Wii Games of 2009

I’ve always been a pretty blatant Nintendo fan. My first console was an SNES; my first handheld, a Gameboy Color. Since then I’ve owned an N64, Virtual Boy, Gameboy Advanced, Playstation One, Gamecube, and a Wii. I know not rather to call myself a hardcore gamer– I’m not into Halo, Fallout, Gears of War, or any of these heavy hitting Xbox games. I’ve always had an appeal for Nintendo’s Zelda series, the “Tales of” RPG series by Namco, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Pikmin, a certain plumber, and everything else generally found on a Nintendo console.

That’s not to say that the last few years of the Wii have really nagged at me. Lately, developers have seemed to think “hey, let’s make a cheap gimmicky game on the Wii for a quick cash-in.” Even Nintendo has done it recently (albeit also releasing AAA titles  at intervals). We’ve seen a few a good number of small developers really try with their Wiiware titles, and a few third parties somewhat trying with store-bought releases. But these numbers in comparison with the loads of crappy games I see every day just don’t add up. Since 2006 we’ve seen Zelda: TP, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario Kart Wii, Metroid Prime 3, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Medal of Honor Heroes 2, Call of Duty 5, Resident Evil 4, Zack and Wiki (ah yes, Zack and Wiki. perfect example of what people should be playing on the wii yet ignore), Tales of Symphonia 2, No More Heroes, LostWinds, and a good solid list of a few other games. That’s for nearly 3 years worth of the console’s life. And half of those listed are from Nintendo itself; third party support hasn’t seen much in terms of 7.0 or higher titles.

Oh but 2009. 2009 looks to be the Year of the Wii in terms of its own lifespan (I’m not saying the Wii’s lineup will be any better or worse than 360 or the Ps3. Merely that this will be the WII’S best year yet.)

Let’s look at the games coming out either here or in Japan in 2009:

The Conduit

The Conduit

Website: http://www.sega.com/games/?g=562
Official Site: http://the-conduit.com/ (in development)
Gameplay Footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TVGo9hXQ2ws

The Conduit is a game being developed by High Voltage and published by SEGA, set to be released sometime in 2009. High Voltage created an engine that was made for the soul purpose of getting 360-like graphics onto the Wii. Their technology is unmatched by any other developers at the moment, possibly even Nintendo itself. Look for this game to be an 8.5 to 9.5 title.

Sin & Punishment 2

Sin & Punishment 2

Trailer: http://www.gametrailers.com/player/40742.html

Ah, good old Sin & Punishment. The game was originally on the N64, and got ported over to the Wii’s Virtual Console complete with an English translation and some overhauls. Apparently it sold well on the virtual console, so the developers decided to make a sequel. Glad they did; this game should really fit well on the Wii.

Monster Hunter 3

Monster Hunter 3

Monster Hunter 3 was originally planned to be released for the PS3, but changed to the Wii for reasons I’m not aware of. Anyway, looks epic. Monster Hunter is big in Japan, not so big in the US. If you’re into these games though… might wanna check it out.

MadWorld

http://www.bdgamers.net/wp-content/uploads/2008/05/madworld-2.jpg Warning: Bloody. Not going to show an image of this one directly…

This is basically an action game in which you uh… kill people inside of a gameshow type of setting. People are psyched about it. I’m… not so much. Artstyle is neat.

Trace Memory: Wii

Trace Memory

New Trace Memory game, sequel to the one from the DS. Point and click adventure game.

Fatal Frame 4

Fatal Frame 4

Gameplay Footage: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxR8iPaEOAk (in a Zero Suit Samus suit, at that)

Nintendo recently acquired the rights to the Fatal Frame series over in Japan. This game should be localized in 2009. Exploration, killing ghosts with a camera, creepy atmosphere, great graphics.

Fragile: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

Fragile

Official Website (JPN): http://fragile.namco-ch.net/
Official Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NtGuOsuWCgg

Fragile is a bit of an RPG with a twist. You’re basically given a flashlight, you explore a world where everything has gone into ruin, and it seems there’s only a few people left alive. I’m not too updated on this game, but it looks like it’s shaping up well.

 Rune Factory Frontier

Rune Factory Frontier

Trailer: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aOKkUPT30PY

Rune Factory is a series of games from the creators of Harvest Moon. Basically, it’s Harvest Moon with an RPG aspect. You live on a farm of sorts in a world infested with monsters. Go into dungeons, etc and fight off monsters to earn varieties of items. Plant things. Live a life. Have some fun. It’s what the HM series has always been about.

 

 

 

Other games worth mentioning:

Red Steel 2
Muramasa: Demon Blade
Klonoa
Arc Rise Fantasia
Rune Factory Frontier
Dynamic Slash
Tenchu 4
Cursed Mountain
Sonic and the Black Knight
Endless Ocean 2
Little King’s Story
House of the Dead: Overkill
Overlord: Dark Legend
Deadly Creatures
No More Heroes: Desperate Struggle

 

You can search each of these titles on Google or somesuch to get images or whatnot of them. If any information I’ve given is inaccurate or you’d like to suggest something, please do so in the comments section.

Also, do remember that it isn’t even 2009 yet. These are only titles that are known and in development. Many other games may be coming from Western developers, or even from Nintendo itself who tends to stay quiet until near-release. A new Kid Icarus game is rumored to be in the making, Miyamoto kind of hinted off at that one a few months ago. A new Zelda is in the making. Pikmin 3 is probably being worked on. An instant-transmission machine is being worked on that processes at over 9000GHz. Wait…