NOTE: These games will play on any Nintendo Wii system as long as you have a compatible GameCube controller.
In no particular order:
The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Walker (2003)
Gorgeous colors and beautiful animation style make this adventure game a classic. You will find all of the usual Zelda goodness, including special weapons, engaging storytelling, relatively challenging puzzles, multiple side-quests and a large cast of colorful characters. This is the game that inspired the Zelda: Phantom Hourglass and Zelda: Spirit Tracks games on the Nintendo DS.
Super Mario Sunshine (2002)
Water, sunshine, everywhere! Using a water-throwing device, help Mario clean-up the mess left behind by a mysterious Shadow Mario character. This device also allows you to zip over bodies of water or rocket high into the sky. This game environment feels like a breezy, sunny vacation on a tropical island paradise, making it an ideal game to fight the winter blues.
Luigi’s Mansion (2001)
Light and darkness: where Super Mario Sunshine was all about sunlight and shooting water around, Luigi’s Mansion deals with darkness and vacuuming stuff. Luigi must use every ounce of his courage to fight his way through a haunted mansion populated by cartoony ghosts with a souped-up vacuum cleaner as his only weapon. When originally launched, this game was acclaimed for its gameplay and sound quality but decried for its relative short length. The game’s length is now a minor concern when purchased at bargain price. All in all, this is another great family game for kids and grown-ups looking for superbly executed light entertainment.
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door (2007)
I was surprised at how much fun this game could be. This (often very silly) RPG set in the Mario offers a large cast of friends and enemies and a wide variety of environments. Its turn-based combat system is very enjoyable and always keeps you on your toes as you progress to ever more dangerous foes.
Although the dialog may often be very long-winded, it’s also very witty and self-deprecating. Mario’s moustaches are the but of many running gags and you will find many in-jokes making good-natured fun at the Mario franchise’s idiosyncrasies.
All in all, my son and I spent more hours than I could count playing together with this game and will continue to do so as we replay this gem multiple times.
- Comparison of the three Paper Mario titles by Yahtzee, author of the hilarious Zero Punctuation game reviews. (Hint: Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door is his favorite.)
- A look back at Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door from NintendoLife Retro
The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction (2005)
This game is certain to satisfy your need for destruction. You get to use a mind-boggling number of special attacks, including using cars as iron gloves, trucks as shields, use your unstoppable momentum to run over the sheer faces of canyons and skyscrapers, or terrorize citizens as you battle towering "Hulk-Buster" armored soldiers.
But this game also has a healthy sense of humor. It’s many side-quest will often offer ludicrous and highly entertaining challenges, Hulk-style, such as piling tricks and cars on top of a skyscraper or moving across the city by jumping from roof to roof.
Overall, the freedom of roaming across the city or desert, wreaking massive destruction is well balanced with multiple storyline missions as well as quirky and optional challenges.
Please note that there have been multiple Hulk games that feature similar gameplay. In this case, the usual "games-based-on-movies-suck" rule is totally true. What made The Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction so great, apparently, is the fact that it was based on the actual comic (and used comic-book artists as game designers/consultants). The 2009 Wii version is a disappointing, half-assed mess that has nothing of the charm and polish of the 2005 version.
