Strategy games and the Wii should not have worked together. The genre grew up on PCs with a mouse and a keyboard full of hotkeys, and the Wii handed you a remote and a little stick on a cable. But the remote was a pointer, and pointing at things is most of what a strategy game asks of you. Telling an army where to go felt natural with it in your hand.
Nintendo leaned in. Intelligent Systems made its next Fire Emblem for the Wii, and Kuju London built a new Battalion Wars. Little King's Story put a new king in charge of an army of his own townsfolk. A few of the best ones are ports with new pointer controls, and they count here too. Here are the 8 best Wii strategy games.
8. Overlord: Dark Legend (2009)
Dark Legend is a spinoff of the 2007 game Overlord, set as a prequel. It came out in North America on 23 June 2009 and in Europe three days later. It drops several features of the original game and its sequel, but it adds a new style of play built around the Wii controller. You point, and your little minions go and do the dirty work.
The story is told in puppet show cutscenes, with Gnarl doing the narration, and it is very silly. A witch named Doris sells cookies that make children's teeth fall out, so she can collect money from the tooth fairy. Reviewers praised the humour and the controls but found the game short. Players agree that it is fun, rough edges and all, and it is a good fit for anyone who liked bossing Pikmin around.
7. Phantom Brave (2004)
The Wii version is called Phantom Brave: We Meet Again, an expanded remake of the 2004 PlayStation 2 game. It came out in Japan on March 12, 2009 and in North America that August. The heroine is Marona, a 13-year-old girl, and the only one who can see her companion Ash in his phantom form. Her trick is a skill called Confine, which binds a phantom's soul to an object on the map to give it a temporary body. A soldier gets more out of a rock, while a witch works better summoned out of a flower.
The Wii version added a new campaign called Another Marona, with alternate takes on characters like Walnut and Raphael. NIS America also put a DVD of artwork and sprites in the box. Players who love strategy RPGs call Phantom Brave a great one on any system, and the Wii got this expanded version first.
6. Wii Chess (2008)
Wii Chess is exactly what it sounds like. Nintendo made it with Lancarse, and it came out in Europe on January 18, 2008 as a budget-oriented retail game. It never came out in North America or Australasia, which makes it the only game in the Wii series that missed those continents. Its engine is based on Loop Express by Fritz Reul, and you can set the computer's strength on a scale from 1 to 10.
Critics knocked it for its lack of Mii characters and its bland visuals, but they liked the AI and the online play. Online ended when the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection shut down, but the computer still plays what critics called a "perfect game". It is the oddest pick on this list, and one player summed it up well: "It's just Chess but one of very few Europe exclusive games."
5. Battalion Wars 2 (2007)
Battalion Wars 2 is a real-time tactics game developed by Kuju London and published by Nintendo, and in Japan it carried the Famicom Wars name. You take command of a battalion of troops and push through missions against the other side's forces. Each facility on the map has a capture point that only infantry can take, and once you own it, the building is rebuilt in your faction's style. The sequel also added naval units and base structures.
It brought multiplayer modes the first game never had, and they went dark when the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection shut down on 20 May 2014. IGN liked the story mode, while Official Nintendo Magazine wanted a "retreat" command. Players who know the Battalion Wars games call them a hidden gem and a lot of fun, and this is the bigger of the two.
4. Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn (2007)
Radiant Dawn continues the story of Path of Radiance from the GameCube, and it came out in Japan and North America in 2007. Development began in 2005 for the Wii after the success of Path of Radiance. Intelligent Systems wanted to keep the story on a home console, but the GameCube was becoming a redundant system, and they had seen Fire Emblem sell hardware. The story opens in occupied Daein, where a guerrilla war frees old soldiers from prison camps, and it ends with the goddess of order herself waking up.
Critics praised the core gameplay and criticized its high difficulty, along with its lack of motion controls. Players point anyone who likes strategy games straight at it. It is the purest strategy game on this list, and you never have to wave the remote once.
3. Little King's Story (2009)
In Little King's Story you play Corobo, the new king of a small kingdom called Alpoko. Xseed Games brought it to North America on July 21, 2009, a few months after Rising Star Games released it in Europe. You run the place by handing your citizens jobs. A farmer is exceptional at field work and digging but a poor fighter, while soldiers are strong but cannot get past some obstacles. So you pick the right people for the job in front of you, and then you march them out to conquer the seven rival kingdoms.
It began development under the working title "Project O", and it reached PC on Steam in 2016. Players call it one of their favourite games on the Wii. Under the fairy-tale look, it is a real kingdom builder, and it is one of the most charming games the console ever got.
2. Pikmin 2 (2009)
Pikmin 2 is the direct sequel to Pikmin, and the Wii got it as part of the New Play Control! series in 2009 in Japan, Europe and Australia. North America waited three years, until 2012. You still lead a horde of plant-like Pikmin around an unknown planet, but the 30-day time limit of the first game is gone. You only have to collect every stray Pikmin before sunset each day. Caves hold stronger bosses, and a sixth Pikmin type, the Bulbmin, resists every hazard but is only usable for a while.
Pikmin 2 scored 90% on Metacritic, and critics praised the new Pikmin types and the longer story mode. Players usually recommend the two Wii Pikmin games as a pair, and that is the right way to play them.
1. Pikmin (2008)
Pikmin was created and produced by Shigeru Miyamoto, and it was one of the first planned GameCube first-party games. It was ported to the Wii in 2008 in Japan and 2009 for the rest of the world as part of the New Play Control! series. Captain Olimar wakes up on a planet whose air holds high levels of poisonous oxygen, and he can stay for only thirty days. In that time he has to find all 25 ship parts, with help from plant creatures that cannot survive without a leader.
Only one hundred Pikmin can be on the ground at a time, and each day lasts about thirteen minutes, so every trip out matters. The art style was inspired by the works of Tim Burton. Players recommend it more than any other Wii strategy game, and that ticking clock is why it still feels so tense.
Which one to play
There you have it, the whole list of the best Wii strategy games. None of them plays like a PC strategy game, and that is exactly why they are worth your time.
If you are not sure where to start, play Pikmin. If the clock stresses you out, Pikmin 2 lets you take your time. For traditional turn-based strategy, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn is the one. If you want a war game with a navy, pick Battalion Wars 2. For strategy with a sense of humour, Overlord: Dark Legend is short and silly. And for a hidden pick, try Little King's Story.
