Nintendo Wii Hall of Fame

[Moniker]

I think there was a Wii thread a bit back, but being 3 letters, I couldn't be sussed to find it. Anyway, after a long time gathering dust, I've started to play the Wii again - and am really enjoying myself. Thought maybe we could put together a list of must-haves, since I (and many others I'm guessing) sorta checked out a year or two in, and switched to xbox. I'm only gonna bother with Western releases, as importing & getting around the region lock is a PITA.

• God Tier
  Bit.Trip Complete
  Fatal Frame IV / Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen (JP only, fan translation+region patch available for SD card)
  Metroid Prime Trilogy
  Monster Hunter Tri
  Sin & Punishment 2
  Super Mario Galaxy
  Super Mario Galaxy 2
  
  Upper Tier
  Another Code R (JP & EU only)
  Castle of Shikigami 3
  Donkey Kong Country Returns
  Ghost Squad
  Excite Truck
  Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
  Kirby's Epic Yarn
  Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword
  Little King's Story
  Mario Kart Wii
  New Super Mario Bros. Wii
  No More Heroes
  No More Heroes 2
  Rhythm Heaven Fever
  Super Smash Bros. Brawl
  Tatsunoko vs. Capcom
  Trauma Center: New Blood
  Trauma Team
  Xenoblade Chronicles
  Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros's Treasure
  
  Middle Tier
  The Conduit 2
  Geometry Wars: Galaxies
  Goldeneye 007
  Gunblade NYC & LA Machineguns
  House of the Dead: Overkill
  Kirby's Return to Dreamland
  Kororinpa
  Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess (Also on Gamecube)
  MadWorld
  Metroid: Other M
  Muramasa: the Demon Blade
  Octomania
  Punchout!
  Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes
  Super Paper Mario
  Warioland: the Shake Dimension
  
  Recommended WiiWare
  Art Style Series (upgrades of GBA's JP-only "Bit Generation" titles)
  Bit.Trip Series
  FAST Racing League
  Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A Darklord
  Konami Rebirth Series (Castlevania, Contra, Gradius)
  Kyotokei
  Mega Man 9 (Also on XBLA/PSN)
  Mega Man 10 (Also on XBLA/PSN)
  Star Soldier R
  
  Recommended Ports
  Baroque (Also on PSX, PS2)
  Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars - The Director's Cut (Also on NDS, iOS, Android)
  Klonoa: Door to Phantomile (PSX remake)
  Pinball Hall of Fame - The Williams Collection (also on PSP/XBLA/PSN)
  Rayman Origins (also on 360/PS3)
  Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition (Also on Gamecube)
  Shiren the Wanderer (Also on PSP)
  Ultimate Shooting Collection (Karous, Radirgy, Chaos Fields) (Original ports on Gamecube)

Chime in with your recs.

[gabe]

Ghost Squad - IMHO, the best "light gun" game on the console. It rules. A lot... And thanks to branching paths and various unlockables, it has a ton of replay value.

[dannnnn]

I'd add:

Upper Tier
Mario Kart Wii
No More Heroes
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen

Middle Tier
MadWorld
Super Paper Mario
Wario Land: The Shake Dimension

[njiska]

Ones not mentioned.

God Tier
Fatal Frame IV

Upper Tier
Kirby's Epic Yarn
Another Code R

[louisg]

Ghost Squad - IMHO, the best "light gun" game on the console. It rules. A lot... And thanks to branching paths and various unlockables, it has a ton of replay value.

Yessss. I played that one to death!

ExciteTruck deserves a spot on that list. And I enjoyed The Run quite a bit as well as that Williams Pinball collection.

[Moniker]

Ghost Squad - IMHO, the best "light gun" game on the console. It rules. A lot... And thanks to branching paths and various unlockables, it has a ton of replay value.

Yessss. I played that one to death!

ExciteTruck deserves a spot on that list. And I enjoyed The Run quite a bit as well as that Williams Pinball collection.

Anything to recommend the Wii version of NFS: The Run over the 360/PS3 versions? I can't even find a proper review online. Also, has anyone played The Conduit 1/2? I've been curious about those for a while.

[gabe]

Though certainly not an exclusive, I really like the Wii controls on RE4.

Middle Tier
MadWorld
Wario Land: The Shake Dimension

Can't say that I agree with these picks. I started playing both of these games, and stopped about halfway through because I realized that the best thing they had going for them was the fact that they looked cool.

ExciteTruck deserves a spot on that list.

Truth!

[BulletMagnet]

I'm only gonna bother with Western releases, as importing & getting around the region lock is a PITA.

Bah, if I can do it so can anybody.

In any event, I don't think anyone else liked it, but I have to admit I enjoyed Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers more than I ever thought I would, despite some "minigame-ish" leanings.

Just picked up Last Story earlier today, but haven't played it yet; reviews have been all over the place, so we'll hafta see how I take to it.

[BIL]

Zero: Tsukihami no Kamen (Fatal Frame IV)

Just got this, looking forward to it. ^__^ I wish it were so easy to get a translation patch running on the PS2... I want to play the second Siren game but the only English version is PAL + 50hz only. Buhhhh. Will probably get the JP version and FAQ it up. With a flashlight, haha.

[Ganelon]

The Wii is home to the graphical adventure masterpiece, Broken Sword: Shadow of the Templars - The Director's Cut. The Wii also has what I consider to be the best console SRPG of the current generation, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (unfortunately, the game probably won't make as much sense without playing the GCN prequel first). I can't even think of any high quality JP-only games; SD Gundam GGeneration World and Super Robot Wars Neo are some of the weaker installments of their respective series.

[dannnnn]

Can't say that I agree with these picks. I started playing both of these games, and stopped about halfway through because I realized that the best thing they had going for them was the fact that they looked cool.

Wario Land is definitely a game that comes into its own when played for 100% completion, I could understand it seeming lacklustre otherwise.

[cj iwakura]

This is the only Wii recommendation thread where someone's ever recommended Shiki 3 besides me. Congrats, OP!

Upper Tier
Baroque
Trauma Center: New Blood
Trauma Team
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

Middle Tier
Ultimate Shooting Collection(Radilgy/Karous/Chaos Field)
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As A Darklord
Fragile Dreams

[Ghegs]

I'm only gonna bother with Western releases, as importing & getting around the region lock is a PITA.

Bah, if I can do it so can anybody.

It's easy to do, but unfortunately I don't think it's quite 100%. I imported Data East Arcade Classics (USA) and I can only get it to boot with a heavy red tint on the image. Of course, since I'm playing it on a PAL console that might have something to do with it, maybe US<->JPN importing would work fine.

Sonic Colors might fit into the list somewhere. Do WiiWare games count? Lots of good ones there.

[Ebbo]

That God Tier. So good.

All Konami's Wiiware ReBirth titles are certainly recommendable, although I didn't enjoy Contra as much the others. Speaking of retro revivals, Mega Man 9 & 10 fit easily Upper Tier and though available for other platforms as well, they feel just right at home on Wii.

[ryu]

Silent Hill Shattered Memories should be middle tier. it's worth playing at least once imo, even if it's not much of a game

[Ghegs]

Other middle/upper tier WiiWare games include Star Soldier R, FAST Racing League and Kyotokei.

[Jonathan Ingram]

I take it Monster Hunter Tri isn`t on the list because it`s entirely in the tier of its own completely unreachable by everything else?

[CMoon]

Sold my Wii a couple years back. My only regret is not playing Mario Galaxy 2. MG1 was such a great game!

[Drum]

Kororinpa is pretty rad. I could see it being middle or upper - I see games in both those brackets I consider it on par with. Never played the sequel, so can't vouch for it.

[Moniker]

I take it Monster Hunter Tri isn`t on the list because it`s entirely in the tier of its own completely unreachable by everything else?

Tried this awhile ago, just couldn't get into it. But apparently it's the biggest thing in Japan since raw fish, so I appear to be in the minority.

[evil_ash_xero]

The remake of Klonoa was really good.

[brentsg]

Just ordered a bunch of these from Amazon, many quite cheap in fact.

Gonna give the Wii another go.

Edit: Is Nights not good on Wii?

[gabe]

This is the only Wii recommendation thread where someone's ever recommended Shiki 3 besides me. Congrats, OP!

No way dude! I'm with you. I can't understand why no one on this forum seems to pay any attention to the Shikigami no Shiro series. Quality shit.

Edit: Is Nights not good on Wii?

You know how Sega ruined the Sonic franchise? Same thing here. Mediocre at best.

Anywho, here's a title that I would classify as a "Hidden Gem" or "Mid Tier".

Octomania (Noumiso KoneKone Puzzle: Takoron): Port of a Sega Naomi based vs. puzzle game, with a cast of characters similar to what you would expect in a modern installment of Puyo Puyo. The game is fun, and gets quite difficult in the later stages. Each character has a unique and hilariously voice acted story in the US release. It's not only noteworthy because it's an arcade port on a console with very few, but because the Wii controls actually work better than the arcade originals. Check it out!

[Moniker]

Octomania (Noumiso KoneKone Puzzle: Takoron): Port of a Sega Naomi based vs. puzzle game, with a cast of characters similar to what you would expect in a modern installment of Puyo Puyo. The game is fun, and gets quite difficult in the later stages. Each character has a unique and hilariously voice acted story in the US release. It's not only noteworthy because it's an arcade port on a console with very few, but because the Wii controls actually work better than the arcade originals. Check it out!

Actually this caught my eye in the bargain bin today. Passed it up, but got Ghost Squad, ExciteTruck and Geometry Wars: Galaxies - all for a pittance. I'll have to make another pass when the Fire Emblems arrive.

[Hagane]

Muramasa was a huge letdown. I really really wanted to like it, but just like every single Vanillaware game it's so shallow and repetitive. Fighting system is braindead and mash happy, and the pointless platforming on empty stages that has no penalties for failing doesn't help. Bosses are the only parts that require some thought and skill, but everything else is so boring I stopped caring a few hours in.

Sin and Punishment 2 does seem to live up to the hype though, I'm really enjoying it so far.

[BPzeBanshee]

How is Super Smash Bros Brawl anything less than God Tier?

Also, has anyone played The Conduit 1/2? I've been curious about those for a while.

Haven't played 'Conduit 2' because for the price tag they wanted I was a bit suspicious, so I'll talk about the first one which I paid extra for the special edition.

I think visually it's one of the best games on the Wii. You can tell a lot of work's been put in to squeeze the most out of the Wii's power, however it's a bit like TF IV - it pushes it over the edge at times, resulting in slowdowns all over the place.

The Wii-only controls, while they do fit, are annoying for me and I think it would've worked a lot better had there been Wii Classic Controller/GameCube Controller support.

The multiplayer annoyed me to no end. Bad connections consistently and it was hacked on pretty much day 1 - and there's no local multiplayer (the game has enough of a hard time with 1). As for the actual gameplay in Story mode, it got repetitive after a while and annoying, but was good initially.

From memory I did feel like I kinda wasted my money though, overall. If you can get it on the cheap definitely give it a go because it's still quite a few cuts above the crap shovelware on the Wii, but I'm not so sure about putting it on this Hall of Fame list.

[evil_ash_xero]

Muramasa was a huge letdown. I really really wanted to like it, but just like every single Vanillaware game it's so shallow and repetitive. Fighting system is braindead and mash happy, and the pointless platforming on empty stages that has no penalties for failing doesn't help. Bosses are the only parts that require some thought and skill, but everything else is so boring I stopped caring a few hours in.

Sin and Punishment 2 does seem to live up to the hype though, I'm really enjoying it so far.

I feel EXACTLY the same way about VW games.

SP2 does live up to the hype.

[BrianC]

I found some of the Art Sytle games like Orbient to be extremely good.

[shmuppyLove]

Throw Sengoku Basara: Samurai Heroes in there somewhere, I think it's a pretty fun game. Tons of replayability too.

I'm really looking forward to digging into Last Story. It looks like a phenomenal game, and I have heard people saying they liked it even more than Xenoblade, which is saying a lot cuz Xenoblade is definitely God Tier.

Also had a lot of fun the other day with the Williams Pinball Hall of Fame thing. The progressive goals make the tables wicked fun to play and try and unlock everything.

Oh just remembered the Goldeneye remake as well, that was pretty awesome. Conduit 2 as well while we're talking about shooters was excellent.

[BPzeBanshee]

I actually didn't think the GoldenEye remake was all that great. The multiplayer sucked (the original rocked, and yes there's a big difference in the new one) and the story was yet another Call-of-Duty-fied linear spin on things instead of the objective-based stuff in the original (but they had some of that anyway just to annoy the fuck out of you on harder difficulties) - also you can throw grenades in multiplayer but not in the main game (WTF?). Maybe Great-tier, definitely not God-tier.

Maybe I got spoiled by the original and the TimeSplitters games (which inherit a lot of GoldenEye's original mechanics) though?

I gotta hand it to their controller support though, you can use your GameCube controller or Classic Controller or Wiimote/Nunchuk, something which I hated not having in The Conduit.