Best of 2008: 10 games you should have downloaded

by JC Fletcher { Dec 30th 2008 at 12:51PM }

Even without consulting the weekly popularity charts found on the Nintendo Channel, it's pretty simple to know whether a Virtual Console game was successful in 2008. Success on the VC was reserved for Nintendo franchises and the very biggest names in third-party releases, like Sonic, Mega Man, and Pac-Man. One delightful exception to the super-famous franchise rule: Super Dodge Ball has been in the Top 20 since release. People are clearly buying what they already love rather than exploring.

WiiWare, as well, is dominated by the same titles since release: World of Goo, Tetris Party, and (yes,) My Aquarium have been at the top of the charts since release. Other games that have had long stretches of success include, uh, Target Toss Pro: Bags, Pong Toss, Sudoku Challenge, and -- oh, good -- Mega Man 9. Some less popular games take a trip up and then back down the chart upon release. But some didn't even really do that, despite being totally worthwhile.

Join us as we browse through five Virtual Console games and five WiiWare games that you guys passed over for more Mario games and The Incredible Maze. To simplify things, we considered North American sales and releases only. If you're from outside North America, go ahead and assume people missed good games in your region too.

NEXT >>

Tags: alien-crush-returns, best-of-2008, cho-aniki, eoy-2008, gyrostarr, joystiqfeatures, king-of-the-monsters, phantasy-star-ii, pit-crew-panic, sega-master-system, star-parodier

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Roto13 @ Dec 30th 2008 1:02PM

I downloaded Cho Aniki but it wasn't nearly gay enough.

Sisyphus @ Dec 30th 2008 1:38PM

The only one from the list that I've bought is Toki Tori, and I've barely played it.

sjames7 @ Dec 30th 2008 1:51PM

A few of those I wanted to buy at the time they were released and I had plenty of space, but I didn't have any Wii Points or money to spend. Now, I have a ton of Wii Points (thanks to the Toys'R'Us deal) but no more space to download anything.

Toki Tori caught my eye, and a few others as well, but I can barely download songs for GH:WT and they all have to go on my SD card. If Nintendo releases their storage solution with support for loading VC/WiiWare from the SD card then I'll buy more things, but right now I'm too lazy to juggle everything around so I can give someone more money.

SegaPleaseMakePanzerDragoonWii! @ Dec 30th 2008 1:59PM

Well I have to both agree and disagree with Alien Crush Returns. I can't advise anyone to download it, since there's nobody to compete against online ever. But, had it been successful, it'd be a different game entirely. To be completely honest, I don't think that I'll ever buy another online Wiiware game, unless I buy it solely for offline play. There's no point. With such limited storage space on the Wii, people are constantly shifting games off of their Wii's internal memory. As such, there's no real lasting online presence even if the game does sell well initially. Online a Wiiware game has no chance to grow after release, only to shrink as it gets shifted off to SD card land in lieu of newly bought titles. Buy that game now, and you'll likely not find anyone to compete against at any given moment. I bought, played, beat, looked (hopelessly) for online oppenents and then shifted this game over to my SD card in a span of about 2 hours. I was left irritated and feeling ripped off. Beware online Wiiware games. Lesson learned.

SoshiKitai @ Dec 30th 2008 2:47PM

Dunno bout you, but there's never NO ONE playing Dr. Mario online...

samfish @ Dec 30th 2008 2:33PM

I probably would have bought at least 7 of those 10 games if I wasn't out of space.
Unfortunately, I refuse to delete games from my Wii. I shouldn't have to and I'm sticking to my principals, damnit!

8-bit.artist @ Dec 30th 2008 2:37PM

it saddens me that animales de la muerte hasnt been released yet

Emily @ Dec 30th 2008 2:40PM

I'd buy/download stuff on WiiWare and VC, but I currently have no room left on my Wii. Sad really.
Also, I've never heard of a lot of these games.

SoshiKitai @ Dec 30th 2008 2:50PM

I'd buy a ton of these games, but...
I've got no Wii points. :(

And I gladly switch out my games. Because unlike most people, when I'm done playing with a game and putting it on hold, I admit it's going to take months to get back into it... while most other people deny that fact, saying they'll play it by next week. :P
Switching out games doesn't take nearly as much time as it used to, so other than for their own principles, I'm not sure why people are complaining so much.

Nigeria @ Dec 30th 2008 2:57PM

Star Parodier is a real pretty game, so colourful. I still find it astonishing that this game was originally released back in 1992.

Sisyphus @ Dec 30th 2008 3:00PM

Switching out games isn't hard nor that time consuming. Transfer games you aren't likely to play soon to a card, or as you finish off a Wiiware game (LostWinds for example). There's plenty of room to have several active Wiiware and VC games.

Mr Khan @ Dec 30th 2008 4:34PM

I picked up World of Goo with most of the 2000 Wii Points my roommate gave me, but i'm going to hold off on it until i'm finished with Link's Crossbow Training

I really think Nintendo's got the interface of the Shop Channel down quite well now, unfortunately, that comes with hitting my self-imposed 500 Block limit. No more purchases from me until storage solution.

Sisyphus @ Dec 30th 2008 5:32PM

What storage solution would satisfy you, other than a HDD (which won't happen)?

tifosiotaku @ Dec 30th 2008 8:09PM

Target Toss Pro: Bags gets no love. It's not shovelware, it's actually pretty good.

Yourself @ Dec 30th 2008 9:51PM

I'm a bit surprised by all the teary eyes here over a lack of storage. It's annoying and offensive, the way that Nintendo has handled it, but I'm not going to let it stop me from playing games I love.

As for this list, there are quite a few ??? choices. Buying a SMS game for the sake of buying an SMS game is a bit silly, particularly when none of the offerings are anything above extreme mediocrity. Unless you grew up with the system (which few Americans did), there's little to be found in its selection of subpar platformers. Sonic? Maybe if you love the series and are incredibly tired of the Genesis offerings, which are available not only on VC but as a relatively cheap GCN collection. But Alex Kidd has not aged well, and both Fantasy Zone and Space Harrier have much better (although still weak in the latter case) sequels available.

While Star Parodier and Cho Aniki do distinguish themselves stylistically, I'm not sure you can fault anyone for ignoring them when such a classic collection of shmups has already appeared. When you've already got Super Star Soldier, Gradius III, Lords of Thunder, and so many other strictly superior titles in the genre, a few goofy body-builders isn't really enough to sell a game.

masami_eiri @ Dec 31st 2008 10:28AM

KotM and Pit crew panic?

seriously?

danielnagle @ Jan 5th 2009 10:12AM

After looking up Youtube videos, checking out this list, and finding every review I could, I couldn't find any significant complaints with Toki Tori or Gyrostar. Both were deemed simple but addictive and easy to pick up and play. Finding this, I decided they might be worth their 1000 and 700 Wii points, respectively, and downloaded them. This was by far the WORST choice in purchasing WiiWare games I have made so far.

Every review leads you to believe that with both of these games, players will quickly be immersed in the simple to pick up but challenging to master gameplay. This is very false in both cases, but both in their own way.

Toki Tori: After flying through the first 12 or so levels, I was only slightly entertained by very repetitive puzzle like gameplay. Suddenly it started taking 8-10 tries to complete a level as it is far too easy to fall off a ledge that is barely tall enough to keep you from jumping back up. This game apparently first came out on Game Boy Color, which suits it well as it required no view changes from the side-on perspective. The problem comes in with the zoomed in view in the Wii version, requiring you to zoom out everytime you try to move. Freezing the game while zoomed out is frustrating, as it makes it clear that the whole game could be played in the zoomed out view and make levels much more approachable.

Gyrostar: Reviews said it is simple and 'surprisingly easy for a shooter!' Those are both understatements. Other than the track you are stuck to changing it's shape, the tracks never develop any new turns, drops or hills. Three types of turns are used the entire game and as long as you hold down shoot and aim anywhere remotely towards the enemys moving slowly towards you, there is no way to lose. Oh, wait. Unless you can't get enough energy because the energy chunks are either moving too fast, are hidden behind hills or turns or flew away at extreme speeds because you shot at an enemy beside it!

Why does everyone seem to enjoy these games? They have barely any value above online flash games aside from graphics, which really weren't well used anyways.