The Forgotten Nintendo Wii Mini - Retrospective Review

[@91Tech]

Edit - to clarify Netflix no longer works on Wii. RIP. This is the final version of the Wii produced by Nintendo and more often than not seems forgotten- did any of you actually have the Wii Mini? Was the lack of internet a problem for you? Curious as always to hear your thoughts!

[@abcabcq313]

Hi

[@axple06]

Henllo

[@gestoraintegralmatriculada4081]

I don't have the Wii mini, but i do have something similar enough. Nintendo Switch. Its not even similar.

[@jimothyelfrado7219]

I still have a Wii and due to me being young and stupid, I never connected it to the internet. It wasn't a Mini, but same concept.

[@RZ670]

I just bought one of these as a collectors item

[@SpaceSentinel]

Here Wii go again...

[@sebastianandrade566]

Let’s not do this okay :)-💀💀💀

[@Adamlol642]

Wow good

[@theakiwar9118]

Nice Ignika there

[@SpaceSentinel]

@@theakiwar9118 Aye, thanks fellow GSR inhabitant.

[@MCGamer-tj9nr]

💀💀

[@soccerfan-ep9rt]

The Wii's servers are actually shut down as of January 2019 so Netflix doesn't work on it anymore

[@matthewelerick648]

Yes now it does Disney + is wayyyy bettter

[@miguelrobb5719]

Matthew Elerick Disney plus is soo barebones right now

[@matthewelerick648]

Gavin Hottois lol your right along with news weather and everything

[@enoll218]

*Laughs in RiiConnect24*

[@ingridcarrasco6525]

Nah guys I’m an otaku so it’s Netflix for me

[@dasonicc]

The last Wii game is actually ShakeDown: Hawaii which comes out on the 9TH of July 2020. It's also out on the Wii U ;)

[@gxgala]

Ooh, and it’s gone. Official R.I.P. to the Wii

[@Fran77]

Also Retro City Rampage, both come out on the same day.

[@1atem]

*sad 3ds noices*

[@BjornsTIR]

When I was younger, I always wanted a wii mini. (mainly because it was cheaper and therefor my parents would maybe consider getting me one) But alas, they hated video-games enough to not get me a single console. Thankfully I had grandparents that decided to get me a 3DS because I so badly wanted to play with my friends. Well, I got the original Wii version in 2019 for 16€, incl. shipping, so at least I can play on it now.

[@naraydaniels7832]

Sadly your parents had no soul i feel bad 4 u

[@j7sportvideo24]

@@naraydaniels7832 yea that really sucks

[@hardcoreholly1161]

LOL what an unlucky childhood

[@roosarobin3383]

Your parents have issues..my parents got me NES ..most i paid myself ..but to deny a console??

[@specialopp333]

That's sad dawg

[@toomuchfandom]

"The forgotten Wii mini" Me a Wii mini owner: What? It's forgotten?

[@drummagzz]

I own one too

[@Bak3dburrito]

XLolSul same

[@NothingToYou-]

Never heard of it

[@NothingToYou-]

I own a original wii

[@judyhernandez2720]

I have one

[@aidenbagshaw5573]

I remember seeing these in stores here in Ontario. I didn’t realize they only sold them here. We had to buy a smart Blu-ray player last year when Netflix dropped support for the Wii, but other than that, we still use ours a lot.

[@smuglef]

But the Wii mini doesn’t have internet so..?

[@bigh8121]

Hello and Happy New year. Does it support all the game and the wii bar.

[@blondmop92]

I managed to snag a Wii Mini for $20 on ebay, and I can't lie, I actually love it. The lack of Internet doesn't bother me seeing as the regular Wii can't (officially) connect to the Internet anyway. The design is great, and its color scheme is top notch.

[@sassyk471]

$20? I'm jealous 😮

[@elijahdavila3684]

I kinda wish there were a way of have all the regular wii internals and ports in a wii mini shell because it really does look more attractive than the normal wii.

[@SYIBOI]

"No way to make the wii look good on a modern widescreen display without emulation" My WiiU shed a tear from that

[@abcabcq313]

I’m broke so I still have it 😂 💀

[@loganmac5142]

Me too kid

[@carltonbanks986]

I found the launch edition that works fine and almost perfect shape for 75$ on ebay about a week ago and just use it as a gamecube while actual gamecubes u found are from 400 to a thousand dollars

[@yargnaurd]

Carlton Banks I have a silver GameCube and I didn’t know this until a while ago that they sell for hundreds and even 1,000 dollars... but i don’t want to sell it 😭

[@Justschr9999]

S A M E

[@leftlord]

Bro me too

[@michellechenevey4757]

KZbin: says that there's 3 comments Me: You sure about that

[@200subsnovideoschallenge5]

Hey the wii mini had pros. Like there are some pros to death like thank god there is no Wii mini in the afterlife.

[@thegameradmin]

Ah, so I see you are a man of culture as well.

[@phili4600]

I hate to be that guy, but the last Wii U game released (as of now) was a game called Regina & Mac, which came out in January of 2020. And the game Shakedown Hawaii was announced to have both a Wii U and Wii port planned for the future.

[@torythefanman]

I remember those Wii commercials..the guys would walk up to the door and say "Wii would like to play" then away they went

[@VictoryVic1]

i'm 20 had a wii as a kid loved it still love it, honestly never heard of the wii mini until i watched this video as i'm commenting.. was like "wtf a wii mini!?!"

[@codeeast1224]

I bought one. I enjoy it! I wanted it just to play wii sports, and you can play fun party games or most wii games! I don’t think many people go online on it anymore and if I wanna go online I can use my ps Xbox or switch. Also friends ask me what is that thing, lol. Wii mini is cool and I’m glad I have one!

[@MrLolo-xs6ob]

Still have mine sealed with receipt and in the same bag from the store i bought it day 1. Never bothered using it since I had several Wii's at home. I knew this console would eventually be an expensive collectors item. I paid 50 for it and now its selling for close to 200 for just the console

[@Operator_Ninja]

the Wii mini was my first ever console.. man I loved that thing 😊😢

[@theglitchygamingking]

Wii will never forget the wii, it was a part of many childhoods and is cherished to this day.

[@hudsonc466]

Mario kart wii has a big online fanbase still, we always have 500 or more people online at once

[@cefalopodo5717]

i thought the servers shut down?

[@atomic_cow]

@@cefalopodo5717 they did. You can mod if you want custom servers that allow you to play online.

[@toethlef8994]

I had one of these. Felt like my parents made a total of $12000 a year when i saw that thing on my dresser. I dont even think it could connect to the internet

[@Bootyhunter1971]

Bought one of these today for $10 with power, a/v and sensor bar. I have other Wii's, just wanted this one for the collectibility factor, Im sure I will get my $10 back someday, plus some 😀

[@joenations]

There is a couple ways of making the game look good on a wide screen tv, one is emulation (like you said), and the other is a Wii to HDMI/At to HDMI converter. They are at a fair price of 10-15 dollars, and some even come with an HDMI cord. I bought one for my Wii, and it’s a slight change, but everything looks better, and it for sure runs better

[@perryb3263]

Beware that those Wii HDMI adapters wont work on the Wii Mini, as they rely on the component output signals

[@rswan5]

Maybe it would’ve been better if the Wii Mini operated like the Gamecube. As in when you turn it on with the game inserted, you get a Wii logo screen followed by the game launching.

[@luigiplushproductions2506]

The funny things is I’m probably the only one who remembers this Wii, cause this was my childhood Wii

[@lordfarquad6372]

I genuinely didn’t know this existed

[@Techtype_]

WOT

[@dannyjuarez3038]

Techtype KZbin shut up

[@navygurl4182]

Playing mine now..super mario

[@liamhansen8276]

Jason is so proud of you

[@tikity8366]

I didn’t know that a wii mini even existed lol, I had a wii tho, and I loved it.

[@RobiticDuck]

Wii Mini, the alternative timeline if the Wii came out in the 1990s.

[@MsMRkv]

I didnt even know this thing existed in the first place 😂

[@Techtype_]

WOT

[@dannyjuarez3038]

Same

[@XMANIAFLYYY]

Really? It must be that obscure... if I spelt that right... lol...

[@GersonCampos]

I remember sometime in 2012 or 2013 I went to the Nintendo website for some reason and that's where I found out about the Wii mini

[@drew_drop]

bro i didn’t even know this existed ;-;

[@metraforce441]

*And here’s me who has one...*

[@abcabcq313]

Same 😂

[@RZ670]

Same haha

[@enderamy321]

Me too 😂

[@ressljs]

About a week ago, I was eyeballing a Wii Mini in a used game store, and I was so tempted to but it. I always thought it looked really cool. I was about to pull the trigger since they were only charging $40. But then I remembered any game I put in it, I'd essentially be starting over.

[@lakechehir]

I never used the internet feature on the Wii (because the Wii couldn't find my router) and when I wanted a Wii my mum said that she would buy this one because it was cheaper and had no internet access but eb games (the nz and aussie GameStop) didn't have it so we bought a basic Wii instead. I wish I got the mini because it came with a game and a motion plus controller and half of my games have a minigame that need a motion plus controller.

[@pixsled]

just buy the motion plus connecter thing lol

[@MFTony727]

I saw a wii mini pop up online last year so I bought it. Main reason is because I remembered hearing about it being able to have homebrew now. So I immediately hacked it, and yeah the OG Wii is much better, but as a collector I just had to have it. The lack of composite video really hurt it tho in my opinion. Nintendo should have just sold these with HDMI out. Not a lot of devices didn't have HDMI out in 2011. It was worth it to me, but I agree with you, just get an old Wii and you'd be much happier.

[@MinecraftLover2007]

After the Nintendo Switch was introduced in 2017, the Wii U and original Wii both continued to make games until 2019 and 2020 respectively.

[@supermariof0521]

In a perfect world here's what a more ideal version of the Wii Mini could've looked like. They could've released it during the 2011 Christmas season (making the Wii Family Edition pointless). It'd keep the same design as the final product, would contain the folliwing physical features. 1) 4 GameCube controller ports on the front 2) 1 Memory Card port on the back 3) An SD Card slot on the back 4) Support for Component Cables 5) Netflix channel built in 6) A different pack in game depending on which retailer you go to. Like Wall-Mart could include "Mario Kart Wii", Target could include "Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games", Best Buy could include "Mario Super Sluggers", and Toys R Us (since they did exist in 2011) could include "Super Mario Galaxy". And would do the following to cut costs 1) Replace the slot loading drive with the toploading drive like the final version 2) Remove one of the GameCube memory card ports 3) Remove one of the USB ports like they did with the final version

[@kevindavidwark]

It really was a bargain, and at a time when Wii games were at their cheapest, too. I bought one of these for $79 at a Shoppers Drugmart in downtown Toronto in 2013, I think. I immediately walked over to a game store and traded the pack in game for a new copy of Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. I must have bought about two dozen actual good games at clearance prices for it over the following 2 or 3 years. It's good to know it can be hacked, although I don't have a Linux machine with bluetooth handy.

[@mnb4414]

I have a The original wii. My dad got a steal on it when he got it with mariokart wii and a couple games for sale. It plays our ga,exuberant games and we Han use the GameCube controller for smash.

[@SamPavo]

The Nintendo Wii Mini gives me old gaming generation vibes because of how it was constructed. The Nintendo Wii Mini uses the exact same disc tray method from the PlayStation 1, it uses moderate power similar to the 6th generation of consoles, it doesn't use WiFi connectivity just like the 5th generation consoles, it doesn't support backwards compatibility of older generation games just like the older consoles and it uses classic video displays just like the 5th and 6th generation consoles. That's what really makes the Nintendo Wii Mini in my opinion, a recreation of older generations of gaming using old production methods while focusing on the 7th generation of gaming at the time when the Nintendo Wii Mini was released.

[@themacintoshnerd]

2:08 the Wii U does this. It plays wii games through HDMI

[@Fran77]

Well, yes but no, it isn't really in HD.

[@themacintoshnerd]

@@Fran77 the colors and the picture still look better and a bit sharper I just use dolphin on a PC for Wii games

[@ki11a_kam]

Like it how he said dance dance but it’s Just Dance FYI

[@MP.16]

I haven't forgotten about it.

[@joecampbell46]

I find it ironic that the wii mini which couldn’t connect to the internet came with a game with online play as its best feature

[@rocketpenguin2207]

Bro I got this thing for Christmas like in 2013(I think the year Skylanders 3 came out) and I played the HELL out of that thing( still have it lol)

[@XMANIAFLYYY]

Must've been good times.

[@c3pu333]

Honestly if your looking for the ultimate Nintendo all in one it's the Wii U not the Wii. It plays nes, snes, n64, GC, wii, GB, GBC, GBA, DS either trough the Wii U or VWii. It upscales everything to 1080p and you can play the Wii U games that haven't been rereleased on switch. As far as i'm aware The only thing it can't do that the Wii can is connect to a gba.

[@haiderjaffar6820]

Two best things of his videos: RETRO TECH, and HOME.

[@WaitlistedJay]

When he said Dance Dance 😂

[@The_Forgettable1]

Personally this is the Wii I grew up with and I thought it was normal

[@pedrothethird8202]

I got the Wii mini for Christmas and loved it and then got a Wii u and still have my Wii u I gave my Wii mini to my cousins

[@MagnumForce51]

Fun fact, the Wii Mini motherboard still has connections to a GameCube port and SD card slot. You just have to populate the missing connections and mod the case to expose them to the outside world. Once people started homebrewing the Wii Mini, some have been soldering in a GameCube port. I think the SD card slot install is a bit more involved, but that's possible too. ;) Sadly though the optical drive can't read GC disks due to limitation of the optical drive firmware, but things like Nintendont work on it (so you can boot GC games off SD card if you modded the slot in, or via USB drive for those who don't want to do that) and if you go through the trouble of soldering in a GC port, you can use a GameCube controller on it!

[@colinm4055]

similar to the family edition which also has gamecube ports on the motherboard

[@Pinkninja0708]

I used to have a wii mini it was our first ever game console we owned, me and my brother had a pretty good run with it until it stopped working.

[@JoelCromwell]

My original Wii broke, and then we got the mini. It was... interesting, for sure.

[@mat-rex4ever]

I have a Wii Mini, but I can only play Mario Party 7 (or 8, I don't remember, i didn't use it for a good 3/4 years)... What a great times back in the day :)

[@andreworozco3656]

I would totally love to get a Wii Mini. I dont mind for it not having internet. Plus would be a great console to have in my collection of my other systems.

[@yourboyl2134]

I never forgot about it really

[@lukeweeks3470]

Never been this early! Loving your vids, Josh :)

[@AaronHendu]

Prices have shot way up on these...I bought mine maybe a year ago for $40, and now they are going for $130-150ish on Ebay.ca

[@XMANIAFLYYY]

I'm American so Ebay.com lol

[@Lucifronz]

5:04 Every single side (literal side, as in the red sides of said box) of the box you're showing says in white text at the bottom that the Wii Mini has no internet capabilities. They should have put it on the front, mind you, but you'd have to ignore FOUR of the six sides of the box you're picking up at the store to miss it. Which of course an excited kid or someone who just really wanted a cheaper Wii would probably do, but putting it on the front wouldn't save those people. It is very hard to see in pictures, however, BUT it is the only text on those sides besides "Wii Mini".

[@phillipsesate1364]

I still have my original Wii and still play it now and again.

[@angelproking1502]

The Wii mini was my first nintendo console

[@strasburgrailfan90]

Wait is it called “Dance, Dance” there. here it’s called “Just Dance”

[@desiv1170]

I honestly think the only real mistake Nintendo made with this was not including component support. SD card wasn't needed. Gamecube support was for a more limited audience who mostly already had the original Wii. ;-) The top loader drive is probably much more reliable. Nice color... WiFi? I think Nintendo knew they were going to stop supporting it on the backend eventually anyway. My only complaint is the lack of component. Means you can't use that or those super cheap Wii-HDMI adapters. Too bad... That said, have you checked e-bay for these things recently? They are becoming desirable and the prices are way up... Interesting...

[@AnActualBean9034]

This is the Wii I had. I’ve only played the original once. I still have it downstairs.

[@crabbuckets7506]

Damn man you either have an awesome microphone or you are gifted with a booming voice. I could imagine you doing radio, podcasts ads all that 😉😆

[@maxibash]

Small correction, this was probably recorded before the announcement, but Shakedown Hawaii and Retro City Rampage DX came out after Just Dance 2020, so those 2 games are the last Wii games.

[@ktdtheskeletondrummer]

My friends have a Wii Mini I still play on it and it’s still good but I enjoy my Wii over it and that’s all I have to say.

[@nashwanthedonschannel2.037]

I still remember it maan

[@hondacr-vtouringguy8327]

Never forgot it. I have one myself

[@jessebuis9924]

NOTE: The Wii Mini also was selled in 2012 in Europe, as I know in The Netherlands

[@Kurdzo]

Wii will all remember playing on a wii at least once…

[@sophiethecat9256]

i have an original backwards compatible Wii, i think mine was manufactured near launch as it has many signals that it's very old, including it having a very low serial number, I like how it is very SMOL, and it is just one of my favorites,

[@drunxkills6624]

hell its a good thing i still have my hacked ORIGINAL wii sitting right next to my switch and first gen 3ds

[@henryschilling1120]

Yep bought one just to have it. It's just sitting on my shelf.

[@rafay148]

What do you use to edit your videos you should make a setup tour

[@ethanmcintyre7148]

Fun fact: I never knew this thing existed. Too excited for Xbox One and PS5 at the time.

[@mariaisabelmartindelcampo4992]

I had the mini Wii for all my life

[@Lewis-rq3of]

I can not wait for the wiikend

[@stevelavely]

I actually bought a Wii Mini today on Ebay. The main reason I chose the mini over the original is cause it is going to be a traveling system and going to be used outside while connected to a projector.

[@Cody-Bear]

And I just bought one today from eBay as well.

[@Weegeecloneguy]

I actually had one of those and still do, but I don't use it anymore now

[@michaelh4227]

Just like the Gameboy Micro, it's one of those "Why did they make this?" Nintendo products.

[@justin_wayne_elrod_jrod]

The wii mini may not offer lot stuff that normal wii would backwards compatibility SD card slot online but at least it's cool looking design and does it have same storage capacity or less

[@nicholasdean3467]

What do you mean it is still in pop culture? 0:20 This is the only video I have seen about the Wii for a long time. And very few videos came out in 2020 about the Wii. With most videos that show up is years old.

[@vibez3453]

I have the wii mini just vibing g

[@jeremiahroberts6023]

I have both

[@tinkerer8439]

There was a Wii mini? Damn I had no idea

[@TheNeonGames]

The wii music in the beginning was my childhood...

[@SleepDeprivedGinger]

I just got New Super Mario Bros. Wii today, it’s a good game.

[@neosmith166]

Never thought a Wii mini existed.

[@trevor19qhshe]

I remember hearing that they were taking away backwards compatibility with the GameCube with the second version of the Wii. I knew that wasn't going to end very well.

[@hugo6003]

I own the Nintendo Wii mini and i played on it last week

[@Diplodactylus.]

Hey it may be smaller but it gets the job done

[@smooth_e5561]

Didn’t even know it was a thing

[@alexmichael8615]

I love your channel but I always wandered why 91

[@axple06]

i didn't knew it existed until now...

[@BaconFaceMcGee]

I didn't know you existed until now.

[@notOEAH]

You can output a digital video signal through HDMI by installing a hardmod called WiiDual.

[@StatiKQuinn]

Literally just found a working wii mini in a box next to the garage for our apartment

[@Juliane617]

Congrats on 191k 😉

[@chaseonn]

my aunt had a wii mini, but not for the normie games, she loved donkey kong country returns.

[@TeamVRY]

Always wanted one of these! Also you have a cool voice.