Which WiiWare games should everyone buy?
Monday, May 12th, 2008 at 4:57pm by Blake
As I’m sure you’ve heard, WiiWare launched in North America today with six games. The only one, and I do mean only, that I wouldn’t spend money on is VIP Blackjack. I’ve already purchased and played both My Life as a King and Lost Winds (impressions coming soon, but they are both beautifully looking and sounding games), and am already eying TV Show King, Defend Your Castle, and Pop in that order. Buying them all would set you back $54, not a bad deal me thinks.
But you’re not going to buy them all, are you? That being the case, please offer your thoughtful recommendations in the below comments: which games should everyone buy, why/why not, what’s good, what’s not, what has impressed you the most about WiiWare so far? Let’s hear it, folks!
May 12th, 2008 at 5:00 pm
LostWinds. It’s incredibly charming and looks and plays better than most disc-based Wii games.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:01 pm
Not which I would buy - probably either Lost Winds or TV Show King… but wanted to comment on how balanced the game selection is.
Two “core” games with Final Fantasy and Lost Winds, two “party” games with trivia and blackjack, and two “casual” games filling out the list. Who knows how well distributed future WiiWare releases will be, but this seems like a pretty good start (even if my most wanted titles haven’t shown up yet).
May 12th, 2008 at 5:04 pm
Lost Winds is charming, and I’ve only played it for 15 minutes before this nasty thing called work beckoned me, but so far it’s played like a slower Kirby Canvas Curse. That’s not a bad thing, but the pacing is more relaxed than I expected.
My Life as a King seems like it has lots of legs. The animation is delightful, the music is awesome. First Final Fantasy game I’ve ever liked, confirmed (I know, I know, I’m in the 40% gamer minority who doesn’t play RPGs…)
May 12th, 2008 at 5:05 pm
How many blocks do these games take up? I think I have around 650 blocks left. Do I need to start shuffling some unplayed VC games to the SD card? I’m already planning to delete the Metroid preview channel.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:07 pm
Definitely download LostWinds. I’ve already commented on it, but it bears repeating. The game is beautiful and controls work very well. I love the art style and the music is relaxing and charming. If only other developers would put the time and effort into Wii retail games as much as Frontier did on this little WiiWare game.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:09 pm
LostWinds takes up about 256 blocks and you should definitely delete the Metroid channel. They’re not going to update it anymore and it’s wasted space.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:13 pm
I downloaded Lost WInds, and have only been able to spend 15 mins w/ it. Its definitely unique, and quite relaxing, glad I picked it up!
May 12th, 2008 at 5:21 pm
I am probably going to get Lost winds and Defend your castle.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:31 pm
I got defend your castle. It’s basically the same as the web game, but the controls are so much better than a mouse.
I wasn’t going to get lost winds, but I think I might have to based on the comments here.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:38 pm
I got POP, which is very simple, yet surprisingly satisfying. Is supports 4 players and leader boards so it’s a pretty good time waster for a small group. I’ll hopefully get to play it some more this week and see if it has any legs at all.
May 12th, 2008 at 5:50 pm
Lost Winds is definitely worth it. I’ve enjoyed my time with it. Wondering how long it is, though
May 12th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I’m eyeing Lost Winds but will wait to see how it fares length wise (but more importantly: replayability).
I’m also interested in either Defend or FF. Pop is oddly appealing despite seeming so simple.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
I bought Lost Winds, but I have yet to play it (Going to wait till my City of Heroes time expires), and if I were to get a second game it’ll be Defend Your Castle.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:41 pm
I bought lost winds this morning. i kept refreshing the wii channel until wii ware was available. Im waiting for some reviews on FF:CC before i get it.
May 12th, 2008 at 6:56 pm
I love lostWinds, this game is every thing I had hoped so far. It really puts all of those lazy developers to shame.
I’m iffy on FF:CC, I really didn’t like the Cube game.
I read that FF:CC costs $30 after downloading all of the extras it offers. I ha its own internal download store.
May 12th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Do you guys know if any sites have reviewed these games yet? I really want to get Super Mario SNES on VC as I’ve never really played that game, but I’m also interested in LostWinds and Final Fantasy. How long does LostWinds or FF take to beat? If it’s 3 hours I think my 10 dollars is better spent on Super Mario..
May 12th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
I know Gamespot has some hands-on posted, but as the games came out today, there is little chance of there being a review up so soon.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:06 pm
I’m gonna mention it here because I’ve been trying to figure out if it’s just my connection or something that’s hitting everybody: I havent been able to access the Nintendo Channel in the last hour. I’ve been trying to show the wife videos for the Wii Ware games, but no luck. Could be that the whole network is busy with people doing the same thing, plus buying Wii Ware games and playing other stuff?
May 12th, 2008 at 8:18 pm
OMG I am extremely floored the amazing quality these downloaded games are! I am HOOKED! I absolutely adore Lost Winds, I was hungry for a game like this. And the Final Fantasy title is a gasp of fresh air. The only reason I’m not playing now is because I’ve got to go to work in a bit.
May 12th, 2008 at 8:31 pm
I bought Defend Your Castle. Fun little game, though it takes about 15 or 20 levels before it really gets going. 500 points is about right I guess, though comparing the amount of content you get to some of the classic NES titles (Super Mario 3 and Metroid spring to mind) that are also 500 points on VC might deter you.
Haven’t tried multiplayer yet though.
May 12th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
hmm they all look interesting except pop, and blackjack. i think i’ll get defend your castle, lost winds, FFCC, and maybe tv show quiz, in that order. but i may just start off with defend your castle and lost winds, and hold off FFCC until more reviews are out. anyone try FFCC yet? impressions?
May 12th, 2008 at 10:58 pm
Journalists need to really start digging at Nintendo, pressing them for answers about when they’re going to allow playing games off an SD card or hard drive. With a 100 or so WiiWare titles reportedly lined up for the year, it won’t be hard to run out of space.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:28 pm
I bought Lost Winds and its a joy to play. It’s so relaxed and just fun to control the main character and rustle everything in the game with your breezes. This is the type of game i’ve been waiting for on Wii. I can’t believe its only $10 and a downloadable. Not a lot of action but just a relaxing journey through a beautiful and interesting world. I could listen to the music (an odd synergy of Japanese and Irish tunes) all day. I can’t wait to see where the story goes (although it’s not exactly unique).
I plan to get TV Show King or whatever it is. I love my copy of Smarty Pants and I could really use another quiz game for $10.
May 12th, 2008 at 11:30 pm
Why no BlackJack?
I think if they made that game WFC it would be worth it. Have live rooms that friends could play in. But with it not having this feature, I’ll probably pass as well. I’m just wondering why you don’t like it.
May 13th, 2008 at 12:15 am
Lost Winds is brilliant. An instant WiiWare classic. And I don’t care how long it is either because I’m already looking forward to playing through it again with my girlfriend. And again on a rainy day. And then on a hot summer night…
May 13th, 2008 at 1:45 am
Warning Defend your castle is not 16:9 display format. And neither support progressive scan.
I got My life as a king, Lost wind, TV King and defend your castle. They all look crisp on HDTV except for Defend your castle, wich is still fun anyway.
May 13th, 2008 at 7:37 am
I wanted to download LostWinds but I have limited space left. I don’t want to go through the hassle of transferring my games over to my SD card. Please Nintendo, come out with an update that allows you to play games straight from the SD card or use a USB HD.
May 13th, 2008 at 8:10 am
@doughboy74, and everyone else on here.
Rearrange whatever you have to, but make sure you download enough so that you only have a few blocks left. Then make sure to turn on the feature where your Wii reports your stats to Nintendo. If they see enough customers with full memory, they will most likely fix this issue sooner. If all of us customers stop downloading because we don’t want to fill up our wii, it will look to them like everyone has space left. Obviously, don’t buy any games you don’t want, but make sure to leave enough stuff in your memory so that Nintendo can see you’re full.
May 13th, 2008 at 9:41 am
Lost Winds is INCREDIBLE! I have been playing some time now and some of the abilities mixed with items you get later in the game put MANY of the regular disk games to shame!
Play for 20min - 45min and your hooked. I played for a good 3 hours and I hope it doesn’t end!
The quests are fun, The puzzles are fun, The game mechanics are SPOT on!
Get Lost winds!
May 13th, 2008 at 12:25 pm
@used cisco
I have my stats turned on from the My Nintendo Channel. I have also submitted a question to Everyone Votes Channel, “My Wii memory is full” YES or NO. I have been hearing nothing but rave reviews of LostWinds and need to free plenty of space (256 blocks). It may take me a while to transfer some games to SD.
May 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I got Lost Winds (which is wonderful in every way, if you buy ANYTHING for Wii at all this year I’d recommend that one - it just captures the spirit of the Wii so perfectly) and My Life As King (not exactly hard core gaming but ridiculously addicting blend of RPG and SimCity - I played it for 6 hours and enjoyed every second before I realized that I had wasted an entire day off) for $25 total. Two fantastic and very complete games for that much money makes me consider WiiWare a complete awesome. I’m skeptical about the other games but with how much I liked these two I might have to try out the others.
Now they just gotta get WiiWare for DS. Both of these games would convert quite nicely to the DS (and considering they’re the same size as most DS games all they’d have to do is trim the graphics).
May 13th, 2008 at 4:03 pm
Although not 16:9, DyC is actually 480p (Supports progressive scan)
May 13th, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Craig: Infendo will have reviews of each WiiWare launch title up in the next few days. My review of Pop went live a few minutes ago.