2009 seems to be the year when Nintendo finally adds features to the Wii that probably should have been there at launch. Earlier this year they allowed for games to be played off high capacity storage cards, effectively giving the system a small hard drive. Now, a year and a half after the launch of their original digital games distribution service, WiiWare, they will be allowing consumers to demo certain titles before taking the plunge. 

Demo games are listed under the demo genre on the Wii Shop Channel and are downloaded for zero points. Games currently available as demos include Bit Trip Beat, World of Goo, NyxQuest: Icarian Spirits, and Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles My Life as a Darklord. All of these titles have been met with general praise and have already been available for purchase on the Wii Shop channel for months. After completing a demo you are instantly redirected to the Wii Shop Channel and given the opportunity to purchase the full game.

The fifth game featuring a demo is Nintendo’s first $15.00 WiiWare game, Pokemon Rumble, which was released on the same day. This dungeon crawler has you playing as chibi Pokemon toys. While the idea of a real-time Pokemon game has loads promise, based solely on the demo, my impression of game and its simple button-mashing combat has not been great. This also comes right after the release of the excellent WiiWare remake of Excitebike, which unfortunately did not receive a demo.

Expect more demos of high-profile WiiWare in the future. Perhaps the upcoming re-releases of the Phoenix Wright series on WiiWare. Maybe expect more demos of games that are already out too. While it would be nice for every game to eventually receive a demo, I am not sure if something like Spogs Racing even deserves one. Free is too expensive for that game. They should be playing you to play it. Who knows, we may even get some Virtual Console demos too.

- Jordan Minor

Posted by admin on 02/02 at 11:29 AM
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