By Zack on Mar 8, 2010

Thanks for another great video!!

Right away though, I have some qualms with your old vs new pairings:

If your reasoning for making Prime 1 even to Prime 3 is because it was given IR controls with Prime Trilogy, you have to realize that that’s ONLY on Wii Not a fair point for Prime 1. I’d rather see the fact that Prime Trilogy was released as an advantage to the Wii’s score.

I also hate that you skipped over Brawl. Brawl is arguably the best experience on Wii, and is really better in nearly every way than Melee(soundtrack is amazing, extra modes, online play, etc).

I also think it’s a little odd to compare some games to their “best” iteration regardless of the generation it was released. If your question is “has Nintendo abandoned hardcore fans with Wii” I don’t know why you’re comparing Galaxy to Mario 64 instead of Sunshine, or Mario Kart Wii to its 64 version rather than to Double Dash, same thing with Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time.

It just makes your question seem unclear. Would the question be something like “Has Nintendo abandoned their hardcore fans this decade?”, or something to that effect, that type of comparison would make more sense.

It would have been nice also if you would have came to an answer to your question.

Haha, don’t take my criticism too harshly though, I loved the feature! Keep ‘em coming.

By bob on Mar 8, 2010

good vid i still say that nintendo never betrayed its fanbase

By Ron on Mar 8, 2010

Most Nintendo franchises are better on the Wii than on previous systems. The exceptions may be Metroid, in which is very good but not as good as the original prime, and Zelda, a series that peaked with Wind Waker whereas Twilight Princess, despite being a good game, is the weakest 3D title.

In terms of graphics, lacking hd is a limitation, as the hd consoles have no problem in doing cartoonistic graphics. Even considering I prefer stylized graphics, more anti-aliasing would be good on the Wii.

By Zack on Mar 8, 2010

Right! I forgot to mention that. I actually really liked the part where you talked about the Wii’s graphics. You did a good job I thought. My favourite part of the feature.

By Dude on Mar 8, 2010

I loved this feture very much : D

i think that almost every Wii iteration of Nintendo’s franchises is better than the previous ons (some MASSIVELY better *SMG*)

i like the diversity the Wii has, i can play by myself and also be able to play with friends. i’ve tried looking for games like that when my friend bought an X360 but i couldn’t find any good looking ones I was interested in

I liked what you said about graphics and I also prefer SMG and Mario Kart Wii visuals to Uncharted or Halo. the one MAJOR downside is the lack of multiplat third party support where the Wii doesn’t get big titles like Assassin’s Creed, Batman AA or Final Fantasy 13 for example which in my opinion is Nintendo’s biggest problem this generation

By Dave on Mar 8, 2010

Great feature, I really hope you continue this week to week!

I completely agree with you on the graphics of the Wii compared to other “realistic” graphics which so many other games are emphasizing on these days.

I remember playing Mario 64 and other 3d games on the N64, and spending a lot of time just sitting back and playing with the camera, enjoying all the visuals.

Now, on the Wii, I continue to do that with a lot of the games, such as SMGalaxy, Okami, etc. Games with interesting, creative art styles.

On the other hand, while playing “realistic” games such as COD, Uncharted, etc. I actually feel Bored with the visuals! I could care less how the environment looks around the character. The environments are also often muddy, bland, and boring!

Anyways, Great job. I hope you, as well as the other editors here, continue to make and create features like this one.

By Meh on Mar 8, 2010

The fact that developers don’t do cartoony graphics often on the 360 or PS3 is completely irrelevant to the argument. We’re talking about the systems, not the developers. If the Wii had better graphics capabilities, the cartoony graphics that it does have could be sharper and more aesthetically pleasing (higher anti-aliasing like Ron said, for example), and then it would also be able to support really popular multiplatform titles that it either doesn’t get now or gets gimmicky, watered down versions of (The Forgotten Sands, for example). Of course, the multiplatform games would also need higher processing power, but that would have been nice anyways.

The bottom line is that the inferior hardware causes less of the total desirable games on the market to be available for the Wii, and the lack of a good “standard” gamepad further removes games from the potential Wii library (the classic controller really that great (No L3 or R3, and the layout simply isn’t as good as it could have been) and the GCN controller simply just doesn’t suit very many genres (c-stick isn’t analog, no left counterpart for Z)).

So, yeah. These things could have easily been achieved, not affecting the great titles that do exist for the Wii that you defend at all while allowing more “hardcore” titles to be available, but Nintendo decided to appeal to a more casual audience with this generation (Not just the Wii, but with the DS as well), going for money over quality as a gaming system. If that’s not a betrayal, then I don’t know what is.

By Dv8thwonder on Mar 8, 2010

Nintendo never abandoned the ‘hardcore’. The ‘hardcore’ abandoned Nintendo.

By Ryan on Mar 8, 2010

Another good read, as usual

Well, I would respectfully disagree when it comes to a few of the new vs. old match-ups. I actually think the wii versions of each first party title are better. Of course there is nothing wrong with the classics, I just prefer the new wii titles slightly more.

As for the graphics, I agree one hundred percent! Realistic graphics aren’t what matters in a game, its the creative art styles that really count. The Wii has an amazing diversity when it comes to these art styles too, so that’s an automatic plus for Nintendo’s current generation.

By Meh on Mar 8, 2010

@Dv8thwonder:

How do you figure that?

By SxYSpAz on Mar 8, 2010

this article was really one sided and never actually answered any questions. I realize that you’re probably appealing to your fanbase, but all you did was list a few complaints and then tried to prove them wrong. you never actually tried to consider both arguments.

Lastly, I would like to address unrealistic view of graphics. I want to go into detail of how idiotic your thoughts on current gen graphics vs ninty are, but i’d probably get really into it and make myself look like a fanboy to a site called nintendoeverything.

the wii is starting to pick up in 2010, but you can’t deny a certain sense of abandonment and that due to the wii’s inferior graphics, it’s missed out on many third party titles, which is another thing you failed to address. The lack of third party titles are probably being blamed on ninty (partially their fault, wii not meeting graphical standards) and makes their entire library of games look far smaller than N64 and so on.

BTW, never compare wii or any other console to N64. N64 is God!

By Marcos on Mar 8, 2010

@SxYSpAz

Shut up! fanboy hahaha

Graphics are not everything.

By SonoZone on Mar 8, 2010

Well to start off I kind of agree with the graphics part, well I at least see what you mean, but I think you are right about Melee and Brawl being equal, at first I was like Obviously Melee was better but then I thought about all the more features brawl had but it just didn’t have the right gameplay, it seemed like brawl was slowed down and less competitive.. but because it had way more features, bigger roster and more stages I decided they are equal. But with Mario Kart I definitely disagree I really think Mario Kart Wii feels like it WAY less about the driving ability and way more about the items, I really hope that the next Mario Kart is more like brawl and lets you save replays customize your games(like what items there are how many laps, things like that) Also an obvious feature that should be in the next installment is the WiiSpeak functionality. Also Mario Kart double Dash definitely one of the best Mario Karts ever, but I didn’t like Mario Kart DS, I don’t really know why it just didn’t feel good to me, and I really hated the large amount of hackers online on mario Kart DS.
Anyways good video series, Maybe a new “episode” soon?

By Kuchiki n on Mar 9, 2010

i mean that what i always wanted to explain, look we need a powerfull wii to make any other console looks bad, i mean i dont want realistic games, i just want smooth edges, vibrants colors and everything bigger scenarios but with the same feeling and art, nintendo has this amazing artstyle that can be put in a HD better console to look just better, we dont want realistic games like the ones that you said, we want just see the wii in good quiality in a HD lcd TV, i mean like the emulator Dolphin that would be awsome if nintendo could choice to add it to the current wii.

By phoenixash on Mar 9, 2010

I can’t say I disagree very much on the graphics. I was trying to say this in my previous comment, there isn’t much further graphics can go before it’s just real. The graphical limitations of the Wii are almost a strength because they (along with the innovative nature of the Wii) force developers to create a more interesting environment. Honestly, I can barely even tell the difference between all the war games, graphically speaking. Show me a screenshot of a recent PS3/XBOX360 war game, and it would probably be difficult to tell if a main character isn’t in the shot.

When I’m playing with my friends, we always pick Brawl over Melee, Double Dash over Wii. Double Dash feels much more balanced and competitive (we get a lot less worked up when playing the new version). In the Wii version I feel like it turns out to be luck more than skill, especially with the CPs, and you could be leading a whole match, get a blue shell 5 seconds before the finish line, and end up in 4th place. That rarely happens to me in DD. And Brawl, well, we prefer the expanded roster (though they messed with Link so I don’t like playing him as much) and the option to turn on or off the final smash depending on the seriousness of the game. The stages are good, too, though I wish there were a few more of the old Melee stages included.

By Dannyxzero on Mar 9, 2010

Nice video, made me laugh, I love the point about the Graphics, never really thought about it that way. LOVED IT more please <3

By GrahfZilla on Mar 11, 2010

I like the simpler graphics on the Wii, I just hate that the console doesn’t support 720p. My LCD HDTV is 720p native, which means it has to downscale to 480p when playing wii games. That means even more jaggies than usual because scaling is definitely not perfect on an LCD screen. If the Wii could keep the same graphics, but render at 720p, i’d be very happy.

By Kent on Mar 15, 2010

@Dv8thwonder
You got it I think, the ‘hardcore’ left nintendo as I am one of them. I bought Nintendo everything up to the Wii then 2 years in the Wii cycle I gave up and bought a PS3 (the dark side) as I always had hated the Playstation brand for stealing away developers slowly from nintendo in the SNES/N64 days (Example: Square). Then when Rare was sold I got even more angry with nintendo. I couldn’t believe they sold them at the time to microsoft. That was huge as I really was looking forward to Kameo that was feature on the Gamecube box!! Nintendo continues to release games to the nintendo hardcore but it is slowly going away for nintendo…