Top 14 Most Underappreciated Wii Games
Underappreciated Wii games Part 2
I’ve been writing similar posts for other platforms recently and each time I get a little better, my methodology gets more refined, and I do a better job. Today I will be writing about the most underappreciated games that came out for the Wii. My definition of underappreciated is “games that are well-made, creative, or important, but never got the recognition, sales, or attention they deserved—even today.” This list will have several games released from 2009-2012, which are the dying years of the Wii. To be clear, this is not a “best of” games released for the Wii. I have those posts right here.
As usual I am not doing a rank-ordered list, I am doing a tiered list, with S-tier and A-tier only. Assume that every S-tier title is not only as underappreciated as the others, but a very well-designed game in its own right. I’ve also ordered the games in terms of fun and playability in 2025 from most to least, taking into account the nostalgia factor. If there’s a game you love that isn’t listed the odds are it will appear in my next post (with another 14 titles), or it didn’t meet my rigorous standards.
Finally, heads up—I earn a small commission if you buy anything through my links. No extra cost to you, and it helps support the site!
S Tier – Criminal Underappreciation
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor (2010, Treasure)
Sin & Punishment: Star Successor is the poster child for what it means to be a massively underappreciated Wii game. It had all the ingredients of a hidden gem: critics loved it and it delivered one of the most creative, high-octane shooter experiences ever made. It ended up selling less than 10,000 copies in its first month. Why? Nintendo barely marketed it and the developer, Treasure, is only known to hardcore fans.
What makes it worse is how far ahead of its time the gameplay was. It combined classic rail shooter mechanics with full 360-degree movement, giving you a hybrid experience that later influenced a bunch of indie shooters—but no one really talks about that. SS hits every mark of the Tier S criteria: innovative, high-quality, and completely buried—not because it failed to deliver, but because the system failed it. It’s one of the saddest examples of a brilliant game getting lost in the shuffle, and it perfectly captures what true underappreciation looks like. It’s still a very playable game in 2025, by the way.
Fluidity (2010, Curve Studios)
Fluidity (Hydroventure in Europe) is one of those rare games that was way ahead of its time but was totally forgotten. It nailed fluid physics like few games ever have—you tilted the Remote to slosh water around, navigating puzzles where the water acted like real liquid, reacting to slopes, obstacles, and even breaking into vapor or ice. Critics loved it and Fluidity showed a new way to think about platforming: not as moving a character through a level, but moving the environment itself to solve problems.
But it barely made a blip commercially. It launched on WiiWare, which already had visibility issues, and with no marketing it just disappeared. No one talks about it now, even though its ideas shaped the rise of physics-based puzzle games and mobile titles that came later. It’s a textbook case of a game that broke new ground, got critical praise, and still fell into total obscurity because it got lost in the noise. You want a real underappreciated gem? Fluidity is it.
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars (2010, Eighting)
Tatsunoko vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars is a criminally overlooked game—a slick, creative fighter that never got the attention it deserved. Originally a Japan-only release due to licensing issues, it wasn’t supposed to come out in the West at all. But thanks to fan demand and Capcom jumping through legal hoops, it miraculously launched internationally in 2010. The game mashed up Capcom favorites with classic anime icons, creating some wild crossovers. It looked gorgeous, played great, and had four-button controls that made it easy for newcomers without losing the depth hardcore players wanted.
Even though all the critics loved it it just couldn’t find an audience, selling badly everywhere. Its problems? A hard-to-pronounce title, a roster unfamiliar to most Western players, and being stuck on the Wii. Even fighting game fans often missed it, despite it being just behind Super Smash Bros Brawl in quality. In the end it’s a brilliant, polished brawler that quietly earned cult status but never got its mainstream due.
Little King’s Story (2009 Cing/Town Factory)
Little King’s Story is another unfortunate case of a brilliant game getting totally ignored. It mixed real-time strategy, life sim, and adventure gameplay into a fairy-tale package—with some deeper themes about power and empire hidden underneath. Critics loved it and called it “one of the Wii’s best” but it still bombed commercially, buried under a wave of motion-control gimmicks and low-effort shovelware. The dev team was stacked with talent from Harvest Moon, FF XII and Dragon Quest VIII, and as I’ve said the game itself had beautiful storybook visuals, classical music, and gameplay that appealed to both casual and hardcore fans.
Still, it never found an audience. Some fans who did play it called it the best Wii game ever made, but most never even heard of it. It became a symbol of how great games on the Wii could disappear in the noise. If you haven’t played it, think about the praise I’ve just showered on this game and give it some serious thought.
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure (2007, Capcom)
Zack & Wiki: Quest for Barbaros’ Treasure is one of the saddest cases of a great game getting completely overlooked. It nailed everything the Wii was supposed to be about—creative motion controls, smart puzzles, and charming design—and still flopped hard, selling just 126,000 copies in over two years. Despite glowing reviews, award nominations and critics calling it a must-have, the game was a commercial disaster that killed any hope of a sequel.
It had some of the best Wii Remote usage ever—pulling levers, turning keys, shaking bells to transform enemies—and critics even launched a grassroots campaign to save it. But none of it mattered. Capcom blamed the cartoony art and the tough Wii market, which tended to favor shallow party games over high-quality third-party titles. In the end, Zack & Wiki became the poster child for how badly the Wii failed its most innovative games—a brilliant title that did everything right but got left behind anyway.
A Tier – Deeply Underappreciated
Muramasa: The Demon Blade (2009, Vanillaware)
Muramasa: The Demon Blade is a gorgeous, well-made game by the team behind Odin Sphere. I’m telling you it had jaw-dropping graphics: a 2D action-RPG set in feudal Japan, critics called it one of the best-looking games on the Wii, or anywhere. But despite strong reviews and a lot of praise for its hand-drawn art and unique style, it sold poorly everywhere. Marvelous Entertainment flat-out admitted the game bombed commercially across the board, blaming its non-traditional design and the fact that the Wii was losing steam with core gamers.
In the UK things were even worse—retailers refused to stock it saying there wasn’t demand for niche titles anymore. It’s a textbook case of market forces smothering creativity. Muramasa embodied everything people later came to love about indie games but it arrived just a few years too early, and on the wrong platform. Instead of becoming a breakout hit it faded away. If you want a game that holds up today from the Wii, you can’t do much better than this.
Rhythm Heaven Fever (2012, Nintendo/TNX)
Rhythm Heaven Fever is another unfairly overlooked game. A super polished, super creative rhythm title that totally deserved more love but got buried by bad timing. It launched in early 2012, right when everyone was moving on from the Wii. Even though it had originality, catchy music and razor-sharp design, it didn’t stand a chance in a market that had lost interest in the console. The game featured over 50 minigames, all set to an insanely good soundtrack.
It had that classic Nintendo mix of charm and challenge—easy to pick up, hard to master—but players brushed it off because of its cute visuals or assumed it was just another kids’ game. It wasn’t. It was one of the best rhythm games Nintendo’s ever made. The real shame is that RHF had everything going for it: sweet gameplay, originality, and serious polish, but it dropped at exactly the wrong time. It’s now remembered as a hidden gem, and a perfect example of how even great games can fall through the cracks when the timing just isn’t right.
BIT.TRIP Series (2009-2011, Gaijin/Choice Provisions)
Don’t let the cover art fool you. BIT.TRIP series is one of the most creative and meaningful game projects to come out of the Wii era—but almost no one noticed. This six-part series took simple old-school mechanics—like Pong, platformers, and rhythm games—and turned them into an emotional, artistic experience that told a truly deep story, all through the journey of a character named CommanderVideo. Each game built on the last, evolving the gameplay while syncing it to chiptune soundtracks. From the paddle action of BEAT to the platforming in RUNNER, the series was both retro and innovative.
These games weren’t “artsy”, they were actually fun and addicting to play. It had three problems though: it was stuck on WiiWare, it had pixel-art style, and because the games were released separately as small episodes, many people never saw how they connected into one big, powerful story. Even though critics loved it and sequels like Runner2 had success, the original BIT.TRIP games remain hidden gems.
FAST Racing League (2011, Shin’en Multimedia)
FAST Racing League was a futuristic racer that had no business looking and running as well as it did on Nintendo’s aging, underpowered console. The game delivered 60fps racing with anti-gravity tracks, flashy particle effects, and a real sense of speed that could go toe-to-toe with titles on much more powerful systems. It was meant for fans of F-Zero and Wipeout, with a hardcore edge and a polish that made it feel like a full console release.
What really made it stand out was its energy phase-switching mechanic. You had to constantly flip between orange and blue modes to hit the right boost pads or survive certain track sections. It wasn’t just about raw speed—you had to make split-second decisions every lap, which gave it a level of depth and tension that most arcade racers didn’t have. Unfortunately FAST came out at exactly the wrong time (2011) and place (WiiWare). By 2011 most of the racer audience had written off the Wii anyway. So even though it pushed the Wii’s limits it never got the visibility or acclaim it deserved.
Klonoa (2009, Paon)
Klonoa is what this list is all about: a classic case of a great game getting totally overlooked. It was a Wii remake of the PS1 platformer Door to Phantomile, and it kept everything that made the original great—sweet 2.5D platforming, creative levels, and a charming vibe—while actually improving the experience with motion controls that worked well for once!
It was one of the most polished platformers on the system, but it barely made a splash. There was almost no marketing, hardly any media buzz, and it dropped in 2009—right when the Wii was drowning in gimmicky garbageware. On top of that the Klonoa series has always been underrated, constantly overshadowed by bigger-name mascot games. It’s a great platformer that deserved way more attention, simple as that.
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (2007, Intelligent Systems)
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is another great example of a well-made game but barely noticed. Even though reviewers thought it was great and it had a deep strategy RPG experience it sold poorly, even by Fire Emblem standards. The timing of its release couldn’t have been worse. It dropped in November 2007, right in the middle of the Wii’s casual gaming boom when Nintendo was pushing Wii Fit and party games hard. Meanwhile, RD, a dense 80-hour tactical epic, was left with zero marketing. It also launched the same week as Super Mario Galaxy and just before Call of Duty 4, so no one noticed it.
To top it off Nintendo barely printed any copies, so even people who heard about it couldn’t find it. At the time RD’s complexity and difficulty were seen as totally out of step with what the Wii audience wanted. Now those traits are considered strengths of the series, but RD still hasn’t gotten its due. Most newer Fire Emblem fans don’t even know it exists, and it’s rarely mentioned in retrospectives.
LostWinds (2008, Frontier Developments)
LostWinds was one of the Wii’s truly beautiful hidden gems. It’s an early WiiWare title that nailed motion controls in a way most big games never did, but barely anyone remembers it. LW let you use the Remote to draw wind currents on the screen, letting you literally guide the character and shape the environment. It felt freakin magical, and showed what the Wii’s motion controls could do when done right. It had stunning visuals, with a hand-painted art style and dream-like soundtrack that gave it way more atmosphere than you’d expect from a downloadable game.
Being digital-only on WiiWare meant it had no physical shelf presence, no marketing, and was stuck on a clunky storefront that made discovery a nightmare. Plus its quieter vibe didn’t match the loud, party-game image most people had of the Wii at the time. Even though critics loved it and it got a sequel, LW never got the attention it deserved.
Trauma Team (2010, Atlus)
Trauma Team is the best entry in the Trauma Center series, taking the concept way beyond its arcade roots and turning it into something deeper, smarter, and much more engaging. Instead of frantic surgeries it gave you six different medical roles, all with their own gameplay styles that felt realistic, not gimmicky. The best part was the story: a mature crime drama where a team of doctors investigates a bioterrorist attack. It played like a medical thriller, with actual character development and emotional weight.
What’s frustrating is that TT fixed everything people criticized about earlier games: it was easier to get into, the motion controls worked well, the tone was more grounded, and the gameplay variety kept it fresh. But by 2010 the majority of gamers had already written off the Wii, so even though TT was a really polished, adult-oriented experience, it got lumped in with all the garbage. Its medical theme didn’t help—it wasn’t flashy or fantasy-driven, so it didn’t stand a chance in a market chasing bigger, louder genres.
NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits (2009, Over the Top Games)
NyxQuest: Kindred Spirits is another great Wii game that almost nobody played, and that’s a shame. It’s a platformer with a Greek mythology vibe, and the pros who played it really liked how it used the Wii Remote in smart ways. You’d guide Icarus through the levels with standard controls but also use motion gestures to summon wind, move objects, and shoot lightning—making motion controls part of actual puzzle-solving, not just a trick. But the game totally flopped. It came out on WiiWare, which was already a mess. Most people never even saw it, let alone played it.
What’s frustrating is that NyxQuest nailed a lot of platforming design problems. The wind-based mechanics gave you a unique kind of indirect control that was like nothing else. Its mythological setting also made it striking—not just another bland platformer. It even won indie awards, but that buzz didn’t help it catch on. Now it’s basically forgotten, even though it came before a lot of similar physics-based indie hits that did well elsewhere.
If you haven’t heard of some or most of these games then I’ve done my job correctly. UPDATE: I’ve posted more underappreciated Wii games.