Top 5 hardcore Wii franchises (for gamers ready to do more than bowl) – (updated)

Maybe you’re young and, when looking for your first gaming console, the Wii was the cheapest.

Maybe you saw grandma and grandpa bowling at the retirement home and thought, “Hey, this is for me!”

Maybe your mom prefers you play fewer games about killing zombies, nazis or zombie nazis and more about hopping across mushrooms (might want to rethink that, mom).

No matter the reason, you’ve got a Wii, you’ve played all the Marios and have grown tired of WiiSports.

You want to graduate to hardcore, but you don’t know where to turn.

It’s okay. You don’t need to buy another system to launch yourself into deep and satisfying game franchises on the Wii. I went through the same thing and was thrilled by how often I found not just great games but games with a history of titles that are compatible with the Wii. It’s like discovering a new band that is five albums into their catalog.

So, consider this your treasure map to Wii gaming.

Here are my top five Wii franchises that don’t have the name “Mario” in them. Franchises for the serious gamer. You’ve likely heard of some of these titles but maybe didn’t know how deep they went.

Each weekday Gamertell will count down the top five hardcore Wii franchises you might have missed with a closer look at why each is worthy of its place on the list.

Top Five Hardcore Wii Franchises:

Series Introduction
#5: Fire Emblem
#4: Trauma Center
#3: Metroid
#2: The Legend of Zelda
#1: Resident Evil