Lockdown Wii Library Delve

[Shadowrunner]

MK8Dx is the one reason why I may dip into this generation of console.

Little else remotely interests me.

PS4 and Switch both seem to be good consoles for 2D shmups - so I'm more likely to get a Switch if I get anything.

Good thing about playing shmups on the Switch is a lot of them have a tate mode if you rotate the handheld.

[davyk]

Wii Party

This was a late release in the Wii's life, long after the novelty of waggle wore off. There's a good chance that most people missed it or dismissed it as a late life mini-game compilation. That would be a shame because there's a lot to enjoy here.

It is a compilation of mini games but there's more to it as the they are incorporated into several different types of party game. There are games here that don't fit into any category. It's a like a collection of ideas Nintendo had that couldn't be made into full games but still have merit. Some are like Mario Party lite but a lot are quite original. And there's a clutch of games that make unique use of the wiimote.

It's very much in the family gaming mold this. Some games are for playing with kids...one of the modes has adults hiding the wiimotes and kids having to find them as they make animal noises from their speakers...

There's a "pass the bomb" mode with people gently passing the wiimote from one to the other while holding down a certain button , making the tilt mechanism read too much movement and it makes the "bomb" go off.

There's a board game island mode and players use mini games to see who gets to use the dice with larger numbers on them.

There's a match 3 game that plays like rummy with you matching coloured Miis - minigames dictate the order you get to pick Miis from a pot to make matches. It's quite a tactical game and has a pile of replay value.

There's the usual minigame battle modes you typically get as bonus content in full Mario Party titles too. Some games use waggle but a lot do not. It's a nice varied entertaining collection. Most of it is playable by up to 4 people.

There are 2 player co-op modes too that are really enjoyable.

It's a good package and has the usual Nintendo design ethic and high level of polish. It integrates Miis with a huge level of charm. It's hard not to smile when playing.

Probably dirt cheap now - worth getting for family gaming.

[davyk]

Wii Sports Resort

This one is pretty well known but it is still a surprise to go back to it and remember how much fun and how much variety is on offer here.

There's the updates to Wii Bowling and Golf with the M+ and they are improved by it quite a bit. The table tennis is as good as ever as is the archery. And the free throw 3 point basketball game I've always found compulsive -  but what has really bit me this time around is the Frisbee Golf game.

There's a Dog frisbee mode which is great for warming up - throw a frisbee at a target. A dog will track your frisbee and catch it if you are accurate enough. Totally charming and it serves as a great practice mode for Frisbee Golf. Play on a golf course throwing the frisbee - you only have to make the disc land or pass over the centre of the green to complete the hole so it very approachable. The physics are well implemented with the angle of the disc making a difference to the flight.

What is less forgiving though is the frisbee mode in Tiger Woods Golf 2010. You have land the disc in a basket so more accuracy is required - and overall it's a more exacting implementation of the game idea. I love the fact the EA added this mode to their mainstream Golf game specifically for Wii and the M+ tech (or maybe the PS3 got it with Move controllers too?).   I didn't realise either that people actually do play this IRL.

The Wii Tiger Woods games have a PILE of courses all available without DLC thankfully since the EA servers have shut down for Wii. So while the graphics on the Wii versions are obviously not as good, I find them good enough and having all the courses is compensation. I have TW 2011 and TW 2012:Masters which have even more content and keep the frisbee mode. If looking to get one of these games I'd pass on the 2010 one - it was the first and it suffers a bit for it - for example when putting the game freezes for a second after you make your swing and before the ball moves which is offputting - it's probably doing that to calculate the ball's path; probably because the release was rushed before they had time to optimise the game properly. The later games don't have that problem and they look a bit better too.

Well and truly hooked.

Wii Sports Resort and the TW games from 2010 onward are damn good Golf games too of course. The last TW game  released for Wii (TW2012:Masters) supports the balance board and if you use that in "simulation" mode it detects your movement with the board and the wiimote - it's hard to even hit the damn ball then! Of course you can switch all that off and crank it down to an arcade game. Impressive stuff.

[davyk]

Grand Slam Tennis

Didn't play much of this when it came out - it was the first game to come out with the motionplus controller. In fact I have little memory of even booting it up. This is a rather nice game. The devs have not gone for a Virtua Tennis look - and have  instead gone for a faux cartoon caricature look which is pleasingly effective. With motionplus mode it's a really good game that requires a high degree of skill. Many arcade tennis games auto keep the ball in play but this game will allow the ball to go out if you don't time your shots correctly. Reverting to the normal wiimote lowers the skill but it's a fun game too.

The game takes care of where you move to though you can affect it slightly with the dpad. You can take full control by plugging in the nunchuck but I don't think I'd be up to that without plenty of practice. It remains a great pick up and play game.

This is an EA game and Nintendo published a redux of the Gamecube version of Mario Tennis with wiimote control. No M+ so it's far more arcadey but despite what I've read about the controls, I found them more than adequate. I think it's odd they dropped the option to use normal GC pad controls though. Still a really nice polished game.

Tennis is a great sport for video game translation.  A tennis court fits onto a TV screen nicely and incorporates up to 4 players with no compromises. A pile of local MP play value here.

[zapiy]

Love reading your thoughts on these mate. It really did have a wonderful selection of games.

[davyk]

Mercury Meltdown Revolution

This was originally a PSP game but is a splendid early entry in the Wii library. It uses the tilt mechanism in the wiimote to great effect - the game requires you to navigate a blob of mercury around mazes by tilting the maze and letting gravity do its thing. Puzzle elements are soon introduced that requires you to split the blob into different pieces. Then further complexity is introduced by colour - there are elements in the levels that turn a blob's colour into one of the primary colours and levels require the mixing of different coloured blobs into certain colours required to pass gates.

It can be hard enough navigating mazes without losing too much of the mercury (the blob can partially spill off the levels if you stray to close to an edge), but it soon becomes extremely challenging navigating multiple blobs and planning when and when not to combine them back into a single blob - all against a time limit.

This is an early game but the implementation is still rock solid and the simple clean presentation ensures it has aged well. I've only ever played this is 1P but there is a clutch of party games to try out for more than 1 player. Will see what they are like.

[davyk]

Monkey Ball Banana Blitz is far better than I thought it would be. This was one I just picked up back when the Wii was contemporary because I thought I should. It's Monkey Ball after all - one of my favourites.  The tilt control in the main game is great - though sadly it's one player only. And while I furrowed my brow at the addition of a jump button, the game is fun.

I don't think Super Monkey Ball on Gamecube can really be bettered but this has a good go - there is a PILE of party games here for up to 4 - but it suffers a bit from quantity over quality syndrome and sometimes strays into shitty waggle territory. But everyone will find a batch of games they like and for local casual MP it's great.

It has that clean cartoon design and looks great (at least it does on my TV when rigged up with the component cables for 480p which is the best the Wii can do.) and I'll bet today this can be picked up for buttons. There's a second Wii Monkey Ball game called Step n Roll which works with the balance board - will give that a go next.

[davyk]

Puzzle Quest is a typical match 3 puzzle game but with quite a bit of added depth. It is set in a fantasy setting with gameplay around battles between enemies, beasts etc. There's a fair bit going on with some RPG elements building up spellsm equipment etc. Looks like a bit of a rabbit hole. There is a fair old bit of strategy in the game itself which mixes pleasingly with the luck element.  This isn't a Wii exclusive - has been ported to many platforms but it's nicely implemented here. I would say you would need to be using the component cable to be able to read the text as the font is small. It controls fine with the pointer though there is a nunchuck option too. There's  a 2P battle mode that I haven't tried yet but it requires 2 people to have been playing the single player campaign as you use your characters and abilities from that. There's a versus CPU mode too.

Conduit Is an exclusive FPS for Wii and it works rather well. It uses the nunchuck for movement with the wiimote for aiming and firing and works great. Just a shame that the Wii didn't have a bit more power as it could have been superb for this genre. I can't play FPS games on consoles as I just can't handle the twin stick scheme but I can play and enjoyt this. It had online in the day and even supported chat with the rarely used Wii Speak service. It looks pretty good too I have to say - it uses a semi-cartoonish look which helps the performance - but the design and animation is solid. I'm really enjoying this and I have the sequel to look at when I finish the campaign.

[Ryuhi]

I stuck in Sonic Riders Zero gravity the other day. I played it with my GameCube controller and had a bit of fun I heard the thing is not fun to play with the Wiimote.

[davyk]

I find it hard to have fun with practically any Sonic game to be honest. They are in the main a load of rubbish. A triumph of hype. The 1st two games are good but that's it as far as I'm concerned.

[Ryuhi]

I would say there is more that just two good sonic games but unfortunately I do have to agree that there is definitely more bad games than good ones

[davyk]

AH...Ignore me - I'm pretty anti-Sonic....just a series I love to hate on. The first 2 games are great. Sonic 3 and Knuckles are pretty good too but I prefer Sonic to be stripped down and I think they added to much into the games after Sonic 2.

The move to 3D was pretty bad. I still have Sonic Adventure for Dreamcast. The first level is really enjoyable and then it all goes wrong. Turns into a real boring plod with stupid stories and unnecessary characters. I think the Saturn should have got a large new 2D Sonic game in the style of the Megadrive games - would have been great.

For someone who doesn't really like the series I do own a few!  Sonic 1 & 2 on MD. Sonic Jam on Saturn, Sonic Adventure on DC and Sonic Mega Collection on Gamecube!

I used to have Sonic Colours on Wii which I think I remember liking though I didn't play it that much.....My main problem with the games is that they don't feel all that controllable. The control feels twitchy and I don't like the on-rails sections that a lot of the games have. Sega never really got to grips with the camera in 3D Sonic games either.

It's a case of what could have been.

What I do think though is that a Mario/Sonic game could be really interesting. Made up of classic running to the right or left courses. Mario could go through a course first against a time limit - breaking walls and placing blocks and spring boards etc - changing the level - getting it ready for a super fast assault by Sonic to see how fast he could get to the end.  I think that would be an interesting idea.