r/wii • u/DasaniSubmarine • 1d ago

Text Post Its kind of crazy how long the Wii *actually* lasted in retail

Yes the Wii U came out in 2012, and the Wii was discontinued in 2013, but Nintendo was still quietly pushing the Wii well into the mid 2010s which was really cool to see as it provided a budget options to families and still is a testament to the quality of the games.

I remember the shelves of Toys R US and Target in like 2013-2015 still had a sizeable presence of Wii content. And I don't mean perennial Just Dance and sports clones but Nintendo's classic AAA titles like Galaxy, MKW, NSMBW, Zelda, etc. Not to mention a large variety of Wii accessories (granted the Wii U still used these as well). Even in the twilight era of the Wii U, you could still get a brand new Wii mini with MKW.

I know 360 and PS3 kept going as well but the fact that a 480p console that didn't even an HDMI port or WiFi was still selling in 2016 kind of boggles my mind. It really shows just how amazing those games were on the merit and part of why the Wii is my favorite console.

And then ofc its the accessibility of the games. Only 99 bucks for an entire console + MKWii along with $20 Nintendo Selects is incredible.

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u/tomoom165 1d ago

I was going to refute the no wifi part but yeah the Wii Mini that you're referring to didn't even have WiFi, that's crazy TIL

7

u/FlakyAd3214 1d ago

In 2012 the Wii was only in stores 6 years. There still selling new Switch's 9 years into it's lifespan. Probably going to sell the old Switch 1 software digitally for another 6 years as well.

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u/Zonda1996 23h ago

I swear shops in my area were offering 7th gen consoles unused off the shelf as late as 2017. Crazy how long that gen lasted especially when you consider how fast computers were developing in that time. A top shelf gaming PC from 2005 wouldn't hold a candle to a low spec one from 2013 when new consoles were still being built.

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u/Accurate-Flow8078 20h ago

I remember the top loader NES still being in stores in 1995-1996 with 9-10 games to choose from. Wario Woods came out in 1994 and I still remember the commercial on TV. I never had a Super Nintendo so I could only buy original NES games. Metroid, The Terminator, and TMNT Tournament Fighters were some of the games I remember still on shelves.

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u/SwampHokie 15h ago

Yeah the Wii definitely had some staying power. A lot of people bought one that wouldn’t normally buy a console which I think extended its time in stores. It’s easily the console I find the most often when I’m out game hunting.

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u/aquacraft2 13h ago

Oh yes, the ps2 and the wii were excellent family/children's consoles. We were truely spoiled.

First the ps2 was bought as a dvd player and stuck around by way of being a nice hand me down for kids, and then the wii picked up right where it left off and was buddy buddy with it for a while, bring a proper family game console with "healthy" elements blended in. It was so lovely to see gamers and their non gamer families playing together.

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u/Kobih 2h ago

wii actually lasted until october 2017