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Conclusion: Pass on it

Even with almost 100 million units sold. Nintendo realized there were still some people out there without a Wii, and who weren't going to pick up the Wii U. So they came up with the Wii mini, a pared-down version of the Wii at an attractive price point of $99 (Canadian). But very little was spared in the effort to build this system as cheaply as possible, with no backwards compatibility, no SD card slot, no component 480p video, and worst of all, no online connectivity at all. As Eurogamer points out, "aside from killing off access to retro games, downloadable titles and DLC, this also means that online gaming is off the table too, not to mention video streaming." … show moreJoystiq found the Wii menu "strangely empty" and Engadget said "firing up the Wii Mini will be the real shock if you're used to the Wii," though they also pointed out, "for the target audience mostly just concerned with playing Super Mario Galaxy or the occasional party game like Super Smash Bros. Brawl, that's fine," but "it's hard not to notice the limits." With all these features removed, one would think the product would live up to its name in size and form factor, but sadly, Trusted Reviews said the "Wii Mini isn’t actually that much smaller than its predecessor," and Nintendo Life thought it felt "a little cheaper and less dependable." The Wii mini is only available in Canada at this time (with no US release scheduled), but American gamers should save themselves the border crossing and just pick up an original Wii unit for $150 new, or, with 100m units sold, there's bound to be plenty of used Wii consoles out there for sale for much less. The Wii as a system still has a lot to offer, but the Wii mini is incapable of providing it.