One thing I remember from my early childhood is that I had an uncle who had an NES system with Legend of Zelda 2 and Super Mario Bros 3. I was a pretty lucky kid who had a Super Nintendo and a Nintendo 64, but I loved going to my uncle's house to play on the older system. Definitely get a Wii. The best part about is the backwards compatibility with Gamecube games. You have two generations worth of Nintendo games to play with. For the Gamecube, I recommend Mario Kart Double Dash, Animal Crossing, and WarioWare, Inc.: Mega Party Game$!. For the Wii, I recommend Super Mario Galaxy, WarioWare: Smooth Moves, and Punch-Out!!
FYI, thenewgreen, you'll have to get the older version of the Wii for it to be backwards compatible with The GameCube. Halfway into its life cycle, I think about three years before the WiiU came out, they made a version that's not backwards compatible.Definitely get a Wii. The best part about is the backwards compatibility with Gamecube games.