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Wave Race Wii was nearly a thing


Hero-of-Time

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The Wii was the perfect opportunity to explore different control schemes such as those suggested in the video but the amount of dislike amongst gamers for motion control means that the time may have passed to experience some things that could have been great.

 

1080 Snowboarding was crying out for the balance board and I'd have happily taken a motion controlled Wave Race and Excitebike. The skiing and snowboarding in Wii Fit along with the jet-ski game in Wii Sports Resort give a glimpse at what could have been.

 

The fact that there wasn't a proper Mario Golf or Mario Tennis with the Wii Remote is criminal, too :hmm:

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1080 Snowboarding was crying out for the balance board and I'd have happily taken a motion controlled Wave Race and Excitebike. The skiing and snowboarding in Wii Fit along with the jet-ski game in Wii Sports Resort give a glimpse at what could have been.

 

The fact that there wasn't a proper Mario Golf or Mario Tennis with the Wii Remote is criminal, too :hmm:

 

The problem was that both the Wii Sports titles took care of these types of games. Instead of getting new fleshed out versions of these franchises they were relegated to mini game status.

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A shame, but it was the wrong time for such a game I suppose; what with NST's then recent troubles and Wii Sports Resort coming in to already fill that niche to some extent.

 

Even if it had been greenlit, it wouldn't have ended up coming out until around late 2011/early 2012 anyway; far too late in the Wii's lifecycle to make any noticeable impact.

 

Still, if there's anything that Nintendo are known for; it's that they never abandon an old concept completely. I reckon that we may still yet see Wave Race return someday :)

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The problem was that both the Wii Sports titles took care of these types of games. Instead of getting new fleshed out versions of these franchises they were relegated to mini game status.

 

By doing this, Nintendo ultimately devalued the appeal of these types of games. Why buy a whole new Wave Race game when you can "get the same experience in WiiSports Resort", eh Miyamoto? (tore my hair out at that quote in the video)

 

Control scheme might have worked, but it could be quite annoying after a while I imagine. You'd have to change the whole course design to accommodate it since I imagine extremely tight corners or bends would be a bitch. I'd just take a regular control scheme for this game. It's not like Wave Race was boring without it.

 

Anyway, I doubt we'll ever see this again. 1080 and Wave Race are essentially dead franchises now.

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Control scheme might have worked, but it could be quite annoying after a while I imagine. You'd have to change the whole course design to accommodate it since I imagine extremely tight corners or bends would be a bitch. I'd just take a regular control scheme for this game. It's not like Wave Race was boring without it.

 

I actually thought that the controls worked very well in WSR for the Jetski game, they allow for very fine control while turning that is more difficult to do when playing more twitchy with an analog stick; but on the other hand it does mean that it takes longer to go from extreme left to extreme right (or vice versa) than it would with a stick because you'd have to physically move yourself from one side to the other. In terms of level design, it could be pretty interesting as the control scheme would lend itself well to very tight corridors that require very fine shifting in both directions but would discourage sudden tight turns in two different directions one after that other. It would certainly make for a different kind of experience! I'd actually like to see that still happen, seems like it has some potential to shake things up! (Tricks could be pretty interesting too, especially if they allow you to move the rider around with motion controls while you're doing one)

 

Anyway, I doubt we'll ever see this again. 1080 and Wave Race are essentially dead franchises now.

 

Well we all said that about Kid Icarus, X, Sin & Punishment and Punchout didn't we? ;)

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Just another one of Nintendo's ideas they gave up on. I mean THEY created the control scheme for heaven's sake. They do this, create some odd control scheme, give us one (or two!) game using it then just abandon it. All their alt control ideas are criminally underused such as remote+, wii mat, touch screen, mic etc. Where's the Nintendo Land 3DS? There's a plethora of unique 3DS abilities underused by Nintendo that could give us a great 3DS version.

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