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Most Underrated Wii Games [top ten]
 
  Santi N  
You knew this was coming. I love the Wii, I love Top 10s. I can't get enough of either of them - so when a Wii-centered Top 10 has so many games I can put in it, it's only natural that it's gonna be made eventually. With the Wii U almost near us it's the perfect time to snag some of these completely ignored gems and play them on there in HD. They're also painfully cheap at this point.

Just to clarify, these games aren't ordered from worst to best. The placement in the list has to do not only with the quality of the game (of course there's not one bad game on this list), but also how ignored they were, and how much they shouldn't have been ignored.
10/04/12, 01:17    Edited: 10/04/12, 01:22
 
   
 
Mushroom Men

When Mario Galaxy 1 came out it was unbelievably praised, however a lot of people missed the more open, exploration-based levels of Super Mario 64. While they still appreciated the shift to linear gameplay that's a better incarnation of Mario's 2D outings, people wanted to play a 3D platformer where they could explore big levels. There was a game on the Wii like that, yet no one played it. Mushroom Men is not a perfect game by any means, but it is completely serviceable and fun, not to mention it dropped to $20 - $10 only a few months after its release, and still everyone ignored it. Why? I don't know.
 
Excite Bots: Trick Racing

I guess it's not completely implausible for a game to be ignored when you announce it with little to no promotion (even on the Internet) and release it like two weeks later. The game bombed so hard Nintendo didn't even care to release it in Europe. And it's a shame because it's one of the best racers on the system. You might look at it and think "well it's Excite Truck with animals and no MP3 support, the menus and the levels look exactly the same, fuck that", but you'd be wrong because Bots has a ton of stuff to offer. If you like racing games you should check it out.
 
Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: The Crystal Bearers

Fear not X-Pert, this game shall not go overlooked today. Crystal Bearers was announced in E3 2006 but wasn't released until almost 2010. The game's constant delays, gameplay shifts, completely inconvenient release date (seriously, December 26? Who was the genius behind that decision?) and mixed reviews led to nobody playing it, even "hardcore" gamers and FF enthusiasts. There's some questionable stuff in the game, I'm not denying this, but it should've been given more attention. It's a great Wii effort.
 
Battalion Wars II

This game is pretty much the same as the first one (which also nobody played), but it improved on pretty much everything and it added three features that were key additions to the franchise - pointer control, online, and the ability to control vehicles. That made an already great game even better. Great production values and great gameplay, this is like Call of Duty meets Pikmin, wrapped up in the polish you'd expect from a Nintendo published title. It's a great game and when it came out the system was in need of awesome games, so I don't know what happened. Maybe it's not the most overlooked Wii game out there, but considering how awesome it is it definitely deserves a spot here.
 
Zack and Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure

Ah yes. Zack and Wiki. I don't know if it was lack of promotion, the fact that it looks like shovelware at first glance or the fact that its genre was very much dead when it came out, but nobody played this one despite glowing reviews. And it's a shame because it's an extremely well crafted unique experience. It's one of those games where you can feel the effort that was put into it. It's not for everyone, but if you dig games like it, you're almost guaranteed to enjoy it.
 
A Boy and His Blob

For a lot of people, this was a "yeah whatever" kind of game. You know, those games that you're sort of interested in but need to see some gameplay before purchasing, so you go do that, and the game looks totally "eh". Like not bad, but nothing catches your eye. The boy moves like a tank, the art style is nice but hand-drawn graphics are all over the place now, the levels and enemies repeat, and more. So you skip on the game. But when you actually sit down and play it, you realize that videos don't do it justice. You gotta sit back and completely immerse yourself into this game to appreciate it. Then you go, "more people should play this. I'm gonna include it in a Top 10"
 
MadWorld

I know there's plenty of NW users who hate this game and are more than willing to swap it for other games with your fellow NW companions. But this is my list, and amazing games deserve a spot on it. Dear lord, I love this game. I probably beat it like 5 times (that probably translates to 5 afternoons, but still!) and I will beat it more times, I can't get enough of it. That is the sign of a good beat-em-up right there. This is one of the best games on the system period to me.
 
Sin and Punishment: Star Successor

Okay, seriously, can anyone explain to me what happened here? Why did people not play this game? It completely baffles me. This is the kind of game that people were dying for the Wii to have, and I'm still sure to this day Nintendo made it solely for the purpose of shutting a few people up, yet when it came out (with spectacular reviews to back it up), no one played it! No one! Besides the "well it's not for me" logic is hard to apply with this one, it's an amazing on-rails shooter. Who doesn't like to shoot things? You have no excuse to bitch at the Wii's software lineup if you didn't play this.
 
Little King's Story

The quality-to-underratedness ratio of this game is off the goddamn charts. It's not the best game on this list, but you will not believe how overlooked it got. Sure, the omission of IR is almost inexcusable and it pisses me off to no end, but the game is still incredible. In-credible. As in with zero capacity for credibility. If you like RTS games you gotta play it, it really is as simple as that.
 
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories

~~~~**** PLAY THIS GAME!!!!! ****~~~~
 
  Santi N  
So which games did I ignore? Because I know I ignored a few!

spectrobes and dawn of the new world suck so I didnt include them lol

URL to share (right click and copy)
10/04/12, 01:17   Edited: 10/04/12, 01:22 
 
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  GameDadGrant  
@GelatinousEncore

Well, at least you considered Tatsunoko vs Capcom. I thought maybe it got pushed aside because it was fairly well received - Capcom said it sold a bit better than they expected it to. And hardcore fighting game fans dig it...though they are a niche group. I'd definitely put it in my top 10, but I'm a big fan of fighting games so it gets the push from me.

And actually? Thanks to Shocktober, playing through the Resident Evil "light-gun" games...they are actually deeper and more interesting than I initially gave 'em credit for. I *might* add them to my list...or at least The Darkside Chronicles because I'm pretty sure The Umbrella Chronicles was a million+ seller on Wii.

In any case, good list overall. I own 9 out of the 10 games you named, so you know I'm in agreement with ya!
10/04/12, 07:28   
  roykoopa64  
Nice list! (I have 7 of the 10 on your list).

Mushroom Men was always on my radar for the longest time but I think I lost some interest once I started reading some of the less-than-favorable reviews. I forgot I had it on my Wanted List.

I still want to play Excitebots. I should look into Crystal Bearers.

I actually owned Battalion Wars II (Bwii) but found certain aspects of the game frustrating and never completed it.

I own Zack & Wiki, A Boy and his Blob (reviewed it), MadWorld, S&P2, Little King's Story, and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories. All fantastic games, glad to see they made the list.

Guillaume said:
@Oldmanwinter

On PC? Complety different game.


Wow, what a complete branding disaster from Ubisoft.

Tell me about it! It's too bad there's so little awareness of how different of a game the Wii version is among gamers.
10/05/12, 00:27   
  gencid  
I got 5 out of 10 of those games and have played 2 out of 5, Silent Hill: Shattered Memories and Zack & Wiki. Silent Hill is underrated, but Zack & Wiki not so much.

Oldmanwinter said:
Add Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands to my list of games I need to play as well.

I bought that game like three years ago and still haven't installed it.
You must absolutely play that game. The last 20% of the game features some of the best gameplay in any Prince of Persia game ever.
10/05/12, 23:28   
Edited: 10/05/12, 23:30
  Mop it up  
Nice list, I have no qualms with the picks. I have all these except for the Silent Hill game, though I haven't played em all yet. I'm sad that battalion Wars II didn't do well, that probably means there won't be a 3 which is a shame because the Wii U GamePad is perfect for controlling such a game!
10/05/12, 23:34   
  Oldmanwinter  
No shit? I just looked it up and you guys are right. I always thought all the versions were the same.

Is the 360/PS3/PC version any good?
10/05/12, 23:36   
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