Obscure, good Wii games

[Warmsignal]

• A Boy and His Blob-- It's one I've been on the lookout for, and was made by WayForward. Modern remake of the NES classic.  Has a hug button.  Where the boy hugs the blob.  Not a joke, adorable as anything you'll ever see.
• Centipede Infestation -- Also by WayForward, is interesting and enjoyable, if a little bland at points.  Surprisingly melodramatic story.
• Castlevania Judgement -- Bizarre fighting game that is playable, but somewhat shallow. Strange enough to be interesting.
• Lost in Shadow -- Bleakly melancholic title that is occasionally reminiscent of Limbo.
• Deadly Creatures -- One of the games that perfectly suited the Wii, playing up the "thinking outside the box" concept of game design. Excellent creature animation, fun arcade-style combat, and generally decent motion controls.
• Cursed Mountain -- Horror title from Deep Silver that takes place in the Himalayas.  I haven't played it yet, but I own it.
• Target Terror -- A rare "so bad, it's kinda good" arcade rail shooter that looks like it's straight out of the 90's, but is only a few years old.  Completely absurd title that looks like it might be creeping into collectible territory.
• Ultimate Shooting Collection -- A shmup collection, two of which appear in the US only in this set.
• Castle of Shikigami III -- A rare physically released shmup in this day and age with a ridiculous anime storyline. Exclusive as I recall.
• Tournament of Legends -- A fighting game in a similar vein to Castlevania Judgement, but with mythological characters (so, I suppose, exactly like Castlevania...) like a Minotaur.  Made by the guys that did The Conduit.  Shallow, but solid.  Very impressive graphics.
• Soul Calibur Legends -- Was apparently an action game starring Sigfried/Nightmare.  Haven't played it, didn't review well.  Might be an interesting curio.
• Final Fantasy: Chocobo's Dungeon -- I always forget about this one when I'm looking for Wii games.  But I remembered this time.
• Escape from Bug Island -- Same category as Target Terror in the terribleness, but supposedly a survival horror piece. Not exactly easy to find these days.
• Ghost Squad -- A short but sweet arcade light gun game from Sega who, with this title, proved that they truly knew how to do light-gun rail shooters on the system.  Silly, lots of unlockables, but enjoyable.  Released before either House of the Dead games on the system.
• Red Steel 2 -- Sold poorly, but far superior to the first title, and related in name and swords only.
• Excite Truck & Excite Bots -- The closest any game on the Wii ever got to Burnout.  High speed, high intensity, stunt-focused racing.  Actually possible to win races without coming in first place as it's based on stunt points and other insanity.
• Arc Rise Fantasia -- JRPG with dragons or something.  A friend of mine lent me his copy, but I haven't gotten around to it. Supposedly a great RPG with awful voice acting.
• Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon -- Haunting post-apocalyptic title that incorporates elements of survival horror.  Don't have it yet.
• Muramasa: The Demon Blade -- Absolutely gorgeous action-adventure that no one should miss out on.
• Geometry Wars: Galaxies -- Classic Geometry Wars gaming expanded to massive levels. Lots of stuff to do here.
• Punch-Out!! -- Unfortunately, I think this got overlooked by Nintendo fans in favor of a bunch of needless crap with Mario on the cover.  So good, it made me love Punch-Out, and one of the best looking Wii games.
• Battalion Wars II -- Same category as Punch-Out!!, except I haven't played my copy yet.  Related to the Advance Wars franchise.
• Sin & Punishment -- The long demanded title by fans, who then promptly ignored it.  Pity, it's an outstanding game.
• Zack & Wiki -- Puzzle/Platformer from Capcom, and widely touted as one of the best uses of the Wiimote.
• Tatsunoko vs. Capcom -- Deserved better recognition than it got.  This game is tons of fun. 
• Blast Works -- Wacky do-it-yourself shmup.  People created horizontal, vertical, and even stationary shmups in it.
• F1 2009 -- F1 racing game that is an F1 racing game.  It had a limited run and has become collectible. 
• Fritz Chess -- One of the rarest Wii games.  Apparently only released in Canada and maybe part of the US.

Good list.

Gah, Castle of Shikigami is another one I used to look at in GS and never bought. Now look at those eBay prices! 

[evilnick]

Good list.

Gah, Castle of Shikigami is another one I used to look at in GS and never bought. Now look at those eBay prices! 

I saw Castle of Shikigami III in a store last year--a small local reseller like if GameStop was good.  It was the only time I'd ever seen Shikigami in a store, so I bought it on the spot.  It was even new.  Almost feel bad for opening it.

That same place had a used DS game I'd never seen in real life until last weekend--Contact.  Bought that the second it was noticed as well.

[evilnick]

Ghost Squad - I absolutely love this one.  It's a port of an arcade on-rails shooter (Time Crisis without the ducking mechanic) with Sega's patented horribly cheesy settings/dialog/everything else. It plays great, the aiming is very responsive and levels have branching paths (with more paths that open up the more you play) and there are tons of unlockables.  You can blast through it in a 30 min sitting, but it's definitely made to be replayed.  Tons of fun - I can only imagine 2-player is that much better. 

I saw this one for 4 bucks at Gamestop.  Might grab it for the heck of it.

It's short, brainless fun, but there are a lot of secrets and unlockables.  Also, it showed why Sega would be the master of the arcade rail-shooter on the Wii.  It's control is very solid.  Can even be calibrated to remove the reticles, but I'm not that good, so I prefer the lazy reticle-based blasting.

[burningdoom]

^ I've heard a lot of people on this board say that. I guess I'm just lucky at my Goodwill. We have an entire game section near the movies and CDs.

Although I haven't seen a cartridge game in a long time. I think they stopped putting those out.

You have a movies and CDs section? Here, we have a small shelf of maybe 23 VHS tapes and 12 gospel and smooth jazz CDs.

Oh yeah. My movie collection has probably tripled in size thanks to Goodwill. The CD selection, not so great, but at least I can get the common stuff like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and AC/DC.

[gokurin]

Warioland: Shake it and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom are both great obscure games for the Wii.

I realize Warioland is a Nintendo game, but it's pretty obscure for a Nintendo game.

[maximo310]

^ I've heard a lot of people on this board say that. I guess I'm just lucky at my Goodwill. We have an entire game section near the movies and CDs.

Although I haven't seen a cartridge game in a long time. I think they stopped putting those out.

You have a movies and CDs section? Here, we have a small shelf of maybe 23 VHS tapes and 12 gospel and smooth jazz CDs.

Oh yeah. My movie collection has probably tripled in size thanks to Goodwill. The CD selection, not so great, but at least I can get the common stuff like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and AC/DC.

Goodwill actually has rock CD's?! All of the Goodwills in my area seem to just have r&b, pop, and rap albums mostly for music selection. I have gotten a few decent classical cds from one of their bookstores but thats pretty much it.

[evilnick]

^ I've heard a lot of people on this board say that. I guess I'm just lucky at my Goodwill. We have an entire game section near the movies and CDs.

Although I haven't seen a cartridge game in a long time. I think they stopped putting those out.

You have a movies and CDs section? Here, we have a small shelf of maybe 23 VHS tapes and 12 gospel and smooth jazz CDs.

Oh yeah. My movie collection has probably tripled in size thanks to Goodwill. The CD selection, not so great, but at least I can get the common stuff like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and AC/DC.

Goodwill actually has rock CD's?! All of the Goodwills in my area seem to just have r&b, pop, and rap albums mostly for music selection. I have gotten a few decent classical cds from one of their bookstores but thats pretty much it.

To be fair, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and AC/DC are high-selling popular bands that fall into "pop music" categories throughout their careers, and that's precisely the kind of stuff that ends up at Goodwill.

Good luck finding more underground stuff or "connoisseur-driven" music in a Goodwill, stuff like old Morbid Angel or Sodom albums.  Metal tends to drive a similar hoarder/collector mentality to game collecting.  If you know what it is, you cherish it and it's highly unlikely for the "good stuff" to end up donated to a second-hand store.

[argyle]

^ I've heard a lot of people on this board say that. I guess I'm just lucky at my Goodwill. We have an entire game section near the movies and CDs.

Although I haven't seen a cartridge game in a long time. I think they stopped putting those out.

You have a movies and CDs section? Here, we have a small shelf of maybe 23 VHS tapes and 12 gospel and smooth jazz CDs.

Oh yeah. My movie collection has probably tripled in size thanks to Goodwill. The CD selection, not so great, but at least I can get the common stuff like Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and AC/DC.

Goodwill actually has rock CD's?! All of the Goodwills in my area seem to just have r&b, pop, and rap albums mostly for music selection. I have gotten a few decent classical cds from one of their bookstores but thats pretty much it.

To be fair, Motley Crue, Def Leppard, and AC/DC are high-selling popular bands that fall into "pop music" categories throughout their careers, and that's precisely the kind of stuff that ends up at Goodwill.

Good luck finding more underground stuff or "connoisseur-driven" music in a Goodwill, stuff like old Morbid Angel or Sodom albums.  Metal tends to drive a similar hoarder/collector mentality to game collecting.  If you know what it is, you cherish it and it's highly unlikely for the "good stuff" to end up donated to a second-hand store.

It's all luck of the draw - I saw some metal cds at my local store a few months back. I also picked up several very obscure-looking Star Trek soundtrack cds - I'm talking series/episode soundtracks. 

[burningdoom]

While it's not often, I have found bands like Amon Amarth, Amorphis, A.F.I., Coal Chamber, and even Symphony X there before.

[pacpix]

Most of the CDs at my local Goodwill in small town Idaho are religious CDs and country music.  I did find a death-doom compilation album one time though, Katatonia's Brave Yester Days!

[evilnick]

While it's not often, I have found bands like Amon Amarth, Amorphis, A.F.I., Coal Chamber, and even Symphony X there before.

Amon Amarth and Symphony X?  At a Goodwill?  Those are indeed rare finds.

[Warmsignal]

So I passed up on a copy of Castle of Shikigami. That's right, passed on it!

One actually turned up at GS, but it was super gross and no manual.  Figures.

[Warmsignal]

DOUBLE POST! Sweet.

[argyle]

So I passed up on a copy of Castle of Shikigami. That's right, passed on it!

One actually turned up at GS, but it was super gross and no manual.  Figures.

Ahh, that sucks.

A copy of Ju-On popped up at a GS way up north from me. Stopped by my local store Weds to ask them to see if they could get it transferred, but the screenshot w/ the store info I had emailed myself for some reason didn't come through. So I told the guy I'd just print it out & bring it with me Friday when I came by to pickup Bayonetta 2. Brought it with me yesterday, and the guy working there (who's been working at GS forever and I know pretty well) said his computer was showing it was at a different store, but he'd call the one on my printout because maybe the website was more accurate. Nope - turns out someone at another store had already requested it be transferred. 

[bikingjahuty]

Thanks to everyone who has contributed. I've amassed some pretty nice titles for the Wii since creating this list, some I knew about before and some after. Here are a few of them:


- Fritz Chess
- Castle of Shikigami III
- Arc Rise Fantasia
- Fragile Dreams
- The Munchables
- Sky Crawlers