The non gaming channels on Wii were so exciting in a pre-iPhone world. Exact same feeling as having a PSP or an iPod back then. Just putting your photos on an SD card and displaying them on your CRT was monumental back then.
It was the beginning of my cynicism with games, the beginning of the end. At the same time, No More Heroes felt like it was made for exactly me, my sophomore year of High School.
Nowadays it may be irrelevant with mainstream culture, the way all things pass, but it’s still highly relevant in some circles. Go to any smash bros. Meet up and there’s always Wiis there for Melee and Project Plus.
For a long time my bread and butter income was from flipping Wiis. I’d get them from yard sales, swap meets, goodwill, never paying over $20 for one, often no cables or anything, just the system. Then I’d softmod the system in about 20 minutes, put a 4gb sd card in there with Nintendon’t and emulators and such, and sell it on ebay for $65 shipped, in a $6 flat rate envelope with my own bubble wrap inside. about $30 profit after all was said and done.
Also I remember what it felt like being excited for Virtual Console releases. Playing Mystical Ninja with my dad, and trying Turbografx games for the first time (I got Bonk and beat it back then!) It was at that time that starmen.net had been hosting their mass Nintendo-call-in campaigns to get Earthbound released on Virtual Console and Mother 3 released stateside. It was also when I gave up on ever seeing that happen. Not getting it on Wii was soul crushing to the point it didn’t matter anymore.