Ten years ago we were all ocassionally giggling at the name, but the Wii hit European shores just in time for Christmas 2006.  Little did we know that it would go on to be a huge hit that Christmas and future ones, often selling out and frustrating parents as they race between shops trying to get their hands on a console.

The Wii's success surprised many of us, even Nintendo's most ardent fans.  Its predecessor, the GameCube, was Nintendo's lowest selling console ever and the remote control-like Wii Remote, comparatively weaker graphics and motion control seemed like such a change it was doomed to fail.  Yet, somehow, against all this it went on to become Nintendo's best selling console.

We've asked our forum members and staff to look back on these ten years and to reflect on the console's legacy.  In our never-ending pursuit of bad puns, we've named it The Good, The Bad and the Uglii.  You can read the full discussion and the surprising revelations on our forum.

The Good

One positive that cropped up frequently in the discussion was how well the console sold, and what this meant for Nintendo.  After lacklustre GameCube sales, the Wii (alongside the DS) helped them to build up money that has seen them through some tough recent times.  As well as the financial benefit these sales had, it also meant people were talking about Nintendo in a way that had not happened for some time - suddenly they were the most talked about console maker after losing some of the glory to Sony and Microsoft.  Staff member Vileplime2000 described the Wii as a "people magnet" and Shorty summed it up best:

The Wii did something that I've only seen once since, and that was with Pokemon Go. It became a topic of discussion among groups I never imagined would be talking about video games at all. I heard people chatting about it in lectures at uni, doors were left open in halls of residence by those who had one to play, and anyone could jump in. Parents and grandparents would pick up a wii-mote and try bowling. With that one launch title alone, it achieved the "we" goal of expanding gaming together... tenfold. Beyond that it may have suffered a little from a saturated market of waggle mini-games, but it's impossible to forget the incredible ripple effect it had throughout the industry.

People were also fond of the console's motion controls, which completely changed the way we play games and opened up some brand new experiences that wouldn't have been possible otherwise.  Londragon even stated that the Wii "rekindled my love of gaming through the power of motion".  The impact of this is still felt today and while they are less common than they were in the console's hayday, their influence spread out onto other consoles and now we're seeing a resurgence with Virtual Reality.  Forum member GenericAperson also noted that while motion controls were great, Nintendo's decision to not make it the sole focus helped to give the console some legs.

The controller really appealed to me and I really believed Nintendo's marketing spin that it would really create innovative gameplay, it's a shame that because the initial design was so limited it meant that developers couldn't quite do what they wanted with it and the idea of motion controls wasn't something that every gamer adopted. Now though, I can see I was being a bit silly in that regard but I think Nintendo realised that motion has it's place in games but should not be the main focus.

The console's Virtual Console made a number of fans and is a tradition that has thankfully continued on Nintendo consoles until this day.  Grazza commented that it "was carried out with real ambition and relish", offering first and third party titles in one place.

Clownferret and The Cape noted that being Nintendo's first proper foray into online gaming made the Wii a special console that let them discover new games and communities and while it wasn't without its flaws it was great to see Nintendo jump on board.

However, the most frequent positive people mentioned was the software.  The Wii may be remembered for a lot of shovelware designed to cash in on the surprise success, but beneath these waggle-led cash-grabs lies a great pletheroa of games.  Nintendo's own titles such as Wii Sports, Mario Kart Wii, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Super Mario Strikers Charged, Wii Play, Super Paper Mario, Super Mario Galaxy and its sequel, Kirby's Epic Yarn, New Super Mario Bros Wii and many more were all heralded as not only showing new ways to play, but also were fantastic games in their own right.

It wasn't just Nintendo that supplied great software though - third parties also provided some memorable and fantastic titles.  Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Skies, No More Heroes, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros Treasure, Xenoblade Chronicles, De Blob, Boom Blox, House of the Dead: Overkill, Little King’s Story, Resident Evil 4, Opoona, Eledees and more all made fans on our forum and while they had mixed successes the unique experiences they offered really helped give the Wii a lot to enjoy.  

As Josh64 said, the Wii had a "mix of incredibly unique titles" that enabled him to "enjoy gaming [...] in ways I never had before" and the console's software helped make the Wii a great console to play alone or with friends.  The first time you play Wii Tennis is one of those rare gaming moments that everyone will remember and was a fantastic way to introduce motion controls in a simple and fun way, a feat that in hindsight seems obvious but its importance should not be overlooked.

The Bad

Many of the negative issues people raised interestingly mirrored the positive ones.

The Wii may have had many wonderful games, but with the good comes the bad.  And boy, did they shovel in the bad.  Jerry Rice & Nitus' Dog Football, Truth or Lies, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Chicken Shoot, Game Party and much more gave the Wii a whiff of "we just want your money".  Obviously that isn't Nintendo's fault, but it did clutter up the console and gave the impression that it was a place for gaming rejects.  Related to this was the lack of third party titles, with the Wii ending up as a second console for many people feeling that they were missing out oncertain titles.  As Fused King put it, when you "couldn't play some interesting third party games or other indie games on it because of it's lack of power" it made the console feel disappointing.

It was great that Nintendo approached online for the first time properly, their approach was weaker compared to their competition.  Friend codes, inconsistent implementation and a lack of features such as voice chat meant that Wii's online did not stand up in comparison to Sony and Microsoft's, even though their first party software was far better.

Josh64 pointed to blunders such as Laurent Fischer saying only "geeks and otakus" want hard drives, not too disimilar to Reggie saying Twitch "isn't fun" a few years ago.  Nintendo's seeming unwillingness to look beyond itself, and to believe they knew best, hurt the Wii in numerous ways mentioned above.  They weren't alone in the blame however, as nekunando points out areas of the gaming community turned their nose up at the Wii because of its motion controls.

Vileplume2000 also gave a shoutout to the commercials that featured "perfect families smiling and waving at their television sets".

The Uglii

Now we come to the aspects of the console that damaged not only the console but Nintendo themselves. 

Sumo73 points to the slow decline of the system as software dried up later in its life, one of several lessons Nintendo seems to have not learnt when it comes to the Wii U.

The Cape meanwhile points to the Wii Remote leading to disappointment when it came to some of Nintendo's classic franchises such as Super Smash Bros and Metroid (specifically Other M) as it just really wasn't suited for titles such as those.  Similarly, its simplifed design opened gaming up to the masses but its lack of features such as analogue trigers and dual-analogue controls let it down for Gazza.

Taking a quite literal interpretation of 'uglii', neckundo points to the console's standard definintion graphics in a time when HDTVs were really taking off, suggesting perhaps Nintendo should have made a Wii HD years before the Wii U came out to capitalise on the success but add some legs to the top-selling console.

Nicktendo is not a fan of the Virtual Console in the PAL region as sub-standard games were being offered instead of the originals, with seemingly no good reason given.

S.C.G. also points to the fickle market and lasting stigma was a negative consequence of the console and has continued to blight Nintendo to this day.

Where are Wii now?

In the ten years since Nintendo's biggest selling console has launched we've seen them go on to release their worst selling console.  In many ways it improved upon things people didn't like about the Wii - a standardised controller, even with a touchscreen in the middle of it, high definition gaming and an improvment when it comes to online - but it wasn't anywhere near the success of its similarly named console.

While people have complained about the Wii, the overwhelming sense from the responses has been that it was a great console with some truely unique software and provided fantastic new ways to play games.  The financial success has been a boon to Nintendo in recent years and gave them a kind of social buzz that they managed to capitalise on for a little while.

For a console with an odd concept, weaker graphics, little online infastructure, a bizarre name and a target demographic unlikely what people thought of as gamers at the time the Wii did remarkably well and for good reason.  It was one hell of a machine.

Don't forget you can read the full responses in the thread.  Thank you to everyone that contributed, even those that contributed some rather unexpected stories about what the Wii did for them.