The Nintendo Wii was one of the biggest consoles ever made. After the GameCube underperformed despite having more power than its competition, Nintendo decided to try a different strategy with their next console. Throwing in motion controls with the Wii, Nintendo was hoping to appeal to a much larger audience, and they succeeded.

The Wii proved to be a massive success (for better and worse). On top of a great gimmick, Nintendo used it to create some high-quality games that provided a new way to play. However, not everyone was a fan of how the Wii worked, feeling that it was much more geared towards casual players.

That said, having a new set of controls didn’t stop Nintendo and other developers from creating fantastic games that are still beloved today. As is the case with every console, there are several games that were given way more credit than they deserved. These games were praised by critics across the internet, but we weren’t quite on board with those reviews.

On the flipside, there were a lot of games that players were quick to denounce without much further consideration. Unfortunately, this led to a lot of good games be overlooked before they got their fair chance and experience some low sales as a result.

While the Wii might be long gone, we’re taking a look back at the console’s games. Here are 15 Wii games that are extremely overrated and 15 that are worth a second look. Did any of your unsung favorite games make this list?

30 Overrated - New Super Mario Bros. Wii

When Nintendo decided to bring back the 2D Mario formula, a lot of players were excited. They ended up bringing that concept over to the Wii in the form of New Super Mario Bros. Wii, which allowed for 4 players on screen at once. Unfortunately, the game didn’t properly support 4 players. On top of that, the game had a very formulaic structure with environments that never stood out from the rest of the franchise. The art style was also just decent.

29 Underrated - Kirby’s Epic Yarn

Since Kirby 64: The Crystal Shards, the pink puffball hadn’t been given a platforming game on a home console until Kirby’s Epic Yarn. Unfortunately, the game took away his sucking ability, leaving a lot of people feeling disenchanted with how it played. However, those who were quick to harp on the game missed out on a charming, well-structured adventure with a fantastic art style. It wasn’t a standard Kirby game, but it was still a great platformer for one or two players.

28 Overrated - Wii Sports

The game that came packaged with the Wii was Wii Sports and was one of the biggest reasons that anyone bought the console in the first place. While it was one of the best-selling games on the console, it was far from the best game on it. With only a few half-baked modes to choose from, it was the type of game that didn’t keep its novelty very long. Nintendo would later vastly improve on the game with Wii Sports Resort, which is better in almost every way.

27 Underrated - Wii Play

Many people are quick to hate on Wii Play, which was a game designed for two players to go head to head in a series of mini-games that they could select. Not all of the games were created equally, but there were some highlights that were extremely fun, like the laser hockey and the tank battles. It also came packaged with an extra Wii remote, so there wasn’t much to complain about. If you managed to find one without the controller, you would get it for dirt cheap. For the prices it sold at, it was more than worth it.

26 Overrated - Metroid Prime 3: Corruption

As the conclusion to the Prime series, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption vastly pales in comparison to its two predecessors. However, many people were quick to praise it as one of the best fps games on the system and another fantastic entry in the franchise. While it controlled well and made good use of the Wii Remote, Metroid Prime 3 had a story that was much weaker than the rest of the franchise. The game also felt painfully short and there wasn’t as much exploration as the GameCube entries.

25 Underrated - The Last Story

Leading up to the later days of the Wii, there weren’t many RPGs that players could enjoy on the system (not any good ones anyway). While most people look to Xenoblade Chronicles as the best of the bunch, it caused many to overlook The Last Story, which was just as good as Monolith Soft’s adventure game. The Last Story had a great story, visuals, and a soundtrack. On top of that, it played around with a stellar combat system that made great use of strategic and action elements.

24 Overrated - Super Mario Galaxy 2

After the success of Mario Galaxy, Nintendo was working on an expansion (of sorts) for the game. However, they went so crazy with the concepts that it became its own game, titled Super Mario Galaxy 2. While not a bad game, it’s hard to ignore that the story is just recycled from the first game, as are a lot of the environments. It’s just more Mario Galaxy and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. The first game is just superior and more novel.

23 Underrated - Super Smash Bros. Brawl

When talking about the Super Smash Bros. series, many are quick to cite Brawl as the worst of the bunch. While we won’t necessarily disagree with that statement, there are those who say the game is awful and unplayable. However, Super Smash Bros. Brawl is still a Smash Bros game and has the level of polish we’d expect from Sakurai. Featuring a ton of newcomers to the roster, several great stages added to the bunch, the introduction of third-party characters, the Subspace Emissary, and the best current menu in the series, it was a great game.

22 Overrated - The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Before Breath of the Wild, Nintendo had Twilight Princess release as a launch title on its newest console while having a simultaneous release on its previous console. People were quick to parade around Twilight Princess for how great of a recreation of Ocarina of Time it was. However, Twilight Princess suffered from a muted and uninteresting color palette, a graphical system that doesn’t hold up, and an overall difficulty level that just makes it feel too easy. The Wii controls also felt tacked-on at best.

21 Underrated - Metroid: Other M

When gamers discuss Metroid: Other M, it’s usually with sighs of disappointment. The game chose to focus more on story and took all of the mysterious edge off of Samus, turning her into a bit of a complainer. While the story definitely needed work, there was something to be said for how different and dynamic the combat system was. Being drastically different from anything experienced in the series before, it allowed for more exciting battles and had a pleasing art style.

20 Overrated - Wii Music

The idea behind Wii Music was interesting. You'd take Wii remotes and use them to recreate various instruments and star in a band that plays covers of popular Nintendo music. It definitely garnered a lot of interest in the community, but it wasn’t all that good. If the E3 presentation for the game was any indication, it was an idea that was hyped beyond what it needed to be, and it didn’t fully deliver on felling like being in a band. Rock Band had done it already and did it better.

19 Underrated - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

While Twilight Princess probably got more praise than it deserved, Skyward Sword gets more anger than it deserves. The motion controls add a lot to the Zelda universe and the story provides a serious amount of context for the world of Hyrule. The game might be fairly linear, but that’s not to say that it isn’t good. Linear doesn’t mean bad. As far as more scripted adventure games go, Skyward Sword is the cream of the crop. It also has an art style that holds up better than its predecessor.

18 Overrated - MadWorld

MadWorld is a game that demands your attention as soon as you look at it. The style is something that you would expect out of an old graphic novel and it looks gorgeous. You fight in crazy battles to win the day. That sounds great on paper, but it wasn’t that good. The visuals were practically perfect, but the combat was repetitive at best. If the game looked like a standard action game, it’s the kind of title that no one would’ve bought.

17 Underrated - Deadly Creatures

Take control of a scorpion or spider in Deadly Creatures. While this game didn’t seem like much at first glance, it turns out that it actually had a lot of thought behind it. Players could perform impressive attacks and the levels provided a good sense of what it was like to be an arachnid. It was also a smart move to make the spider and scorpion play differently, with one focused on stealth and the other focused on physical combat. It went under the radar, but was a great game.

16 Overrated - World of Goo

We dare not say that World of Goo is a bad game. Its puzzles and challenges were both pleasing and fun with the use of the Wii Remote. However, the game received near perfect scores across the board, something we don’t think it quite deserves. After all, the levels aren’t all good and the game can feel dull after you complete the first few levels. It was the kind of game that fit much better on a mobile device anyway, not something that needed to be a WiiWare title.

15 Underrated - Mario Party 8

A lot of fans of Nintendo are quick to point out that Mario Party 8 was the moment the franchise started to hit a deep decline. However, that sentiment ignores a lot of the good choices the game made. Each board had a different gameplay style and they were each fun in their own ways. Furthermore, the mini-games were fun by adding motion controls. The new characters were great additions to the roster and the visuals were nice. At the very least, it didn’t have the car.

14 Overrated - Resident Evil 4

Many people point to Resident Evil 4 as one of the best games in the entire franchise. However, after a replay, it’s hard to understand why. The game marked the transition of the series from its survival horror roots to something more action-oriented. While it was fine as an action game in its own right, as a Resident Evil game, it fell very short. It took out all of the ambiance that made the earlier games so good and replaced it with mindless action that made the series go downhill.

13 Underrated - Fortune Street

People who like Monopoly were bound to fall in love with Fortune Street. It was a version of the classic board game, but a little more complex (definitely for adults). The trick was that it included characters from the Super Mario Bros. and Dragon Quest franchise together. It was a lot of fun, but that didn’t stop a lot of reviewers from denouncing it as an experience that wasn’t worth trying. It had a few kinks that needed worked out, but it was still tons of fun for fans of Monopoly.

12 Overrated - Wii Fit

Wii Fit was another big reason that a lot of casual gamers bought a Wii. It was a game that tricked players into thinking they were exercising. Many people paraded around it as an innovation, but it was just a mini-game collection that was coated in a lot of “healthy” paint. If there’s one good thing that came out of Wii Fit, though, it was the fact that the Wii Fit Trainer ended up becoming a playable fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS.

11 Underrated - Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn

When Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn came out, a lot of reviewers were quick to slam it for how difficult it was. However, those who skipped this entry missed out on a fantastic strategy game that was classic Fire Emblem from start to finish. Not only did it bring some iconic characters into the mix, it had a pleasing art style that allowed the game to hold its own against other strategy games. While Nintendo would improve upon the formula with Fire Emblem: Awakening, this game was still worth the money.