I’m currently reading Nintendo Magic, a recently translated book about Nintendo as a company and their development of Wii, and got to the insipiration for the channel design of the Wii menu
A good number of console functions were already available, but the problem was displaying the options in a simple, understandable fashion.
Then one of the tea memebers thought of a row of TVs all lined up, like you might see in any electronics stores. From that vision was born the design of the startup menu, which looks like a grid of small TV screens of the same size.
Then it instantly hit me as I was reminded of the episode of Captain N: The Game Master where Captain N and the N team help Mega Man to become human. On their way, they stop in a pleasure world where Captain N passes by a row of TV screens displaying video games. This always left an impression on me, having rows of TVs displaying a ton of video games to play at once, and I was reminded of this at Nintendo Power Fest ’94.
About 17 years later, Nintendo has finally done it and brought this idea to a home console (albiet using modern technology that doesn’t allow for you to physically shoot several screens at once, but its close!).
Captain N would be proud.
(Also Captain N episodes can be streamed online now.)
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