The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
Millions have wholeheartedly fallen into the immersive world of Nintendo’s epic Wii launch title, Twilight Princess. But much of what makes it such an outstanding Wii experience is drawn from the Wind Waker, one of GameCube’s finest masterpieces. Wind Waker not only made dramatic refinements to the Zelda control scheme, but it introduced some of the advanced sword tactics elaborated on in Twilight Princess, such as the vicious helm-splitter and the crucial back-slice parry. Even in the wake of Twilight Princess’ naturalistic visual approach, the cel-shaded art style of Wind Waker retains its undeniable charm, and it still looks remarkably slick in 480p on Wii. Blake even recommends Wind Waker over Twilight Princess.
Available for less than $20 on Amazon and eBay.
Beyond Good and Evil
The creation of French game designer Michel Ancel, Beyond Good and Evil suffered poor sales when it released in Nov. 2003. Perhaps this Ubisoft gem simply came four years too soon; it is a great choice for the “hardcore” Wii owner who begs for more deep Wii adventure titles. Taking strong influence from Nintendo’s Zelda series, Beyond Good and Evil is a rich action-adventure game that introduces players to the staff-wielding Jade, a reporter bent on exposing a military conspiracy. Masterful level design, great puzzle solving and controls, and visuals that hold up well in 480p, Beyond Good and Evil is one of those special games backward compatibility was invented for.