Must-have Wii games?

Yes we're years late to the party, but my kid is finally old enough for my wife to allow a game system into our house. I've never owned a game console and I'm finding that games prices are way more than I bargained for - so I don't want to spend on games that are mediocre.

My daughter is a first-grader... For those of you who are parents, what are the must-have games for kids? For those of you who aren't, what are the must-have games for adults? I'm into FPS and racing, my wife is into strategy and sims.

So far we have the Wii Sports, Sports Resort, Lego Star Wars and Just Dance games. What are we missing?

Even as primarily a racing-sim fan, I really enjoy some Mario Kart. Good times.

The Metroid games are pretty good too, but it's been awhile since I played them.

You're still in Marietta, right? I'd be happy to let you borrow both if you want to meet up sometime. I'm way over in Stoned Mountain, but I'm over that way to visit my mom every now and then.

there's no good racing sim's really.

mario kart is fun~ish.

my boys (5 and 8) still play the heck out of the plain old super mario brothers game it came with.

kirby's epic yarn is good too.

That reminds me that we need to break out our Wii. I do enjoy the Lego Star Wars, though--the right mix of adventure and fun for me. I also like Wii Bowling, even though we have a real alley nearby.

Matt B wrote: You're still in Marietta, right? I'd be happy to let you borrow both if you want to meet up sometime. I'm way over in Stoned Mountain, but I'm over that way to visit my mom every now and then.

Yup. If we meet up, I'll let you flog my ratty M3 if I can get behind the wheel of your MR2 ;)

My 10 year old loves the NASCAR game.

Boom blox is one of my favorite wii games even if it is a "kids game"

In reply to nderwater: DONE! PM sent.

mrhappy wrote: Boom blox is one of my favorite wii games even if it is a "kids game"

Yeah, that is kinda cool. My boys still like the Lego Star Wars stuff, Mario Kart, and a few others.

I don't have a Wii but a friend does. He had a fun game where you threw a ball at blocks to knock them down. Almost like 3D bolwing or something like that... It's been awhile. I have no idea what it was called, but it was fun.

And no, we weren't drunk.

had a wii for a long time... it now sits in the kids room and the xbox360 is my gaming system.

my 8y/o son LOVES any and all lego games...

the sports game that comes with the Wii still gets use... it's fun to play with friends when they come over and visit

mario kart is a fun game... I don't play it much anymore but my kids still do and when I play with them it's still a good time... but It was one of my fav games on the SNES back when I was a kid

I personaly "hacked" mine for homebrew... it's not difficult with a little reading... I installed a bunch of roms so I can play old atari, NES, SNES, and sega games... my kids LOVE the fact that i loved those games as a kid and they can play them now... but the biggest thing that it let me do was install a USB loader... basically I took an old smallish laptop HDD from a dead laptop got a usb case and am able to save the Wii games to the HDD so the kids don't have to touch the disc at all to play...

also if you have netflix or hulu you can stream it though the Wii...

it's a neat little system... kids want me to get them a WiiU... but that isn't going to happen.

the Wii begins and ends with Wii Sports... which is probably why they don't include it with the console any more..

Ian F wrote: I don't have a Wii but a friend does. He had a fun game where you threw a ball at blocks to knock them down. Almost like 3D bolwing or something like that... It's been awhile. I have no idea what it was called, but it was fun. And no, we weren't drunk.

super breakout?

I got SWMBO a Wii a few years ago, she "really wanted one," they were still kind of scarce and hard to come by when I got her's. The game it came with got more use than any of them, I bought a Wiimote that came with some other games similar to the WiiSports that came with the console it was kind of silly/cheesy fun. We got the WiiFit because "it would be great to exercise on." I got Wii Jeopardy, for it because no one will play Trivial Pursuit with me anymore (sore losers).

The novelty wore off within 6 months, maybe less. I've almost bought several games for it, but I have an Xbox 360, and for "real games" it's just so much better. I'd like the Goldeneye remake, but it's out on Xbox soon, the Zelda games look fun, but I never purchased them. Now the WiiFit is wasting space in the entertainment center, has not been used in at least 2 years, maybe 3, and the Wii is upstairs in the bedroom so we can watch Netflix in bed.

My advice, for you, would be to get a "real" console, 360 or PS3. For a kid they'll probably enjoy it for a while.

• Lee

belteshazzar wrote:

Ian F wrote: I don't have a Wii but a friend does. He had a fun game where you threw a ball at blocks to knock them down. Almost like 3D bolwing or something like that... It's been awhile. I have no idea what it was called, but it was fun. And no, we weren't drunk.

super breakout?

Sounds familiar... could be.

The Wii, while gimmicky, was and is a decent gaming system. Some of my favorite games:

-The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

-The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

-New Super Mario Bros Wii

-Super Smash Bros Brawl

-Super Mario Kart Wii

-Wario Ware: Smooth Moves

You can also get a lot of great old-school games from the Wii Virtual Console, or you can figure out how to mod it and add your own games. I will be doing this to mine eventually, especially since the Wii U is out and the regular Wii is old news.

I have the Indy 500 game. Save your money.

I'll second any of the Lego games.

Datsun310Guy wrote: I have the Indy 500 game. Save your money.

This applies to Wii GT too. I got it when it came out and played for a whole 30 mins before it became boring. Its a bad attemt at a racing sim, but you do get to race Honda Oddeseys.

nderwater wrote: ... I'm finding that games prices are way more than I bargained for - so I don't want to spend on games that are mediocre.

Buy Used Games - check out Gamestop. I've never purchased a brand new game.

The Lego games are awesome. My wife and I have played them all to 100% completion: Star Wars, Harry Potter, Indiana Jones, Pirates of the Caribbean, Batman, and we're about 30 hours into Lord Of The Rings. We play those on the PS3 but I can't imagine the Wii versions are not fun.

I would recommend any of the Mario Party games for a first grader if they are available for the Wii. We played hours of them on the Game Cube, with 2 adults, a 10-year-old, and a 6-year-old. It was always fun and not frustrating for the kids or boring for the adults.