Late Wii Horror Games No One Remembers

Highlights

• Don’t overlook Wii horror games like Fatal Frame and Cursed Mountain, which offer unique gameplay and eerie atmospheres.
• Castlevania: Judgment may not have pleased fans, but titles like OneChanbara offer arcade-style fun for casual horror gamers.
• Haunted House on the Wii, though obscure, has a small fanbase and could be worth another look for horror game enthusiasts.

Few consoles have been more successful than Nintendo’s Wii. When it was released in 2006, it was met with rave reviews and skyrocketing sales. Over time, that new glow started to fade. Gamers disliked the finicky motion controls and even accused the Wii of being home to shovelware. By 2013, the nail was officially in the coffin when Microsoft launched the Xbox One. The Wii was left to be buried in a graveyard of failed game consoles.

Among the remains, however, are many horror games for the Wii that time has seemingly left behind. These underplayed titles were released in the last five years of the console’s lifespan.

8 Fatal Frame: Mask Of The Lunar Eclipse (2008, Japan)

Metascore: 68

Dark shadows. A creepy sanatorium. Ominous ghosts. Fatal Frame: Mask of the Lunar Eclipse (known as Project Zero IV in Europe) has all the elements of a good survival horror game, yet this version for the Wii is often overlooked.

In the game, players control a group of girls on a quest to uncover the mystery of what happened to them on Rougetsu Island. Wander through a haunted sanatorium and collect every piece of a ritualistic mask along the way to help the souls trapped inside make it to the afterlife. Rather than a sword or a gun, players are armed only with a powerful camera called the Camera Obscura to capture these aggressive spirits. There are five Fatal Frame games to date, but this fourth installment is usually ranked the lowest on the list.

7 Castlevania: Judgment (2008, North America)

Metascore: 49

Die-hard fans of the Castlevania series expect a hack-and-slash through a castle, swatting bats and restoring health with turkey legs along the way. It’s a formula that has worked since 1986 when the first Castlevania was released on the Famicom Disk System.

Castlevania: Judgment is quite different. The gameplay is closer to Soul Caliber or Mortal Kombat where players engage in hand-to-hand combat. Fans were not receptive to seeing beloved Castlevania characters like Alucard, Simon, and Sypha in a fighting game, and as a result, Judgment underperformed on the Wii. The game is lowest in the ranking of the Castlevania series and has a generally unfavorable score on Metacritic.

6 OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers (2008, Japan)

Metascore: 55

OneChanbara: Bikini Zombie Slayers is the campy cousin of Dead Rising: Chop Til You Drop. However, rather than being a photojournalist, players can choose to control either a schoolgirl or a bikini-clad cowgirl armed with weapons capable of hacking and slashing through hordes of zombies.

This title may not be ranked as one of the best horror games for the Wii, but it does offer eight levels of pure, arcade-style carnage for players who don’t want serious storylines in their horror games. Shake the Wii Remote over and over to attack the living dead in a subway, graveyard, church, hospital, and other spooky settings.

5 Cursed Mountain (2009, North America)

Metascore: 67

The Himalayas are rumored to be home to the Abominable Snowman. In Cursed Mountain, they are also said to hold an ancient curse that keeps poor, unfortunate souls trapped in a realm known as the Shadow World.

Play as Eric Simmons, a climber on a quest to find his brother who mysteriously disappeared on the mountain. Cursed Mountain is an elevated horror before its time. It has a compelling narrative, handsome characters, and of course, purifying incense sticks. However, it remains a hidden gem horror game for the Wii.

4 Ju-On: The Grudge (2009, Japan)

Metascore: 39

Nightmares are made from the 2002 horror movie, Ju-On: The Grudge. In this haunted house simulator, players are dropped into the film, seeing the ghostly faces and hearing Kayako’s unnerving throaty sound reverberating from the Wii Remote speaker.

Unfortunately, this title on the Wii doesn’t live up to its creepy concept, nor does it evoke the same intense jump scares found in other horror games. Ju-On: The Grudge has a dismal score of 39 on Metacritic and is almost unanimously reviled by fans and critics of the Wii alike.

3 Calling

Metascore: 49

Calling has a similar vibe to scary movies like Pulse or Unfriended. With references to chat rooms, the constant use of flip phones and rotary phones, and text speak like “LOL,” it is clearly a game made in the late aughts.

As players navigate their way through a haunted house, they use the Wii Remote as a cell phone, taking creepy calls from hostile ghosts. Calling is one of the most frightening horror games on the Wii. In a dark room, it’s beyond unnerving to hear that chilling voice coming from the speaker. However, with poor controls and an overstuffed eight hours of playtime, the game is often left out of any conversation about good Wii horror games.

2 Haunted House

Metascore: 41

The Atari is on the list of best retro game consoles, yet few people are familiar with its games. Haunted House, which originally came out for the system in 1981, was updated and rereleased on the Wii, but it remains just as obscure as ever.

This isometric game is one big maze set in a spooky mansion. While players can choose to play as Jacob or Silvia Silverspring, they often control only a floating pair of eyeballs since light provokes the ghosts floating around the mansion. Haunted House has more fans than other long-forgotten Wii horror titles, so it may deserve a second look.

1 Project Zero 2 (2012, Japan)

Metascore: 77

Project Zero 2 was only released in Japan, Australia, and Europe. Plus, it’s impossible to play without an HDMI hookup. For both these reasons, this horror game is often overlooked on the Wii.

The game is a remake of Fatal Frame II: Crimson Butterfly, which was released on PlayStation 2 in 2003 and on the Xbox a year later. As in those versions, players explore a haunted village, solve puzzles, and use the iconic Camera Obscura. The only differences on the Wii are an over-the-shoulder perspective and the often frustrating use of motion controls.