Three Years Ago...

Three years ago today (November 19th, 2006) I camped out at Best Buy overnight in line to be one of the first to purchase a Nintendo Wii. I've blogged about the night before and it was a really great experience even though I froze my ass off!

Timmy's red blanket was hideous but it sure was warm!

In honor of The Wii's birthday, here are my picks for the top five games released on Nintendo's motion control system:

#5 - Punch Out!!: Little Mac returns after a hiatus since the SNES days. I bought this game last summer and spent an insane amount of time boxing my way up the rankings to become the champion. The game offers 14 opponents, most of them throw backs to the NES and SNES games. Once you work your way to champion the game opens up challenges for each opponent to keep you playing. The game can be played arcade style by flipping the Wii Remote on its side or you can plug in the Nunchuck attachment and hop on the Wii Balance Board for a more immerse experience. Go old school and just use the Wii Remote. Lots of depth and the Nintendo nostalgia factor is through the roof. Good stuff.

#4 - Super Mario Galaxy: Mario returns in another 3-D adventure in a much better installment than Super Mario Sunshine on the Nintendo GameCube. Explore different planets for a truly 3-D experience, pushing the envelope of physics. The best platformer on any system since Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64.

#3 - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess: A release game I bought along with the Wii at launch. The game was originally a GameCube game that incorporated some motion control features of the Wii. Another great Zelda game with a long and satisfying quest with plenty of upgrades and secrets to find. I've played through the game completely three times, something I rarely do with any game.

#2 - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption: One of my favorite series was given a prequel sequel (does that make sense?) during the summer of the Wii's first year. Corruption took all the best of the Metroid Prime series, a ton of upgrades and a hybrid shooter/ action game, and brought to the table pointer functionality via the Wii Remote. If you like first person shooter games, this is a great example of how the Wii expands and brings a whole new level of game play to the genre. Earlier this year Retro Studios and Nintendo release the entire Metroid Prime trilogy in one package incorporating Metroid Prime 1 and 2 with the same great control system in Metroid Prime 3.

#1 - Animal Crossing: City Folk: I love this series. I'm sure that I've logged in hundreds of hours collectively between Animal Crossing, Animal Crossing DS, and the Wii version. Basically the game is a life simulation game Nintendo style. Create a town, build a house, work to pay off your debt, upgrade your look and the possibilities go on and on. Probably the best thing about the latest version is playing online with others. I've had great fun playing along with my nieces and my sister-in-law, though we're all in different cities. Yeah, so, it's kind of a chick game...

Honorable Mention - The New Super Mario Bros. Wii: Having just purchased the game Sunday I didn't want to include it to my top five list but the game is awesome. Take a Mario old school side scrolling game and upgrade the graphics and power ups. Classic.

So that's it! Happy birthday Nintendo Wii.