Will the Wii regain popularity and value years after being discontinued?

[Marc_LFD]

Released on November 2006 and discontinued in 2013, it has been almost a decade since it launched and prices in general for the console and its accessories are very affordable as a whole, but will the Wii eventually be seen as a "retro" console with value?

The original model features GCN support with its controller/memory card ports so that's definitely a huge advantage it has rather than use an actual GCN console (the black Wii could be seen as a slim version of GameCube, after all), and the original Classic Controller has analog triggers which if played via Nintendont can be used for GCN games.

As of now, the console more or less has no value, but in time it's possible it'll regain considering its useful features. I mean, there's also Wii games though I personally would just use it more for GameCube stuff.

Oh yeah, the Wii official component cable also isn't worth much these days, but who knows, I reckon that'll regrettably become expensive in the future. :-/

 

[pedro702]

i doubt it, the wii sold 100 million units so there are so many wii consoles out there that it will hardly become rare or expensive.
With every wii being able to be homebrewed and apps like devolution and nintendont allowing every wii and wiiu to play gc games makes the gc compatible wiis also not much more rare or needed.

Imo the wiiu might be very expensive since it only sold 13 millions and can do exclusive stuff like off tv play and such, and you can also play every gc and wii game as well plus overclock wii emulators for better performance so imo the wiiu in 20+years since it sold poorly and can do some nich stuff it will become much more collectable+ expensive in the second hand market.

 

[Marc_LFD]

i doubt it, the wii sold 100 million units so there are so many wii consoles out there that it will hardly become rare or expensive.
With every wii being able to be homebrewed and apps like devolution and nintendont allowing every wii and wiiu to play gc games makes the gc compatible wiis also not much more rare or needed.

Imo the wiiu might be very expensive since it only sold 13 millions and can do exclusive stuff like off tv play and such, and you can also play every gc and wii game as well plus overclock wii emulators for better performance so imo the wiiu in 20+years since it sold poorly and can do some nich stuff it will become much more collectable+ expensive in the second hand market.

True that the Wii U could be, but there's not much exclusive games to play on it considering most were ported to Switch/PS4. It's still a somewhat cool and unique console.

I just wish it had a different design than being a long Wii.

 

[FAST6191]

I too would ponder its nature as a Wii sports machine meaning the baseline hardware and at least the wiimote and nunchuck don't become too rare and hard to come by.

That said I have been seeing games creep up from the pennies per game to something more, and games in general saw a far lower attach rate if you want the marketing term. How much is going to be unsung classics like some GC and N64 things also remains to be seen. I am not seeing as much scope or at least a vastly more limited selection there (even compared to the N64) with maybe a few more if you count those with a fondness for the weird and wonderful (including control schemes -- there are those that consider it to have a version of COD worth paying attention to and Star Wars force unleashed with motion controls is an interesting prospect). Doubt it will have any best version of a game things either like some Dreamcast and possibly some Wii U stuff will where they might have ended up with the best non PC version of a game (some Tony Hawk Dreamcast stuff is noted in such discussions, Wii U Watch_dogs probably beats out the PS360 efforts) .

 

[CoolMe]

i'd think i'd better worry about the Wii U getting rarer/ hard to find than the Wii, for obvious reasons..

 

[Deleted member 194275]

the Wii U, especially the gamepad, will be a pain to find in a good state in the future. The wii itself is a survivor in many ways. It is somewhat easy to work on the Wii board, the disc reader may broke, but it is not needed, fake wiiremotes are being sold everywhere for cheap so there will be no shortage of that. The only component that may be headache is the sensor but even that part is quite resilient.

My first wii is bricked, but my second one is working strong since 2008, it may be as strong as a Super Nintendo in the long run.

 

[JeffRuLz]

I wouldn't be surprised if Wiis become valuable in the future.
It happens time and time again: something is super common, people get bored of it and it becomes really cheap, the supply dries up and it becomes valuable again.
Retro games, CRTs, old PCs, VCRs, Guitar Hero games and controllers, ect.

 

[KleinesSinchen]

The number of sold consoles alone doesn't mean too much. It will also depend on the number of consoles which survive long enough. People nowadays being used to simply replace failed devices ("You're better off by just buying another Wii, they are cheap!") the number of units will go down.
The from the homebrew perspective most interesting ones, those with the old boot1 are the minority¹, and I fear they might be scrapped… instead of being saved with a rather complex repair.

Predicting future prices… well let me express that with the following figure:

I'd never expected some games that were next to worthless a few years ago to explode into ridiculous prices. I don't think we can predict this. If I had bought all the (S)NES stuff I've seen at the end of the 1990s sold for next to nothing ("Old, outdated 2D junk! Take it!"), I would probably be somewhat rich now.
=====

What might make the Wii a bit less interesting in the future, is current TVs not having analoge inputs anymore and the Wii lacking HDMI. With mediocre cheap Wii2HDMI adapters there is a way around this, sure.




____________________
¹Yes, with the help of leaked files a proof-of-concept BootMii@boot2 equivalent exists. Still not good (illegal), not end user ready/fool proof. I would prefer a proper solution (Sha1 collision).

 

[FAST6191]

I wouldn't be surprised if Wiis become valuable in the future.
It happens time and time again: something is super common, people get bored of it and it becomes really cheap, the supply dries up and it becomes valuable again.
Retro games, CRTs, old PCs, VCRs, Guitar Hero games and controllers, ect.

The unstated part of the OP was outside of real antiques time.

I will note a lot of those both have marginal utility and are bulky. Outside of balance boards then a wii weighs nothing and can be shoved into a box. I would also wonder if people know that old games are valuable so shove in box in attic/basement* similar to how comics printed after the comics boom are largely worthless, or it is the ones nobody got back then that have any value. I have sat there several times now with grandmas looking things up on ebay when buying games are car boot sales, flea markets and what have you so something has filtered down compared to when it was only turbo nerds that knew such things/would price accordingly.

*don't think there are any leaky batteries or caps to particularly worry about (I imagine we would have heard from hot places by now) which means usual dust on the laser (which give or take the dual layer stuff actually seem to be fairly robust compared to PS1 and PS2 efforts).

 

[Marc_LFD]

the Wii U, especially the gamepad, will be a pain to find in a good state in the future. The wii itself is a survivor in many ways. It is somewhat easy to work on the Wii board, the disc reader may broke, but it is not needed, fake wiiremotes are being sold everywhere for cheap so there will be no shortage of that. The only component that may be headache is the sensor but even that part is quite resilient.

My first wii is bricked, but my second one is working strong since 2008, it may be as strong as a Super Nintendo in the long run.

The Wii U felt like a beta product even at the time of release when I had it, the GamePad while comfortable and usable, it was clunky, outdated technology, short battery, and bulky.

In comparison, the Wii is a very compact console with a ton packed in to it.

 

[SylverReZ]

The Wii U felt like a beta product even at the time of release when I had it, the GamePad while comfortable and usable, it was clunky, outdated technology, short battery, and bulky.

In comparison, the Wii is a very compact console with a ton packed in to it.

It was more like an early Switch imo, but still, it has better games.

 

[Marc_LFD]

It was more like an early Switch imo, but still, it has better games.

Yeah, pretty much.

Mario Kart 8 on Wii U had the advantage of seeing the items on the GamePad while on the Switch they got rid of that feature. Admittedly I never looked at the GamePad way back, but now when playing MK7 on 3DS I do to know what the others have and use it strategically.

Strange they removed rather than just keep it and add somewhere to the screen (bottom left, right, or whatever).

 

[Jokey_Carrot]

Wii's are like cockroaches.

 

[SylverReZ]

Wii's are like cockroaches.

They're very much everywhere, consoles knocking around for less than ten to fifteen quid on eBay. The cheapest you can get for a Wii.

 

[The Real Jdbye]

I think the Wii U will be the one to increase in value since it can do everything the Wii can and more, plus it sold in small numbers.

 

[Jokey_Carrot]

They're very much everywhere, consoles knocking around for less than ten to fifteen quid on eBay. The cheapest you can get for a Wii.

i got a perfectly functional wii on ebay for like £8 including postage a few months ago.

 

[SylverReZ]

i got a perfectly functional wii on ebay for like £8 including postage a few months ago.

I've got three of them because they're so damn cheap. Dunno why I need that many though, idk perhaps in case one got messed up.

 

[Marc_LFD]

I've got three of them because they're so damn cheap. Dunno why I need that many though, idk perhaps in case one got messed up.

If you fancy transparent electronics, buy one of them cases from AliExpress and apply to one of the Wiis. That'd look pretty cool.

 

[SylverReZ]

If you fancy transparent electronics, buy one of them cases from AliExpress and apply to one of the Wiis. That'd look pretty cool.

One of them has a Silver Shuriken shell installed, it was very expensive to get.