Wii Recs?

[Collectonian]

So, I finally got a Wii! Had to get my television replaced, and since installing the Wii then was free, went ahead and bought it. So far, all I've purchased with it is Mario Kart with the Wii Wheel. Having been out of Nintendo since the SNES days, I'm looking for recs on games and accessories to start building my collection. I am already planning on getting a sports pack and Wii fit. Game why, I generally like RPGs, action/adventure, some survival horror. Back when I did have SNES, I loved Donkey Kong country, the Super Mario Brothers series, Super Mario World, the Zelda series, and Super Mario RPG: Legend of the Seven Stars.

So far, the only games I've added to my wishlist are:

* New Super Mario Bros
* The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Some of my favorite PS/PS2 games are:

* Shadow Hearts series
* Final Fantasy series
* Kingdom Hearts series
* Legend of Dragoon
* Lunar Silver Star Stories and Lunar Eternal Blue
* The Spyro series
* Tomb Raider series

So...let fly :-) (and as a secondary question, tips for getting it online on a wifi network? I got through the set up, but when I try to download updates first it will say can't connect, then if I say try again, it starts to then says it had an error)

[ADC]

First off, first-party must-haves. You've already picked out NSMBW. Get Super Mario Galaxy as well, still the best game of Generation 7. Take a look at Super Paper Mario, the platform-RPG hybrid from Intelligent Systems. If you like a rumble here and there, you could look at Super Smash Bros Brawl. You could do far worse than the Metroid Prime Trilogy if you're up for some adventure (and if first-person games don't make you seasick). And you really should grab Punch-Out!! for the sheer hilarity that is King Hippo.

Then look at the artsy-fartsy yet egregiously fun games. If you somehow missed out on Ôkami on the PS2 (as I did), it's a must-have on the Wii. Muramasa: The Dream Blade is a great little brawler-action-RPG-whatever from the folks who made Odin Sphere. And a boy and his blob is adorable.

You like the RPGs? You'll want to pop onto the Shop Channel and pick up Final Fantasy IV The After. And then keep your eyes open for upcoming games Fragile, Arc Rise Fantasia, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers. (By the way, if you enjoy roguelikes, Chocobo's Dungeon is good times.)

And when you want to give yourself a hard time, get back on the Shop Channel and grab some Megaman 9. I made a rhyme, just as surely as you'll behave like this (http://www.giantbomb.com/jeff-plays-mega-man-9-and-fails/17-58/). (Probably NSFW but totally hilarious.)

[broodwars]

The Wii's a strange beast, and I'm afraid I can't think of any games to suggest based solely on that list you gave. That said, I can think of some excellent games on Wii (even if I don't like some of them):

Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Super Mario Galaxy
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition
Okami
Metroid Prime Trilogy (and by extension, New Play Control Pikmin if you missed that on the GameCube)
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
A Boy & His Blob
No More Heroes
Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles
Dead Space Extraction (I haven't played this one yet, but the reviews on that have been really solid)

We also have Silent Hill: Shattered Memories coming out in just a little over 2 weeks.

[broodwars]

Oh don't go recommending Super Paper Mario, ADC. That game's total crap, even by the already loose standards of the Paper Mario series.

That said, Super Mario RPG: Legend of the 7 Stars is a fine purchase on the Virtual Console.

[ADC]

Oh don't got recommending Super Paper Mario, ADC. That game's total crap, even by the already loose standards of the Paper Mario series.
Don't listen to broodwars. He's lyin. ;)

[Mateo_home]

I'm a Nintendo first and an RPG fan second. Here's what I enjoyed and would recommend:

Wario Ware: Smooth Moves (if you can find it cheap)
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Super Paper Mario (the weakest of the three, but still fun)
Donkey Kong Barrel Blast (if you really enjoy racing games, Mario Kart Wii is better)
Super Mario Galaxy
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Wario Land: Shake It (fun 2D platforming)
Tales of Symphonia: Dawn of the New World (only if you liked the first game)
Punch-Out
Murumasa: The Demon Blade

And if you like fighting games, there's the upcoming Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars. Had to get that one in there.

[tadakichi]

Is there a reason why Super Mario Galaxy isn't on your list? If not, that would be my first recommendation.

If you haven't played Resident Evil 4 before, the Wii edition is generally considered to be the definitive one.

Those are the only two Wii games that I own and would recommend (though to be fair there are several others that I'd like to get, but I'm not looking to expand my game collection any further just yet).

[Collectonian]

Added Super Mario Galaxy :-) Also added Super Paper Mario, Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles (both), Muramasa (Odin Sphere was fun!), and the upcoming Fragile and Arc Rise Fantasia. I have played Okami on PS2 (rocked). I looked at Resident Evil 4, but I'm still trying to get through 1 (more from it being kinda boring...hoping 2 & 3 perk up more). I've been curious about the Silent Hill series, but I've never played any of the games yet - are they continuous storywise?

What's a virtual console? (newb) Will need to explore those channel things...

[ADC]

What's a virtual console? (newb) Will need to explore those channel things...
You're so cute! Hold still so I can pinch your cheek through the Internet! :sdsmiley: … Right. It's the emulation thing through which you can play games from the NES, SNES, N64, and some other non-Nintendo consoles of similar eras. Only some of the games from those systems are up, and a lot of them probably never will make it for various reasons. But there are some terrific games in there, like Super Mario RPG, Super Metroid, what have you.

[broodwars]

I looked at Resident Evil 4, but I'm still trying to get through 1 (more from it being kinda boring...hoping 2 & 3 perk up more). I've been curious about the Silent Hill series, but I've never played any of the games yet - are they continuous storywise?

What's a virtual console? (newb) Will need to explore those channel things...

Resident Evil 4 is a completely different type of game from REs 1-3, so if you don't like RE1 due to being "boring" you'd probably like RE4 better. The Silent Hill series is fairly standalone in general, with only 1 and 3 having a continual storyline (of sorts. Saying SH1 had a story is being generous). Silent Hill: Shattered Memories on the Wii, though, is a "reimagining" (their words, not mine) of the first Silent Hill game, so you can enjoy it on its own no problem.

The Virtual Console is, in my opinion, the best aspect of the Wii right now. Every Monday, Nintendo updates the Wii Shop Channel with 2 different kinds of games: first you have WiiWare, which are new cheap games made for the Wii and are usually crap (with notable exceptions. DEFINITELY check out World of Goo). The other, much more overlooked type of game released every week are the Virtual Console (VC for short), which are games from the past emulated on the Wii. Right now, we have games from the Commodore 64; NES, Sega Master System; SNES; Sega Genesis; TurboGrafix 64; and Nintendo 64 on the service. We currently have most of the good games from those systems on the service by now, though there are notable omissions (most from Square-Enix).

To download a new game from either service, you need to have the Wii hooked up to the internet. Then, you select the Wii Shop Channel from the main menu, and you can browse from the list of games on either service. To purchase games, however, you're going to need either a Wii Points Card purchased in retail or a credit card. Everything on the Wii Shop Channel costs a certain number of points, with the general conversion being $1=100 points. Generally, an NES game costs 500 points; a Sega Master System game 600 points, a SNES or Genesis game 800 points, an N64 game 1000 points; a WiiWare game anywhere from 500-1500 points, and I can't remember on the TurboGrafix 64 (doesn't matter anyway, unless you want to play Lords of Thunder).

If you don't have a Wii Points Card, you can use a Credit Card to purchase a set number of points (500, 1000, and 2000) and add it to your account. You then just download the title and it gets added as a channel on the main menu.

[Collectonian]

You're so cute! Hold still so I can pinch your cheek through the Internet! :sdsmiley: … Right. It's the emulation thing through which you can play games from the NES, SNES, N64, and some other non-Nintendo consoles of similar eras. Only some of the games from those systems are up, and a lot of them probably never will make it for various reasons. But there are some terrific games in there, like Super Mario RPG, Super Metroid, what have you.

LOL Emulation sounds awesome! And getting to play Mario RPG again...yay! So do you have to have those system's controllers to play? I saw in the manual that it does game box games too, but have to get that controller first?

Resident Evil 4 is a completely different type of game from REs 1-3, so if you don't like RE1 due to being "boring" you'd probably like RE4 better. The Silent Hill series is fairly standalone in general, with only 1 and 3 having a continual storyline (of sorts. Saying SH1 had a story is being generous). Silent Hill: Shattered Memories on the Wii, though, is a "reimagining" (their words, not mine) of the first Silent Hill game, so you can enjoy it on its own no problem.

Cool! I've seen ads for RE4 and it looked cool, but I wanted to play the others first just to get the whole story (since the movies changed things around, if I'm not mistaken). I'll take a look at the Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. If its a reimaging/reboot kinda thing, sounds good :-)

To download a new game from either service, you need to have the Wii hooked up to the internet. Then, you select the Wii Shop Channel from the main menu, and you can browse from the list of games on either service. To purchase games, however, you're going to need either a Wii Points Card purchased in retail or a credit card.

I wondered what those Wii Points cards were at BestBuy when I bought it...once I get the Internet working right, I'll go pick up one. The downloadable emulation games just sound awesome. Getting to revisit some old Nintendo favorites will be fun :D

[broodwars]

What's a virtual console? (newb) Will need to explore those channel things...
You're so cute! Hold still so I can pinch your cheek through the Internet! :sdsmiley: … Right. It's the emulation thing through which you can play games from the NES, SNES, N64, and some other non-Nintendo consoles of similar eras. Only some of the games from those systems are up, and a lot of them probably never will make it for various reasons. But there are some terrific games in there, like Super Mario RPG, Super Metroid, what have you.

LOL Emulation sounds awesome! And getting to play Mario RPG again...yay! So do you have to have those system's controllers to play? I saw in the manual that it does game box games too, but have to get that controller first?

Damn, I knew I forgot something (you're welcome, by the way). You can only use the Wiimote to play NES games (and maybe Commodore 64 games. I don't know). For all the others, you need a "Classic Controller", available separately at retail. It plugs into the Wiimote in place of the Nunchuck. This controller is strongly modeled after the SNES controller, with a couple really floaty analog sticks for the N64 games. I actually suggest you hold off on getting one of these for the time being, because in Japan and Europe Nintendo just released a tremendously better version of the controller called the Classic Controller Pro that has prongs on the bottom of the controller for better grip.

[Collectonian]

Damn, I knew I forgot something (you're welcome, by the way). You can only use the Wiimote to play NES games (and maybe Commodore 64 games. I don't know). For all the others, you need a "Classic Controller", available separately at retail. It plugs into the Wiimote in place of the Nunchuck. This controller is strongly modeled after the SNES controller, with a couple really floaty analog sticks for the N64 games. I actually suggest you hold off on getting one of these for the time being, because in Japan and Europe Nintendo just released a tremendously better version of the controller called the Classic Controller Pro that has prongs on the bottom of the controller for better grip.

Thanks :-) and good to know...will make a note to watch for the new controller. I feel like a total video game newbie though I've been playing since the Atari 2600 :P

[ColoradoJim]

Damn, I knew I forgot something (you're welcome, by the way). You can only use the Wiimote to play NES games (and maybe Commodore 64 games. I don't know). For all the others, you need a "Classic Controller", available separately at retail. It plugs into the Wiimote in place of the Nunchuck. This controller is strongly modeled after the SNES controller, with a couple really floaty analog sticks for the N64 games. I actually suggest you hold off on getting one of these for the time being, because in Japan and Europe Nintendo just released a tremendously better version of the controller called the Classic Controller Pro that has prongs on the bottom of the controller for better grip.

Thanks :-) and good to know...will make a note to watch for the new controller. I feel like a total video game newbie though I've been playing since the Atari 2600 :P

When you get online at the shop, as part of the game description, there is a little icon/box you can click on to see what controllers a specific game supports. Quite a few games support multiple controller types such as the wii controller with nunchuck, wii controller without nunchuck, classic controller and also the gamecube controller since the Wii does have sockets for gamecube controllers. An alternative to the classic controller pro is to use the nyko adaptor that stores the wii controller nicely in the back and has prongs on either end. http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=802691&affid=9797 It won't fix the analog sticks but does provide a better grip and allows you to get that cord out of the way. You can try the gamecube controllers for the N64 stuff since the analog work better on those assuming that they support the controller for that specific N64 game.

A very good site for looking up a lot of Nintendo stuff, especially virtual console and wiiware is: http://www.nintendolife.com/ They have plenty of videos, reviews and such for games. One part that I really like is seeing screenshots and such of upcoming wiiware games. You can find out what controllers work with virtual console and wiiware games there as well.

One game recommendation I have is the Endless Ocean game, it's just a really relaxing diving simulation game that can really suck out the hours. You should be able to find it for cheap now but it was already a budget priced game.

[broodwars]

Damn, I knew I forgot something (you're welcome, by the way). You can only use the Wiimote to play NES games (and maybe Commodore 64 games. I don't know). For all the others, you need a "Classic Controller", available separately at retail. It plugs into the Wiimote in place of the Nunchuck. This controller is strongly modeled after the SNES controller, with a couple really floaty analog sticks for the N64 games. I actually suggest you hold off on getting one of these for the time being, because in Japan and Europe Nintendo just released a tremendously better version of the controller called the Classic Controller Pro that has prongs on the bottom of the controller for better grip.

Thanks :-) and good to know...will make a note to watch for the new controller. I feel like a total video game newbie though I've been playing since the Atari 2600 :P

When you get online at the shop, as part of the game description, there is a little icon/box you can click on to see what controllers a specific game supports. Quite a few games support multiple controller types such as the wii controller with nunchuck, wii controller without nunchuck, classic controller and also the gamecube controller since the Wii does have sockets for gamecube controllers. An alternative to the classic controller pro is to use the nyko adaptor that stores the wii controller nicely in the back and has prongs on either end. http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?sku=802691&affid=9797 It won't fix the analog sticks but does provide a better grip and allows you to get that cord out of the way. You can try the gamecube controllers for the N64 stuff since the analog work better on those assuming that they support the controller for that specific N64 game.

A very good site for looking up a lot of Nintendo stuff, especially virtual console and wiiware is: http://www.nintendolife.com/ They have plenty of videos, reviews and such for games. One part that I really like is seeing screenshots and such of upcoming wiiware games. You can find out what controllers work with virtual console and wiiware games there as well.

Indeed, the GameCube controller will work with some games, but I've never seen a Virtual Console game that supported the Wiimote + Nunchuck. WiiWare's a different story, though. The downside to using the GCN controller, of course, is that unless you have a Wavebird (which are valuable commodities now that Nintendo "lost the mold"...B.S...and "can't" make any more) you have to be pretty close to the Wii to use it due to the cords. The GCN controllers are better saved for Smash Bros. or the N64 games. I might look into getting that Nyko Adaptor myself, since NoA's waffling on whether they're bringing the Classic Controller Pro over here or not.

As for site recommendations, I have a favorite as well: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com . All the news, previews, reviews, podcasts, and forums you could ever want specifically on Nintendo (even if, ironically, they don't talk about Nintendo so much on Radio Free Nintendo, anymore, since everyone's a multi-console owner). I'm on those forums as well under the same name.

[Collectonian]

Thank you both for the links. I've popped their RSS feeds into my Google Reader :-) I'll have to take a look at F/X games to see if they have that discontinued controller. They have all kinds of game rarities at times, so might get lucky.

[Njr Scrawl]

RE Darkside Chronicles out soon. Bound to beat 4 as it has Claire Redfield, & is broodier.

RE1 (GC re-port) is out already, & RE0 for Wii in Dec.

The Wii Dead Space prequel game is cool.

[Mank]

One quick recommendation that nobody's said on here yet: Zack and Wiki.
Absolutely fantastic little game that you can probably find for pretty cheap nowadays. Definitely grab it if you have any interest in Puzzle/Adventure games, it's really good.