The original focus of the Wii was to make video games appealing to the whole family so they could spend more quality time together… playing Nintendo.
It was a smart move since their competitors were not doing the same. Nintendo was going after a different audience than Sony and Microsoft, and it worked. There were still many strong gamer-focused titles like Zelda: Skyward Sword, Xenoblade Chronicles, and the Metroid Prime Trilogy, to name a few.
But for every game that was fun to play, there are a dozen that should not have seen the light of day. Unfortunately, the Wii seemed to be the dumping system for a lot of shovelware but some were worse than others so we are going to count down what we think are the
10 Worst Games On The Wii
Alvin & The Chipmunks
Everyone knows who Alvin & The Chipmunks are. There have been multiple video games featuring these classic characters and I can’t think of any as bad as this even though most of the others have been failures are well.
The story of the game features The Chipmunks competing in a Battle Of The Bands. They are trying to save a music club from shutting down and are performing some well-known songs.
This game was supposed to appeal to children by having the Chipmunks sing popular songs. Some may bring up The “Just Dance” games for comparison but in the “Just Dance” games, you get to hear the stars that created the songs perform them, not Chipmunks.
Alvin & The Chipmunks do not impress with their graphics either. It would be acceptable if this game came out on a console during the fifth generation. Contrary to what most think, the Wii is capable of much better, and what this game offered as cutscenes were juvenile and not impressive at all.
Balls Of Fury
For those of you who may not know, Balls Of Fury was a movie that was not well received by viewers. So this movie needs a video game, right? Well, one was made for the Nintendo Wii and it performed just as well as the movie.
Christopher Walken did appear in the game but he did not look so great and the movement was stiff. The gameplay didn’t go any further than shaking the Wiimote. You might be lucky enough to complete the game or you might not get past the first level but it has nothing to do with your skills.
Billy The Wizard: Rocket Broomstick Racing
Data Design Interactive has made many bad games and more of their games will appear on the list (I promise).
If you are willing to look past the generic design of the user interface in Wizard Rocket Broomstick Racing, you will be rewarded with terrible gameplay and controls that are a disaster.
Unfortunately, this happens to be the pattern with most games developed by Data Design Interactive.
You have to use the Nunchuk to move your character and the Wiimote struggles to pick up on the player movements. So actually getting around and doing things is a constant chore. Not only does it lack fun, but it is also frustrating to play.
Sukeban Shachou Rena
This unique game involves minigames and cats. It may have sounded like a good idea on paper. It was a Japan exclusive, and at first glance appears to have that wacky Japanese style we all love.
Unfortunately, the final product is you trying to please a cat that only cares about himself. Sounds pretty realistic, but none of the mini-games are fun to play and there is nothing special about the game.
Unless you love “playing” with a virtual cat, there is nothing offered here. This game only sold 100 copies the week it was released which has to be one of the most abysmal launches of all time.
Game Party
Party games can be fun especially if a bunch of friends get together and play a game together. There are many good examples in the genre like Mario Party and Wii Party, etc. Game Party follows more closely resembles Wii Play but comes nowhere close in the execution.
Some of the mini-games may be fun to play once or twice but then they are easy and lose their appeal quickly. There are only a handful of mini-games and perhaps including a bigger selection or an online multiplayer mode might have added a little more value here.
The crazy thing is that Game Party ended up being a trilogy of games. The sequels may have been slightly better but still not enough to warrant a try. I don’t know who was enjoying this game enough to get two sequels approved.
Anubis II
Hello again, Data Design Interactive. This game was another masterpiece created by these infamous developers. The story of a game features a God threatening to cover Egypt in darkness and it’s up to Anubis to stop this from happening.
While the story sounds interesting, it’s not. The controls are bad. Simple platforming requires multiple tries to do correctly. Regardless of whether you try defeating enemies, avoiding enemies, or going where you want, it requires a lot of luck to do this right the first time.
There are many great platforming games on the Nintendo Wii. Anubis II is not one of them.
Chicken Shoot
Duck Hunt was a great game on the original Nintendo and it helped make the NES a success. It’s not clear if the developers of Chicken Shoot were trying to repeat those results but, they did not repeat those results.
It is exactly what it sounds like. You shoot down an army of wacky-looking chickens as they appear on the screen. The gameplay never changes up while the background only changes slightly, and the game is just not fun.
This is the one I am most disappointed about because the idea sounds fun enough and even looking at the screenshots you can see what it could have been.
It’s also worth noting, the sound coming from the chickens will have you muting your television almost instantly.
Action Girlz Racing
Mario Kart Wii is fun. Action Grilz Racing misses everything that is appealing about fast-paced kart racing. The tracks are not well designed, the controls need to be tighter and the weapons that you get are useless because they don’t last long.
In case you are wondering, the people at Data Design Interactive created this game. What is baffling is this was already a disaster on other consoles before it came to the Nintendo Wii. There are no differences between this and other console ports.
The buttons to accelerate and go in reverse are the same as Mario Kart Wii. The steering also requires tilting the remote in a specific direction. The difference is Mario Kart Wii has much tighter controls.
The controls wouldn’t be such a big problem if these tracks were wide open but they are not fit for the number of sharp turns that you have to deal with. This game was supposed to appeal to young girls but it just remains a bad game for anyone.
Major Minor’s Majestic March
Your character is a cat named Major Minor who wants to start his marching band but has nothing he needs. However Major learns from his friend that his baton is magical.
This game requires you to do one single thing over and over.
Your performance in the game is based on whether or not you are swinging your baton at the right speed, and that’s all. But since the Wiimote is not precise, you just swing your arm up and down and it doesn’t track your speed all that well. Even if it did, that is the whole game.
Many games on the Wii require players to get up off the couch and do various activities and challenges. However, most of those games do so in fun and creative ways.
While the game looks good and you can see what they are going for, it is a game that no one wanted and it was executed badly.
Ninjabread Man
Data Design Interactive has appeared four times on this list. However, this might be the worst game they ever created. This is a 3D platform game and nothing on the cover would make parents hesitate about purchasing this game for their child.
This game makes basic actions like running and jumping around the levels a challenge. Yes. Just trying to control the hero in this game is a challenge. This is not good when this game is supposed to be a platformer.
The graphics are horrendous which is common with other games that came from this developer.
Everything about this game is horrible, except maybe the name. Niinjabread Man is a pretty badass name for a ninja gingerbread character.
These are 10 of the worst games on the Nintendo Wii. I know some players out there might be interested in picking these up just to see how bad they actually are, but none of these games are worth spending your time on.
The Nintendo Wii is a lot better than most gamers give it credit for and there were a lot of fun games that were overlooked. The console did turn out to be a success, but it is games like this are that gave it such a negative reputation.
Honorable Mention
Tony Hawk: Ride
Tony Hawk: Ride was a unique game that is separate from the core Tony Hawk Pro Skater franchise. The main thing that sets it apart from the other THPS titles is the physical skateboard controller that came with it.
The game itself felt like a major downgrade, probably to create a more life-like experience for those using the new motion board. And while the innovative board was easy to balance on, the ability to pull off more advanced moves just didn’t feel real enough.
I can applaud the team for taking the risk, but when your series has a formula that fans love, you should just stick to it and give them what they want.
