The 14 Best Games You Can Only Play on the Wii

Wii exclusives designed for its unique motion features and controllers

Some games are available to be played on nearly every gaming system, but others are exclusive to just one system. Wii exclusives are especially notable ​because, without having to worry about making a game that works on multiple platforms, game designers can design entirely for the motion control, creating games that can't be replicated on other systems. Here is a list of the games that only Wii owners can play, giving the Wii an edge on other systems and making other game system owners jealous.

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

The action-adventure game "The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword" is the ultimate Wii game, utilizing everything that has gone into Wii design, and the game that renewed the faith of fans in the potential of the Wii console, proving the viability of gesture gaming as a true alternative to traditional game controllers. After this, playing an action-adventure game with nothing but buttons and triggers feels flat and uninspired. Alas, we'll probably never see another Zelda game like it.

Xenoblade Chronicles

Xenoblade Chronicles

There is nothing about "Xenoblade Chronicles" that demands the unique design options of the Wii. It utilizes so little of the Wii remote that you're better off playing the game with the Wii Classic Controller. It's a roleplaying game on a system virtually devoid of them, and it could have been made for any platform. It's only on the Wii because Nintendo owns a controlling interest in its developer. In spite of all that, it is one of the greatest games ever made for the Wii, and one of the greatest JRPGs ever made, period. It is a grand epic that should not be missed, and a reason to pity anyone who doesn't own a Wii.

The Last Story

The Last Story

The other great Wii JRPG is the closest thing to a "Final Fantasy" style game ever made for the Wii. It has a lush score, a charming (though generic) story, and visuals that rise above the level of almost all other Wii games, and the fast-paced real-time combat system makes it one of the most exciting RPGs we've ever played.

Disney Epic Mickey

Disney Epic Mickey

It is rare for any publisher except Nintendo to put out a big-budget Wii exclusive, but that's what happened with Disney Epic Mickey, an action-adventure game designed by the brilliant Warren Spector. Portraying Mickey Mouse's adventures in a decaying alternate cartoon universe, the game is notable for an engaging story and a unique game mechanism that allows players to use paint and thinner to repair and destroy the world. While the game has a few flaws, such as camera issues, this is still an involving, immersive experience.

De Blob

De Blob
The revolution will be colorized.

A game that correlates oppression and revolution with grays and colors, De Blob creates a vivid world where the dark forces of black and white are pitted against revolutionaries who are colorful in the most literal sense of the word; they devote themselves to repainting their cities after the bad guys drain them of color. A funny and stylish platformer with an intuitive control scheme that uses motion control smoothly and intelligently, De Blob is an almost perfect Wii game.

Donkey Kong Country Returns

Donkey Kong Country Returns
DKCR is no walk in the park. It's more like a mining cart ride over broken tracks.

This impressive old-school 2D platformer is so imaginative and varied and well designed that we can more-or-less forgive it for being brutally difficult. While some games like to come up with something different, DKCR aims to gives Donkey Kong fans everything they expect, perfectly done.

Sonic Colors

Sonic Colors
Sonic Colors perfectly captures the feel of the original Sonic games.

This is the game that finally made Sonic the Hedgehog a successful 3D star. With years of great 2D arcade platformers featuring the speedy critter followed by years of 3D Sonic games that varied from dreary to near-misses, Sonic Colors, finally, perfectly recaptures the magic of the original 2D games in a 3D world.

Wii Sports Resort

Wii Sports Resort
You can put so much spin on a ping pong ball that it arcs like a Frisbee.

We often complained about the flood of mini-game collections that virtually drowned the Wii, but a mini-game collection done right can be tremendous fun. Resort is, very simply, the ultimate mini-game collection. Created to introduce the MotionPlus, the game finds a lot of different ways to take advantage of the increased motion sensitivity, giving players an experience that is even more impossible on any other console than the typical Wii game.

Deadly Creatures

Deadly Creatures

Action games are generally about fighting things you wouldn’t want to meet in person: alien monsters, Nazi soldiers, zombies, ninjas, and, in the case of Deadly Creatures, spiders and scorpions. One of the most original and exciting action video games ever made for the Wii, Creatures takes place in the dust of the desert, with fierce battles between creatures that could easily crawl into your boot and poison you when you put it on. Although in Creatures, these little critters prove they can do much worse than that.

Dead Space: Extraction

Dead Space: Extraction
Blow off a few limbs and this guy will go down.

The Wii single-handedly revived the rail shooter, at least for a while, simply because the Wii remote so perfectly emulates the light gun technology used on other consoles. While other rail shooters are content to basically serve up the same old formula, the ambitious Extraction aims to create something new, adding a jittery camera and an intriguing story to the standard shooting gallery mechanics. The result is quite possibly the best rail shooter ever made.

Marble Saga: Kororinpa

Marble Saga: Kororinpa

Kororinpa is one of the best examples of a game that wouldn’t make a lot of sense on any platform except the Wii. Sure, you could rotate the game’s elaborate three-dimensional mazes with analog sticks, but that would be like walking on the beach in heavy boots; yes, you still are on the beach, you’re still leaving footprints, but you don’t feel the sand between your toes or the water lapping at your ankles. Koririnpa makes the relationship between player, maze and rolling marble beautifully symbiotic, and is one of the best puzzle games on the Wii.

Punch-Out!!

Punch-Out!!
That's gotta hurt!.

Using the remote/nunchuck combo to punch and the balance board to dodge, Punch-Out!! is a full-body game, making it both a lot of fun and an utterly exhausting workout. We had hoped Nintendo might someday release a MotionPlus sequel that would get rid of a couple of movements in the game that required a button push rather than a movement, but alas, that never happened.

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands

Prince of Persia: The Forgotten Sands
Typical scenario: The prince runs across a wall, past a whirring saw blade, right towards a monstrous knight.

While the story is pretty dreadful in this entry in the "Prince of Persia" series (which shares a name with versions on other platforms but is, in fact, a game written and designed especially for the Wii), the gameplay is as good as any of its cousins, offering the same wondrous mix of acrobatic puzzle solving and less wondrous, but improved, combat. While the lack of a strong story makes the overall experience less magical than the original "Prince of Persia: Sands of Time," there is still plenty to be enjoyed in the gameplay.

Mario Kart Wii

Mario Kart Wii

Arguably the best kart racing game ever made, "Mario Kart Wii" offers imaginative, engaging tracks, thrilling multiplayer, and wonderfully responsive controls. You'll be amazed the first time you try out the steering using motion controls and discover it actually works well.

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