Topic: Wii Mini Has No SD Card Slot

[tylerohlew]

Without an SD card slot, transferring saves is impossible on the Wii Mini.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/news/32673

The Wii Mini will not support SD cards, Nintendo of Canada has confirmed to us.

Without an SD card slot, the Wii Mini is incapable of importing or exporting saves. It was known that the Wii Mini would not be able to take part in the Wii U transfer process due to its lack of internet functionality, but now we know you cannot transfer saves by swapping SD cards with its successor. On a standard Wii, players could copy and move save files and downloaded software between system memory and the inserted SD card.

Nintendo of Canada's Matt Ryan also detailed the difference between the Wii Mini and Wii U markets this holiday season, "... they are two very different products for a different type of player. It really depends on the experience that players want and their preferred investment in their gaming console. If a player just wants to play Wii games, Wii mini is a great choice at a great price. If the player wants more from their system, Wii U is the latest innovation of fun from Nintendo."

The Wii Mini is Nintendo's recent redesign of the Wii console that has no internet functionality or GameCube compatibility. It will be available on Canadian store shelves December 7, and will retail for $99.99.

[Soren]

This continues to baffle me. Who exactly is going to want this thing? With so many feature taken out it feels overpriced at $99.

[leahsdad]

This continues to baffle me. Who exactly is going to want this thing? With so many feature taken out it feels overpriced at $99.

Most definitely participating in the PSP GO school of design here.

[BlackNMild2k1]

More like the PSP NO school of design.

No Netflix, no Wii Shop & no game save transfers.

What is even the point? who's idea was this?




A proper redesign would have used a top load disc drive, pre-installed Netflix, Hulu & Youtube channels.
Maybe remove the web browser, but keep the eShop. Remove all traces of GC BC but definitely keep the wifi and SD card slot. Also bump the internal usable memory to 4GB to encourage eshop usage.

[Rodrigue]

Yeah, without Internet functionality it was already iffy, but with no way to transfer data there's no way a hundred bucks is a good price for this, as attractive as the premise is.

[Jonnyboy117]

You guys are really missing the point. Nintendo designed this to increase their profit margin for legacy Wii sales, not just now but for years to come. The people who will consider buying a Wii at this point don't care about the features being removed. Omitting components gives Nintendo flexibility to eventually lower the price even further to continue squeezing out sales from a very old platform. This tradition goes back to the mid-90s with the redesigns of NES, SNES, and even Genesis.


The fact that Wii Mini looks so much different is actually a nice bonus for hardcore collectors.

[ShyGuy]

They should eliminate internal memory too. This market doesn't care about saving their games!

But seriously, they better tweak the start screen. It will look awkward with a bunch of empty squares on the menu.

[NWR_insanolord]

I would think the best way to go would be something akin to the GameCube startup, where it goes straight into the game unless you hold down a button to bring up a simple menu for settings.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Wii was very popular for Netflix usage.@ $99 this would've made a perfect game playing netflix player for the spare TV and kids rooms.

Wifi should have stayed in just for that alone.

[Pale]

If they didn't remove GameCube support, this would be the cheapest way by far to play GameCube games in progressive scan. Thankfully my old Wii is still holding on for that though I worry it will break.

[Shaymin]

Wii was very popular for Netflix usage.@ $99 this would've made a perfect game playing netflix player for the spare TV and kids rooms.

Wifi should have stayed in just for that alone.

Not if they're going to sell it in 3rd world countries or places where the internet may as well be that of a 3rd world country. Like CANADA.

[BlackNMild2k1]

for use in markets outside of EUR, USA & JPN, I guess what their doing makes sense.

Competing with the knock offs at affordable prices should go over will in places like Korea I guess.
Should be cheaper for what they are removing though. ($59.99)

[NeoThunder]

Theyshould have it come with a game boy advance micro, so you have 2 worthless stripped down consoles

[NeoThunder]

If this had GC support but still no Internet, this would have been a buy for me

[tylerohlew]

Theyshould have it come with a game boy advance micro, so you have 2 worthless stripped down consoles

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's not say things we can't take back! GBA Micro was awesome, despite being unable to play GB/GBC games. Plus, it had a headphone input jack, so it had that over the GBA SP.

[Jonnyboy117]

Pale, you can get a GameCube for much less than $99, and it fully supports progressive scan. Not all games use it, but Wii can only run those same select titles in 480p.

[Retro Deckades]

Theyshould have it come with a game boy advance micro, so you have 2 worthless stripped down consoles

Whoa, whoa, whoa! Let's not say things we can't take back! GBA Micro was awesome, despite being unable to play GB/GBC games. Plus, it had a headphone input jack, so it had that over the GBA SP.

I'll champion this sentiment as well! Prior to picking up a Micro, I thought that it was pretty useless. Afterall, no backwards compatibility AND a smaller screen? However, the reality is that it is damn sleek. A great design and hella portable.


Unfortunately, I can't really say the same for the Wii Mini. Someone like me has absolutely no use for this thing. The lack of Wifi limits many games and applications (no Netflix OR Wii Shop), and the removal of the SD card slot defeated my interest in this as a homebrew running Wii.


Funnily enough, it's an example of Nintendo's "This only plays games" mandate. It'll be interesting to see who still has an interest in that. That being said, this will likely be a collector's item because it may not sell all that well.

[UncleBob]

Pale, you can get a GameCube for much less than $99, and it fully supports progressive scan. Not all games use it, but Wii can only run those same select titles in 480p.

True - but the cables will run you $50+ alone last time I checked.

[funguy11]

Releasing a new version of an old system with less function and features just to make it slimmer? Who are they, Apple? Who is going to want a new Wii of any kind with the Wii U now out?

[Oblivion]

Apple doesn't rerelease products with less features to make them slimmer. Thats Sony.

[TJ Spyke]

Apple doesn't rerelease products with less features to make them slimmer. Thats Sony.

Um, the iPod shuffle says Hi.

[NeoThunder]

iPod nano doesn't wanna be left out too

[ThePerm]

 No way to access the internet? No SD card support. I thought it Had no disc drive?

Does this thing play games?

Edit: Oh its got a clamshell drive....

[Retro Deckades]

Does it have a USB slot?

[funguy11]

Apple doesn't rerelease products with less features to make them slimmer. Thats Sony.

Um, the iPod shuffle says Hi.

What about the newest Macbook Pro and iMac models that remove the optical drive?