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Tuesday, 6 May 2025

Top 5 Wii Platformer Games

 



Platformer games as an genre is one of the thing that made me got into with video games over the years, so we all know how much we grew up playing the old-school classic platformer games that was started back in the 90s like Super Mario World, Donkey Kong Country, and Sonic the Hedgehog 2 are the major examples of how to create the best 2D platformer titles that attracts people to buy the 16-bit system for these kinds of games, where as the later ones like Super Mario 64, Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, and Sonic Adventure are the huge stepping forward into the new approach that helps revolutionising the genre known as the 3D platforming which I consider it as the most groundbreaking things they ever done in the mid-90s days of gaming.

Going forward to mid-2000s, I also wanted to talk about the system that really changed the gaming such as Nintendo Wii which is the 7th-gen console that had most people talked about, so it's a video game system that became a huge departure of traditional gaming system for core audiences and went on shift focus of casual gaming using the motion-controls technology such as Wii remote and Nunchuk which allowing players to swing around in motion.
It was the most significantly innovative things that Nintendo had ever done on their career, and these motion-controller had attracted many casuals and gamers throughout the commercial ads and trailers that had them hyped for the modern system back in the mid-2000s. 
It became one of the best-selling system of 7th-gen console era had sold over 100 million units worldwide.

Nintendo Wii had a fair shares with amazing numbers of platformer games that heavily focus on motion-controls technology fully designed and used for creative gameplay that delivers a new ways of playing video games with the motion-controller.
I have listed 5 of my favourite platformer games that are incredibly fun to play for Wii owners to get a hands-on, so it will include both the 2D and 3D platforming genre to make it fairer.

So without go further do, here is my Top 5 Wii Platformer Games.



5 - Donkey Kong Country Returns 


          












Donkey Kong Country was an outstanding series that really shines the SNES days, so it made an surprising return for the Wii with the 4th title in year 2010.
Donkey Kong Country Returns is a 2D side-scrolling platformer game was developed by Retro Studios and published by Nintendo.
You take control of big hairy ape and his small monkey friend went on their quest to retrieve their stolen bananas taken by Tiki Tak Tribe.

The gameplay plays fantastic with the Wii Remote horizontally or with nunchunk attached with it because the character's movement feels very responsive for jumping and moving around the level, as well as using the shake motion on the Wii motion controller for roll attack, ground pound, and charge run when riding on Rambi the Rhino feels much accurate to play these kinds of platformer games.
The levels are quite epic is because it has great stages with awesome traps, insane objects to avoid, and couple of enemies coming towards you just makes the game quite entertaining, but it may not be challenging as the previous installiment which I do find this game is ridiculously easy, but I say the game is still fun because I love spending time doing stuffs like unlocking new levels, obtaining collectables, it has an epic boss fights to encounter, and I had to adore an unique gameplay design that made this game so awesome to play.
The 2-player co-op are also an welcome addition to this game just like the classic DKC trilogy has to offer, so that you and your friends can team up on co-op mode.
The graphics are outstanding for its character's design, nice visuals effects, superb animation and very detailed environments makes it look wonderful for its Wii graphical showcase.
The music and sounds still has a great jungle music and cherish sound effects seems works really well in the game that made DKC a likable platformer series.

Donkey Kong Country Returns is a great comeback title that we been waiting for this since the SNES era, so it deserves to be on a number 5 list.

 

4 - Sonic Colours 





















Sonic the Hedgehog is a SEGA's major franchise that was started back in the 90s when the blue blur himself made the first debut on Genesis/MD in 1991, and it became one of the most successful platforming game ever made that created the whole franchise spawning with many main series titles, spin-offs, animated TV series, live-action films, comics, and toy merchandise that made Sonic the Hedgehog the iconic video game mascots that we all loved back then.
After the success of 16-bit games and Dreamcast titles, the series went fall apart with the disaster of 2006's title of same name and 2008's terrible werehog's action just didn't really do the justice for SEGA, and they went onto with creating something better that they can able to learn the mistake from the previous 3D Sonic games, so they bought Sonic Colours in 2010.   

The story focuses on Sonic and Tails went at the amusement park where they discovered a cute little alien known as Wisps are begging them for help to save their homes from evil Dr Robotnik who captures all the Wisps and plotting to take over the planet, so you're playing as Sonic on his action to save a planet to face his nemesis Dr Robotnik.

The gameplay is an improvement over the previous entry thanks to the mix of 2D and 3D perspective while sticking to the roots of traditional platforming design and series own source material, as opposed to previous two entry's weird direction like Sonic 06 and Unleashed just took away a good stuff that made Sonic games recognisable. 
Sonic Colours had good overall gameplay design that made the game so much easier to get into, thanks to having an ability to use Wisps own special abilities that does something really cool and creative such as speed boost that made you run faster, laser that can bounce off solid surfaces to change the path and to travel through power lines, drill can pass through the soft ground and water, rocket allow you to blast upward to tremendous heights, spikes uses to bond to walls and ceilings as well as to perform a spin dash to gain velocity and destroy objects, hover enables you to perform dashes across the lines of rings, cube gives you ability to turn blocks into blue rings and vice versa, and lastly frenzy turns you into a berserker that chomps though anything in its path. 
Of course the game has fair shares with great stages to play like bunch of park, carnival, resort, and coaster filled with wacky platforming segments and boss battle is the reason what I loved about this game. 
The graphics is colourful and bright that made the game look appealing for the use of neon-light effects and sharp detailed environments is not only it's showcasing the Wii hardware perspective, but also fits the game's presentation is all about light-hearted settings that made the game look incredible for Sonic games like this.

Sonic Colours is a better Sonic title that SEGA did finally get the game right it should be, so check it out. 



3 - Wario Land: Shake Dimension




 
















I loved playing some Wario-related games like WarioWare series which had numerous of wacky minigames stuff that are weirder and crazier to play, and I also had an nostalgia of playing the GBA platformer game like Wario Land 4 which I consider this as the best 2D platforming game for GBA library filled with wacky platforming levels and insane boss battle that kept me playing it on my handheld device.  
In later years, I've discovered the game that really amazed me the most was Wario Land: Shake Dimension for Wii, which was created by Good-Feel, a same team had bought you a great platformer games like Kirby's Epic Yarn and Yoshi's Woolly World.

You're the greedy fat-ass named Wario who enters into a strange place called Shake Dimension, as your goal is to obtain the bottomless sack which provides an endless supply of coins.
The Wii remote controls plays it very well done is because you could use various of motion control actions such as the shaking motion mechanics on the bag of coins with the Wii remote which pops out the bunch of coins from the bag are very useful to collect enough money and you can throw any objects by holding the button while you can aim in different direction with the Wii remote's tilting controls which worked very well for some levels.
You can also use shaking motion mechanics on the enemies which drops down the health items and you can throw the enemies on somewhere else in the level which are quite handy for the game's puzzles as well.
The levels are well designed for the players to explore around the levels are filled with hidden secrets and collectable rare treasures, and I got to praise the the boss battle is also good to play is because I loved the overall challenge and simplicity of the battle between Wario and the nemesis which makes the game so much enjoyable to play. 

Production I.G did a fantastic job in the movie presentation because I really loved the fully animated character's design which makes the game look spectacular on both opening and closing cutscenes. It's colourful and it's well produced animation designs that shows how amazing the game looks. The developer teams did a stunning job on the level backgrounds and visuals are very detailed and more cartoony style that fits very well in the level scenery. It's really shows how capable the Wii's hardware systems could able to handle over more than 1000 animation frames.
This game has very catchy soundtrack for each levels because it's quite has a jazzy music feel to it and others sometimes had an orchestral and atmospheric sounds are also quite sounds amazing for some levels, so I say the soundtrack are by far the best in the series.

Wario Land: Shake Dimension is a Wii's hidden gem that never got made on DS which is why it didn't sell well at the release, so I wish this game could have gotten a second chance if they considering remastering this title for the upcoming Switch 2 console in near future...um possibly?...anyways go check this game out guys.
     


2 - Kirby's Adventure Wii





















I had a blast time playing Kirby's Adventure on my NES classic mini, as well as Kirby's Triple Deluxe on 3DS and Kirby's Epic Yarn on Wii, so those were awesome titles to play.
I know many of you thinking why I've preferred Kirby's Adventure Wii over the Kirby's Epic Yarn for number 2 spot? well I had a good reason to like this game that does better job than Kirby's Epic Yarn.
It's a side-scrolling platformer game that sticks to the traditional platforming gameplay like the classic Kirby games, as opposed to light-hearted approach like Kirby's Epic Yarn.

You take control of Kirby and his friends such as King Dedede, Waddle Dee, and Meta Knight went on their quest to aid alien named Magolor to recover the missing pieces of the starcutter object, so he can return to his home planet.    
What makes this game so great is that not only you can play it on single-solo, but has 4-player co-op mode where you can able to team up with your friends to join with you on the campaign adventure, so that's a fantastic addition to this game that needed a great local multiplayer mode. 
The design of the gameplay retains a same style as the earlier Kirby titles is what makes the series so special, so you have cute little round-ball like Kirby has ability to copy and use various of enemy's power-ups such as fire, ice, water, shock, rock, snow, bomb, sword, and etc. does many advantages like destroying various of objects like meltdown the ice blocks and smash through the hard blocks.
The game also introduces more temporary powerful abilities which are able to destroy parts of the environment and inflect tremendous damage across a wide range which is probably the best thing that they added to this game's design.
Then you have 3 additional characters for co-op such as King Dedede, Waddle Dee, and Meta Knight process traits from corresponding copy abilities based on the way each character moves and attacks (though only Kirby are able to inhale enemies and use copy abilities) and they are able to ride on top of each other which allows them to use a charged team attack.

While the gameplay controls plays really great, I wanted to praise the game for its overall challenge which is incredibly tough but fun to play which you will be encountered with many things like hazardous objects are all over the places, the enemies can be cheeky at sometimes, and the bosses are ridiculously over-the-top that made the game chaotic which is why I really loved this type of these crazy platformer games that has a good balance of game difficulty.
Having the 4-player co-op is the biggest highlight of the Kirby game is the reason why many people enjoyed their co-op experience, and it has tons of great unlockable features like the challenge mode, two of the cool mini-games stuff like scope shot and ninja dojo, arena mode which is a boss rush challenge, and of course the extra mode is just an tougher version of the whole main game are also a nice addition to this game's content.  
The overall visuals is just as magnificent with cutesy character's design and colourful art-direction that made Kirby games quite as adorable, and the soundtrack is just as good in the same style of Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards are quite catchy to listen.
           
Kirby's Adventure Wii is a excellent side-scrolling game that are enjoyable and entertaining for those who are into with the platformer game that featured 4-player co-op mode then you had to play this with your friends and family.  



1 - Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 























Yes everyone, we had to all agree that Super Mario Galaxy 1 + 2 deserves to be the number 1 spot as the best Wii platformer games ever made. 
We grew up playing good old Super Mario 64 back in the 90s which was being hailed as the most revolutionary 3D platformer games that changed video games forever, then we had Super Mario Sunshine in early-2000s which are also good but not quite as fun as predecessor, and then we finally got an outstanding 3D platformer games for Wii that did the job well made by Nintendo themselves. 
You're a plumber hero named Mario set in the galaxy planets went on his quest to rescue the Princess Peach as always from the mean and cruel Bowser up to no good again, just like he always did on entire Mario games.

What makes the game so great is that it takes place in the galaxy of planet meaning each of the levels are filled with the gravity stuffs that made the platformer game quite an interesting to play. 
Stuff like you have the cool segments like running around the round-shaped areas, flipping the panel-boards, riding on round-shaped ball with yellow star, flying and jumping around with the gravity, has lots of wacky puzzles surrounding with gravity, has twisty camera-system that moves around the area, had tons of epic bosses to fight, and so much more to do stuffs in the game. 

The presentation is excellent because it considered to be the most beautiful platforming games on the system filled with many planets to discover such as observatory tour, Good Egg Galaxy, Honeyhive Galaxy, Flipswitch Galaxy, Space Junk Galaxy, Beach Bowl Galaxy, Toy Time Galaxy, Yoshi Star Galaxy, Cosmic Grove Galaxy, Haunty Halls Galaxy, Slipsand Galaxy, Mario Squared Galaxy, and so many galaxies that are filled with shooting stars, moons, rockets, blocks, warp pipes, scraps, fountains, lavas, sands, seas, rocks, and lots of environmental stuffs going on, it's like it had total of 91 different galaxies in between the both games is just sounds insanely incredible for Wii platforming games like this.
Of course the visuals is spectacular which is the smoothest looking Wii games you ever see with great special effects, background details, environmental design choices, and had fluid animation is running so great on the Wii's system.
This game had the best video game soundtrack for Super Mario franchise with amazing orchestral music that fits the action of Mario platforming games. 
The gameplay plays really amazing with the Wii remote and nunchuk controller showcasing the Wii's motion controls works mostly designed on level segments, and it has tons of replayability with many hidden secrets and unlockables to discover is what makes the game worth playing as today.         

It's one of the most innovative 3D platformer game that Nintendo did a spectacular job with the both titles is definitely must play for Wii owners. 



Honorable Mentions:

New Super Mario Bros Wii
Kirby Epic Yarn
Super Paper Mario
Epic Mickey
Klonoa (2008 Remake) 
Rayman Origins
Nights: Journey of Dreams


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This is Zeeshan Mirza's Blog and I'll see you next time, happy blogging everyone.       

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