Topic: Best of the Wii: Our Top 10 Third-Party Wii Games

[Pixelated Pixies]

Isn't Retro "3rd Party"? or am I missing something obvious.  If so, could somebody please point out what makes a title 3rd party...
Since Retro is likely "1st Party" my guess for the no.1 spot would be Red Steal 2.  Not my particular fave in the list even though a very good game, NMH2 or Little Kings Story would be my joint faves.

The distinction, as far I'm concerned, is that games made by console manufacturers are 1st Party, those games made by others companies owned (either partially or wholly) by a console manufacturer are 2nd Party, and those which are made by companies not affiliated with the console manufacturer (CM) are 3rd Party.
 
In reality though the lines are more blurry. There are games for instance which are developed by a 3rd party but which are produced, financed or marketed by the CM. There are also cases where the CM brings a 3rd party in-house to work on a project (Next Level games for instance have worked on several Nintendo properties). There are also cases where the CM and another developer will work as equal partners and the distinctions become even less clear (take Other M for example).
 
Retro would be considered 2nd party as they are owned by Nintendo. They wouldn't therefore be 3rd Party. While that means they aren't technically 1st party, given their close contact with Nintendo and their work on high profile series' like Metroid, Donkey Kong and Mario Kart, most fans like to think of them as a western division of Nintendo proper.

[TJ Spyke]

Actually, 100% owned means they are first party and are no different than EAD in terms of first party status. Second party means partially owned or exclusive to the CM (Rare under Nintendo was second party but is now a Microsoft first party and how Insomniac Games used to be second party to Sony). PP, why do you think Retro isn't first party? They are the same as NST, Monolith Soft, Nd Cube, etc. If a company is wholly owned (or majority owned), then they are first party.

[Pixelated Pixies]

PP, why do you think Retro isn't first party? They are the same as NST, Monolith Soft, Nd Cube, etc.

I don't know, that's just always been my understanding.

[NWR_Neal]

Retro Studios is a first-party division of Nintendo.

Second-parties would be like Rare and Silicon Knights were (Nintendo holds stock, but does not own). I'm not sure of any companies that are like that now, but I think places like Skip, Game Freak, and Genius Sonority are similar to that.

[Glad0s]

Obviously #1 will be either Red Steel or Carnival Games. I'm leaning towards the latter.

[broodwars]

I have no objection to Zack & Wiki being on this list. I don't know if I'd put it this high, but it's certainly an excellent game, and one of the few to actually show the potential of what the Wii could have done if just about everyone involved with Wii game development gave more of a ****.

[NWR_Neal]

Obviously #1 will be either Red Steel or Carnival Games. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Wow! You're good!

I will tease something of a curve ball that will be revealed at the end of the week. But until then, we've got the first-party #2 (Tuesday) and #1 (Thursday), and the third-party #1 (Wednesday).

[Kairon]

Obviously #1 will be either Red Steel or Carnival Games. I'm leaning towards the latter.

We Cheer.

[TJ Spyke]

Obviously #1 will be either Red Steel or Carnival Games. I'm leaning towards the latter.

We Cheer.

We know you like it, lol: http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/review/17446 (the game has an average of 56 on Metacritic, 24 points less than your score. You have the second highest score for the game, behind only Nintendojo).

[Khushrenada]

So, any guesses for #1? You'll find out Wednesday.

I didn't check to see if there was any requirement excluding Wiiware games and if there isn't, I'm guessing the #1 to be World of Goo.

[NWR_Neal]

We're going to have a separate thing for WiiWare soon-ish.

[ejamer]

Obviously #1 will be either Red Steel or Carnival Games. I'm leaning towards the latter.

Poking fun at Red Steel is fine, but Red Steel 2 was good enough to be on the list. Wouldn't be my number one game, but Monster Hunter Tri wouldn't be scraping by at number ten on my list either. The flip side is that I doubt enough people played the game for it to receive many votes.

My guess for #1?  Well, let's review the list so far first...

10. Monster Hunter Tri
9. Silent Hill Shattered Memories
8. Muramasa: The Demon Blade
7. Trauma Team
6. A Boy and his Blob
5. GoldenEye 007
4. No More Heroes
3. Boom Blox Bash Party
2. Zack & Wiki: The Quest for Barbaros' Treasure
1. ??

Hmm... Tough to say.  There are a bunch of good games that could fill that slot.

I'm going to guess Little King's Story takes the top position because it's a great game that seems like it would appeal to the majority of NWR staff members - even if the controls should've been better.

Shame that we didn't see Tiger Woods/PES representing sports games with unique control schemes on Wii or any niche titles like House of the Dead Overkill, Dead Space Extraction, Dawn of Discovery, or the excellent Tatsunoko vs Capcom... but you can only pick 10 games and in a majority vote like this niche doesn't usually fare very well.

We're going to have a separate thing for WiiWare soon-ish.

Awesome. Look forward to seeing this, as WiiWare seems constantly under-appreciated. Sure, the service has significant problems and isn't a healthy environment for developers. But there have been some extremely good games released via WiiWare... games that not enough people bothered to try because of the platform.

[Pixelated Pixies]

I can see Little king's Story winning as it was a pretty awesome game, but I feel like there was some definite corners cut with the game. I found the control issues to be a constant source of frustration. For a pointer based controller I still think it's ridiculous that they went with the scheme they chose, but what is unforgiveable is that a pointer based scheme wasn't even included as an option. Having to call everyone of your villagers back again when all you really wanted to do was select and move specific units was a real pain.

[ejamer]

Wow, I'm pleasantly surprised to hear what the most popular third-party Wii game was based on the NWR staff poll!  Won't spoil it for people who haven't already heard the podcast.  A very fun game and deserving of recognition, even if it's not one I would've put at the top (maybe not even on) my personal top 10.


Also, the podcast intro is delicious.

[NWR_Neal]

The podcast (which is on the Connectivity feed early, like all of them have been usually) was a treat to edit.

[xcwarrior]

HOD: Overkill was an awesome game. It wouldn't be #1 third party Wii game, but it's in my top 10 for sure.

Monster Hunter Tri is #1 by far. but well that is a given.

[Soren]

The podcast (which is on the Connectivity feed early, like all of them have been usually) was a treat to edit.

Whoever made that intro deserves all of the internets currently in existence.

EDIT: I even managed to double post. Epic fail...

[Soren]

The podcast (which is on the Connectivity feed early, like all of them have been usually) was a treat to edit.

Whoever made that intro deserves all of the internets currently in existence.

EDIT: Now I know. I just kept rewinding it because it was so good.

[NWR_Neal]

Give credit to Josh for the idea of doing the intro of Zach and me, and then I stitched it in with the song to try to make it flow.

[ejamer]

Two Wii games that will always be linked in my mind are House of the Dead Overkill and MadWorld.


These mature games (if it's even reasonable to call the intentionally vulgar, puerile, obscenity-laced humor that permeated both games "mature") were published by Sega and contained absolutely incredible soundtracks and in-game scripts. They represented different genres, but shared a slick "style over substance" approach and top-shelf humor - making them stand out from the typical family-friendly fare that Wii owners were used to.


Despite a small media splash in gaming circles, neither sold well by any account. Did the M rating limit their audience? Were people put off by the relatively shallow gameplay instead? Maybe Wii just really wasn't a platform that could support interesting third party developers? The truth is probably some combination of those and other factors.


However, I'm still glad to own both games years later and would easily recommend them to anyone (over the age of 18). The gameplay of House of the Dead is probably more enjoyable, but hearing Bender do voice over work on MadWorld is well worth the (low) price of admission.




[size=78%]"A toothless crack whore said: Give me a chicken dinner!"[/size]

[Pixelated Pixies]

I totally called it.

[broodwars]

Overkill's a good game, but "best 3rd party Wii game"?  Eh...I don't think so.  I'd probably give that to something like The Last Story, GoldenEye, Silent Hill SM, or RE4 Wii.

[Pixelated Pixies]

Overkill's a good game, but "best 3rd party Wii game"?  Eh...I don't think so.  I'd probably give that to something like The Last Story, GoldenEye, Silent Hill SM, or RE4 Wii.

I agree. I called it based on Neal's love of that game on a previous podcast I had listened to, but it certainly would not be my favourite 3rd party Wii game. Fun game, but not a great one. Personally, I would have chosen either Monster Hunter Tri or Shattered Memories.

[NWR_Neal]

Who's Neil?

[Pixelated Pixies]

Who's Neil?

 
 
I caught it and changed it almost immediately after posting it...but obviously I just wasn't quick enough, lol.
 
I have a mate called Neil so that's just how I'm used to spelling it.