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109-636: The game is much longer than Shining Force , and contains more free roaming. There is no chapter system, so the player can return to previously visited parts of the world. There are also two different ways of promoting certain characters. After the game's initial release, Shining Force II saw re-releases and remasters on consoles and PCs. It was released on the Wii Virtual Console in Europe on October 3, 2008, and in North America on October 6, 2008, and on

218-574: A Bluetooth antenna that communicates with its controllers. A USB-based LAN adapter can connect the Wii to a wired Ethernet network. The Wii reads games from an optical media drive located in the front of the device. The drive is capable of reading Nintendo's proprietary discs, the 12 cm Wii discs and 8 cm GameCube discs , but cannot read other common optical media—namely, DVD-Video , DVD-Audio or compact discs . Although Nintendo had planned on incorporating this feature into later revisions of

327-797: A composite A/V cable with RCA connectors , and in appropriate regions such as in Europe, a SCART adapter was also included. A copy of the game Wii Sports was included in most regional bundles. Although Nintendo showed the console and the Wii Remote in white, black, silver, lime-green and red before it was released, it was only available in white for its first two-and-a-half years of sales. Black consoles were available in Japan in August 2009, in Europe in November 2009 and in North America in May 2010. A red Wii system bundle

436-434: A directional pad (d-pad), three face action buttons and a shoulder trigger, and four system-related buttons include a power switch. The Wii Remote connects to the Wii through Bluetooth with an approximate 30 feet (9.1 m) range, communicating the sensor and control information to the console unit. The Wii Remote includes an internal speaker and a rumble pack that can be triggered by a game to provide feedback directly to

545-606: A pointing device towards the television screen or for gesture recognition . The Wii was Nintendo's first home console to directly support Internet connectivity, supporting both online games and for digital distribution of games and media applications through the Wii Shop Channel . The Wii also supports wireless connectivity with the Nintendo DS handheld console for selected games. Initial Wii models included full backward compatibility support for GameCube games and most of

654-403: A proprietary port at the base of the controller. The Wii shipped with the bundled Nunchuk —a handheld unit with an accelerometer, analog stick , and two trigger buttons—which connected to this port on the Wii Remote via a 4 feet (1.2 m) cable. Players hold both the Wii Remote and Nunchuk in separate hands to control supported games. The Wii MotionPlus accessory plugs into the port at

763-458: A silicon -based Wii Remote Jacket to shipments of the Wii and Wii Remote, as well as a free offering for existing users. The Jacket wraps around the bulk of the remote but leaves access to the various buttons and connectors, providing a stickier surface in the user's grip to further reduce the chance of the Remote falling out of the player's hand. Accessories can be connected to a Wii Remote through

872-538: A 32-bit IBM PowerPC -based processor named Broadway , with a clock frequency of 729 MHz. The reduced size of Broadway—based on a 90 nm process compared to the 180 nm process used in the GameCube's CPU —resulted in 20% lowered power consumption. The Wii's GPU is a system on a chip produced by ATI and named Hollywood ; the core processor runs at 243 MHz, 3 MB of texture memory, digital signal processors , and input/output functions. Additionally,

981-562: A Wii or for those who wanted a second Wii in a different location. Ryan stated that while removing the online functionality would prevent some games from being played, most Wii games could still be played without it. The Wii Mini is styled in matte black with a red border, and includes a red Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk. According to Ryan, the red coloring was indicative of the planned exclusive release in Canada . A composite A/V cable, wired Sensor Bar and power adapter are also included. The Wii Mini

1090-401: A black Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk, along with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a limited-edition soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy . It was released in Europe on November 4, 2011, in a white finish, bundled with a white Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk, along with Wii Party and Wii Sports . A special bundle featuring a blue version of the revised Wii model and Wii Remote Plus and Nunchuk with

1199-447: A firm that had developed several patents related to motion detection , to prototype future controllers using their licensed patents. Over the next two years, sales of the GameCube languished behind its competitors—Sony's PlayStation 2 and Microsoft's Xbox . Satoru Iwata , who had been promoted to Nintendo's president in May 2002 following Hiroshi Yamauchi 's retirement, recognized that Nintendo had not been keeping up with trends in

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1308-503: A higher resolution than would be possible on the Genesis) and utilizing mechanics which mostly follow the rules of a two-dimensional world. This approach was seen as dated by critics, and it was met with mixed reviews, with some seeing it as a decent holdover title due to its massive length. While the Shining series has flitted across numerous sub-genres, Shining Wisdom remains the only game in

1417-654: A lesser extent, the Nintendo Switch . Each player on a Wii console was encouraged to create their own Mii via the Mii Channel to be used in games like Wii Sports and some of the system software like the Mii Channel. For example, players would select their Mii in Wii Sports , creating their in-game avatar for the game. Miis could be shared with other players through the Mii Channel. Shining Wisdom Shining Wisdom

1526-489: A new way to play". The ads began in November 2006 and had a budget of over $ 200 million for the year. The ads targeted a wider demographic compared to ads for other consoles, inviting parents and grandparents to play on the Wii. Nintendo hoped that its console would appeal to a wider demographic than that of others in the seventh generation. In December 2006, Satoru Iwata said that Nintendo did not think of themselves as "fighting Sony", but were focused on how they could expand

1635-536: A resting position, translating that motion into gesture recognition for a game. For example, the pack-in game Wii Sports includes a ten-pin bowling game that had the player hold the Wii Remote and perform a delivery of a ball; the Wii Remote could account for the player's position relative to the Sensor Bar, and their arm and wrist rotation to apply speed and spin to the virtual ball's delivery on screen. The infrared detectors are used to track emissions from LEDs in

1744-425: A spell, or use an item. Some commands, such as equipping or dropping an item during the turn, do not count as actions. The battle is won if all enemies are defeated, or if the enemy commander is defeated. If Bowie is defeated in combat or withdraws, the battle is lost and the player is returned to the nearest town, where he can recover his allies and fight the same battle again. In a shrine south of Granseal Castle,

1853-423: A thief named Slade unwittingly breaks the power of a magic seal by stealing the jewels of Light and Darkness; this unseals the demon king Zeon trapped therein. The following day, King Granseal falls sick when he is attacked by an unknown creature. Sir Astral, the court's adviser, along with his apprentices, Bowie the squire, Sarah the healer and Chester the knight, investigate these events at the castle. They find that

1962-521: A top-loading disc drive. In addition to the lack of GameCube support, the Wii Mini removes Wi-Fi support and online connectivity, along with the removal of the SD card slot. It also removed support for 480p and component video output. According to Nintendo of Canada's Matt Ryan, they stripped these features to bring down the price of the console further as to make it an option for those consumers that had not yet gotten

2071-420: A unit reaches level 20, that character has the ability to advance to a more powerful class through promotion. Some characters have two different classes they may be promoted to, one of which is only accessible using a special hidden item. Battles take place on a square grid, and each unit occupies a single square. Battles are turn-based. Each turn, a character can move and perform one action: either attack, cast

2180-426: A variety of lands to explore, and high play value", and concluded it would make a decent holdover title until more genuinely next generation games in the genre arrived. GamePro thoroughly panned the game, saying it "looks, plays, and feels like a ten-year-old RPG". The reviewer criticized the boring story and dialogue, overly cutesy enemies, and the needlessly difficult to master acceleration skill, and remarked that

2289-528: Is a home video game console developed and marketed by Nintendo . It was released on November 19, 2006, in North America, and in December 2006 for most other regions of the world. It is Nintendo's fifth major home game console, following the GameCube , and is a seventh-generation console alongside Microsoft 's Xbox 360 and Sony 's PlayStation 3 . In developing the Wii, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata directed

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2398-531: Is a tactical role-playing game. The player assumes the role of the Shining Force leader, Bowie. When not in combat, the player can explore towns and other locales, talk with people, and set the members and equipment of the army. Some towns have a headquarters where the player can inspect and talk with his allies. While roaming through town or moving throughout the world, one can find both visible and hidden treasures and interact with certain objects. Each ally unit

2507-733: Is an action-adventure game developed by Sonic! Software Planning and Camelot Software Planning and published by Sega for the Sega Saturn . It was the last game in the Shining series to be developed for the Sega Genesis/Mega Drive but was reworked for the Saturn late in development. Because of this, it is more typical of the Genesis library than the Saturn library in its basic approach, rendering characters and backgrounds exclusively in 2D (albeit at

2616-509: Is represented by a character with a background and personality. Some of these characters are hidden, requiring specific events to occur before they will join the force. Each ally unit also has a class , which defines the abilities for that unit. These abilities range from what type of weapons they can use to what kind of spells they can learn. Units can become stronger by fighting enemies and performing various actions which give them experience points (EXP), which allow them to gain levels . Once

2725-560: The Internet Channel , a modified version of the Opera web browser for the Wii which supports USB keyboard input and Adobe Flash Player . The Wii Menu channels feature music composed by video game composer Kazumi Totaka . The Wii introduced the use of player-customized avatars called Miis, which have been continued to be used by Nintendo in the Wii U, the Nintendo 3DS family, and, to

2834-576: The Nintendo Switch Online + Expansion Pack on April 21, 2022. The game was also released for iOS and Android devices in October 2018, and for Microsoft Windows in 2011. It also appears in several game compilations, including Sonic's Ultimate Genesis Collection for Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 and Sega Genesis Classics for the Xbox One , PlayStation 4 , and PlayStation 5 . Shining Force II

2943-685: The Shining Force II party. He also passes on information concerning the Devil Kings that he learned in Final Conflict, and a student of his called Kazin joins the party in the early stages of the story. The gods Volcanon and Mitula again play a hand in matters. Artifacts from Final Conflict such as the Caravan and Nazca Ship make return appearances, and several monsters, most notably the Kraken, still terrorize

3052-562: The Super Nintendo Entertainment System , with a d-pad, four face buttons, Start and Select buttons alongside the Wii connection button, and two shoulder buttons. Additionally, Nintendo included inputs present in modern controllers, like 2 analog sticks and pressure sensitive shoulder buttons. Players can use it with older games from the Virtual Console in addition to games designed for the Wii. In 2009, Nintendo released

3161-491: The Wii Remote Plus , first released in October 2010. A number of third-party controller manufacturers developed their own lower-cost versions of the Wii Remote, though these generally were less accurate or lacked the sensitivity that Nintendo's unit had. The Classic Controller is an extension for the Wii Remote, released alongside the Wii in November 2006. Its form factor is similar to classic gamepads such as that for

3270-420: The 60th best console video game of all time, citing the compelling story and the cerebral challenge of the battles. In 2007 IGN named it one of the top 100 video games of all time at number 48, citing its refreshing simplicity among tactical RPGs and its underlying challenge, and Retro Gamer included it among the top ten Mega Drive games. Wii The Wii ( / w iː / , WEE )

3379-454: The Devil Kings are in fact Darksol, Lucifer, and Zeon. The official translation's assigning Dark Sol and Dark Dragon the identity of the Devil Kings creates contradictions with other games in the series. For instance, in the original Shining Force , Darksol is trying to resurrect Dark Dragon (who is implied to be a creation of the Ancients, not a devil at all), while Shining Force II tells that

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3488-462: The GPU included an additional 24 MB of 1T-SRAM and an additional 64 MB of 1T-SRAM on the motherboard, totaling to 88 MB of memory for the console. The Wii's computational power was roughly 1.5 to 2 times as powerful as the GameCube, but was the least powerful of the major home consoles of its generation. The Wii's motherboard has a WiFi adapter which supports IEEE 802.11 b/g modes, and

3597-514: The GameCube controller ports, and memory card slots found on the original model. This means that this model is incompatible with GameCube games alongside the GameCube Controller for Wii games that support it. This model is sometimes referred to as the "Wii Family Edition", the name given to the bundle in which it was first sold in Europe. Additionally, it does not include a stand, as it is intended to be positioned horizontally. Nintendo announced

3706-577: The Japanese and European versions. Shining Wisdom was originally designed for the Mega Drive , and adapted for the Sega Saturn at the last minute, presumably in order to bolster the new system's library of games. All the characters in the game were modeled using Softimage 3D . It was the last of Sega 's Shining series of video games to be scored by Motoaki Takenouchi , the series's longest-running composer. Working Designs ' North American version of

3815-512: The Jewel of Light and accompanies his party back to Granseal, which has been invaded by Galam forces. They find the possessed King Galam inside the Ancient Tower, who has taken Princess Elis as a hostage. In the ensuing battle, Bowie wrests the Jewel of Darkness from him, but he is unable to rescue Elis, and the ground around the Ancient Tower collapses. The people of Granseal are forced to resettle on

3924-671: The Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection were discontinued in May 2014, while the Wii Shop was closed in January 2019, effectively ending all online services for the console. The Wii Mini continued to be manufactured for some time after. Despite the Wii's discontinuation, some developers continued to produce Wii games well beyond 2013. Ubisoft released Just Dance games for the Wii up to Just Dance 2020 (2019). Vblank Entertainment's Shakedown: Hawaii along with Retro City Rampage DX are

4033-711: The Photo Channel which could be used to view and edit photos stored on an SD card; the Wii Shop Channel to purchase new games and applications; the Forecast Channel and the News Channel. In addition to default channels that came with the Wii, new channels could be added through system updates, downloaded applications from the Wii Shop Channel, or added by games themselves. Shortly after launch, other free channels created by Nintendo were made available to users, including

4142-595: The Revolution controller at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2005. At this stage, the controller unit resembled the final Wii Remote device along with the separate Nunchuk attachment. Iwata demonstrated its motion sensing gameplay capabilities, and incorporated commentary from developers, such as Hideo Kojima and Yuji Horii , who had tested the controller and believed people would be drawn in by it. The console's name

4251-492: The Vitality Sensor had been shelved, as internal testing found that the device did not work with all users, and its use cases were too narrow. Despite this, Nintendo has continued Iwata's quality of life program with further products on later consoles and games. A number of first- and third-party accessories were developed that the Wii Remote could be slotted into and then used in a more physical manner that took advantage of

4360-537: The Wii Classic Controller Pro, which was modelled after the GameCube and PlayStation 2 controllers form factor and amongst other additions, adds grips on the bottom of the controller and rearranges the placement of the shoulder buttons. However, unlike the GameCube and original Classic Controller, the Classic Controller Pro does not have pressure sensitive shoulder buttons. The Wii Balance Board

4469-557: The Wii Menu, the main user interface for the Wii, was led by Takashi Aoyama of Nintendo's Integrated Research & Development Division. The project, named the "Console Feature Realization Project", was to figure out what the Wii interface could show running in a low-power mode on an around-the-clock schedule that would be of interest for people to look at if they were not playing games. The idea of having continually updated weather and news reports made logical sense from testing, and this led to

Shining Force II - Misplaced Pages Continue

4578-513: The Wii Mini's release. The Wii Mini was never released in countries outside of Canada, Europe and the United States. The console has many internal features made available from its hardware and firmware components. The hardware allows for extendability (via expansion ports), while the firmware (and some software) could receive periodic updates via the WiiConnect24 service. The development of

4687-453: The Wii and its games were less expensive to produce than its competitors. The Wii was extremely popular at launch, causing the system to be in short supply in some markets. A bundled game, Wii Sports , was considered the killer app for the console; other flagship games included entries in the Super Mario , Legend of Zelda , Pokémon , and Metroid series. Within a year of launch,

4796-411: The Wii became the best-selling seventh-generation console as well as a social phenomenon in many countries. Total lifetime sales of the Wii had reached over 101 million units, making it Nintendo's best-selling home console until it was surpassed by the Nintendo Switch in 2021. As of 2022, the Wii is the fifth-best-selling home console of all time . The Wii repositioned Nintendo as a key player in

4905-445: The Wii channels. Users could expand their storage for downloaded games and saved games, as well as provide photos and music that could be used with some games and Wii channels, through SD cards (and later SDHC cards ) inserted into an external slot on the console located under a front panel. A later system update added the ability to launch Wii channels and play Virtual Console and WiiWare games directly from SD cards. The rear of

5014-399: The Wii from commercial off-the-shelf hardware rather than seek out customized components. This helped to reduce the cost of the Wii system to consumers. Miyamoto said "Originally, I wanted a machine that would cost $ 100. My idea was to spend nothing on the console technology so all the money could be spent on improving the interface and software." The console's central processing unit is

5123-502: The Wii in China in 2008, but failed to meet the requirements to circumvent the ban on foreign-made consoles the Chinese government had put in place. Nintendo announced the successor to the Wii, the Wii U, at E3 2011 . Nintendo had recognized that the Wii had generally been shunned by the core gaming audience as it was perceived more as a casual gaming experience. The Wii U was aimed to draw

5232-427: The Wii served part of this, but Nintendo developed additional accessories to give awareness of one's health as a lead-in for the company to break into the health care field. At E3 2009 , Nintendo had presented a " Vitality Sensor " accessory that would be used to measure a player's pulse as a lead-in to a larger quality of life initiative, but this product was never released. In a 2013 Q&A, Satoru Iwata revealed that

5341-450: The Wii's design, as the company found that the DS's novel two-screen interface had drawn in non-traditional players and wanted to replicate that on the new console. Designer Ken'ichiro Ashida noted, "We had the DS on our minds as we worked on the Wii. We thought about copying the DS's touch-panel interface and even came up with a prototype." The idea was eventually rejected because of the notion that

5450-495: The Wii, the demand for the console meant a delay in their schedule, until the feature lost interest. The slot of the optical drive is backed by LED lights which show the system's status. For example, it will pulse blue when the system is communicating with the WiiConnect24 service or when reading a disc after being inserted. The Wii includes 512 MB of internal flash memory for storing saved games and downloaded content from

5559-474: The Working Designs translation for its ridiculing of other games on the market, remarking, "Considering the lackluster quality of this generic title, they have a lot of nerve." A reviewer for Next Generation said Shining Wisdom "sadly falls short of 32-bit graphic and gameplaying expectations", looking and playing very similar to last generation games. However, he added it has "a long, involved storyline,

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5668-468: The accelerometer and gyroscopic functions of the controller. Some copies of Mario Kart Wii shipped with the Wii Wheel , a plastic steering wheel frame with the Wii Remote could be inserted into, so that players could steer more effectively in game. Rhythm games that used plastic instruments, such as Guitar Hero III , shipped with instruments that the Wii Remote could be slotted into; the remote powered

5777-461: The base of the Wii Remote and augments the existing sensors with gyroscopes to allow for finer motion detection. The MotionPlus accessory was released in June 2009 with a number of new games directly supporting this new functionality, including Wii Sports Resort which included the accessory as part of a bundle. The MotionPlus functionality was later incorporated into a revision of the controller called

5886-442: The bid for freedom of Zeon, the devil who helped defeat Darksol in Final Conflict, and it is explained how Zeon's rivalry with Darksol began. Zeon's chief follower Oddeye also plays a major role and meets his final fate. The nation of Granseal, founded at the conclusion of Final Conflict, is flourishing. Hawel is still living in the town he pledged to establish in Final Conflict, and has sired several children; one of them, Chaz, joins

5995-419: The choice. President of Nintendo of America Reggie Fils-Aimé justified the new name over Revolution by saying that they wanted something short, distinctive, and easily pronounceable for all cultures. The Wii was made available for a press demonstration at E3 2006. Planned launch titles were announced at a press conference alongside the unveiling. At the same conference, Nintendo confirmed its plans to release

6104-488: The company to avoid competing with Microsoft and Sony on computational graphics and power and instead to target a broader demographic of players through novel gameplay. Game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda led the console's development under the codename Revolution . The primary controller for the Wii is the Wii Remote , a wireless controller with both motion sensing and traditional controls which can be used as

6213-482: The console by the end of 2006. Nintendo announced the launch plans and prices for the Wii in September 2006. The console was first launched in the United States on November 19, 2006, for US$ 249.99 . Other regional release dates and prices included Japan on December 2 for ¥25,000 , followed by Australasia on December 7 for A$ 399.95 , and was later launched on December 8 in the United Kingdom for £179.99 and for

6322-791: The console features the unit's video output and power connections along with two USB ports. The top of the console, when placed vertically, includes a panel that includes four ports for GameCube controllers and two GameCube memory cards. The Wii was Nintendo's smallest home console at the time (the current smallest is hybrid home-portable console Nintendo Switch, when in portable mode); it measures 44  mm (1.73  in ) wide, 157 mm (6.18 in) tall and 215.4 mm (8.48 in) deep in its vertical orientation, slightly larger than three DVD cases stacked together. The included stand measures 55.4 mm (2.18 in) wide, 44 mm (1.73 in) tall and 225.6 mm (8.88 in) deep. The system weighs 1.2  kg (2.7  lb ), making it

6431-409: The console's accessories . Later in its lifecycle, two lower-cost Wii models were produced: a revised model with the same design as the original Wii but without the GameCube compatibility features, and the Wii Mini, a compact, budget redesign of the Wii which further removed several features, including online connectivity and SD card storage. Because of Nintendo's reduced focus on computational power,

6540-419: The contemporary pop-culture jokes and altered characterizations of the Working Designs translation. It also keeps intact the storyline connections between Shining Wisdom and the other games of the Shining series. The four reviewers of Electronic Gaming Monthly lambasted Shining Wisdom , citing mediocre and outdated graphics, a lack of originality, and the linearity of the quest. They also criticized

6649-420: The continent of Parmecia just a few years after Shining Force II , and some of its plot points follow from that game. Sarah and Kazin, who were playable characters in Shining Force II , are roaming the continent in a hunt for Zeon's remaining henchmen. Pazort, the main villain of Shining Wisdom , is a former follower of Zeon, and Sarah and Kazin aid in the fight against him. There are also several references to

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6758-536: The continent of Parmecia. It is here that the true nature of the threat is revealed, so Bowie and friends must now travel across Parmecia to gather allies, solve the riddle of the Jewels, obtain the Force Sword, and seal away Zeon once more. Shining Force II takes place somewhere in the area of 40–70 years after Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict , and is set in the same lands of Parmecia and Grans. The story focuses on

6867-541: The core audience back in with more advanced features atop the basic Wii technology. The Wii U features the Wii U GamePad , a controller with an embedded touchscreen and output 1080p high-definition graphics that serves as a secondary screen alongside the television. The Wii U is fully backward-compatible with Wii games and peripherals for the Wii, including the Wii Remote, Nunchuk controller and Wii Balance Board, and select Wii U games including support for these devices. The Wii U

6976-526: The core gamer market with additional features atop the Wii. The Wii U was released in 2012, and Nintendo continued to sell both units through the following year. The Wii was formally discontinued in October 2013, though Nintendo continued to produce and market the Wii Mini for a few years afterwards, and offered a subset of the Wii's online services through 2019. Shortly after the release of the GameCube , Nintendo began conceptualizing their next console. The company's game designer Shigeru Miyamoto said that, in

7085-523: The demon, which promptly flees. The Minister, in place of King Granseal who is looking over a fainted Astral, then orders the slaying of the Gizmo by a platoon of Granseal's soldiers. The Gizmo subsequently possesses the king of the neighboring kingdom of Galam. Bowie and his friends are captured by the Galam military: while in their dungeon, they meet the thief, Slade. When the party breaks out, Slade helps Bowie retrieve

7194-481: The door to the Tower of Ancients has been unlocked and stands open. Greeting their arrival in the tower are devils named "Gizmos" springing forth to attack, though their ultimate intentions are unknown. Upon their defeat, the Gizmo that appears to be the leader flees. It is discovered thereafter to have possessed King Granseal. Sir Astral and the nascent Shining Force visit the king, finding him possessed. Sir Astral exorcises

7303-627: The early stages, they decided they would not aim to compete on hardware power, and would instead prioritize new gameplay concepts. The console was firstly named "GameCube Next" as a placeholder. The price of the new console was originally envisioned to be as low as 100 euros but the NAND flash memory desired by Satoru Iwata would force that price to slightly more than the double. Miyamoto cited Dance Dance Revolution 's unique game controllers as inspiration for developing new input devices. Later on September 24, 2001, Nintendo began working with Gyration Inc.,

7412-554: The first major steps Iwata had made based on the company's research was directing the development of the Nintendo DS , a handheld incorporating dual screens including a touchscreen , to revitalize their handheld console line. In 2003, Iwata met with Miyamoto and Genyo Takeda to discuss their market research. Iwata instructed Takeda "to go off the tech roadmap" for this console, but said it had to be appealing to mothers. Iwata wanted their next console to be capable of playing past Nintendo games, eliminating clutter in houses. Takeda led

7521-590: The foremost obstacle to the schemes of the dark elf wizard, Pazort. Pazort and his followers intend to destroy the world by summoning the Giant, Seeega (referred to as "the Dark Titan" in the North American translation), and to do so they first must use Princess Satera to get at an orb held by King Odegan. It is up to Mars to redeem his lies and failures by thwarting the mighty wizard's plans. Shining Wisdom takes place on

7630-455: The game progresses. The gameplay is similar to that of The Legend of Zelda series. Shining Wisdom has a unique system of attacks based on a combination of acquired items and "orbs." The graphics employ CGI-rendered sprites, and a top-down camera angle. In the land of Odegan, orphaned squire Mars is employed at Odegan Castle on the strength of his father's great reputation. A series of lies and deceptions on his part unexpectedly places him as

7739-427: The game took numerous creative liberties with the story. Kazin, Sarah, Bowie, and Zeon are respectively referred to as "Parn", "Salah", "Puck", and "Zhaion", while the land of Parmecia is referred to as "Palacia". Sega Japan owned the copyrights to the original names and would not release them. Working Designs also made considerable changes to the characters' personalities and how they relate to each other. For example,

7848-656: The game's mediocrity particularly stood out against competition like Mystaria and Working Designs' own Iron Storm . A reviewer for Maximum concurred with EGM and GamePro that the graphics and audio are outdated to the point where it seemed likely that the game was made for the Genesis/Mega Drive and ported over to the Saturn, but felt the game's "in-depth RPG action" made it a decent holdover title until more promising Saturn action-adventure games like Dark Savior and The Story of Thor 2 were localized to Europe. Rad Automatic of Sega Saturn Magazine praised

7957-497: The gaming demographic. This proved to be a success as the Wii would become a social phenomenon globally throughout 2007. It took several years for the Wii to launch in other regions. It was released in South Africa on September 30, 2007, South Korea on April 26, 2008, Taiwan on July 12, 2008, India on September 30, 2008, and Hong Kong on December 12, 2009. Nintendo had planned work with its localization partner iQue to release

8066-632: The gaming industry. BBC News ' technology editor Alfred Hermida wrote that Nintendo's struggle to match Sony and Microsoft in the home console market made success crucial. The console, still named "Revolution", was formally presented to the public at E3 2005 . The motion controller interface had not yet been completed and was omitted from the unveiling. Iwata held the console above him with one hand to emphasize its size relative to its rivals. A smaller device meant it would draw on less power as to not overheat, and thus appealed to parents who were willing to have an attractive, small, power-efficient device in

8175-572: The hero of Shining Force II , Bowie, though he does not actually appear anywhere in the game. A book refers to the setting of Shining in the Darkness , Stormsong (referred to in English versions as "Thornwood"). Due to the various name changes and omissions of the North American translation, none of the above connections to the Shining series are apparent in the USA version of the game and they can only be seen in

8284-405: The idea of presenting these similar to a row of televisions each set to a different television channel as if in an electronics shop, creating the "channels" concept. A user can navigate to any channel window to bring that to the forefront, whether to launch the game or application or to get more information that was being displayed. For example, the Forecast Channel would display a brief summary of

8393-430: The included Sensor Bar , which is placed just above or below the television display, as to track the relative orientation of the Wii Remote towards the screen. This gives the Wii Remote the ability to act as a pointing device like a computer mouse on the television screen, with an approximate 15 feet (4.6 m) range for accurate detection. In addition, the Wii Remote features traditional controller inputs, including

8502-454: The inclusion of Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games was released in Europe on November 18, 2011, in collaboration with Sega . Nintendo later revised the North American bundle by replacing the prior pack-in game and soundtrack with the original Wii Sports duology; the new bundle was released on October 28, 2012. The Wii Mini (model RVL-201) is a smaller, redesigned Wii with

8611-638: The lands. Additionally, the game Shining Wisdom is a sequel of sorts to Shining Force II . Shining Force II tells how Sarah and Kazin ("Salah" and "Parn" in the Working Designs translation) became traveling companions and recounts the full story of the Parmecia War referred to several times in Shining Wisdom . The three Devil Kings are named in the game as "Dark Sol, Dark Dragon, and Zeon". Fan translators have since uncovered (and Shining Force II co-director/programmer Yasuhiro Taguchi has confirmed) that

8720-414: The lightest of the three major seventh-generation consoles. The Wii may stand horizontally or vertically. The Wii Remote is the primary controller for the console. The remote contains a MEMS-based three-dimension accelerometer , along with infrared detection sensors located at the far end of the controller. The accelerometers allow the Wii Remote to recognize its orientation after being moved from

8829-425: The living room. Iwata reportedly used a stack of three DVD cases as a size guide. The prototype held by Iwata was black, but at release the following year, the console was only available in white. In their book on the console, two Loyola University Chicago professors suggested that Nintendo was inviting comparisons with Apple 's first iPod line. Iwata later unveiled and demonstrated their current prototype of

8938-505: The local area's temperature and short-term weather forecast, while clicking on the channel brought up an interactive globe that the user could manipulate with the Wii Remote to explore real-time weather conditions across the Earth. The Wii launched with six channels: the Disc Channel which was used to launch Wii and GameCube titles from an optical disc; the Mii Channel to create Mii avatars;

9047-449: The majority of Europe for €249.99 . Nintendo planned to have around 30 Wii games available by the end of 2006, and anticipated shipping over 4 million consoles before the end of the year. As part of its launch campaign, Nintendo promoted the Wii in North America through a series of television advertisements (directed by Academy Award winner Stephen Gaghan ); its Internet ads used the slogans "Wii would like to play" and "Experience

9156-414: The most recent Wii games, which were released on July 9, 2020 (more than 13 years after the Wii's launch). On January 27, 2020, Nintendo announced that it will no longer repair any faulty Wii consoles in Japan starting on February 6 due to a scarcity of spare parts. In building the Wii, Nintendo did not aim to outpace the performance of their competitors. Unlike the company's previous consoles, they built

9265-493: The music is good, the control configuration is very user-friendly, and the game improves on the first Shining Force with bigger areas to explore. He summarized that "This will definitely appeal to fans of the first one, and to RPG fans in general." Stan Hojnacki of the Santa Cruz Sentinel recommended the game, describing it as "a worthy sequel to a popular first edition." In 1997, Electronic Gaming Monthly listed it as

9374-416: The new revision in August 2011 as a replacement for the original Wii model which it was discontinuing in certain regions including Europe and the United States. The new unit in its bundles was priced at $ 149.99 , a further reduction for the Wii's MSRP at the time of $ 199.99 established in September 2009. The console was first released in North America on October 23, 2011, in a black finish, bundled with

9483-423: The offline Wii Mini, though the Wii Shop Channel remained available. Nintendo discontinued production of the Wii in October 2013 after selling over 100 million units worldwide, though the company continued to produce the Wii Mini unit primarily for the North American market. The WiiConnect24 service and several channels based on that service were shuttered in June 2013. Support for online multiplayer games via

9592-433: The original script made explicit that Sarah does not return the romantic feelings of her companion, Kazin; Working Designs not only deleted these parts of the script, but added in numerous comments from Sarah and other NPCs indicating that she and Kazin are romantically involved. The European release of Shining Wisdom was translated by Sega Europe . This translation contains some grammatical errors and typos, but none of

9701-400: The player's hand. Up to four Wii Remotes could connect wirelessly to a Wii, with LED lights on each remote indicating which controller number the Remote had connected as. The remote is battery -operated, and when the Remote is not powered on, these LED lights can display the remaining battery power. A wrist-mounted strap is included with the Wii Remote, with one end affixed to the bottom of

9810-539: The production of Shining Force II . Takahashi summarized the game as "an experimental title where we improved the story and enhanced the game's 'RPG-ness'." Shining Force II' s planning and development was intertwined with first two Shining Force Gaiden games. Hiroyuki Takahashi stated that his and certain Sonic staff members' center of attention would, at times, shift between working on Shining Force Gaiden , Shining Force Gaiden II and Shining Force II . Shining Force II

9919-701: The range of exercises using the Wii Balance Board, the accessory can be used in other third-party games that translated the player's balance on the unit into in-game controls such as Shaun White Snowboarding and Skate It . Namco Bandai produced a mat controller (a simpler, less-sophisticated competitor to the Balance Board). One of Iwata's initiatives at Nintendo was focused on "quality of life" products, those that encouraged players to do other activities beyond simply sitting and playing video games as to promote physical wellbeing. The use of motion controls in

10028-468: The red Wii system bundles feature the Wii Remote Plus, with integrated Wii MotionPlus technology. The prefix for the numbering scheme of the Wii system and its parts and accessories is "RVL-" for its codename , "Revolution". The base Wii console had a model number of RVL-001, for example. A cost-reduced variant of the Wii (model RVL-101) was released late into the platform's lifespan that removed

10137-450: The same budget for Shining Force II as it had for the first game in the series, Shining in the Darkness . Additionally, producer/co-programmer Hiroyuki Takahasi remarked in a 2009 interview that "We were in a really precarious position at that point because we knew that if we couldn't produce another hit we would have no future." As a result, most of the Shining series development team dropped out and had to be replaced with new staff for

10246-407: The series to abandon the multi-character RPG format entirely. Players instead can control just one character, whose abilities cannot be increased, and gameplay focuses on solving puzzles and navigating the large game world. Though it stands apart from the rest of the series in terms of gameplay, Shining Wisdom is strongly tied into the story continuity of the previous entries and is the last game in

10355-461: The series to follow the saga of the Devil Kings. In North America the game was localized and published by Working Designs . Shining Wisdom differs from its predecessors in the Shining series in that it was the first to employ an action-adventure style of gameplay. Players control one character whose attacks rely on speed and skill, rather than controlling a group of characters who engage in turn-based combat sequences and increase their stats as

10464-402: The team building the console's hardware components, and Miyamoto spearheaded the development of a new type of controller, based on Gyration's motion-sensing technology. Iwata had proposed that this new console use motion sensing to simplify the gaming interface, increasing appeal to all audiences. An initial prototype was completed within six months. The Nintendo DS was said to have influenced

10573-399: The three Devil Kings are fierce arch-rivals. In addition, Shining Force Gaiden: Final Conflict is based on Darksol's role as a Devil King and shows "Dark Sol" (actually "Mephisto" in the original script, and an entirely different character from Darksol) being born less than a century before Shining Force II . Despite being the fifth game in the successful Shining series , Sega allotted

10682-480: The two gaming systems would be identical. Miyamoto also stated, "if the DS had flopped, we might have taken the Wii back to the drawing board." Prior to E3 2004, Iwata had referred to Nintendo's upcoming console offering as the GameCube Next (GCNext or GCN). Iwata first unveiled some details of Nintendo's new home console at E3 2004 under the codename "Revolution", as Iwata believed the console would revolutionize

10791-479: The unit. Nintendo strongly encouraged players to use the strap in case the Wii Remote accidentally slipped out of their hands. Nintendo recalled the original straps in December 2006 and provided a free, stronger strap as a replacement, as well as packaging the new strap in future bundles after the company faced legal challenges from users that reported damage to their homes from the Wii Remote slipping from their hands while playing. In October 2007, Nintendo also added

10900-430: The various buttons on the controller and relayed that to the Wii. The Wii launch bundle included the console; a stand to allow the console to be placed vertically; a plastic stabilizer for the main stand, one Wii Remote, a Nunchuk attachment for the Remote, a Sensor Bar and a removable stand for the bar to mount on a television set, an external power adapter , and two AA batteries for the Wii Remote. The bundle included

11009-448: The video game console marketplace. The introduction of motion-controlled games via the Wii Remote led both Microsoft and Sony to develop their own competing products—the Kinect and PlayStation Move , respectively. Nintendo found that, while the Wii had broadened the demographics that they wanted, the core gamer audience had shunned the Wii. The Wii's successor, the Wii U , sought to recapture

11118-411: The video game industry, such as adapting to online gaming. He also thought that video gaming had become too exclusive and wanted Nintendo to pursue gaming hardware and software that would appeal to all demographics. Nintendo's market analysis found that their focus on novel hardware had created consoles that made it difficult for third-party developers to create games for, hampering their position. One of

11227-611: The world, no matter what language they speak. No confusion." The name resulted in criticism and mockery. Forbes expressed a fear that the console would be seen as juvenile. BBC News reported the day after the name was announced that "a long list of puerile jokes, based on the name," had appeared on the Internet. Some video game developers and members of the press stated that they preferred "Revolution" over "Wii". Nintendo of America's Vice President of Corporate Affairs Perrin Kaplan defended

11336-401: Was a best-seller in Japan. GamePro panned the game, saying that the cheerful and upbeat soundtrack is out of place, the menu system is confusing, the style is too RPG-generic, and the use of turn-based instead of real-time combat makes battles "slow and cumbersome". Electronic Gaming Monthly ' s Mike Weigand commented that the story "could use a few more twists and turns", but that

11445-458: Was available in Japan on November 11, 2010, commemorating the 25th anniversary of Super Mario Bros. The European version of the limited-edition red Wii bundle was released on October 29, 2010, which includes the original Donkey Kong game pre-installed onto the console, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports . The red Wii bundle was released in North America on November 7, 2010, with New Super Mario Bros. Wii and Wii Sports . All of

11554-517: Was first released on December 7, 2012, exclusively in Canada with a MSRP of CA$ 99.99 . It was later released in Europe on March 22, 2013, and in the United States on November 17, 2013. The Canadian and European releases did not include a game, while Mario Kart Wii had been included in all launch bundles in the United States. Nintendo added several best-selling and critically acclaimed Wii games to its Nintendo Selects label and marketed those alongside

11663-404: Was first released on November 18, 2012 in North America; November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia, and December 8, 2012 in Japan. Nintendo continued to sell the revised Wii model and the Wii Mini alongside the Wii U during the Wii U's first release year. During 2013, Nintendo began to sunset certain Wii online functions as they pushed consumers towards the Wii U as a replacement system or towards

11772-456: Was formally announced as the Wii in April 2006, a month prior to E3 2006 . Nintendo's spelling of "Wii" (with two lower-case "i" characters) was intended to represent both two people standing side by side, and the Wii Remote and its Nunchuk. In the company's announcement, they stated: "Wii sounds like 'we', which emphasizes that the console is for everyone. Wii can easily be remembered by people around

11881-436: Was released alongside Wii Fit in December 2007. It is a wireless balance board accessory for the Wii, with multiple pressure sensors used to measure the user's center of balance . Wii Fit offers a number of different exercise modes which monitored the player's position on the board, as well as exercise gamification, as to encourage players to exercise daily. In addition to use in Nintendo's Wii Fit Plus that expanded

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