From the very start, Nintendo knew that it was going to have an uphill climb in terms of making its mark on the gaming industry. After all, the company wasn't exactly known for video games given the fact that they had dealt primarily in trading card games before that. Even so, they felt that they had a real chance at making a splash in the industry thanks in large part to the fact that they had a large group of young video game designers and artists to choose from. They had a vision of changing the video game industry forever and they were able to convince some of the brightest young minds in the industry to join them in their quest of transforming video games before our very eyes. They were committed to hiring only those individuals who loved video games through and through, and as a result, they were able to create some of the longest lasting and most profitable titles of all time.

Today, Nintendo still has a place at the top, despite its recent setbacks and it continues to innovate and think outside the box even when investors caution against it. It's their belief in the gaming community and their commitment to innovation that has forced other companies to do the same and the industry is hitting its peak as a result. With the Nintendo Wii, many felt that the company had made a grave mistake, but then-president Satoru Iwata knew that gamers would love it and that it would allow them to capture parts of the market that others had failed to. At first, many spelled its doom because of its lack of graphical capabilities and power in comparison to the likes of the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3, but it wasn't soon afterward that consumers fell in love with the console. Nintendo promised a console that would be fun and innovative and they delivered, becoming the best selling console within that generation by a wide margin.

20 They Pitched PlayStation And Xbox First...

The implementation of motion control has been something that has been a part of the gaming industry for a long time. Many companies have attempted to apply the technology to games over the years and through time and experimentation, it has improved immensely. While it was on the edge of being used, gaming companies pulled away from it because they felt that the timing wasn’t right and that consumers were not ready for it. Nintendo, not being one to give into pressure, decided to try their hand at motion control with the Power Glove, but unfortunately, it didn’t really take off in part because of the limited amount of games.

The price point of the Power Glove also didn't help matters much.

Despite the failure of the Power Glove, the company wasn’t willing to give up on their vision of bringing motion controls into the mainstream. They had a general idea of what they wanted to do, but they still felt that their technology was a bit behind and not quite ready for full implementation. It wouldn’t be until airplane pilot and inventor Tom Quinn introduced them to his motion control concept. Originally, it was going to be developed for the Gamecube, but Nintendo executives decided to hold off and implement the new technology into the Nintendo Wii instead. As it turns out, Quinn attempted to pitch the technology to Microsoft and Sony before going to Nintendo.

19 A Very Different Look

Design is everything and it can be the difference between having a great amount of success and having something flop. Sadly, the first thing that people see is how something looks and this can turn them off of it almost immediately. We’ve seen this many times within the gaming industry when add-ons and systems were passed over even though they were better than the competition simply because of how they looked. Even today, we see a similar thing happening with the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One despite the fact that they are both similar in appearance and specs to one another. That isn’t to say that they don’t both have their advantages and disadvantages, but the long-standing conversation about their differences in looks is a bit overblown.

A company like Nintendo is no stranger to creating revolutionary designs and they have had many naysayers over the years who thought that their design choices were far from ideal. In the end though, more often than not, Nintendo wins out and it dominates the market despite having a console that may not be up to par in terms of graphics to its competitors. Having this large amount of success no doubt drove the company to look to the Gamecube for inspiration. It was fitting given that the Wii would be backward compatible with the system and the company had this in mind when they made the Gyropod, a hybrid of the Wii controller we know today and the iconic Gamecube controller.

18 Murky Waters

Whenever you have a piece of technology come about it can often be hard to say who came up with the idea in the first place. After all, a smartphone that was similar in both appearance and function to the iPhone was created a full ten years before the iPhone was introduced to the public. What this shows is that it doesn’t matter so much if you are the first to introduce it, it matters when you introduce it. If the public isn’t ready for such a technology it can fade into the background and never be seen again. That being said, it is a bit odd to see a well-known company being sued by previous patent holders given that they have a team of lawyers who should be able to warm them about potential problems with their piece of technology.

Nintendo wasn’t exempt from such problems and the moment that the Wii remote was introduced it was faced with all sorts of lawsuits. It was hardly a surprise though, given the fact that there have been so many general patients given out even though they are not supposed to be granted by law. Today, the patient office is attempting to rectify these problems, but they still occur because general patients are awarded. Phillips, ilife, and ThinkOptic, all sued Nintendo over certain aspects implemented within the Wii.

17 A Tall Order

When the company made the decision to go ahead with a console based around motion control, they had a lot of hurdles to overcome. They needed to have a whole host of games that were built around its implementation and that provided enjoyment to gamers for extended periods of time. There was a deep discussion about what they would be able to do with motion control in terms of graphics and frame rate. They knew that they needed to find a happy medium between the two and they were ready to tackle the issue until then Nintendo president Satoru Iwata called them into a meeting and told them that they must create a system that was no bigger than two DVD cases together.

If you were thinking that this is rather small you would be right. Understandably, the engineering team was a bit shocked by this proclamation and they insisted that it would be rather difficult to do. Iwata understood, but he said that he had a vision of creating a console by gamers for gamers. He wanted consumers to have a system that they could easily transport to any location and one that was close enough to the television that the motion control system would work effectively. After the meeting, the engineers got to work and did their best to create a decently powerful system in a small form factor. Despite their hard work, it only managed to be twice as powerful as the Gamecube before it. Though it received some negative feedback as a result, it would end up being the highest selling console of the era.

16 The Hidden Meaning Behind That Blue Light

When the Wii was introduced many were confused by the inclusion of a bright characteristic blue light within the CD tray. At first, many felt that this was simply used as a way of notifying the user that a CD had been inserted into the system, but over time people began to notice that the light would change based on certain things happening on the system during its operation. When a certain type of message was sent, the blue light would glow a certain hue or it would flash a certain sequence to indicate that a message had indeed been received. As people began using it similar to a notification on their smartphone they also began to record it happening in an effort to ask others what the sequence could mean if anything.

As consumers began to analyze things they became aware that the light was following Morse code. They were unsure what it all meant and it wouldn’t be until Nintendo was flooded with inquiries about it that they finally spilled the beans and told everyone the secret behind the blue light. As it turns out, it was designed to mimic the call in morse code of the Japanese Bush Warbler bird call. No one is sure what drove the engineers to select this particular bird for the light, but it was perhaps a way of Nintendo testing its consumers to see just how aware they were of their surroundings.

15 In It For The Long Haul

Competition within the gaming industry is always a good thing. It forces companies to innovate and adapt and it also allows for engineers to think way ahead of time so that they can prepare for the future. Certainly, no company wants to take risk that could cause them to lose money, but Nintendo always encouraged their engineers to pitch ideas to them that were outside of the box. Believe it or not, this same mentality was alive and well even when the company had just begun putting their foot into the gaming industry door. With the success of the NES, they knew that they couldn’t take their foot off of the pedal, so to speak, and they knew that gaming giants would be going after them the next time around. Having a limited amount of resources meant that they had to be careful about what they invested in, but they wanted their engineers to create things that they might be able to implement later on.

Character creation was something Nintendo game designers had been discussing for years.

Knowing this, Shigeru Miyamoto and Kensuke Tanabe joined forces to create the first iteration of the Nintendo Mii’s that we know of as part of the Wii today.

14 Gamers First

When Nintendo threw its hat into the ring and became a focal point in the gaming industry everyone was put on notice. From the very start, the company had the mission of putting gamers first no matter what, and as such, they based the design of their consoles and games around the enjoyment of gamers. There were many factors that played a part in the decisions that the company would make with each console they would create. First and foremost, they looked at price point, attempting to create a console that was both profitable, but also very affordable for gamers. Second, they needed to have a console that was portable and reliable. Next, they sought to create a console that was always ready to play at a moments notice. At the start, this was relatively easy to achieve, but as software required updates, they ran into a new hurdle with the Wii.

As with many hurdles, it didn’t take long for the company to figure out what to do to rectify the situation. They knew that the updates would have to be downloaded, but they also knew that the last thing that consumers would want to do after coming home from work or school was to run a download for a few hours. The solution came in the form of passive downloading when the console was in low power mode. This allowed the console to download updates when it was not in operation.

13 Safety Measures

Given the amount of experience that the company has had with motion control, it is a bit confusing to many why they had to make so many design changes with the Nintendo Wii. For starters, many felt that it didn’t make much sense that the Wii sensor bar wasn’t wireless to start with, even though the controllers themselves were and the company had stated that they wanted the console to be portable. There are many reasons why this could be the case, but the most likely reason is the fact that a wireless sensor bar would have risen cost for the end user and as a result would have gone against one of the company’s core policies. You would have the option of buying third-party wireless sensor bars later on, with Nintendo releasing their own shortly afterward. Additionally, users were a bit perplexed by the fact that the company had made the decision to only go with a single sensor bar even though their tracking was much better with the NES when they used more than one. Again, this could boil down to the cost of manufacturing the system.

Though these issues were understandable, it was certainly a head-scratcher when they made the decision to release the Wii remotes without a safety strap. After all, the Power Glove fit around your hand for this reason and they even discussed the possibility of issues with certain commercials. Even so, the original systems were not released with straps on the Wii remotes.

12 Cracking The Code

Since the introduction of the Sega Saturn, companies have been battling counterfeit games and tried their best to curve their inclusion. The Saturn did it about as good as anyone else and used a weighted disc and hidden code to prevent burnt discs from running on its system. It was so hard to crack, in fact, that it would take some twenty years for a single individual to crack the code and learn about how the system itself runs. When the Dreamcast decided to use the more reliable computer CD-Rom they ran into a wide array of counterfeit games and they never really recovered from it. Nintendo no doubt was aware of the pitfalls of the Dreamcast and they did their best to lock down their console in a way that even the best coders couldn’t crack the system.

Coders have helped the company come up with some amazing solutions.

It wasn’t that Nintendo wasn’t interested in seeing what people could do with the Wii, but they wanted to control what was available on the system. As a result, it would take a lot of trial and error for homebrew creators to find their way onto the system, but in the end, they would thanks to a glitch that was present with Zelda: Twilight Princess. As it turns out, you can beat Twilight Princess and then use a Homebrew file to open up the Wii and make many changes to its UI.

11 Surfing The Web In Style

When you have a console that isn’t exactly setting the world on fire in terms of graphics, it can be easy to overlook some great things that the console allows users to do. Even after having a Wii for many years, it took me a while to find out some of the amazing things that the console is able to do. Long before either Sony or Microsoft, Nintendo had an idea to create an everything console, and as a result, they had the idea of giving users the ability to watch certain videos as well as access the web to download games and browse. If you were lucky enough to secure a console right as it was released you were treated to an application known as the Opera Web browser for free. This was pretty amazing considering that those who wanted it for the Wii afterward would be paying fifty dollars to have it.

Though the application worked wonderfully for browsing, many users felt that it was rather hard to use given that they would have to use the Wii remote or controller to type. It was a bit interesting that Nintendo chose not to make a keyboard available, that is until users realized that they could plug in any USB keyboard and use it with the browser. This showed not only the companies forward thinking nature, but it was also a way for them to help gamers save money in any way that they could.

10 An All-In-One Media Hub

Sometimes a piece of technology is created and it really isn’t appreciated until much later on. The Nintendo Wii was certainly not an exception and users began to discover uses for the console that they never thought of before. After Tinkering with the console for some time, a user began to discover that it was a rather capable system when it comes to creating an all-around media station. Firstly, you could use an adapter to charge your smartphone as well as expand the usable USBs throughUSBusb extender. This would then allow you to power your portable media player as well as other usb power devices at the same time. As if having a portable power station wasn’t enough, users began to expand upon its capabilities and quickly found out that Nintendo had this in mind from the start.

You could plug in your camera and use the Wii to view not only your photos within a slideshow, but also to view your videos as long as they were in AVI format. You could then use the Wii’s jigsaw feature to combine both videos and photos into an amazing array. Furthermore, you could play music or videos from your PC through the use of a USB with the help of Wii detection software. This would then allow you to stream videos to your Wii that you otherwise would not be able to due to the Wii’s software limitations.

9 Breathing New Life Into An Old System

One thing that everyone can pretty much agree on is that Nintendo is a master of creating systems that stand the test of time. Not just in their enjoyment, but also in their durability. This shows not only Nintendo’s commitment to quality standards, but also their commitment to crafting a piece of hardware that really feels as if it was a good investment. The Wii didn’t tend to have any hardware failures as a result. But when it did it tended to be a worn out rubber band within the Wii disc drive. This can easily be repaired, though it does take some know-how to do. Even so, there is no guarantee that it is the only problem as it could also be the optic eye. If your console can’t be fixed, all hope for it is not lost, however, thanks to the hard work of coders.

As it turns out, you can still to this day access the Wii online store which means that you can still purchase digital games not only for the Wii, but for older systems such as the Nintendo 64, Super Nintendo, and NES consoles. Additionally, you can acquire a homebrew application which allows you to update flash which will in turn allow the end user to browse the web without limitation. If cracking your console isn’t really an option for you, you will be more than happy to learn that the current version of flash will still allow you to watch YouTube videos without any problems what so ever.

8 Enjoying Your Favorite Flash Games

Once it was discovered by users that you could use pretty much any keyboard with the system, they began to wonder if it was possible for you to use any mouse that you wanted with the system. Sure enough, through trial and error, they were able to discover that you could indeed use your mouse with the system as well. Through this, consumers began to wonder what the system itself would be capable of in terms of playing games online. Given that the Wii wasn’t the most powerful system at the time, it was understandable that many feared that there would be some sort of limitation or errors that would occur during an attempt. Surprisingly, that wasn’t the case and users were pleasantly surprised with the fact that the console could more than handle its own in that area.

While you can play a lot of games without updating the flash software on the console, most games will not run without the homebrew application which gives you the current vision of flash. Once you have the current version of flash, you can download flash games and play them on the console at any time. Additionally, you can play them through the Opera browser as well. This might not seem like much, but given that you can use multiple SD cards to save said games on the system, it allows you to expand your game library with a lot of free flash games and helps you to breath new life into a console that is in the waning years of its life.

7 Spreading The Fun

Anytime that a console doesn’t have backwards compatibility I think that users should have the ability to download some of their favorite games from previous systems and play them on a built-in emulator. It is for this same reason that I find it a bit perplexing that both Sony and Microsoft haven’t allowed for such things right out of the box. After all, it doesn’t take much system power by current systems to emulate, say, an Xbox or a PS 1. Luckily for us, both companies are coming around and there is even a chance that the Dreamcast will have a third party emulator on the Xbox One.

Consumers have petitioned for a Switch store similar to the Wii's.

It is the lack of an emulator that has turned me off from buying a switch and it is something that I think will put Nintendo back on top once it is implemented with the system. With the Wii, Nintendo was ready to allow digital downloads from its older consoles and it kept track of the games you purchased through a special code within the SD card which didn’t allow you to plug it into another Wii without sending the new Wii and SD card to Nintendo. Figuring that people would want to purchase games for others, Nintendo allowed you to gift any game that you choose at the time of purchase to a friend. This game would appear on their Wii and they could then download it at anytime.

6 Brand New Applications

The moment that the Wii came out, independent engineers began to brainstorm ideas to use the console in entirely new ways. The technology within it not only revolutionized the gaming industry, but it also allowed engineers to toy with ideas without having to make a large amount of investment. Through playing around with the Wii remotes inferred sensor users quickly found out that they could mode it to control pretty much anything that communicated through the use of the same technology. They could control smart home features while also controlling Bluetooth enabled devices. Users were able to open garage doors, create automatic locks and also create a universal remote control. There was some limitation given the distance of the inferred beam, but this didn’t stop users from continuing to experiment with the Wii remote. There were even modifications made to the remote that would extend its inferred range.

As if having a universal remote capable of doing all these things wasn’t enough, inventors went a step farther to create an add-on that Nintendo themselves didn’t think of. It’s called the Wiihelm and it allows you to use your Wii’s motion control in a hands free manner. This might not seem like much, but it helps to create more accurate motion control and can also make playing games much more enjoyable over an extended period of time.

5 Putting On A Light Show

While every gaming console in history has been modified in some way or another, the Wii has perhaps some of the most interesting modifications out there to date. Given that the system implemented a large amount of LED lighting it didn’t take long at all for users to get into the Wii’s code and begin to play around with the lighting system. Through trial and error, they were able to discover that they could make the blue light go on and off by command and in so doing create all sorts of interesting features. After that, it didn’t take long for users to wonder if they could code the blue light in a way similar to that of the newer LED keyboards that were hitting the market. These same keyboards had a breathing feature as well as volume equalizer feature that would allow the keyboards LEDs to react to music.

Clear case mods have also began to crop up for the console.

Given that the system allowed users to play music it wasn’t a stretch of the imagination to think that they could do the same thing with the blue light. While it certainly wasn’t the kind of light show that users would get with their keyboards, it helped to show how media friendly the console could be. Overtime, once users learned how to take the system apart they were able to change the color of the LED itself and even added multi color LEDs which would react to the music in a similar way that the LED keyboards would.

4 A Portable Powerhouse

Today, laptops are almost as powerful as desktops, but back at the time of the Wii, the difference between the two was fairly vast. As such, many began to wonder if there was a way to make the Wii even more portable then it already was. While there had been mods involving the original Xbox console and the Xbox 360, there were few who had even entertained the idea of turning the Wii into a sort of portable laptop. This was in part due to the complexity of the system, but it was also due to the graphical limitations that the system possessed. Even so, a few individuals did try to create a laptop out of the console and they were eventually successful in their endeavor through hard work.

Once the system was taken apart, one user realized that it would be far easier for someone to use what was already there and build a laptop around it rather then transport things into a new shell as many had done with the Xbox360 and Xbox consoles. He decided that all someone would need is an LCD screen similar in size to that used on the Gamecube or PlayStation and a cord that would allow the monitor to hook into the audio and video output. The monitor was then placed on a new top housing and bolted in with hinges which would then allow it to fold down like a laptop. He then built the sensor bar into the monitor so that the user did not have to find another way to implement the sensor bar into the setup.

3 Interesting Applications

When it came to the Wii remote there were many users who flooded Nintendo with questions about the possibility of having the Power Glove make a resurgence on the console. It was understandable too given the fact that the Wii remote bared close resemblance to the controller that was implanted into the Power Glove itself. While the company never did release such a peripheral for the system, one Japanese gamer decided to take matters into his own hands and created one of his own. It worked much like the NES original, only this time it had better motion control and response. As impressive as this feat was, inventors went a step further and used the Wii remote as a way to communicate with their PC directly. Through the use of the infra-red sensor, they were able to power their system on and off similar to the way that the media center PC controller system worked.

Furthermore, they were able to use the infra-red technology to create a full fledged laser tag game. An inventor accomplished this feat by using a vest implanted with the Wii sensor bars. It would work in the same way that the traditional laser tag vest would work, using a small sound speaker within the vest which would alert the user when a hit was scored. Later on, coders were able to tweak the software of the system itself in order to help them keep score of the laser tag games.

2 Creating A Digital Whiteboard

If you do enough digging on the Wii, you will quickly find that there are some pretty amazing inventions centered around the console. Given that the system itself is rather cheap, especially now, there is a greater push to find new ways to use it to help to increase its worth. One inquisitive individual, Johnny Lee, studied the limits of the infra-red sensor and decided that through some modification they could create one of the cheapest digital white boards that money could buy. In order to make the Wii work with a digital whiteboard, he had to create a laser pen which would directly communicate with the remote, similar to the way that the Wii remote communicated with the sensor bar. He set out to simply use it as a pointer during a presentation, but quickly found out that it was accurate enough to do so much more.

Through investing more time into the project he began to discover that you could control every aspect of your PC from the whiteboard with almost pin point accuracy. The amount of distance between the whiteboard and the system was similar to that of the sensor bar, but you also had to prop the remote at a forty five degree angle in order for it to lock on to the pen. Once you did so, you could move computer windows, open programs and even draw using any digital drawing program that you wish. While it isn’t as accurate as a drawing tablet per se, it is accurate enough to do full fledged drawings.

1 Removing A Region Lock

Many gamers have talked about the limitations that region locks put on the enjoyment of a console and there are many reasons why a company may impose such a thing. This could be down to software and hardware changes, but often times it is due to rating differences between countries which prevent certain games from being released. Rather then spend time going through an entire library, they simply region lock certain games and only release games within a certain region if they fit into that region's rating system. Many have argued that this is an unfair practice and as a result, they have attempted to find ways to circumnavigate the region locks. With older consoles, this was much easier given that the region locks were something physical changed with each console. In the case of the NES, you simply have to remove the fourth pin on the region lock chip to make it region free. This same step also gets rid of the red blinking light. For the SNES, it was simply removing two plastic pins in the cartridge slot.

For the Wii, this wasn’t easy at all given that there was nothing physically done to the console that would make it easy for you to achieve a non-region-locked system. In order to get rid of the region lock, you need to download a homebrew application which goes into the systems code and removes the region lock software from the system. This then allows you to play games from all around the world without a problem at all.