The gamers all agree that 2009 is the year of the Wii. I need to find a sufficient reason to believe it. However, I do believe that there are now more promising games being released on Nintendo’s white box than almost ever before. There are a pretty good stream of them being released just this Spring, and while there certainly many honorable mentions such as Boom Blox Party, X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Guitar Hero: Metallica, Virtua Tennis 2009, Puzzle Kingdom(sequel to the highly successful Puzzle Quest), and others, but here are three in particular that gamers are very much looking forward to.
Excitebots: Trick Racing is the first in my list of no particular order. Excite Truck was one of the most popular launch games on the Wii. The new follow-up
Excitebots is not only faster, but far more diverse and intense. Instead of racing a mere truck, players take control of mechanical bots that mimic both the abilities and attributes of specific animals and insects. While the turtle is slow, it’s also heavy and steady, in contrast to the bat, who is extremely fast and can jump far, but lacks weight, and can be easily knocked aside. There are also many bizarre objects that be used in the race to outsmart enemies, as well as mini-no, micro games that are played on the fly to give you an edge on the competition. It has to be seen to be believed.
Klonoa, the second game here, is a remake of a much beloved Playstation platformer called Door To Phantomile. For a while it was believed that the remake might not be released in America, but now we have a release date!
Punch-Out! is also a remake, and the first installment in the series in about 20 years. It’s a style of boxing gameplay that has been revisioned in 3D by many developers, in games such as Ready 2 Rumble and Wii Sports Boxing, but after so many the series will finally see a real resurrection. Nintendo’s work with the game has been impressive thus far, and if the final product is anything like what people have come to expect from the series it will be a must-buy.
