The Best WiiWare Games

[Refa]

I'm suprised a thread like this hasn't already been made. To be honest, I view Wii Ware as inferior to other similar downloadable services on PSN/XBLA. But that doesn't mean that it isn't worth playing some of these games. So what Wii Ware games do you feel are worth downloading?

[sponge]

world of goo >

[Versus22]

Recommended titles by Versus22:

• Adventure Island: The Beginning
• Alien Crush Returns
• Arkanoid Plus!
• Art Style series
• Bit. Trip series
• Blaster Master: Overdrive
• Bomberman Blast
• Bubble Bobble Plus!
• Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth
• Cave Story
• Chronos Twins DX
• Contra ReBirth
• Diner Dash
• Dr. Mario Online Rx
• Excitebike: World Rally
• Final Fantasy IV: The After Years
• Frogger Returns
• Gradius ReBirth
• LostWinds series
• Maboshi's Arcade
• Magnetica Twist
• Mega Man 10
• Military Madness: Nectaris
• NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits
• Onslaught
• PictureBook Games: Pop-Up Pursuit
• Pokémon Rumble
• Pool Revolution: Cue Sports
• Rainbow Islands: Towering Adventure!
• Snowboard Riot
• Space Invaders Get Even
• Swords & Soldiers
• Tetris Party
• Toki Tori
• Water Warfare
• World of Goo

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Cave Story is good. It's also available for free on PC, but I prefer this one's controls to a keyboard (unless you have a controller for your PC...). WW version has updated graphics and downdated music.

Dr. Mario Online Rx is a game that doesn't get mentioned much anymore because it's old, but it's a very solid version of the classic puzzler, especially if you have people (either locally or online) to play against.

Eduardo the Samurai Toaster doesn't get mentioned at all, and there's kind of a reason for it—it's an easy and generic run & gun, but for some reason, I find it really fun. It has multiple difficulty levels and it's pretty fun, but it has relatively low replay value and it's a bit more expensive than it should be. Still, if you really love run & guns and you must try out a new / weird one, you could give it a try. Don't expect anything on the level of Gunstar Heroes, though.

Final Fantasy IV: The After Years is a great value, even for $30+, if you're a fan of the original Final Fantasy IV. If you're not or you haven't played it, then pass on this one.

Fun! Fun! Minigolf is sadly overlooked! This game actually lives up to its name. Don't let the generic and uninspired characters fool you. The core of this game is local multiplayer mini-putt, and it delivers, with three distinct courses to play on. Some of them are a snap, but some are tricky.

Mega Man 9 is one of the better games in the original NES Mega Man series. A good level of difficulty (punishing, but can be learnt and dealt with, rather than random and luck-based) and solid stage and enemy design. There's some extra content, but to be honest, I don't find it adds all that much to the game other than some very basic additional challenge for people who've completed it.

Tetris Party is another obligatory old-school revival, much like Dr. Mario Online Rx. Like that game, the core of the gameplay involves multiplayer, either at home or online. There are a lot of additional game modes to keep you interested, but at the end of the day, most people are just going to want to play standard traditional 1-on-1 or 1-on-1-on-1 or 1-on-1-on-1-on-1.

Toki Tori is an incredibly cute puzzle-platformer. You have to navigate 2D stages and cross puzzles and obstacles using T.T.'s various skills and devices to collect eggs. Each level gets successively more complex and difficult.

World of Goo is great, but it costs $15 and you have to play it with a Wii Remote. It's a better deal on basically any low-spec PC or Mac for $0.00 and controlled with a mouse. (Just some perspective.)

[SKTTR]

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King

Never had so much content and playtime for just 1500 points.
This is a deep and highly addicting RPG simulation where you build your own houses to get more villagers. With more villagers you can have more adventurers and more taxes.
The adventurers wake up every morning and look for behests you set up every day. Then they automatically roam your kingdom, they go shopping and train their skills in the in the libraries, magician schools, thief gaming halls, traing halls etc. or if they don't feel well they go home or in the park.
With more taxes you can level up stores and buildings (so they have more skills and extras), with more adventurers you can explore more dungeons and get more materia.
With more materia you can build more buildings.
Graphics and music are very good for a WiiWare game.
There's no action and the fights run automatically, but they're running just like in the classic FF games. You as the king can provide help for your adventurers before they went out adventuring and from the distance though.
This game is unique and very good value for 1500 points. And it's still very good value if you buy all DLC for additional 2400pts.


Tales of Monkey Island (Chapters 1~5)

With 1000 pts each chapter (5 chapters) this is another expensive game, but well, the best games cost something, even on WiiWare. This one is filled with extreme detail, funny animations and excellent voice acting, umatched atmosphere and a fantastic soundtrack. It's simply the best point & click adventure on the Wii so far and a truly innovative adventure with very easy controls and just the right balance of puzzles (you won't get stuck if you got brains). The downside to the game is extreme slowdown in the first chapters beginning and occasional freezing. Since you can save anytime and everywhere, the rare freezing isn't that big of an issue, and once you get past the choppy beginning you will have a good time. Since there's a PC version which runs smoother and costs less, it's up to you which version you want to get, but playing this on a TV with Wii pointer controls, and an alternate soundtrack (classic Amiga style instead of PC's orchestrated version) has its appeal too.


Ant Nation

This is a nice little Sim/RPG where you rise up thousands of ants in your little sandbox. You start with just a few ants and once cave. There's place for 100 ants in a cave, so you need offspring, so you need to gather food. Food are sweets lying around (or can be bought) or food are bugs and spiders the ants need to defeat. There are 100 missions in the game - win them to get money. With the money you can buy sweets or tools. Tools are mean things that hurt your animals, like footsteps or fire. There are three ways to level up your ants: By pressing your finger on them individually, by buing tools, or by fighting against enemies. So basically your ants will level up when they lose a specific amount of HP. If they level up, they have 3 stats that will rise: HP, attack and defense. As you beat missions, you unlock new missions, new stuff in the shop, and more caves to increase your maximum number of ants.
The controls are good, the game is polished, the missions could use some more diversity though. It's not as complex as Sim Ant, but it's addicting in a very similiar way.
I thought it's just alright for 700pts, compared to miserbale games like Lead the Meerkats (1000pts) that have worse graphics, worse content, worse controls, and many glitches to round it off.
When I first got Ant Nation I played it for 7 hours straight. It was already worth it for just that one session.

[Refa]

Possibly unrelated, but that Jurassic Park adventure game...Is that coming to Wii Ware?

And more related, but in Dr. Mario RX, the main appeal for me would be Germ Buster. That looks fantastic! I'm thinking about picking that one up myself.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Other good resources are Shortay's WiiWare download Master List (you can see what games everyone has downloaded and how many times each game has been downloaded, etc.—always a good way to find gems) and Yossarian or Yasume's (they're the same guy, right? ) Rate Your WiiWare Games! thread, where lots of people have given their WW games ratings and those ratings have then been compiled and averaged.

Search for them.

[Yossarian]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Other good resources are Shortay's WiiWare download Master List (you can see what games everyone has downloaded and how many times each game has been downloaded, etc.—always a good way to find gems) and Yossarian or Yasume's (they're the same guy, right? ) Rate Your WiiWare Games! thread, where lots of people have given their WW games ratings and those ratings have then been compiled and averaged.

Search for them.

We are merely facets of the same jewel.

Yasume, SKTRR and I seem to the most enthusiastic WiiWare supporters and Yasume's Rate Your WiiWare Games thread has plenty of mini-user reviews for the games available.

Before this thread gets locked, I would also add:

Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: Rush
Art of Balance
LIT - Scrappy graphics but great spooky atmosphere and tough action puzzles.
FFCC: My Life as King/Darklord (warning! rip off DLC available but not essential)
Bonsai Barber - Pricey but a good wind down game with tons of charm, content and cute touches.

[Refa]

This is more of a place to get recommendations than an aggregate of raw data.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Refa

This is more of a place to get recommendations than an aggregate of raw data.

Yasume's thread is more of a place to get recommendations than an aggregate of raw data, too, I reckon. If not, we should turn it into that. And post ratings.

[Yossarian]

Originally Posted by Refa

This is more of a place to get recommendations than an aggregate of raw data.

The scores are a small part of it. There are plenty of mini reviews about the fun factor and value for money of the titles. If you want specific recommendations here then help us by giving an indication of your favoured genres.

[sponge]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

World of Goo is great, but it costs $15 and you have to play it with a Wii Remote. It's a better deal on basically any low-spec PC or Mac for $0.00 and controlled with a mouse. (Just some perspective.)

i had no idea that it was free for the computer.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by sponge

i had no idea that it was free for the computer.

You just have to catch the sales. There have been two pay-what-you-want sales within the past year alone.

[Yasume]

I'm going through my massive WiiWare collection this summer (since I'm not playing games by using a schedule anymore (it just doesn't work)) and will come back to this topic with the 10 best games. I have played 35 of the 63 games I own so far and for now I would say:


- Art Style: Cubello Click
- Bonsai Barber Click
- Mega Man 9 Click
- NyxQuest: Kindred Spirts Click
- Swords & Soldiers Click
- Tomena Sanner Click
- World of Goo Click

Others that are worth your precious points: Driift Mania, Excitebike: World Challenge, LIT, LostWinds, Mega Man 10, Mr. Driller W, Pokemon Rumble, Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: RUSH, Toki Tori, TV Show King 2.

I'll come back by the end of this summer with my Top 10 and will also explain why they are the best titles on the WiiWare service.

[SKTTR]

Originally Posted by Yasume

I'm going through my massive WiiWare collection this summer (since I'm not playing games by using a schedule anymore (it just doesn't work)) and will come back to this topic with the 10 best games. I have played 35 of the 63 games I own so far and for now I would say:


- Art Style: Cubello Click
- Bonsai Barber Click
- Mega Man 9 Click
- NyxQuest: Kindred Spirts Click
- Swords & Soldiers Click
- Tomena Sanner Click
- World of Goo Click

Others that are worth your precious points: Driift Mania, Excitebike: World Challenge, LIT, LostWinds, Mega Man 10, Mr. Driller W, Pokemon Rumble, Rubik's Puzzle Galaxy: RUSH, Toki Tori, TV Show King 2.

I'll come back by the end of this summer with my Top 10 and will also explain why they are the best titles on the WiiWare service.

An awesome llist that really shows big quality titles!

I wanted to write more short recommendations to most of your games in the list, especially Cubello, Bonsai Barber, Swords & Soldiers and World of Goo. Still need to get NyxQuest and Tomena Sanner.

You have 63 WiiWare games and only played 35 of them??? That is crazy!!
I have played all my 60+ WiiWare games.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by SKTTR

You have 63 WiiWare games and only played 35 of them??? That is crazy!!
I have played all my 60+ WiiWare games.

Wow! Your penis is 43% larger than Yasume's!

So Yasume, have we decided whether we should lock this thread and keep the mini-reviewing in your other thread? Or should we let your other thread slumber peacefully and start posting mini-reviews/recommendations here instead? I'm inclined to lock & bump just to everything that's already been posted over there doesn't get overlooked.

[Yasume]

Originally Posted by Jogurt the Yogurt

Wow! Your penis is 43% larger than Yasume's!

So Yasume, have we decided whether we should lock this thread and keep the mini-reviewing in your other thread? Or should we let your other thread slumber peacefully and start posting mini-reviews/recommendations here instead? I'm inclined to lock & bump just to everything that's already been posted over there doesn't get overlooked.

Hmm, it doesn't really matter to me, actually. You should do what you feel like doing. I had plans for a major update in the other thread, but the amount of posts is a bit disappointing.

@SKTTR: I know, crazy, right? I also have another 100+ untouched games for the other systems/handhelds. It's nothing compared to Jogurt's list, though.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

Originally Posted by Yasume

Hmm, it doesn't really matter to me, actually. You should do what you feel like doing. I had plans for a major update in the other thread, but the amount of posts is a bit disappointing.

Major update + redirect from this thread should revitalize it a bit. I'm going to re-post the mini-reviews I already posted here over in your thread. Others should feel free to do the same.

Originally Posted by Yasume

@SKTTR: I know, crazy, right? I also have another 100+ untouched games for the other systems/handhelds. It's nothing compared to Jogurt's list, though.

I only have just over 30 WiiWare games, and two of them are Club Nintendo related (Doc's P-O!! and Ultra Hand), about half of which I've beaten. I actually have plans to beat the rest of them too (since I've only downloaded good ones, woo), but my Wii isn't hooked up right now.

[Jogurt the Yogurt]

This thread is being closed in favour of the older Rate the WiiWare Games You Own thread, which is an excellent resource for advice and recommendations about the ever-growing WiiWare catalogue.

Please feel free to repost your recommendations over there and to join in on the rating of your games if you so desire!

Locked.