The Best Nintendo Game Every Year 1983 - 2024
19. 2006 - Wii Sports
There’s something very funny about the year 2006. Xbox players were toiling in the war against the Locust in Gears of War, PlayStation were sneaking back through the forests of Metal Gear Solid 3 with the Subsistence rerelease… and Nintendo players? Waggling remotes around pretending to play tennis.
And somehow, despite the out-of-nowhere batpoo insanity of it all, the Nintendo Wii was an overnight sensation, becoming the company’s biggest launch and being in-demand for a lot of its first full year.
Obviously, Wii Sports is the best-selling game for the console as it was the pack-in during the Wii’s boom period. But this was very much the right call to make as it perfectly demonstrated what the console was all about. A simple compilation of five sporting events that were recognisable and easily adaptable to the system’s motion controls; Wii Sports was something that most able-bodied people could pick up and enjoy almost right away.
It doesn’t have the depth or necessarily the artistic merit of Gears of War or Metal Gear Solid, but Nintendo’s Wagglelympics helped many create memories with all kinds of people in their lives and, for that, we salute you Wii Sports.