I’m sure this has been done before, but “Wii” is too short a word for the SD search engine.
My gf wanted a Wii for her birthday, and it occurs to me that it would probably help to give her some games with it as well. However, the last game counsel I owned was an original Nintendo, so I’m a little behind the times and don’t know what games are supposed to be worthwhile.
So lookin’ for suggestions. Her brother has a GameCube and she liked the Mario Party game, and I see that there’s a version for the Wii as well, so I’ll probably get her that unless people here tell me it sucks. I’d also like to get her something she can play without other people.
Did she say why she wants it? There may be a game or games she’s already eyeing. What kind of gamer is she? What systems has she had in the past and what games did she like for them?
With the only info you’ve given us (Mario Party), I can only recommend Super Monkey Ball.
Other mostly safe bets are Wii Fit (everybody’s doing it), Mario Galaxy (even my wife the non-gamer likes it), and a Wii Points card for Virtual Console and/or Wiiware games. Do not underestimate how fun some of the old games are. I had a blast playing Adventure Island at a friend’s house the other night.
(ummm, don’t overestimate it, either. I downloaded River City Ransom after a deluge of glowing recommendations here and found it to be a real snoozer.)
She’s not really a gamer at all (I think the only video games she plays are Zoo Tycoon on her laptop and Minesweeper), but we were at a friends house and we had fun playing the sports game that comes with the system, so she decided she wanted one, mainly to play when friends come over. But since I’m getting the system, I though I’d try and find her a single player type game she could try.
I just looked up Mario Galaxy, and that does look about her speed. Thanks for the recommendation.
Also didn’t realize you could download old games, that’s pretty neat.
Okay, so starting at nowhere let’s go the full distance with suggestions.
First there’s Wii Play which is a natural selection. It’s minigames along the lines of Wii Sports and comes with another Wiimote. So it’s like a $10 game with a second Wiimote.
Then picking things up a bit there’s Rock Band and Guitar Hero 3/Aerosmith. They are a bit expensive ($170 and $80 respectively) but they are quite a bit of fun and very easy to get into. I prefer Rock Band but there’s nothing wrong Guitar Hero. Be aware that the instrument controllers for each are not compatible with each other.
Next are the games that are mainly interesting minigame collections. Wario Ware Touched and Rayman Ravin’ Rabids are the obvious choices here.
Moving up to heavier (but still easy to get into games) there’s Super Smash Brothers Brawl which is an easy to play fighting game involving a bunch of video game characters and Mario Kart. I’d also put shooting gallery style games on this list like Link’s Crossbow Training (which you can get for $20 with a Wiimote attachment made for this kind of game) and House of the Dead 2/3.
Finally let’s end this with the games that are pretty weighty that you might want to try anyway. Zelda and Metroid 3 fall solidly into this category. For someone going into things totally fresh I wouldn’t recommend them despite the fact that they’re good games.
I would also recommend avoiding Super Mario Galaxy. Not because it isn’t a good game (it is) but because the game requires some spacial thinking that not everyone has and a person who hasn’t been immersed in video games will have trouble with. I suspect that someone who hasn’t really played video games before would find it more frustrating than fun.
One more thing, for older games I would definitely recommend getting a few Gamecube controllers. They can be found very cheap and usually are better than the Classic Controller.
Boom Blox is a fun game about knocking things over. Designed by Stephen Spielberg.
Raving Rabbids is an excellent and fun game everyone loves. Get 1 for solo, 2 for party play.
Mario Party is a good idea. I just spent three days over at a friends house playing it with him and a couple of other friends. It’s about as much fun as you can have with a video game, IMO, especially if you get 4 controllers (you’ll need at least two to really appreciate the game).
Raymans Raving rabbids was boring as hell, IMO, so don’t get that, or at least try it before you buy, if possible.
Super monkey ball is pretty neat, and very easy to get into.
Please don’t kick me in the nards for suggesting a Gamecube game, but I spend more time playing Mario Kart Double Dash that anything else on the Wii. You need Gamecube controllers and a memory card to unlock stuff. It’s waaaaay more fun IMHO than Mario Kart Wii.