So, 2008 wasn’t really the year of the Wii RPG that I had hoped it would be. 2008, as a matter of fact, wasn’t really the year for a whole lot on the Wii of any real substance. I’m not trying to discount everything that showed up on the Little Console that Could™. There were a handful of games here and there: Mario Kart Wii, No More Heroes, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, and Tales of Symphonia come to mind, and those games were fantastic. But the games I was truly expecting to see in 2008 simply never appeared. That’s probably why I ended up with a DS this Christmas. The Wii just hasn’t been giving me my fill.

But there is hope! All of that could potentially change in 2009. So, as we gaze somberly towards our future here in 2009, here’s a concentrated dose of what I’m looking forward to, both Wii and DS. Now, I don’t intend to pick up every game on this list, obviously. But it’s what is on my radar for the year. Only time will tell if any of it is worth acquiring.

Wii games

The Conduit
Genre: FPS
Dev: High Voltage / Pub: Sega
This one is kind of a no-brainer. A high-quality, cutting-edge, NON-WORLD WAR II first-person shooter on the Wii. I can get into this. Some preliminary videos have shown the enemies to be just a tad bit brain-dead, so I’m hopeful that the AI won’t be taking a hit just because the game is appearing on the Wii. If they can give me a stellar FPS experience with a quality AI, I’m sold.

Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles: the Crystal Bearers
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Square Enix
Now that Square Enix has confirmed that this game actually exists, I’m once again looking forward to it. Though there hasn’t been much in-game footage or screenshots released, they had me at “action-RPG set in the Final Fantasy Crystal Chronicles world with a heavy emphasis on single-player progression”.

Arc Rise Fantasia
Genre: RPG
Dev: Image Epoch / Pub: Marvelous Entertainment
There has been a significant amount of footage of this game in action, and it looks spectacular. It has all the markings of a quality RPG game, with an immense amount of effort devoted to making it a tried-and-true fantasy epic adventure. I trust Marvelous to bring the quality, and they have already confirmed a stateside release. I’ll look to the Japanese review scores in late January / early February to be the signal of whether or not this game meets its own hype.

Sin & Punishment 2
Genre: Action
Dev/Pub: Nintendo
The minute the Wii was first announced, my first thought was that Nintendo HAD to be hard at work on a sequel to the N64 Sin & Punishment that would make use of the pointer controls. While I half-expected the game to appear closer to the system’s launch, I’m nonetheless overjoyed just to see it coming out at all. Initial screens make me hopeful, and you can’t really go wrong with Nintendo’s tireless devotion to quality.

Muramasa: the Demon Blade
Genre: Platformer
Dev: Vanillaware / Pub: Marvelous Entertainment
Fans of Odin Sphere should look no further than Muramasa for their Vanillaware fix. Once again, Marvelous is setting the bar for guiding quality content on the Wii. Muramasa has the action and style to be a game of the year contender should it make its expected fall 2009 release.

Wii Sports Resort
Genre: Sports
Dev/Pub: Nintendo
Yes, I’m looking forward to Wii Sports Resort. Wii Sports is still played in our house (though, honestly, not by me), and the sequel offers more games with better control through the Wii MotionPlus attachment. Plus, it will be one of the few ways to obtain the Wii MotionPlus attachment, so it will be a nearly essential title. Plus, sword-fighting! I mean, c’mon!

Kizuna
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Jaleco
Kizuna has a lot of potential: both good and bad. In screenshots, it looks like a gorgeous action-RPG with elements reminiscent of Shadow of the Colossus. It has a great style that includes some kind of grainy, pencil-y sketching effect in the front texture layer that makes me really want to know more about the story behind the game that requires that effect. But I remain cautiously optimistic, as I’ve seen no actual gameplay of the title, and it has the potential to play horribly. Use the Wii remote to find the big bad boss’ weakness and then attack that spot? Could be setting itself up for failure.

Ghostbusters
Genre: Action
Dev: Red Fly Studios / Pub: Atari
It’s Ghostbusters! Do I really have to explain why I’m excited for a new Ghostbusters game?

Red Steel 2
Genre: FPS
Dev/Pub: Ubisoft
Another game where I feel cautiously optimistic. Red Steel was a good first attempt at putting an FPS game on the Wii. Adding the sword controls was too much, and felt unnecessary to the overall game. Had they simply focused on making a quality FPS game, it probably could have done a better job of setting the stage for later FPS successes on the Wii. As it was, it was passable, and largely forgettable. I’m hoping they fix everything in the sequel that they broke in the first game. They accomplish that, and I’m there the first day.

DS games
I may not comment as much about the DS games as I have about the Wii games mainly due to the fact that I just started tracking DS games. Like, last week.

Dragon Quest IX
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Square Enix
I’ve only played the old, old, OLD Dragon Quest games. Old, as in, back when it was on the NES and still called Dragon Warrior. I played the first, and the two corresponding sequels, and then nothing after that. I’m looking forward to IX purely because I hear it’s supposed to be one heck of a game. Plus, Dragonball art style.

Elebits: the Adventures of Kai and Zero
Genre: Adventure
Dev/Pub: Konami
I downloaded the demo to this game from the Nintendo Channel last week and played around with it for a while. I wasn’t interested in it at first because I loved the original Wii game. When I heard the DS game wasn’t going to be the same concept (adventure instead of crazy gravity-gun FPS), I was a bit disappointed. The demo turned me around, though, and I suppose that’s what demos are designed to do.

Moon
Genre: FPS
Dev: Renegade Kid / Pub: Mastiff Games
They say FPS games can’t be done on the DS. Moon is an attempt to prove that idea wrong. I’m hopeful. Initial screens and videos look promising.

Phantasy Star Zero
Genre: RPG
Dev: Sonic Team / Pub: Sega
Like the Dragon Warrior/Quest games, I’m an old-school Phantasy Star gamer. I’ve heard tell that Phantasy Star Online was a pretty good game, so this one is on my radar. I’m not so sure it will end up being acquired.

Tales of Hearts
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Namco Bandai
I don’t allow myself to miss Tales games that appear on consoles I own. It’s quite simply a rule to live by.

Winds of Nostalgio
Genre: RPG
Dev: Red Entertainment / Pub: Tecmo
Get a load of this description from Wikipedia: “Taking place in an alternate reality steampunk version of the 19th Century, the game follows Eddie, a London boy and son of a great adventurer as he and his friends travel the world in an airship in search of his missing father. The game will feature both standard turn-based combat and aerial battles between the player’s customizable airship, the Maverick, and enemy airships.” Yep! ON THE LIST.

Shining Force Feather
Genre: RPG
Dev/Pub: Sega
Once again, old-school Shining Force fan (I believe that Shining Force, Phantasy Star, and Sonic were the only Genesis games I ever played). This one looks to be cut of the same cloth, and that’s enough to merit a radar watch from me.

So, it’s quite the monstrous list when laid out in such a fashion, but even so, I’m sure there are games I’m still missing. What are you watching out for in 2009? Anything I’ve not listed that I need to keep my eyes on?