Nintendo came out of the gate pretty strong with its brand new next-generation home console, infamously dubbed Wii. The biggest impresser, no surprise, was The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. This is a game that’s been anticipated by gamers for several years now and mixed with high anticipation levels for the Wii itself, the game had a lot to live up to – and it did just fine. Other than Zelda, the Wii in 2006 produced a number of other fun games, including Excite Truck, Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, Trauma Center: Second Opinion and, of course, Wii Sports, which received a lot of mainstream media attention for its non-gamer appeal. While we’re looking to 2007 to bring more hardcore gamer offerings, the Wii delivered a lot to play in the two months it was available in ’06, and you can’t ignore that. | 
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Elebits
Release Date: December 12 Konami’s new Wii game surprised with its great use of the Wii controller’s pointing capabilities and simple but addicting gameplay. The concept in the shooter-esque adventure is pretty straightforward. The world is powered by alien critters called Elebits, but the little guys have suddenly disappeared. It’s your job to find and capture as many of these electrified bad boys so that you can restore power to the world. In order to do this, you’ll romp through different parts of town with your capturing gun, trying to retrieve as many Elebits as possible. What makes Elebits so fun, though, is controlling the game. With the Wii-mote, you simply point and shoot with your capture gun, and that’s is it. Again, it sounds completely simple, but thanks to great control and fun gameplay, it’s one of the best Wii games in ’06. |
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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Release Date: November 19 There aren’t very many contenders in the Wii’s lineup to try and take the throne from Zelda, but even if there were, Zelda would still win. For an adventure game to be the pinnacle of greatness there needs to be a beautiful and lush environment, Hyrule. There needs to be an amazing and epic composition of music, from none other than Koji Kondo. Finally there needs to be some of the best gameplay that can keep you entertained for hours, designed by Nintendo itself — it’s one of the best in the world. Now throw in something that Zelda isn’t typically known for: a gripping storyline and you have the makings of one of the best games in recent times. When Nintendo first unveiled Twilight Princess, millions of Zelda fans were thrilled and when it was later announced on Wii, they were questioning Nintendo’s decision. However, now that the game has released, it is apparent that it fits entirely into the Wii’s control scheme. The whole game will keep you entertained whether you beat it in 35 hours or 70. No other game in a long time has come close to what Twilight Princess has achieved, and it would be a crime not to give it the Best Adventure Game of 2006 award. |
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Call of Duty 3
Release Date: November 19 Call of Duty 3 is a solid FPS for the Wii. Although it lacks some features that we would have liked to see, namely online multiplayer, or multiplayer in general, it still is a perfect example of the potential of the FPS genre on the Wii. The controls took a little getting used to, but after some practice it felt smooth and responsive and actually uses the best FPS control configuration we’ve seen on Wii, thus far. Gameplay mechanics, such as lobbing a grenade and aiming a gun, felt more intuitive on the Wii. The graphics aren’t anything spectacular, but the visuals along with the audio help make for a nice experience. Then again, most Call of Duty games do. |
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Excite Truck
Release Date: November 19 It’s nice that Nintendo paid homage to their classic “Excite” franchise and brought it back for the Wii launch. What was even more surprising was that Excite Truck turned out to be a really great racing game despite initial fears. In Excite Truck just using hand motions does all the work as far as controls go. A gradual tilt to either the left or right will have your truck correspond in that direction. Using the turbo creates a great sense of speed and is reflected well by the games crisp graphics. Excite Truck is sheer fun to play and most importantly is easy to play. The game features great tracks in some exotic locations and it’s more fun to play through with a friend. Our only complaints are the lack of online multiplayer and limited courses. Nintendo also did a seemingly “un-Nintendo” like move by giving gamers the ability to use their own music during the game by loading it on to an SD card. All in all, Excite Truck is definitely the Wii racing game to own. |
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Wii Sports
Release Date: November 19 What originally started off as a simple tech demo truly evolved into some deep gameplay. Twisting your wrist a little can make the difference between knocking two pins down in a split formation in bowling or losing the game. Making a faster motion as you putt can give you a decisive birdie, or maybe if you mess up, par. This is what Wii Sports is all about; taking real life sports gestures and incorporating them into a video game setting. Granted it’s not an exact replica of what happens on the outside, but it sure is the next best thing. If Wii Sports has achieved nothing else, it at least guides developers on what gamers want from sports titles on the Wii. Hopefully in 2007 we see some truly amazing sports titles that expand on the foundation that Wii Sports helped build. |
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Wii Sports
Release Date: November 19 Nintendo wasn’t lying when they said even non-gamers could play Wii games. So far we’ve heard about mothers, fathers, aunts and uncles playing with the Wii. What are all these non-gamers playing though? Apparently, it’s Wii Sports. The game has been the hit of the party, drawing in plenty of people with it’s simple gameplay mechanics but still delivering a strong sense of pleasure after sinking a hole in one in golf or nailing an ace in tennis. Wii Sports is definitely a lot of fun in solo play sessions, but with a group of people, the game really shines. Everybody is chatting about who is going to win, and some even talking some smack about some others players. It’s all in good fun though, because who really thinks your cousin twice removed is actually going to beat you in a game of tennis? |
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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Release Date: November 19 Many moons ago, Nintendo unveiled a little game called The Wind Waker for GameCube. What made the game’s unveiling so memorable was its notably different art direction – one that ditched a more realistic palette of colors, character models and overall design for a cel-shaded and cartoon-esque one. The change in style set the industry on fire. Turns out, Wind Waker was an amazing game, and most people were able to learn to love its graphical style. But that doesn’t mean people suddenly forgot about the so-called “realistic Zelda†the Big N previewed just a year before Wind Waker’s unveiling. And at E3 ’04, when Nintendo announced it was creating another “realistic†Zelda, called Twilight Princess, the 1,000-person crowd attending its conference literally went insane. People cheered, screamed – and cried, even. But while Twilight began on Cube, it released first on Nintendo’s new Wii system. It’s unfortunate that the game doesn’t take advantage of the more powerful Wii hardware, but still, it is a truly beautiful game that features excellent art style, beautiful and varies locales, as well as huge draw distances. The game takes you all over Hyrule – which is massive in size. You’ll travel through snowy mountains, under a lake and even inside a volcano. Zelda fans will on top of all this explore areas they’ve never seen in a Zelda before, such as the inside of a Yeti’s mountain mansion and a sci-fi-like temple in the Twilight Realm. This is diverse visual experience that manages to impress despite having been developed on last-gen hardware. |
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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Release Date: November 19 This award should not be of a surprise to those who have had the privilege of playing this title, and while there may be a few arguments which could be made against it, Twilight Princess’s accomplishments in this category outweigh any detraction by far. While it had been hoped that Nintendo would have opted for a true orchestral score this time around, the utilization of MIDI does a fine enough job of conveying the feel of the game in the various cut-scenes and areas, from the rousing scores in Hyrule Field and the boss battles, to the more soothing tunes contained within the wolf howling songs, and also, some classic Zelda tunes are also re-arranged within the soundtrack itself. While the musical score and composition remains the same as its GameCube counterpart, Nintendo chose to make some additions to the sound on the Wii version in the form of utilizing the speaker on the Wii’s controller, and while the quality may not be the best, it does go a long way in adding an extra sense of aural awareness with the clanging of swords and the giggles of Midna. Once more, a Zelda game has brought with it a classic soundtrack of exceptional musical composition and will likely remain unmatched in its sheer quality for some time to come. Runners-up: Rayman: Raving Rabbids, Call of Duty 3 |
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Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Release Date: November 19 Leading up to its release, Rayman Raving Rabbids had a hazy cloud of mystery surrounding it. For a long time, we didn’t know what kind of game it would be, exactly. Was it a platformer? An adventure title? An action game? Mini-game collection? Well, the final product is kind of a combination of all these things. Imagine for a second, if you will, that all these genres had a baby together – through advances of scientific marvel, if you must get technical. Raving Rabbids would be that baby. The title features a single-player mode in which you play through mini-games, progressing through the game’s story. As you unlock more mini-games, you’ll be able to play more mini-games in Rabbid’s multiplayer mode. This is the real treat. Whether in single-player or multiplayer, though, we can’t help but notice the great lengths Beyond Good & Evil creator Michael Ancel and team went to to really take advantage of the Wii’s unique control options. Rabbids uses the remote in a variety of ways, and each seems more fun than the last. You’ll draw with it, shake both the remote and nunchuck up and down as fast as you possibly can to run in races, aim with the Wii-mote in first-person shooter-like segments and even dance with bunnies using both the Wii-mote and nunchuck. At the end of the day, no other game innovates and produces more original ideas through the use of the Wii-mote than Rayman Raving Rabbids does. |
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Elebits
Release Date: December 12 Every year there are a few game releases that fly slightly under the radar. When it came to deciding which Wii game deserved the famed Sleeper Hit of 2006 award, we had some slight hesitations in giving the award to Konami’s Elebits. The reason for this is because in the last few weeks of 2006, the game garnered more and more attention, quickly becoming a cult hit – if you will – on the Internet. We weren’t sure a game this popular should be given the award. That noted, there really is no other sleeper hit in 2006 quite like Elebits. It is, after all, a hit amongst hardcore Wii zealots and yet has very little mainstream popularity. The hardcore loved Elebits so much, in fact, that we know people who slept outside in freezing cold weather to guarantee themselves a copy. And they even wore Elebits attire to spread their message of Elebits love. That is dedication. But why the fuss? Elebits makes great use of the Wii-mote with its point-and-click level-based gameplay that sends you around a town capturing alien critters called Elebits all in an effort to restore electricity to the world. It’s originality is no doubt what made it such an underground hit this year. |
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Your Strap Breaks!
When: You think it’s safe to let go of the Wii-mote There were a lot of surprises relating to Nintendo’s Wii system in ’06. 2006 was, essentially, a year all about Wii, as every month meant new information about the system, which finally made it to store shelves late in the year. The console’s name, Wii, surprised us all, and it angered more people than it surprised. The price, even, was surprising. At least ten thousand editorials popped up claiming the console was overpriced within an hour of its price being revealed. Nintendo led us on to think it’d be “cheap,†so some were expecting something more in the $100 to $150 price range. But there’s nothing more surprising than this: you’re playing Wii Sports Tennis, and you go to slam the incoming tennis ball back at your opponent when you accidentally let go of the Wii-mote. No worries, though, because you’re smart. You listened to Nintendo – you’re wearing the Wii strap. You’re safe, right? Wrong. The Wii-mote shoots away from your hand faster than a bullet fired from an AK-47, smashing into your TV; destroying the $2,000 beauty you just got yesterday for Christmas. Holy shizzznat. That’s a surprise. Right? Right? No one ever said a surprise has to be a good thing. Just be glad your best gaming bud didn’t throw the Wii-mote right into your eye like seen in the picture below (which, yes, is fake). |
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Super Smash Bros. Brawl
When’s it really coming out?: TBA 2007 We had a hard time picking which Wii game we wish we could have had in 2006 – or at launch, more specifically. The other contender was Super Mario Galaxy, but we eventually decided that Super Smash Bros. Brawl would have simply been the best addition to the Wii launch. The bottom line is that while Mario Galaxy is going to be amazing, it won’t have nearly as much lasting appeal or replay value as Brawl will. We still play the GameCube Super Smash Bros., Melee, regularly, and the game is over 5 years-old now. Melee made a great close-to-launch title for GameCube, and Brawl would have been just as great – if not more so – for Wii. Word is the title will feature online play, too, so that’s just another reason why if we could build a time machine and go back in time we would do so and force Nintendo into releasing Brawl for Wii during launch. Unfortunately, we aren’t here to tell you that we’ve invented such a machine, so you’ll just have to wait for the game to hit sometime in 2007. Sorry. |
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Nintendo
Notable games: Twilight Princess, Excite Truck, Wii Sports Nintendo is the company that takes both our Best Developer and Best Publisher of 2006 awards. The reason is pretty simple: there is no other company – publisher or developer – that developed and or produced more quality Wii software than the Big N did. While Wii had more third-party support at launch and in 2006 than GameCube did during its first year, the games we played most and liked most were Nintendo-made. The biggest and best was, of course, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but both Excite Trick and especially Wii Sports kept us playing our Wiis regularly during the last weeks of 2006. |
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Nintendo
Notable games: Twilight Princess, Excite Truck, Wii Sports Nintendo is the company that takes both our Best Developer and Best Publisher of 2006 awards. The reason is pretty simple: there is no other company – publisher or developer – that developed and or produced more quality Wii software than the Big N did. While Wii had more third-party support at launch and in 2006 than GameCube did during its first year, the games we played most and liked most were Nintendo-made. The biggest and best was, of course, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, but both Excite Trick and especially Wii Sports kept us playing our Wiis regularly during the last weeks of 2006. Runner-up: Ubisoft |
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Rayman: Raving Rabbids
Release Date: November 19 Leading up to its release, Rayman Raving Rabbids had a hazy cloud of mystery surrounding it. For a long time, we didn’t know what kind of game it would be, exactly. Was it a platformer? An adventure title? An action game? Mini-game collection? Well, the final product is kind of a combination of all these things. Imagine for a second, if you will, that all these genres had a baby together – through advances of scientific marvel, if you must get technical. Raving Rabbids would be that baby. The title features a single-player mode in which you play through mini-games, progressing through the game’s story. As you unlock more mini-games, you’ll be able to play more mini-games in Rabbid’s multiplayer mode. This is the real treat. Whether in single-player or multiplayer, though, we can’t help but notice the great lengths Beyond Good & Evil creator Michael Ancel and team went to to really take advantage of the Wii’s unique control options. Rabbids uses the remote in a variety of ways, and each seems more fun than the last. You’ll draw with it, shake both the remote and nunchuck up and down as fast as you possibly can to run in races, aim with the Wii-mote in first-person shooter-like segments and even dance with bunnies using both the Wii-mote and nunchuck. At the end of the day, no other game innovates and produces more original ideas through the use of the Wii-mote than Rayman Raving Rabbids does. Runner-up: The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess |
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Wii Shop
Nominees: Forecast Channel, Internet Channel, Mii Channel The Wii Forecast Channel, while cool, is inaccurate and thus unusable most the time. The Opera Web Browser that powers the Internet Channel is a cool feature and works pretty well, but it’s still buggy, and its low-resolution can be painful. The Mii Channel is a cool novelty, but really, how long will you be using it? It’s all about the Wii Shop, baby, and the Virtual Console. The service allows you to download old-school classics (at a cost) for NES, SNES, N64, Genesis and much more. Twenty-something years ago, you were playing Super Mario Bros. for NES on Christmas morning. Christmas morning 2006, you were playing it again on Wii. That’s magical, and the Wii Shop is all about making magical happen. Wow, that sounded… lame. But you know it’s true. And we can’t wait to see what the channel brings in the future. |
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The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
Release Date: November 19 It has been a long time coming, but Nintendo has crafted a title that stands as not only the best game of 2006, but simultaneously both one of the best Zeldas and one of the best games of all time. Miyamoto and team merge storytelling with smart gameplay in a fashion that’s in a league other game makers can only dream of having their games belong to. What’s more, while Twilight Princess began as a GameCube game, it materialized as a Wii one. Twilight Princess arrives as the first traditional single-player game on Nintendo’s shiny new console to demonstrate how motion-sensing controls can be implemented in a manner that completely enhances an overall game. Attacking has never been easier or more immersive than it is with Nintendo’s new controller, and aiming Link’s bow with the Wii-mote instantly puts to shame any other control scheme. And while Twilight Princess is rendered by a more realistic approach than its predecessor, it doesn’t stray from anything but an impressive art style. The same can be said about the game’s music, which mixes both new melodies with familiar classics – the result memorable. 2006 brought us Wii, but most importantly, it brought us The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, our Wii Game of the Year 2006. |
