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[Kouriozan]

I remember seeing videos of people at E3 literally rushing to the Nintendo booth.
It generated a crazy hype indeed.

EDIT : here it is : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OeR0fL9ofYY


And a queue video : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aGlvLQzvJNA

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

The Wii's library of games is second only to the Super Nintendo.

 

[Wiped89]

The glory days. I remember the excitement watching that.

I loved the Wii. Was amazing. I know most of Gaf hates it but I thought it was brilliant. I'm so sad Nintendo abandoned what it built.

 

[Toadthemushroom]

Looking back, playing the Wii really was a magical experience that made me smile quite a bit. It's a shame it didn't have the horsepower to match up with the competition at the time. I often wonder if the ultimate outcome of the "war" would have turned out the same if it hadn't been grossly under-powered.

The reminder of Iwata during his hayday makes me sad though.

It is a shame, but was it really "under-powered"? Sure, the actual CPU and GPU were based on old technology, but there was enough power under the hood for developers to make the games they wanted to make with Wii, and ensure devs could easily transition between generations.

Wii's limitations didn't lie with CPU and GPU power, but rather things like onboard storage and inflexible OS limitations - they couldn't evolve the platform as much as they'd have liked to.

On a related note, I'd say it'd be even more interesting to see where the industry would be without the heavily subsidised PS3 and 360 hardware that distorted the market ten years ago. That generation certainly wouldn't have lasted that long, too.

 

[Peru]

The glory days. I remember the excitement watching that.

I loved the Wii. Was amazing. I know most of Gaf hates it but I thought it was brilliant. I'm so sad Nintendo abandoned what it built.

There are some great motion control games. But the journey sort of started and ended within a few years. The Wii was a great, fascinating experiment and a huge success. Bold stuff. But it's definitely the Nintendo console with the lowest number of personal favorites for me. Way behind the Wii U in that regard.

 

[Celine]

Everything the Wii U reveal wasn't, and everything the NX reveal needs to be. One of the best-executed and most pivotal press conferences in the history of the medium, IMO.

Absolutely agree.
WiiU also had issues with the games schedule at launch.
Too weak, slow and unexciting.

Nintendo released on Wii between November 2006 and April 2008 (a span of roughly 17 months):

Wii Sports - Nov. 2006
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess - Nov. 2006
Excite Truck - Nov. 2006
WarioWare Smooth Moves - Dec. 2006
Pokemon Battle Revolution - Dec. 2006
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn - Feb. 2007
Super Paper Mario - Apr. 2007
Mario Strikers Charged Football - May 2007
Mario Party 8 - May 2007
Endless Ocean - Aug. 2007
Metroid Prime 3 - Aug. 2007
Battalion Wars 2 - Oct. 2007
Super Mario Galaxy - Nov. 2007
Link's Crossbow Training - Nov. 2007
Wii Fit - Dec. 2007
Smash Bros Brawl - Mar. 2008
Mario Kart Wii - Apr. 2008

Nintendo released on WiiU between November 2012 and April 2014 (a span of roughly 17 months):

Nintendo Land - Nov. 2012 (which wasn't a system seller in the same way as Wii Sports)
New Super Mario Bros U - Nov. 2012 (with NSMB2 released just a few months before for 3DS).
LEGO City Undercover - Mar. 2013
Game & Wario - Mar. 2013
Pikmin 3 - Jul 2013
The Wonderful 101 - Aug. 2013
Wii Party U - Oct. 2013
Wii Sports Club - Oct. 2013 (digital only; couldn't recapture the craze on Wii)
Wii Fit U - Oct. 2013 (couldn't recapture the craze on Wii)
Super Mario 3D World - Nov. 2013
Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze - Feb. 2014
Mario Kart 8 - May 2014

 

[Turrican3]

As always with almost any Wii topic, people will come in and crap up this thread, but the Wii was a fantastic little system. It had the most underappreciated library of any system, and it is a shame so many passd it up because they didn't like the graphics or waggling the controller.

This.

Still can't believe how they did everything, everything right with the Wii (by far my favourite console ever, undoubtely one of the most innovative), and failed miserably with its successor.

That E3 conference was basically "what you should do to introduce a brand new gaming concept to both the masses and your existing core audience". Flawless.

 

[DrEvil]

Man, I was there.

has it really been 10 years?

 

[Grinchy]

A 10 year old presentation for 16 year old hardware.

 

[Astral Dog]

It is a shame, but was it really "under-powered"? Sure, the actual CPU and GPU were based on old technology, but there was enough power under the hood for developers to make the games they wanted to make with Wii, and ensure devs could easily transition between generations.

Wii's limitations didn't lie with CPU and GPU power, but rather things like onboard storage and inflexible OS limitations - they couldn't evolve the platform as much as they'd have liked to.

On a related note, I'd say it'd be even more interesting to see where the industry would be without the heavily subsidised PS3 and 360 hardware that distorted the market ten years ago. That generation certainly wouldn't have lasted that long, too.

i think he means that it should have been capable of running 360/PS3 games, wich imo is a weird opinion without justifying why the system had to be more expensive if it was trying to target a family audience not typically interested in games, and, keep development costs down wich the wii managed to achieve.
many games that could not been done on 360 due to cost and risk involved were made on the wii, and thats what makes it a special little console for some people.

Also Nintendo probably never knew the wii was going to sell that much.

edit: As for the graphics and power itself, it was adequate for the resolution the games targeted.

 

[Etrian Oddity]

Let us not forget this took place alongside Sony's disastrous conference, adding to the drama.

E3 2006 was definitely the best.

 

[Sakujou]

funny thing that nothing has changed after 10 years. fat kids still playing games in their basements. the wii crowd quickly left as they came on board with the wii.
so sad, that even though the wii had a huge load of good games next to no one appreciated them
we are back where it all started except the fact that a lot of people are playing traditional games(action, sports) on consoles...

 

[Zombie James]

For me, this Nintendo conference solidified the 360's position as the go-to system for that generation.

 

[Mihael Mello Keehl]

Everything the Wii U reveal wasn't, and everything the NX reveal needs to be. One of the best-executed and most pivotal press conferences in the history of the medium, IMO.

AGREED!

Look at all those games.. jesus

 

[Milly Osworth]

I wonder where Nintendo would be at now without the Wii.

 

[User1608]

Damn, a decade already. So exciting and I was such a little prick back then lol. Ah, fanaticism. Had so much fun with the Wii though and it's still my favorite console!

Zelds, Wii Sports, SMG 1+2, Brawl, CoD (pointer controls!), Tatsunoko vs Capcom, the virtual console, Wiimote....

 

[dampflokfreund]

Wow, even the Wii's first 2 years absolutely destroyed Wii U's lifetime lineup and marketing.

 

[Nuu]

It's sad that the system is so under-rated due to an onslaught of people who never even gave it a chance. Best library for a Nintendo console in ages.

 

[Honey Bunny]

funny thing that nothing has changed after 10 years. fat kids still playing games in their basements. the wii crowd quickly left as they came on board with the wii.
so sad, that even though the wii had a huge load of good games next to no one appreciated them
we are back where it all started except the fact that a lot of people are playing traditional games(action, sports) on consoles...

We aren't, the people that view gaming as something for fat kids in basements moved on to touch-screen games on phones. Maybe the DS had something to do with that rather than the Wii.

And ironically, games with motion controls are now relegated to the very hardest of hardcore audiences in the form of room-scale VR.

 

[MrSaturn99]

I think this was the first livestream I ever watched. I honestly don't remember much except for the brief Mario Galaxy reveal and the later Brawl conference.

Those were exciting times.

 

[VendettaRed07]

And to celebrate this 10 year anniversary of an amazing E3 showing that started off the Wii's life to ultimately become one of the most successful pieces of videogame hardware ever, Nintendo this year will take a big fat steaming shit on all of our faces and do absolutely nothing

 

[FyreWulff]

And to celebrate this 10 year anniversary of an amazing E3 showing that started off the Wii's life to ultimately become one of the most successful pieces of videogame hardware ever, Nintendo this year will take a big fat steaming shit on all of our faces and do absolutely nothing

video games bruh

video games

 

[Ridley327]

I think this was the first livestream I ever watched. I honestly don't remember much except for the brief Mario Galaxy reveal and the later Brawl conference.

Those were exciting times.

The night of the Snake reveal was some crazy ass shit if there ever was some. It felt like a collective fever dream.

 

[Ricky 7]

Those 10 years have gone by so quick.

 

[Nosgotham]

The Wii's library of games is second only to the Super Nintendo.

agreed, so many great gems from first AND third parties

 

[spookyfish]

As always with almost any Wii topic, people will come in and crap up this thread, but the Wii was a fantastic little system. It had the most underappreciated library of any system, and it is a shame so many passed it up because they didn't like the graphics or waggling the controller.

I completely agree. The Wii was easily my most-played system for the first part of the generation.

I will have to say, though, Nintendo's dropping it hard helped the HD twins take over the latter part.

 

[Lord_Byron28]

This was easily Nintendo's best E3 conference. Nintendo should aim to at the least do as well with the NX reveal as they did this.

I remember after this reveal everyone was mad that Smash Bros wasn't revealled. Then the next day they revealed Brawl with Snake, Pit, Metaknight, Wario and ZSS.

 

[djtiesto]

And then in 2007 Nintendo had, for my money, they're absolute worst while Sony did a complete reversal from 2006's.

How dissapointed I was with Nintendo's 2007 conference. Camy Dunaway and the drummer with the funny haircut are etched into my mind.

The funniest thing about that conference was... they showed "it's fucking nothing!", but then on their press kit page they stealthily had a few screenshots for an obscure RPG called "Monado: Beginning of the World". Few really paid any attention to it, other than a few "looks like an FFXII clone" jokes. Little did anyone know...

 

[Spieler Eins]

Good times, when Nintendo still gave a shit.

 

[score01]

OP, have you missed out the Wii remote reveal trailer from TGS? That was the one that got everyone legit hyped for the machine.


https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=yPK3WxUH8Qg

 

[Pyrrhus]

I wonder where Nintendo would be at now without the Wii.

You say that like the Wii saved them. It made them fly into the stratosphere briefly, which was both deft marketing on their part and just an incredible bit of luck on top of that, but it also shot them way out into the weeds.

Nintendo learned the wrong lessons from the Wii's successes and failures and have basically been shitting the bed since about 2010 at the very latest. Without the false lessons and arrogance they gleaned from the Wii, they might have put in the money and effort to develop modern, HD game development pipelines, network infrastructure, and console UI much sooner and the shambling mess that has been the Wii U era might have been avoided.

So yes, Wii and DS made them an obscene amount of money at the time. But it led to the current situation, where most observers can only shake their heads. If anything, they're far less relevant now in the main games industry, among casual players, and, most importantly, with kids than they were a decade ago, which I don't see as a victory. They mostly bowed of the last decade to sell cheap hardware at a handsome markup to a vast but fickle audience of people who have no real connection to the medium, only to have Apple swoop in with a device much better suited to that audience's way of life and have been left holding their antiquated, underpowered pud. Iwata's vision for the future of the industry is ash.

 

[NOLA_Gaffer]

The Wii's library of games is second only to the Super Nintendo.

And most of the gems from the SNES can be played on the Wii (and conversely the Wii U) so arguably the Wii is Nintendo's best library.

 

[Aostia]

It was indeed my favourite e3 show of all times.
New concept, great pace, a lot of contents and various gems

 

[emb]

A lot happens in ten years.

It's been a fun ride, Wii to Wii U, and onward to the future.

 

[Astral Dog]

Wow, even the Wii's first 2 years absolutely destroyed Wii U's lifetime lineup and marketing.

because they had lower development costs and shorter cycles with actual third party support!

miss the Wii, but alot of hardcore gamers didnt liked it either.

You say that like the Wii saved them. It made them fly into the stratosphere briefly, which was both deft marketing on their part and just an incredible bit of luck on top of that, but it also shot them way out into the weeds.

Nintendo learned the wrong lessons from the Wii's successes and failures and have basically been shitting the bed since about 2010 at the very latest. Without the false lessons and arrogance they gleaned from the Wii, they might have put in the money and effort to develop modern, HD game development pipelines, network infrastructure, and console UI much sooner and the shambling mess that has been the Wii U era might have been avoided.

So yes, Wii and DS made them an obscene amount of money at the time. But it led to the current situation, where most observers can only shake their heads. If anything, they're far less relevant now in the main games industry, among casual players, and, most importantly, with kids than they were a decade ago, which I don't see as a victory. They mostly bowed of the last decade to sell cheap hardware at a handsome markup to a vast but fickle audience of people who have no real connection to the medium, only to have Apple swoop in with a device much better suited to that audience's way of life and have been left holding their antiquated, underpowered pud. Iwata's vision for the future of the industry is ash.

no matter how much you spin it (and yes, there were flaws too like the lesson problems you mentioned) a product is a product and both the Wii and DS were successful and innovative systems that attracted a lot of people. Nintendo could easily be in an even worse position without the "war chest" they gained over the years.

 

[Jackano]

Great year, good times.
To the community/NeoGAF/everyone discredit, we hardly saw this coming. DS craziness thanks to the DS Lite was just two-three months new and Nintendo was as doomed as it never was before on the home console market.
And yet the Wii became their most selling console. Nope, we havn't seen this coming and it was great.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Reggie says "We have 3 new franchises coming to Wii"
In reality, only 1 of those franchises released in America.

 

[Sadist]

That was some magical shit right there.

Still remember the vids of people running past the Sony booth straigt to Nintendo's booth.

 

[Qwark]

Reggie says "We have 3 new franchises coming to Wii"
In reality, only 1 of those franchises released in America.

What were the series?

 

[Orbis]

Let us not forget this took place alongside Sony's disastrous conference, adding to the drama.

E3 2006 was definitely the best.

Yep, what a crazy E3 that was. It was actually the first I followed really closely.

 

[Sadist]

What were the series?

I'm guessing one of those games was Disaster: Day of Crisis

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

Who would have thought 10 years later and Nintendo is only showing one game at E3.

 

[Qwark]

I'm guessing one of those games was Disaster: Day of Crisis

That was gonna be one of my guesses too, and maybe Project HAMMER? Disaster was Monolith right? Released in Japan and Europe, but not NA?

 

[I am Christina Aguilera]

It looks like someone isn't a fan of co-star mode

 

[bomblord1]

In the past 20 years, as game systems improved in functionality there were also downsides. Among these, the startup time before game play begins is growing longer and longer. I have been planning, developing and playing games for a long time. And I still love all of this. But these days, I am busier than ever.
And if I have to wait 30 seconds or 40 seconds or more for a game to load. Often I get frustrated and sometimes I just can not wait. And now that I know I can instantly stop or start playing my DS by just closing or opening the top, I think I am spoiled.
Maybe this has happened to you, too.

If serious gamers find these delays frustrating, how can we ever expect the mass market to show more patience than we do?
Unless we change, we can never increase the game play population.

It's amazing how 10 years later this problem has become exponentially worse.

 

[Ooccoo]

Shit this makes me feel old. That and the fact people don't know about Doom in 2016 (the classics) makes me sad.

 

[Pyrokai]

That reminder that E3 used to be in May :/ ......ugh....... Why June?!

 

[SolVanderlyn]

Mario Galaxy reveal had me breaking out in goosebumps.

So did Sonic 06 and FFXIII. Only one delivered

 

[Anth0ny]

It was in this moment that skeptic of the Wii, Bradley Shoemaker, decided he would not purchase the system, but thought Mario Galaxy looked cool

ahahahah holy shit

 

[Mory Dunz]

Absolutely agree.
WiiU also had issues with the games schedule at launch.
Too weak, slow and unexciting.

Nintendo released on Wii between November 2006 and April 2008 (a span of roughly 17 months):

Wii Sports - Nov. 2006
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess - Nov. 2006
Excite Truck - Nov. 2006
WarioWare Smooth Moves - Dec. 2006
Pokemon Battle Revolution - Dec. 2006
Fire Emblem Radiant Dawn - Feb. 2007
Super Paper Mario - Apr. 2007

Nintendo released on WiiU between November 2012 and April 2014 (a span of roughly 17 months):

Kind of OT, but I just noticed...


Maybe Super Paper Mario sold so much....because it was the first mario game for the wii. (And had semi-traditional looking platforming to outside eyes) That might've easily hooked some people.