Wii Games You Should Be Playing: Sin and Punishment: Star Successor.

With the 3DS hogging the spotlight these days and a new home console on the horizon, we can officially report that the Nintendo Wii’s days are numbered. So with that in mind, I think it’s a good time to take a look back at some titles for the system that unfortunately slipped under the radar and were never met with successful sales. For whatever reason, a lot of people like to claim that the Wii has a crippling lack of quality content available, but this ongoing (?) feature intends to illustrate simply how wrong that notion is. Now, I’ll be the first to admit that there is a boatload of shovelware out there clogging up store shelves and bargain bins, but hidden amongst all of the Petz Family Partyz and M&M Go Kart Racers and whatever are more than a few flat out incredible games unfairly collecting dust.

Today we feature…you guessed it: Sin and Punishment: Star Successor.

But first, a little backstory: Star Sucessor is actually the sequel to an N64 game that was released only in Japan toward the end of the console’s life cycle. It immediately generated a cult following both in that country and amongst U.S. importers but became little more than a curiosity for everyone else. That is, until it was finally made available state-side through the magic of the Virtual Console. That’s how I first got my hands on it and and it was impossible to not pick up on the game’s appeal right away. After all, it was developed by Treasure who has become known for knowing what is up when it comes to shooters of any kind (see Ikaruga, Gunstar Heroes, McDonald’s Treasure Land Adventure, etc.).

Seriously, they made this shit.

The idea is pretty simple: Controlling one of 2 characters, all you do is not hesitate to blast the holy hell from everything that appears in front of you. It’s a third person on-rails shooter that comes at you with everything it’s got.

Do you get it now?

Fast paced and fucking furious, Sin and Punishment for the N64/Wii VC is a nonstop adrenaline rush. Sure, there’s an actual story complete with fully voice acted cut-scenes but trust me, you’ll be skipping through that shit in a heart beat. This is the kind of experience that doesn’t benefit from extended pauses. Only thing: Within seconds of firing the game up, the sense that this style of play would be perfectly suited to the Wii’s pointer controls becomes blindingly apparent. Using the control stick to aim on the N64 pad works well enough, don’t get me wrong. It just can’t match the simply elegant solution of using the Wii-mote to aim your reticule directly at the screen while manipulating your character with the nunchuk.

Which brings us to Sin and Punishment: Star Successor. A gorgeously polished refinement in every category…

Turn the volume down and throw on some house beats and you are SET.

When you start the game off you’re given the choice to select between one of two characters but unfortunately the game isn’t 2-player simultaneous. Well, at least not really. While a second player can’t control a character onscreen they can lend some firepower support by using a second reticule with an extra Wii-mote. It’s simple and effective. Anyway, once you get going the mission again is pretty straightforward: Kill a bunch of stuff. I guess the actual “story” goes something like this: The Earth has realized that the human species is actually a virus and decides to use everything at its disposal to wipe you out. I have to admit, that isn’t such a bad premise.

So once you’re in the game everything I said about the N64 original applies here only with the addition of some sweet side-scrolling levels and oh yeah, everything is cranked to 11. The controls which I mentioned before are absolutely perfect. The graphics outside of the fairly simple character models are absolutely stunning and the sci-fi atmosphere is impressively realized. The levels where you’re flying around a beautifully lit haunted forest or barreling through an oxygen tube under the ocean are particularly incredible. S&P:SS is filled with wall to wall badassery.

And did I mention it’s cheap? Jesus, it’s only running for about 16 bucks new on Amazon right now. Isn’t that around the same price as a ticket for some shitty 3D movie? You know what that means? That if you’re a Wii owner there’s literally no excuse to not grab a copy.

Trust me, you’ll taste the difference, or my name isn’t Orville Redenbacher.