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The Top Ten Best Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection Games [top ten]
 
The day of this writing is a sad day for me. After ten years, the online service for the Wii and DS has shut down, leaving behind over 250 titles that lost some sort of functionality. Despite a few pointless hurdles like friend codes, the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection started with Mario Kart DS and was a good free service that brought me thousands or hours of entertainment. I still played its games all the way up to its very last day, and I will miss all the good times had. It was a bit tough to narrow some of these down, but here are the ten games that I will remember the most fondly.
05/21/14, 01:06    Edited: 05/21/14, 01:05
 
   
 
Monster Hunter Tri
Best described as “MMO-lite,” Monster Hunter skips all the small-time questing and focuses on only the hugest of the huge. Basically an eternal boss rush, the game pits up to four players against large monsters who are as fierce as they are ugly. Although the game was a real drag at times, especially during the beginning when more gathering needed to be done, taking down that tough hideous monstrosity that almost made me its lunch could be an exciting and satisfying experience. I actually wasn't very into the game itself, but huntin' and chattin' with the myriad of different folks, laughing, smashing, crying together made it all worthwhile.

 
Phantasy Star 0
Another sort of “MMO-lite,” this game has players fighting through small-time enemies in randomly-generated areas as they make their way to the big bad. This action-RPG had some design issues, like very small windows of opportunity to dodge strong attacks, but it was still fun enough to play through with a friend. Like the areas, the equipment found was partially randomly-generated as well, making for a wide variety of loot. Unfortunately, armour didn't change the appearance of a character, so there wasn't any fun found in outfitting them.

 
Pokémon Platinum/HeartGold/SoulSilver
It might seem a bit like cheating to have not one, not even two, but three games as one entry, but the reason for it is that the online portion is the exact same for all three, and all three could link up with one another. Although Diamond and Pearl were the first to bring the Pokémon series online and were a good start, these three games brought it to the next level by including the Battle Frontier, which is by far the most fun thing about Pokémon. In it, there were five different modes in which to team up with a friend and tackle all the hardcore trainers. As every match was a double battle, planning with my teammate was vital, ensuring that our moves compliment each other and don't cause any hindrances, and I had a lot of fun doing so. Combined with the usual trading and battling options made it the complete package.

 
The Conduit
The Conduit certainly falls short when compared to the best of the genre, but it offered enough differences to make its twelve-player online worthwhile. Using weapon sets instead of loadouts gave it an old-school charm, as well as other key differences like no sprint button and no ADS. Although it had an XP system with level ups, they didn't unlock anything and were just for show, which was fine with me. It's just a shame that it didn't function all that well. It took minutes to get into a match, and things could lag pretty badly, to the point where opponents are killed 10-15 seconds after they're shot. It was fun when it worked though, and I had a few good private matches as well.

 
Call of Duty Black Ops
Although I would never argue that this game was better than the other versions since there are some things it was missing, it's still about as good as it could have been on the Wii, and it's a great version of the game for people like me who love the Wiimote controls. I had a lot of fun partying up with a few key members of a different forum and shooting some n00bs... or more often being the n00bs that get shot. That's just the way it goes, gotta pay your dues and all that. Matches could be connected to in seconds and ran mostly smoothly, with no ridiculous lag like other Wii shooters. It was also one of the very few Wii games that ever received patches, which fixed some glitches, re-balanced a few things, and added in a couple extra features like painting other party members blue.

 
ExciteBike World Rally
Although this was more like a remake than a full-on sequel, ExciteBike is always a fun time. Though the online racing was fun, it wasn't terribly exciting and didn't have much to it. The real meat of the online came from the track sharing that the game allowed. It was a lot of fun to see what kind of tracks people created, and how they differed from my own. The track would even include the creator's best time, and so it was a fun challenge to see if I could top it. Custom tracks could also be used in private games, so they could even be raced on with distant friends.

 
ExciteBots: Trick Racing
The sequel to ExciteTruck went all out, including adding a 6-player online mode. Using stars as currency, the game allowed people to make bets on each race, and could double, triple, or even quadruple their bets if they raced well enough. The stars could be used to purchase colours and designs for the various racing machines, adding in a bit of customisation. Though there wasn't much interaction between the racers, it was still fun to see who could out-trick each other, and observing other players was a good way to learn how to make the most out of each track. There was also an option to save and send replays to other players.

 
Animal Crossing City Folk
Animal Crossing is a series I never paid attention to, because it sounded exceedingly boring. When a friend of mine had to take a few months off work to recover from surgery, she told me about a game she had bought to help pass the time, and that it had online play. This game, of course, turned out to be Animal Crossing City Folk. Despite it sounding uninteresting, I decided to buy the game to help her out. It ended up making for the perfect format to talk and hang out, and we had a lot of fun showing off our clothing and houses, and sharing our discoveries of fish, gyroids, and other such things. It's the kind of game that is shaped completely by the people with whom it's played, and those few months were some of the best gaming I've experienced.

 
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: Echoes of Time
Released on both the Wii and DS, this is one of the few - if not the only - game with cross-compatible online play. The Wii version was basically the DS game on a Wii disc, with its two screens placed side-by-side and its only extra features being a Mii mask and higher-resolution graphics, but it functioned surprisingly well. As I didn't have a DS at the time, it made for a great way to play the game with a friend across different systems. We had a lot of fun stomping through the dungeons and outfitting our characters with the wide array of clothing and weapons to be looted, so much so that we completed all twelve of the game's difficulty settings, as ridiculous a number that seemed. The game was also a little glitchy, but this just further increased the fun as we would discover a new glitch or unintended shortcut to mess around with each time through the game.

 
Mario Kart Wii
The venerable kart racer zoomed to the Wii in style, bringing with it a robust online as part of its list of additions and alterations. I've never been a fan of this series, but this one stood out way above the rest to me for various reasons, one such part being the online. Upping the total racer count to twelve, there was never a dull moment on the road, with a large assortment of items flying about. Win or lose, I just loved the unpredictability of it all, having to be ready for anything that rocketed my way. With both regional and worldwide options, it was always easy to find players.

I joined the GameFAQs board for the game for a few years, and joined in many creative private rooms that set up a lot of great races. And though I typically placed in the back ranks, it was still a tonne of fun. Even battle had its fun moments as I aspired for 9999BR, and the new team setup worked well for online. The leaderboards gave me a glimpse of how my friends were faring in time trials, and we could even exchange ghosts to show each other tactics and shortcuts. The twice-a-month tournaments also helped provide even more reason for popping in the game again and again.

Out of all these games, this is the one I'm truly sad to see go. For my taste, it just got nearly everything right, which was far from the case with every other Mario Kart game. At the same time though, it's tough to complain about the value this game brought from six years of free online.

 
Some honourable mentions include: Battalion Wars 2, Bomberman Blast, Call of Duty Modern Warfare Reflex Edition, Conduit 2, Dr. Mario Online Rx, Endless Ocean Blue World, Fortune Street, Goldeneye 007, The Last Story, Picross 3D, Tetris DS.

Farewell to Nintendo Wi-Fi. I hope that Nintendo Network gets some replacements for these games soon!

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05/21/14, 01:06   Edited: 05/21/14, 01:05 
 
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Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart DS were the only two Wi-Fi Connection games I put a lot of real time into. Depending on if Smash Bros. U/3DS's is any better there is a decent chance Mario Kart 7 and 8 will remain the same case for me.

Otherwise, playing online holds little real value to me.
05/21/14, 12:16   
Happy to see Conduit being represented up there; I had some great times with that game. I have to say I think the sequel added a ton of meat to the relatively bare bones experience that was the original, and was well crafted even in comparison with the bigger games, but I'll still have the fondest memories of the first game.

The lag was bad at times, and once the hackers found their way into Conduit's code it was hard to find a 'real' game to play, but when I did I always had a blast. Team Objective on Pentagon was amazing, and it was so rewarding fragging someone with a headshot from the handgun after having been chased around the place with a rocket launcher.

I tell yas, if High Voltage Software were to re-release The Conduit in HD on the eShop for a reasonable price, with the glitches and exploits fixed, I'd pick it up.
05/21/14, 12:32   
@Zero@PogueSquadron Yeah, Mario Kart VII and Luigi's Mansion 2 are Nintendo Network, and can still be played online. This is Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection which is the online for Wii and DS, all 3DS and Wii U games use Nintendo Network so they are still running.

@Shadowlink They're honourable mentions at least! Sorry mate, but I didn't feel Goldeneye was better than the two shooters I mentioned. Battalion Wars II is too limited, if it had a full co-op campaign then it would probably be on here somewhere. Or if you knew how to take out bombers. :P

@GameDadGrant I have Bomberman Land Touch but I had no idea it had an online mode. If I had known that, I would have tried it!

@r_hjort The thing about Conduit 2 is that they made the game more like Halo/Call of Duty and less like its own thing. They added in things like a sprint button and loadouts, which I don't really like, and removed things like weapon sets. So that, to me, makes it worse.
05/21/14, 21:22   
@Mop it up
Yeah, I agree it took away lots of the original game's charm, 'cause I always liked that Conduit was a bit more old school, a bit closer to Goldeneye or TimeSplitters in certain ways, like running around to find weapons placed in the levels and all that. But I think that it's a shame that the gamers who like the CoD style with loadouts and perks didn't give Conduit 2 a shot, because what was there was pretty nifty.
05/21/14, 21:34   
Any list with MKWii on the top is not one which I can fully support, but it was a good read, nonetheless!

I didn't know that Excitebike had track sharing. I would've grabbed some before THE SHUTDOWN.

There are a lot of fun, under-appreciated multiplayer DS games. Phantom Hourglass, Custom Robo, Tetris Push Mode... the list goes on and on. I mean, I can't think of any more right now, but I remember that there were a lot!

I really should've tried Echoes of Time. Ah, well...
05/22/14, 03:21   
@Anand I did try the multiplayer in Zelda Phantom Hourglass, even though I haven't played the single player. I didn't like the controls for Link, but otherwise, it was a fun and interesting setup. I felt like it was harder to play the role of the statues than Link however, but it may just be because I didn't know good strategies yet.
05/25/14, 22:34   
IMO, Monster Hunter Tri was the best online game I played with the Nintendo WFC. I poured hundreds of hours into the online for that game and it was great!
05/25/14, 23:04   
NinTemple_Maxi said:
I think I played most of these games with you other then PSZero,Black Ops, and Echos of time Mop it up and I think I had the most fun with you playing Monster Hunter Tri and Animal Crossing:City Folk. Monster Hunter Tri for its co-op play and team work and just chatting and having fun with the game.For Animal Crossing I think it was just chatting about what has been going on with our lives and making up various games to play within the game. It was a nice bonding game that brought together the community.

Those were the days. You, me, Mop it up and sometimes Thatguy, Golden Phoenix and others over at Nintendo World Report. What a blast those days were. And really, that was a very dark time in my life and being able to interact with you guys and develop friendships was one of the things that got me through those rough spots. I do hope we can have a few reprises down the road in the new games.

Mop it up said:
@Anand I did try the multiplayer in Zelda Phantom Hourglass, even though I haven't played the single player. I didn't like the controls for Link, but otherwise, it was a fun and interesting setup. I felt like it was harder to play the role of the statues than Link however, but it may just be because I didn't know good strategies yet.

I adored the multiplayer for Phantom Hourglass. I had a very high score up until the end. It is a pity we don't see it's style of multiplayer return in some form. You could almost create a full retail release out of all the mini-games and multiplayer offerings in Zelda. "Zelda Party", anyone?
05/26/14, 00:05   
Monster Hunter Tri would top my list, as well.

@stratos
Ooo, it could include Tetra's Trackers and Four Swords Vs. mode, too!

Phantom Hourglass was pretty sweet. I never actually tried Spirit Tracks multiplayer, though. It's a local, 4P variant of the idea, right? Except not asymmetrical?

@Mop it up
Maybe. I don't remember having much difficulty in any role. Which makes me suspect that I was playing mostly 8-year-olds.

I'm not really one to brag*, but, MAN, did I crush those 8-year-olds...

* This is a lie
05/26/14, 00:19   
Anand said:
Monster Hunter Tri would top my list, as well.

@stratos
Ooo, it could include Tetra's Trackers and Four Swords Vs. mode, too!

Phantom Hourglass was pretty sweet. I never actually tried Spirit Tracks multiplayer, though. It's a local, 4P variant of the idea, right? Except not asymmetrical?


Those were exactly the other games I was thinking of when I posted that thought. Tetra's Trackers, Four Swords Vs, Phantom Hourglass, Spirit Tracks, Fishing, Bomb-Chu Bowling, Archery, Cuccu Shenanigains, Horse Races... The list goes on and on. They just finished over saturating Metroid, so maybe we can get an over saturation of Zelda next. ( Half-Kidding ;) )
05/26/14, 00:59   
@stratos
Hasn't that kind of happened already? It feels like we've been averaging a Zelda per year lately, in some form.

Four Swords Vs. mode is pretty freaking unbalanced, though. (And the main game* is basically a Vs. mode already.)

* In Chicago, at least.
05/26/14, 01:03   
While I agree with #1, where is Mario Strikers Charged?
05/26/14, 08:59   
I think the first video game I played over Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection was Mario Kart DS. When that game released, the idea of playing Nintendo games with anyone in the world kinda blew my mind. I enjoyed the few online experiences I had on the Nintendo DS. It's too bad that I overlooked the online multiplayer in Metroid Prime Hunters, though. I imagine it was pretty cool.

My favorite Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection game is Super Smash Brothers Brawl. I put a colossal amount of time into Brawl's Wi-Fi mode and had a blast over the years.

Another Wii game that I enjoyed playing online was Tatsunoko vs. Capcom. The functionality of the online component wasn't great, but I dealt with the limitations since it's such a fun game.
05/26/14, 09:43   
Edited: 05/26/14, 21:02
stratos said:
NinTemple_Maxi said:[quote]I think I played most of these games with you other then PSZero,Black Ops, and Echos of time Mop it up and I think I had the most fun with you playing Monster Hunter Tri and Animal Crossing:City Folk. Monster Hunter Tri for its co-op play and team work and just chatting and having fun with the game.For Animal Crossing I think it was just chatting about what has been going on with our lives and making up various games to play within the game. It was a nice bonding game that brought together the community.

Those were the days. You, me, Mop it up and sometimes Thatguy, Golden Phoenix and others over at Nintendo World Report. What a blast those days were. And really, that was a very dark time in my life and being able to interact with you guys and develop friendships was one of the things that got me through those rough spots. I do hope we can have a few reprises down the road in the new games.


Yeah they were fun times just hanging out and I am glad the bond while playing helped you out during your trying time.
05/26/14, 11:46   
@stratos I went with a more personal example for Animal Crossing, but I haven't forgotten about the NWR days with the game. Those were fun too. I just didn't want to get too wordy with this list, since I suspect most people just skim the titles and don't really read the text anyway.

@anon_mastermind In the trash can where it belongs.

MWA HA HA HA HAWR!
05/27/14, 04:08   
@Mop it up
That feels just like a dagger to the heart! I loved Strikers online, it was a stand-out moment for me in the early Wii days, played it a ton.
05/27/14, 05:02   
@anon_mastermind


Stikers Charged was awesome - and Monster Hunter Tri was pretty much one of the best online experiences that was not a Kart or Goldeneye ... I just didn't have the time to play MHTri to it's fullest...
05/27/14, 05:27   
@Mop it up

Yeah, it was pretty good - but it was "just" classic Bomberman. Had nothing to do with the main game. Which could be a good thing or a bad thing, depending on your like or dislike for classic Bomberman.

And actually, I just thought of another game that had an online mode that was rather fun and under appreciated: Castlevania: Portrait of Ruin. It had online co-op Boss Rush mode, which I suppose was kind of a forerunner to Castlevania: Harmony of Despair.
05/27/14, 18:07   
@GameDadGrant That Castlevania thing sounds like it could be some fun.

I kind of feel like I took the service for granted, seeing all I didn't get the chance to play. Not that I would have really had the time or the money, so I guess it's just human nature to feel that way.
05/27/14, 22:43   
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