10 reasons to dust off your Wii: A retrospective

Apologies in advance for a long post that may or may not get any discussion and will probably end up looking more like an article than a forum post...

Amongst all the fuss about E3 and the new consoles, I’ve been having a bit of a rediscovery of the Wii. It’s tough to explain, because it’s largely been a disappointing console for me, but it made the move to the living room a few weeks back, and I’ve been picking up some cheap games. Some of them (along with a few I already had) are so good that I felt a bit compelled to offer them up to you guys as 1) some games you should try and 2) a Nintendo fanboy defense of the Wii as a console despite all of the shovelware and waggle and casual gamer focus.

So here are 10 reasons to dust off your Wii, in no particular order…10 hardcore games that you probably missed that make innovative use of Wii controls and/or are legitimately great games. Most of them aren’t from Nintendo, and you can get most of them for well under $10 (Amazon used prices noted).

Silent Hill: Shattered Memories: (~$15)

This is legitimately the only game that has ever truly creeped me out while playing it. It makes innovative use of the Wii remote as your flashlight and your cell phone with its internal speaker in a way that genuinely adds to the immersion of the game. It also makes interesting adjustments to the story based on your psychological profile and the objects you dwell on during the game, and the lack of fighting/shooting is a welcome change of pace.

Sin and Punishment 2: (~$6)

The fact that this is made by Treasure should be enough to make you get out and buy it…especially for $8 at Gamestop. At its heart, it’s an on rails shooter with the added element of moving your character on screen, which gives it a bit of shmup feel. I can’t think of another game with that mechanic, and I can’t imagine why because it works brilliantly.

House of the Dead: Overkill: (~$7)

This is another on rails shooter because it's something the Wii does well, but this time with a grainy grind-house theme. This one has the distinction of being the only game that I could put my Wii controller in a gun shell, calibrate it and use it as a light gun without the on screen reticule. It feels great, and the game is a blast. It’s also on PS Move, but nobody really has a Move hooked up do they? House of the Dead 2 & 3 is also worth getting if only for 3.

Wii controls added to this classic in a way I never would have imagined possible. The shooting is so much better on Wii that it almost makes the game too easy with the ability to rapidly make precision knee and head shots. Combine that with widescreen presentation and all of the extra content from the PS2 version, and you have the best version of one of the best games of all time.

Muramasa: The Demon Blade: (~$13)

A beautiful artistic beat em up with some RPG elements.

Dead Space Extraction (~$8)

One last on-rails shooter. This one tells a pretty good backstory for Dead Space and has the fun alternate weapon switching from the HD games. It's also been rereleased on Move, but again, anybody got that hooked up?

Donkey Kong Country Returns: (~$15)

I’m adding this one because it came so late in the Wii’s life cycle that I’ll bet a lot of people had given up on it. This one is from Retro, the guys who brought you the Metroid Prime series, and it’s simply an amazing 2D platformer. And that’s coming from somebody who didn’t like the SNES series. This is the only first-party game on the list and the only one that goes for anywhere near retail, but it’s worth it.

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Other reasons why the Wii was a solid console…

Nintendo’s Big 3:

Face it, if you own a Wii, this is probably why, and none of the Wii’s entrants disappointed other than Metroid Other M, which wasn’t bad but wasn’t anywhere near as good as the Prime series. Mario Galaxy and 2 were the two best video games of this generation (IMO, of course). Zelda Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword are both phenomenal entries in the series with the latter making great use of WiiMotion Plus. Wii controls worked brilliantly on Metroid Prime 3 and actually improved the other two games in the trilogy. Also, Smash Brothers and Mario Kart were solid versions even if they weren't really any better than their Gamecube counterparts.

JRPGs:

These aren’t my thing, but Xenoblade Chronicles and Last Story (Final Fantasy guys went off and made their own Final Fantasy) are widely regarded as some of the best JRPGs of this generation.

Odds and ends:

The only reason Okami isn’t on the list above is that I think the PS2 version is a bit better and the Wii controls weren’t as additive as you’d think they’d be at face value. Kirby’s Epic Yarn and Return to Dreamland are both very solid platformers, and Sonic Colors was exclusive to Wii and was the first good Sonic game in as long as I can remember. Wii Sports & Resort were innovative despite the hype and whatever other issues you might have with them.

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I know the Wii’s reputation as a bit of a joke, and even I have been disappointed with the over-use of waggle, but I think the 25+ games above along with some other obvious choices make the Wii a worthwhile console despite its technical limitations...maybe even a great console in hindsight.

I'm interested in hearing from those who agree, those who disagree, and those who have games that I overlooked. I'd also love to hear from anybody who buys anything on the list whether it's "Hey thanks" or "You're full of sh*t".

10 reasons to dust off your Wii: A retrospective - (BETA) DVD Talk Forum (2024)