Alright, 2009 wasn’t exactly a huge year for the Wii. Sure, we got a few smaller gems and the blockbuster, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but that’s not enough to feed the hungry gamers. Luckily, with 2010 in full swing, it looks like its going to be one hell of a year! I wanted to go over the three heavy hitters we will be seeing this year, as well as a few WiiWare titles that you should check out.

-Super Mario Galaxy 2–

Regardless of what type of gamer you are; hardcore or casual, young or old…the original Super Mario Galaxy was a blast to play. As with every other new Mario game on a Nintendo console, the formula was the same, but the delivery was fresh and new. Saving Princess Peach never gets old when you can keep the level design solid and give us new ways to tackle the various challenges of the Mushroom Kingdom. However, even though SMG was amazing, some gamers are a bit skeptical about the second installment being fresh, and just giving us more of the same.

I like to think positively about it…I mean, sure, you can sit there and say, “Nintendo is lazy, using the same engine and everything.” To be honest, I feel that if it isn’t broke, why fix it.? For me, it is all about level design, and the videos I have seen show off some great levels. The addition of Yoshi is kind of neat, but I am afraid it may go the same way New Super Mario Bros. Wii did, and not use him very much. Yoshi was on the cover of NSMB Wii, which lead me to believe he was a key component, so it was a bummer to only be able to use him in a handful of levels. My little gripe about Yoshi aside, I am probably most excited about this game for the fact that I know it will probably be one of my favorite platforming experiences of the year.

-Metroid: Other M-

Anybody who has played the Metroid Prime series knows how well the world of Samus worked in three dimensions. While the MP series was beautifully crafted, I still like to think that my favorite installment in the series was Super Metroid on the SNES. That being said, I am so pleased that the new game, Metroid: Other M, will probably have the best of both worlds. It looks to have a mixture of 2-D action, platforming, as well as 3-D shooting segments. The biggest shock about the game, was that the developer was Team Ninja (makers of Ninja Gaiden and the Dead or Alive series). When I heard this my initial thoughts where, “Oh great, can the Wii handle a breast physics engine?” and “Is Samus going to be swimming in pools of blood?” While I think a lot of that stuff is cool in games, I would hate to see Metroid stray too far from the reason we all love the series. According to a recent interview, it seems that the developers are being respectful to the property and not just making it Team Ninja’s version of how a Metroid game should be.

-Legend of Zelda-

When news broke out about the new Zelda game built from the ground up for the Wii, I was half excited…half skeptical. I just didn’t want to get my hopes up for a game that probably wasn’t going to come out for over a year. Recently, MORE news broke out that the game would actually hit store shelves this year; for any Zelda fan, this is a hymn from the Gods to our greedy little ears. At this moment, there is not a lot of official news on the game, but just knowing it has been in development for years is good enough for me. There is still a lot of time to speculate, and get the hype for this game cranked up to maximum; I am guessing, realistically, we will be getting it just in time for the holidays. If you look up pre-order in the dictionary…this game will be the definition.

-WiiWare–

Much like the service and games themselves, I will keep this section of games short and sweet. I figured since WiiWare is pretty random on release dates, I’ll speculate about a few future releases and give my thoughts on some new ones that just came out at the start of the year. First off, I think my favorite game coming out rather soon is And Yet It Moves. It is already available to download on the pc, but with the Wii, you will use the wii remote to tilt the world. It’s basically a neat little puzzle game, that will have you tilting the world to keep hazards at bay, and get you around rather impossible jumps. Everything from the unique gameplay to the awesome art style has me so anxious to play it.

Cave Story is another title that wii gamers are excited about. People who have played it on the PC have already given it a huge cult-following. It was one of those titles we thought we would see back in ’09, but it kept getting pushed back farther and farther. Its elusive nature has gotten people so hyped up, I am just curious to see if people flame the hell out of it for “not living up to its potential” on the WiiWare service. I don’t see how you can go wrong, though; it’s an interesting platformer/shooter game that has some really addictive appeal. For me, I can’t really pinpoint what I like so much about it, but it just has a such awesome style and wonderful music. Any retro gamer would be crazy not to make this game an instant-download when it hits the states…hopefully soon.

Now that the two titles I really want our out of the way, I figure I should point out a few games you may want to download that recently came out. Max and the Magic Marker is a game that from the very beginning will remind you of Scribblenauts; not sure if that’s a good or a bad thing. It just came out in Europe, so it should be hitting the States really soon, and from what my European friends have been saying, it’s decent. I say it’s like Scribblenauts, because you must use creativity to solve puzzles, but you draw instead of type words. However, creative as it might be; I am hearing it has quite a few bugs, much like Scribblenauts did as well. If the bugs get worked out with the NA release or through a future download, be sure to give it a go.

Now for probably the weirdest game, a Japanophile could love…Muscle March. The game is pretty much every homophobes worst nightmare, as you control various roided-up guys running through town. The point of the game is to do the same pose as the people in front of you, so that you can follow them through holes in the walls of buildings that they have created. The game is only for people looking to say “WTF” every five seconds, or just a nice, big laugh. For only five bucks, I think it’s worth it if you like weird games like the Katamari series. Also, where else will you see a polar bear in a speedo?