It’s time to draw your blaster and shoot Greedo first as we take a look at the best Star Wars games on Nintendo Wii!
Star Wars has been a genuine cultural phenomenon since launching way back in 1977, transforming the way that films are made, released and even marketed.
Floods of toys and tie-in items accompanied the release of Star Wars, setting the pattern for countless films to do the same over the last several decades.
Video games became an important piece of that merchandising and licensing plan too, with countless examples of Star Wars games being released in the 80s, 90s and beyond (we’ve covered a number of them on Nintendo consoles – why not take a look at our best Star Wars games on Nintendo 64 list?).
Seven Star Wars games were released on Nintendo’s family friendly, accessible Wii console – if you don’t count the digital re-releases of the SNES Super Star Wars trilogy, which are no longer available to purchase – but which ones are the best?
Let’s find out as we check out the best Star Wars games on Nintendo Wii!
Table of Contents
7. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes (2009)
The Wii arrived at a strange time for the Star Wars saga. The prequel saga had concluded and fans assumed that we’d seen the last of the series.
Yet just a few years later, The Clone Wars animated movie arrived, followed by the series – and it somewhat redeemed the tarnished legacy left behind by the prequels.
Unfortunately, the unwieldily titled Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Republic Heroes doesn’t live up to the quality of the animated show it’s based on.
A two player co-op, third person action adventure, Republic Heroes is a game that has frustrating platforming, awful camera angles and boring puzzles.
It feels as if it’s not quite complete, sadly.
It’s not a good game by any stretch of the imagination, unfortunately – but it makes it to the bottom of our best Star Wars games on Nintendo Wii list…
And that’s only because there were only seven released in total on Nintendo’s motion control-focused console!
6. Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels (2008)
Almost as soon as the Wii Remote was revealed, players started to imagine a Star Wars game based around using lightsabers.
Surely this was one case where the Wii’s unique motion controls would be absolutely perfect?
Sadly, Star Wars: The Clone Wars – Lightsaber Duels – like Republic Heroes, also based on animated prequel series The Clone Wars – was a bit of a missed opportunity.
Mostly, this was due to the fact that it didn’t simply use the Wii remote as a lightsaber – all sorts of button presses, prompts and even pre-determined combos were needed, along with the basic swinging around of the remote itself.
Despite this, the game does at least have a good number of one on one lightsaber battles and a neat visual style – which hews close to the aesthetic of the cartoon it’s based on.
5. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II (2010)
The adventures of Darth Vader’s secret apprentice – Starkiller – continue in this underwhelming sequel.
Though the physics-based Force powers still amuse, the level variation (there’s just three playable worlds) and opportunities for emergent chaos aren’t quite on par with those found in the first game – and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed II ends up feeling a bit repetitive and dull as a result.
Instead of giving you generic Stormtroopers to toy with, it tends to throw lots of enemies at you at a time, with each having specific weaknesses – necessitating a more calculated approach to the gameplay.
It’s an awful lot less fun than the encounters in the first game.
It doesn’t help that the story – which needlessly positions Starkiller as a potential clone – is boring and the Wii controls are awkwardly implemented too.
Though it still has its moments, on the whole The Force Unleashed II is a disappointment.
4. Angry Birds: Star Wars (2013)
Remember just how big Angry Birds was back in the day? It was a genuine phenomenon – it felt like everyone, including your Grandmother, was addicted to it.
The tactile, touchscreen-based pleasure of flinging birds at precariously positioned structures – in order to knock them down as efficiently as possible – never seemed to get old.
Yet the magic did eventually wear off, partly because Angry Birds just ended up being everywhere you looked.
This mash up of Angry Birds with Star Wars even took the characters into a galaxy far, far away – with mixed results.
The casting of the Rebellion as the birds – and the Empire as the evil pigs – led to some genuinely inventive character design and clever implementation of Star Wars concepts and abilities such as the Force.
The Angry Birds formula still proves addictive – but this Wii version of the game is a little bit more awkward to play than the mobile version.
Gone is the accuracy and tactile pleasure of dragging and tapping with your finger, replaced with Wii remote controls that simply aren’t as good.
It’s worth bearing in mind that with Angry Birds: Star Wars having been discontinued and delisted from mobile app stores, the biggest appeal of the Wii title is that – if you own or can find a copy – you can still play it even today!
3. Star Wars: The Force Unleashed (2008)
Undoubtedly a stronger audiovisual experience on other platforms (and it’s definitely improved with the more traditional controls on other consoles too, though swinging your remote like a lightsaber is great!), Star Wars: The Force Unleashed is still an awful lot of fun to play on Wii.
One of the biggest selling points of The Force Unleashed is the fact that main character Starkiller can use a variety of Force-based powers to throw around enemies and objects in the environment, leading to some darkly hilarious moments of emergent physics.
Despite the game being fairly short and the Wii remote controls not being perfectly implemented, the story and physics of The Force Unleashed really shine and have aged pretty well too.
It’s good at taking you to the darker side of the Star Wars universe too – you start the game in charge of Vader himself, casually and mercilessly taking down an entire village of Wookiees, for an example of how dark things get almost immediately.
Even the slightly inferior technical capabilities of the Wii – and the motion controls – can’t dim the appeal of The Force Unleashed, which is full of hilarious moments that you feel like you create yourself with the game’s excellent physics engine.
So it’s no surprise that The Force Unleashed made it to the top three of the best Star Wars games on Nintendo Wii – and it features quite high up on our list of the overall best Nintendo Wii games too!
2. Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars (2011)
The prequel era may be undergoing a bit of a renaissance and re-evaluation at the moment, thanks to new tales such as Obi-Wan Kenobi on Disney Plus, but when Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars arrived it was far from a popular setting.
Yet of course, Lego work their magic once again – the third person action here being just as lovingly crafted and beautifully accessible as any other Lego adventure.
With a huge cast of playable characters and a vast number of planets and challenges to conquer, Lego Star Wars III: The Clone Wars is an excellent game for all ages.
Full of the humour, action and maddeningly addictive stud-collecting that the Lego games are known for – it’s no surprise to see this title near the very top of the best Star Wars games on Nintendo Wii list.
1. Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga (2007)
In at the very top of the best Star Wars games on Nintendo Wii list is another Lego game – with this title covering the six films from Episode I: The Phantom Menace to Episode VI: Return of the Jedi.
At the time – many years before the Disney sequel trilogy continued the main film series in 2015 – this really was The Complete Saga.
As you’d likely expect, there’s a Lego game which covers the entire 9-film series now, in the form of Lego Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga, which features on our list of the best Star Wars games on Nintendo Switch.
Though mechanically Lego Star Wars III is a bit more advanced, so many more iconic moments and familiar situations are covered in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga that it becomes much more of a joy to play.
There are 160 characters to unlock – even Indiana Jones, another George Lucas creation, is playable – and even a two player Battle Arena for competitive play.
Of course, nothing comes close to the pleasure of playing through the story of a Lego game alongside a friend or family member and that’s certainly the case in The Complete Saga.
As with other games in the series, it’s simple but not dumbed down at all; straightforward and fun but still puts up a reasonable challenge, with an awful lot of levels and secrets to discover.
The humorous twists on familiar scenes and characters are always cheeky and amusing, showing a deep passion for (and knowledge of) the subject matter at hand.
The magic of the Lego games is well and truly on display in Lego Star Wars: The Complete Saga, which easily makes it to the number one spot on our best Star Wars games on Nintendo Wii list.
