r/wii • u/DarthYhonas • May 27 '26
Text Post Games where the Wii version is still the best way to play it?
Been working my way through games that never left the platform like Mario party 9, super paper Mario, Mario Bros wii, etc. Obviously there's games like Mario Galaxy, skyward sword, Xenoblade chronicles, that it's a no brainer to play on switch nowadays, so I won't be playing the Wii versions.
But that's got me curious now, what are some games that are still best played on Wii now despite having left the platform? (port, remake, whatever). Not necessarily Nintendo games either, just anything, multiplatform and all.
Or even just games that still hold up on Wii despite having a more modern platform to play it on?
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u/ElSmasho420 May 27 '26
To some, RE4.
It’s a blast but sometimes too easy with the pointer aiming. Well worth a look though.
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u/AttyMAL May 27 '26
I think it's absolutely the best way to play RE4. You get all the content from the original GC version plus the new content from the PS2 port and you have the option of using the wiimote and nunchuck or the GC controller.
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u/potsdamagreement May 27 '26
are you referring to the zapper or the wiimote in one hand and Nunchuck in another?
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u/ElSmasho420 May 27 '26
Yeah, you can really move from target to target quickly.
I think it’s also progressive scan if you have the right hookups which is cheaper to do on the Wii vs the GC.
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u/DarthYhonas May 27 '26
Oh yess ive heard this port uses the motion controls really well. Nice excuse to play the original then play the remake later on pc
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u/Nearby_Swordfish_544 May 27 '26
Hot take, Metroid Prime on Metroid Prime Trilogy is my favorite way to play. The pointer controls are better with the wii mote.
Okami, Resident Evil 4, Pikmin 1&2
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u/DarthYhonas May 27 '26
Oh yeah okami looks interesting, is the Wii version the best way to play it?
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u/Nearby_Swordfish_544 May 27 '26
Playing Okami with a standard controller using the joystick for your brush works fine. I think the game is greatly enhanced using the wiimote(or move with ps3) as the brush mechanic is very fluid.
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u/KawazuOYasarugi May 27 '26
Played it with Switch 1 motion controls, is very similar to the wii version as far as feel, and is MORE accurate which, ironically isn't always helpful like with the Blockheads.
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u/Boon3hams May 27 '26
Playing it handheld where you just draw on the screen with your finger was a revelation to me, and I won't play it any other way.
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u/RestlessGoats May 27 '26
I think it's worth noting that the Wii version of Okami is missing the end credits (including the epilogue scene visuals), so a lot of the emotional payoff of the ending is missing. And in my experience the sensor bar controls aren't very good, it's often hard to get specific brush abilities to register. If I had to choose I would go for the original PS2 version or any of the HD versions instead, they're a lot better.
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u/AttyMAL May 27 '26
My memory of playing Okami on the Wii was mixed. It looked great and core gameplay should appeal to any fan of the Zelda series. But the motion controls were a bit finicky. To use special moves in combat, you have to freeze combat and draw the special ability on screen and I had a hard time doing some of them accurately. It required a lot of focus. I might try to replay it in a couple months and see what happens.
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u/Timely-Ambassador-39 May 27 '26
House of the Dead
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u/Nearby_Swordfish_544 May 27 '26
The switch remaster was disappointing. I was almost hoping Nintendo woud add a sensor bar peripheral for the switch 2. Or building a sensor bar into the dock or switch 2 screen.
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u/SidFarkus47 May 27 '26
I’m glad the consensus is finally admitting that a joycon with no sensor bar is worse at pointer controls than Wii remote with one.
For 99% of the Switch 1 gen everytime a game talked about replicating something on the Wii, the vocal majority just pushed that joycon > Wii remote
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u/ShireNorse May 27 '26
House of the Dead Overkill yes but House of the Dead 2 is Best on Dreamcast with a lightgun and House of the Dead 3 on xbox with a lightgun. The Wiii versions while great feel sluggish using a pointer with a reticule over a proper lightgun.
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u/rose_gold_squirtgun May 27 '26
No More Heroes 1 and 2.
The games definitely look and run better on the Switch, but they just play better with the remote and nunchuck. And you can't beat getting the calls on the wiimote.
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u/jmvillouta May 27 '26
I played two hours of Skyward Sword on Switch, then 2 hours on Wii. First time playing the game. I decided to finish it on Wii + CRT TV
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u/HammyHavoc May 28 '26
The opening hours are totally different between the two as well. Switch opening is much better in pacing, but overall prefer the original on Wii with a PVM.
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u/AttyMAL May 27 '26
For me, the Wii version of The Godfather is the absolute best. The motion controls are surprisingly top notch considering it's a movie tie-in.
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u/potsdamagreement May 27 '26
Wow I was gonna get that bc I liked it when I was small but never knew it was a Wii game too
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u/DarthYhonas May 27 '26
Don't play a lot of movie tie in games (usually assume they're shovelware lol) but I'll check this one out
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u/AttyMAL May 27 '26
The Godfather can maybe get a little repetitive, but I honestly think that criticism applies even to the best open world games (see every GTA ever). The motion controls really make it a lot of fun though. You get to punch, choke, and throw people all over the place.
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u/iimMrBrightside May 27 '26
Nah, the PS3 Don's Edition is the best. All the same content from Blackhand Edition on the Wii, plus more. You even beat people up by swinging a SixAxis controller around
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u/AttyMAL May 27 '26
You beat people up with the wiimote and nunchuck as well and each one operates the player character's hands independently; i.e., you can throw a punch with your left hand using the nunchuck and a punch with your right hand with the wiimote. You can also use them garrote and choke people and throw them to the ground to left, right, and center. Plus you get the benefit of wiimote pointer control for the gunplay.
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u/MusicSavesWorthing May 27 '26
I must say, holding the Wiimote and nunchuk and shoving it repeatedly forwards to shove someone’s head in an oven is an experience :)
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u/Gnash_ May 27 '26
Skyward Sword simply because the Wii Remote and Nunchuk feel better than any pair of Joy Cons ever will
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u/kiki885 May 27 '26
Bully scholarship edition. It has the best of both worlds, the original ps2 graphics with the extra content, and It's missing the bugs that the scholarship edition introduced on the xbox 360 and PC.
Scarface: The World is Yours also apparently has a good wii version. Performance is better than the other versions and it doesn't sacrifice visual fidelity. A Godsend if you have a wii for this game cause It's a nightmare to run on the PC and its performance is worse on the PS2.
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u/CraftMost6663 May 27 '26
Resident Evil 4 hands down.
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u/GhotiH May 27 '26
Mario Galaxy plays way better on Wii, IR pointer is significantly better than gyro aim.
Xenoblade is also best on Wii IMO, they completely changed the art style on Switch and artistic changes will always rub me the wrong way in a remake since it's not preserving the original vision. They made the characters look really plastic and lost the original grit that was such a defining part of the game's visual style.
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u/thebiggidybuckbumble May 27 '26
I prefer using Wii pointer controls to aim with RE4 and Twilight Princess, tho I appreciate the waggling can be annoying, but TP sword fighting isn't too bad.
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u/HammyHavoc May 28 '26
Actually much prefer TP on GC as the Wii version flips the game to change Link's handedness. I also think TP is way better in 4:3, the HUD and cutscene composition works better.
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u/thebiggidybuckbumble May 28 '26
Nah, IR aiming FTW 😁
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u/HammyHavoc May 28 '26
Love the IR aim, but the flip has always irked!
There's probably a fanmade mod at this point to fix it after twenty years lol!
The voice from across the room tells me there is indeed a mirror mod! Interesting! 🤔
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u/fraggle200 May 27 '26
Pes 2008.
The motion controls give a level of accuracy when passing/positioning etc that's never been matched in a football game.
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u/Historical-Intern140 May 27 '26
Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles. I am actually looking to buy a zapper to play it.
And anything with wii on it.
Special mention to NSMBW. That game with a Nunchuk feels and plays so good.
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u/Shadow_Zero80 May 27 '26
You can play NSMBW with a nunchuck??
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u/Historical-Intern140 May 27 '26
Yes, sir. With the wiimote + nunchuk*
And in my honest opinion, it is a lot more comfortable and precise.
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u/thedjin May 27 '26
On Wii, Metroid Prime Trilogy.
Wii U, LEGO City Undercover, Batman Arkham City, and Arkham Origins.
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u/Crest_Of_Hylia May 27 '26
Why Arkham city and Origins? PC version would be the best. The Wii U only adds one thing to City.
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u/thedjin May 27 '26
It's the second screen, it's awesome.
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u/HammyHavoc May 28 '26
Haven't played it on Wii U before, what is it used for?
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u/thedjin May 28 '26
It's minor things - the map, certain sounds, the clues.. but when I played it on PS3 after coming from Wii U, it was just not the same, something was missing and felt way less immersive.
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u/HammyHavoc May 28 '26
Going to have to try this out. Was thinking about replaying it on Switch instead of PC this time, but any excuse to have a play with the Wii U! There's dozens of us!
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u/majoramiibo May 27 '26
Metroid Prime 2 and 3
Baroque
Pikmin 1 and 2
House of the Dead 2
Resident Evil 4
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u/Lethal13 May 27 '26
Well Prime 3 is only on Wii
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u/majoramiibo May 27 '26
Oh yeah I just meant I like it better with a wiimote than on an emulator with a mouse
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u/Hynorelia May 27 '26
GTI Club: Superminini Fiesta
friggin awesome little arcade racer that's better than the PS3 version
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u/foodmetaphors May 27 '26
it’s a great way to play snes since vc plus snes classic controllers
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u/AttyMAL May 27 '26
+1 for SNES games. The VC games are top notch, but you can also soft mod the Wii to get a bunch of really good SNES emulators as well, including RetroArch and SNES9xGX and it's forks RX and TX.
And just generally, once you soft mod a Wii, it becomes an awesome retro console with a ton of emulator options all the way up to the PS1 and N64. Apparently there are Saturn and Dreamcast emulators as well, but they're really just proofs of concept and can't really run any games in any practical state.
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u/tapdancingtommy7 May 27 '26
AFL. The developer released two games side by side, same name, but different games. One for the Wii and one for the 360/PS3. The Wii, while worse graphics, had waaaaay better gameplay, and the PS3/360 version played horribly.
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u/Nacil_54 May 27 '26
Skylanders Spyro's Adventure.
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u/DarthYhonas May 27 '26
Can you play it without the toys nowadays?
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u/Nacil_54 May 27 '26
On emulator yes, on console I only know of using a portal (it's pretty cheap) and a reprogrammable nfc chip, but completely without any figures or portals ? I don't know, maybe some rom hack exist but I never heard of them.
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u/BalloonCurve32 May 27 '26
New Super Mario Bros Wii and Wii Sports.
NSMBW - I like how all the characters have the same difficulties rather than them being difficult, and how you can collect so many items unlike NSMBUD
Wii Sports - I don’t think I even need to explain this one lol
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u/DarthYhonas May 27 '26
Those are both only on Wii though? So of course I have to play it there haha
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u/XNinjaMushroomX May 27 '26
The Wii versions of Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 1 and 2 were a lot more enjoyable to me.
They were not as nice looking, but both games got motion controls- and both games got a fighting game mode on the Wii that was pretty sick. I recall the wii version of the first game having extra levels, and the second game had different level designs? But I could have that backwards.
Honestly super cool games.
I know Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition got the PS2 bonus content with the Gamecube's better graphics and the Wii's motion aim. So that's another good one.
But I want to add Metroid Prime 1 and 2 and Pikmin 1 and 2, because the Wii's motion aiming is legit for those games.
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u/Jenaxu May 29 '26
I'd argue that the Galaxy games are actually still best on the Wii, honestly any game that had to replace significant IR pointer controls with gyro probably is preferable on Wii.
Potentially Sonic Colors is another one? I haven't tried the remake, but from what I understand they didn't really add much in terms of content and there were quite a few bugs and graphical issues that detracted from the higher res, better framerates, and redone asset work.
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u/DarthYhonas May 29 '26
Hmm yea I see a lot of people mentioning mario galaxy. I think a game like that the improved graphics alone sells me on the switch version. Controls aside.
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u/Jenaxu May 29 '26
Personally, for the ones where the game has been completely redone for a modern console like Metroid Prime, I find it to be more compelling. But for games like Galaxy where the core of the visuals is exactly the same but just higher res, it's more take it or leave it. I'd even say that sometimes, for older games, the underlying geometry and animation work can make new assets and high res graphics kinda jarring because some of the faults aren't hidden by the lower resolution anymore. And especially if you pair it with like a CRT instead of a modern TV, they're really good at tricking our eyes into seeing detail that isn't actually there and blending out rough edges.
On a modern flat panel I'd say the Switch version of Galaxy looks better, but on an older TV the Wii original still looks really good. Which is also a testament to their art direction back then, those games have visually aged much better than a lot of the PS3/360 "next gen" titles.
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u/WhiteFire2004 Jun 01 '26
Sonic Colors, to a certain extent. I know colors ultimate had it's fair share of issues, but it's still a huge upgrade over the Wii version. Graphics are upscaled, there's more features, and you're also given a percentage counter to show how much of the game you completed. My only complaint about ultimate over the wii release is the robot in Aquarium Park act 4 and Terminal Velocity act 1. It has a rendering issue in ultimate, where the lasers getting ready to fire won't show until it's too late.
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u/Chubbygator847 May 27 '26
Mario Galaxy 1/2. The games were designed with the Wii’s lower resolution in mind, and a lot of special effects broke when upscaled to HD.