Music written for the Wii has a singular quality. Which leads us to a fundamental question: “why?” What is it about this collection of bizarrely optimistic tracks that’s helped them live so far beyond the Wii itself? To help answer that question, I spoke to musicians and comedians that have been unexpectedly inspired by music written for the Wii, and even gone on to make their own iconic work out of it.
Music written for the Wii has taken on a new life as a cultural touchstone, and inspired people far beyond the confines of the little white wedge it was composed for. Covers and memes featuring music from the Wii are everywhere. Motion controls, Miis, and balance boards have all been removed or diminished as Nintendo moved on, but take a quick look across YouTube, TikTok, or Twitter, and I guarantee it won’t take all that long to hear a Wii track. It’s a design choice that I’d argue doesn’t just stick in the memory - at this point, I’d say the Wii’s music is the console’s longest-lasting legacy. Nintendo, to my lasting displeasure, has copied the Xbox approach for its most recent machines.īut Wii had the temerity to feel somehow… approachable? And that music meant your console wasn’t some cold bit of hardware it was a little portal to somewhere warmer, friendlier, and way more interested in jazz than you’d go in expecting. Microsoft has broadly avoided music altogether, swapping the original Xbox’s bizarre industrial soundscapes for near-total silence in its later consoles. PlayStation’s always opted for a detached, ambient cool - waves of strings and THX synth blares. Not written badly, but just like it doesn’t belong on a regular old games console. There’s just something about music written for the Wii, isn’t there? It sounds… wrong. Other groups might be thinking of possible best-game-ever Super Mario Galaxy, or balance boards, or when Virtual Console was actually good.īut I bet for a great many of you, it’ll be something completely non-visual.
#Wii sports music gabe the dog tv#
For others, it’ll just be Wii Sports, and probably the moment you finally got your old nan to try gaming for the first time, before she accidentally put a Wiimote through your TV (again, wear those wriststraps, kids). Maybe it’s the face of a Mii, those hauntingly cheery digital facsimiles that filled practically every game worth caring about on the console.
#Wii sports music gabe the dog full#
What’s the first thing you remember? I’m guessing lots of you are picturing motion controllers - Nintendo’s flailing first attempt to drag sticks full of gyroscopes, accelerometers, and wriststraps we really should have been wearing into the mainstream. Close your eyes and think of the Nintendo Wii. I’m going to ask you to do something you’ve probably not been asked to do before.
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