Future Wii Franchises 2

Man, I haven't touched this series of articles since June! Time to change that.

"If my calculations are correct, when this baby hits eighty-eight miles per hour, you're gonna see some serious gaming."

I like new franchises as much as the next guy. I'm incredibly excited for Disaster: Day of Crisis and No More Heroes. But still, there's just something about the tried and true that's unbeatable. So then, here's two game franchises that I think would be great on the Wii.


Really, this is a no-brainer. Ever since Wii Boxing was announced, people have been begging for a sequel to Nintendo's classic fighter. And who can blame them? The two-handed set-up of the Wii remote and Nunchuk seems like it was made just for boxing!

The controls would be pretty much the same as in Wii Boxing, which is a good thing. Why mess with what works? So for those unfamiliar with the controls in Wii Boxing, here's the basic run-down. Holding the controls up in front of you, you simply jerk your hands towards the screen to jab. Give it a bit of an upward sweeping motion for an uppercut, and swipe in from the sides to hit your opponent across the body. Holding the controls up in front of your face blocks incoming blows, and leaning to the side enables you to dodge your opponent's punches.

In addition to the above, players could press one of the many available buttons to unleash one of Little Mac's special moves. And who knows what could be added to that? Perhaps using the Nunchuk's analog stick to move around the ring? And the possibilities for training modes and bonus games are pretty extensive. Beating up a punching bag to power up your shots and mock-running on a treadmill to work on your endurance... Heck, this could turn into the core gamer's Wii Fit!

With a good amount of work, a Punch Out!!! Wii game could be the beefed-up Wii Boxing that fighting fans have been asking for! Give him zee uppercut!



Racing games don't get much faster or furious than the F-Zero series. Over the years, F-Zero has enjoyed a somewhat "cult" following in the shadow of Mario Kart. Despite the franchise's relative unpopularity, it always manages to be a super-charged, adrenaline-fueled hit. It's been on the Super Nintendo, the Nintendo 64 and the Gamecube, and now it's time for it to make it's grand appearance on the Wii.

The main thing to consider in a F-Zero Wii game is the controls. Adapting it to the Wii's unique controller may not be easy, but it could work. Here is how I see the motion-controlled parts working:



As you can see, the Wii remote acts somewhat like a gas pedal. Pressing down accelerates, and pulling back is like an inversed brake pedal. Pulling back even further puts it in reverse. This would allow for some amazing control over your speed and acceleration. And now for the Nunchuk portion:



The motion sensors in the Nunchuk will act like an emergency brake handle. Tilting the Nunchuk back will engage the brake. Using this during turns would be great for starting drifts! I suppose jerking the Nunchuk back to engage the brake would work, too. It would probably feel pretty cool to boot!

Now, those of you who've played Need For Speed: Carbon on the Wii should be pretty familiar with this, as the above was an available control scheme in the 2006 racer. I thought it was pretty great, and it seemed a perfect fit for F-Zero, so I ran with it. I suggest giving this game a rent just for the controls.

As for the other stuff, that'll be handled by the usual suspects (Turning with analog stick, menu with + button, etc.).

Of course, this wouldn't necessarily be the only available control scheme. In fact, there's a good chance that the real game won't have any motion control at all! Back in 2006, Shigeru Miyamoto said in an interview with Nintendo Dream that not all games need to use motion controls, and he stated F-Zero as an example. According to him, it looks like we'll be using our Classic Controllers once the time comes.

But still, motion controls would be pretty neat, wouldn't they?

Alrighty then! There's the article, people. As I said in the Chat Box, I'm going to look into creating a forum for the blog tomorrow. If all goes well, it will be up by the 10th. I wanna make sure I nail down the rules and such before I open the doors!

Okay, I guess I'll see you guys on Monday, if not sooner. Until then, keep on gaming!

The Duck Has Spoken.