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De Spiderwick Kronieken for Nintendo Wii
The Spiderwick Chronicles for Nintendo Wii turns the Grace family’s old house and the surrounding woods into an action adventure. Jared, Simon and Mallory discover a hidden world existing alongside humans. Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide describes its creatures, but the ogre Mulgarath wants the book. You explore the estate, complete quests and defend the children against goblins that make their discovery dangerous.
The three children use different weapons and abilities. Jared uses a slingshot among other tools, while other characters provide a different approach. You also play as the tiny brownie Thimbletack. His size lets you explore passages inside the walls, where an ordinary room suddenly becomes a vast landscape. As you explore, you collect objects and work out which character or tool will open the next passage or advance a quest.
You catch sprites with a net and record them in the Field Guide by colouring in their picture. A recorded creature provides a power you can use later. Collecting therefore also supports combat and problem solving. The Field Guide and Jared’s journal keep track of discoveries and current tasks. The main story is single-player; separate arena minigames revolve around catching creatures and defeating enemies, and some can be played locally by two players.
Region and language
Our Nintendo Wii games are PAL editions and come with a Dutch or English box, unless stated otherwise. By default, you receive the version for the European market. We note it in the product details if the region is different or the box is in another language. In almost all cases, the game is playable at least in English, and often in the other five common European languages too.
Manual
De Spiderwick Kronieken for Nintendo Wii includes the manual unless the product title states otherwise. If the booklet is missing, the title says “No Manual”. This lets you see before ordering whether the game comes with a manual.
The manuals included with our games usually contain at least English and often around six European languages. The exact languages vary by edition, so Dutch is not always included. The booklet explains the controls and the main rules. You can use it to check how to control the game, which actions are available and how its different features work.
The history of De Spiderwick Kronieken
Sierra Entertainment announced The Spiderwick Chronicles in August 2007 as a game adaptation of the forthcoming film from Paramount Pictures and Nickelodeon Films. Stormfront Studios developed the three-dimensional adventure, which also reached Nintendo Wii in 2008. The film was itself based on the book series by Holly Black and Tony DiTerlizzi. A world first built through writing and illustrations thus travelled through cinema to the games console.
The original announcement emphasised the three Grace children and their different abilities. The finished game added Thimbletack as a separate perspective inside the house. The same buildings could therefore be seen both at human scale and through the tiny spaces behind walls. The story centred on discovering a world that normally remains invisible. The Field Guide consequently became not just part of the story, but a collection that you expand as you play.
The release combined familiar film locations with quests that allowed room for exploration and collecting. A fight with goblins could be followed by a search for an object or a creature still missing from the collection. This linked the film story to actions you perform yourself. In the later years of the Wii, this produced a film-based adventure set around a bounded estate, where a room or woodland path changes meaning depending on your character and the knowledge you bring.
Similar games for Nintendo Wii
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix on Wii also lets you investigate a familiar building and discover new possibilities through smaller quests. At Hogwarts, you use spells to change objects and help residents. Spiderwick moves that investigation to an old house and the surrounding woods. Its Field Guide and creature catching give collecting a different function from Harry’s discoveries, lessons and encounters at school.
Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince on Wii uses three young protagonists with different abilities to find routes and solve puzzles. Spiderwick also makes the differences between its children matter during the adventure. Prisoner of Azkaban focuses on magic and school life around Hogwarts. Spiderwick uses everyday weapons, a net and Thimbletack’s tiny body, turning hidden spaces in an ordinary house into a playing area of their own.
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess on Wii also combines combat with discovering a fantasy world behind familiar imagery. Sora travels with Donald and Goofy through different Disney worlds, developing through experience, magic and equipment. Spiderwick stays closer to one family’s estate. Switching between the children and Thimbletack mainly changes how you view the same environment, while recording creatures in the Field Guide provides new powers.
Ōkami on Wii also shows how different bodies enable different passages and actions. Small characters, droids and Jedi each have a role when facing an obstacle. Spiderwick uses a similar idea with the children and Thimbletack, but places it inside a human house. LEGO Star Wars also offers a continuing adventure for two local players; Spiderwick’s shared play is limited to separate arena minigames alongside the main story.
The Golden Compass on Wii also asks you to read a three-dimensional environment. You search walls, beams and ledges for a route through the palace. Spiderwick also rewards looking carefully, but places more emphasis on objects, quests and collecting creatures. The prince masters acrobatics and can reverse mistakes with his dagger; the Grace children progress through their different abilities and knowledge from the Field Guide.
