Wow. It certainly doesn't feel like 10 years ago to me, but it has hit a point in my head where it feels like a long ago enough time for me to be nostalgic over.
I was there on day 1. It was a pretty bizarre console launch. There was this kind of skepticism online about how well it was gonna do, though people seemed a lot more positive than they'd be in a few months. I remember there was this kind of scramble to get in a pre-order somewhere after the Wii had rough availability for a few years and I ended up getting one in at Toys R Us of all places. There was one other lone person there with me, and we debated the merits of which model to get (he said he was going for the cheaper one because he never even got close to filling up his 360 HDD, I said I thought I wouldn't but got super into Rock Band DLC and I ended up buying the model with a bigger HDD after my console red ringed so I wasn't gonna take any chances this time). My original plan was to get in with NSMBU, Tekken Tag 2, and two pro controllers, but there was a problem. Toys R Us didn't carry Tekken Tag 2. It seemed uncertain if I was gonna get a copy anywhere that day, and they had some kind of 20$ off deal on getting a second game, so I impulse bought ZombiU along with everything I got, minus Tekken. I then called around and luckily the GameStop near my house had one copy of Tekken Tag 2 left, so I went out there and scooped it up. Ended up spending the day messing around in Tekken and Nintendo Land.
I was home from my freshmen year of college for Thanksgiving break that week, so I spent the next few days playing a good deal of NSMBU when I could, which I had fun with (it's still the best NSMB game imo). I don't think I really touched the other games much after day 1 until later (Tekken I think I played over Winter Break, and ZombiU during Winter quarter after I got a monitor for Christmas and brought my consoles to school). I actually still didn't have a proper HD setup at the time, so I played through NSMBU on a CRT using my Wii's composite cables, which seems extremely quaint in retrospect. Finals were coming up and I took on way too many courses for my own good Freshmen Year, so I couldn't spend a ton of time with the console as I had to be studying. I was also pretty busy with family matters (my grandpa was very ill at this point of time). I remember going to see "Life of Pi," and "Cloud Atlas" with my family in the theater that week. I watched the anime "Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions," on my laptop. I think I finished NSMBU on Thanksgiving if my memory serves me right.
My impressions of the console were pretty positive off the bat. I liked the controller. I liked the interface. I thought the games were promising. Yet, I don't remember really missing the console when I went back to school for a couple weeks and couldn't play it, and when I came back for Winter Break I was more focused on playing 999 and Pokemon White 2 (and then later Halo 4, Kid Icarus Uprising, and Star Ocean 1 after Christmas). I remember I had a friend online who was doing a media studies degree, and he decided to do his final project for a class he had on creating an infographic on the Wii U's launch week sales, which I gave him bits and pieces of input on and ended up going really well for him (I think his infographic even ended up getting posted on the old site).
I do have a nostalgia for that time in my life, but I can't say I actually like the Wii U a whole lot. To me, the Wii U is like, the minimum level of good a Nintendo console can be and not have me regret buying it. There were just enough games on it that were exclusive for just long enough to make me feel like it definitely wasn't a waste of money, but it was still weaker than all of Nintendo's other home consoles. I do miss the Virtual Console (even if some of the emulators were a step down from the Wii's), and I adored the Gamepad even though games never really used its potential.
I was there on day 1. It was a pretty bizarre console launch. There was this kind of skepticism online about how well it was gonna do, though people seemed a lot more positive than they'd be in a few months. I remember there was this kind of scramble to get in a pre-order somewhere after the Wii had rough availability for a few years and I ended up getting one in at Toys R Us of all places. There was one other lone person there with me, and we debated the merits of which model to get (he said he was going for the cheaper one because he never even got close to filling up his 360 HDD, I said I thought I wouldn't but got super into Rock Band DLC and I ended up buying the model with a bigger HDD after my console red ringed so I wasn't gonna take any chances this time). My original plan was to get in with NSMBU, Tekken Tag 2, and two pro controllers, but there was a problem. Toys R Us didn't carry Tekken Tag 2. It seemed uncertain if I was gonna get a copy anywhere that day, and they had some kind of 20$ off deal on getting a second game, so I impulse bought ZombiU along with everything I got, minus Tekken. I then called around and luckily the GameStop near my house had one copy of Tekken Tag 2 left, so I went out there and scooped it up. Ended up spending the day messing around in Tekken and Nintendo Land.
I was home from my freshmen year of college for Thanksgiving break that week, so I spent the next few days playing a good deal of NSMBU when I could, which I had fun with (it's still the best NSMB game imo). I don't think I really touched the other games much after day 1 until later (Tekken I think I played over Winter Break, and ZombiU during Winter quarter after I got a monitor for Christmas and brought my consoles to school). I actually still didn't have a proper HD setup at the time, so I played through NSMBU on a CRT using my Wii's composite cables, which seems extremely quaint in retrospect. Finals were coming up and I took on way too many courses for my own good Freshmen Year, so I couldn't spend a ton of time with the console as I had to be studying. I was also pretty busy with family matters (my grandpa was very ill at this point of time). I remember going to see "Life of Pi," and "Cloud Atlas" with my family in the theater that week. I watched the anime "Love, Chunibyo and Other Delusions," on my laptop. I think I finished NSMBU on Thanksgiving if my memory serves me right.
My impressions of the console were pretty positive off the bat. I liked the controller. I liked the interface. I thought the games were promising. Yet, I don't remember really missing the console when I went back to school for a couple weeks and couldn't play it, and when I came back for Winter Break I was more focused on playing 999 and Pokemon White 2 (and then later Halo 4, Kid Icarus Uprising, and Star Ocean 1 after Christmas). I remember I had a friend online who was doing a media studies degree, and he decided to do his final project for a class he had on creating an infographic on the Wii U's launch week sales, which I gave him bits and pieces of input on and ended up going really well for him (I think his infographic even ended up getting posted on the old site).
I do have a nostalgia for that time in my life, but I can't say I actually like the Wii U a whole lot. To me, the Wii U is like, the minimum level of good a Nintendo console can be and not have me regret buying it. There were just enough games on it that were exclusive for just long enough to make me feel like it definitely wasn't a waste of money, but it was still weaker than all of Nintendo's other home consoles. I do miss the Virtual Console (even if some of the emulators were a step down from the Wii's), and I adored the Gamepad even though games never really used its potential.
