With the growing userbase and popularity of Nintendo's latest home console as well as the swift enlargement of the ranks of high-quality Wii games, there is need of a new, proper place to turn to for a comprehensive list of recommendable games for that little white box.

Have some cash to spare, and a Wii on your shelf collecting dust? Or just generally looking for a new game to get? Chances are there are a few titles below that you might just have a great time with.

For the Decisive Quality DS Games List, click here.
For the Super Duper PS3 Games List, click here.
For the Fabulous PSP Games List, click here.

Currently Available Must-Haves = Games that would feel at home in any collection regardless of genre preferences
Second-Tier Awesomeness = Games that may require love of their genre or feature some drastic artistic / gameplay decisions but are still worthy of any collection
Fan Favourites = Niche titles or games that may not be universally / critically acclaimed, but still have a high amount of followers. May not be for everyone, but still worth looking into.
Wiiware Must-Haves = Wiiware games that you MUST at least try, period.
Wiiware Second-Tier Awesomeness = Same as above, but for Wiiware.
Upcoming Titles = Games that have not yet been released, but are looked forward to by many. 

 

GAME ORDER IN ANY CATEGORY IS RANDOM. THEY ARE NOT RANKED. UPDATED 12/20/10.

Currently Available Must-Haves:

	1. Super Mario Galaxy 2
	2. Silent Hill: Shattered Memories
	3. Donkey Kong Country Returns
	4. Super Mario Galaxy
	5. Little King's Story
	6. Monster Hunter Tri
	7. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
	8. Metroid Prime Trilogy
	9. New Super Mario Bros. Wii
	10. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
	11. No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle
	12. Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All Stars
	13. A Boy and His Blob
	14. Wii Sports Resort
	15. de Blob
	16. Dead Space Extraction
	17. Mario Kart Wii
	18. Red Steel 2
	19. Kirby's Epic Yarn
	20. Sin & Punishment: Star Successor
	21. Boom Blox Bash Party
	22. GoldenEye 007

Second-Tier Awesomeness:

	1. Fatal Frame IV: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse Survival Horror
	2. Call of Duty: Black Ops FPS
	3. Metroid: Other M Action
	4. Muramasa: The Demon Blade Action/RPG
	5. The House of the Dead: OVERKILL Arcade Shooter
	6. Rune Factory: Frontier Sim/RPG
	7. Trauma Center: Second Opinion Puzzle
	8. Punch-Out!! Fighter
	9. Trauma Center: New Blood Medical drama / Puzzle
	10. Trauma Team Medical drama / Puzzle
	11. MadWorld Action/Brawler
	12. Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure Adventure
	13. NBA Jam
	14. No More Heroes Action/Brawler
	15. Dawn of Discovery
	16. Excitebots: Trick Racing Funracer
	17. WarioWare: Smooth Moves Microgame Compilation
	18. Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition - Action/Adventure
	19. Ōkami Wii Edition - Action/Adventure
	20. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition FPS
	21. Rabbids Go Home Platformer
	22. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn Strategy RPG
	23. Wario Land: Shake It! Platformer
	24. Super Paper Mario RPG / Platformer
	25. Blast Works: Build, Trade, Destroy Schmup/Creative
	26. Sonic & Sega All-Stars Racing Funracer

Fan Favorites:

	1. Animal Crossing: City Folk Adventure(?)
	2. Endless Ocean Adventure/Sim
	3. Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles Arcade Shooter
	4. Disney Epic Mickey
	5. DJ Hero Music
	6. Endless Ocean: Blue World Adventure/Sim
	7. Bully: Scholarship Edition Action/Adventure
	8. The Godfather: Blackhand Edition Action/Adventure
	9. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed Action/adventure
	10. Klonoa: Door to Phantomile Platformer
	11. New Play Control Series - div.
	12. Rayman Raving Rabbids TV Party Party game
	13. LEGO Star Wars: The Complete Saga Action/Adventure
	14. Geometry Wars: Galaxies Arcade
	15. Mario Strikers Charged Fun/Soccer
	16. Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10 Golf
	17. EA Sports Active Fitness
	18. Wii Fit Plus Fitness
	19. Madden NFL 10 Football
	20. NHL 10
	21. Grand Slam Tennis Tennis
	22. Resident Evil Archives Survival Horror
	23. Battalion Wars 2 Strategy/Action
	24. Elebits Action
	25. The Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces Flightsim/Action
	26. Deadly Creatures Action/adventure
	27. MLB Power Pros 2008 Baseball
	28. Marble Saga: Kororinpa MP Puzzle/Dexterity
	29. Shiren the Wanderer Roguelike RPG
	30. Tenchu: Shadow Assassins Action Adventure
	31. Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon Adventure
	32. Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands Action Adventure
	33. Wii Party Party. Duh.
	34. Rock Band 3 Music/Rhythm
	35. Guitar Hero 5
	36. Sonic Colors
	37. Pro Evolution Soccer 2011

Wiiware Must-Haves:

	1. World of Goo Puzzle/Adventure
	2. LostWinds: Winter of the Melodias Puzzle/Platformer
	3. Fluidity Puzzle/Adventure
	4. Mega Man 9 Platformer
	5. NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits Puzzle/Platformer
	6. Bit.Trip Arcade/Action/Music
	7. Castlevania: The Adventure ReBirth Castlevania!
	8. Swords & Soldiers Strategy
	9. MaBoShi: The Three Shape Arcade Puzzle
	10. Contra ReBirth Action
	11. Cave Story Action/Platformer
	12. Mega Man 10 Action/Platformer
	13. Art Of Balance Puzzle
	14. Bit.Trip RUNNER Music / Platformer
	15. Rage of the Gladiator Fighting

Wiiware Second-Tier Awesomeness:

	1. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a King City Building / Strategy
	2. Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life As a Darklord Tower Defense
	3. Max and the Magic Marker Puzzle/Platformer
	4. Tales of Monkey Island Adventure
	5. Bomberman Blast Arcade
	6. Tetris Party Arcade
	7. Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People Adventure
	8. Bonsai Barber Puzzle?
	9. Toki Tori Puzzle/Platformer
	10. LIT Horror/Puzzle
	11. Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney Adventure
	12. Sonic the Hedgehog 4: Episode 1 Platformer

Upcoming Titles:

	1. The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Action/Adventure
	2. The Last Story RPG
	3. Dragon Quest X RPG
	4. Xenoblade RPG
	5. Pikmin 3 Strategy
	6. Zangeki no Reginleiv Strategy/Action
	7. Tales of Graces RPG
	8. de Blob 2 3D Platformer / Adventure
	9. Mario Sports Mix Sports Collection
	10. The Conduit 2 FPS
	11. The Sims 3 Sim
	12. La-Mulana Sidescroller (Wiiware)
	13. Super Meat Boy Platformer (Wiiware)

What if my primary enjoyment in video games is blowing shit up and shooting people in the face?

What if I like racing games?

None of these games look interesting to me!

I have a game to add / I feel like a game doesn't deserve to be on there!

 -Remove The Grinder, High Voltage Software failed us
-I thought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was the tower defense game
-Tales of Monkey Island actually works well enough to be listed?

Lists. Sweet.

"  -I thought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was the tower defense game  

I need to buy more Wii games.
 
The games I have aren't even there!

The games that are ACTUALLY worth your time:  
 
Silent Hill: Shattered Memories 
No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle 
Muramasa: The Demon Blade 
Resident Evil 4 
Resident Evil Archives  

I'm really looking forward to Endless Ocean: Blue World. I just bought Grand Slam Tennis, wanted another Motion Plus game, and I'm liking it. I found I can use either my left and or right hand during gameplay. The Wii Remote fits me like a glove.
 
Tiger Woods 11 for the Wii should be even better this year. How that game has progressed since TW 07 is impressive. EA says the last two years TW was built from the ground up for the Wii. I still feel there's some PS2 code in there somewhere. I've seen the same bugs and animations for the last 7 years. They also need to tighten up the graphics somehow, not cartoony, but something.

Dead Space Extraction is a much have?               j/k
 
Awesome list.  I really, really, REALLY want to get No More Heroes 2.  To bad I'm poor right now.

" @Godwind said:

"  -I thought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was the tower defense game  

You'd be right. My Life as a King is a city building strategy game, where as Darklord is a tower defence game. That said, both deserve to be up there. "

" @Driadon said:

" @Godwind said:

"  -I thought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was the tower defense game  

You'd be right. My Life as a King is a city building strategy game, where as Darklord is a tower defence game. That said, both deserve to be up there. "

They both look overpriced to me. "

I will take a closer look at this tonight, but an obvious missing "Must Have" for me was the game I had the MOST fun with last year - House of Dead: Overkill.  It was an absolute blast from beginning to end - swearing that was just funny, plenty of mutants to kill and a story that will leave you shocked and in fits of laughter.  Plus, it is a shooty, killy game - fun for all the family  ^-^

Mario Kart Wii and Twilight Princess are must-haves, but Resident Evil 4, Okami and Zack & Wiki aren't? Really?

"Sky Crawlers? Mercury Meltdown? I have heard acclaim neither from players or critics on these titles."

Man, I certainly wouldn't call all those must-haves, but okay. Still, it looks like you covered most of the good games.

 Remove The Grinder, High Voltage Software failed us

I thought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was the tower defense game

RE4 and Okami should definitely be first tier [...] Mario Kart Wii and Twilight Princess are must-haves, but Resident Evil 4, Okami and Zack & Wiki aren't? Really?

Sky Crawlers? Mercury Meltdown? I have heard acclaim neither from players or critics on these titles.

Also your generalization about the other systems is quite unfair, have you heard of XBLA? Steam? There's more than just "guns, breasts, and fancy shaders" there

Dead Space Extraction is a much have? 

"RE4Wii and Okami are PS2 games with enhanced controls. Don't get me wrong, they are great - but I didn't feel comfortable including it in the console's must-haves. Mario Kart Wii, yes. Why not? It is one of the most popular Wii games, one of the most popular Wii Online games, and it appeals to a very wide range of audiences - as opposed to Zack&Wiki, which is certainly one of the console's top titles, but also a major turn-off for many people, even if they would give it a chance."

Looks like a pretty solid list of Wii games and another reminder if what I'm missing. Ugh. Stupid college books and stupid tuition fees...
 
Anyway, thanks for linking this to AgentJ's and my lists of games. I'll throw in a link in my lists as well. Now we just need a 360 list.

"@Geno said:

"Sky Crawlers? Mercury Meltdown? I have heard acclaim neither from players or critics on these titles."

Then you haven't been looking, plenty of the "known" outlets have rated both of those games well, and there are plenty positive impressions from communities like GAF. It's not hard to at least look at metacritic before making such comments since you involve critics in your statements. "

" @Al3xand3r said:

"@Geno said:

"Sky Crawlers? Mercury Meltdown? I have heard acclaim neither from players or critics on these titles."

Then you haven't been looking, plenty of the "known" outlets have rated both of those games well, and there are plenty positive impressions from communities like GAF. It's not hard to at least look at metacritic before making such comments since you involve critics in your statements. "

So I'll take your advice: 
 
Metacritic:  
 
Sky Crawlers - 74 Critic Score, 76 User score.
Mercury Meltdown - 77 Critic Score, 73 User score. 
 
Though not poor, I hardly see how such middling scores from both users and critics alike qualifies them as "fan favorites". If that's the case any game even marginally good could be called a fan favorite. And if you want to see positive impressions from GAF on more obscure games check out their massive threads on Torchlight, Dwarf Fortress or World of Goo (which were obscure before being brought to the attention of the mass gamer audience). Just because someone made a positive comment on a game from a board populated by tens of thousands of people doesn't mean the community showed a positive impression as a whole; in fact the little bit of love for Sky Crawlers that I found was made before the game was even released, and I saw next to nothing for Mercury Meltdown. There is not enough of a general consensus on their quality to justify them as fan favorites. "

" Looks like a pretty solid list of Wii games and another reminder if what I'm missing. Ugh. Stupid college books and stupid tuition fees...  Anyway, thanks for linking this to AgentJ's and my lists of games. I'll throw in a link in my lists as well. Now we just need a 360 list. "

" @Al3xand3r said:

"@Geno said:

"Sky Crawlers? Mercury Meltdown? I have heard acclaim neither from players or critics on these titles."

Then you haven't been looking, plenty of the "known" outlets have rated both of those games well, and there are plenty positive impressions from communities like GAF. It's not hard to at least look at metacritic before making such comments since you involve critics in your statements. "

So I'll take your advice: 
 
Metacritic:  
 
Sky Crawlers - 74 Critic Score, 76 User score.
Mercury Meltdown - 77 Critic Score, 73 User score.

@AgentJ:

" @Godwind said:

" @Driadon said:

" @Godwind said:

"  -I thought Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: My Life as a Darklord was the tower defense game  

You'd be right. My Life as a King is a city building strategy game, where as Darklord is a tower defence game. That said, both deserve to be up there. "

They both look overpriced to me. "

You get a good amount of game with them, but, yes, $15 is out of the sweet spot for most gamers. "

" @AgentJ: I understand what "niche" means and Dwarf Fortress or Mount and Blade (albeit PC games) are perfect examples of such games. They are less well known, may or may not have gotten mixed reviews, but have a strong, reasonably sized, and devoted following. The number of mods for Mount and Blade easily outnumber the Source Mods out there for example. However, I just don't see that for games like Sky Crawlers. Yes, some people out there undoubtedly liked it (just as I'm sure at least one person enjoyed Big Rigs) but that doesn't really make it a fan favorite without more justification. Show me websites completely dedicated to every aspect of these games, or a 2 dozen page thread on Neogaf and I'll be convinced. At this point it's looking like any game where even one person enjoyed it can qualify as a fan favorite. "

" @Geno said:

" @AgentJ: I understand what "niche" means and Dwarf Fortress or Mount and Blade (albeit PC games) are perfect examples of such games. They are less well known, may or may not have gotten mixed reviews, but have a strong, reasonably sized, and devoted following. The number of mods for Mount and Blade easily outnumber the Source Mods out there for example. However, I just don't see that for games like Sky Crawlers. Yes, some people out there undoubtedly liked it (just as I'm sure at least one person enjoyed Big Rigs) but that doesn't really make it a fan favorite without more justification. Show me websites completely dedicated to every aspect of these games, or a 2 dozen page thread on Neogaf and I'll be convinced. At this point it's looking like any game where even one person enjoyed it can qualify as a fan favorite. "

Like I said, "Fan Favorite" was not a good choice of words. Maybe even niche, at least in the way you think of the word, isn't the proper way to describe those games. For me and my comparable DS list, I didn't even bother looking at metacritic or other sites like that.  I started with the games I know first hand, then went to games I've seen, and the rest were thanks to other people's testimony. The trick to it is leaving preferences out of the equation, which can be tougher than it sounds, and being able to see the inherent quality in a game that you don't even like, or putting a game you love lower on the list because it's not as good as you want to think it is (Elite Beat Agents). Using coverage as a benchmark, especially for wii games, doesn't make a lot of sense to me, as dozens of great games have flown under the radar for the console because no one pays attention to it these days.   I think the real sticking point for you is the word choice, so here's a way to make things easier for you. Just think of the first bunch as the best of the best, the second section as the slightly not as good games, and the third as the games that aren't quite as good as the second section. It's a great way to show which games are the best without individually ranking each of them (which is a huge pain and promotes a lot of unnecessary complaints) By the way, this very site did a quick look of Sky Crawlers less than a month ago, so it is getting some coverage.  "

" @Godwind: Honestly most the DLC in MLAAK was pretty meh, I still haven't gotten around to exploring a lot of it but I felt pretty satisfied by the default game. I didn't feel like part of the game was missing without it, especially for a downloadable game.   Anyhow, nice list though I am still not a fan of separate categories for promoting at least decent games since like the thread shows it becomes far too opinion this opinion that. These sort of lists should be more of "hey these games might be worth checking out" not "must have" "maybe buy" categories etc. "

" @Geno: I'm saying though that that isn't really what Meowayne was really going for. He's just trying to establish a 3 tier system similar to the one I used on the DS list and giving them some snazzy names. That's it. After all, it's not like Rock Band 2 is really "niche". This is all semantics. "

" @AgentJ said:

" @Geno: I'm saying though that that isn't really what Meowayne was really going for. He's just trying to establish a 3 tier system similar to the one I used on the DS list and giving them some snazzy names. That's it. After all, it's not like Rock Band 2 is really "niche". This is all semantics. "

It's acceptable under a tier system, but I think most people's definition of fan favorite intersects with mine, i.e. the "hidden gem", "best game you never heard of", "player's darling" sort of thing.  "

" @Geno said:

" @AgentJ said:

" @Geno: I'm saying though that that isn't really what Meowayne was really going for. He's just trying to establish a 3 tier system similar to the one I used on the DS list and giving them some snazzy names. That's it. After all, it's not like Rock Band 2 is really "niche". This is all semantics. "

It's acceptable under a tier system, but I think most people's definition of fan favorite intersects with mine, i.e. the "hidden gem", "best game you never heard of", "player's darling" sort of thing.  "

Maybe, but I think most people will get the gist of it "

" @AgentJ said:

" @Geno said:

" @AgentJ said:

" @Geno: I'm saying though that that isn't really what Meowayne was really going for. He's just trying to establish a 3 tier system similar to the one I used on the DS list and giving them some snazzy names. That's it. After all, it's not like Rock Band 2 is really "niche". This is all semantics. "

It's acceptable under a tier system, but I think most people's definition of fan favorite intersects with mine, i.e. the "hidden gem", "best game you never heard of", "player's darling" sort of thing.  "

Maybe, but I think most people will get the gist of it "

Ok, with that aside, I would also like to ask why No More Heroes isn't in the "Must Have" category while NMH2 is?  "

Personally I would also put Smash Bros. Brawl in Tier 2. I've been an avid player of Smash Bros. since the first and Brawl just left a bad taste in my mouth. 

" Personally I would also put Smash Bros. Brawl in Tier 2. I've been an avid player of Smash Bros. since the first and Brawl just left a bad taste in my mouth.  "

This is a brilliant list, and you should feel good about yourself.
 
I would recommend FF4: The after years. Kind of.
 
The actual game(s) are really good if you're an FF fan, especially of the FF4 game. However, the price point is fucking outrageous. I mean, there's other ways to...get it, but if I was paying, that would be far too much.

" @Geno said:

" Personally I would also put Smash Bros. Brawl in Tier 2. I've been an avid player of Smash Bros. since the first and Brawl just left a bad taste in my mouth.  "

I love everything about Brawl save for "tripping", which should never have been thought of. "

" This is a brilliant list, and you should feel good about yourself.  I would recommend FF4: The after years. Kind of.  The actual game(s) are really good if you're an FF fan, especially of the FF4 game. However, the price point is fucking outrageous. I mean, there's other ways to...get it, but if I was paying, that would be far too much. "

So, from not seeing any critic praise, now you have to see praise from everyone to consider it may be worthwhile? Like I told you to go see the average score and I didn't specifically say that several of the big outlets rated those games highly. Ie, Eurogamer, GameSpot, NWR, GamePro, Jolt Online, CVG, GameSpy, 1UP,  Edge, IGN, Destructoid, and others. And you didn't see any positive opinions? As for user comments, how do you qualify which to believe and which not to? You made a ridiculous claim that was flat out false and now try to save it by moving the goalposts and posting absolute crap about how I only saw one off-hand comment or whatever made up shit. Get real. Torchlight isn't niche, it's a freaking Diablo clone, and yes, at first only those into indie games anticipated and hyped it, but guess what, NeoGAF has plenty of those people within, including myself. Dwarf Fortress has more pages on NeoGAF than plenty other games, many of which I'm sure you enjoy. And it's free so anyone can play and post about it. It seems the only real qualifier that would suit your needs is for you to basically agree with the positive impressions of others, whether because you like the games yourself, or because you can see their quality even if you aren't really into them. I'm sorry, bad news: opinions differ. "

- You cherry pick a bunch of publications that gave the highest scores and completely ignore the lower spectrums (which also included major publications). Then you accuse me of just that when it's entirely opposite; I take aggregate scores as a whole. For every 9/10 the game got it also got a 5/10 review. And this was from both the fans and the critics.

- First of all, I never said that I needed to see praise "from everyone", at the very least if a game were to qualify as a fan favorite it should have good reception or a good following from the fans"

- You then shoot yourself in the foot and post a thread from NeoGAF with only 5 (closer to 4) pages; you realize that routine NDP reports get more posts right? In addition, more than half of that entire thread was posted pre-release, i.e. hyping. Yeah, real nice following. Next time post one with a single page with just the press release information, that would convince me even more that a game has a strong following.

- You then seem to have the delusion that once a game is a Diablo clone it isn't niche. Because an air fighter game and a super monkey ball clone are totally original. Gameplay style has nothing to do with niche or non-niche, it has to do with publicity.

The average being low or not makes absolutely no difference to the fact there is such acclaim that is easy to find so you made that statement either while being ignorant to such obvious facts or because you wanted to lie to promote your views further. 

@Al3xand3r

"What does being niche have to do with being original? Niche has to do with the theoritical appeal of the genre and type of game, not publicity. If I make a Diablo clone, I know that type of game appeals to the masses. If mine will manage to reach out to them is a different matter reliant on many other factors, and not just if it's an actually good game. Not every game that undersold is niche, otherwise Sky Crawlers would qualify and that's something you don't accept, therefor such half assed definitions clearly don't apply.

@Al3xand3r

Overall, lol. "

"So if a game got a single 90 score and a bunch of 50's, ending up with a score of 60 then that game is acclaimed?"

You're essentially implying that anyone who makes a Diablo clone will succeed;"

What does being niche have to do with being original? Niche has to do with the theoritical appeal of the genre and type of game. If I make a Diablo clone, I know that type of game appeals to the masses. If mine will manage to reach out to them is a different matter reliant on many other factors, and not just if it's an actually good game. Not every game that undersold is suddenly niche.

I don't see Final Fantasy IV:  The After Years listed under WiiWare.  For shame.

Ok, with that aside, I would also like to ask why No More Heroes isn't in the "Must Have" category while NMH2 is?  "

I don't get why Silent Hill and Tiger Woods 10's spots aren't switched. Makes more sense to me according to your description of each category. Then again there are probably a few more I would change as well. Those two just jumped out at me the most as being placed wrong.

 I don't get why Silent Hill and Tiger Woods 10's spots aren't switched. Makes more sense to me according to your description of each category.

  IMO zack and wiki is must have...