Growing up, there was one video game console that outpaced the rest. While younger generations might find it hard to believe,  this console was not a Playstation or an Xbox, but instead a Nintendo Wii. 

Just by saying its name, many of us can picture its unique frame and recall hours of throwback memories. 

With the Wii as the dominant console around a decade ago, Wii Sports also enjoyed a meteoric rise to the top of video game stardom. It seemed like, at one point or another, every Wii owner had this game.

We put our fellow Viking members -and ourselves- to the test to see which staff member was able to retain their skill the best. 

The first sport was a Wii Sports Classic: boxing. This specific competition was formatted as a head-to-head tournament, with four staff members on each side of the bracket going through their quarter-final and semi-final matchups to ultimately get to the championship round, where the winner of the challenge would get the maximum amount of points possible. Those who were eliminated in the quarter-final will receive 0 points, those who were eliminated in the semi-final will get 1 point, the person that loses in the championship gets one point, and the person that wins will receive 3 points. The most notable game in this challenge was the first-round boxing match between Josh Donaker and Jake Foster. Donaker was able to knock down Foster’s Wii character four times during the match, but the character was able to recover every time. Towards the end of the third and final round, Foster was able to knock down Donaker’s character for the second time in incredible fashion. Remarkably,  the KO move ended the match, advancing Foster to the next round. Foster would later move onto the championship following a crushing defeat of Hailey Beck, where he defeated Roei Ziv to take the belt. 

“It felt amazing to get the win,” he said. “I’m hoping to carry on this momentum into the following sports as well.”

The next sport the staff members were challenged with was tennis. When you think of Wii Sports, tennis has to be up there with some of the most iconic sports on the game. Very rarely do kids grow up wanting to be tennis stars, but when we were younger, everybody felt like Serena Williams or Roger Federer when it came down to playing tennis on the Wii. The highlight of the tournament was the incredible back-and-forth match between Sofia Leva and Sophia Cummings in the semi-final. The match came right down to the wire and saw Leva just barely edge the efforts of Cummings. The grit and determination from both of the staff members in itself could have been enough to give them a mention, but their performances were off the charts as well. Although both of their forms resembled something far from swinging a tennis racket, the tournament was a lot of fun and, in the end, it was a fierce matchup between Beck and Leva, with Leva coming out victorious, and with three points to her name. 

“I’m glad I was able to bounce back from my disappointing performances in the boxing match and that I was able to take all the possible points,” she said. 

The third sport the Vikings took part in was baseball. Baseball was a bit more of an acquired taste when it came to playing it on the Wii. Some people think that it is too technical, and not realistic enough. For us, the competition that it brought was unreal. To have people who have never played baseball in their lives pick up a controller, move their arm a bit and throw an insane curveball that is impossible to hit is special. By far the most exciting game of this tournament came in the championship game when Sophia Cummings and Roei Ziv were in a deadlock going into the final inning. The two were going back and forth throughout the entire game, with their rust wearing off by the inning. It was definitely more of a hitting game than anything else, as the two were each barely able to scrape outs with the other not sending an absolute nuke to left field. But at last, with two outs down and a full count, Ziv lined a ball into the gap and walked it off with a double that scored the runner from second base, ending what was one of the craziest games of Wii baseball we have ever seen. 

“I’m glad I was able to go in there and show what I can do,” he said. “Sophia put up a fight, but my Wii Sports skills have been buried since elementary school and were bound to come out at some point, and I’m happy it was when it mattered most.”

The fourth and final sport was perhaps the most iconic Wii sport: bowling. Unlike the previous sports, the staff members will face off in a league-based format, where the best score will get first place, and the worst score will get eighth place. Because bowling is the last and most desired competition among the staff members, First place will receive 7 points, second place will receive five points, third place will receive four points, fourth place will receive three points, fifth place will receive two points, sixth place and seventh will receive 1 point, and the person who finishes last will get no points. The best performance in regards to bowling was hands-down Elizabeth Fetter, who bowled a lights-out game to take all 10 points. With a disappointing last-place finish was Greg Laursen, who struggled to press the correct buttons at times and as a result, was unable to knock down many pins. 

“Bowling was never really my go-to on Wii Sports, but I really enjoyed how well I did today,” she said. 

After a long and challenging competition, Elizabeth Fetter, powered by a strong finish in the bowling alley, took the win with 10 points. Overall, it was great to compete against our fellow staff members, dust off a game we all thought we would never play again.