The Worst Console Redesigns

Because we haven't talked about the Wii Mini this year.

Edited by Dominic Mattero and Scott Wozniak

Main Channel: @ScottTheWoz

[DarrienBreen]

So funny thing about the Wii Mini and it's super niche desirability, I work at a local retro game store here in Canada and shortly after I started working the government of Canada approved the Wii Mini as an item a prisoner can bring in with them/have dropped off so you can imagine my surprise when one day on my shift the phone starts ringing and the caller ID shows it's from a correctional facility.

I pick up the phone and ask if there's anything I can help out with and it's the manager asking if we had any Wii Minis in stock because (I phrase I never thought I'd hear) "the prisoners are going crazy for the Wii Minis and we can't get enough of them" and from that day forward literally EVERY call we get about Wii Minis is someone asking for one for a Pen Pack (a searched and approved gift for an inmate) and funnily enough they always ask for the God father game on the Wii and the Scarface game too. So in retrospect hey the Wii mini is kinda neat because it's super loved by prisoners lol, PS1s are also popular too.

[Sodakitt]

I like to think that this 3x3 foot chunk of Scott’s carpet is the cleanest piece of flooring in his whole house

[myriadmediamusings]

If I had a dollar for every time Scott talked about the Wii Mini, I too could have enough money to afford a flingsmash to play every single day.

[Jlaps]

The Wii Mini technically takes up MORE space than the other Wiis because you have to leave space for the disc tray to open, versus having the other Wiis disc just slide in

[CreeperSteve]

fun fact about the wii mini:

there was actually one more thing nintendo removed from the wii mini: the capacitors for filtering component video. that meant that, even if you had the component av cables, you couldn’t even use them, and were forced to use the included composite cables. it also meant that if you owned a third party hdmi adapter, you couldn’t even use that.

[donniekitchen]

The New 2DS XL was made specifically for people like me: poor people who desperately needed a replacement for their old 3DS without completely cheaping out for a 2DS

There are few of us but we are proud

[stevenarmstrong]

N2DSXL is the definitive 3DS for softmodders, purely because of the fact that the microSD slot is right next to the game slot. It's got the same power as the N3DSXL, but it's so nice not having to take the backplate off just to access the microSD. The Flap also means that the slots survived the years of leaving it to sit in a drawer and collect dust. Also, the special editions are the best special edition consoles we've gotten imo. The Hyrule Shield? The Pokéball version? The Pikachu version? Come on people

[TheTookboy]

As I understood it at the time, the Wii Mini was a soft launch in Canada because different provincial and municipal authorities wanted a cheaper SKU to buy in bulk from Nintendo for use in schools, hospitals, assisted living centres, nursing homes, etc.

[RandomStreak-eo]

My guess is the wii mini was an easy way of getting rid of extra part inventory

[Iinneus]

2:48 - "Does anybody else kind of ever change whether their system is vertical or horizontal?"

Gotta give shoutouts to the PS2, whose logo was _rotatable_ so it would always look intentional depending on how you stood your system. Obsessed with that little design bonus.

[ClampEEGEE]

The Wii Mini was funny, because it was basically free with the purchase of Mario Kart Wii and a Wiimote + Nunchuk.

[PorkShark]

The 2DS XL's bottom dual cameras was to HELP with the AR features of the system. The cameras were closer to your hands to help you aim with it better

[ultra_magikarp]

The reason why the SNES redesign is called the SNES Junior by fans is because the Japanese version is officially called the Super Famicom Junior

[themelbornememer]

I remember reading a story of someone who's wii broke when they were a kid, and their parents went out and replaced it with a wii mini. I can't imagine the pain they must have felt that day

[alexweinberg]

I remember looking at some old press releases from 2012 for the Wii Mini, and one of the reasons cited by Nintendo of Canada for why it was only distributed there first was because of the color scheme.

*The color scheme.*

[williamlaroux]

I actually think the first 3ds design *looked* the best. The slightly angular design made it look more futuristic compared to later designs.

[bdubsenjoyer]

For as functionally pointless as it is, I always loved the Wii Mini. The Famicom red was slick, and it was so fun to pop open and close the disc tray

[caranook]

When my wii broke in 2013 I replaced it with a wii mini, just because it was cheap and I was a broke teenager. I wasn’t very happy when I realised I couldn’t play online, back then all the games’ servers were still up and that so it was the main appeal for some games! I also really missed using my GameCube controller, I didn’t play GameCube games on the Wii very often but I used the controller on any games I could. I eventually gave it to a friend and bought an original wii second hand, but I felt very cheated by the wii mini. Obviously I should have done more research, but generally I just think it was missing too many features. For people who just wanted to play Wii sports or whatever it’s grand, and nowadays it’s probably fine as well since online play isn’t really accessible anymore, but at the time it really took a lot of value out of some games for me.

[MegAmi]

Scott not owning a PS4 has to be the most surprising thing I've heard all week

[NotSoCleverUsername]

The matte look of the PSP Street is something, really wish someone made a Matte Black faceplate for the PSP, honestly a decent first PSP for most people