Nintendo Wii Game and Accessory Reviews

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

Mario and Sonic at the Olympic Games

Two of the most beloved icons in the world, Mario and Sonic, are joining forces to star in Mario & Sonic at the Olympic Games. Developed exclusively for the Nintendo Wii, this momentous agreement marks the first time these two renowned stars have appeared together in a game. The game’s all-star cast of characters including Mario, Sonic, Luigi, Knuckles,Yoshi, Tails and more. Innovative usage of the Wii control system to maneuver your favorite character wil allow players to race the likes of Mario and Sonic down the 100m track, leap over the high jump or churn water in a swimming heat, all while competing for the much sought-after Olympic gold medal. With multiplayer capability up to four people, the stage is set for Olympic excitement with Mario and Sonic! ESRB Rated E for Everyone.

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Great game and really gives you a workout
I have only played this game a few times but I must say that I really like it. Its hard to figure out at first but after 10-20 minutes I was starting to get into the groove. I have not unlocked any events except the ones you start out with but I have managed to set 2 Olympic records in the long jump and the javelin. I can see many more hours playing this and I havent even gone online with it yet. The game really does work out your arms cause the next day I was sore. With a little practice that should go away. I bought this games used and I am very satisfied. Job well done.

1 Star Why does Wii make silly games
This game is really stinks and it retails for $50.00. Choices are limited. The games are not any fun, espicially for kids. They are complex and short. They need to spend more time with the games before selling them. Very disappointed.

3 Stars Didn’t Entertain As Long As I Thought It Would
Perhaps it’s because I own Wii Sports, Wii Play and Carnival Games, but I grew tired of the game play faster than I expected. Some of the events seem to translate to the Wii controls well e.g. hammer throw, sprinting events, but others e.g. high jump and swimming events seem to miss the mark. Unfortunately all the events grow tiresome very quickly. The sheer number of events is impressive, but the variety boils down to a handful of specific interactions.

It’s nice you can see that you’re rankings against all the other players if your Wii is connected to the Internet; however, I would have given the game 4 stars, and gotten more play time out of it, if one could challenge other humans in real-time ala Mario Kart.

4 Stars Fun for the family
I purchased this as a game we could play along with our 8 year old. It is fun for the family as it acommodates up to four players at a time. Some of the games are quite simple requiring just a shake of the wiimote and some are more challenging (we have all but given up on skeet shooting) and there is a nice variety. My daughter has not tired of this game yet (although my arm hurts) and she managed to unlock all the games in a short period of time. Now we are working on obtaining emblems and trophies. Good family game.

5 Stars Great family fun!!!
My daughter and her friends love this game. They are from 8 to 10 years old. Better than most of the other games we have purchased. Makes the kids move around while learning about all sorts of different sports, some of which they may not have heard of before. A great buy, especially at the price I paid from gaem of the day.

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Wii Dancing Mat

Wii Dancing Mat

CTA WI-DM NINTENDO WII(TM) DANCING MAT SOFT PLASTIC DANCE PAD; COMPATIBLE WITH WII(TM) DANCING GAME DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION: HOTTEST PARTY; 4 DIRECTIONAL TOUCH PADS GUIDE THE PLAYER TO MIMIC THE INSTRUCTED MOVES SEEN ON THE VIDEO GAME SCREEN ; VIDEO-OUT PORT ALLOWS A CONNECTION TO TELEVISIONS OR OTHER VIDEO DEVICE WITH COMPOSITE VIDEO INPUT ; ;

User Ratings and Reviews

3 Stars Pad is as easy to get as finding a Unicorn, and a Unicorn smells better
I can’t find a pad that works with the Wii at any retail outlets, so I ordered it here. It took about 2-3 months to get it shipped to me (Amazon even wrote to ask if I still wanted to wait for this product to get to them so they could ship it to me).

I unpacked the pad 3 days ago. Still have not danced on it. WHY? Because of the plastic chemical smell. I am leaving it outside on sunny days to burn off the smell that I find a little annoying and my husband really can’t stand, it makes him a bit ill. (I got the pad for him as with the game you can only play with others if you have 2 or more pads). Think I am picky and overplaying the smell? I opened it in the living room. Our roommate who’s bedroom is all the way down the hall, a good 75 feet away came out after about 20 minutes to find out what the smell was that was wafting into his room.

The smell is less and I figure it will bake out soon. But I would hate to be in the factory or the warehouse that makes these pads. Plus, if they make it so hard to get the pad, no wonder the game is not selling so well any more. But as it is the only one I could find I am gonna give it a full week to air out, then try it out. If it works I am keeping it.

1 Star Not good quality
There are much better, higher quality mats out there. This mat slips very easily, and does not register steps as well as other mats. I do not recommend it at all.

1 Star Quality is OK, not as good as DDR mat
It works fine, but it is not as sturdy as the mat that comes with the DDR game.

3 Stars Good enough for occasional use only
First of all, let me just say that playing DDR with more than 1 mat makes it even a more fun game than it already is playing individually. You can play in friendship mode which takes the best combined score and is helpful for going through the challenges in circuit grove mode, but you can also play against each other similar to the venue master challenges.

Now, regarding this product: in terms of sensitivity it is as good as the original one. It definitely has a different look and feel, the materials are different, but that may not be a problem except if used in slippery surfaces. The BIG problem with this mat is that even after a few songs the ends of the mat fold towards the center like a taco and it becomes very annoying as you have to unfold it almost after every song, even if used properly.

The bottom line is that this mat may be good enough for ocassional use, but if you’re a serious DDR player you should definitely consider the original Konami pad.

5 Stars DDR is fabulously fun!
Purchasing this second mat was a great decision. It allows me and my daughter to play together and compete against each other.

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Official Nintendo Wii Wheel

Official Nintendo Wii Wheel

For use with Nintendo Wii games console. Simply slip your Wii Remote into the Steering wheel and away you go. It has Ergonomic hand grips, a sensor slot, an additional B button and easy release

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Great fun with Mario Cart
The Official Nintendo Wii Wheel is designed to allow you to use the remote while its in the wheel. This means that on menu screens you have full use of your remote. I had to buy a second wheel to go with Mario Cart, and replace a knock off wii wheel that does not allow the remote to point at the TV for use on menus. Don’t get a generic wii wheel. The five bucks you save won’t make up for the fact that you wasted your money on crappy product.

5 Stars So easy a three year old can use it
Anyone can use this. It’s a blast with Mario Kart. Hopefully more games are coming for it. Smart move, Nintendo!!!

5 Stars Wii Wheel worth the money…for me anyway
I like the mechanics of the wheel. I found it to be pretty accurate. It’s not too sensitive but it reacts to your turns quite well. I found that if you try to over-correct on a turn or swerve, you might bring the remote over 180 degrees and make it turn you the oposite direction. You just have to learn how to handle it and not exagerat your movements. The only thing that really bothers me is using the 2 button for the acceleration. I would rather use the B button for that and the 2 button for throwing or dropping banana peels and koopa shells. The ergonomics of that make more sense to me but even all that doesn’t bother me enough to NOT use it. Have fun, you should enjoy it!

4 Stars Easy transition
This is a great wheel. Yes, this is a stupid wheel that is not necessary. You dont have to use it but I like the realism of it. We bought this and another brand, and this one is by far better. With the knock-off you had to remove the tether string to use it. This is deisgned specifically for the remote as-is. It fits perfectly and feels good.

5 Stars You’ll love it or hate it. I love it!
I read mixed reviews about the Wii Wheel attachment before Mario Kart was released and decided to just try it for myself. I found it to be very easy to use but, more importantly, I just found it to be tons of fun! So fun in fact that I haven’t even tried any other control scheme.

Some people complain that the Wii Wheel isn’t very accurate. I disagree. Within a week and a half of buying Mario Kart I had already gotten first place in every cup in 50cc, 100cc, and even 150cc. It might take a little bit to get used to but it’s plenty accurate.

I think most people that play Mario Kart will have a strong opinion about the Wii Wheel, positive or negative. The game comes with one Wii Wheel so just give it a try first. If it’s not your thing then don’t use it. Personally I found that it immerses you in the game and takes the fun level up several notches. I wasn’t even looking forward to buying Mario Kart but once I played it with the Wii Wheel I just can’t stop playing it. I haven’t enjoyed a video game this much in years. And I directly attribute that to the Wii Wheel.

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Wii Lan Adapter

Wii Lan Adapter

With Datel’s Wii LAN Adapter, you can create a wired high-speed Internet connection for your console. It always offers a high-speed, reliable connection. Just plug the Adapter into your Wii, and then connect it to your PC’s DSL or Cable modem or your router using the six-foot patch cable supplied. It’s as simple as that!

User Ratings and Reviews

4 Stars Works well with Wii and other computers
This adapter worked well out of the box. I went to the network config and set up the Wii to use the wired connection and it connected without any issues. Never had an issue with the adapter.

I also found that it works well for connecting computers to the network when an ethernet port is not available. I used it to connect my OLPC to the network and it worked great.

2 Stars did not work, since not official Nintendo product, no support
I have messed with networking technologies for a while, with hubs, routers, etc. running on my home network, built my son’s gaming PC from scratch - I have some experience getting computer and networking gear to work. I could not make this lan adapter work. My router/DHCP server would give it an IP address, but the Wii would always fail the connect test. After trying everything I could think of, I wound up talking to Nintendo support on the phone for an hour, after debugging quite a bit they found out that it was not a Nintendo-blessed network adapter (which you can only buy directly from them, apparently.) So they blamed that for the problems and suggested I try the wireless link, which I did and it worked on the first try (after I dug out and set up an old wireless router I had.) Gave it two stars because I am not sure who is at fault here, Nintendo or the manufacturer.

5 Stars very simple, works as advertised
I have wireless in my house but my Wii is in an entertainment cabinet where it doesn’t have consistent wireless connectivity. Downloading updates or games from the shopping channel would almost always time out

The LAN adapter works as advertised and is very easy to install.

5 Stars Works Perfect
I recently bought this adapter since I did not have wireless in my apt. and it works perfectly. You plug it in and then hook up the ethernet and away you go.

5 Stars very easy to use!
I know very little about things concerning the internet and hooking stuff up (I’m a 21 year old college student that needed a wired connection for my dorm), but this was extremely simple! You just plugged the included wire into the wii adaptor and then into an open spot on your modem and you’re done, that’s it! I love it because it’s easy to hook up and put away, although the games take a minute to download when you buy them. A highly advisable buy!

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Lessons Learned From LostWinds