of the Wii in general. Here's some of this product's specifics:
25th Anniversary Wii Bundle
What makes this bundle different than other current Wii bundles is that the system and included remote/nunchuck are Red to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the release of the NES and Super Mario Bros. I'm guessing because Mario's clothing is mostly red but it's a unique and supposedly limited color for the Wii. The bundle also comes with two games: New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports. The other bundles (Black or White) come with Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort. You may or may not have already played Wii Sports which has fun pick-up-and-play games such as tennis or bowling. Wii Sports Resort is in the same style but has other games that utilize 1:1 motion such as sword fighting or archery. If you end up getting this bundle I highly recommend still getting Resort as you will get an additional Wii motion Plus attachment with the game. All bundles come with either a Wii motion Plus attachment (which gives the remote more accurate 1:1 detection and is required for some games such as Resort) or has it built in the remote.
New Super Mario Bros. Wii
This game is in the same "2.5D" style of New Super Mario Bros. for the DS with it's 3D rendered visuals but classic 2D platforming of older Mario games. The games look very similar but the levels are largely different with the added option of 1 to 4 players. I loved the DS version but I thought that playing it with more people would get kind of frustrating. Well, it actually is, but in that kind of crazy, fun kind of way. You can cooperate and compete. Helping each other to make that distant platform or hog all the coins to yourself while throwing your brother or sister into a pit as you make your way to the end of the stage. I asked my family if they wanted to try playing the game with me and they did. The next day I didn't think to ask them again because I was interested in something else I was playing, but they actually asked me. I said no, so they proceeded to playing the game, just three of my family members. Turns out they ended up beating the game without me that night. I was surprised but maybe I shouldn't have been. It's a really great game that recalls what made games so fun and simple 25 years ago. If you don't already have a Wii this is a good bundle simply for this game. It actually reminds of the old system bundles we used to get those years ago.
EDIT: Both Wii Sports and New Super Mario Bros. Wii come in cardboard sleeves rather than plastic casing. The bundle still comes with a New Super Mario Bros. Wii manual identical to that of a stand alone game along with identical inserts. Check out Wiiboxart.com if you're interested in printing out a case cover and keep in mind that the stand alone version has a red case.
Some Miscellaneous info:
If you're interested in purchasing games of the Wii Shop channel the pricing structure is as follows:
Commodore 64 500 points
NES 500
Sega Master System 500
TurboGrafx-16 600
TurboGrafx-CD 800
MSX 700
Sega Genesis 800
SNES 800
Neo Geo 900
Nintendo 64 1000
Arcade 500
Each point is essentially 1 cent so 1000 points is $10. You can purchase points directly online in the Shop Channel of the Wii or at retail in a pre-paid card. Just keep in mind that you can only purchase points in increments of 500 and tax is added where applicable.
Some titles I would like to recommend:
New Super Mario Bros. Wii (Rated E)
Super Mario Galaxy (E)
Super Mario Galaxy 2 (E)
Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (T)
Wii Sports Resort (E)
Metroid Prime Trilogy (T)
Kirby's Epic Yarn (E)
Muramasa (T)
Boy and his Blob (E)
No More Heroes (M)
No More Heroes 2 (M)
Tatsunoko VS Capcom (T)
Super Smash Bros (T)
Pikmin (E)
Klonoa (E10)
Super Paper Mario (E)
Edit, games since released after review:
Donkey Kong Country Returns
Goldeneye
Epic Mickey
Sonic Colors (I love this game!)
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