The Wii for gamers

• February 5, 2009
• James Skemp
• technology

"Seriously considering purchasing a Wii (and only playing virtual console games)" - James Skemp

In the February 2009 edition of GameInformer, they have an article titled "Hardcore Gamer's Guide to the Wii." In that same issue, on the ratings page, there is one Wii game with an 8.5. The next highest is 8.25, followed by a number of 7.75s.

Since GameInformer is a magazine for gamers, I therefore make the claim that the article should have been titled "Gamer's Guide to the Wii" (note the missing word).

Clearly, when I spoke earlier, I wasn't joking; why would a gamer purchase a Wii, other than for the Virtual Console?

Looking at the list of games, I can find a number that make me recall my old systems (one of which was taken from me all too soon):

• Donkey Kong Country
• Secret of Mana
• Super Mario 64
• Super Mario Bros. (1, 2, 3, and lost levels, which we had as one, but they've done separately)
• Super Mario RPG
• Super Mario World
• Super Metroid

Then there's other games which I've heard are good, or which I wouldn't mind playing again.

Sadly, some games are missing (Earthbound comes to mind immediately), but I can see a little over 15,000 Wii points waiting to be spent.

But, these are Virtual Console games, hence somewhat geared more towards older gamers, who grew up on these games. (Who else remembers Wal-Mart having a SNES with Super Mario World? How far along had someone gotten yours? Ours was to the last boss, but I don't think Star World was done. Heck, I just re-found my old game guide the other weekend for this game and a bunch of others.)

Is WiiWare the answer? Perhaps ... but it remains to be seen.

• wii