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Under The Radar Wii Games
The Wii has a huge library, 1262 different games hit retail shelves. There are definitely some classic games on the Wii, and there are of course a bunch of junk shovelware titles that hit this hot-selling console. There is also a group of games that just seem to be unrecognized, or forgotten, that don’t quite get the proper respect as other good – great games.
It seems like whenever I’m talking to friends about older games, the Wii gets laughed at or shrugged off, it can’t “shake” (sorry) the stigma of wiggle controls and elderly Wii Bowlers. Whenever I try to mention the Wii has some great exclusives, people kinda nod thinking I’m just talking about Mario, Smash, Zelda and are ready to move onto talking about other systems. I want to list here and talk about some of the Wii games I often recommend that a lot of gamers don’t know about, and deserve a playthrough.
I plan on doing this in multiple parts, I’m sure the hardcore Wii aficionado’s will not be surprised by some of what is on this list, but maybe as we get further in the series, you’ll find some surprises too.
Mad World
The black and white comic book art style is so unique and enticing to me, blood red is the only color you see in this game and it is part of what makes it stand out on the Wii. Your right arm is a chainsaw and the violence is over the top, interacting with items in the environment you can impale enemies with street signs and other objects. The game uses some motion controls and actually does it very well, it has never been released outside of the Wii.
Mad World is developed by Platinum Games (Bayonetta, Vanquish, Nier Automata etc) and is one of my favorite games from the developer. It’s current metacritic score is a 81, but it was given 9’s by publishers like IGN and Game Informer.
I always recommend this to anyone who thinks the Wii doesn’t have any good Mature games or action games.
ExciteBots Trick Racing
How can a game published by Nintendo be on an “Under The Radar” list? Because you likely never heard of this game, or ignored it when you did hear about it.
I’m sure most are familiar with the Excite-series because of Excitebike and probably even the Wii launch title Excite Trucks, but ExciteBots is the weirdest and most unfamiliar.
The vehicles are designed to look like insects, animals and different creatures, as you do tricks they flap their wings, kick out their legs, whip their tail and come to life. The game is all about getting stars from tricks and other tasks in the race, the winner isn’t determined by finishing first.
The goofiness of this game is what makes it so entertaining, while racing you will shake tambourines, kick soccer goals, throw pies in a clowns face, and so many other crazy things I can’t list. This is the most insane racing game I can recall playing. It’s oddly Nintendo-esque, and reminds me of the “Play It Loud” era of the Super Nintendo.
Demand for a racing game likely wasn’t high when this released because it was only 1 year after Mario Kart, and this was came out during a crowded Spring release season. It took me about 2 years after to release to get around to playing this and I’m so glad I did, I highly recommend it.
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