It has been a difficult summer for new releases on the Wii. Its premium titles were a physics tech demo that simulated falling blocks and a retro-roguelike staring a flightless bird. Add this to the fact that this is the first Christmas that Nintendo isn't delivering a new entry in one of its revered, long-established franchises--No Twilight Princess or Mario Galaxy--and it may seem like Wii gamers will have to postpone their dreams of software salvation until the debut of promising third party titles, particularly MadWorld and The Conduit, in the early months of next year.

But there's a potential period of relief between a summer that has been more dry than hot and a holiday season of uncertain gifts. What's more, this period is days, not months, away. September, also known as "next month," may very well be the Wii's most promising month yet with no fewer than eight titles that have a very real chance of earning both critical praise and commercial success. And not one of them is a mini-game collection.


Below is a list of these titles, along with an analysis of why they have the potential to be great, how they could fall short of that potential, and a (probably unreliable) prediction of whether they are fated for success or failure.



Sam & Max: Season 1
Release Date: September 9th
Why It Has Potential: Sam & Max has already earned respect. The game, based on Steve Purcell's comics by the same name, was released episodically through GameTap from October of 2006 to May of 2007, and was greeted with high sales and critical praise. The first season collection for the PC is currently at 88% on Game Rankings.
It was also named the "Funniest Game of 2006" by Gamespot and 2006's best PC adventure game by IGN. Since the Wii version will be a fairly direct port of the PC series--with added Wii specific controls and, yes, mini-games--it should shared its predecessor's strengths. It also has a very reasonable thirty dollar price tag.
Why It Could Still Fail: The largest unknown about this title is its controls. Wii ports have become notorious for tacked-on or imprecise motion controls, added more out of a sense of obligation than real devotion to quality. If Sam & Max follows this established model, these gimmicky controls could undermine an otherwise polished, enjoyable game. Also, gamers who have already played through the series on their computers may have little reason to purchase the game again, even at its low price.
Prediction: Good bet. Sam & Max has already proven itself and--unless its developers totally abandon themselves to the lure of gimmicky controls--it should retain its quality in its transition to the Wii.



Star Wars: The Force Unleashed
Release Date: September 16th
Why It Has Potential: Lucasarts has an impressive legacy. While other based-on-the-blockbuster-motion-picture games have been pleased when they can manage mediocrity, happy to be Iron Man rather than E.T., the Star Wars series has been the foundation for numerous classics on both consoles and PC: the Jedi Knight Series, the Rogue Squadron series, the X-Wing/Tie Fighter games, Knights of the Old Republic, and on and on and on. Even Lucasart's lesser Star Wars games, such as Shadows of the Empire, have been entirely playable. Add to this the game's promised Wii-exclusive multiplayer Jedi fighter mode and the fact that this will be our first opportunity to use the Wii Remote as a lightsaber (if only in a limited capacity), and one can easily see why the game has been the object of more hype than the shruggingly received and critically panned Clone Wars movie.
Why It Could Still Fail: It's a port, and a stripped-down port at that. While it was a given that the Wii version of The Force Unleashed would be graphically inferior to its PS3 and Xbox 360 counterparts, the game also will have different (read: less complex) levels than its peers as well, sharing its single player game with the PS2. The game will also feature Twilight Princess-esque directional sword-waggle for its lightsaber controls rather than anything closely resembling authentic lightsaber movement (as incredulous as it may seem to call a virtual replica of a totally fictional and technologically improbably fantasy weapon "authentic").
Prediction: Toss-up. Much depends upon how strong the level design for the Wii/PS2 version is, how many of the games features have been scaled-back or removed, and how effectively the Jedi battle mode can compensate for what has been lost. I'm not condemning the title yet, but it seems to deserve more skepticism than most of the other titles on this list.



Harvest Moon: Tree of Tranquility
Release Date: September 16th
Why It Has Potential: The Harvest Moon series has been a beloved staple of Nintendo systems since the SNES, and helped to inspire Nintendo's own life simulator/life consumer Animal Crossing. Unlike Animal Crossing, which is more about interaction than challenge, the Harvest Moon games are just as much about agricultural strategy and careful planning as there are about replicated relationships and seasonal shifts in gameplay. Tree of Tranquility will add Wii Remote movements to simulate various farming and lifestyle activities--including fishing, hoeing, lumber-jacking, and more (hoo-rah)--and the ability to transfer control of the farm to your character's child, allowing you to play through two generations of the marginalized rural sustenance farming life. Oh, yes, right, it has mini-games too.
Why It Could Still Fail: It is still Harvest Moon. And, while the series was a remarkable innovation when it was first conceived, it has not changed very much with each addition to the franchise. You still plant and tend your crops, build your farm, find a mate, and produce offspring. There is no fresh threat from agribusinesses with massive corporate farms or concern about animal rights protesters or avian flu. Nor has the gameplay--Wii-waggle aside--been modernized. If you're a H.M. aficionado or a total newcomer to the series, this may not present a problem, but if you have spent some time down on the farm and grown tired of it, there is little here to lure you back to the agricultural life.
Prediction: Your choice. Whether this game elicits a purchase or a shrug will depend on each player's feelings about the series. If you've never played a Harvest Moon title, and thus have no established opinion, then it will likely be at least worth a rental. If you have played a H. M. game in the past, then you already know how you feel about the series, and this game is unlikely to change your mind.



Samba de Amigo
Release Date: September 23rd
Why It Has Potential: Samba de Amigo was one of the most beloved and addictive party games on the Dreamcast, and it seems like an ideal match for the Wii. The maraca shaking rhythm game, originally released in arcades, already has an interface, moving your maraca controllers in pace with those on-screen, that compliments the Wii remote well. This also means that, unlike previous version of the game, there will be no need to pack-in cost-inflating peripherals. (Although Sega is selling maraca shells for the Wii Remote separately.)
Why It Could Still Fail: It may fail to be anything more than a port of an eight year old game. Sega's previous Wii ports, such as House of the Dead 2 & 3 and Sega Bass Fishing, have been faithful to a fault. While they've successfully transfered the fun of the originals to the Wii, they've done very little to improve upon the arcade versions, leaving dated graphics and shallow, short gameplay intact. If Samba continues this tradition, there may be little reason to buy it, particularly if you own a Dreamcast and the original game.
Prediction: Still fun, if nothing else. I don't expect this game to offer a huge number of fresh options or innovations, but Sega recently released the game's track-list, showing that it is at least slightly changed from the original, meaning this won't be a totally derivative port.




de Blob
Release Date: September 26th
Why It Has Potential: If Tree of Tranquility and Samba risk retreading long trodden territory, de Blob is on an entirely new continent of terra nullius, untouched land. Full of innovations ranging from an interactive soundtrack that molds to match in-game actions to creative, artistic gameplay focused on painting (and repainting) a large open city to a fresh control scheme, the puzzle-platform promises to be a departure from the ports, long-lived first-party franchises, and (yep) mini-game collections that make up most of the Wii's library. If it succeeds, it'll join pioneers like No More Heroes, Zak and Wiki, and Boom Blox on the frontier of games designed specifically to take advantage of the Wii's capabilities. (Yes, I picked on Boom Blox earlier, but I neglected to mention that it's a highly engaging, totally lovable physics tech demo that simulated falling blocks.)
Why It Could Still Fail: Its developer, Blue Tongue, is still largely unproven. Prior to de Blob, their titles have been largely disposable licensed games based on children's movies and Nickelodeon cartoons. This makes the quality of the game hard to predict based on the merits of its designers alone.
Prediction: Full of potential. Yes, its developer is questionable, but the gaming press has had nothing but praise for the game, and IGN in particular has developed a fixation on the game bordering on obsession. No serious concerns about the quality of the game has been voiced yet, and--although that's far from a guarantee of quality--the game's innovations seem more significant than nagging doubts about its origins.



Wario Land: Shake It!
Release Date: September 26th
Why It Has Potential: It's a Nintendo platformer in the classical tradition. Games Rader has already developed a 5 point article justifying their adoration of the game, and they have more space and time to detail the reasons why the the newest Wario Land deserves attention. (What's more, they, unlike me, have actually played it.) But, here's my abridged argument: Remember Super Mario World? Remember Yoshi's Island? Remember the precise, brilliant gameplay and beautiful visuals of all of Nintendo's SNES platformers? Yes. Well, O.K. then.
Why It Could Still Fail: What still remains unknown about the game is its length and depth. While I loved playing SNES platformers in the mid-90s, that was over ten years ago, and now they are eight dollars on the Virtual Console while Shake It! will have the price of most if the Wii's premium titles: $49. As such, the game should offer a longer, deeper, more complex experience than its predecessors. (For the record, screenshots and videos already have shown that it is, if nothing else, far prettier than most earlier 2D platformers.)
Prediction: Preorder. Honestly, as long as it doesn't prove too shallow, this should provide fun that transcends its roots.



Mega Man 9
Release Date: September ???
Why It Has Potential: Mega Man, how we want to remember him: pixelated and frustratingly difficult. Capcom is promising that this WiiWare title will be a return to form for the blue bomber in the most literal sense of the phrase. By making a new 8-bit entry in the series, they are returning it to the form (and formula) that it originated in. This should be a boon to retro-gamers and lovers of NES nostalgia. And at 1000 Wii Points ($10US), it is only five dollars more than the original Mega Man on Virtual Console.
Why It Could Still Fail: It's an experiment, so it raises some questions. Will Capcom be able to recapture the experience of the original series? If they do, will the formula still seem satisfying to gamers who expect a more sophisticated experience, even from a 2D platformer? Will the ancient graphics seem stylish, or simply dated? Will the game manage to be difficult in a way that is demanding and fun, like its predecessors, rather than simply frustrating and obnoxious? And so on.
Prediction: It's $10. I think it's an experiment we can afford to support. (However, if you can't afford it. That means I'm a callous jerk for making you feel abnormal because of your financial hardship. Sorry about that, buddy.)



Animales de la Muerte
Release Date: September ???
Why It Has Potential: Another WiiWare title, Animales is being developed by High Voltage Software, the same developer who is currently developing The Conduit. The game is a top down, Smash TV style shooter about a pair of Mexican children slaughtering zombie animals with automatic weapons in a colorful cartoon zoo. Yes, that's right. If you're not convinced by the sheer awesome peculiarity (and graphic undead elephant slaughter) alone, it's also worth noting that it has multiplayer, and, since it's WiiWare, will probably cost less than an actual trip to the zoo.
Why It Could Still Fail: High Voltage, like Blue Tongue, does not have a prestigious record. Prior to 2008, the titles they produced were mostly licensed titles, ranging from White Wolf's Hunter RPG series to Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and these titles received mostly mediocre reviews. Their two previous WiiWare offerings, "Gyrostarr" and V.I.P Casino: Blackjack, were greeted with a similarly tepid response.
Prediction: Like Mega Man 9, this is an instance where the low price of the game will probably make it worth the risk. Even if it is a disaster, it will be a disaster were you shoot exotic zombie animals, and, as such, is sure to develop a cult following.


There you have it. Barring the statistical improbability that all of these promising games turn out to be dismal disappointments, we Wii owners will actually have a game--or several--that we can proudly squander our savings on in a matter of days or weeks. Meanwhile, my Chocobo has a dungeon to crawl.