Over the last few years there have been the releases of many new consoles with stellar graphics and endless amounts of high quality games, some of these consoles being the PS5 and the Xbox Series X. While these consoles are amazing and popular, I believe we need to take a step back and marvel at the Nintendo Wii for all it was and will be. 

On November 19, 2006, the Nintendo Wii console was released to the world, notably mastering the use of motion control with the Wii remote. All of its games use motion control, making it more interactive for the user to use. 

The Wii has some of the most fun and memorable games out there, a few of those being Wii Sports, Fortune Street, and Mario Galaxy. Like most games, each has little individual features that make it stand out from others, even if those features are not immense. Some of these features are encouraging users to connect with their surroundings and unique music previews. 

A cool thing about Wii Sports is when the user is playing for some time, a picture with a Wii remote laying on a table that’s seated next to an open window will appear with the caption “Why not take a break?”, encouraging players to step away from the game. While at times this message is very annoying, I do appreciate it because it makes users feel more connected with their surroundings and not fully engulfed by the game. 

Shifting back to the console itself, anyone who has played the Wii before has probably noticed the signature menu music. Upon starting up the console it will play and loop the menu theme, which gives more personality and recognition to the console. 

Another cool feature is that when the users put a game disc into the console, it gives an intro to the game’s music along with a short preview clip of the game. This gives a sense of personality to each game, with every preview being unique to the game it is assigned to. 

While the Wii is outdated compared to today’s modern gaming consoles, I believe it is better in the sense of personality and other distinguishable aspects. One could say that these features aren’t what constitute a good console, but I argue that these features are what help build nostalgic memories to look back on and establish Wii as the best gaming console. For a console being 17 years old and made in a time where technology wasn’t as advanced as it is today, it has a lot of characteristics that really show the love and thought that was put into making the Nintendo Wii.