Whilst I’ve not played every Wii Game, I own most of the worthwhile and popular games and have a pretty good collection and quite enjoyed that era of gaming.
I’m now starting to feel nostalgic for the Nintendo Wii. I haven’t played one in years and want to start playing it again with my kids one day, so I’ve been slowly buying the random shovelware licensed kids’ games when I see them. This has led me to want to write a list of my favourite Wii Games, and the list is quite different to most people’s, as I didn’t actually play much of the Mario series on the Wii.
Resident Evil 4
The Wii version of Resident Evil 4 is widely considered one of the best ports of Capcom’s survival horror masterpiece and was the first one that I played properly. Leon S. Kennedy’s mission to rescue the President’s daughter gets a transformative upgrade with motion controls that make aiming feel intuitive and precise. Pointing the Wii Remote to aim while using the Nunchuk for movement creates an immersive shooting experience that many fans prefer to traditional controls, something I’d hated in previous Resident Evil games.
The game retains all the tension, action, and atmospheric village horror that made the original GameCube game a classic, while the “light gun” controls make headshots and quick weapon switching more satisfying than ever and hard to go back from.
Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Nintendo’s ultimate crossover fighting game brought together an expanded roster of beloved characters across gaming history. Brawl introduced memorable additions like Meta Knight, King Dedede, and Snake, along with the Subspace Emissary, an ambitious single-player story mode. The game offered multiple control options, ranging from Wii Remote-only to GameCube controller support, making it accessible to players of all skill levels. With its solid online play (for its time), stage builder, extensive soundtrack, and countless collectibles, Brawl was a celebration of Nintendo’s legacy and gaming culture at large, but now that Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is on the Switch, going back to the Wii version isn’t likely for me, but at the time, it was great.
MadWorld
This ultra-violent beat-’em-up was a striking departure from the Wii’s family-friendly reputation. Presented entirely in stark black, white, and red visuals, MadWorld followed Jack Cayman through a dystopian game show where creativity in carnage was rewarded. The motion controls let players perform brutal finishing moves by swinging the Wii Remote and Nunchuk, making each kill feel visceral. Its comic book aesthetic, dark humour, and completely over-the-top violence made it a cult classic that proved the Wii could deliver mature content with style. It was like playing a Frank Miller graphic novel, which my younger self thought was pretty cool.
House of the Dead: Overkill
Whilst the original arcade House of the Dead games were cheesy in their own right, Overkill is a grindhouse-inspired on-rails shooter that embraced B-movie excess with gleeful abandon. Set as a 1970s exploitation film complete with film grain and scratches, Overkill delivered non-stop zombie blasting action with hilariously profane dialogue and campy horror tropes. The Wii Remote’s pointer functionality made it the perfect light gun substitute, and the game supported two-player co-op for couch gaming mayhem. Its intentionally schlocky presentation, memorable characters, and satisfying shooting mechanics made it one of the Wii’s best arcade-style experiences.
It also includes some particularly memorable boss battles… Especially the final boss… The collector’s edition came with cool revolver attachments for the Wii, which were quite fun to use as far as Wiimote gimmick controller attachments went.
Boom Blox Series
I remember whenever I brought this game out, people were confused to see Steven Spielberg’s name on the cover of something that looked like a shovelware children’s game.
However, this is indeed Steven Spielberg, the movie director, in collaboration with EA Games, making puzzle games. It resulted in this surprisingly addictive physics-based puzzle series. Players used the Wii Remote to throw, grab, and blast various blocks in creative ways to solve puzzles and topple structures, a bit like an extreme version of Jenga. The game featured multiple modes, including precision challenges, explosive demolition stages, and strategic puzzles that required careful planning and strategy. Its charming presentation, intuitive motion controls, and impressive physics engine made it a standout family-friendly title that showcased how motion controls could enhance puzzle gameplay in fresh ways.
Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles / The Darkside Chronicles
These on-rails shooters reimagined classic Resident Evil scenarios through an arcade-style lens. The Umbrella Chronicles covered events from RE0, RE1, and RE3, while Darkside Chronicles retold RE2 and Code Veronica with enhanced cinematic presentation. Both games utilised the Wii Remote as a light gun, letting players blast through zombie hordes and iconic boss encounters with a friend in co-op. The games featured unlockable weapons, multiple difficulty modes, and behind-the-scenes story content that expanded RE lore. While they stripped away exploration and puzzles, they delivered pure shooting action that made revisiting familiar locations feel fresh and intense.
As someone who didn’t like the controls in the regular Resident Evil games (other than the Wii version of Resident Evil 4), this was a great way for me to experience the story of the other games without dealing with the janky controls.
Deadly Creatures
This unique action game puts players in the exoskeletons of a tarantula and scorpion, navigating the dangerous Sonoran Desert. The perspective shift was radical—experiencing the world from ground level, where humans were just background threats, added genuine unease to the experience. Combat used motion controls for strikes, grabs, and special attacks, making encounters with rats, lizards, and other creatures feel primal. A surprisingly dark human drama involving treasure and betrayal (voiced by Dennis Hopper and Billy Bob Thornton) unfolded parallel to your arthropod adventure. Its willingness to explore an entirely different point of view made it one of the Wii’s most original titles.
Klonoa
This Wii remake of the PlayStation classic brought the “door to phantomile” adventure to a new generation with enhanced visuals and refined controls. This was my first Klonoa experience and one of the very few 2.5D platformers I played on the Wii. It followed the long-eared hero Klonoa through the dream world of Phantomile, using his Wind Bullet ability to grab enemies and use them as platforms, projectiles, or double-jump assists. The gameplay perfectly balanced accessibility with clever level design that rewarded exploration and mastery. Its charming art style, touching story about dreams and memory, and pitch-perfect platforming mechanics made it a must-play for fans of classic Nintendo-style platformers.
Trauma Center Series (Second Opinion / New Blood)
These surgical simulation games turned emergency medicine into tense, skill-based gameplay. Second Opinion was an enhanced remake of the DS original, while New Blood introduced co-op surgery. Players used the Wii Remote as surgical instruments, performing incisions, suturing wounds, removing tumours, and battling fictional GUILT diseases under intense time pressure. The games combined medical drama storytelling with arcade-like scoring and ranking systems. The motion controls added physicality to procedures; you had to keep steady hands while monitoring vitals and managing complications. Despite some frustrating motion control limitations that tended to make me give up at a certain point, the series delivered unique pressure-cooker gameplay unlike anything else on the platform. I still consider them a must-try game for the console.
Overall, it seems that most of my favourite games on the Wii were not very child-friendly, and I’ve already tried to play the newer Klonoa game on the Nintendo Switch with my kids (they were not very interested), I’m keen to find out which Wii Games they end up enjoying when they get a little bigger. I think the Wii Controls are still a little bit confusing for them.
