Hi there peeps! This time i'm gonna be talking about how and why do I consider my Wii U console as my Most Prized Gaming Possession. It has been accompanying me since it came out in 2012 and it's my main "goto" when I want to play something quick or really dive into a long game. But let me give you guys a little bit of background so you can all understand why it's so important to me till this day where some would say it's already dead.
64 Bits was all we needed
It all started when I was around 3 to 4 years old. The N64 had already come out some years ago but this was before the PlayStation 1 and Gamecube era had arrived to the gaming universe.
64 Bits was all I knew by then, and I absolutely loved what my dad had plugged onto the living room's TV as soon as he managed to buy one and bring it over from the states. At my very premature age I wasn't able to comprehend how difficult it was to import something to Venezuela back then, but what I did understand was how excited my dad was to try out our new adquisition along my big sis and me.
Flashbacks of the past swirl at me with no apparent cronological order because my first memories ever from when I started to actually get a sense of myself were alongside my Nintendo 64. I can jump from one memory of playing Ocarina of Time for the first time to trying Super Smash Bros 64 with my cousins and even getting myself into the cockpit of an Arwing with Star Fox 64, these are the games I remember the most and would honestly like my offspring to play as well if I ever decide to have them.
The N64 was a childhood landmark that i'll never forget throught my life. It was my first videogame console and it's what made me love videogames as much as I do today.
Then the little cube came along.
It came around 2002. What I remember the most is my dad travelling in and out of the country very often and me crying everytime he left, but he always came back with games. There was one specific time where he had brought this big box from one of his travels. The box contained a rather big sized black cube inside, it read "Nintendo Gamecube" on a cool as heck white font.
In contrast to the N64, This is what consolidated my love for games. I remember playing with my N64 games but they're more like a vague, cloudy and almost unreal conjunction of memories. What I experienced with my Gamecube is way more tangible in an abstract way, it's much more present in who I am and my love for videogames nowadays.
The gamecube is the console I remember the most of. It was there with me since I was a slightly older toddler till I actually became a pre-teen and started to grow up. It had so much to offer in such a small package and i'm simply still in love with it. From Zelda: Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, to other more so hidden gems like Starfox Adventures and Assault. The gamecube simply had more to offer than time I had to enjoy it, but the time I spent with it I still hold dear in my heart.
Motion controls, full speed ahead
Ah yes, motion controls... Although they were not my favorite, I would be lying if I had to say they weren't fun to use when they came out.
The Wii came to me during my teenager era. I mentioned earlier that I wasn't very fond of the motion controls but that didn't take away much from the overall experience. The Wii introduced me to some more mature games like Madworld and No more heroes, and with the motion controls (sometimes hammered into the gameplay) were a really fun experience to go through
But the Wii simply did not appeal to me that much, yes it had some great games like Super Smash Bros Brawl, No more Heroes, Zelda: Skyward Sword and many others but this was around the time where the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 were out on the market as well, so I feel a little bit of hatred and underlying feelings for getting the less serious console of the bunch, so to say. It didn't completely break my heart when my dad decided to sell my Wii, I blame myself a little bit as well for not giving it the chance it deserved.
And so this flashback of my life comes to an end.
I owned my Wii till almost 2012. My dad decided to get rid of it by giving it to one of his friends and then buy an Xbox 360 to get the more "serious" games I had talked to him about. But that's beyond the point i'm trying to go through here. Some years after the glory of the Xbox 360 had come into my life, The Wii U came out And that's the part you're all waiting for.
The tablet... that came with a console?
The Wii U came into my life a year after it was released. My dad wasn't travelling too much then, in fact he was already somehow retired but he still managed to make a call to his boss to ask for a favour. This favour was bringing the Wii U from the states and oh my god... I didn't really know what it was when it arrived.
It was this feeling of discovery and not knowing what it was which drove me to being even more immersed in discoverying what the uses of this weird tablet thing that came with the console were. Some moments later I discoverd it was called gamepad and that in fact, it was the main controller for the Wii U.
Another aspect that attaches me very hard to my Wii U is that basically all of my consoles died for it. You see, my dad had the very questionable habit of selling the older console to buy the new one that had been released, so my N64 died for my Gamecube, and then my Gamecube died for my Wii and finally, my Wii died for my Wii U. So it can be taken as all of them giving out their power for me to buy the Wii U and enjoying the best games each console could offer. That's why I'm so attached to my Wii U, it's basically the combined lifespawn of all the things which I experienced related to videogames throught my life.
I had a blast and still do with my Wii U to this day. Even if some would call it a dead console because the Nintendo Switch is already out, I still can manage to create fun moments around it and invite my friends over and have an enjoyable time overall! I really really like that being in the actual year, this console still holds up to it's promises (at least the ones it managed to accomplish) The free online is still used by the most important games on the console, the playerbase of most games is fairly active as well, if I wanted to I could run Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and start hunting with some friends right now. Even if the social media experiment that Nintendo managed to half ass, was discontinued, you will still see a lot of people being active on the console.
But to be honest with you guys, the aspect that makes me love my Wii U and cherish it far beyond the other consoles I owned, is that it somehow embodies the spirit and nostalgia that each of my previous consoles managed to feel like to me. You see, the Wii u is capable of backwards compatibility, and this absolutely makes it for me, the all in one console. I can play my favorite games and even some I could not get when I was a child! The Wii u can emulate NES, SNES, N64, DS, GameCube (Through soft modding) and even Wii Games! So I get access to this incredibly huge library of games which I wouldn't have in any other way. I never owned a Nintendo DS, nor a SNES and even less an NES! So when you tell me that I can have access to almost all of Nintendo's back catalogue and even then, the great games which the Wii U had on it's own, It's hard not to understand why I consider this my Most Prized Gaming Posession. The Wii U just has too many things to offer and I consider that as the best experience and memories that any other gaming possession could give me.
Fin
I'm glad you guys looked through this post! it was very very heartwarming to make and I absolutely loved it.
You see, through the magic of softmodding I have access to almost all of the Wii U library so this is why I consider it to be the biggest gaming thing I have in my household, not even my pc! But it's to give you guys a little background. I personally love to go from Ocarina to Breath of the wild.
I'll see you in the next one guys! Love you all!