News Highlights: Nintendo Business Handbook shows early Wii logo designs
The Nintendo Wii is now known as an iconic system, but early Wii logo designs show that the logo has gone through quite a few iterations.
The Nintendo Wii was a huge hit when it was launched in 2006. The family-focused gaming system was one of the most successful consoles in Nintendo’s history, for a variety of reasons. But one of the things that really helped the Nintendo Wii become an instant triumph was the marketing behind it. The Wii branding was unique, but it turns out that look could have been very different.
Nintendo appears to have had many different ideas with its home console as a follow-up to the GameCube. The Nintendo Revolution was the original name of the Nintendo Wii, and many of the early titles leaned towards a more hardcore audience. Games like The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Disaster: Day of Crisis, and Red Steel were titles that were featured and aimed at an older audience. But with the announcement of the name change to the Nintendo Wii, the focus shifted to games like Wii Sports. Even the “Wii Would Like to Play” campaign was all about family fun.
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Nintendo headed for a vibrant and fun name change, and the logo changed with it. But that now iconic Wii logo appears to have taken over one hundred and fifty iterations. A 2007 Nintendo Company Handbook was recently unveiled, and with it came an image of dozens and dozens of different logo styles from which The Big N had to choose. In the end, only one Nintendo Wii logo was selected. With over 100 million Nintendo Wii’s sold around the world, it seems the right one has been chosen.
Clearly, Nintendo generally knew what the Wii logo was all about. More than half of the suggested logos seem to be very close to the final product, with minor changes to the font, color, etc. What’s intriguing is finding the few that really stand out. One almost looks like the Star Wars Rogue Squadron patch. Another has two people holding hands like the letters i and i in the word Wii. A few of them hardly look like they’re spelling the word Wii at all. When Reggie Fils-Aime joined Nintendo, he was determined to keep the Nintendo logo traditional. It should come as no surprise that the Wii logo doesn’t stray too far from simplicity.
Taking a look behind the scenes at the making of the Wii logo is special. Last week, another 1990 video of Nintendo of America’s headquarters came online, giving fans another glimpse into what is usually a very secretive company. Nintendo’s approach leaves the company thinking outside the box in terms of video game strategy. Whether it’s the motion-controlled Nintendo Wii, a two-screen handheld in the Nintendo DS, or a Nintendo Switch hybrid console, fans seem to appreciate a company that does things a bit differently from the rest.
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Via: gamerant.com