Wii Play: Motion - Trigger Twist (All Stages)

This is a capture of me playing the All Stages setting of the Trigger Twist mode of Wii Play: Motion for the Wii. This was recorded directly from my Wii (not the Wii U).

After Nintendo released the Motion Plus accessory alongside Wii Sports Resort in 2009, I started keeping my eye out for additional Motion Plus games. In 2011, Nintendo then released the sequel to Wii Play, which was Wii Play: Motion. Although I (and probably tons of other people) already owned four Wii Remotes, Nintendo only sold this game as a bundle with a Wii Remote Plus, which drove up the retail price.

I had to wait a little while, but I eventually found a seller on Amazon who was selling this game brand new without the bundled controller for a decent price. So I got the game around a month or so after it was released. I ultimately found the game to be rather enjoyable, but some of the mini-games felt incredibly strange and quirky.

It turned out that Nintendo had farmed out development of the Wii Play sequel to various third parties by holding a competition to see who could produce the best mini-games. The winners were then selected for inclusion in the final game. This means that Nintendo didn't even feel like creating a sequel in-house despite the massive sales of the first game.

A few of the game modes suffer as a result, and some of them don't even seem to utilize the Motion Plus accessory much at all since they appear to rely on the basic tilt function of the standard Wii Remote. Overall though, I think Wii Play: Motion is a pretty good sequel with a few innovative uses of Motion Plus.

In this video I obtained a high score of 27,930 points in the Trigger Twist mode (All Stages). I think you need at least 25,000 points to obtain a platinum medal, and it has to be done on the All Stages setting. This mode is an expansion of the Shooting Range mode from the original Wii Play. It even uses some of the same targets, such as UFOs and ducks. This is actually one of my favorite modes in Wii Play: Motion. The dinosaur section in particular is a ton of fun.

However, instead of merely relying on infra-red pointer controls like Shooting Range, Trigger Twist uses the Motion Plus gyro to control the cursor. Once you turn the Wii Remote a certain amount (basically off screen), it will begin moving the camera. As a result, you can actually aim behind yourself by pointing the Wii Remote behind your back.

There are a couple of flaws to this control setup though. For one thing, too much sunlight from something like a window can interfere with the infra-red receptor on the Wii Remote, messing up your cursor. Also, Motion Plus is inherently susceptible to gyro drift, which is where the controller loses track of its neutral or starting position. Nintendo actually could have achieved the same result simply by implementing a dead zone similar to Metroid Prime 3 or The Conduit, but this method works fairly well (and is now the standard method of motion-controlled aiming for the Switch).

Recorded with the Hauppauge HD PVR and the Wii's component cables at 60 frames per second.

I'm using a Wii Remote with Motion Plus.