In my last journal I talked about my perception of how 3rd party companies have treated the Wii, their trials and tribulations, and their frustration. I predicted that it would take a while before they started to come to terms with how to make games for the Wii, I just never expected it to take 4 years to come to fruition.

Now as 2010 begins, we’re starting to see the fruits of these 3rd party developer’s labors and it’s AWESOME! I wanted to show a list of what’s coming out, and I want to give quick thanks and credits to two great sources: Capo from GameTrailers who made an awesome thread full of pictures (most of which I am using here simply for convenience) and info regarding their releases and gameplay elements. Also, a recent IGN news story (which had some interesting surprises I hadn’t even heard about) proved to be very helpful in writing this...

First I wanna just say that already we’ve had a good start to the year with the releases of “Sky Crawlers: Innocent Aces,” “No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle,” and “Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom: Ultimate All-Stars.” These obviously will not be appearing on this list, but they are all awesome games! “No More Heros 2” fixed alot of the glaring glitches from the first game and made the story even more warped and deep, and Capcom has said that if “Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom” sells well, they’re thinking of adding downloadable content and possibly spinning off to do more “VS” series for the Wii. So go pick up these games if you can!

Alright! Here we go! Take a look at what’s on the forecast for 2010!!!

Flip's Twisted World

Ok this is a promising start. I like the premise of this game but I’d like to see more before I make up my mind. The idea is very much akin to Super Mario Galaxy. Flip has to navigate through these interesting worlds like in any other platforming game, but the twist (literally) is that players can rotate the WiiRemote to rotate the entire world 90 degrees. So like I said, this has ALOT of potential... I just hope it comes through!

Bit.Trip Running

The Bit.Trip series continues to show what independent developers are capable of doing. Set to rhythm, somehow, players guide the ambiguous Commander Video through platforming worlds. I have no idea how this is gonna play out, but if the past games are any indication, this game is going to rock!

Calling

Trapped in the land between life and death, players use the WiiMote to utilize flashlights, cell phones, and other devices to escape in this survival horror game by family friendly Hudson Soft.

Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon

You are a survivor of a deadly event in Japan searching the deserted streets and fields for other survivors. This game is about feeling the sense of isolation and loneliness and it’s accomplished with beautiful environments that showcase what the Wii can do. It’s a quiet, somber, and gorgeous looking game thus far and XSEED has promised a great translation!

Arc Rise Fantasia

Arc Rise Fantasia, an epic RPG exclusively developed for the Wii. Another Japanese import by XSEED. I don’t know much about this one, sorry, but I’m sure many of you might find it interesting!

Endless Ocean: Blue World

A sequel to Endless Ocean, which is a diving simulator. Not as adventurous as you would expect, the original game came out of nowhere and surprised many people with it’s experience and pleasant contemplative music. The updated version will have new features, locals, different fish, potential dangers, and a much easier to control interface.

Mega Man 10

Mega Man 9 was awesome and a HUGE success... so, like everything Capcom does, they’re milking it for all it’s worth! Mega Man is up against another group of hilariously named robot masters to find a cure to a virus Dr. Wily has unleashed on all the robots of the world (including Mega Man’s sister Roll!). 8-bit action at it’s finest, plus a new feature never before seen in Mega Man: An “easy mode” which, when enabled, will drastically alter the layout and gameplay for those of us who just aren’t hardcore enough!

Red Steel 2

The original Red Steel was a launch title for the Wii in 2006, and it was also hurried out the door to meet the launch and was riddled with bad controls, camera, story, etc. Since then, the original team has worked hard to completely redesign the series. Using WiiMotionPlus, you will be able to both wield a sword for close combat, and fire off bullets at enemies at the same time simply by waving the WiiMote. It’s demo at E3 proved that the combat is up to par and it’s set to look like a real blockbuster hit!


Gladiator A.D.

High Voltage Software is trying to push the Wii’s graphical capacities with a new 3-D fighter game. Players swing with the Wii Remote and Nunchuk to attack, while the Wii Motion Plus adds variance to the player's attacks.

Sin & Punishment: Successor to the Sky

This game shouldn’t even exist and it’s a perfect reason why Nintendo has so many fans. Through word of mouth and because a japanese port of the N64 game was released on the Virtual Console, Nintendo decided to let Treasure make a full fledged sequel on the Wii. Talk about EPIC.

TrackMania Wii

TrackMania is a series of arcade racing games for Windows, Nintendo DS, and now Nintendo Wii. Aside from just the craziness of the game play and the tight controls, there’s also a level editor which utilizes the Wii’s WiFi network for sharing!

Super Monkey Ball: Step & Roll

Super Monkey Ball has already appeared on the Wii before, and it was awesome. But this time you can use the Wii Balance Board to move. A simple update but one that makes the gameplay far more interesting!

Super Meat Boy

Billed as being harder than the old school Mega Man series, Super Meat Boy stars a bloody slab of meat who’s trying to get his kidnapped girlfriend (made up of bandages of course) from an evil fetus. You are going to die a lot in this game, as the difficulty is ramped up to INSANE.

Shadow Tower

I’ve been curious about this game since I first heard about it in Nintendo Power. The premise is simple. A young boy becomes trapped in the shadow world. He can only interact with and travel on other shadows. To free himself he has to make it to the top of a huge tower. A small picketed fence in our world becomes a pit full of sharp daggers in his. Using advanced lighting effects players must manipulate the shadows opening up new paths for the boy.

Cave Story

This is an interesting WiiWare game that’s been on the fence for a long time. Started originally as a PC freeware game, it’s gotten a complete digital makeover and has been teetering on being released on the Wii for over a year. Many fans are eagerly waiting for this game to be released!

Monster Hunter Tri

Monster Hunter is big in Japan. The series revolves around team cooperation to hunt, attack, and eventually bring down giant monsters in a fantasy world. Monsters aren’t stupid either, and they learn based on your attacks and they take A LOT to bring down. Capcom is releasing this gorgeous looking game in America, and best part of all, they’re decided to abandon friend codes in favor of a more Ps3/360 style online experience and community. Put your virtual team together and start your hunting!

Trauma Team

Trauma Center has been around for a while, but this time you don’t play as just one surgeon, instead you take on six different fields of medicine to help the wounded and dying. It’s over the top medical simulation at it’s finest!

Super Mario Galaxy 2

As I’ve already mentioned, this game is suppose to be more hardcore and featuring stuff that wasn’t able to be fit into the first game (which apparently includes YOSHI). As the first official sequel to a main mario game on a console in almost 15 years, I think it’s safe to say everyone is excited about this game!

Xenoblade

I don’t even know what’s going on in the picture, but whatever it is, it looks EPIC. Developed by Monolith Soft, this RPG adventure was originally called Monado: Beginning of the World.

Epic Mickey

Warren Spector is re-envisioning the world of Disney in this tale of bitter resentment and hate. Oswald the Lucky Rabbit, Walt Disney’s first creation, was abandoned in favor of Mickey Mouse and Oswald resents it. Through an arrogant mistake by Mickey, Oswald’s forgotten world is turned twisted and cruel, and it’s up to Mickey to save the day. Mickey Mouse is far more aggressive, edgy, and players choices of being good or bad affect the gameplay and outcome! Epic is right!

Metroid: Other M

We don’t know anything about this game except for a few tiny bite sized pieces of information. We know it’s being developed in conjunction with Team Ninja (of Ninja Gaiden fame), we know it’s going to tell the story of what happened after the SNES game but before Fusion, and we know that some parts of the game will be 2.5d style action while others are first person. Does it get any crazier than that? Definitely keep a eye out for this!

The Grinder

High Voltage is on a roll. The Conduit showed what was possible when a developer actually took the time to craft the game, now the Grinder is taking it a step farther. In this  game, players take on Vampires, Werewolves, and Zombies by gunning them down with  a variety of weapons. The big draw is 4 player online co-op, Wii Speak features, and tons of online modes.

The Last Story

Again, not much info right now. But here’s what we know. It’s made by one of the creators of Final Fantasy and it’s an epic RPG made exclusively for the Wii.

Line Attack Heroes

After players defeat enemies, you can add them to your line. The characters follow you around and you attack enemies by flicking the WiiMote, which in turn makes the “line” of characters whip around and smack more baddies. Sounds weird yet?

Zangeki Reginleiv

The Wii is getting a bunch of RPG games this year! I can’t describe this game well, so here’s what Capo has to say: “The game will feature intense fantasy combat with help from Wii MotionPlus or the Wii Classic Controller. There will be a high level of weapon customization with over 300 options, as well as 2 different selectable characters with unique attacks and abilities. Nintendo & EDF developer Sandlot have promised large-scale battles against enemy forces and so much violence that it's been given Nintendo Japan's first D rating (17-and-up). It's also been confirmed that the game will offer online 4-player cooperative play.”

Finally... the best for last...
Zelda Wii
We still don’t know anything about this game aside from the fact it features a strange new character, an adult link very much akin to the Ocarina of Time style, and Wii Motion Plus. All Zelda games have been awesome, but this is the first time we’ve had Nintendo stress that this game is going to be released at the end of 2010, and yet we STILL have so little to go off of. We don’t know what this game is going to entail, but hopefully it won’t be delayed like every other Zelda game before it... I’m putting this on the MAYBE for 2010. Here’s hoping though...

And there you have it! A HUGE list of great looking, varied, Wii games for 2010. With “No More Heros 2” and “Tatsunoko Vs. Capcom” leading at the start of the year, I think Wii owners have ALOT to look forward to in the coming months! And this list doesn’t even include many of the smaller titles to be coming out on WiiWare and possibly the Virtual Console. We know that there will be more “Phoenix Wright” from Capcom on WiiWare for example...

So let this be a warning to you Wii-naysayers... you can’t keep saying “the Wii has no games” for much longer!

PS: To those of you who like survival horror games and are ticked off that Fatal Frame 4 didn’t make it’s way over here to the states, you’re in luck. A group of dedicated fans have made a patch for the game. This patch doesn’t require you to mod your Wii in any way, shape, or form which is one of the reasons why I am endorsing this. You still have to buy the japanese game disk, so the companies are still getting sales. What you do is you download this file the fans made onto an SD card, pop the SD card into your Wii’s SD card slot, pop in the game, and Ta-DA!! You’ve got an english language version of Fatal Frame 4. I really hope that this method becomes popular and that more imported games can make use of it... like Trace Memory for the Wii... lol