While Nintendo has left us with some pretty slim pickins this holiday season, there’s still a plethora of games that you probably haven’t heard of that are well worth your hard earned cash. And since the economy isn’t exactly the greatest, I’ve kept this guide to essentials only. Listed below are 5 disc-based games and 3 WiiWare games you should definitely make sure are under your tree this year.

Games:

de Blob

One of my personal favorite Wii games, de Blob is an ultra-stylized action platformer in which players fight against an evil corporation known as INKT. The INKT are attempting to drain the world of it’s beauty, and it’s up to you to join the color revolution and return beauty to a world under assault. The controls, music and visuals are all stellar, and this is the kind of game that deserves your hard earned cash.
(SuperPhillip’s review | img via)

Blast Works

Trust me, it may not look like much but Blast Works is one of the deepest experiences you can find on any system. I picked it up solely for the level creator, which allows you complete control over everything. You can create your own enemies, ships, bullets, backgrounds and items, with almost no restrictions. If you can think of an idea for a side-scrolling shooter, this game gives you the freedom to do it. Don’t believe me? I made a level where the ship is a penis, the bullets are sperm, the enemies are animated STD viruses, and the level is a journey through the vagina with an egg as the final boss. Told you. Oh, and the single/multi player campaign mode is pretty sweet, too.
(1up’s review | img via)

Animal Crossing City Folk

While Animal Crossing City Folk may really be nothing more than a glorified remake of the past two games, it’s still an Animal Crossing game. Sure, if you logged hundreds of thousands of hours in the Game Cube original then this will probably appeal to you about as much as Wild World on the DS did. In other words, not that much. Still, with the addition of a prominent online feature, the ability to go visit the city, and the inclusion of Wii Speak, Nintendo’s Wii microphone, this game is easily worth a spot under the tree, regardless of how little it innovated.
(IGN’s review | img via)

Okami

Really it’s as easy as this. If you have never played the PS2 original the you need to go buy this. For a budget price you get the same beautiful, award winning adventure game with extra Wii controls. Okami brings a truly epic adventure that is of Zelda caliber and mixes it with Japanese-style cel shaded visuals to bring the world to life with artistic bliss. One of the greatest and most underappreciated games ever made. So go get it.
(IGN’s review | img via)

Guitar Hero World Tour

When it comes to Wii there is only one choice for music-based rhythm games, and that choice is Guitar Hero. Developer Vicarious Visions actually cares about putting the best experience possible on Wii, whereas Harmonix simply defecates their rhythm game onto a styrofoam plate and expect it to work. World Tour is the latest addition to the franchise, and is the first to take a page from Rock Band’s book and include drums and and microphone in addition to the guitar and bass. The only difference between the two is that Rock Band blows on Wii and Guitar Hero offers the full experience just as well on Wii as any other system.
(IGN’s  review | img via)

Well that does it for the games. Lot’s of people complain about this being a bad Christmas for Wii owners, which is true if you already have lots of games worth having, but if you’re just now getting your Wii then these 5 games will go along with it perfectly. Now let’s move onto some:

WiiWare Games:

WiiWare is the home to exclusive downloadable games that can be bought with Wii Points. These can be obtained either through 2000 point cards, or bought directly through the Shop Channel with a credit card. Every thousand points are equal to one dollar.

World of Goo

World of Goo is a wonderful physics-based puzzle game that appeals to any gamer looking for a challenge, simple fun, and a great reason to clean out the Wiifridgerator. Developed by only 3 people, World of Goo delivers more fun and quality gameplay than most commercial retail releases on Wii. This is probably close to my favorite WiiWare game released so far. There’s just so much charm and beauty wrapped into this downloadable package that it’s hard to resist. World of Goo costs 1500 points.
(Our review)

Lost Winds

Lost Winds revolves around the gameplay concept of harnessing the power of wind to do basically everything, and as shallow as that may seem it works flawlessly and is an amazingly fun and fresh way to play. This, along with World of Goo, proves that 2-d gaming is no where near dead and there are plenty of fun, unique and exciting ways to make 2-d gaming just as formidable as any high-def 3-d game. Like World of Goo, Lost Winds it’s a lot better than the majority of disc-based shovelware that tends to plague the system rather frequently. Like any game ending with the letter ‘z’. Lost Winds costs 1000 points
(IGN’s review)

Mega Man 9

Mega Man 9 is perfect for any gamer looking for a great challenge. In fact, this game is so hard that it actually kept me from quiting smoking. Seriously. But that’s not what makes this game so amazing. Mega Man 9 represents a return to form, a shoutout at the days of old. It’s basically the closest to the golden days of gaming we’ll probably ever get. Unless, that is, this inspires other companies to do the same. Can you imagine a brand new Sonic game done the way it used to be? That’d be nice. Mega Man 9 runs at 1000 points.
(World 1-1’s review)

Don’t forget to check out our other Buyer’s Guides, and there are more coming soon!