Hidden Gems For The Nintendo Wii

With innovations in motion control and co-operative gameplay at the forefront of their efforts, Nintendo's technical strides in the last decade or so have kinda overshadowed the actual games that tech was created to fuel. Since the launch of the Nintendo Wii in November of 2006, there have been over 1500 different game titles released for the system (including a healthy 21 titles released on the console's launch day). And with that many games at your disposal over the years, it's easy to understand how you might have missed a few. (We're not even counting the 661 backwards-compatible titles from the Nintendo GameCube, the Wii's predecessor).

Whether you're a fan of the console for its optical sensor or its extensive library of game titles (or even just want a heaping dose of nostalgia), here's a handful of our favorite hidden gems on the Nintendo Wii to help catch you up to speed.

With the advent of its Virtual Console feature, the Nintendo Wii was well poised to bridge the gap between modern and retro gaming sensibilities. Enter: A Boy and His Blob in autumn of 2009 from WayForward Technologies and Majesco Entertainment, a "re-imagining" of the 1989 NES original (A Boy and His Blob: Trouble on Blobolonia) and an unsung hero from the Wii's deep catalogue of hits.

The premise of this single-player puzzle platformer is simple: allied with an extraterrestrial hero with an appetite for jelly beans, you must thwart the threat of an evil, amorphous emperor from a distant world. From a gameplay perspective, you'll feed your alien friend — the blob — different flavored jelly beans to transform him into 15 unique "amazing objects" that you'll use to defeat enemies and solve a wide array of 2D puzzles on your way to Blobolonia. It's a heartwarming story of two unlikely heroes that streamlines the gameplay mechanics of the original NES title in favor of a more forgiving experience that could be enjoyed by players of all ages and skill levels — with gorgeous hand-drawn visuals to boot.

Although critical reviews of A Boy and His Blob were favorable, it didn't quite climb the "Licorice Ladder" to financial success. Nevertheless, it remains one of the most visually arresting and instantly compelling titles in the Wii lineup.

Licensed games have been a mixed bag throughout video game history — especially those based on our most beloved comic book characters. Despite flying under the radar like its eponymous Caped Crusader, Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame does not disappoint.

This side-scrolling, beat 'em up platformer from WayForward Technologies and Warner Bros. Interactive was largely overlooked in 2010 because of its simplified, cartoon stylings (when, in fact, the decision to embrace the show's animated look and feel was actually its saving grace). With an epic cast of supporting characters voiced by your favorite actors from the show, a killer soundtrack from chiptune wizard Jake Kaufman & Co., and a belt full of Batman's trademark gadgets at your fingertips, The Brave and the Bold takes its place as one of the more lustrous entries in the Wii's extensive library.

One thing for Batfans to keep in mind: Batman: The Brave and the Bold – The Videogame is as tongue-in-cheek as its narrative namesake. Here you'll find a more comedic and lighthearted Dark Knight than the one fans of Batman: The Animated Series may remember. But that, friends, is part of the charm. In fact, Pee-wee Herman fans will be delighted to know that you can play as the Paul Reubens-voiced Bat-Mite if you connect your Nintendo DS version of the game to your copy on the Wii. "Holy peripherals, Batman!" — that's one hilarious team-up.

This 2007 sequel to Xbox Arcade darling Geometry Wars: Retro Evolved was a collaboration between original Geometry Wars developer Bizarre Creations and British developer Kuju Entertainment. And while Retro Evolved introduced a wildly successful hybrid of vintage arcade aesthetics and modern twitch gameplay, Geometry Wars: Galaxies would refine those retro stylings and present a variety of multiplayer game modes for the arcade-hungry Nintendo crowd to sink their teeth into.

At its core, the addictive Geometry Wars gameplay that was pioneered in Retro Evolved didn't change all too much with this update. Your objectives: stay alive by dodging frenetic enemies, wipe the screen as necessary by blasting enemies with bombs, and rack up the points and collectibles that remain. Nintendo Wii players would be treated to additional multiplayer game modes in Galaxies that not only made good on the Wii's long-standing promises of increased player connectivity but managed to take the adrenaline-fueled, chaotic gameplay of Retro Evolved and turn it up to 11. For a franchise that earned its wings on the successes of the Xbox 360 era, Geometry Wars seemed to finally come into its own when Geometry Wars: Galaxies invaded the console space.

Rockstar Games is a publisher that earned its desirably offbeat reputation by providing a string of successful titles for PlayStation gamers with a penchant for adult humor and violent in-game antics. It came as a bit of a surprise then, in 2008, when Nintendo decided to release Bully in its remastered Scholarship Edition from Mad Doc Software to the family-friendly Nintendo Wii (as well as the Xbox 360).

Bully tells the story of young Jimmy Hopkins, who (following expulsion from 15 previous schools) is back in action at Bullworth Academy, a private boarding school full of Bullies, Nerds, Preppies, Greasers, and Jocks. The name of the game: navigating the social nuances of these cliques while uniting them under your own thuggish rule.

Despite the controversy surrounding the game's content (it was banned in Brazil and by some UK retail outlets), it found a welcome home on Nintendo's fan-favorite console. Unsurprisingly, the Wii Remote was a perfect fit for Bully's slapstick "slingshot," "stink bomb" and "spud cannon" gameplay — and the mature content was a welcome addition to the relatively wholesome Nintendo landscape the Wii had laid out before it. To this day, Bully entertains a new generation of fans with an updated Anniversary Edition on Android and iOS; but nothing compares to the Wiimote when it comes to slinging marbles and tossing firecrackers at your fellow school yard scoundrels.

Sometimes, a video game comes along that reminds you why you fell in love with video games in the first place. Point in case: Tron Evolution: Battle Grids, a deceptively simple and effortlessly fun action adventure game from Disney Interactive Studios and developer n-Space.

A sequel to Disney's 1982 feature film Tron, Tron Evolution: Battle Grids is set during the late 1980s, when the citizens of The Grid were living in a veritable utopia. Lead designer James Toghill and team sought to create a game that's very much a social, multiplayer experience with a fun, "pick up and play" game style. The result is a hybrid of solo and multiplayer gameplay that does a great job of replicating the adventurous sci-fi vibes of the original movie and its sequel, Tron: Legacy.

Battle Grids boasts 3 distinct modes: Story Mode, Championship Mode, and the "Grid Games" — a collection of game modes from Tron lore, including the Light Cycle Arena, Light Cycle Races, Disc Arena, Light Runner Arena, Light Runner Races, HyperBall, and Tanks. And while each of these modes exhibits its own strengths and weaknesses, the highlights of this suite of four-player minigames are the Light Cycle Arena and Light Cycle Races. The wizards at n-Space managed to develop an intuitive control system that seamlessly utilizes the Wii Remote to incredible effect — with the first-person view active, you'll almost swear your racing that Light Cycle yourself.