Wii Warm Up: Third-party rundown
by Candace Savino 
{ Dec 2nd 2007 at 10:30AM }
Some analysts like to paint a grim picture for third-party developers, but we certainly wouldn't be enjoying our Wiis as much without some third-party games in our library. With that said, what's your favorite third-party game that you own (or have played), and what one are you most looking forward to?
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Buntaro @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:43AM
Hooray for 3rd party love Wii-Fanboy staff!
Favorite 3rd party game and favorite Wii game in general: Dewy's Adventure
3rd party game I'm most looking forward too:
Family Ski
Tom @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:45AM
Resident Evil 4 is an amazing game by Capcom. Guitar Hero III is solid, but that was expected across all systems. Zack and Wiki is challenging, hard but also a lot of fun.
RE4 gets my vote.
I'm looking forward to: (I keep my budget on the low side so these are already released) Battalion Wars 2, Medal of Honor 2, and Godfather Blackhand Edition.
Just need to set aside some money for games.
Kenology @ Dec 2nd 2007 11:01AM
It's hard to choose just one favorite 3rd party game for the Wii. The ones that instantly come to mind are Resident Evil 4: Wii Edition, Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros' Treasure, Tomb Raider Anniversary, and Medal of Honors Heroes 2. Right now, I'm gonna give the nod to Zak & Wiki, 'cause "Mad Science" level is kickin' my ass right now.
What upcoming 3rd party release I'm looking foward to? NO MORE HEROES... that game is gonna be the shit.
opnickc @ Dec 2nd 2007 11:20AM
Favorite 3rd party title: Trauma Center
Looking Forward to: A good online shooter not set in WWII (sorry MOH Heroes 2).
Would still like to get: Resident Evil 4 (already have on Gamecube, but I keep getting told that I have to play the Wii version).
padgon @ Dec 3rd 2007 12:22AM
I agree, Atlus with Trauma Center.
racecar @ Dec 2nd 2007 11:26AM
Currently? Rayman 1. Anxiously awaiting my copy for Rayman 2 and Guitar Hero. Took the plunge on Zack and Wiki and my wife and I are enjoying it thoroughly so far (just got in on Friday).
-racecar
http://everybodyvotes.blogspot.com
raindog @ Dec 2nd 2007 11:31AM
I'm torn between Zack and Wiki vs. Elebits for my favorite third party game at this point. But I could imagine Geometry Wars taking the lead if I get it for xmas (and if my geezer reflexes can still survive an old school Robotron style twitch game.)
Dewy's was pretty, and played well, but the too-easy levels plus the too-hard boss battles equal a game I never finished. Never did beat the "caterpidron" boss and since no one ever posted a walkthrough or guide on Gamefaqs, I'm not alone in that.
Buntaro @ Dec 2nd 2007 1:54PM
In case you intend to resume your Dewy playthrough and want some boss strategies, ask around on the gamefaqs board. I post there from time to time.
raindog @ Dec 3rd 2007 12:36AM
I actually did post to the Gamefaqs board. One person responded in very broken English about something completely irrelevant. That was the end of the thread, and by now it's on page 2 of that board so no one will ever look at it again.
Buntaro @ Dec 3rd 2007 1:32AM
I found the thread via google cache, it's not on the gamefaq's server anymore.
I hate posting unrelated stuff, but I'll make an exception this time as I can't reply on gamefaqs.
Also, bear with me as I don't know the exact names for each of Dewy's forms and attacks, as I play the game in a different language.
First phase: Caterpidron flies around, spits out poison and hides one of the 4 Gebotz. Destroy them using frost Dewy's triple jump attack (press 2, then at the peak of the jump, press 1, 1, 1, or simply mash on 1)
Second Phase: Caterpidron chases Dewy and spits out more poison. Get as close to any of his tail segments as possible and perform his triple jump attack in frost form (jump, press 1,1,1 or mash 1). Caterpidron’s tail segments will fall off, then become invincible after Dewy hits them 3 - 5 times (notice how they start spinning, this is the indicator that Dewy shouldn’t attack anymre). After attacking, stay away from them until Caterpidron re-attaches his tail segments and starts chasing Dewy again. Repeat all steps.
Another hint: Avoid attacking Caterpidron when he's close to the lava around the platform, as this might cause Dewy to drop into the lava after the triple attack
Third Phase: Use frost Dewy’s triple attack to damage the helpless Caterpidron.
After some hits, Caterpidron will grow some new tail segments and the second phase starts over.
raindog @ Dec 3rd 2007 8:43AM
Thanks, I think I had just been spinning into them rather than doing the triple jump. It's disheartening to know I'll have to do it twice, though.
Hame @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:01PM
I actually only seem to own one third-party game which is Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, which is okay, good single-player, wretched mini-games, some of which were so bad I will always be bitter that I had to experience them.
Hopefully the third-party output will be much better next year. I have little sympathy for third-parties whose games aren't selling on the Wii. If you release games that look and play like they were made by your work-experience boy, don't expect them to sell. I guess even new gamers know a piece of shit when they see it.
Jay @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:22PM
I like Zack and Wiki, Elebits, Raving Rabbids, Trauma Center, and Godfather Blackhand. i haven't played Dewey's Adventure, Guitar Hero, or Resident Evil 4 Wii Edition yet, but I plan on eventually picking them up.
The 3rd party I'm most looking forward to is No More Heroes, that looks like wicked fun.
Cliff @ Dec 2nd 2007 10:50PM
Madden 08. I'm usually not into the Sports game genre, but playing YAC attack and 2 on 2 using the Wii remote against 3 friends has a bunch of us up until 4 am. I think it's the funnest multiplayer game on the Wii and this comes from someone who never ever plays sports games.
I would never buy this for a different platform.
troy @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:36PM
What a hard choice! I've got Dewy's Adventure, which is fun but like raindog I find an unbalance between the levels and the bosses. I've also got Trauma Center (first one) and I can't wait to get the next one to play some co-op! But those two aren't my favorites. I really do enjoy 'Ghost Squad,' which has very good aim response and is a fun budget port of the arcade title with some cool extras. But I would probably have to say that I enjoy 'Resident Evil: the Umbrella Chronicles' the most for its action, intensity, and how fricken' fun it is to play co-op with my girlfriend. I particularly enjoy these Zapper compatible games (I really like the feel of the thing) and I applaud the third parties for getting on board with such solid support early on. They recognized that there was a huge opportunity there to be the only good games that didn't come with the Zapper to use it, and it seems to be paying off.
troy @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:36PM
Oh yeah! No more heroes looks AWESOME!
troy @ Dec 2nd 2007 12:42PM
See, you can still get a lot of comments, even on a sunday morning, with a nice, supportive, positive article. Glad that is the case.
Dopple Boppler @ Dec 2nd 2007 1:18PM
Guitar Hero's the only non-minigame third party game I have thus far. But No More Heroes looks amazing.
Fiefdom @ Dec 2nd 2007 1:20PM
I S2 the Trauma Center series (I have the GCN version of RE4 so that doesn't count). I'm mostly looking forward to Fatal Frame 4, I think.... I'm also keeping an eye on Oboro Muramasa Youtouden and Disaster: Day of Crisis. I have the PS2 version of Okami, it's a stellar game that really deserves a purchase by anyone who has yet to play it.
The only first party Wii games I have are Twilight Princess, Fire Emblem, Wii Sports, and Wii Play. I think the problem is more that the huge influx of rubbish party games from third party developers aren't making any money, everyone else should do perfectly fine (I hope)....
SoshiKitai @ Dec 2nd 2007 1:39PM
...I've only got bad 3rd party games for the Wii...
Not too surprising since I bought all of them a few weeks after the Wii came out.
But because all of them kinda killed it, I'm kinda afraid to get another one...
But if I can get over that fear, I want:
Elebits -for my gf
Dewey's Adventure -for my gf
RE4 -for me
RE: Umbrella Chronicles -for both of us (er... more for me, she hates zombies)
Ghost Squad -for both of us
The God Father: BHE -for me (want to see how it is)
Zack & Wiki -for me (it's been a while since a hard game came out)
Trauma Center: New Blood (loved the first one- DS & Wii)
BWii 2 -for me ( *sigh* I really wanted that game)
NO MORE HEROES -for me (awesome: stylish AND hard)
and etc etc etc...
Only games I recommend from the ones I played:
Trauma Center: Second Opinion (obvious reasons)
DBZ Tenkaichi 2 (the game that got dbz-haters into dbz)
DBZ Tenkaichi 3 (takes a while to learn, but friggin' awesome)
SoshiKitai @ Dec 2nd 2007 1:43PM
...oh oops, I forgot to put:
-that bubble bobble game- (forgot the name) (Always fun to have them)
Koropina (that marble game) (heard it was really fun)
DDR (forgot the full name) (heard it was pretty okay)
Tomb Raider Anniversary (I thought the TR games were okay, this'll be interesting)
troy @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:00PM
Disaster: Day of Crisis is a 1st/2nd Party game from Nintendo/Monolith. Guess who completely bought out Monolith? Nintendo... it was 2nd party when started now its first because Monolith are a Nintendo Company.
Mr Khan @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:10PM
Only 3rd party game so far is Sonic and the Secret Rings (vastly underrated)
But i look ahead to NiGHTS 2, No More Heroes, King's Story (Project O), maybe Fragile if i see more
James @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:22PM
Meh, I consider Capcom "second party" (since they're the only ones putting out good Wii games -- see the NWFB staff poll from last week) and other than them, I don't know of any decent third-party games. I'm looking at my shelf, which has 1st party titles (Zelda, Metroid, Paper Mario, Mario Galaxy, Excite Truck), Capcom Games (Zack and Wiki, RE4) and deep, abiding hatred (Rayman). I might eventually get one or both Trauma Centers, but only when they're on the 20-dollar rack.
Otherwise? I have my Wii for first-party games; anything else is a pleasant surprise.
James @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:26PM
How could I forget those two? I read back through some of the previous comments I missed, and realized I had forgotten to include Square (Crystal Chronicles) and a Square-Enix knockoff (Project O/King Story, which has drawn comparisons to Actraiser). Also, I'm really eagerly anticipating Shiren (assuming it ever actually materializes here).
G @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:29PM
I only have one third party game:
Rayman Raving Rabbids 1
By far the best party gameon the Wii. the other 3 games I own (excluding Wii Sports) are all first party.
However, I am looking forward to:
No More Heroes
de Blob
The Next James Bond title(prob for ALL platofrms)
DonWii @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:36PM
Zack & Wiki
No More Heroes/Kings Story (Both from Marvelous Entertainment).
Hunin @ Dec 2nd 2007 2:47PM
Battalion Wars II, Guitar Hero III and Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 are all great games.
I'm looking to get Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles and Zack & Wiki
codymurray @ Dec 2nd 2007 3:01PM
http://photos-d.ak.facebook.com/photos-ak-sf2p/v77/175/81/722161641/n722161641_146307_8385.jpg
good third party games need licences to insure profits and thats a downfall.
gevenstaines @ Dec 2nd 2007 11:41PM
the only i have right now is monkey ball: banana blitz, but i want to get MoH:H2 and BWII.
Neal Eaton @ Dec 2nd 2007 3:09PM
Gotta go with the Trauma Center games. Brilliant and creative gameplay...whacked out stories...and loads of heart racing, palm sweating gameplay.
These just simply couldn't be done on any other console.
Trogdor @ Dec 2nd 2007 3:09PM
Right now, my favorite 3rd party game is BWii. That game is really fun, it just doesn't have enough Wifi missions. GH3 is alright, but I don't play most of the songs on it. Those are the only 2 3rd party games I own.
Which 3rd party games am I looking forward too? MOH:H2 (32 player online!) and No More Heroes. That game looks kick-ass!
Mr Khan @ Dec 2nd 2007 3:22PM
BWii's 2nd party
Kuju devved, Nintendo published
Rynan @ Dec 2nd 2007 3:43PM
I'm with troy, I've had a ton of fun over the last few days playing co-op on both Ghost Squad and Umbrella Chronicles.
I can' wait for more light gun games like House of the Dead 2 & 3 and I wanna try the arcade version of Medal of Honor Heroes 2 to see what that's like.
troy @ Dec 2nd 2007 4:26PM
I know! I will definitely be picking up House of the Dead Wii and I have put Medal of Honor Heroes 2 on my GameQ on gamefly.
Ihar `Philips` Filipau @ Dec 2nd 2007 5:08PM
Currently that would be RE4.
What I want: S/JRPG. Sadly currently there is litterally no RPGs on Wii.
Also I'm looking forward to Doom3 and all the excellence of PC FPS brought to Wii. But somehow I doubt that id Software would ever bother - they always target higher end, mostly PCs. Essentially, I want a kill-em-all FPS w/o brakes. RE4 - controls too clunky, exploration bit is nice but slowing down action too much; boss battles slow game needlessly too. MP3:C - isn't shooter at all. Link Crossbow Training - not yet sold in Yorupe. What left are shooting mini games from WiiPlay and Raving Rabbids. Not much for console with such a promising controller.
Ants @ Dec 2nd 2007 5:53PM
Guitar Hero 3 and Godfather was awesome!
im looking forward to Okami and No More Heroes!
tiamat1990 @ Dec 2nd 2007 6:08PM
Guitar Hero III
BlindSight @ Dec 2nd 2007 7:05PM
For 3rd party games, I have Rayman 1, DBZ: BT 2, Guitar Hero 3, and Zack & Wiki. Rayman and DBZ are decent games but I rarely play them anymore. Guitar Hero 3 is also pretty good but I'm thinking of selling it to get some money for Rock Band on 360. My favorite 3rd party game so far is Zack & Wiki. Despite its kiddy appearance, it has some great puzzles and is just a real solid game.
I am still on the fence about No More Heroes, but I am looking forward to Okami as I never got the chance to play it on PS2.
Ryan P. @ Dec 2nd 2007 7:33PM
Looking forward to Endless Ocean
LilCo187 @ Dec 2nd 2007 8:04PM
Man I gotta say, ever since I picked up Metal Of Honor Heroes 2 I haven't even looked over at SMG. That 32 player online is a godsend to the Wii.
lucasta16 @ Dec 3rd 2007 12:08AM
Trauma center: new blood it has to be. But it's awfully tough without friends over for a co op.
AJ @ Dec 3rd 2007 3:54AM
I really liked Ghost Squad in the arcade but on the Wii G.S. kicks ass. All the extra costumes and guns really sweeten the pot. Global rankings is the perfect icing on the cake. I would have paid fifty bucks for this title without a quibble but at thirty bucks I really see it as a must buy for any Wii owner. RE4 Wii edition a close second followed buy Medal of Honor: Heroes 2 to round out the pack.
mark richardson @ Dec 3rd 2007 4:46AM
at the moment lego star wars the complete saga i have to say! cant put that game down.
although in the uk we still dont have zack and wiki which im reallly looking forward too and we just get dewies adventure which ill purchase but not right now. then we have a plethora of other games coming out soon that i really must et my hands on far to many to mention to tell the truth!
Adrian @ Dec 3rd 2007 8:03AM
Ok... Alright now. Calm down people. Dewy's Adventure can't all that wonderful. I really wanna check it out, now. RE:4 is awesome. DBZT2 was pretty descent. And, I have to say, I'm very excited about Will Wright's "Spore" game that's coming out. That game is going to change the way simulations are percieved and produced. I never noticed it until you guys posted the question, but I don't own any 3rd party titles! They're all Nintendo! I think I'll go out & buy one, right now.
Excuse me...
ejamer @ Dec 3rd 2007 10:32AM
Which 3rd party game is the best? Hmm... I've got a couple of 3rd party games that have all been enjoyed very much.
I've spent a lot of hours on Resident Evil 4: Wii edition, and think the game is absolutely top-notch... but it feels wrong to say that a port is the best game. (Same goes for the excellent Godfather remake.)
Madden '08 has been really fun, and provided hours of entertainment - but EA didn't spend enough time ironing out the little details. So the game is left in a "good but not great" state this year... maybe things will be even better next year?
Rayman Raving Rabbids has to get mention for providing a wonderfully silly experience. Everyone should play through once, if only for the sick humor and great on-rails shooter sections.
Zack and Wiki is best described as charming - you almost want to fail the challenges just to see what happens, and while replay value isn't the highest with graphic adventures like this, there are often multiple solutions available and a ton of hidden secrets. (My current favorite Wii game.)
There are also quite a few good games that I haven't tried yet.