The Wii Mini. Worst console launch of all time? Yup. "I shall call him WiiMie Mii"

[Salamander]

It seems pretty clear that even Nintendo themselves don't care about this thing.  Or rather, they don't seem to be actually even targeting a market or making an effort to hype up its existence at all.  If they want anyone to buy this, it must be the absolute bottom end of the market who know nothing about the games industry.  As people who actually know things about gaming, I'm pretty sure we're not meant to care.

 

Still, it's yet another odd manifestation of Nintendo's love affair with hardware.  At least the GBA Micro had a gimmick.

[JezMM]

If money was no object I could see myself buying one of these if I travelled often, like, had a holiday home or something.  It'd be really convenient to take around places.  But yeah, this is just like the GB Micro.  Tiny market, but still a market that exists.  I agree though that most customers, and most game stores (considering they get 100% of the profit) will be more interested in pre-owned regular Wiis.

 

I do think it's a pretty piece of kit though, even if the exterior doesn't match the UI at all.

 

HONESTLY I'm more perplexed at their choices of games to re-release at the budget price.  Super Paper Mario and Mario Power Tennis are such odd choices.  Mario Galaxy should have totally been among the new budget titles considering it's like, the definitive Wii game and pretty old now.  NSMBWii or Mario Kart woulda been great for families too (though the latter would have been a bit more awkward to push considering its strong online features and Gamecube controller support that would be unusable on Wii Mini).

 

Though you can at least connect online and download and play Virtual Console games. Hrm, would the WiiMini make a decent homebrew box if you needed one, I wonder.

 

I'm PRETTY SURE there's no SD Card slot.  I may be wrong though, or else having the Photo Channel built in would be silly.

Edited March 23, 2013 by JezMM

[Crash]

Well, I didn't know about this at all. The next GameBoy Micro I think. Still, I love the colour of it.

[Carbo]

Game Boy Micro was amazing though.

[Kuzu]

Still sucked compared to the SP.

 

 

So yea, why is this a thing.

[JezMM]

I never played on a Micro but I adored it's design.  Blew my mind how small it was.

 

I never cared to upgrade to an SP from my regular Advance because, light be damned I prefer the controller shape to the traditional tiny Game Boy shape.

[Kuzu]

Considering I played my Advance 24-7 back then(Pokemon being a thing and all), I needed an SP. Batteries were scarce and would go out when I'm in the middle of something important, and getting a light was a massive pain in the ass. SP was godsend, controller shaped be damned. Micro came out around that time, but I never found a reason to get it.

[Autosaver]

Apparently this thing did pretty well (for an old device) in Canada. I guess it's OK if you just want to play some games on it, maybe for kids? Not too appealing for a lot of people. Reminds me of...

 

PSP E-1001

PSP GO

 

Stripping down features and selling them at a cheaper cost. I'm not sure why manufacturers are thinking it's a good idea, since most of the time they flop. Nintendo should have gone with some super slim Wii w/ a flap for Gamecube support. I'm sure people would have bought that endlessly.

[Stacy]

If there was still such a high demand for the Wii (Why I don't know seeing as the Wii U is now out and its price has been temporarily reduced) then why didn't they churn more of the current Wii models with a good bundle deal?

 

Its a good job Nintendo have under promoted it because releasing this alongside the Wii U is going to confuse the shit out of the causal market who aren't in the know and don't know the difference.

 

[Tornado]

I'm just kinda at a loss since the Wii is already so small and so cheap that there is no point whatsoever to it. This isn't like the Gameboy Micro or Toploader NES, where there was a definitive advantage to the system. This is just... very slightly smaller and with half of the featureset removed.

 

 

Apparently this thing did pretty well (for an old device) in Canada. I guess it's OK if you just want to play some games on it, maybe for kids? Not too appealing for a lot of people. Reminds me of...

 

PSP E-1001

PSP GO

 

Stripping down features and selling them at a cheaper cost. I'm not sure why manufacturers are thinking it's a good idea, since most of the time they flop. Nintendo should have gone with some super slim Wii w/ a flap for Gamecube support. I'm sure people would have bought that endlessly.

 

PSP Go wasn't a stripped down cheaper model. It was a premium model with premium features that nonetheless fell afoul of some extremely questionable design decisions.

[Badnik Mechanic]

The thing with this situation compared to the PSP Go.

 

With Go, you could actually find it in stores. The Wii Mini, it's nowhere. Today I went out, checked HMV, Game, Grainger Games, Toys R US and Tesco.

 

None of them have it, or even have any mention of it. So even if you did want this thing you can't get it, because nobody wants to sell it.

[Autosaver]

PSP Go wasn't a stripped down cheaper model. It was a premium model with premium features that nonetheless fell afoul of some extremely questionable design decisions.

It got rid of the UMD disc which IMO stripped down the overall PSP experience. But yeah, the point I was making is that manufacturers are making questionable redesigns of their existing products when the market that exists.. doesn't exist. At least PSPGo tried a different approach altogether by taking a different route.

 

It's even worse when a company (Sony) already tried this. I give props to Sony for at least attempting it, but Nintendo should have easily learned from the mistake. They should have instead focused on a model that could justify people either buying the remodel or getting new ones.

 

Honestly, I know a lot of people that are just buying it for the collector's value. A lot of people like the classic Famicon inspired design.

[Solkia]

The UMD drive was part of the experience? What?

 

Anyways, I want to get one of these, if only because I can probably sell it at a stupid price once it becomes a collectors item.

[DaBatGuy]

The UMD drive was part of the experience? What?

 

Anyways, I want to get one of these, if only because I can probably sell it at a stupid price once it becomes a collectors item.

The lack of UMD support meant you couldn't play any PSP game that wasn't available on PSN, which was a lot.

[Autosaver]

The UMD drive was part of the experience? What?

Yeah. You're not playing PSP if you don't hear

SCHEEEEEEEEEEK KEEAK SHEEEZKZ ZUKKAA

 

(serious note - Dabatguy is what I was trying to get across)

[Solkia]

I'm aware of that. But the UMD drive was a shitty idea to begin with, that's why I'm questioning it as being "Part of the experience"

 

I say for the best experience, Install custom firmware, rip the game to your memory stick, and play it from there. There's no reason to ever buy a PSP go.

 

Of course, that doesn't work for every game. fuck you namco

(serious note - Dabatguy is what I was trying to get across)

 

Okay then. Yeah, PSP go sucks.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Confirmed. This IS the worst console launch of all time... ever.

 

I don't just say that, I have evidence. Internet retailer Shopto has an ebay account where they sell a lot of their stock. They have had the Wii Mini up for pre-order/purchase since March 12th.

 

They have sold... 4 units.

[JezMM]

Mollfie was just telling me they don't even have any in stock at her GAME.  Since the way GAME works now is they only get stuff in stock if there is pre-orders or AT LEAST interest in it... yeah.

[Badnik Mechanic]

Mollfie was just telling me they don't even have any in stock at her GAME.  Since the way GAME works now is they only get stuff in stock if there is pre-orders or AT LEAST interest in it... yeah.

 

It's not just her store, no store has it. Theres none in any based on the things I'm reading around the internets.

[SuperLink]

I'm just sat here trying to think of how Nintendo could have come to an agreed decision that this was a good idea in any way shape or form.

[Barry the Nomad]

If it had internet, it would be a very cool little console. Lacking that one element knocks it down to being a piece of crap. Really, just a few more features and it could have been as cool as the GBA Micro.

[Solkia]

Wow, this may be a bigger flop than the 64DD.

[Autosaver]

Wow, this may be a bigger flop than the 64DD.

Nintendo said they would only 'localize' if it sold well. I think in Canada it may have sold 70k (if anyone has the actual members, I think they were up somewhere).

[Gabz Girl]

I have only heard mention of this thing in the Wii U topic, but honestly I haven't seen it anywhere where I live. Nothing. And no adverts or posters either.

 

IMO, It looks kinda ugly too. =[

[EmmBee]

HONESTLY I'm more perplexed at their choices of games to re-release at the budget price.  Super Paper Mario and Mario Power Tennis are such odd choices.  Mario Galaxy should have totally been among the new budget titles considering it's like, the definitive Wii game and pretty old now.

It is, though.

... Isn't it? I swear I've seen it for 20 bucks at Wal-Mart with that red label.