Top 10 Wii Exclusives

IT’S CHRISTMAS!!! And you know what that means don’t you? It’s time to whip out your wallet and hand over your hard-earned cash for some seriously good games. In this special series of VideoGamer.com Top 10s, we list the best exclusive games for each of the seven major platforms and tell you why they’re so ruddy brilliant. Today, we run amok with Nintendo’s motion sensing Wii. It’s not just a console for casuals, you know.

10. Dead Space Extraction – 2009

On-rails Dead Space spin-off Extraction looks the business. It’s one of the most detailed, atmospheric games on Nintendo’s power-starved console, and shows exactly what can be done when a developer puts its mind to it. But it’s also a wonderful example of the modern on-rails shooter. There’s more to Extraction than simply pointing and shooting. The characters are believable, giving the impression that you’re more in control than you really are. There are four weapon slots to manage, alien body parts to target, branching paths and the occasional free-look moment. Dead Space: Extraction is easily one of the best games out on the Wii, and a worthy companion to its “next-gen” big brother.

9. Super Smash Bros. Brawl – 2008

Super Smash Bros. Brawl is a nuclear Nintendo bomb. There is such a bewildering number of playable characters, lifted from all four corners of the Nintendo universe (and some from other universes), that fans might struggle to take it all in. But it’s not the character roster that makes Brawl so much fun. It’s the addictive, surprisingly deep fighting system that keeps Wii owners coming back for more for months on end. Brawl rewards players for forcing opponents off of platforms, not for reducing their hit points to zero. This lends the game a laugh out loud, frantic feel that other multiplayer-focused Wii games can’t touch. Buy it, play it, and earn the right to be called a true Nintendo fanboy.

8. LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias – 2009

The only WiiWare game to make our list, Winter of the Melodias is an enchanting, emotional 2D platformer that makes quite stunning use of the Wii’s motion sensing controls. Little Toku can be lifted into the air by gusts of wind created with flicks and strokes of the Wii Remote – a genius mechanic. This sequel, better than the original in almost every way, gives the player the additional power to change seasons from winter to summer and back again. This adds complexity to Lost Winds’ puzzles, and as a result makes them more satisfying to solve. Winter of the Melodias casts an eerie spell on all who play it, so much so that you feel hypnotised and trance-like. One of the most beautiful games ever created.

7. House of the Dead: Overkill – 2009

Ridiculous, over-the-top, crude, rude, offensive, shocking, mental, bonkers, barmy – House of the Dead: Overkill is all of this and more. It’s also the sweariest game of all time, a Guinness World Record we bet Nintendo didn’t bank on being won by a Wii title. You point and shoot and point and shoot, pausing only to wonder how SEGA managed to sneak such depravity past the censors. Not for the faint of heart, or the easily offended, Overkill is stylised violence done right. It doesn’t take itself too seriously, and is hilarious to boot. Buy this muthaf***ing game!

6. Boom Blox: Bash Party – 2009

Who’d have thunk it? Steven Spielberg isn’t just good at making blockbuster films – he’s pretty handy with puzzle games, too. Alright, so some of the credit has to go to EA Los Angeles, but the bottom line is that Boom Blox is one of the best things to be found on the Wii. The puzzle designs test our precision, reflexes and deductive skills,

while our baser instincts are satisfied by the explosions and in-game physics. Boom Blox works equally well as a solitary pursuit or as a game to be played with a large group of friends, and the extra goodies bundled into Bash Party – two new environments, and improved support for sharing your own levels online – should grant the game a Methuselah-like lifespan.

5. New Super Mario Bros. Wii – 2009

Who says Nintendo doesn’t make games for its hardcore fans anymore? New Super Mario. Bros Wii, an old school 2D Mario platformer, is hard, rock hard. But it’s still pixel perfect brilliant and joyously accessible. It’s also the first 2D Mario game with four-player multiplayer, a feature that’s as chaotic as it is fun. Each player controls one of Mario, Luigi and two Toads as the side-scrolling levels play out. Multiplayer often descends into complete meltdown, but it’s always a great laugh. Critics say NSMBW does nothing new, but when it’s this good, who cares?

4. Zack and Wiki – 2008

Zack and Wiki, a bizarre treasure hunting point and click style puzzle game, is a joy from start to finish. Best of all though, is that unlike so many games on the console it makes proper use of the Wii’s motion sensing controls. The loading screen says: “Your grip on the Wii Remote is the key”, and it’s absolutely right. To solve the game’s challenging puzzles you need to twist it like it’s a key, turn it like it’s a crank, push and pull it like it’s a saw and generally wave it about in what feels like a hundred different, ingenious ways. Add to this gorgeous graphics and a sugar-coated charm and you’ve got one of the best games the Wii has to offer.

3. Wii Sports Resort – 2009

If Wii Sports was the game that sold the world the Wii, the 2009 follow-up was the game that sold us MotionPlus. Expanding on its predecessor in almost every conceivable way, Sports Resort is an excellent showcase for what can be done with the Wii’s enhanced motion controls – allowing us to fence, splash about in a kayak and humiliate each other via a round of Frisbee golf. True, some of the new activities work better than others, but there are now 12 different sports to try your hand at, each with their own variants. The returning games clearly benefit from the MotionPlus add-on, but it’s the best of the newcomers that steal the show – particularly archery, with its precision targeting system. Above all else, Wii Sports is a game for everyone,

the perfect diversion to wheel out after lunch on a boozy Boxing Day.

2. Metroid Prime Trilogy – 2009

That’s right, second. The Prime Trilogy really is that good. Why? Because Samus Aran’s three Prime adventures defy definition. Are the first-person shooters? Are they adventure games? Are they platformers? Are they puzzlers? In truth, they’re all these things; hybrids of the highest order and more than the sum of their parts. Developer Retro Studios took what was best about the classic Metroid games – exploration, platforming, shooting – and successfully brought it to life in 3D. This compilation is a Nintendo fan’s wet dream: it’s heart-pounding, graphically stunning, and amazing value. Don’t waste any more time: buy it now.

1. Super Mario Galaxy – 2007

After the slight blip that was Super Mario Sunshine, Galaxy found Nintendo’s prodigal son returning to glorious form. Indeed, many gamers regard the little Italian’s latest outing to be The Best Game of All Time – a title that shouldn’t be thrown lightly. In 1996 Super Mario 64 introduced the idea of exploring stages that took the form of self-contained 3D worlds; 12 years later we find him bouncing across entire galaxies, where the usual flat platforms are replaced by spherical moons and planets, each with their own gravity. As you’d expect, Shigsy and co made full use of this unusual setting, employing all manner of tricks and quirks to bring us some of the most imaginative levels ever to grace a platformer. The only real shame about Super Mario Galaxy is that it eclipses almost every other game on the Wii. It really is that good.

Check back tomorrow for our run down the ten greatest DS-exclusive games.