I may even lose a couple minutes of sleep over it. This is the model that I own and I am VERY upset about it. The RVL-101 model sees the Wii packaged WITHOUT the vertical (or “tower”) stand and no GameCube controller or memory card ports.
I’m no expert in Nintendo’s business model, but it seems logical that a price-cut may also mean something else has to get cut in production in order to maintain the same profit margin on hardware sales. As sales start to decline (not necessarily in a negative way, but naturally interests wane), that is when prices get cut and top-tier games start to get bundled in, such as New Super Mario Bros. Being released almost exactly 5 years after the original system release, it makes sense. Here are a few facts about the RVL-001 as given to us by Nintendo: Numerous color variations and special editions were released, but all as a part of a particular build model. Let’s go through the different models and what they offer up.Īccording to where I sourced this information, only THREE models of the Wii were released to the North American market: the RVL-001, the RVL-101, and the RVL-201. My particular model of Wii does not have the GameCube controller ports. And then as fast as a man can scoop out a handful of mayonnaise, my hopes and dreams were crushed. Busted out a jar of mayonnaise… Wait, that was for something different. It was like Christmas in March! I’ve been playing it intermittently all summer / this fall, and then I remembered: HOOK…. Sometime earlier this year I found it stashed in a box with my painting supplies. I traded labor services for it: I helped paint someone’s living room, hallway, and bedroom, and in exchange I got some loaded Papa Johns pizzas, a bunch of beer, and a grocery bag with a Wii, Wii-mote, Nunchuk, and one shitty game. In mid-2016 I acquired my first-ever Wii system. These hardware variations have some major functional differences as well. So apparently Nintendo developed a few different Wii consoles, and not just with cosmetic differences like I assumed. But if you ever want to chat old-school, I’m all game! All of this to say… I had no f*cking clue there was a difference in Wii hardware until like……………………………………………………. I generally gauge a conversation to determine whether I should or should not talk about certain things because I don’t want to come off as a one-upper. The above bullet-list is mostly for laughs and to showcase my retrogaming prowess. Truth be told, I’m actually not that confrontational. Go down a bit and you’ll get the hardware comparisons you came here for.
* WRITERS NOTE: Feel free to skip through the ramblings and anecdotal, yet brilliant, hilarity and musings. Yes, my knowledge does spread partially around the globe. Who would win in a fight, Sonic vs Mario? Whomever can tell me what the JVC X’Eye and Aiwa CSD-G1M are is the person that clearly knows more about games, and therefore is correct in determining who would win.Got a heated tie in four-square? How about whichever of you can tell me which of these two systems is a top-loader wins: 3DO FZ-1 or FZ-10.Don’t feel like sharing the jungle gym? I may ask you to tell me who some of the hardware developers were for the CD-i to get my turn swinging from those sweet metal handles.I mean, I’m not the biggest nerd ever, not even close, but I feel that I can hold my weight among the retro-enthusiasts when it comes to “name dropping” some of the ’90s gaming gear. So the Wii, PS3, and Xbox 360 (all of which I own) are a little mysterious to me.
I’ve already memorized the myriad code names and numerical identifiers for various consoles from numerous generations of gaming! But there’s one caveat… It all stops with the 6th console generation: i.e. As a retro-gaming aficionado (self-proclaimed but I’ll defend it ’til the day I die), I am easily overwhelmed when trying to pile more game systems / consoles into my memory bank.