Got some time today (car repair again), so I'll finish up making notes on the list of best Wii games on Metacritic, now starting at those rated under 75.
#222 - Epic Mickey - The darker take on Disney's Mickey had me really excited for it. I got it day one too. I was a little disappointed because of the controls. Something about the camera just confused and annoyed me. I never finished it. The remastered version, Rebrushed, that came out in 2024 is fantastic though. I've always liked the concept and vision for the game. I just wanted one that played well. We have that now in the Rebrushed version. I just wish there was a physical of that I could own.
#223 - SNK Arcade Classics Vol. 1 - I always bought old arcade game collections. We have SNK's 40th anniversary collection now, but then this was something new to me at the time, so I had to have it. My current favorite on it is Sengoku, a 2D hack 'n' slash game.
#234 - Endless Ocean - Not sure what got me to try this, probably a sale at Gamestop and curiosity. I really enjoyed it. You could call it Ocean Life Snap. I had a blast scuba diving and taking snap shots of everything down there. There was a third game for Switch, Luminous, not too long ago that I actually didn't like very much. Too bad. The first two were great.
#317 - Overlord Dark Legend - The Overlord series did unique games for Wii and DS. The DS game I found really terrible, but I enjoyed this Wii one. It's story is a prequel to the first game and the controls are designed for the Wiimote/nunchuck. I was surprised to find how well it worked. Maybe it was a little bit simpler than the main series and not as long, but I kind of liked those aspects.
#327 - Fortune Street - Mario Monopoly, or something akin to that, if I remember right. Also Dragon Quest characters. Matches take a while, but I loved the board game style of it. I can't wait to replay it soon.
#410 Wii Music - I actually got this on the strength of a friend's recommendation. He was a musician and got really hooked on it. Reviews haven't been great, but I'm keen to see what it is.
#413 - Puzzle Kingdoms - After Puzzle Quest, I was really into anything similar and this was an exclusive for Nintendo. It's a little simpler and less engaging than Puzzle Quest but it provided my fix for a match-3 RPG on the system.
#501 - Data East Arcade Classics - Not too many Data East collections out there. My favorites here were Magical Drop III and Wizard Fire, a beat 'em up.
#535 - Namco Museum Megamix - An upgrade of NM Remix with more games and remixed games. I had to have it at the time if for no other reason than 1979's block breaker/pinball game Cutie Q.
There's some other stuff I have I will play on this list I didn't mention because I'm not sure about them yet like Wacky Races and Sky Crawlers. Also the Conduit series of FPS games that I was excited for at the time, but ultimately didn't enjoy the Wiimote/nunchuck control scheme. I just hope I can get to the Wii this year. 360 has taken me almost four months to get through already.
I think I've said this before, but one of the feathers in my game reviewing cap is getting to be on a roundtable discussion with Warren Specter on Epic Mickey! Speaking of which, I just read that Warren Specter just retired.
Everyone hated Wii Music but I loved it. I think it helps if you think of it more of a toy than a game.
I loved that Data East collection. BurgerTime is one of the few arcade games that could pull me away from Pac-Man when I was a kid.
I missed out on Fortune Street, and I didn't even know there was a Wacky Races game on the Switch. I wonder if it's the same as the Dreamcast one? Wacky Races is my favorite Hanna Barbera cartoon.
That's so cool because I loved what he did with Mickey and Oswald in that game.
I'm thinking Wii Music is better than suggested as well.
BurgerTime is pretty cool.
Wow! There are three Wacky Races games, one for PSOne, Starring Dastardly and Mutley for Dreamcast and Crash and Dash for Wii. I always liked the crazy vehicles and planes in the cartoon as a kid.
Oswald kind of made his return debut in those games. Oswald is one of my top five favorite Disney characters and I knew about him way before that game.
There's also a Wacky Races game on the NES. It's a 2-D platformer where you play as Muttley and the bosses are the other racers! I met the guy who did the voice and laugh for Muttley once.
Oh yeah, Muttley's voice. I always try and imitate it when I watch the show. Nice that there's a NES game as well. I'll have to consider getting it.
The Wacky Races NES game is famous for being very rare and expensive and hard to get.
