Topic: Best overlooked Wii games of 2009

[Mop it up]

Here is a nice article which looks at the best Wii games of 2009 which unfortunately didn't make an impact on sales charts, and it is presented without much negativity or hostility toward Wii which seems to be an increasingly rare thing these days.

http://www.gamesradar.com/f/2009s-best-wii-games-that-died-at-retail/a-2009121492359104082

The stigma surrounding Dead Space Extraction is kind of a shame, as it sounds like it is a good game in its own right. I'm not personally very interested in that type of game, but I might check it out if I find it on sale or something.

Little King's Story was one of the best games released this year. It would seem most people have passed on it due to its overly "kiddie" presentation, which personally I love the style of the game but can understand why it is a turn-off. Plus, such a style belies the relatively complex game found underneath the bright and cheery surface.

ExciteBots may be my pick for overlooked game on Wii, period. Once again I think its style is what turned people away, as racing transforming animals and insects is just too goofy for most. Sadly I'll bet it would have met better sales if it were titled Excite Truck 2.

To be fair, We Cheer has gotten some decent reviews. It would seem it delivers what it promises, so I can think of worse examples of games that shouldn't sell but do. Game Party comes to mind...

  and at Sexy Poker. Even worse than its existence is that people downloaded it.

There are other games listed there that are on my to-buy list as well.

[Kairon]

To this day I'm still frustrated that people look at We Cheer and immediately let their prejudices dictate the game's quality.

Actually, this is a bit of an opinion piece. I'm not sure that all the stuff is being considered in that write-up. For example, while the author pities Dead Space Extraction and House of the Dead Overkill, he doesn't seem to acknowledge that plenty of gamers seem to have pretty strong feelings about NOT buying rail shooters that, to me, are like slices of heaven.

*pounds ground*

WHYYYYYYYYYY?!?!?! Why dear god must there be so much prejudice against cheerleading games AND rail shooters?!?!?

[SilverGrey]

I love We Cheer!  I have We Cheer pompoms!  And even better, there are excellent incriminating videos of my friends playing We Cheer.  Everyone who I've ever convinced to try the game always comments that it's harder than they think it should be, and everyone always enjoys it.  Still haven't unlocked all the songs, maybe someday.  Can't comment on Little King's Story as I just got it for Christmas, but I'll hopefully have some comments soon.  I'm very intrigued to try it.

I also just realized by saying I loved We Cheer, according to that article I contributed to poor sales of MadWorld by buying We Cheer (although not We Cheer 2).  That was such a strange juxtaposition though, most of the other games they tried to compare it to a similar game, but MadWorld and We Cheer wouldn't come even close to having the same kind of audience.  That seemed a cheap shot to me personally.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

Tenchu4's a good game.  Reasonably strong production values and unique motion gameplay on the system.  But somehow, it's just a niche game on multiple fronts this gen:  it's about ninjas, it's puzzle-stealthy, it's rated M, it's single player, it's motion-controlled.

Deadly Creatures?  Creepy solo platforming.  Unique atmosphere.  Solid buy.

Boom Blox Bash Party?  Sent to die by EA.  Injustice.

Rune Factory Frontier.  The game I would be playing if it weren't for new game releases and LIFE.

[NWR_insanolord]

I'm proud to have bought about half the games in that article, but not proud to have only actually played one of them (ExciteBots) and I think I only played that for the Wi-Fi night. Though, considering I bought 30 Wii games this year and how many of those I haven't even seen the title screen of, that ratio's about right.

[KDR_11k]

Some of those games don't deserve to be on the list. The Conduit? Yes I own that one but I wish I didn't.

[DAaaMan64]

Tenchu4's a good game.  Reasonably strong production values and unique motion gameplay on the system.  But somehow, it's just a niche game on multiple fronts this gen:  it's about ninjas, it's puzzle-stealthy, it's rated M, it's single player, it's motion-controlled.

Awesome game.

Deadly Creatures?  Creepy solo platforming.  Unique atmosphere.  Solid buy.

Controls are udder **** **** ****

Boom Blox Bash Party?  Sent to die by EA.  Injustice.

Really good.

[broodwars]

There are an awful lot of games on that list that don't deserve to be noted as "tragically overlooked."  Madworld; The Conduit; and Muramasa were all medicore at best, and Dead Space Extraction was a well-intentioned but buggy P.O.S.  The only games on this list I'd say deserve to be there are possibly Little King's Story, Deadly Creatures, and from all accounts Excitebots.  Thing is, I haven't played any of those 3, and as of this posting I still don't care enough to do so.

Did Punch Out really sell that poorly?  I'm going to be going in tomorrow (well, "today" really) and picking it up, so that's one sale from me, anyway.

[Luigi Dude]

Did Punch Out really sell that poorly?

No it didn't, the people at GamesRadar who wrote that should have checked their facts better.  While it's true that Punch-Out did sell around 150k in it's first month, it also sold around 150k in it's second month as well.  Then in it's third month it managed to get into the NPD top 20 again.

In the latest NPD thread at Neo Gaf, one of the members that has access to NPD numbers said that as of the end of November, Punch Out is very close to the 500k mark.  Considering how most Nintendo hardware and software have boast in December, Punch Out should end up crossing the 500k mark in North America by the end of the year.  Even though 500k isn't a huge number when compared to other Nintendo franchises, when you consider that the Punch Out series was dead for 15 years and this type of arcade style game is no longer popular, these numbers are great.

[SixthAngel]

To this day I'm still frustrated that people look at We Cheer and immediately let their prejudices dictate the game's quality.

Its the traditionally male dominated gaming consoles.  No one laughs when at people who play football or play Madden, no on laughs at cheerleaders yet they do to the game.  Reviewing We Cheer was the best things this site did in a while.

I've got to agree with Muramasa.  Though I always expected it to just push itself over breaking because of the kind of game it is.

edit: I just checked and notice the list uses only the first month sales for things like Punch Out.  I don't trust first month sales on the Wii.

[Peachylala]

There are an awful lot of games on that list that don't deserve to be noted as "tragically overlooked."  Madworld

Madworld wasn't awful, it was just too damn short for it's $50 price tag.

Let's hope Platinum's next Wii game isn't so short.

[BlackNMild2k1]

Did Punch Out really sell that poorly?

No it didn't, the people at GamesRadar who wrote that should have checked their facts better.  While it's true that Punch-Out did sell around 150k in it's first month, it also sold around 150k in it's second month as well.  Then in it's third month it managed to get into the NPD top 20 again.

the latest NPD numbers said that as of the end of November, Punch Out is very close to the 500k mark.  Considering how most Nintendo hardware and software have boast in December, Punch Out should end up crossing the 500k mark in North America by the end of the year.  Even though 500k isn't a huge number when compared to other Nintendo franchises, when you consider that the Punch Out series was dead for 15 years and this type of arcade style game is no longer popular, these numbers are great.

500k > inFamous (LTD) > Punch-Out!! (LTD)

[Kairon]

If punch out sold poorly... then I'm part of the problem...

[broodwars]

There are an awful lot of games on that list that don't deserve to be noted as "tragically overlooked."  Madworld

Madworld wasn't awful, it was just too damn short for it's $50 price tag.

Let's hope Platinum's next Wii game isn't so short.

I wasn't arguing that Madworld was "awful" (though I do think it has a whole handful of actual ideas it tries to stretch over too long a period of time.  It would have done better as a WiiWare game if that's all they had to go on), just that it most definitely wasn't a title people should have bought when it released.

[Chozo Ghost]

Rune Factory Frontier.  The game I would be playing if it weren't for new game releases and LIFE.

Who needs LIFE when you have a "life" in the game.

The Rune Factory universe is more fun than the real world. I wish I could live in that world for real. So many cute girls and monsters to kill. What more could a male dream for??

[Mop it up]

That was such a strange juxtaposition though, most of the other games they tried to compare it to a similar game, but MadWorld and We Cheer wouldn't come even close to having the same kind of audience.  That seemed a cheap shot to me personally.

I guess they couldn't find anything on Wii that is similar to MadWorld so they chose some game they perceive as "shovelware" at random? I'd be shocked, SHOCKED if they had actually played We Cheer 2 at any point before writing that article.

There are an awful lot of games on that list that don't deserve to be noted as "tragically overlooked."  Madworld; The Conduit; and Muramasa were all medicore at best, and Dead Space Extraction was a well-intentioned but buggy P.O.S.

They received generally positive reviews from critics so people seem to like them. And I certainly hope that you aren't implying that they deserved to be outsold by things like Game Party 3...

[broodwars]

There are an awful lot of games on that list that don't deserve to be noted as "tragically overlooked."  Madworld; The Conduit; and Muramasa were all medicore at best, and Dead Space Extraction was a well-intentioned but buggy P.O.S.

They received generally positive reviews from critics so people seem to like them. And I certainly hope that you aren't implying that they deserved to be outsold by things like Game Party 3...

No, they deserved to be outsold by Zack & Wiki; A Boy & His Blob; and Silent Hill: Shattered Memories.  Now those are some overlooked games (and I believe AB&HB is on that list).

As for the "generally positive reviews", let's just say that the bar on the Wii is set so far low that anything that even manages to step a toe over it gets praised by reviewers used to reviewing the likes of Game Party 3.

[Mop it up]

As for the "generally positive reviews", let's just say that the bar on the Wii is set so far low that anything that even manages to step a toe over it gets praised by reviewers used to reviewing the likes of Game Party 3.

Considering how overrated Super Smash Brothers Brawl is, you might be onto something.

[Stratos]

Boy and His Blob was not on the list. Maybe he isn't counting games released more recently because they may still have some sales in them over the holidays?

I'd also say Boom Blox Bash Party and Ghostbusters were also overlooked.

I also second the vouch for Tenchu.

[Peachylala]

Tenchu 4 is amazing. Unlike another stealth game I will not mention *coughmgs4cough* you had to use stealth.

[ShyGuy]

I really liked Deadly Creatures.

[Mop it up]

Does anyone have sales data for Boom Blox Bash Party? The first game was a million-seller so it seems weird that the sequel would be overlooked. Though the packaging of the game certainly didn't help; I'll bet it would have been more appealing if it were titled simply "Boom Blox 2" instead of putting "Bash Party" on the centre of the box making it look like just another generic "party" game.

What in the would is Tenchu 4? I thought it was a fighting game...

[Ymeegod]

I loved Madworld myself--yeah 5 hours is way to short but it had humor and the one of the better game "credits" endings of the year.

House of the Dead Overkill--again funny as all hell--great final boss ending FMV. Sick but I couldn't help but laugh.

Little King Story--saddly they never fixed the controls and pathfinding but yeah I think overall this would be my vote for most overlooked considering it sold less than 200K.

[Ymeegod]

Last I knew Boom Box Bash Party was less than 250K (VGC had it at 170K).  Yeah, EA should have waited another year (BOOM Box was just released last year) and should have included Motion Plus.

I love the idea of the game but the controls were iffy.  Think the game would have been greatly improved with Motion Plus.

[broodwars]

What in the would is Tenchu 4? I thought it was a fighting game...

It's a stealth action game along the lines of (though supposedly more entertaining than) Metal Gear Solid.  I've never played the Tenchu games, but they seem to have a following.  Problem is, Batman: Arkham Asylum kind of spoiled me when it comes to making stealth fun, and I doubt any game from a "proper" stealth franchise is going to do much more than disappoint me by comparison (as both Assassin's Creed games did, though they aren't really stealth games).