Wii - Timeline
Monday4th May 2020
News Why Does Nintendo Use Friend Codes Instead Of Screen Names? Leaked Documents Reveal All
Nintendo's reasoning explained
One of the more noticeable differences when playing online on a Nintendo console as opposed to a rival system is the former's lack of screen names. Whereas any Xbox lobby will be full to the brim with people called XoX_DarkDestroyer1782 and the like, Nintendo's players are forced to remain rather plain with a Friend...
Sunday3rd May 2020
Footage of N64 demos have also surfaced online
There's apparently been another "massive" Nintendo leak, but there's no need to worry about it spoiling the surprise for anyone as the findings have nothing to do with the Japanese company's current generation of gaming. A ResetEra user by the name of Atheerios explains what exactly all the fuss is...
Wednesday8th Apr 2020
News Smash Bros. Ultimate Announces A Special Brawl Tournament, Starts This Friday
Celebrating the 2008 Wii entry
Years before Masahiro Sakurai and his talented team released Super Smash Bros. Ultimate on the Nintendo Switch, they created Super Smash Bros. Brawl. This game saw the introduction of characters like Sonic the Hedgehog, and was the first entry in the series to include online play. Now, to celebrate this title, which...
Monday6th Apr 2020
News Coronavirus Isolation Seems To Be Causing A Spike In Wii Sports' Resale Value
Prices have been rising since Feb
This November, Wii Sports will turn 14 years old, but the game is seeing a sudden spike in interest and resale value. The game, which had people all around the world swinging their arms about to play tennis, golf and more in their front rooms back in 2006, has been rising in price on resale websites since February...
Wednesday25th Mar 2020
News Switch Has Now Surpassed Wii's Lifetime Sales In Japan
But Wii's worldwide total remains on top
The Nintendo Switch had a hugely successful week in Japan last week, shifting a massive 392,576 units according to Famitsu data. This places the console at an estimated 12.8 million sales over its relatively short lifetime, which means Nintendo's latest machine has just hit a new, significant milestone. As...
Tuesday28th Jan 2020
News Strike! Ten Pin Bowling Might Just Scratch That Wii Sports Itch On Switch
Well, Wii Sports Bowling at least
As a freebie that came with the Wii, Wii Sports probably isn't the type of game that immediately jumps to mind as a Nintendo highlight, but thinking back it was immensely fun. Oddly, the Switch is rather lacking in the Wii Sports-style department (Go Vacation is perhaps the closest thing we can think of), but...
Monday27th Jan 2020
News Nintendo Will Stop Repairing Wii Consoles In Japan This March
Farewell, old friend
The Nintendo Wii is quite a machine – not only did it usher in a new era of motion-based gaming and turn millions of non-gamers into dedicated players (only for them to arguably drift away towards smart devices not long afterwards), it also sold a staggering 101.63 million units globally, making it Nintendo's most successful...
Sunday26th Jan 2020
"and set the stage for all of the great products"
Nintendo might be one of the largest and most successful video game companies, but in certain parts of the world, it has often struggled with its brand image. During an appearance on the Present Value podcast recently, the former Nintendo of America President Reggie Fils-Aimé touched on a time when...
Thursday23rd Jan 2020
News IP Attorney Says Nintendo's Wii Remote Court Ruling Serves As "A Warning To Patentees"
"This case might have ended much differently"
If you've visited the site over the past couple of days, you probably noticed the story that a federal court in Dallas ruled a patent asserted against Nintendo’s Wii Remote as invalid. The court said that iLife Technologies Inc. was "impermissibly trying to cover the broad concept of using motion...
Tuesday21st Jan 2020
News Federal Court Rules $10.1 Million Case Against Nintendo's Wii Remote As Invalid
Nintendo says it will "vigorously defend" its products
In a press release sent out today, Nintendo has announced that a patent asserted against technology found within the Wii Remote has been deemed invalid. The ruling comes from a federal court in Dallas and nullifies a $10.1 million jury award against Nintendo from way back in 2017. According to...
Sunday12th Jan 2020
Feature Game Of The Decade Staff Picks - Super Mario Galaxy 2
Another dimension, new galaxy
Following on from our reader-voted Top 50 Games of the Decade, Nintendo Life staff members will be picking their personal favourite Nintendo games between the years 2010-2019. Today, PJ takes us right back to the start of the decade... Being asked to choose your favourite game of the decade should, in theory, be a...
Monday30th Dec 2019
Feature 2010-2019 - Nintendo's Decade In Review
The highs and lows of the past 10 years
So, that's it then – another decade is over. The past ten years are perhaps a little unusual in that they've been a reverse of the ten that preceded them; in the year 2000, Nintendo was struggling to keep pace with Sony in the home console arena and was facing competition for the handheld market thanks to...
Monday16th Dec 2019
News PlatinumGames Co-Founder Says MadWorld And The Wonderful 101 Were The Most Fun To Make
Working with Kamiya can be 'a very painful experience'
PlatinumGames is a studio which is growing ever more popular with Nintendo fans, largely thanks to the release of some wonderful exclusives over recent years. We all know about series like Bayonetta - and we're desperately waiting for Bayonetta 3 to show up - but it appears that other, arguably...
Friday6th Dec 2019
News Metacritic Reveals The 50 Best-Reviewed Games Of The Decade, Nintendo Takes Top Two Places
And three of the top five
We've been treated to some incredible gaming experiences over the last ten years. In our eyes, Nintendo has produced some of its finest titles throughout this last decade, and those of us who dabble in gaming on the likes of PlayStation and Xbox have had plenty to share about, too. The list below shows the top 50 games of...
Monday2nd Dec 2019
News An Unreleased Wii Spider-Man Game Based On A Canned Movie Just Surfaced Online
Prototype hints at what could have been
A prototype of Eurocom's Spider-Man 4 has been discovered on a debug on an RVT-H Wii development kit, giving us a glimpse of a movie tie-in (and movie, for that matter) that never was. While Sam Raimi's Spider-Man series was commercially successful, the third outing took a bit of a beating from the critics;...
News Switch Could Enjoy An Extended Lifespan And Even Outsell The Nintendo Wii, Claim Analysts
"The Switch can sell 20 million units annually for the next three years"
Analysts are claiming that the Switch could defy expectations and enjoy a prolonged lifespan, with some even going as far as to say that the console could surpass the Wii in terms of lifetime sales. The predictions come off the back of estimates compiled by Bloomberg which...
Wednesday20th Nov 2019
News The Co-Op Mechanics Of Gears 5's Robot Assistant Were Inspired By Super Mario Galaxy
"We thought about how we would deal with this from a beginner's perspective"
Super Mario Galaxy was a groundbreaking video game for a number of reasons, but one of the key innovations was the fact that a second player could join the fun even if they lacked the skill to control Mario's planet-hopping abilities. By connecting a second Wii Remote, the...
Monday11th Nov 2019
News Just Dance 2020 Sold Better On Wii Than PS4 Or Xbox One In Its Opening Week (UK)
Despite Wii being a 13-year-old machine
Nintendo's Wii is now 13 years old, has had two console successors in the form of the Wii U and Switch, and has even had its online store entirely closed down. Despite all of this, Ubisoft decided to release its latest party hit Just Dance 2020 on the machine, and it's very clear to see why. The game launched...
Wednesday6th Nov 2019
News Just Dance 2020 Might Be The Last Entry Released On Wii
And the last Wii game ever!
Nintendo abandoned first-party game support for the Wii many years ago, but to this day third-party publisher Ubisoft has continued to release its Just Dance series on the system. The latest one – Just Dance 2020 – arrived yesterday. Of course, all good things must come to an end, and it now sounds as if Ubisoft will...
Tuesday5th Nov 2019
News Just Dance 2020 Launches Today On Switch And Wii, Here's The Full Song List
Billie Eilish, Ed Sheeran, Ariana Grande and more
Today sees the release of Ubisoft's latest release in its hugely successful dancing game franchise, with Just Dance 2020 now available for both Nintendo Switch and Wii (but not Wii U). Players can expect to find around 40 new tracks to help them get their bodies moving and we have all of these...
Thursday31st Oct 2019
Random Fan Makes Amazing Mario Kart Mod Where Waluigi Races By Running On Foot
And he's incredibly fast, too
There's something special about Waluigi. Something that makes fans have particularly strong feelings either for or against him, something that saw him win an official Valentine's Day poll, and something that makes people want to see him run around a Mario Kart circuit without being in a car apparently. Mod developer...
News The Top Ten Best-Selling Games For Wii U, 3DS, Wii And DS (As Of September 2019)
People really love Mario Kart
Earlier today, a new earnings report from Nintendo revealed an updated list of the top ten best-selling Nintendo Switch games, but what about the 3DS, the Wii U, and even consoles earlier than those? As part of the report, Nintendo has also provided updated figures for these older systems, and while software sales for...
Wednesday30th Oct 2019
News PlayStation 4 Just Overtook Wii's Lifetime Sales
An impressive feat
Sony's PlayStation 4 has now sold more units than Nintendo's super-popular Wii, becoming the second best-selling home console of all time. As you'll no doubt be aware, the Wii was a hugely successful release for Nintendo, going on to shift 101.63 million units in its lifetime alongside 920.96 million software sales. Gaming...
Tuesday29th Oct 2019
Random This North Korean Games Console Is Straight Outta 2006
Say hello to the Moranbong!
North Korea may have a reputation as a pretty grim place to live, but the arrival of a brand new games console should hopefully raise a few smiles (assuming you're rich enough to afford it, of course). The 'Moranbong' combines tech seen in the Wii and Microsoft Kinect to create an entertainment environment which calls to...
Saturday21st Sep 2019
Rumour The Sailor Moon Manga In Punch-Out!! That Allegedly Cost Nintendo Millions
Breaking boundaries
Boundary Break – best known for going beyond boundaries in video games – recently uploaded a video to its YouTube channel about a Sailor Moon reference in Punch-Out!! on the Wii, that allegedly caused Nintendo and Next Level Games serious financial grief. The story itself stems from a Boundary Break Punch-Out!! video dating...
Monday16th Sep 2019
News Prototype Wii Nunchuk Controller Included A Rumble Motor, According To New Photos
Before the Revolution
Last year a prototype controller for the GameCube came up for auction on Yahoo Japan and shed a little more light on the evolution of the Wii Remote. A grey prototype version of the controller plugged into the console directly, as did a large IR bar similar to the one which would eventually ship with the Wii. A familiar looking...
Friday2nd Aug 2019
Random You Can Always Rely On Your Parents To Find A Clever Use For The Wii Fit Balance Board
Don't throw yours out
Where's your Wii Fit Balance Board? That's a question we asked many years ago when the popularity of Nintendo's fitness-focused peripheral was on the wane, but now, several years later, it fills us with joy to know that this unique interface still has a purpose in the world. That purpose? Weighing gas canisters. Given the...
Sunday21st Jul 2019
Random Three New Ultra Shortcut Glitches Discovered In Mario Kart Wii
More than a decade after its release
Whether you like it or not, Mario Kart Wii is still the best-selling entry in the series to date. As a result, it's got a huge following – even after the more recent success of Mario Kart 8 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. With this in mind, three new "ultra shortcuts" were recently discovered in the Wii title within...
Thursday11th Jul 2019
Random Grandma Finally Beats Zelda: Twilight Princess After 755 Hours, Internet Falls In Love
"I'm so incredibly proud of her"
The Legend of Zelda is a special series for many of us, mostly thanks to the grand sense of adventure it provides and the memories made playing through its wonderful games. For this gaming grandma, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess will no doubt stay in the mind forever - partly thanks to just how much time...
Wednesday10th Jul 2019
Random Turns Out DK Gives Diddy Kong A Little Cuddle Every Time They Sit In A Barrel
In Donkey Kong Country Returns, at least
Let us improve your day dramatically by sharing the most wholesome piece of Nintendo trivia we've stumbled across in recent times. Anyone familiar with the Donkey Kong Country Returns series will likely remember the barrels used to transport DK around each stage; hop into one of these explosive beasts and...
