With global sales approaching 50 million units, Wii Sports has comfortably overtaken Super Mario Bros. as the best-selling videogame of all time. Of course a great deal of that success can, as with the previous record-holder, be ascribed to the fact that the game comes bundled with the console upon which it plays in every country outside of Japan. But the link between Nintendo’s Wii and its number one sports game runs far deeper than a physical tie at the point of sale.
Just as Super Mario Bros. defined the NES so Wii Sports exemplifies the Wii’s functionality and appeal, along with its maker’s current vision and ambition, better than any other. Arguably the principle success of this immediately irresistible sport-themed mini-game collection has been in revealing to non-gamers why gamers play videogames.
With a barrier to entry as low as swinging the controller like a racket or bowling ball, anyone can experience for themselves the joy of digital cause and effect. In this way Wii Sports has broadened gaming’s boundaries and improved the mainstream cultural standing of the medium more significantly than almost any other title.
