“We don’t understand,” said the video game industry.

“That is why you fail,” replied Nintendo.

As of 2016, the Nintendo Wii has soldover 100 million units worldwide.

That impressive figure makes the Nintendo Wii the fifth best-selling console ever made.

I cant help but smile whenever I think about that image.

Before you write that off as bitter sentiment, consider the Nintendo GameCube.

The Nintendo GameCube was everything that people thought a video game console of that era should be.

The details of their split dont necessarily matter.

The PlayStation had given Nintendo their first real taste of market defeat.

The Big N realized that they had to change with the times.

They had to design a console that could match their competitors in power.

The system used discs, but they were so tiny they could have been confused for toys.

Even the GameCubes controller looked like a parody of Sonys DualShock.

If the GameCube was Nintendos attempt to conform, it was a bitter one.

You might already know some of this.

Heres something you probably dont know.

This concept piqued the interests of several industry insiders.

Its all about who can deliver the next great gameplay experience.

Im not nervous about Xbox or PlayStation 2 because we think we can make better games.

The concept didnt just intrigue the competition.

Too many powerful consoles cant coexist.

Its like having only ferocious dinosaurs.

They might fight and hasten their own extinction.

For that matter, nobody else knew what to make of it, either.

The Wii was known as the Revolution during its development phase.

As such, the Revolution would surely be the most powerful system yet.

A system that emphasized multimedia capabilities, mature games, and third-party support.

A system that, as Reggie Fils-Aime might have put it, was all about kicking ass.

Instead, we got the Wii as we know it today.

There were a lot of gaping jaws.

At least thats what the clever ones said.

Everyone else just made fun of the name.

Regardless of what people were saying, the point is that they were talking.

That was part of Nintendos Wii revolution.

They were done playing catch up by adhering to someone elses rules.

The other part of their revolution was, of course, the console itself.

Some were just scared of a future that emphasized online play and homogenous shooters.

It was so different that you felt like you simply needed to try it.

Then, it happened.

You finally got a Wii.

Or, if you were still hesitant, you heard about someone else that had one.

No other console of the time could replicate that sense of wonder.

Microsoft and Sony mistakenly thought that the Wiis revolution was its motion controllers.

PS Move and the Kinect came and went.

Nintendos revolt against the industry was neither bitter nor violent.

Matthew Byrd is a staff writer.