Remember when you first saw the trailer above? It premiered online in September 2005 when Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed the Wii remote (then called the “Revolution” remote, of course) at the Tokyo Game Show.
Think about the possibilities it presented — the kinds of things that you would be able to do with the Wii controller!
There were twelve Wiimote movements shown in the trailer. So how many of them have actually been used in Wii games?
We decided to go through the dozen techniques, with a shot-by-shot analysis. Has Nintendo delivered on the hype?
Here are our findings:
Action #1: “Swinging A Tennis Racket”
Games That Delivered: “Wii Sports,” “Sega Superstars Tennis”
Action #2: “Chopping Food”
Games That Delivered: “Cooking Mama: Cook Off”
Action #3: “Orchestral Direction”
Games That Delivered: “WarioWare: Smooth Moves,” “Wii Music” (demoed at E3; not released)
Action #4: “Drumming”
Games That Delivered: None
Action #5: “Swinging A Baseball Bat”
Games That Delivered: “MLB 2K8,” “The Bigs,” “Wii Sports”
Action #6: “Fishing”
Games That Delivered: “The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess,” “Sega Bass Fishing,” “Rapela Tournament Fishing,” “Wii Play,” “WarioWare: Smooth Moves”
Action #7: “Dentist Drilling”
Games That Delivered: None (”WarioWare: Smooth Moves” lets you apply fillings; not sure if this counts!)
Action #8: “Making Mario Jump With A Flick”
Games That Delivered: “WarioWare: Smooth Moves”
Action #9: “Clown-Party Gaming”
Games That Delivered: “Mario Party 8,” “Carnival Games”
Action #10: “Shooting”
Games That Delivered: “Metroid Prime 3,” “Link’s Crossbow Training,” “Medal of Honor: Vanguard,” “Ghost Squad,” “Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles,” “Call of Duty 3,” “Elebits,” etc.
Action #11: “Fly-Swatting”
Games That Delivered: “WarioWare: Smooth Moves” (”Ninja Reflex” has fly-catching — with chopsticks)
Action #12: “Sword Fighting”
Games That Delivered: “Red Steel,” “Dragon Quest Swords,” “WarioWare: Smooth Moves” (It looks like 1:1 controls in the video, of course — but not in these games)
***
Did we miss anything?
More importantly, has Nintendo missed anything?
Will you demand more remote-based dentist drilling and less remote-based shooting? Are there any more motions that just haven’t been utilized yet?
April 17th, 2008 at 10:10 am
When I saw #7, I was reminded of “Trauma Center.” Yes, it’s not dentistry, but operating on a patient is very similar.
There is also a dentistry-like mini-game in “Rayman Raving Rabbids”
April 17th, 2008 at 10:59 am
All of the Rayman Rabbit games have a drum minigame where you beat on the rabbits to do drum beats. I remeber doing the wipe out song like 100 times trying to get it perfect.
April 17th, 2008 at 11:13 am
can’t say I’ve seen/heard of “Cooking Mama: Cook Off.” I’ve spent most of my life AVOIDING cooking. Who would want to do it virtually??
April 17th, 2008 at 11:20 am
Evilbaby is correct.
RRR had a great drum simulator minigame. Very fun.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:07 pm
Here’s a secret. The Wii is not about motion controls. Motion controls are no revolution, and they are not the reason Wii is selling so well.
Motion controls are simply a means to an end. They serve only to remove the barrier of a complicated dual-analog controller that has prevented many people from even attempting to play videogames.
The real revoluton of Wii is getting lots of people who have not been playing videogames for the past 2 decades to start playing, and buying, Wii. That is the real promise of Wii, and Nintendo has MORE than delivered.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:08 pm
ninty always delivers on everything just wish they had the graphs of the p.s3
April 17th, 2008 at 12:38 pm
@evilbaby and usedcisco
Are you two referring to the music sequences in the game? The ones that have the Rabbids marching out on stage while you shake the remote to the rhythm? If so, I don’t consider that dumming. You’re not actually working with an on-screen set of drums or making drumming noises, right?
Or are we talking about two different things?
April 17th, 2008 at 12:43 pm
Action #8 is actually hidden away in both Super Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3. I say “hidden” because I don’t think either game ever says you can do it. But you can! In Metroid, flicking makes the Morph ball jump. And in Mario, flicking during the surfing mini-game makes the manta ray jump.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:49 pm
The sword-fighting in Wario Ware is almost 1 to 1, actually. It’s limited, but pretty awesome.
And drumming is in Wii Music.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:53 pm
Nintendo has not yet released different colored Wii’s and remotes, though!
I suppose that is being saved for when the Wii bubble starts to burst.
P.S. - Samus could jump with a flick upward while in her Morph Ball mode.
April 17th, 2008 at 12:54 pm
I believe that playing drums was demo-ed with Wii Music at E3 of ‘06 as well, wasn’t it?
And I personally liked using the controller as a violin bow in a minigame for Sonic and the Secret Rings. It was actually one of the only minigames I liked in their set.
April 17th, 2008 at 2:00 pm
@Stephen,
Yes, those are the ones. For some reason I always envisioned the circular pads that the rabbids slid/rotated towards to be drums and that when the Rabbid was exactly on top of the drum (which coincided with the rhythm of the song) you should “hit” the drum. Maybe it was just my perception but I always felt like that was a fun drum simulation, albeit, not a complete kit. You certainly needed to “hit” the drums on the beat, it felt very “drummy” to me. I would love to see a more advanced formula where button presses perhaps would alter which drum your hitting, which would allow them to use more than just 2 drums.
April 17th, 2008 at 5:20 pm
Drumming was in Donkey Kong: Barrel Blast as well. You sure missed a lot…
April 18th, 2008 at 2:36 am
Action 7 is approximated by Trauma Center, and Action 8 has mario spinning around everytime you flick the controls in Galaxy. The original controls probably had the jumping but that action was replaced with the spin in later revisions.
April 18th, 2008 at 10:40 am
the Wii fails. How is playing with a motion controller any less complicated than an analog for games such as SSBB, Mario Kart, Metroid prime 3??? It’s not, in fact, most people who play these games like SSBB will use their GC controller.
If you go to gametrailers.com RIGHT NOW they will have a video comparing the wii to the gamecube for Wii kart. The gamecube is still graphically superior in Wi cart and most people would agree.
How can Nintendo not keep up with the times? Is it 2008 or 2003? Mario kart still looks the same. It’s pure laziness that they did not invest more time in making a more powerful graphically competent system. With the exception of first party software (which was always good even on the GC.. but grows more and more repetitive) the Wii has nothing going for it. I can count only 5 games worth playing and if you are bored of the Mario Universe, that narrows it down to 2 games.
The Nintendo CEO reggie aims said they pump out 1.8 million units a month and sell off 700k last month. If that’s the case, why aren’t they overstocked everywhere instead of being SOLD OUT?
Fact is, Nintendo is driven by kiddie content and since there are so many kids out there playing games and every kid wants their own console, it’s driving sales up and up.
Don’t get me wrong I’m not a sony or MS fanboy. In fact, I don’t play anything these days except SNES/GBA games and classics. The last game I played was RE4 for GC back in January.
April 18th, 2008 at 6:48 pm
@casiotech,
Why do you people even bother posting? This topic is about whether or not the Wii has provided the types of experiences that it presented in the TGS trailer above.
What do you have to offer the conversation?
“the Wii fails.”
“Fact is, Nintendo is driven by kiddie content”
Then you even out yourself as having no relevant experience with regard to the posts topic.
“The last game I played was RE4 for GC back in January.”
So, what are you even doing here? I mean, I’m all about free speech, but I also believe in minimizing the amount of wasted mental bandwidth on the internet. Surely there is a post somewhere about a topic for which you can offer some pertinent insight.
April 20th, 2008 at 9:03 am
What are you doing here? Take your own advice… I deal in software sales, doesn’t mean I have to waste my life playing the games I sell, does it?
What I said is EXACTLY what the blog is about, Nintendo NOT delivering on promises of their hardware/software. A good first party game coming out every quarter isn’t going to hold over competent gamers for much longer.
So go troll, erm, waste precious ‘mental bandwidth’ elsewhere.
April 21st, 2008 at 1:15 pm
“What are you doing here?”
I’m commenting on the article in question unlike some people.
While I’m sure a graphical comparison of Mario Kart on Wii and Gamecube is interesting, it’s really not relevant. The point was the specific images and whether or not games were actually delivering on those, not whether or not the graphics are better in Mario Kart.
I’m not the troll. I’m a proud member of the Idiotic Post Police and your first comment is under arrest. Go directly to jail, do not collect 200 dollars.
April 21st, 2008 at 4:08 pm
@casiotech
Just turn off the computer and walk away. Save us the headaches.