This shot comes from the official Nintendo forums, where user Japtar10101 posted a scan from the Japanese weekly magazine Nikkei Business featuring a number of Wii controller prototypes.

Clearly, two of these designs were inspired by television remote controls, with the far left pre-Wiimote coming closest to the final version.

That deformed Wavebird-like controller, bottom right, seems inspired by the early PlayStation 3 pad. But instead of a boomering, Nintendo was clearly going for that Frisbee look and feel. Thank the gaming gods that never saw the light of day. How many flung controllers would have resulted from that?

Now, let's get to the one we all want to talk about, the Giant Star Button. This one is obviously influenced by the satirical single-button controller—the one with the "Win Game" function—but what the hell was it going to do?

Did it play Pop-o-Matic Trouble? You Don't Know Jack? Is that a cheese wheel? I'd really like to know the story behind this one. Michael McWhertor

Nintendo's "failure to launch" [Nintendo Forums via Wii Blog]

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