What do I need for a complete Wii system?
Husband and I are considering buying a Wii for the family for this coming Christmas. What sorts of accessories do I need to make the system complete? How many extra controllers? Must-have games? Chargers, batteries, memory cards, exotic controllers, etc. -- what's worthwhile, and what's a waste?
About us and the games we (might) like -- we have a 6 year old and an 8 year old, and will probably be aiming mostly for games the family can enjoy. Neither my husband or myself has ever owned a console, which makes knowing which games to get more challenging -- we've never touched many of the popular series games. My husband has enjoyed Alpha Centauri and Civilization IV. I like adventure/RPG and strategy games (though I'm not all that *good* at strategy games). The kids have mostly played things like Freddi Fish, the games on nickjr.com, and the match-3 game built in to the TiVo. The 8 year old was enthusiastic about the target shooting minigame when he played Wii Play at a friend's house.
Games that have made it to the short list so far:
Whatever comes bundled standard with the console. (Wii Sports?)
Wii Play
Boom Blox
Zelda: Twilight Princess or a Final Fantasy game (which?)
Lego Star Wars
Mario Cart (or is the cow driving game in Wii Play a sufficiently good driving type game?)
Mario Galaxy
one of the Rayman Rabbids games
I'm hoping to locate a good deal on some sort of bundle so I don't double my price just buying games. I probably won't buy everything on the short list right away. Did I leave out any must-buys? Include anything not-so-great that can just wait until later, or is better off being rented or borrowed from the library?
Thanks for any advice you can offer.
Your kids are the perfect ages for a new Wii. I would say your list is pretty good, overall. I haven't been able to play Boom Blox yet, but I hear that is excellent. I loved Zelda, but I would honestly suggest you wait for a while; it is purely a single player game, and not terribly challenging: the perfect rental. Some form of Mario Kart is a must and you'll want to have a total of 4 controllers to take full advantage of Raving Rabbids anyway, so in the name of saving some initial investment: Wii Play + 2 controllers + 3 Nunchucks. If you can find them cheaply, it might be better to start with 2 Gamecube controllers. The Wavebird was the best wireless controller until the 360 came out, and it works on the Wii for Mario Kart and Smash Brothers. Having two Gamecube controllers also opens up the backwards compatibility of the Wii, so you could get Pikmin 2 (or 1, but 2 has multiplayer), Mario Kart Double Dash, Zelda: Wind Waker, etc.
I would say start off by getting Wii Play (really only for the controller and Tanks) and a Nunchuck, two Gamecube controllers (Wavebirds if you can find them), Mario Kart Wii, Lego Star Wars and Pikmin 2. This gets you going with a strong mix of Party/Co-Op/Racing/Strategy games with the minimal initial cost. Without a bundle somewhere, this would probably run around 250+50+20+30?+50+50+20, so in the 500 dollar ballpark. Exchanging Wii-remotes and nunchucks for Gamecube controllers changes that 30? into 140, much closer to 600 dollars total.
Raving Rabbids 2 is the better purchase, more of the minigames are geared towards 4 player. The first game had slightly more inventive minigames, but the multiplayer was not well implemented. I would consider removing Zelda from the "buy" list, and sign up for Gamefly once the initial shine of all the new games starts to wear off. Put Zelda at the top of your Gamefly queue, though, it really is very good. Other games that would be perfect for your kids (and your husband and you) would be Smash Brothers Brawl (4 player Fighting game), Zak & Wiki (clever puzzle game - might be too hard for a 6 year old), Puzzle Quest (match three/RPG), they are making Pajama Sam for the Wii, if your six year old hasn't outgrown it. Excite Truck is a fun little game, but eclipsed by Mario Kart. For you and your husband I have heard nothing but good things about Resident Evil 4 (although I have never gotten around to it), I loved the Metroid Prime series. If you do get GameCube controllers, get Super Monkey Ball 2, it is probably the finest party game I have ever played. If you get it, I can almost guarantee you will buy two more GC controllers so your whole family can play together.
One note on Gamecube games, you will need to get a Gamecube memory card to save your data. Normal AA batteries work great in the Wavebird, so nothing fancy needed there. I highly recommend the battery packs for the Wii remotes, they chew through batteries very quickly, and it gives you a nice place to put away the Wii remotes when done using them.
Sorry about the scattered thought approach to answering your questions, and welcome to the boards!
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Boom Blox is awesome, and anyone who says otherwise lacks heart and soul. That's a scientifically proven fact. As for Rayman: Raving Rabbids, I'd suggest getting both parts since the first one should be rather affordable by next Christmas and has a bunch of neat mini-games the second hasn't. RRR2 again has the advantage of being fully focused on games that can be played simultanously by up to four participants - RRR1 has quite a bunch of "[insert name]'s turn" pieces. RRR3 will be available by Christmas, but it seems to require the Wii Balance Board.
Mario Party is pretty much a must-have family game. If you can get it at a good price, grab WarioWare: Smooth Moves. It's a good addition to Mario Party - MP is rather long due to the boardgame approach and can easily eat up 1 - 3 hours. WW:SM doesn't really have much of a meta-game and is focused on very short, rather insane mini-games. Also, it supports up to 12 players and can be played with one Wiimote, making it a title that can be played at bigger parties, family reunions or whatever. Same for Big Brain Academy - ain't a full price game and supports up two 8 players (two Wiimotes required).
If Bomberman WiiWare isn't available by then, you also might want to look out for Bomberman Land - if you can get it at a lower price. Worst SP mode ever in a Bomberman game - a bunch of crappy mini-games -, but the MP mode is just classic Bomberman fun for up to four players.
As for controllers: What Atras said. If you have a family of four, you want to have four controllers. If you don't want to spend too much money at once, I'd suggest getting Wii Play, two additional Wiimotes and one Nunchuck to cover the basics (= two players able to play Wii Sport Boxing). A good number of the multiplayer games - Mario Party, Mario Kart, Big Brain Academy, WarioWare, Bomberman Land, four of the Wii Sports, Boom Blox games - can be played Wiimote-only. Raving Rabbids 1&2, however, require every player to have a Nunchuck as well.
If you're looking for good turn-based strategy, you could get Fire Emblem. The Wii version is a direct sequel to the Gamecube version, but I imagine it would be easy enough to get into without being familiar with the first game. If you've ever played any Fire Emblem or Advance Wars game, you would have a good idea of what to expect.
Boom Blox is just phenomenal. Definitely worth buying.
I think Twilight Princess is one of the best Zelda games ever made, and I don't care what anyone else thinks. If you're looking for a Final Fantasy, the only one you're going to find is Crystal Chronicles on WiiWare, which is a good town-building sim with RPG elements. You're the king and you tell the adventurers where to go and what to do. Then they go do it while you hang out in town, building stuff and pumping money into the local economy. They level up and bring back gold and magical building energy stuff, and as they explore more dungeons, new buildings become available to build. It's a lot of fun, but it's definitely not typical Final Fantasy.
Mario Kart is best controlled with a Remote and Nunchuk. The motion steering of just the remote is fun for a little while, but using the stick is just easier and it leaves the Remote free to do tricks by waving it around like a lunatic. In my opinion, every other controller option leaves you seriously gimped. Be warned, though, that this Mario Kart sometimes cheats. Be prepared to be hit with every item in the game, right after another, right as you're about to cross the finish line in 1st place. Thankfully, though, this version does away with the retarded AI of some of the previous games where the same character would always be right behind you for the entire cup, and would come in 1st if you didn't. This way, you can still come in 1st overall even if you never place 1st in any of the races. Also, on 150cc (hardest difficulty), this game is can get seriously fast for a Mario Kart. It's fun. Oh, and the online mode is pretty good.
Super Mario Galaxy is pure brilliance. Must-buy.
I straight-up hate the Raving Rabbids games, but maybe I'm the only one. Wario Ware and Mario Party are much better. Wario Ware is perfect for kids because they get to do all sorts of silly poses and stuff while they play. It's also good for drunk adults. Or drunk kids. You know, whatever you have to do.
Finally, I'll just throw a handful of suggestions out there.
Super Paper Mario is a great platformer/RPG. No multiplayer, though.
Metroid Prime 3 is a fantastic FPS/exploration adventure game thing. No multiplayer, either.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl is my favorite game on the system so far. It's a weird four-player action-fighter-type party game. You pick a Nintendo character and run and jump around a bunch of crazy stages trying to knock the other people off the level using all sorts of attacks and items. There's an adventure mode as well that functions as sort of a platformer with mild RPG elements as well. A lot of the single-player modes can actually be played two-player. It's actually a pretty deep game with a ton of stuff to do and unlock. The online mode is not that great, though. Works best with the Gamecube controller, in my opinion, but I've seen other people use other stuff because they're insane.
There are a bunch of great games in the Wii Shopping Channel. One of the best WiiWare games is Lost Winds. It's a side-scrolling platformer in which you control the wind to push your character, enemies and objects around the screen. It's not terribly long, and it's single-player only, but it's absolutely worth it.
And then there's a ton of Virtual Console stuff to be found. If you're going to buy any SNES, Sega Genesis, N64 or Neo Geo game, you'll need to buy a Classic Controller or a Gamecube controller. Unless you're going to get a Gamecube controller to play Gamecube games or Smash Bros., I would go with the Classic Controller. It's next to impossible to play Super Mario World and Act Raiser and a bunch of other SNES games with the Gamecube controller. If you're looking for a Bomberman game, Bomberman '93, found in the TurboGrafx-16 section, is really good and allows up to 5 players as long as one of them uses a Gamecube controller. The rest can just use a Remote each.
I wouldn't worry too much about buying the controllers and accessories up front, though. Find out what games work for everyone and try to figure out if you really need more Remotes or Nunchuks. And, whatever you do, don't buy the Wii Zapper or any other pointless plastic accessory for the Wii. They're all pointless garbage, and the only reason to buy the Wii Zapper is to get Link's Crossbow Training, which is actually pretty good if you play it without the Zapper.
Although, I do sort of like the steering wheel shell that comes with Mario Kart Wii. Unnecessary, but it feels good in my hand.
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The other answers in this thread cover everything that I was about to say (well, I would buy Zelda, not rent!) but I really wanted to repeat Mechaslinky's comment above. The plastic accessories are wankery of the highest order, and should definitely be avoided.
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If you want to bowl with four people at once, four controllers are the way to go. For games like Mario Kart which can benefit from legacy Gamecube controllers, you can pick up a couple of cheap compatibles at Gamestop that plug into the top of the machine (that's what I did, anyway). For batteries, I use regular rechargable double-As rather than special battery packs.
I disliked using the little steering wheel for Mario Kart, but that might be a taste thing.
If you want a four player game, but don't have the controllers for it, go for Wario Ware. It's humurous, filled with some cartoony characters your kids might like, and has enough off the wall chuckle worthy non-sequiters to entertain non children. It's a sort of bizzzare version of simon says with each person taking a turn, both trying to figure out what theyre supposed to do and do it in a span of som 2-7 seconds.
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Definitely Wii Play (for the controller if nothing else), a second Nunchuck and two more Wii-motes. You can add two Nunchucks if you have a game that needs them (Raving Rabbids is the only one I can think of). You will want rechargeable batteries, either the special ones, or standard rechargeable AA's.
From there it's how many games you want to buy.
-Boom Blox and Lego Star Wars are favorites in my house.
-I bought Raving Rabbids 1, and enjoyed it so much I didn't buy the second one (note the sarcasm there...). I would encourage a "try before you buy", although it is cheap these days.
I encourage folks to let the system grow organically. While I know a lot of folks who purchased Gamecube controllers and memory cards, many still have not played a single GC game. If you're not going to play GC games, you could look at Wii Fit for the balance board instead.
*Legion* recognizing greatness wrote:
The onle little thing I can add is get Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection. It's cheap, lots of fun, easy for kids to pick up and enjoy and brilliantly done.
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Are there different versions of the Wii console? A lot of the ebay ads say 2008 version yet don't seem to offer anything different.
-=<
Let this be the hour that we draw swords together.
Fell deeds await.
Now for wrath.
Now for ruin.
And the red dawn
>=-
They've updated software and started putting condoms for the remote right in the box.
I'm not aware of any substantive changes though.
*Legion* recognizing greatness wrote:
For the basics, you need a bladder and a urethra, but a lot of folks have a number of other things added on. The Cowper's Gland seems popular.
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wow a Wii joke.. really? still?
neither lesbian nor kitten!
It made me laugh. Partially because I'm juvenile, but partially because I imagined a man standing naked in front of his TV, trying to play Wii Sports by waving his penis around while shaking a bloody sheep's bladder.
The kids may enjoy Mario Strikers. It's the most violent game of soccer ever, starring Mario as an angry jerk! Worth a rent.
Elebits is fun. You have a gun that lifts stuff, and you tear apart the house, neighbourhood, amusement part, and some other places, looking for colorful little creatures.
Ok, I'm done. There's probably too much stuff to keep track of in this thread already. Have fun!
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You can play bowling(Wii sports) with 4 people using only 2 wiimotes, you just hand off the controller.
Fear the flames...
I use the wheel for MK Wii. When in Rome .....
I've had a Wii since launch and only have 2 wiimotes. There are a few times I could have used 3 or 4, but it hasn't been a major need.
In general most of the Nintendo games are quality efforts on the Wii and most third party stuff isn't.
Otherwise. Actually we were just kind of underwhelmed - it's not a bad game, just neither of us found it stellar.
For hardware, I'd recommend the second nunchuck just to be able to play two player boxing (part of the Wii sports that comes with the basic Wii).
For software, most of the above recommendations fit for me, so there's no need to repeat. Maybe something to consider is how many people you want to play at the same time? If you're after only games that let all 4 of you play together, it'll be a much shorter list... Also, do you want co-op, competitive or a mix of playstyle? Looks like you have a mix of 1/2/4 games and playstyles in your list so far.
Also, I've used Gametap since we got the Wii & that's saved me from buying several games whose initial appeal just wouldn't have lasted.
*Legion* wrote:
If you are getting any games released more than a couple of months ago, I would not buy them new. I would go to like half.com or ebay and you can get them for half the cost of the new game, a great way to get into a new console cheaply.
I was going to make a cash-ectomy joke, but I felt the moment had passed.
I'm glad someone here appreciates me!
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Thanks all, for your advice.
(Even wordsmythe... though my initial reaction was the same as Ganguro's. I was torn between wondering whether a "wordsmythe" ought to be more precise with language, or whether he was simply showing his appreciation for the foundation of wit... or is that the lowest of humor?)
Cod -- yes, I do have a variety of 1, 2 and 4 player games -- I'm trying to cover all my bases, since I'm not sure what combinations of players we will have. I may just get a total of two controllers and nunchucks to start, since extra controllers don't seem that hard to find if we want more later.
LeapingGnome -- One reason I'm thinking about this now is to give me the chance to do some shopping on ebay, and still be sure everything is HERE when I need it.
I'll be keeping an eye on the thread in case additional words of wisdom surface.
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MechaSlinky wrote:
-on L4DLeave it up to Wordsmythe to insert an extra comma and pre-empt a perfectly good retort!
About Wii stuff, you might consider a charging kit for the Wiimotes if you plan on playing a lot, so that you don't have to swap batteries in and out all of the time. Of course, you could also just wait on that, to see if it's a problem.
I agree that for a family of four, you'll want to end up with four controllers; and that you might also want to pick up a couple of GameCube controllers and a memory card, to open up that library. Nobody has mentioned chargers... I really like them myself, but you have to ask if your kids will be responsible about putting the controllers back in them properly; if not, buy batteries in bulk.
On the GameCube front, I would specifically highly recommend Tales of Symphonia if you like action/RPG (a lot more RPG, but a fantastic game) and if you can find a copy, Beyond Good & Evil. I also thought The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker was superior to Twilight Princess, personally. For the kids, I highly recommend picking up Hello Kitty Roller Rescue cheap on eBay (seriously!), and maybe Namco Museum if you think Pac-Man, Galaga, etc. would be good for them.
I'm in a child-free household so a lot of my favorite games (like Resident Evil and No More Heroes) are probably inappropriate. I can say that when my friends are over and drinking, we get incredible mileage out of just Wii Sports; rarely does anybody want to do anything but bowling.
To add a little more confusion to this (probably dead) topic, there is an upcoming party game called Dokapon Kingdom that from what I've heard outdoes Mario Party and adds some RPG elements. Should be out here in the US in October. The guys over at IGN are pretty stoked for it and spent a good deal of time talking about it in their most recent podcast. It's been transcribbed here, if you can wade through their rediculous banter there's some stuff to be gleaned on the game.
Wii Console code: 7415 7854 7235 1798
So that list, seems to be:
Wii
2 controllers (up to 4)
2 Nunchucks (at least).
Boom Blox
Dokapon
Excite Truck
Fire Emblem
Lego Star Wars
Mario Cart
Mario Galaxy
Mario Strikers
Pinball Hall of Fame: The Williams Collection
Puzzle Quest
Rayman Rabbids 1/2
Resident Evil 4
Smash Brothers Brawl (4 player Fighting game),
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
Wii Play
Zak & Wiki
Zelda: Twilight Princess
two Gamecube controllers + memory card
many gamecube titles
-=<
Let this be the hour that we draw swords together.
Fell deeds await.
Now for wrath.
Now for ruin.
And the red dawn
>=-
If you've played the Wii play cow game and you have to ask this question, the answer is "Yes".
I don't know if I would even put the wii play cow game in the category of driving games, so if that's cool by you, you don't really need a game like Mario Kart (although it is a heck of a game, if you like the type).
Fletcher wrote:
If you're going to play Cube games, you need a GC memory card as well. They won't save on the internal flash.
*Legion* recognizing greatness wrote:
Your kids might be just the right age for The Dog Island, which my wife tried (while I watched) kind of on a lark this past weekend. It was way better than I expected!... a nice gentle game with just a little bit of skill and complexity. The general design is informed by RPGs or Zelda, but very very simple.