Nintendo to end Wii repair requests in two months

[Cal Jeffrey]

PSA: If you have been putting off getting your 13-year-old Wii console repaired, you’d better dust it off and get it to Nintendo. You have just over two months before the company closes shop on the device.

On its Japanese support pages, Nintendo announced it can no longer take repair requests on Wii consoles (model RVL-001) after March 31, 2020. Parts to fix the aging devices are no longer produced and are getting hard to find. Nintendo has a limited supply of replacements and warns that it may run out before the March deadline.

The announcement does appear only on the Japanese version of the site, but as this is an issue relating to part supply, you can expect all other regions to be facing the same termination of service.

[The Wii] was released on December 2, 2006. Due to the difficulty in securing the parts necessary for repairing the main Wii unit, repair acceptance will be terminated on March 31, 2020 (Tuesday).

* If parts run out of stock before the above date, repairs may not be accepted.

As for Wii controllers and peripherals, Nintendo said it will continue to repair them until it runs out of parts. It had no deadline, seemingly indicating that it had a bit more supply in that department.

A couple early attempts at implementing motion controls on game consoles were tried, most notably Mattel’s Power Glove for the NES and lesser-known flop the Sega Activator for the Genesis, but neither did well. The Wii was the first console to have some success adding motion to video games, but it still seemed a bit gimmicky since it had to bundle together games that explicitly used the novel input method.

Despite that, the console was well received and went on to sell more than 100 million units. It also ushered in accelerometers, which are used in every major gaming console and smartphone today.

The Wii was discontinued in 2013 shortly after the Wii U's launch, so it has enjoyed almost 7 years of legacy service. However, just because Nintendo will not fix them anymore does not mean they cannot be repaired. Depending on the parts needed, small repairs can make for a great DIY project, and some third-party shops may be able to help, as well.

Image credit: speedimaging (masthead) and Air Elegant (body) via Shutterstock

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https://www.techspot.com/news/83732-nintendo-end-wii-repair-requests-two-months.html

 

[Squid Surprise]

I recently pulled out my Wii after getting a 4TB external HD as a gift... After a ton of research, work, formatting, etc... found it is IS possible to use just the 1 HD to hold AND play the entire Wii and Gamecube libraries (almost 2,000 games) at once (well, only play one at a time, obviously...)!

 

[Evernessince]

I recently pulled out my Wii after getting a 4TB external HD as a gift... After a ton of research, work, formatting, etc... found it is IS possible to use just the 1 HD to hold AND play the entire Wii and Gamecube libraries (almost 2,000 games) at once (well, only play one at a time, obviously...)!

You can do this with an SD card as well. Not sure about the whole library though. Then again you can also just connect the sensor bar and wii remotes to your PC and play every game with Dolphin at higher quality. The sensor bar is so light you can attach it to the bottom of your monitor to avoid cluttering your desk.

 

[Squid Surprise]

You can do this with an SD card as well. Not sure about the whole library though. Then again you can also just connect the sensor bar and wii remotes to your PC and play every game with Dolphin at higher quality. The sensor bar is so light you can attach it to the bottom of your monitor to avoid cluttering your desk.

Needs to be formatted Fat32 in order for it to play Gamecube - but that limits you to 2TB generally.... UNLESS... you do some research and format it with some trickery

And I like to take my Wii various places - so emulation isn't going to cut it...

 

[Uncle Al]

I miss my old Wii but the guy that broke into my house years ago is probably still having fun. Just never got around to buying another one and really wished they would have kept it going. It was the only game machine I ever bought and it was pretty darn enjoyable! Can't wait until they come out with the Retro version!

 

[etempest]

With over 100 million sold over it's lifetime, I have a feeling you will still be able to find parts for a while at least.

 

[Theinsanegamer]

The WII was a great emulation platform, and had a great library of games to go with, unfortunatly not all of them were that great with motion controls. It feels like the last true home nintendo console, with the wii u having flopped.

Still, my Wii has long been retired in favor of a wii u, that can run all the same Wii hacks and emulators over HDMI to my modern TV, with wii u game compatibility to boot.

 

[Squid Surprise]

The WII was a great emulation platform, and had a great library of games to go with, unfortunatly not all of them were that great with motion controls. It feels like the last true home nintendo console, with the wii u having flopped.

Still, my Wii has long been retired in favor of a wii u, that can run all the same Wii hacks and emulators over HDMI to my modern TV, with wii u game compatibility to boot.

Can it still play Gamecube games on the same HD? I'd heard that Nintendont doesn't play nice with the WiiU all the time...