Wii/Wii U Game MEGATHREAD

There seems to be a zillion games for the Wii U with its backwards compatibility and virtual console offerings. I skipped the Wii generation of gaming, so am looking for a few suggestions. This thread is going to have many games, and I'm not buying them all at once, but I hope this will be a reference I can use over the next few years.

Wii Games
Kirby Return to Dreamland - My son and I had a lot of fun with the co-op play of Guacamelee. This game looks highly rated and he's into it because metaknight is his favorite Smash character. Is this a good game?
Tatsunoko vs Capcom - I'm a big SF fan and with no SF IV on the systems, this looks like my best bet for 'modern' SF slugging. Is it good?
Metal Slug Anthology - I remember these games being hard as balls. Is this worth the dosh or should I just get the SNES Contra III Alien Wars (which I've played and loved about 20+ years ago)?
Red Steel and No More Heroes - Don't know anything about these, but they look to be cell shaded. Either of these good? Their sequels?
Sin and Punishment - I recall this being a big import back in the...N64(?) days. Good for a two player co-op game? Suitable for an 8 year old?
Punch-Out - Better than Super Punch-Out?
Anything else outside of the Mario, Zelda, Metroid supergroup I should look at? Please provide what comments you can on the above listed titles before suggesting others. Thanks.

Wii U Games
Ok, it looks like all the 'big AAA' cross platform games can be hadnew for $10-20. I'm guessing the games are still good, just maybe the Wii U crowd wasn't the market? The following line of games generally aren't my bag, but I am interested in maybe getting one. So far Dues Ex and maybe Monster Hunter 3 (from what little I know of them) are leading the pack. How would you rank the following:
Monster Hunter 3, Deus Ex: Human Reveloution, Ninja Gaiden 3, Batman Arkham City, Resident Evil Revelations, Assassin's Creed III (or II) and Mass Effect 3.

EDIT:
Oh, I'd also really like to have at least one solid shooter. I see Axelay is available to download. That and UN Squadron were my favorite SNES shooters. Knowing that, was there a better twitch shooter released for the Wii or Wii U? Not the same, but I will be getting that Wii U Star Fox.

I played the Monster Hunter 3 demo on Wii U and enjoyed it. I think it's a good game if you like Monster Hunter.

My other comments are based on having played the PC versions of games, so your mileage may vary. Batman Arkham City... meh. Nowhere near as fun as Arkham Asylum, at least for me.

Deus Ex: Human Revolution is the best game on your list, for my money. It's awesome. I have been thinking about replaying that one. I actually finished it; I almost never finish games, so it says a lot about a game when I do.

One Wii game that was mostly forgotten is Rhythm Heaven Fever, at least if you like rhythm games at all. All of the Rhythm Heaven games have this really goofy Japanese sense of humor, and Fever is no different. They all involve doing goofy stuff to a beat, like interviewing a luchador or keeping your date from being interrupted by bouncing balls. It's really goofy and surprisingly challenging (I never did pass the hip-hop one). It got released toward the end of the Wii's life-cycle, so it's been mostly shuffled aside. It's a lot of fun though.

Feedback for some of the Wii games:

Tatsunoko VS Capcom: Yes, it's fantastic.

Punch Out: Yes, a must-own. It is better than Super Punch Out and Mike Tyson's Punch Out. I do not say this lightly. Very well done.

Sin and Punishment seemed very good from what I played. Did not play that much though.

Agree with the Rhythm Heaven Fever recommendation. Even if you think you don't like rhythm games this one is very well done and pretty much best in class.

Been meaning to post in here...

OK, so the marquee Nintendo titles are a no-brainer. None of them are not worth owning and keeping forever. I'm serious about that. The only games I've ever regretted trading or selling have been Nintendo games. So start from there, and regard all of those to be the top picks. Including Virtual Console titles.

Nintendoland is a MUST HAVE. Especially for the young. It's wonderful, and really quite underrated as a family game. Captain Toad's Treasure Tracker is another you might overlook, but it is an adorable puzzle platformer with tons of that special Nintendo magic. Don't overlook Kirby and the Rainbow Curse or Pikmin 3, both are excellent but kind of off to the side of the top-tier titles. I expect the new Star Fox game to be another "own or die", second tier title.

Skip the Mario Party games. Those would be the only Nintendo titles I'd give a pass recommendation.

Metroid Prime Trilogy is a can't-live-without-it title. $20 on the eShop. Worth five times that, easily.

Punch-Out!! is TOPS. It's REALLY awesome. Mainly because virtually nothing is different about it from Mike Tyson's Punch-Out!! other than updated visuals which are DELIGHTFUL. You can download it directly on the Wii U for $20. Worth every penny. I own all three games, those games are practically perfect despite the questionable stereotypes.

Sin and Punishment is technically a Nintendo publication, but it's actually developed at Treasure, who are awesome. The first N64 game was never released in the US until the Wii virtual console, Star Successor was one of the best Wii titles. I would advise getting Star Successor first. Insane rail shooter, tons of fun.

The Metal Slug Anthology is cool. I would probably choose Contra III over it though.

Red Steel is terrible. No More Heroes is...interesting. It made everyone think that Suda 51 was a genius, when it turned out that he was actually a manchild with zero ideas of any value. There are some very, very cool things about the game and it is totally Japanacrazy, but I don't know if I would recommend it at this point. It's a game that had its time, and that time is now gone. I didn't care for the sequel.

Tatsunoko vs. Capcom is great but I think it's collector expensive. Worth it, IMO, just for the Gatchaman characters. Probably the best fighter by default on Wii. Moving to Wii U, there is zero reason to play any fighting game on it other than Super Smash Bros. (which is THE game of the console).

Monster Hunter 3 is GREAT GREAT GREAT but beware that it has a Mount Everest-shaped learning curve and it is extremely demanding. 100 hours is breaking the ice with it. It is definitely rewarding, engaging and compelling. Basically, imagine the concept of the movie Dragonslayer made into a game. You get ready to fight a monster, kill it, and then use its parts to make equipment. Monster Hunter 4 on the 3DS has kind of rendered it obsolete, unless you don't have a 3DS. Which I'm assuming you don't, because that would be salacious and decadent.

Digging deeper...skip all the AAA, cross-platform stuff. Some of those games are good (and even great), but there's no point playing them on these systems. In the case of the Wii AAA/cross-platform stuff, pretty much all of them are compromised by the hardware. The Wii U versions include some new features, but...why bother. They all make for a great Gamefly rental. Ninja Gaiden 3 is terrible. Darksiders II is pretty good but unremarkable

Instead of those titles, the Bayonetta/Bayonetta 2 package is 110% recommended. One of last gen's best cross-platform titles and its Wii U exclusive sequel. Be warned that it's not a kid's game, but it's also not as vulgar or sexual as you might think. It's more in line with Barbarella than sleazy anime- definitely some cheesecake, but its' all VERY camp and satirical. These are possibly the best beat-em-up games ever made.

The Lego games are fine, but they get old. Lego City Undercover is probably the best, but it somehow is also the least compelling. Maybe because it's not Star Wars, Batman, or whatever.

Skylanders is something you won't want to touch. But it is MUCH better than Infinity from what I've played. It is a GREAT kids' co-op game..

Hyrule Warriors is a Tecmo Koei game with Nintendo's Zelda characters. It is insane and wonderful.

Digging back into the Wii stuff, the usual "buy everything Nintendo" applies, apart from Mario Party again. And maybe Wii Music. Metroid: Other M isn't as good as the Prime games, but it is underrated and sort of misunderstood. MadWorld (another Platinum design) is really quite good, but very adult and gruesome. Everybody loves Okami but me. I also didn't like Little King's Story. Zak and Wiki is something of a cult item, but I didn't like it either!

Everyone hated Red Steel but Red Steel 2 was supposed to be much much better.

If you're into lightgun games there are a bunch. Ghost Squad and House of the Dead: Overkill are my favorite; Overkill is hilariously over the top and insane while Ghost Squad is just solid. Also good are House of the Dead: 2&3 and Dead Space Extraction. There are a couple Resident Evil lightgun titles I never played but they got good reviews.

Excite Truck and Excitebots are fantastic racing games. A lot harder for my kid to grasp than Mario Kart, but I enjoyed them more as you can win the race by having great crashes, getting good air, or a bunch of other things, not just coming in first. Of the two, Excitebots lets you split screen race and is therefore better. Last I saw they were both really cheap.

Michael Barnes wrote: Monster Hunter 3 is GREAT GREAT GREAT but beware that it has a Mount Everest-shaped learning curve and it is extremely demanding. 100 hours is breaking the ice with it.

That's the thing with these 'AAA' adventure titles. I see them for like $10-20 new and think "Damn, that looks like a good deal. This game is supposed to be great!" But then it dawns on me that I'm likely not going to be compelled enough to sit through the 40+ hours they seem to take to complete. So, instead I close my wallet, go home, and play SFII, MK8, or SSB and get plenty of videogame fix in the time it takes to drink an RC Cola. I'm still old school in a lot of ways (surprise!) and want to just try and beat a highscore, or a lap time, or a fighting game on hard without losing. That has more appeal than long slogs through adventure games.

However, like I said, if I could find a good two player one (Kirby Return to Dreamland?) I would do it to play with my son. And yes, I assume the big Nintendo marquee titles are always going to be worth a play.

Speaking of SF above though...if Capcom will put out that D&D Mystara arcade game, why not SFIII - Third Strike or any arcade versions of SF titles? There only seems to be the SNES ports in the eStore. I'll take those though, but still...

Also, there are tons of those little virtual games. Runbow, The Bridge, Shovel Knight, Gunman Clive, Trine, etc that _look_ really neat. They're fairly cheap, but are they worth it?

EDIT: I'm not seeing anything that says the new Star Fox is going to have multiplayer. Has it just not been announced yet or will this version really not have multiplayer support?

Michael Barnes wrote: Monster Hunter 4 on the 3DS has kind of rendered it obsolete, unless you don't have a 3DS. Which I'm assuming you don't, because that would be salacious and decadent.

Of course it would!

Yeah, MH is definitely not casual in any way, shape or form. You can't just pop it on for 20 minutes to chill or anything like that. It takes 20 minutes to get your shit sorted for another hunt. And then the hunt might be an hour long.

Most adventure-ish games aren't two players...but there are plenty of great co-ops. Super Mario 3D World is TONS of fun with a couple of people.

And Skylanders...

I think literally the only fighting game on Wii U is Injustice, which is pretty good despite the angry DC comics junk. It's basically Mortal Kombat with Batman. I think there is a Guilty Gear game on Wii, those games are awesome. Capcom hasn't really done much with any of its fighting franchises on Nintendo's consoles other than SFIV3D. But seriously, Smash Bros. Ryu is in it now.

Shovel Knight is AWESOME. If it had come out in 1992-1993, it would be regarded as one of the best games of its time. It totally has the old SNES magic with just a couple of modern qualities. The art is great, the music is great, and it has just the right kind and degree of challenge. I believe they are adding him to Smash, which is a good choice.

Runbow is supposed to be really good, I haven't looked at it yet. Gunman Clive is worth $3, I guess. Trine is pretty and kind of interesting, but it didn't hold my interest.

Star Fox is going to have some kind of asymmetrical co-op. Not sure how it's going to work. But you will probably do a barrel roll at some point.

Looks like there's actually a Tekken game on the Wii U. 3D fighters never really appealed so never got into Tekken or the type. Any idea if it's good?

Yes, there does appear to be a few Guilty Gear games on the Wii. I had one on an xbox about a decade ago. Neat, metal-inspired universe but I found the controls a bit difficult. Maybe I'll give it a try with my limited fighting options.

Oh, when I play SNES games through the Wii U on my HD tv, those pixels are blown up and can be a bit of an eyesore (looks great on the wii U pad!). Is it recommended to adjust settings on the Wii or on the HD tv to soften up their look?

I think I'll go for that Shovel Knight.

Oh yeah, Tekken Tag Tournament 2 was a launch title...I forgot about that one. It's pretty good, if you like Tekken. I think Tekken kind of dropped off after 3 or maybe it was 4, but it is out there and it's decent.

Guilty Gear is pretty tough to master, moreso than the more plebian fighters. It's very technical. It kind of evolved into Blazblue, which is somehow both even more complicated and more accessible. Maybe it's the piles and piles of tutorials that actually explain the mechanics.

Wii capped out at 480p, so there's not much you can really do since they are running on what is effectively an emulator emulating an emulator running on an older piece of hardware. There's no upscaling or anything like that. It is what it is. There are some SNES virtual console titles on the _Wii U_ Virtual console, if you have the Wii versions I think it's just like a dollar to upgrade it.

Wii U does upscale the stuff native to its VC. For example, the GBA titles you can play in their original blocky resolution or there's an HD smoother.

The SNES games I've been buying have been through the Wii U eShop. If I switch the system over to Wii mode, can I still be other SNES games through the Wii console? I thought they turned that off...or maybe it was their club nintendo thing? I have no idea.

How about these Xenoblade Chronicle titles? I guess they're rpgs so multi hour affairs. Are they jrpgs like Final Fantasy?

Besides Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bothers, what are the great 10-20 min skill, based games? Any good twitch shooters?

No More Heroes is gross male power fantasy junk. I've never played it, the videos I've seen it mentioned in were a major turn off for me.
Chocobo's Dungeon and Shiren the Wanderer 3 are both great titles from the Mystery Dungeon series of roguelikes.
I've probably played more Excitebots on my Wii than any other game. Very fun racer.

Mr. White wrote: Any good twitch shooters?

Mad Dog McCree, Ghost Squad, House of the Dead 2+3, Gunblade NY/LA Machineguns. these are all ports of lightgun titles and work pretty well.

Looking at these SNES titles again continues to make me wish we hadn't gone all 'M' rated on our video games. I'd love for some more great sci-fi action games like Axelay, Contra III, Metal Marines, Super Metroid, etc that aren't cloaked in language and graphic violence. I guess I want to enjoy a little ham-fisted, cartoony violence now and then.

Chocobo's Dungeon and Shiren the Wanderer 3 are both great titles from the Mystery Dungeon series of roguelikes.

I'm having trouble parsing this sentence. Are these two games based on some engine? Are they rpgs or adventure games?

(Also, Bull, did you go on that yurt adventure in Utah? How was it?)

Mystery Dungeon is a series of roguelike RPGs from the company Chunsoft. They've made many series, Shiren, Torneko, Chocobo's Dungeon, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon, Etrian Mystery Dungeon. They're kind of the same engines but each branch has some differences. The Shiren line is my favourite, but the Wii chocobo game is SUPER charming.

I unfortunetly didn't make it out to Utah. My friend who still went said there was no snow, ha.