# Nintendo Wii Hacker Approved page: https://hackerapproved.com/p/nintendo-wii/ 26 people recommended Nintendo Wii in Hacker News comments, 14 had mixed feelings and 10 criticized it, November 2025 to October 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 12 months, in 11 threads. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule. 13 of the 26 people who recommend it commented in one thread, “My favourite PowerMac is a Nintendo Wii”. **Verdict:** Fondly recalled for casual, family-friendly play, a TV-friendly interface and easy modding. Critics say its graphics and motion controls were weak. Summary written by Claude from 48 comments. ## Why people recommend it - Family and group play (5 comments in the sample): "the Wii was a singularly unique console because it brought a particular kind of casual gaming to the masses" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50315115)) "it brought millions of people into video games who only considered them another toy" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308973)) "it's great just being able to play my games with my kids" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49169092)) - Friendly TV interface and navigation (4 comments in the sample): "The sounds, the music, the tactile feel of using the WiiMode to navigate was sublime." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309012)) "the Wii was one of the most TV friendly interfaces and inputs" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48941926)) "The Wii had possibly the best big screen UI I’ve ever used." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309260)) - Moddable and hackable (4 comments in the sample): "It removes the region lock and you can set the system language to english." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50314044)) "I too have always adored the Wii and its moddability." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47695265)) "it's a great emulation system as well" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46654124)) - Favorite console of all time (3 comments in the sample): "Wii remains my favourite video game system of all time" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46654059)) "The Wii was truly the peak of gaming consoles." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50308156)) "Such a unique game console." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46654867)) ## What people warn about - Weak graphics and video decoding (6 comments in the sample): "It was the Wii where there console side moved away from keeping up in the cutting edge graphics race." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47048873)) "It had terrible graphics, terrible performance, weird controls, and was much more gamer friendly" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50209412)) "it was evident that it was barely keeping up with decoding the MPEG 2 video from the disc" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47761297)) - Motion controls poorly implemented (3 comments in the sample): "It was totally awesome. But the advertised promise of motion controls didn’t really land until Wii motion+ controllers." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50315909)) "The motion controls were pretty badly implemented." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50312815)) "The motion controls make it age really poorly imo" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50310647)) - Games lost when store shut down (2 comments in the sample): "I have lost plenty of Wii games when that store shut down." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50126806)) "I can't play a lot of my old Wii games at all any more." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=45913287)) ## Other game consoles people recommend - [Valve Steam Machine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steam-machine/): 221 recommend, 79 mixed, 207 criticize - [PlayStation 5](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-5/): 73 recommend, 35 mixed, 168 criticize - [Xbox 360](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xbox-360/): 31 recommend, 7 mixed, 18 criticize - [PlayStation 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-2/): 31 recommend, 9 mixed, 6 criticize ## Where to get it - [Visit the official site](https://www.nintendo.com/us/) ## The badge A product earns the Hacker Approved badge when at least 10 people recommend it, recommenders outnumber critics at least 2 to 1 (mixed feelings count toward neither side), it was recommended in at least 4 of the 12 months and in at least 5 different threads, and no single thread supplies more than half of the people who recommend it. Health and money products are never badged. ## Cite as Hacker Approved, "Nintendo Wii", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nintendo-wii/ (26 recommend, 14 mixed, 10 criticize; Hacker News comments, November 2025 to October 2026). Counts updated 2 Nov 2026, with data through October 31, 2026.