Wiicap: January 20th - 26th + Super Bonus: Thoughts about Wii game purchase progression (WGPP)

Hey kiddies. Week’s almost over, woot, woot indeed.

This week was Wii week, as of Sunday I finally got my belated christmas gift, a Nintendo Wii. I’ve spent the last few days recounting its acquisition, some analysis, and the soreness that results.

Before I get to the linx to posts, I was going to offer up some info on what games and accessories you should buy, and in what order.

This assumes the following:

- You didn’t own a gamecube or any of its controllers or games.
- You have between 1 and 4 people you would like to entertain with said Wii.

That said, here’s the order I would buy accessories and games. I won’t speak to the availability of said items, I had enough trouble getting my own.

1. Nintendo Wii Console (which gives you Wii Sports, 1x Wiimote, 1x Wii Nunchuk) 249.99
2. extra Wiimote (2 total) 39.99
3. extra Nunchuk (2 total) - at this point, you have all you need to play all 5 Wii Sports games with two players. 19.99

At this point, you have a choice: you can take the dive into the Gamecube world, or stick to Wii games.

Path A: Gamecube
4. Between 2 and 4 GC controllers, preferably wireless ones (Wavebird)’s. Wireless: 34.99, wired, probably 15.
5. From here, you have access to the vast category of excellent GC games that have been made. There’s top 20 lists out there of what to get, I’ve purchased two so far: Super Smash Brothers Melee for 26.99 and Metroid Prime for a steal of a deal, 6.99. I recommend Gamestop for this, as they carry a large amount of used GC games, which is what I picked up.

Path B: Wii
4. 2 more Wiimotes. (4 total) (this allows four-player simultaneous Wii Tennis, which is one of the best of the Sports games.)
5. Wii Game: Rayman’s Raving Rabbids. A collection of mini-games for 1 to 4 players, supposedly incredibly fun and entertaining.
6. Wii Game: WarioWare’s Smooth Moves. A collection of micro-games (5 seconds or so each) that apparently is quite entertaining, though not as good as Wii Sports or RRR.

-If you want some single-player actual full-length game, then The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess can be subbed in before the two extra Wiimotes. I’ve got it, but haven’t been real compelled to play it given the supreme fun of multi-player Wii Tennis.

A few notes:

- You’ll notice that the most exciting Wii games tend to be collections of smaller games, and very few epic-length mega-games on the order of Final Fantasy XII and whatnot. Those type games aren’t the Wii’s main focus, at least for now. As a result, I would look to the library of Gamecube games if you are seeking this type of game for now. This is why I picked up Metroid Prime and plan on picking up MP2. Other titles I’ll be picking up: Resident Evil (particularly the 1st and 4th), Eternal Darkness: Nightmare’s Asylum, Pikmin 2, Tales of Symphonia.

- You’ll also notice I didn’t recommend any Classic Controllers (its a controller for the Wii that is a cross between a GC controller and a SNES controller). This is because the Classic Controller, though neat-looking, will not play any GameCube games. It is meant only for the Virtual Console, which allows you to DL and play old NES, SNES, and N64 games. What’s odd is that GameCube controllers will play all Virtual Console games as well as GC games, making them supremely better purchases. The one caveat to this: If you pick up Bomberman 93 from the Virtual Console, you can play FIVE-PLAYER BOMBERMAN with 4 GC controllers and 1 Classic Controller plugged in to a Wiimote. For those of you who have played any from the Bomberman series, you can imagine the allure of this.

- You’ll furthermore notice I only suggested two Nunchuks. Though I could be quite wrong, the only game mentioned above requiring Nunchuks is Boxing (within Wii Sports), and that’s only for two people to box one-another (which is entertaining to watch. Make sure to have two observers get in their face in between rounds and act like a coach, trying to psych them up). As a result, the 19.99 x 2 isn’t worth it to complete a set of 4, yet.

- Finally, the Virtual Console. I think the games are a tad overpriced, but if you haven’t played through some of the classics from N64 there’s definitely some joy to be had. Primarily Super Mario 64 and Mario Kart 64, both classics that were very well made. I highly recommend either. (Mario Kart 64 hits the Virtual Console Jan 29, 2007, I’ll definitely be picking it up).

Whew. Enough of that. On to the Wii-cap.

Monday: The Wii quest begins. A short history of my thoughts the night before acquisition.

Tuesday: Quest, part two. From arrival to Wii in hand.

Wednesday: Wii graph. Apparently, human psychology is capable of being mapped to fairly common mathematical functions.

Thursday: Too much Wii Tennis. Onset of Wii-Tennis Elbow is cause of pain.

FL: What’s a Wii week without a Wii-related FL? - The Wii News channel has been launched, with news feeds from the AP and a globe view to see the original of the news.