Random: Golden Wii Intended For Queen Elizabeth II Will Be Shown At Gamescom

Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life

It's fair to say that the late Queen Elizabeth II had her fair share of bling during her 70-year reign; you know, the Imperial State Crown, the Sovereign's Orb, the Kokoshnik Tiara... rather expensive stuff, a few notches above the kind of tat you might have found at the bottom of a box of Coco Pops.

Given her status, however, we imagine many folks also attempted to send her a number of luxurious gifts. One such example came courtesy of publisher THQ to celebrate the Wii release of the long-forgotten Big Family Games (Neighborhood Games). Rather than send just the game itself, THQ commissioned a 24K gold-plated Wii console to be carted off to Buckingham Palace. If nothing else, Lilibet could have sold it on for a few extra quid, but unfortunately, the console never made it to her.

Since the Royal Family doesn't accept 'unsolicited gifts', the console landed in the hands of a collector before eventually finding a home with the ultimate console database @ConsoleVariations. Now, the group is bringing the golden Wii to Gamescom in Cologne, Germany to be showcased for the first time in public.

Unfortunately, the golden nunchuck included with the original set is long gone, but the console and the Wii remote are still fully intact and look absolutely fabulous. It's nice that fans get to finally cast their eyes on this thing, if only for its unique history and significance.

Meanwhile, we imagine the rest of the Royal Family are eagerly awaiting the release of games like The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom and Metroid Prime 4: Beyond. They all play Switch and read Nintendo Life, right? Maybe we should check...