no 2 player games

my brother got a wii a few months ago. wii sports came with the console and works with 2 players just fine. but the other games he has purchased aren't allowing him to play multiple players. these games are: Mario Super Sluggers, Mario Kart, Super Smash Brothers. The Wii is getting to the menus to activate extra controllers, but the controllers won't respond. they just blink in the little squares then shut off, leaving it as only one player. any help?

make sure your remotes have been "synched" with the console initially. Next to the sd port on the wii is a "sync" button. There is also one on the remote under the battery cover. Try pressing both buttons at the same time. This will sync the controller to that one console. Then once its synced your console you should be able to connect it by simply pressing "1" and "2" at the same time on each controller. Hope this helps :)