2 player games on the Wii?

January 2, 2008 7:08 AM

2 player games on the Wii?

I'm looking for good 2 player games for the Wii. I have 2 controllers and nunchucks, which I bought to play Rayman Raving Rabbids with my girlfriend, but we ended up just taking turns, since it turns out it isn't really 2 player (at least until you beat the whole thing, and I'm not sure how great that is).

Bowling was fun for a while. Tennis, didn't really understand it. Boxing, didn't like the beating each other up aspect. I'm not really that into sports in general, so the Winter Sports or the Mario vs. Sonic ones don't look that interesting.

We both liked the humor in Rayman, I'd like to find other fun games for two players, especially ones where you can both play at the same time. Wario Ware looks good, but it seems like it's more mini games and taking turns.

posted by andrewzipp to sports, hobbies, & recreation (34 comments total)

Rayman Rabbids 2 is out, is multiplayer, and is a lot of fun
posted by coondognd at 7:13 AM on January 2

Wii Play is a set of 9 one or two player games. Personally I found them to be a little lacking overall, and with a little bit of effort each game could have been much better, but I guess thats what a 10 dollar game amounts to. You may want to rent it first to see how it is.
posted by o0dano0o at 7:13 AM on January 2

My wife loves Mario Party. Its a fun 2 player game. Also, you can have two players on Mario Galaxy (although I haven't tried that yet).
posted by tundro at 7:13 AM on January 2

To clarify: the cost of the game is $10 dollars after you subtract the $40 wii remote that comes packaged with it..
posted by o0dano0o at 7:14 AM on January 2

My husband and I love Excite Truck. It's a lot crazier than most racing games, and steering with the wiimote is fun and easy.
posted by zebra3 at 7:19 AM on January 2 [1 favorite]

Tanks in Wii Play. It only has 20 levels, but it was fun for me and a friend. We ended up with all this terminology warning each other, would act silly when one of us got nailed, and we named the different classes of tanks. I really wish it was multiplayer all the way up to level 100, that would be rad.

They really do need more multiplayer games. Tennis was fun two player style, until you get to where you face the same two ladies in every single match. And as far as I know, there's no pro tennis game (like there is tiger woods golf and pro bowling) for the Wii. Which sucks.
posted by cashman at 7:20 AM on January 2

Lego Star Wars is 5 shades of AWESOME.
posted by plinth at 7:28 AM on January 2 [2 favorites]

One of the best multiplayer games would be Lego Star Wars. It's really well-designed, kind of challenging without be frustrating, and has a good sense of humor actually.

Also, the new Trauma Center lets you operate on the patient together.

If you enjoy shooting zombies, Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles has a fun 2 player mode.

There are more, but I'm trying to avoid competitive and sports related 2 player, and stick to cooperative unique experiences.
posted by visual mechanic at 7:31 AM on January 2

Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles is a two player light gun shooter, using the wii-motes to aim at the screen and shoot zombies, a lot of fun in short burst, but can get repetitive. Mario Galaxy is a lot of fun with two people, but its not traditional multiplayer, one person controls mario, while the other helps out by stunning enemies and collecting things with by pointing at them with their wii-mote.
posted by CaptMcalister at 7:32 AM on January 2

There's several two-player modes on Geometry Wars: Galaxies, both Co-op and Versus Modes.
posted by JDHarper at 7:35 AM on January 2

Warioware is mini-games and taking turns, but it's extremely fast paced. You won't be holding the wiimote for more than 30 seconds at a time. Unfortunately you have to beat the game to unlock multi-player, but that probably only takes a play time of about 4 hours and if you're switching off you could probably do it pretty fast. It's also a good game to have around if you ever have more than a few people at your house that want to try out the wii. If you're unsure, check out some videos on youtube. It's also quite funny.
posted by dujoducom at 7:41 AM on January 2

Super Mario Galaxy has a two player mode-the second player doesn't do much other than help the first player pick up/fight things, but the game is good enough that it doesn't really matter.
posted by dinty_moore at 7:41 AM on January 2

Lego Star Wars, Excite Truck, and RRR2 sound promising, thanks.

In Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles, the part where leeches jump on the screen and you have to cut them off is something I like, but may be a little too gross for this purpose.
posted by andrewzipp at 7:48 AM on January 2

Super Monkey Ball Banana Blitz has a bunch of minigames that are fun for 2 players.
posted by jozxyqk at 7:50 AM on January 2

Lego Star Wars is 5 shades of AWESOME. made of AWESOME and WIN and CHUCK NORRIS.

Fixed that for you.
posted by dirtynumbangelboy at 7:51 AM on January 2 [1 favorite]

I don't like sports much or sports games, but played a lot of Mario & Sonic over the holidays and enjoyed it. Some of the events are alternating turns, but quite a few are simultaneous multiplayer. Your arms will hurt after a while. Also agree with Lego Star Wars, Wii Play, and Excite Truck.
posted by neustile at 7:59 AM on January 2

I've seen Star Wars, so don't anybody freak out, but how much fun is Lego Star Wars if you have no experience with the movie? I have relatives that are nowhere near geeky sci-fi like me - would it be lame without the movie context?
posted by cashman at 8:00 AM on January 2

Lego Star Wars' stages for the prequels are better than the movies, and actually make you appreciate the story more than the films themselves did.

My son played the game before he ever watched the movies. It's fun regardless.
posted by visual mechanic at 8:17 AM on January 2

Adding to the list, Ghost Squad is a very fun (albeit short) arcade shooter in the style of Virtua Cop. The voice acting is cheesy to the point of hilarity.
posted by Dr-Baa at 8:20 AM on January 2

Wait, who hasn't seen Star Wars?


I was going to come and recommend Rayman Raving Rabbids series. You do have to unlock stuff, but it's incredibly fun. Sure, some of it involves taking turns. I prefer the dancing. And seconding Super Mario Galaxy and Lego Star Wars.

An underrated title is Mario Strikers Charged. It's soccer, Mario style, and you can both play together on the field at the same time.
posted by cmgonzalez at 8:25 AM on January 2

On the same team, that is.
posted by cmgonzalez at 8:35 AM on January 2

The Super Monkey Ball games are mostly not that great, but a few that are good are *fantastic* for multi-player. Also note, while Super Mario Galaxy is an excellent game, the "two player" mode is really more like "one and a half players" -- the second player is helping, but isn't a peer to the other player.
posted by anildash at 8:53 AM on January 2

As recommended already, Warioware Smooth Moves is pretty good but its very silly and not everyone will appreciate it. The biggest problem I had is that 3 of us swapped back and forth for the first 2 hours to unlock the multiplayer - so now anyone else who tries to play it doesn't understand the moves. Its harder to explain than to just let someone play it but it makes for a few frustrating minutes for someone who doesn't even understand that the remotes are sensitive to how you hold and move them.

Guitar Hero 3 is awesome, and I've successfully converted every person that has tried it - can't wait to find a second guitar.
posted by jeffmik at 9:38 AM on January 2 [1 favorite]

Can you explain what you meant by "Tennis, didn't really understand it."?

I too would recommend Mario Strikers Charged, but if Wii Tennis was confusing then you might get very confused by Strikers.

It's not a popular game, but I'd give Cooking Mama a try. It's a simple game and portions of the UI are atrocious, but the 2-player mode (player vs player) can actually be fun. Sadly though it's way over-priced at $50.

Big Brain Academy for Wii also has a decent player versus player mode (and also a slightly more entertaining alternating group game). I'm not sure the game overall has enough depth to justify a $50 price, but you can often find it cheaper (Amazon had it for $35 for a few days).
posted by gluechunk at 10:44 AM on January 2

Another vote for Mario Strikers Charged. It's a fantastic multiplayer game, filled with all sorts of Mario-themed silliness (think giant ice shells and noxious Wario farts).
posted by Third at 10:47 AM on January 2

Oh, and you may want to bide your time for a month or so until the most anticipated multiplayer Wii game is released (in the U.S.): Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
posted by gluechunk at 11:18 AM on January 2

The two player tennis with four characters on the screen didn't make much sense for people that don't know anything about tennis, or the scoring names. Sports and fighting in general don't seem to be that interesting, so Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Mario Strikers Charged don't sound that great for this purpose.

I'll probably wait on Cooking Mama 2, that looks interesting, but I want to keep the frustration level low. Thanks for the good suggestions. She actually likes Star Wars quite a bit, I'll check out the Lego game.
posted by andrewzipp at 12:32 PM on January 2

The Carnival game is fun. Dunk tank, throw darts at balloons, skee ball, etc.
posted by tiburon at 1:49 PM on January 2

Tennis is great when you play on the same side, against the computer.
posted by tiburon at 1:51 PM on January 2

I'm a tennis lover. It's my favorite sport. My boyfriend didn't know anything about tennis, nor deuce from love before Wii Sports. But he knows now, and is quite good at the game. It's what you're open to. Try not to limit your boundaries too much and you might find more things to enjoy together.
posted by cmgonzalez at 6:10 PM on January 2

Give tennis another shot. Playing against your opponent, both of your Miis swing when you swing. You can hit with the guy at the net or the guy in the back. I had a great time playing over Christmas.

Tennis scoring nomenclature is pretty easy.
posted by Frank Grimes at 6:12 PM on January 2

I also recommend going back and learning Tennis, it's possibly the best sport on the disk. We've played enough that we have a couple of characters over 2000 in rating. (The graph line actually goes off the chart!) The key is in recognizing that the direction is determined by your timing and handedness, that you can do smashes and lobs, and you can even do some little tricks like hit the ball when it seems like it's a little out of reach, and by swinging twice quickly when the ball is overhead you can actually "double jump" to reach it.

We can also vouch for Golf. We play Tennis and Golf almost every night even now and it's still fun. I'm as surprised as anyone.
posted by JHarris at 1:58 AM on January 5

Oh, and if Virtual Console is an option, Bomberman '93 and ToeJam & Earl are both available and excellent.
posted by JHarris at 1:58 AM on January 5

Seconding ToeJam & Earl. a great game for $8. My wife and I have been playing it every night. Simple, cute, cooperative, fun, challening long-term.
posted by Four Flavors at 3:29 PM on January 7