Wii Play

Wii Play is a party video game developed and published by Nintendo for the Wii console. It was released as a launch game for the console in Japan, Europe, and Australia, and was released in North America in February 2007. The game features nine minigames, including a Duck Hunt-esque shooting range, a fishing game, and a billiards game, each of which are designed to showcase the features of the Wii Remote controller.

Developed as a compilation of prototype games originally shown off at the E3 expo in 2006, Wii Play was developed by Nintendo EAD simultaneously with Wii Sports, which also contained tech demos from E3. The featured games make use of several aspects of the Wii Remote, such as its detection of rotation and depth movement through motion sensing and its infrared pointer.

Despite mixed reception from critics who criticized the game for its repetitiveness, Wii Play was a commercial success, with strong sales being largely connected to the game’s inclusion of an additional Wii Remote at the time of its release. The game is the fifth best-selling game for the Wii and the twentieth best-selling video game of all-time, having sold over 28 million copies worldwide. It is also the best-selling game of all time to not be bundled with a console. A sequel to the game titled Wii Play: Motion was released in 2011.