Top 10 Wii Virtual Console Games

There are so many games to choose from on the Wii’s Virtual Console that it becomes incredibly difficult to pick only ten of them. There is an order to this, however, in that the top games are ones you should definitely get if you haven’t played them in a good while and then a few gems that were top class games way back when things cost less, milk was free, politicians didn’t lie and everything was rose tinted.

Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Possibly one of the greatest games ever created and one that always crops up near the top of Best Games Ever lists. Ocarina of Time took Link into the 3D world and made him explore it and uncover every single item, chest, temple, weapon and so on. With so many memorable characters and stand out pieces you’d have to be mad not to have played it already, or just really, really young. And if you are really, really young then the squeaks and grunts Link makes will have you giggling like the child you actually are.

Super Mario 64

This was also the first 3D outing for Nintendo’s happily moustachioed plumber. It was a revelation at the time, pushing gamers to the limit to collect all the stars, save the princess and defeat Bowser once again. But using the Nintendo 64’s unique pad it opened up the world on analogue stick controls and gave Mario himself even more ways to jump! Lots and lots of different ways to jump because that’s what Mario likes to do – jump.

Sonic The Hedgehog 2

Sonic’s finest game is his second one. After the brilliant first game everything was improved, especially the level design and Sonic’s ability to ‘rev up’ into a small spiky blue ball before gushing forth at great speed. With more stages and the best two-player game of the series (although that meant someone had to play as Tails) you really can’t go wrong with the best of Sonic’s incredibly fast side scrolling adventures.

Super Mario Kart

It’s the game that launched a million different clones. Even today it is being honoured and paid homage to in the form of Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing and yet no developer, bar Nintendo of course, has managed to make a better kart racing game. Mario Kart 64 is also available on the Virtual Console but all the purists go for the original and best.

Street Fighter II

But which one do you pick? The Virtual Console is home to Street Fighter, Street Fighter II: The World Warrior, Champion Edition, Special Champion Edition, Hyper Fighting, Super Street Fighter II: The New Challengers, and the SNES version of Street Fighter Alpha 2. You might as well write them all out on a list and throw a dart to pick one. Or get The New Challengers because it’s got a few more characters and looks a bit better than the others.

Gunstar Heroes

You’ve probably played side-scrolling shooters before but there aren’t many of them that can top the mighty Gunstar Heroes. With enemies coming at you from all sides you’ve got to be able to beat them off with something and Heroes provides you with all the tools you could ever need. The weapons also have the advantage of being able to combine together so you can make even more powerful versions. Homing flamethrower? That’ll do!

Castlevania

Again you’ve got a lot of choice in how you want to kill off Dracula’s hordes with your trusty whip, with a total of five Castlevania games available on different platforms on the Virtual Console. The original, however, is probably the most fondly remembered even if it caused you to pull your hair out back in late 80s. But at least with the other versions you can see what direction the series went in – they all involved whips.

Secret Of Mana

There aren’t any Final Fantasy games on the Virtual Console so if you’re looking for an epic RPG to play then your choices are somewhat limited. There is this, Story Of Thor, Breathe Of Fire II, and, umm, Harvest Moon. Let’s not get into an argument as to whether Zelda is an RPG or not, okay, thanks! Anyway Secret Of Mana, it’s epic, and an RPG.

Uridium

The great thing about the Virtual Console is you can also get Commodore 64 games on it which is an amazing blast of nostalgia for UK gamers eager to relive their youth. Or just to show kids these days that games used to be difficult but had awesome enemy attack patterns, inertia effects and fake parallax scrolling.

International Karate +

Another classic Commodore 64 game on the Virtual Console is International Karate +. The + makes it at least 17 times better than International Karate as does the inclusion of a third fighter which added extra depth to the usual one on one fighting of similar games. It’s just a shame there is no downloadable ‘T’ button which, on the C64, made everyone onscreen drop their trousers and look out towards the screen as if they were breaking the fourth wall with their face!