Game Shopping from your Sofa

Too hot outside? Fed up with your local game store? Skip the tedium of retail shopping and relax with some of the best titles the video game world has to offer, delivered directly to your console without CDs, manuals, or interpersonal contact. Some of these games are original creations, some are re-releases of well-loved classics, some are a little of both -- but all are well worth your time.

Wii

WATCH SUPER PAPER MARIO TRAILER

Paper Mario

Original release: 2001
Price: $10

You might have caught this N64 game's Wii sequel - here's a chance to play the original. Paper Mario introduced an imaginative and seldom imitated graphical style, imagining the game's characters as 2D paper-dolls inhabiting a 3D world. This enables gameplay twists -- literally -- that are as mindbending as they are creative.

Verdict: Just as good as the Wii-native sequel, and a fraction of the price. 4/5

STARFOX 64

Starfox 64

Original release: 1997
Price: $10

Definitely a front-runner in the "games most in need of a sequel" stakes, Starfox 64 is itself a sequel to one of the most iconic games on the SNES. Huge bosses, branching levels, four-player multiplayer, and production values that set new benchmarks in its time, it's a sci-fi cornucopia of shoot-em-up thrills. Viewed-from-behind shooters in this style don't come along often any more, so it's all the more welcome that this N64 favorite has made its way to the Wii.

Verdict: Do a barrel roll! 4/5

SUPER MARIO BROS.

Super Mario Bros.

Original release: 1985
Price: $5

If you've been fortunate enough to cross the Atlantic on one of the airplanes equipped with in-flight Super Mario, you'll know why this classic became the best-selling video game of all time. Sure, the visuals might be rudimentary by today's standards, but we challenge you to spend half an hour playing it and not be captivated. Thanks to the Wii's Virtual Console, Mario and Bowser's antics are preserved for the foreseeable future -- and you don't need to be at 36,000 feet to enjoy them.

Verdict: It's a-classic! 5/5

ZELDA: A LINK TO THE PAST

The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past

Widely regarded as the best Zelda game of all, A Link to the Past's top-down style might be unfamiliar to more modern gamers, but thanks to the success of its sequels you'll recognize many series conventions have their roots here. This installment introduced the concept of "light" and "dark" worlds that share common features with good and evil twists respectively, and it's an idea that's been thoroughly explored in countless titles ever since. Link to the Past's complex but approachable gameplay has barely dated, although the same can't be said for the graphics.

Verdict: Pink to the last. 5/5

MARIO 64

Mario 64

Original release: 1996
Price: $10

Widely credited with being the first 3D platformer to really understand this new dimension, there are still games being released that don't get the camera controls as right as Mario 64. Its free-roaming levels and open-ended design are just as influential now as they were 10 years ago, and it remains perhaps the best example of how to make a game that Just Feels Right. If you missed out on the N64 original, it's the ideal way to wean yourself off the flashy graphics and high-dollar production values of today's hits, and give yourself a taste of how things used to be.

Verdict: Still a trendsetter even after all these years. 5/5

BOMBERMAN 93

Bomberman 93

Original release: 1993
Price: $6

Hey, we had to include one Wii game that didn't involve Nintendo superstar designer Shigeru Miyamoto in one capacity or another. One of the first party games on any system, Bomberman '93 was brought all the way up to date for the Wii's Virtual Console. Get five players on one Wii -- four remotes and a Gamecube controller will work -- and you're guaranteed a rollicking good time blowing the hell out of each other. The single-player hasn't proven so timeless, but even among the Wii's great selection of multiplayer games, Bomberman '93 can easily its head up.

Verdict: Foom. 4.5/5