Wii Mini Heading Across the Pond

[Sarah LeBoeuf]

Wii Mini Heading Across the Pond

The offline-only, formerly Canada-exclusive Wii Mini is hitting the UK, along with some new Nintendo Selects.

Last December, more than six years after the Wii launched, Nintendo released a slightly smaller version of the console [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/120818-Wii-Mini-Proves-its-Existence-Launches-in-December] and called it the Wii Mini. The miniature version of Nintendo's system had no online functionality, no GameCube compatibility, and it was only available in Canada--but hey, at least it came with a nifty red Remote Plus and Nunchuk. Starting next month, gamers in the UK can get their hands on those sleek red controllers, along with the entire Wii Mini console, because Nintendo is bringing it across the pond.

To celebrate, Nintendo is adding several first-party titles to its value-priced Nintendo Selects line-up: Mario Party 8, Wii Sports Resort, Mario Power Tennis, and Super Paper Mario. These games are scheduled to be available with their new pricing "in time for the launch of Wii Mini," making it easier for the handful of consumers who never picked up a Wii to catch up on the console's library.

Nintendo didn't announce a UK price for the redesigned console; it launched at $99.99 in Canada last year. The Wii Mini will be available in the UK on March 22.

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[Antari]

I'm sorry but was the original Wii too big? With too many functions? Did anyone buy one of these? Or are they just shifting all the units they didn't sell in Canada to the UK in the hopes of making some money back?

 

[an annoyed writer]

Is Nintendo trying to tap into some market that I'm not seeing here? Because the way I see it, that thing is not going to sell. Like, at all. The Wii was dirt-cheap(relatively speaking) from the get-go, and the WiiU does pretty much all of what that Wii Mini does and more, while not looking like a crappy lunchbox. I'm pretty sure that whoever came up with that must have gone to Iwata and on his orders dismembered themselves with a Wii tennis racket attachment by now. It's that bad.

 

[MikeWehner]

I keep forgetting that this thing exists. It's so completely useless. It's not even that much smaller than the standard Wii. Do you know anyone who was like "man, i'd buy a Wii if it were SLIGHTLY smaller and also made of cheap red and black plastic...."? I get it, it's cheaper, but it sacrifices pretty much anything that was attractive about the console itself, physically.

 

[gigastar]

Im struggling to figure out why anyone would want a console with no online functions theese days.

But then Nintendo is probably shipping theese in hope that people who buy it dont already own 6 Mario games.

 

[Dragoon]

I bet it'll be about £99 here as well if that's the Canadian price, us brits usually get shafted price wise. Even if it's cheaper no one will buy it so it won't really matter, you can get a used Wii for about £40 so it just seems like a waste of time.

 

[RicoADF]

Is Nintendo trying to tap into some market that I'm not seeing here? Because the way I see it, that thing is not going to sell. Like, at all. The Wii was dirt-cheap(relatively speaking) from the get-go, and the WiiU does pretty much all of what that Wii Mini does and more, while not looking like a crappy lunchbox. I'm pretty sure that whoever came up with that must have gone to Iwata and on his orders dismembered themselves with a Wii tennis racket attachment by now. It's that bad.

My understanding is it does sell reasonably to its target niche audience -- parents with young children and no console/PC in the house yet. Everything about it, it's look (bright colors, high contrast), it's hardware functionality (clamshell disc tray -- no need for the unit to be on) RCA tv connect only, and it's OS functionality (no internet) is designed to soothe parents who've never had any sort of video game experience.

Basically, it's a kids toy. It looks like a kids toy. From reviews I've seen, it's apparently built very sturdy.. like a kids toy needs to be. It's lack of connections means it's easy for clueless dad to figure out how to hook it up to the old CRT TV they have in the kids playroom, and they don't need to be worried about these online predators they've heard about. And it's price is certainly comparable to a lot of kids toys you'll see these days.

Of course, the real genius of it is that it still plays the wii games that sucked in grandma and grandpa and everybody else. Get mom and dad playing bowling with their kids for a little while and suddenly the inkling starts to click in their minds, "You know, honey, this video gaming stuff isn't bad. It could even be kind of fun at a party.. I hear they can do Karaoke on some of these things. Maybe we should take a look at a better console for in the living room? That Wii-U thing we see in the stores, I think it can play the kids' games too and use their controllers.."

When you think about it that way its ingenious, bravo to Nintendo for thinking outside the box.

 

[Triaed]

How well is this thing selling in Canada?
I see the shelves full of boxes of this crap.