Wii Play (series)
The Wii Play series is a Wii series currently only made of two games, making it tied with the Wii Party series as the smallest Wii series.
The series started in 2006 with the release of Wii Play on the Wii, a game bundled with a Wii Remote that also served as a tech demo of the controller, mostly focusing on the built in pointer of the controller. A sequel to Wii Play released on the same console, being Wii Play Motion in 2011, still getting bundled with a Wii Remote but having a new model with a Wii Motion Plus built into the controller. Like with Wii Play, Wii Play Motion could serve as a tech demo of the controller, now mostly focusing on the enhanced motion control of the controller.
While being considered as a series in American and in Europe, Wii Play and Wii Play Motion were not marketed as being part of a series in Japan and Korea, the two having titles translating to "Your First Step to Wii" and "Wii Remote Plus Variety", yet both games are part of a series by sharing elements like musics, sound effects, artstyles, and so on...
The Wii Play series differentiates itself from the rest of the Wii series by not having its minigames connected to one another, rather focusing on having a lot of varieties, with one minigames being a simple billiard table simulator and another being the player's Mii having to dive into the ocean in order to find treasures.
The Wii Play series of games (Wii Play in particular), as well as most of the other Wii series as a whole, are often considered to be some of the more well-known Mii-related games, having most of their minigames starring the player's Mii in it doing various activities changing from one minigame to another. While the player's main avatar is often push forward, some NPCs that the player can see during minigames can be Miis chosen randomly from the Miis saved on the Wii of the player
Basic gameplay
The games in the Wii Play series are minigame compilations, with both games having minigames completely separate minigames from one another. While the first game mostly consisted on minigames focusing on the pointer, with the player having to point at the screen in order to do actions, the second game focuses on more twisting the Wii Remote in various direction due to the controller coming with the game now being enhanced with more precise motion control.
List of Games
Games in the Wii Play series | ||
---|---|---|
Game(s) cover(s) | Console | Description |
Wii Play |
Wii | Main article : Wii Play
The Wii Play series started with the release of the second game to be a part of a [[Wii series], being Wii Play on the Wii in 2006, the same year as the release of Wii Sports. Nintendo when developing the Wii made a lot of Tech-demos in order to present the Wii to the public, and with the release of the Wii, the tech-demos based on sports were compiled as one game coming with the Wii itself, being Wii Sports, and most of the other tech-demos getting bundled as a variety pack with the game Wii Play. This game came bundled with a Wii Remote that most likely helped to sell the game, since at the time of its release in North America the game cost $49.99 while a Wii Remote cost $39.99, meaning that the game itself effectively cost $10. |
Wii Play Motion |
Wii | Main article : Wii Play Motion
A bit more than 4 years after the release of Wii Play, a new game marketed as a direct sequel to Wii Play called Wii Play Motion was released. Just like its predecessor, Wii Play Motion served as a demonstration for a Wii Remote bundled with the game, now being enhanced with a built in Wii Motion Plus, adding a gyroscope at the bottom of the remote. Being a sequel to Wii Play, Wii Play Motion is a collection 12 minigames that do not have a lot of similarities between them. Unlike its predecessor who came out as the launch of the Wii, Wii Play Motion came out a little less than a year before the Wii U's release, which impacted the sale of the game, only selling 1.26 millions copies, more than 22 times less than Wii Play's 28.02 copies. This game was often bundled with the Wii Motion Plus accessory. |
List of minigames
Minigames in Wii Play
No. | Name | Icon | Image |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Shooting Range | ||
2 | Find Mii | ||
3 | Table Tennis | ||
4 | Pose Mii | ||
5 | Laser Hockey | ||
6 | Billiards | ||
7 | Fishing | ||
8 | Charge! | ||
9 | Tanks! |
Minigames in Wii Play Motion
Main Menu minigames
No. | Name | Icon | Modes | Screenshot(s) | Developer |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Cone Zone | Scoop Mode Swirl Mode |
Arzest Corporation | ||
2 | Veggie Guardin' | Guard Mode Versus Mode Recall Mode |
Good-Feel | ||
3 | Skip Skimmer | Skip Mode Score Mode |
Good-Feel | ||
4 | Pose Mii Plus | N/A | Skip Ltd. | ||
5 | Trigger Twist | UFO Stage Ninja Stage Dinosaur Stage All Stages |
Prope | ||
6 | Jump Park | Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 Stage 4 |
Arzest Corporation | ||
7 | Teeter Targets | Challenge Mode Versus Mode Endless Mode |
Nintendo | ||
8 | Spooky Search | Stage 1 Stage 2 Stage 3 |
Arzest Corporation | ||
9 | Wind Runner | Solo Mode Versus Mode Long Jump Time Attack |
Vanpool | ||
10 | Treasure Twirl | Solo Mode Partner Mode |
Mitchell Corporation | ||
11 | Flutter Fly | Solo Mode Versus Mode |
Skip Ltd. | ||
12 | Star Shuttle | Solo Mode Versus Mode |
Chunsoft |
Title Screen minigames
No. | Name | How to unlock | Image |
---|---|---|---|
1 | Kaleidoscope | None | |
2 | Bubbles | None | |
3 | Dolphin | Have gold medals in all minigames | |
4 | Unicycle | Have platinum medals in all minigames | |
5 | Staff Credits | Hold on the title screen, then rotate the ball to show "Staff Credits" |
Trivia
- UFOs can be seen throughout the series making various cameos in other minigames starting with being enemies in Shooting Range, their desing sometimes changing between minigames:
- In Wii Play:
- In Shooting Range, UFOs are common enemies that are encounter at the end of a round trying to steal Miis
- In Wii Play Motion:
- In Cone Zone, an UFO can be seen in Scoop Mode after reaching a score of around 60 points flying in the background.
- In Veggie Guardin', an UFO can be seen flying in the middle of the stage if the player threw enough moles in the background in order to cause damage to the cardboard moon in the background.
- In Skip Skimmer, an UFO can randomly appear as a rock in Skip Mode.
- In Pose Mii Plus, an UFO can sometimes be seen flying in the background in the final level of the minigame.
- In Trigger Twist, UFOs become once again enemies to fire at in the last part of the UFO Stage, being a direct throwback to Shooting Range.
- In Jump Park, an UFO can appear in the background flying amongst the other attraction in the 4th stage of the minigame.
- In Teeter Targets, a wooden UFO can get out of a marked wooden block in the 30th level of Challenge Mode if the ball touch it.
- In Star Shuttle, a UFO is taking the role of the part of a space station to fix in the 27th level, immediately flying away once the piece put in place.
- In Wii Play: