The 25 Best Games on the Nintendo Wii

The GameCube’s distinct third-place position during the 6th generation led many gamers to not expect much from Nintendo’s next console, but the Wii would ultimately go on to become the undisputed winner of the 7th generation and completely revolutionize gaming as we know it. The Wii’s main success — being able to draw in casual players and non-gamers thanks to its motion controls — led Sony and Microsoft to each try their hand at similar gimmicks with their own hardware, none of which really felt as intuitive or cleverly implemented as Nintendo’s. The Wii ultimately became the best-selling console of the decade thanks to the strength of its game library, the best of which are some of the more unique and original titles of the era, not available on any other platform.

• Release Date — April 9, 2009
• Developer — Vanillaware
• Publisher — Marvelous
• Genre — Action RPG, Beat ’em Up
• Review Aggregate Score — 81% (Generally Favorable)

Before it was released on the PS Vita, Vanillaware’s Muramasa: The Demon Blade made its debut on the Nintendo Wii as one of the console’s more unique exclusives. This beautiful, hand-drawn side-scrolling ARPG beat ’em up carries over a lot of the same charm and fun combat that made other Vanillaware games like Dragon’s Crown and Odin Sphere so beloved, but does so with a unique Japanese-inspired aesthetic that runs counter to the high fantasy settings and characters that Vanillaware typically sticks to.

• Release Date — May 18, 2010
• Developer — Atlus
• Publisher — Atlus
• Genre — Visual Novel, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)

The motion controls facilitated by the Nintendo WiiMote allowed for the console to have some games that were completely unique to the Wii and only possible on the hardware, with Trauma Team a prime example. This visual novel and surgery simulator hybrid is one of Atlus’ best games of the era, and one that was only available on the Wii. While there are some great follow-ups in the series, the original Trauma Team is still arguably the best for how it blends its motion-controlled surgical gameplay with its narrative-driven visual novel elements.

• Release Date — April 10, 2008
• Developer — Nintendo EAD
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Driving/Racing
• Review Aggregate Score — 82% (Generally Favorable)

Even though it might be one of the weakest games in the series based on its character selection and track design (completely outdone by its two more recent follow-ups), Mario Kart Wii was still an absolute blast that put the console’s motion controls to great use. A lot of players already tilt their controller back and forth when playing Mario Kart; Mario Kart Wii just gave them an excuse to do it with purpose.

• Release Date — July 21, 2011
• Developer — Nintendo SPD, TNX
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Music/Rhythm, Mini-Game
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)

After an initial entry on the Nintendo DS, the Rhythm Heaven series made its way to the Wii with Rhythm Heaven Fever, offering up yet another incredibly fun selection of quirky, musical mini-games. The addition of motion controls freed up the developers at Nintendo SPD to get creative with how they expanded the types of gameplay on offer in some of the new mini-games, introducing a whopping 40 new games that are mostly exclusive to Fever and not available in any subsequent series entries.

• Release Date — December 2, 2006
• Developer — Nintendo SPD, Intelligent Systems
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Mini-Game, Party
• Review Aggregate Score — 83% (Generally Favorable)

One of the Wii’s other great mini-game collections is the excellent WarioWare: Smooth Moves, the third game in the WarioWare series and, surprisingly, not the first to utilize motion controls. That said, Smooth Moves‘ motion-based mini-games were a massive improvement over WarioWare: Twisted‘s on the Game Boy Advance, taking full advantage of the better gyroscopic function of the Nintendo WiiMote to deliver smoother performance and a more enjoyable experience.

• Release Date — February 22, 2007
• Developer — Intelligent Systems
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — TRPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 78% (Generally Favorable)

Were it not for the series’ intended “final hurrah” with Fire Emblem: Awakening and subsequent breakthrough in the West, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn would have been the last home console game in the series that Nintendo produced. Had that been the case, though, it would’ve been a high note to go out on, as Radiant Dawn is one of the best entries in the TRPG series from the pre-Awakening era, and the use of the WiiMote to navigate the battlefield was actually incredibly intuitive; enough to where it makes you wish there were more TRPGs on the Wii.

• Release Date — April 9, 2007
• Developer — Intelligent Systems
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — RPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 85% (Generally Favorable)

Following up a game as incredible as Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door was always going to be a challenge. So, instead of trying to capture lightning in a bottle twice, Intelligent Systems opted to try something different with the Paper Mario series’ third game, and first on the Wii, with Super Paper Mario. Much more of a blend between a classic Super Mario Bros. game and an RPG than the other entries in the series, Super Paper Mario stands out for how much platforming it contains, but it’s ultimately yet another great RPG with some fun, interactive combat and a charming story.

• Release Date — May 18, 2009
• Developer — Next Level Games
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Sports, Fighting
• Review Aggregate Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)

After skipping a couple of generations of Nintendo hardware, the Punch-Out!! franchise made its triumphant return on the Wii for the first time since the SNES with the aptly named Punch-Out!!. As it turns out, the Wii was a perfect fit for the franchise, with the console’s version of the Nintendo classic really making the most of the system’s motion controls and delivering yet another incredibly fun game that’s part sports simulation, part fighting game, and part puzzler as you figure out the best strategy and patterns to take down each opponent.

• Release Date — October 14, 2010
• Developer — Good-Feel
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 86% (Generally Favorable)

For a while there, it seemed like Nintendo was gung-ho on producing cute platformers with unique, true-to-life visual aesthetics that utilized crafting materials. But before we got Yoshi’s Crafted World and its cardboard cutouts brought to life, we had Kirby’s Epic Yarn on the Nintendo Wii, the first attempt at using real-world crafting supplies as a visual and gameplay motif. What could have been a gimmick is instead one of the best Kirby games, elevated by how well the series’ gameplay merges with the photorealistic yarn visuals and physics.

• Release Date — October 29, 2009
• Developer — Treasure
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Rail Shooter
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

When Nintendo started bringing Nintendo 64 classics over to the eShop as Virtual Console titles, almost no one expected that we would get a localization of the legendary Japan-only classic Sin and Punishment. So it was an even bigger surprise that Treasure and Nintendo partnered up once again for a Wii-exclusive sequel with Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. Like its predecessor, Star Successor is an adrenaline-fueled rail shooter with some truly amazing action setpieces that stands out as one of the Wii’s best titles in one of its most underutilized genres.

• Release Date — April 22, 2009
• Developer — Cing
• Publisher — Xseed Games
• Genre — RTS, RPG, Simulation
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

To say that there aren’t many games like Little King’s Story is an understatement, and at the time of its original release on the Wii, there was certainly nothing else like it. Part life-sim RPG and part real-time strategy game, Little King’s Story is one of the most charming and accessible on-ramps to the occasionally intimidating RTS genre. And like Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, the Wii version of Little King’s Story effectively demonstrates that the Wii Remote is a near-perfect controller for tactics and strategy games.

• Release Date — October 23, 2007
• Developer — Capcom
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Adventure, Puzzle
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

One of the Wii’s best games also happens to be one of Capcom’s most unique titles, the point-and-click adventure Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure. Like most point-and-click adventure games, players can expect to solve plenty of puzzles and intentionally explore environments to discover clues that help them along the way, but Zak & Wiki stands out thanks to that classic Capcom charm and some truly intuitive controls courtesy of the Wii Remote. This one is a true hidden gem that deserved more attention at the time of its release.

• Release Date — November 21, 2010
• Developer — Retro Studios
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

After resurrecting the Metroid franchise with a trilogy of excellent Metroid Prime games (more on those later), Retro Studios got the opportunity to do the same with Donkey Kong Country, resulting in one of the Wii’s best games. Donkey Kong Country Returns is Donkey Kong Country 4 in all but name, and it’s every bit the incredible (and incredibly tough) platformer you’d expect as a continuation of that incredible SNES trilogy.

• Release Date — November 15, 2009
• Developer — Nintendo EAD
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 87% (Generally Favorable)

Another of the Wii’s best side-scrolling platformers is, of course, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which became such an instantaneous hit that Nintendo started including it as a pack-in title with the Wii in the latter half of the console’s life span. There are elements from previous Mario games front and center in New Super Mario Bros., especially Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World, but the real kicker is how the game seamlessly introduces 4-player co-op to transform the classic Mario Bros. experience into one of the Wii’s best party games.

• Release Date — April 15, 2008
• Developer — Clover Studio, Ready at Dawn, Tose
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 90% (Universal Acclaim)

Clover Studio’s Okami was already one of the best games on the PS2, and its port to the Wii carries over everything that made it an instant classic while also introducing motion controls to make it arguably the best version of the title. Considering how important painting is to the combat and puzzle-solving gameplay of Okami, using the Wii Remote to facilitate that just felt so intuitive and natural, adding to the immersion of a game that already stood the test of time as one of the best action-adventure titles to not come from the Legend of Zelda franchise.

• Release Date — November 15, 2011
• Developer — Ubisoft Montpellier, Ubisoft Paris, Ubisoft Casablanca
• Publisher — Ubisoft
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)

The number of times that Rayman Legends has been ported and re-released can make it easy to overlook that the game originally launched way back in 2011 as a multi-platform title, including on the Wii. But even back then, Rayman Legends was one of the best-looking and smoothest animated platformers on the console, giving New Super Mario Bros. and Donkey Kong Country Returns a real run for their money as the genre’s best title on the console.

• Release Date — May 31, 2007
• Developer — Capcom Production Studio 4
• Publisher — Capcom
• Genre — Survival Horror, Action
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)

Despite the console having one of the best control schemes for them, there weren’t many shooters on the Wii, which makes the really good ones stand out as some of the best titles on the platform. One that stands tall above all others is the Wii’s version of Resident Evil 4, which faithfully ports over the original GameCube version of the title while adding in one of the system’s best implementations of motion controls. Years later, the Wii version of Resident Evil 4 might still be the best way to play the original, if for no other reason than how easy it is to nail one headshot after another.

• Release Date — August 24, 2009
• Developer — Retro Studios
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — FPS, Metroidvania
• Review Aggregate Score — 91% (Universal Acclaim)

The arrival of Metroid Prime 3: Corruption on the Wii was a huge moment for the console, with Retro Studios figuring out how to perfectly map first-person shooter controls to the Wii Remote and Nunchuk and successfully closing out the trilogy with one of its best games. Naturally, it left players wondering how the first two games would feel with Metroid Prime 3‘s control scheme, and we didn’t have to wonder long. Metroid Prime Trilogy brings the initial trilogy together under one umbrella and adds in motion controls, immediately catapulting to the top of the shooter pile on the Wii as the console’s best game in the genre.

• Release Date — June 10, 2010
• Developer — Monolith Soft
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — JRPG
• Review Aggregate Score — 92% (Universal Acclaim)

Thanks to the fan-led Operation Rainfall campaign, the formerly Japan-exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles would finally make its way to the West in 2012 after initially releasing in 2010, and it would help birth an entire trilogy of beloved games that have only continued to serve as some of Nintendo’s best first-party titles. That first game in the series is still one of the best in the trilogy, and its Wii version, while not quite as visually impressive as the Switch’s Definitive Edition, is still the excellent JRPG it’s always been.

• Release Date — November 20, 2011
• Developer — Nintendo EAD
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 93% (Universal Acclaim)

The launch of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword happened to coincide with the Zelda franchise’s 25th anniversary, and to celebrate, Nintendo gave players their first look at the series’ official timeline and chronology, where Skyward Sword sits as the first game in the story. And while many players had already grown tired of the series’ brief use of motion controls, Skyward Sword was still an incredible Zelda game with some of the best dungeons and boss fights of any 3D entries, and a fitting swansong to the “classic” style of Zelda before the franchise transitioned into open-world territory.

• Release Date — November 19, 2006
• Developer — Nintendo EAD
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Sports, Party
• Review Aggregate Score — 76% (Generally Favorable)

The concept of a system pack-in is something that we don’t see too much of anymore, and it was something that practically defined several generations of Nintendo hardware. When it comes to pinpointing which system pack-in is the best, though, it’s hard to argue against Wii Sports, for pure virtue of it being the main thing that drew millions of casual non-gamers to pick up the console. When countless Wii owners had a console and a copy of Wii Sports and nothing else, you know it was a smart move to include the disc as a free bonus.

• Release Date — January 31, 2008
• Developer — Sora Ltd.
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Fighting
• Review Aggregate Score — 93% (Universal Acclaim)

In many ways, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is the series’ turning point, where Smash went from being a fun curiosity in its Nintendo 64 and GameCube entries to being a bona fide phenomenon and a major player in the competitive fighting scene. You could point to Brawl‘s success as one of the determining factors in the Smash Bros. series continuing to grow and get one high-profile crossover after another, meaning we have it to thank for Super Smash Bros. Ultimate more than the two entries preceding it. On top of its importance, it’s also one of the best party games on the Wii and an absolute must for anyone with a Wii console and 4 Wii Remotes.

• Release Date — May 23, 2010
• Developer — Nintendo EAD Tokyo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 97% (Universal Acclaim)

While some might put Super Mario Galaxy 2 higher up on the list as the absolute best game on the Wii, I’d still argue that the original is better in terms of both its level design and its importance to the console. Still, Super Mario Galaxy 2 is yet another incredible 3D Mario game with some of the series’ most creative gameplay and eye-popping visuals that remind you why there’s simply nothing that can come close to replicating that patented “Nintendo magic” you find in the best Mario and Zelda games.

• Release Date — November 19, 2006
• Developer — Nintendo EAD
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Action-Adventure
• Review Aggregate Score — 95% (Universal Acclaim)

Nintendo consoles don’t typically launch with a new Zelda game, so when they do, it’s kind of a big deal. Before the Switch came along and blew players away with Breath of the Wild, the Wii did the same with The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, which served as both the “dark” Zelda game fans had been asking for and a proof of concept for the system’s motion controls. To this day, Twilight Princess is one of the most unique games in the entire Zelda series, and it’s impressive that it still ranks as one of the Wii’s best games, considering it was also one of its first.

• Release Date — November 1, 2007
• Developer — Nintendo EAD Tokyo
• Publisher — Nintendo
• Genre — Platformer
• Review Aggregate Score — 97% (Universal Acclaim)

If you were a casual gamer with a Wii and that singular copy of Wii Sports, and you happened to ask what a good additional game to get might be, the answer I’d come to time and time again is Super Mario Galaxy. Like Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Sunshine before it, Super Mario Galaxy is an intuitive and accessible platformer that’s enjoyable by all, and it makes great use of its console’s hardware to deliver an unmissable experience that stands out from other games in the Mario series. Whether young or old, experienced or casual, there’s something to love about Super Mario Galaxy for just about everyone, making it one of the Wii’s most essential games.