The Bizarre Nintendo Wii Mini
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 21 ม.ค. 2024
- Right before the Wii U, Nintendo released the Wii Mini. At $100, it was an ultra budget version of the Wii that lacked GameCube backwards compatibility, SD card slot and even Wi-Fi.
- วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
To be fair, the lack of a slot loading disc drive means less moving parts. Less moving parts means more reliable and less likely to fail. The lack of Wi Fi isn't that big of a deal since most people play Wii games offline. What's weird is that there's no SD card slot. From what I understand the Wii Mini has 512 MB internal storage for game saves. Is that enough? Either way this is not a bad choice for strictly playing Wii games offline.
True but at the time, comparing it vs the then cheaper wii.. Wii washes the wii mini
FIRE IN THE HOLE
naaa ps1 had same thing, the thing moving the disc is still gonna fall apart from long use
The complaint of lack of WiFi was for streaming. Most wiis turned into a Netflix box as the years went on.
Scott the woz made a great point, they could have gave it wifi support and advertised it as a streaming box it could have tapped into a really big market because the wii does have streaming applications
I like the opening disc drive more. It’s fun to press the button and it would be easier to repair the disk drive. I also feel like more people would appreciate the disk art.
The pop up disc drive cover gives me nostalgic memories of the PS1, Gamecube, and Dreamcast. 😍
@@thebasketballhistorian3291 yes!
I still have my original Wii and the original disc slot works and reads still after slotting in god knows what after my childhood years.
@@aarliann that’s impressive! My old Wii’s disk drive broke about a year ago. But I got a great deal on a fairly good condition red Wii
NOW THIS ONE GETS IT! 🔥😈😎
this console would’ve made so much more sense to get if they stripped certain parts of it and kept the sd card slot and the Wi-Fi.
Agreed
Exactly. The look of the console plus the top loading functionality would be AMAZING with an SD card and wifi. It would reach a large audience, even without gamecube. (Which if people wanted they would likely already have a gamecube or original wii)
It probably wouldn't increase the price by too much either
Owner of this thing here:
Me and my sister got one at christmas when we were like 9 and 6 years old. None of use cared about Wifi or anything, we just wanted to have fun with our friends or parents, and the console did this job well enough. Plus, the low price allowed our parents to buy us some extra games as well.
P.S.: The red controller is one of the most beautiful ones i've eve
That makes sense now in 2024 but when the Wii mini came out in 2012 digital games distribution was fairly limited on Wii , mainly just retro stuff, and Wii WiFi service would end 2 years later anyway. They had already killed off the news and weather channels. And the SD card slot was less useful than in the past. Before cellphone cameras were actually decent it was more popular to use digital cameras with sd cards, that made sense when the Wii came out but by the time the Wii mini came out the direction was clearly going towards phone cameras and digital cameras were going away
Funny story, my family had a Wii, soon a storm came through and because we had no surge protector, the Wii sadly would never turn on again. My grandma heard about what happened and bought us a Wii mini for Christmas, we still have it to this day and it’s in mint condition. (Keep in mind the Wii mini had just come out, it wasn’t rare then.)
Omg this happened to me once like 8 years ago, there was a storm and our Wii wouldn't turn on after. Like 4 months later I plugged the thing back in to see and it worked, it still works to this day :)
@@aidangoble3055 Now I wish we wouldn’t have got rid of it.
Same happened to me 9 years ago! RIP my Wii
Its still not rare, on average 50 bucks 😂
EXACT same thing happened to me omg 😭
Not calling it the Pii Wii is a missed opportunity.
Although spelled differently, I think that name is already taken, probably also copy written😂😂
Only if they could get the Actor that played Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens
) to do an add for it
@@danielbutler8103 didn't he die?
@@pharaoh6977No bro, didn’t you play Super Mario Galaxy 2? Peewee Piranha is the first boss fight.
@@pharaoh6977 Yes but, that was recent (R.I.P.). He was alive when the Wii was still relevant.
“Have you ever heard of the Wii Mini?”
No I haven’t. And probably for good reason.
“It’s not backwards compatible.”
That’s why I haven’t heard it.
I always thought they should have called this this “Wee Wii”.
I had the Wii mini and I think its perfectly fine
Same here I want to play with it again but I used the controller too much and now the buttons won't really work as well as they use to
I remember watching Austin’s original video on the Wii mini, it’s actually the first video I watch by him.
At least in Canada these things dropped to $50 bucks after about 6 months. I bought one because it was 10 bucks cheaper to buy a wii mini, which came with wiimotes, than it was to buy wiimotes alone. I then went and sold the wii mini for 20 bucks without wii motes. Kind of wish I'd kept it now but oh well.
You're a liar
Fun fact. Canada was the only country it was released in (hence the red color). It was meant to be a test market before releasing it elsewhere but it failed.
@@RaboliskAs someone living in the US, I can confirm it was not exclusive to Canada. Walmart had it in multiple states.
@@Rabolisk It was also sold in a few European countries
@@Raboliskit was released in the UK too. I didn’t have a Wii at the time and it was slashed to £50 WITH a new copy of Mario kart Wii. Sadly, my dad didn’t want me to get the console.
I bought this brand new and still have it now. I like how straight forward it is
Did you know that since amd aquired ati before the wii mini came out, that the wii mini has amd branding instead of the ati branding seen on other wiis.
That's cool. It always feels like a neat legacy seeing the ATI logo on my old Wii
My grandparents actually have one of these, and it works better than a normal WII, it has less moving parts, the power button and eject button are pretty well placed, and there really is no need for wifi on it. It works really well.
to be fair the gamecube support was only on early wii models anyway
later models of the regular wii did drop gamecube support
If you mod it hardware and software wise using blue bomb and soldering on a MicroSD card slot, reset button, and Wi-Fi module, also adding a HDMI mod because the motherboard is identical, you can also mod in the GameCube ports as well considering all into no whis no matter if it's strictly shows that are not are backwards compatible with gamecube, then it would be a pretty intriguing Tower of wii, in fact I want to do a project like that where I add a USB hub internally and give it ethernet in addition to a few additional USB ports.
i'd click on that video
I love this version, very retro looking and simple. I'm glad I bought one when it was released.
The irony of it was that you could get a used Wii for the same price. And it was twice as good even when it was heavily used.
I modded one for my kids to play on with bluebomb and had a huge library of retro games plus game cube and wii games. Great little system.
There have been mods that have restored the cut features, mainly the sd card slot and Wi-Fi
The GameCube ports were restored too
The real reason they stripped out features like the SD and WIFI is to prevent hacking vectors. It took many years to eventually hack it, and it was complicated enough to make hacking it not worthwhile.
I actually have one of these. It was the first console I ever got and I loved playing it with my little brother. Years later I was able to mod it despite the lack of sd card slot, (and wifi). The modding community figured out you can hack it through the Bluetooth feature and the singular USB slot on the back. It's definitely worse than the original but it gets the job done.
I still play my Wii mini for hours
Sucks to suck lol
Cool bro
Nice
Not true
Honestly man, I grew up with one cause I was on the lower end of income, I made memory's with this
Back when I was 5-7 I got one of these for Christmas. I had played my grandparents Wii all the time and they thought it would be good to get one for mii. I was so happy, because, I didn’t know that my parents just got the cheapest one. Even if I had, however, I still wouldn’t have cared, after all, it played Mario kart and that’s all I needed.
Exactly. I love the way the mini looks. I want one.
@@charlieg6913 if I still had mine I would sell it to you lol
I love how you spelt me as mii
They're also almost exactly the same size as a regular Wii, so more of a Wii Lite than a Wii Mini
Amazing thing, the scene made its way for modding the console trough the Bluetooth for the Wiimotes 😨
I owned a Wii from release to two years ago and had no idea they had backward compatibility.
But it has GameCube controller inputs and memory card slots, how'd you not know 💀
CAP, nobody is that blind
If you had it at release you never heard anyone talk about being able to play Gamecube games on it? We actually got a later model that's not backwards compatible and the writing on the front is horizontal (right side up when the Wii is horizontal).
For people saying I’m lying, I was a 3 year old kid when it came out. It was my first gaming system. I never once played it after becoming a teen, then sold it a couple years ago. I straight up didn’t know it was backwards compatible. Had I known, I would’ve kept it.
i will never understand companies getting rid of backwards compatibility with slim versions of their consoles
I actually saw this when i went to a mental hospital, probably donated
i got one of them, if im right, it got 3 games Mario Kart, Wii Sports and Wii sports resort, i still got the Wii remote the nunchuck (i think thats the way to type it), the power thingy and everything to play on it. im still astonished that it works.
It’ll work with any Wii game
You can add wifi using a esp board and solrdering into the Main board because is the same as the wifi but just with out the wifi module
I have a Wii Mini. It was before I really got into gaming, so I didn't even know the regular Wii even existed and thought that that was the regular Wii. Even after years you opened my eyes to the features of the regular Wii. I never even thought about WiFi.
I prefer that first Wii, it's like two consoles in one, the red one is nothing mini-like, it takes up more space and has less stuff.
I still have my wii mini, which I thought was a better version of the wii, back when i received it as a gift in like 2014, I still own it to this day. I'm a very unlucky person with consoles as I also have the PSP Street, which also has no wifi 😕
I had my Wii mini I think in like 2015 I still have that Wii today
Loved my Wii Mini growing up. I was just so glad I even got A Wii because the Wii back then was THE thing to have, it was so awesome.
Vaguely remember as this was around the time I grew up and phased out of caring about video games.
Back when you’re a kid you get catalogs of sales and items from stores. Staring at pictures of the new toys and console deals.
I honestly love the red and black design of the Wii Mini, it looks so sleek
I was tempted to get this back in the day. It was probably the removal of backwards compatibility that steered me away.
I actually have one of those, and every time I’ve shown someone it they always think it’s some sort of bootleg thing until we actually start playing on it. It do be weird.
my school has one of those, i remember playing mario kart everyday on it
Definitely not worth the 15 extra bucks
If it wasn't missing backwards compatibility completely I would buy one. It looks sleek af
I remember my parents buying this when I was younger. My family didn’t have a lot of money at the time and only made little amounts of it each day, but they were determined to get at least one thing I’ve always wanted, a Wii for myself since my cousin was tired of me always playing on hers. Had it for about a decade and it still works. I remember this came with Mario Kart Wii, I think?
Wii Mini is a cute console, but is sad to see Nintendo losing the oportunity to turn the Wii into a stream box in its time, besides if the gamecube adapter was compatible with it it could have been a nice option in this times.
I remember seeing Wii Mini at Target YEARS ago. I was wondering what the target audience was since everyone I knew had a Wii
I still remember seeing the Wii Mini about 11 years ago at a Best Buy.
As a guy who owns this console this is heavily underrated
When he said, "Mostly because they suck", I felt that.
I got one of these back in the day since my OG wii couldn't run Disney Infinity. Came with a red Wiimote with built in MotionPlus, which is still one of my favorite controllers today. I think the novelty of it is nice, especially since my old wii can't read discs anymore
I have the same red box.
It’s cool to finally see someone who acknowledges the Wii mini’s existence, mainly because I got one for my ninth birthday 9 years ago
Funny thing, when i was a kid (i'm speaking of around 2012) me and my sister really wanted a wii, but as a low class mexican family my parents weren't really interested in buying it. But one day they told us they were going to finally buy it for us. So we got to the store and bought a Wii Mini bundle with Mario Kart
So the point is, i've never played a regular Wii, i've been playing in a Wii Mini since that day UNTIL TODAY. (I still challenge my gf or brother in MK or replay Zelda Twilight Princess, which is my favourite game ever)
So, everybody is always saying wii mini sucks, and maybe it does. But i have so many good memories with my old loved Wii Mini :')
House of the dead was so fun with gun controllers. They really should have capitalized in that genre. The wii could've been the best gunshooter home arcade port.
This is genuinely the first time I've ever heard of this thing and after seeing this I can understand why I never heard of it until now.
I had a wii mini for many years, served me well and was well worth the money I spent.
I also loved the look
...and it was perfect
I knew a couple of kids back in highschool who modded their Wii Mini so we could play Project M. They did it outta spite because of what the Wii Mini was.
I never knew you could open the top of a Wii like that even through the years I’ve used it😭
Yes I saw it. Saw when it was announced, saw the spec sheet and immediately dismissed it as the Wii U was on the horizon, promising nintendo games in HD. The checked Nintendo news outlets daily for information regarding it.
the modding story on this thing was sick
I had one as a kid, actually I think I still have it.
It was also a canadian exclusive console. Its because back then internet was pretty rare, lots of people, including myself didnt live in the city where internet was. Also because lots of people have cabins in canada.
The amount of modding you can do on the Mini makes it worth getting to some.
When I was younger, I thought that was the Wii. As I grew and my friends showed me their consoles, I said “that ain’t a Wii.”
Wii was (and I believe still is) very popular in non-traditional places like nursing homes. Probably because of active games like Wii Sports. I could see them making this to ship Wii consoles that were easy to set up and function for longer.
I still remember getting this when i was 5 years old and i always thought this was some kind of special edition wii :')
I only saw this once when I worked at GameStop in the late 2010s. I had no idea it existed and it sat in the back until I left a few years later. Some say it’s still there to this day…
Weird how there are no channels really and yet the menu is still the first thing we see rather than just booting up the game. I think mods are in order!
I just saw this at a second hand game store last week for the first time and I can't believe that's what it was
I remember that. My grandma got me one on my birthday when I was about 6 or 7 because my older brothers would never let me play MarioKart with them on our original Wii. Good times
I actually never knew what the top part was for but by god the amount of weird cables it required 😂😂😂😂
I still have my original Wii ❤. Got it for my bday in 2006 and still works perfectly!
I remember seeing the Austin Evans video on this when this was out a fewbyears and was already super old. Kinda cool that this is probably the same exact console 😂
They’re rare because not many were designed and it was at the end of the original Wii production life when they were well over and ready into the the making of the Wii U
The Wii mini brings me nostalgia man
Funny enough, this is the Wii I have. I used it a lot many years back, but I don’t any use for it nowadays. I plan on getting it back into action sometime to play some good ol’ Wii games
I have two and grew up with them , they both work perfectly fine
I like how the US found it rare but in Canada it's common. Probably rarely now because of the age of the Wii in general.
I was today years old when I realized the WII has a side door for GameCube controllers and memory cards
I listened through the entire album yesterday, it's genuinely psychological horror by the end. You have no idea the anxiety I felt after being jumpscared after 4'11" ended, and waiting for it to start after the intro to Bohemian Rhapsody. What a masterpiece.
I have one of these and i really like it actually, plays games just like the regular wii and its a conversation piece too
Plus i like the color scheme more than the plain white
Had this as a kid, great to play games on
I got one at my local used game store, I like it. And I don’t really mind the missing features since I already have a gamecube and you can’t play online anymore anyway
It looks better than the OG imo
no way 💀
True, I like that design too
I remember these things flooding the pawn shop after they came out. Now I wish I had picked one up 😂
Where was this thing?!!! How have I not heard of this?! If this was how the Wii originally released (but including all the missing features of the original that they cut out of course), I definitely would've bought one. The original Wii looked WAY too much like a router to me which turned me away from it.
Edit: I happen to have a Gamecube to USB adapter and I noticed there's a USB port in the back of the mini. So it may be possible to use that as a work around.
the wii mini can't play gamecube games without homebrew, also it's almost impossible to homebrew the wii mini
One this was released just in Canada and the theory is it was targeted towards people with cottages and places up north where you don't have Wi-Fi back when this came out
I actually just came across one at a game shop. It was right next to an original famicon in the box.
I literally never knew this existed. Had multiple Wiis during its life cycle (some broke), as well as a Wii U… but never seen this before.
OK, did not know there was a top hatch on the WII. Now i gotta find mine
Bro I grew up with that
I have a wii mini! Can confirm, its aight.
I still have the Wii Mini at home and I still love it. I didn't know about the backwards compatibility and SD card slot as a child and now I just don't care 😅
Fun fact: even with adapters, the Wii minis software is not supported on normal tvs and despite having adapters the new update to software, it literally can not run
😢 That locked 480i resolution tho….
The Wii Mini is the Wii I had back in the days. Did the job!
Interesting. I found one at a vintage game store near me recently. First time seeing one.
I have this bro this is such a throwback
It looks like a book with secrets
I grew up with a Wii mini before I got a Wii U. The Wii mini brings back soo many memories!