Wii U: Birth of a Death (Part I) - Scott The Woz

foreign boxed to the right season and what a box to ring it in you know come to think of it I've noticed a steep rise in Wii U's Being used for not Wii U H so what's the point of this thing outside of collateral damage well I'm glad I asked the Wii U has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember especially when I don't consider the first 15 years of my life Canon so a better way to make up for it than by spending the next 15 years of my life explaining it hey all Scott here and this is what I was born to do [Music] Nintendo is the most beloved and iconic video game company of all time they've created not only some of the most well-known video games out there but the consoles you play them on as well the Nintendo Entertainment System Super Nintendo Entertainment System Nintendo 64 GameCube look at that Nintendo switch oh I'm sorry you must be asking what the is a what the impotence this is the Wii U Nintendo's sixth Home console and worst performing system of all time there is some bad eggs here and there they release like the Virtual Boy and Game Boy micro but those felt more like Nintendo looked over at their friends going hey check this out they were little offshoots not necessarily the Next Generation system the Wii U was and Nintendo obviously expected it to mimic the success of their previous Endeavors and it couldn't even mimic the failures yes I am a veteran of the Wii U generation and unlike other people I supported Nintendo throughout the whole thing to an embarrassing degree and what did I get for all of it I haven't been able to eat out for the past six years the Wii U was one of the first consoles I consumed literally everything about from start to finish all the news reviews updates previews rumors leaks the games themselves I may have gotten a c in calculus but I definitely played Dr Luigi sure I was there for the Nintendo 3DS's entire lifespan but we're talking home consoles here and concerning all of their systems before the Wii U I wasn't nearly as attentive with them news-wise I'd hop online to read up on them every now and then but with the Wii U let's just say I learned to Define my priorities might as well put all that info I retained to good use I may have talked about the Wii U at length this many times before but that was my peach fuzz era of Wii U talk I'm ready for a big boy discussion because let's be honest not a lot of people know about the Wii U you take the 13 or so million Wii U's sold and subtract that by what's the general population of the world yeah this is the number of people who haven't been disappointed well that's all going to change because if I'm depressed it's because you aren't 10 you this is a console I could talk about until the end of time but I'll settle for six hours let's talk about Nintendo's garbage you may think this is my EKG no it's also the history of Nintendo video game console sales we should both get that checked out because as groundbreaking as Nintendo's first major Home console the NES was in 1985 selling over 60 million units each system they released afterwards sold less and less with their fourth platform the GameCube selling a measly 21 million not all of these were failures but with the gradual introduction of competitors Sega Sony and Microsoft Nintendo was not only losing market share they no longer had the most popular console on the block with the Nintendo 64 taking second place in its generation and the GameCube taking third now the underperformance of these systems can be jacked up to all kinds of factors they were too Mom approved it didn't matter if they had the most powerful hardware and a capable controller all at an affordable price because damn it I can't fit to this in addition to numerous stupid ass choices Nintendo made with their products no CD or dvd playback on GameCube barely any online multiplayer capabilities the amount of stuff developers could fit on the GameCube disks and Nintendo 64 cartridges paled in comparison to the competition so at the end of the day when Nintendo took away from their dwindling sales was how just making a new game console that was simply more powerful and made to compete with the Xbox and Playstation wasn't gonna work for them they needed to do something different something that made them stand out from everything else and defy what it meant to be a video game console they weren't going to be competing against the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 they were going to be competing against Grandpa's insulin pump the Wii was Nintendo's seventh Home console and at the time became their most successful selling over 100 million units how did that happen oh okay instead of cramming new high-end Tech to display Next Generation Graphics in this puppy Nintendo opted to up the Wii was pretty much Nintendo repackaging the GameCube again with a few enhancements all of Nintendo did set out not to compete with the others they succeeded but hey Nintendo didn't need fancy s HD graphics because they were able to sell the Wii on the controller alone the Wii remote bringing motion control to the masses now they weren't the first to utilize this functionality but they were the first to make it accessible and seamless so let me put out the eye toy for the PlayStation 2 before yeah but there was nothing to set up with the weird mode there was nothing to learn it was so natural everybody could use it okay well not everybody because of this the Wii appeal to a whole new audience the world couple that with how affordable it was due to using old technology the classic Nintendo franchises appearing on the console brand new casual titles taking advantage of the unique controller and you have a recipe for yeah the Wii was insanely popular but I'd argue it wasn't healthy popularity it was almost more of a fad something everybody had to have for a few years you couldn't get a Wii for the longest time they were always out of stock which made people who weren't even interested in the damn thing thinking they had to have it and a lot of the Casual audience got hooked on the pack entitled Wii Sports maybe bought a few more games outside of that and then just used the console to stream Netflix on the core Gamers there was definitely stuff that appealed to them on Wii but it just wasn't enough where there was a big little asterisk on them like oh here's the return of one of your retro favorite Donkey Kong Country Now with mandatory motion controls many and core fans felt burned by this system it wasn't powerful enough didn't have great online multiplayer many games that would have been awesome shoved social motion control down your throat so the Casual audience wasn't reliable supporting the console long term the core audience lost interest in the Wii around the time Nintendo pushed Wii music as their big holiday title everybody was miserable it wasn't I love the Wii as do Millions but it's always been a flawed system it may have appealed to everybody but it didn't satisfy them which is why near the end of the Wii's life around 2010 to 2011 and many casual owners shifted over to iPhones iPads and iPod Touches to get their gaming fix and many core fans bought an Xbox 360 or Playstation 3. people were losing interest in the Wii so what did Nintendo do well this makes more sense than Wii U during the Wii era there was constant discussion and speculation around Nintendo potentially releasing either a successor or a slight upgrade to the console oftentimes referred to as we HD of course something named this never happened I'm naming my kid this just to make it true but it's obvious something along these lines would have helped the Wii maintain relevancy later in its life by 2010 this system was looking rough and not including an HDMI port was becoming less and less acceptable with each passing year though it was at E3 2010 that then Nintendo presidents aturiwada commented on the idea of a Wii successor claiming it would only happen when they ran out of ideas they never said they wouldn't run out of ideas soon Awana later clarified that of course Nintendo was working on a new system they pretty much start thinking about the next thing when the next thing comes out right after the next thing he was primarily addressing the idea of Nintendo creating a new console simply to make a more powerful HD system that just wasn't gonna happen there needed to be a reason to make that new platform to be able to do things you weren't able to do before finally a reason for Mario Party 10 to be enter 2011 the year when everything started to change when years started to enter 20 time was actually a really solid year for the Wii I mean we got Super Mario Galaxy 2 Donkey Kong Country Returns Kirby's Epic Yarn that felt like a bit of a comeback for the system and moving into the next year I had high expectations for what Nintendo was about to do next I am sad in the spring of that year right after Nintendo's latest portable the Nintendo 3DS launched rumors started to pop up of their next Home console though these actually had some Merit they weren't just industry anal is looking at a Wii an HDMI cord and going gee it's different this this was something this name floating around apparently it would be HD and have specs that were on par with the Xbox 360 and Playstation 3 with an announcement coming at E3 2011 and releasing in late 2012. unlike previous rumors this one was backed by numerous sources like IGN and if IGN says it's true Nintendo commented on the rumors by simply saying stay tuned the official E3 Twitter account was Hamming it all up it's obvious something was gonna happen here and with more info coming out pretty much every hour now it was more powerful than the 360 and PS3 oh wait well actually it's just slightly more powerful than an Xbox 360. a console that released six years prior say what you will about lupus but lupus with a hint of lemon is better it was apparently backwards compatible with the Wii and GameCube plus compatible with an all-new very original controller which could have meant anything say where you will the controller's original finally quickly came out that this new console's controller would house an HD screen on it I can barely see shapes on this thing yeah out of all the rumors this little tidbit was one of the most consistent the fact the controller was gonna have some kind of screen on it which wasn't a completely new concept even for Nintendo we had the second Dreamcast and on the GameCube you could connect the Game Boy Advance to control some games but this wasn't just a cute little side thing for project Cafe this is what the whole damn thing would be based around I mean the size of the screen was rumored to be six inches you don't just forget six inches in your hands this mock-up whipped up by IGN is burned into my mind just a weak Classic Controller Pro with the display on top the idea was 100 intriguing but when it came down to actual Concepts it could be used with I mean most of them were already done before with the Nintendo DS using the bottom touch screen to view a map or quick select items multiplayer games would definitely benefit from the extra screen you could do all kinds of things with that one player could see things the others couldn't or you wouldn't have to put up with split screen in some instances and two players could each get your own dedicated display I remember hearing fans come up with a few ideas on their own like in Mario Kart you could use the controller as a rear view mirror but at what cost man I mean these were all cool enough Concepts but a screen that big on a wireless controller like it would enhance all these things yes but it ain't a Make It or Break It it's not like how the Wii remote was integral to making Wii Sports the game it was you don't need a second screen for any of these things it may make them a little better but not spending 150 on a controller better but hey this was Nintendo we were talking about they must be doing a crazy controller like this for a reason surely they wouldn't base their new console around a gimmick even they didn't know how to properly utilize it's wet either way this was my life for the next two months coming home from school refreshing the gaming news sites and reading what they could possibly be passing off as we too updates today this report stated Nintendo just wrapped up the core promotional materials for project Cafe's appearance at E3 and they asked for hands good hands at that I think this controller is going to use hands but hey who knows it might not even be project Cafe there was another rumor about this new console being codenamed project butterfly the gimmick of this console being you could physically upgrade it over time by buying new expansions and add-ons to keep it technologically relevant so a PC what do you think the company that just made the Wii would do a super powerful console that you'd never have to get rid of you could just keep upgrading with better processors or funny screen controller didn't even matter in the end because on a website Nintendo housed for developers and Publishers a number of URLs based on other Nintendo system code names work the ones containing references to Nitro the Nintendo DS code name CTR the 3DS one and interestingly enough Cafe was a valid URL implying that yes we were later on a header image on that same developer's website detailing Cafe support was uncovered pretty much confirming that project Cafe was the official code name for the device the project butterfly Community has never been at a lower point so we pretty much knew the internal project name but what about the final one we do was the easiest to use at this stage though super Wii was a popular one other names that made the rounds included stream feel and Nintendo the same people that wanted the console to just be called Nintendo complained that the Wii U name was too confusing don't call it dog or cat call him what I want not a dog on April 21 5th 2011 Nintendo officially announced that they were indeed working on a successor to the Wii system it'll launch in 2012 and be playable at E3 2011 in just a few weeks Story water made it clear that while they weren't discussing details at the moment the console would offer a new way to play games in the home so does ecstasy it was all anybody could talk about in the Nintendo's sphere until E3 constant rumors and speculation as to what the hardware was what games were coming to it that he was driving me crazy I mean what could it be disappointing yeah let's talk about this underwoman crotch of a reveal E3 2011 Nintendo held a conference on June 7th where they opened with a gorgeous Orchestra celebrating the past 25 years of The Legend of Zelda building up to the release of Skyward Sword later that year went on detailing a handful of groundbreaking Nintendo 3DS titles that would define the handheld such as Super Mario 3D Land Mario Kart 7 Kid Icarus Uprising and Luigi's Mansion Dark Moon but not before shoving a water out on stage to tell us what he's gonna do in five minutes we are going to leave the full details for a little later this morning but why not just kill me now after some updates then Nintendo of America president Reggie fiesame comes out on stage and says this there is one more order of business left for us today to make a proper introduction to a new gaming companion I'm gonna be a dad he goes on with the marketing shtick of talking about what it takes to be a new Nintendo system saying how the Wii name made sense once you heard it and I just knew he was gonna slip in the actual name of what project Cafe was somewhere in this speech we knew the prevailing thought would be this yes and I went oh my God they're calling it the Wii yes no but could it also be a perfect fit just for you and the answer to that question is an emphatic absolutely in fact we're so convinced of it that we put that pronoun right in the name so today welcome to the world of we you this just in what the the name Wii U listen I get it we was an unconventional title that worked as easy as it would have been to call the follow-up we too that was never gonna happen kid names are filling up quick after that breakthrough success Nintendo would have been out of their mind to not name their next console we something which oddly enough would have been a better name and Wii U to be completely honest I don't think it's a bad name in concept in practice it's egregious considering how the original Wii was named to symbolize everybody coming together and spelled the way it was and how the successor was meant for everybody but also designed to appeal to the hardcore gamer you and keeping with unique spelling I do think it's a sound name for a Wii sequel the problem is there are consequences to our actions because this the name was just a fraction of the problem with the Wii U reveal because just a few seconds afterwards this is the new controller for we you no you applaud that but when I sh my pants it's a problem is this I mean yeah at the time this was an impressive controller like wow look at look at this thing is it's its own damn handheld rather than a lot of the concepts shared around online this was more of an iPad with a controller surrounding it but that's besides the point right now pay attention to the wording with the Wii U reveal how they call it a gaming companion announcing the controller before anything else and throughout the rest of the press conference barely showing the actual console which basically looked like a refined Wii taking into account the Wii brand was home to so many accessories and games simply titled we blank we will We music we speak we Motion Plus these all say hey I work with the Wii and it becomes so easy to see why nobody had a single damn clue what this was it was completely Justified to think oh this is just the controller you buy for the Wii a system with a billion fancy extra controllers you could buy for it including one that released the year prior by THQ that was a tablet controller titled you draw do you see the issue here but hey I'm just criticizing this reveal in hindsight at the time I knew it wasn't perfect I knew it was bad but I didn't care I saw a fat ass new controller by Nintendo with a bunch of junk crammed into it that I remember audibly gasping when it flew into view here but was that because I pictured the possibilities or ooh shiny well I feel like you're underestimating my comprehension skills oh pickles a trailer began POV your dad yeah I wanted to be happy you walk in on your son playing a new Super Mario Brothers game for Wii U that looks damn near identical to New Super Mario Brothers Wii that's my dad all right but hey you can keep playing the same game right on your controller no TV needed let's do all kind of other stuff with the new controller as they called it draw on the new controller play only on the new controller use motion to control with the new controller this trailer showed off 12 uses for the Wii U controller some of which were pretty damn cool at the time throwing ninja stars from the pad to the TV you know they might have been the only one that sold me honestly looking back none of these necessarily wowed me outside of that demo this was a pretty boring slew of ideas for such a bold new controller none of these Concepts were genuinely new browsing the web video calls sharing video to the TV and these are nice features to have on your console but as some of the first features shown my Lord you can play games just on the tablet and you show what a fellow Wii Sports but now using the new controller well cool I mean yeah this helps show the potential but it doesn't really seem to be making Wii Sports better just more complicated before is the pitcher in Wii Sports baseball you just throw the ball now you have to aim with the controller like this sure I see the value in that you can be more precise and tricky without the other players seeing but at the end of the day man it's still just Wii Sports baseball does it really need this same with golf They showcase putting the controller on the ground and it's like cool but is that necessary everything else about it is just Wii Sports golf so how is the controller benefiting me here the game played fine before now I can see more of the world you want to see more of the world just put a zoo live stream on screen and then a new Wii zapper with a spot to put a Wii U controller like even if that actually released you already know only three games would use it but the trailer ends with a look at an HD Legend of Zelda name hey look don't touch yeah this wasn't a real game just a demonstration of what zeldec could look like on the console which was a real cheese ball move on Nintendo's part you know why they did this they were going for easy Applause I'm sure it showcased the concept of having your inventory on the second screen much like how a lot of DS and 3DS games work but why not show that alongside a game you're actually making for the console you know people get excited over Zelda so you whip up a fake trailer for them to Swoon over which kind of undermines skyward's Sword it's like yeah we got a new Zelda coming out but weren't gonna be great if it looked like this instead I don't know I think this practice is just kind of corny these days and helps to highlight just one of the Myriad of problems with the Wii U's introduction to the public after the trailer Nintendo discussed the console for the remaining 30 minutes of the conference basically telling us to imagine the possibilities that that's your job Awana says that Smash Brothers will come to both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U and work together in some way wait a second word those words again they're just going for easy claps they have nothing to say nothing to show this is Tech demo of a bird has played showcasing what kind of visuals the Wii U can produce in real time which is just sort of misleading yeah I don't doubt you created these visuals with Wii U Hardware the same goes for the Zelda demo but no games for your platform are ever gonna look this good I mean those are actual games with a million things to take into account running in real time these are one minute long cutscenes of course you can get them to look this good a couple of tech demos are discussed to be playable on the E3 show floor which all ended up becoming full games or portions of games later down the line and then the first actual game to be announced for Wii U Lego City Stories Welcome To The Future of gaming why tout this is a big deal the fact you have an exclusive Lego game on your next system it's a Lego game it would have come to your system regardless third parties are shown drooling over the platform via this Sizzle reel in games like Batman Arkham City Assassin's Creed Darksiders 2 Ninja Gaiden 3 and Tekken with some cute touchscreen functionality were announced but of course some games announced that E3 2011 actually never happened on Wii U such as dirt Aliens colonial Marines Ghost Recon Online and Metro last light though nothing not happening doesn't compare to not Jack dick Electronic Arts appears on stage to set up an unprecedented partnership with Nintendo on Wii U say what you will that is unprecedented and that was the Wii U's reveal at E3 2011. Ubisoft showed off a game they were working on exclusively for the Wii U called killer freaks from outer space on their own and Nintendo later announced the next Pikmin game shifted development over to the console I mean I'm reading this bag they had to have known this was dog looking back at the Wii U's reveal people were either confused or underwhelmed even me I mean I thought it was pretty cool but I wasn't freaking out over the thing this felt rushed the biggest announcements were cheap here's HD Zelda that doesn't exist Smash Brothers is coming just like the Rapture nothing was far enough along for Nintendo to show anything too concrete it was all conceptual and the concepts themselves well they had promise weren't enough to carry a whole console but of course you may be asking him what console and Nintendo may be asking where console it wasn't there the only time Nintendo showed the system was in the background and out of focus and when the console already looked too similar to the Wii in focus and when so many of the tecton was Nintendo showed required Wii remotes this just in that's a way I can't blame them with the Wii U being playable at this event many attendees were able to give it a try in its prototype form the controller was pretty similar to the final design with a few key differences like the analog sticks being Circle pads like on the 3DS which I always found odd like you're marketing this system as something hardcore Gamers can get behind and you're this vocal and nubby stick critics felt they were adequate to control games with but questioned it at the same time like yeah these work but but why many walked away from the event thinking that was okay nothing necessarily bad but nothing to get excited about yet which I accepted this was normal Nintendo always announced their console with some basic details and within the next year and a half before release more and more info would be discussed the info we all care about which meant I wasn't prepared for what happened next nothing every event presentation interview investors meeting every and any opportunity Nintendo had to discuss Wii U from June 2011 to June 2012. they just didn't say anything this year of of Wii U news comprised of pretty much nothing but rumors leaks and some random developers thoughts here and there which often consisted of it's pretty cool some would mention that Wii U has some killer features we don't know about yet and we still don't know others would comment on how they'd like to see their games on the system though oftentimes nothing would come of this I don't get it we got two world wars but not Far Cry 3 on Wii U this was more likely and a few designers were openly critical of the device questioning if it could bring back the Casual audience while capturing the hardcore noting the power of the console could be a problem many would say these people were being pessimistic but even the developers that were excited for the Wii U were saying some funky stuff about it Gearbox Software was constantly singing their prizes about the system now Aliens colonial Marines on Wii U it's delicious but they said the Wii U was a great stopgap console which proves they knew this thing wasn't lasting a whole last generation crytek said they already had their junk running on Wii U then later said they didn't even have development kits producer of the Mario series yoshiaki koizumi wasn't informed on all the Wii U details before its unveil why would he need to know it felt like most developers didn't really know what to think of this thing they were hesitant to say anything good or bad it was obvious they didn't want to count Nintendo out but it was also obvious this console wasn't meeting their needs and the developers who were super jazzed on Wii U singing its Praises non-stop it'll go weird now don't they my dog just in the house and it was brilliant it saved my marriage Nintendo later admitted that they could have done a better job unveiling the system and promised to re-unail it at E3 2012 alongside the fact that the controller would feature NFC technology to scan credit cards and accessories like toys life figures this was the only news we got after six months seems that Nintendo was looking to drum up some hype they obviously wanted to focus their marketing efforts on the Wii and Nintendo 3DS for 2011's holiday season and I don't blame them for that however at that point why reveal the Wii U was early as they did you sorta killed most interest in the Wii at that point but in return you didn't have any news for people interested in the Wii U for nearly a year so being a Nintendo fan during this era sort of just felt like you were in purgatory there's something on the horizon to look forward to and I don't know why I should be however by Spring of 2012 more and more news was coming out really getting me excited at what Nintendo had in store for us an internal trailer for Rain Man Legends was leaked showing extensive Wii U exclusive features including NFC support that Shigeru Miyamoto confirmed Pikmin in a new 2D Mario for Wii U would be shown at E3 a photo of an updated Wii U controller was leaked showcasing actual thumbsticks and new buttons rumors of a Metroid and Star Fox crossover spread around alongside a mature game called acid goes by Nintendo starring Eminem and there were apparently discussions that Nintendo would change the name of Wii U to Deer God anything else also would have been a better name though it was easy to get excited it was also easy to see some more warning signs many third-party games that were being announced around this time were deconfirmed for Wii U and not just oh we'll see if it happens no it was just it ain't coming more developers were open about expressing their disinterest in the system with numerous sources reporting difficulties many had getting games to run in it optimally it was all up in the air at the time right when something bad about the Wii U was reported on it something good was as well so many emotions heading into E3 this year but all signs were pointing towards this being a momentous event for the system and Nintendo announced they would be holding three separate conferences during E3 this year they must have so much news to share this was gonna be where the Wii U started to finally make some sense and this was the last moment I felt hope E3 2012 a lot was riding on this one and Nintendo knew that prior to their main press conference on June 5th a Nintendo Direct presentation was held to get a lot of the dirty Deets out of the way the updated controller design was confirmed alongside its name being the Wii U gamepad the optional and more conventional Wii U Pro controller was revealed but the big thing this event focused on was Miiverse they presented this video featuring some dwee plane Wii U this is what Nintendo thinks people who play games look like everybody her chokes on you I don't have facial hair he gets stuck in a zombie game and makes a post on me verse asking others for help to win one of his friends notices while browsing a Miiverse app on his phone though this gamer finds a random user and video calls them instantly to get some tips hi I own a Wii U I meet old men over the internet and I can't play Far Cry 3. so me versus a social media Message Board kind of deal built into the Wii U's infrastructure you can make posts about the games you're playing see what others are saying and interact with them drop pictures react using emotions with subtitles incorporating me vs posts within the game could have said it nicer though this video was a huge indicator that Nintendo's messaging was already way off with this system you're trying to convince core Gamers that the Wii U's aimed at them when this is one of the first promotional videos you put out for it a corny sitcom parody that features an adult playing Wii U talking to an action figure and acting all around pathetic damn I should buy a Wii U I haven't been embarrassed in a while this Nintendo Direct was 30 minutes but honestly could have been 10. I assume this is what Nintendo considered the re-unveling of Wii U to be as a good chunk of this presentation was dedicated to describing the concept of the system what the GamePad contributes to society just re-explaining what Nintendo showed off a year prior they dazed a few seconds of new 2D Mario footage and Miiverse was a pretty compelling idea but this was always a dud of a presentation for me though they got the boring info out of the way so now their E3 press conference should be nothing but pure excitement here it is and you look nothing like your picture I wasn't happy Nintendo's E3 2012 will go down as one of the most disappointing shows in the event's history it wasn't bad it was anything but exciting started off with Pikmin 3 getting a proper debut you know this game was confirmed years prior for the Wii and after nothing for nearly half a decade to see it resurface as one of the very first Wii U games was pretty special this was our first major look at an official release by Nintendo in high definition and it looked gorgeous this showing alone proved to me that Nintendo was making the most of their jump to HD oh yeah Mario time yeah the next game they showed was new Super Mario Brothers U but only after going over everything they detailed in the pre-e3 direct again what was the point of the pre-3 direct then we're already 20 minutes into the presentation by the time the second game shows up and like am I supposed to be impressed Nintendo announced this as you gotta have a Mario game at the launch of your new Nintendo system right oh boy you know it this looked painfully Bland it just looked like that Tech demo from last E3 new Super Mario Bros me just polished up a little bit which is what new Super Mario Brothers me looked like a polished up version of new Super Mario Brothers Wii which look like there's no hook with this one sure they showed off a new power up baby Yoshi's and a fifth player using the GamePad placing blocks wherever but these weren't exciting additions the Wii entry introduced simultaneous four-player multiplayer that changed everything new Super Mario Brothers U look like a new Super Mario Brothers game everybody who's buying a Wii U was gonna buy it but it wasn't like you had to have it you know Nintendo then moved into third party stuff focusing on Batman Arkham City Armored Edition for five goddamn minutes this thing released on other platforms eight months ago that's a whole ass pregnancy Scribblenauts Unlimited followed by a third party scissor reel showing off junk already announced at E3 2011 though Mass Effect 3 trying to in a real game damn it were revealed we fit you sing which was a karaoke game a small portion going over upcoming 3DS games Lego City Stories gets renamed to Lego City Undercover Ubisoft comes out to Showcase Just Dance 4. yeah that gets a whole ass demonstration you feel the need to show me that but Dad still won't show me how to change the oil in my car then their core titles zombieu which was actually what evolved from the project killer freaks from outer space they revealed this game at their own press conference the day before but showed it off a bit more here alongside Rayman Legends getting a proper debut plus all their other games yes let's display all Wii U titles shown off during this present station and eliminate games that were already released on other platforms or were already announced or shown off in an early form prior welcome back to buzz because whoever buzzes in fastest doesn't give a about the Wii U I mean I remember this being unbelievably deflating at the time but re-watching it it's even worse what the hell was this nothing was exciting here it was just stuff we already knew about and not even exciting stuff we already knew about and that grand reinvaling Nintendo promised for the system amounted to them just explaining what it is again I forgot Rapids land well that changes everything but that wasn't it for their E3 2012 presentation as Nintendo closed out the event detailing the game Nintendo Land for 15 minutes it's not that deep a collection of mini games based around utilizing the Wii U gamepad Nintendo pretty much introduced this as the Wii U equivalent to Wii Sports this is a area on top or that final jaw drop moment this is something that should have been revealed earlier on in the press conference lay the foundation for what you can do with this controller and then end the event with a big 3D Mario game the next Zelda next Metroid a Pokemon for the system Smash Brothers Mario Kart or really anything other than this digital fireworks oh my God Don't Make Me what's the most egregious thing I can do right now don't make me buy a Wii U Nintendo's third press conference that year was simply focused on 3DS software so that whole three presentations nonsense was pointless a third of each event was going over info we already knew about there was little to no brand new announcements no talk about price point release date launch titles no real hook as to why you need a Wii U outside of it being the next Nintendo console they didn't show anything bad but they also pretty much showed nothing at all while I was still looking forward to Wii U I felt very little excitement after E3 I didn't think Nintendo gave me any reason to be excited I mean what other big leading titles for the system was new Super Mario Brothers U but they were also talking about new Super Mario Bros 2 on the 3DS releasing that same year so it's like why were you expecting me to be excited about this one in particular they looked the damn same it's just this one's gonna cost me a few extra hundred dollars to play really enough Nintendo could have shown far more during these events on the E3 show floor the game project p100 was playable a new action title developed by Platinum Games a few weeks later a Nintendo Direct was held announcing the 3DS XL the fact that Bandai Namco was developing the next Smash Brothers why not talk about these things at E3 I mean they didn't need to after the disappointment of e3 2012 we were basically left in the dark again for the next few months until September where Nintendo held a preview presentation detailing the upcoming launch this was their last chance to explain why anybody should give a damn about Wii U and guess what happened come on give it the release date November 18th wow the week before Black Friday the day Nintendo would always reserve for their big gaming system releases that year how is that date even a question oh man what day in January is New Year's the price point yes Nintendo announced two versions of the system a white model with eight gigabytes of internal storage plus just the Necessities for 299.99 and a black model with 32 gigabytes and all kinds of junk thrown in for 349.99 most notably including a copy of Nintendo Land the starting price of 299 felt about right but was obviously far too high for what this console was supplying customers during this holiday season you could pick up an Xbox 360 with 250 gigabytes of internal storage a few games included and a couple of extra bonuses thrown in for 199 and with Nintendo pushing the Wii U as a system those interested in an Xbox 360 would be satisfied by well at that point just buy an Xbox 360. definitely hurts because the 349 model was the one to go for I mean Nintendo Land by itself was 60 bones so you are getting a deal but man to want to buy that you gotta already be willing to blow 299 on this thing and I don't think anybody alive was this event elaborated on many of the games shown off at E3 confirming many as launch titles or launch window releases and what we saw here was far more compelling new Super Mario Brothers U introduced some cool new modes and project p100 was properly revealed as the wonderful 101 though they also had some announcements Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate support from Activision which included Call of Duty Black Ops 2 as a launch title and Bayonetta 2 a sequel to an incredibly M rated hack and slash that only the dyiest of Hearts cared about that Nintendo was funding and publishing as a Wii U exclusive oh Bingo a pretty good move to Showcase Nintendo's commitment to a hardcore audience though the biggest focus of this presentation was all about that General audience introducing Nintendo TV that's V with a V basically an app on the Wii U that combines TV listings and streaming services to be your all-in-one destination when watching television want to watch a movie but don't know what server Professor channel it's on just pop open Nintendo TV and it'll tell you a feature that was fairly ahead of its time but was never that groundbreaking I mean it's nice to be able to just search on Apple TV or Roku the name of a movie and see what app is on but I can live without it so the fact Nintendo won various news outlets considered it a killer feature sure another killer feature is the Wii U's effect on spiders honestly this event was pretty good I was fairly compelled by what was shown this was genuinely exciting and then the ad campaign began damn it the first Wii U commercial featured a bunch of living rooms in boxes to dubstep each showing different scenarios in which the GamePad is being used none of which show the console in focus and most show other people using Wii remotes did they learn anything from the initial reveal this commercial screams how Nintendo had no real vision for this console this wasn't an ad that made you think or stuck with you or was clever in any way now you could replace the Wii U with any tech product here and this commercial would be the exact same and ending with the tagline how you will play next I mean it's fine but that's a tagline anybody could come up with mostly U.S just felt like an elaborate chart explaining everything the console can do and some of them were just flat out charts but that's whatever at this point what truly matters is the system coming out and on November 18th 2012 the Wii U finally officially launched the launch of the Wii U this felt like something that would never come we were waiting for so long it was like asking will Christ ever return nope opening up the Wii U basic set we have an HDMI cord sensor bar for Wii remotes power brick for the console power brick for the GamePad you can charge the controller via the console it requires its own outlet that is pathetic I understand the GamePad requires more power than the Wii U was able to supply it but that's Nintendo's problem to figure out this just feels like something they realized two weeks before the system launched like oops the GamePad needs its own AC adapter well let's pull out the console itself we get a white one with the basic set and it's as boring as it isn't interesting what did they just think the Wii was successful we'll just take a sander to it the Wii U console design is incredibly functional it looks good in any entertainment center but it also doesn't stick out whatsoever this system has no character to it it isn't striking like the original Wii with its silver stand or quirky like the GameCube it's just product I mean you can make your video game system a basic black box that's fine but just look at some of the most iconic impact popular consoles of all time functionally they could have all just been Basic Black boxes but they aren't for a reason it's good to have personality it's good to stick out the Wii U feels designed for somebody too self-conscious to admit they own a video game console oh what's that oh that's not a video game console it's a box full of nickels and porn still functional I mean everything is pretty cut and dry here the PlayStation 4 and 5 they look cooler but the trade-off is I have no goddamn idea where the eject button is first Nintendo Home console without a reset button wow that's a big deal we have a flap on the front similar to the original Wii though this one flicks into the system which I always found pretty neat SD card slot and two USB ports are nestled in here with the controller sync button on the outside now then on the back to more USB ports plus all the connections you need including the same AV Port from the Wii just in case yeah there's only four scenarios I can think of and three involve bears and what a boring ass system I don't blame Nintendo for always wanting to focus on the controller I blame them for making this console boring as to begin with that's about it for this bundle no accessories included outside of the Wii U gamepad itself which I guess you can consider this an accessory the police do this is the Wii U gamepad can you see it this thing is crazy to hold in your hands for the first time it almost feels unreal it just looks kind of fake especially the white one the shininess of the plastic the curves and overall size of this thing Eureka Fisher Price this is like baby's first iPad or a TV remote for seniors this just looks and feels goofy however I am confident with going on the record that the Wii U gamepad is one of the most misunderstood controllers of all time this is so comfortable these grips and molds on the back make it surprisingly easy to pick up and immediately position your fingers where they belong the button placement is nearly perfect here everything's in reach and feels natural the Buns themselves all feel great and nice and big soft yet not mushy click to them and the d-pad is the perfect size the thumbsticks have a great range and satisfying click down and the shoulder buns may be in a bit of an awkward place it feels like my fingers are sort of reaching for him but they're nowhere near uncomfortable though the triggers are awesome they're wide design make them a joy to press however they aren't analog ones like you'd see on Xbox and Playstation there's no degree of movement here you're either on or you're off it's just a strange decision to make if you want this console to house all the hardcore titles you would think they'd want to make sure it could play them to their fullest potential but because of this small decision a lot of racing games just won't work as well on here they'll work just fine at the end of the day this isn't a huge issue but it's strange that it exists in the first place especially considering Nintendo said no to that but crammed a whole ass camera in here they sold the Wii U at a loss and for damn good reasons here's a microphone because God forbid a Wii U gamepad not have one NFC Reader for all kinds of things at launch nothing is things the TV button on the controller is probably the best feature using an IR blaster at the top this can act as a universal remote it's incredibly convenient because you're pretty likely to lose this I think it's physically impossible to lose one of these comes with a stylus to use on the oh wow there's a screen it's the answer to all of our problems the most necessary necessity the six inch low resolution touchscreen with no multi-touch streams are made of well isn't everything about this screen suffices it does the job it needs to do but it doesn't do anything exceptionally well and was actively updated in numerous ways which in 2008 maybe you could get away with in 2012 smartphones and tablets were experiencing widespread adoption what once were considered luxuries were starting to be bought up by everybody these all had big and beautiful screens phenomenal multi-touch and were far more affordable than they'd ever been before so tell me again why is this special this is a solid feeling controller with a bunch of stuff from things we already own crammed in here at a lower quality than what we're used to and Nintendo's expecting us to be dazzled camera it's nice to meet you future however something I think is pretty impressive about the GamePad is the ability to stream and display whatever the console sends to it without noticeable lag or an internet connection it can't be understated that this is a seamless experience while with smartphones and tablets to do a similar thing you need a streaming box and Wi-Fi and even then there's a vat of delay with that being said the Wii U gamepad has a pretty limited range you step anywhere close to 25 feet away and it it's over I'm gonna install an electric fence but this will keep me off the street the range is serviceable yet it's a bit too limited for me to comfortably recommend the Wii U to those who want to take advantage of off TV play because it's really spotty sometimes it'll let you go in the other room other times that's the last thing it'll let you do really speaking of misery battery life Nintendo claims the GamePad will last about three to five hours on one charge which is pretty bad I mean they probably cheaped out on this because this isn't a portable console this is always going to be within range of an outlet so it's not the biggest deal but it's for sure annoying especially considering how this thing will not hold a charge picked this thing up after a few days of not using it even if it was at 100 battery where you left off it's gonna be dead a bit of a mixed bag on the controller here though to be fair I have a similar amount of complaints towards the Wii remote in fact I might even have more this is just easier to rag on because look at it this is so big and goofy looking with so many unnecessary additions that just make it unwieldy to some and overwhelming to newcomers I mean half of the things included here I don't have an excuse for what uses the port on the bottom here what I just answered the question however as an actual controller just holding it for me I always really liked how this fell in my hands I understand why others wouldn't but for my hands this works well let's take a peek at what's included in the Deluxe Set only 50 bones more and considering all the extra junk you get with it I don't think I can look a basic set owner in the eyes mirrors so we get a full-blown copy of Nintendo Land 60 value the Wii U console stands since the Wii U is basically nothing but love handles if you wanted it to be more vertical like the original Wii these little feet do the trick they have a nice feel to them popping them on the system is easy snug and yeah who would have thought this could happen I sometimes dabbled in using these feet and when I was getting bored of my Wii U I thought surely it can't be due to the games standing at upright might help the GamePad charging cradle you plug the AC adapter in here and Bam you have a discussion piece this was a nice feature Nintendo included a similar accessory with the original 3DS model but in the end it felt a bit unnecessary as an included accessory especially when they also bundled in a Gamepad stand that's all it is a stand for the GamePad it's just plastic it's my favorite thing the stand is so good the Wii U gamepad stand now you can put anything on it I still use it as a phone or tablet stand it just works so well it's sturdy well designed yet lightweight with a small footprint this is a fantastic product why was it included I feel like you don't need both the GamePad stand and the charging cradle they both effectively do the same thing they prop your Gamepad up and you can charge it in both of them now if the GamePad stand was adjustable and the charging cradle wasn't I'd understand it more but this is the Wii U and it doesn't and I don't in addition to all of this the Deluxe Set initially came with the deluxe digital promotion which consistently gave you five dollar gift cards for spending a certain amount on the Nintendo eShop for the next two years listen I get it if you only add 300 to spare but man that landfill's looking awful lonely I always recommended people save up just a bit longer since Nintendo Land alone was worth more separately though the color Choice might have been a deal breaker for some as the Deluxe Set only came in Black here in North America eventually Japan and Europe received white consoles in the bundle but here in Ohio this is how we Deluxe Set and man the blank looks better but for nine seconds I mean you eat soup with your hands once and it looks nasty the glossy finish just shows scratches and smudges so easily if the deluxe came in white I might have gone with that for just how much better the console and controller looked after a while but overall the initial package it's fine that first time you would cheat the GamePad from the box that's a special moment based on square footage alone however none of this matters until we actually experience the Wii U and thankfully I turned mine on nine years ago [Music] and now it's ready to play and launched the Wii U required a day one update which enabled the following the Wii U pretty much every feature listed on the box wasn't available you had to connect to the internet to download a patch and telling a Nintendo fan to do that in 2012. you might as well be asking water to burn this was a big deal I mean this was unprecedented for Nintendo at the time articles were written up about how this was unacceptable if you didn't have internet what were you gonna do how were the Amish going to use the internet browser now he's found this outrage to be overblown and this system update mostly added features that were internet based anyways like the eShop Wii U chat me verse out of the box the Wii U could still play Wii U discs so it's not like it was internet dependent standing up for the little guy without internet but 350 plus to blow on a Wii U at launch feels silly to me when the features they're missing out on due to the day one update they'd be missing out on regardless however Way backwards compatibility was also included in this update but if you'd get use out of that you probably already owned a Wii so why would you need to immediately use that that feature on Wii U why didn't Satori awada apologize because apparently the update was bricking units when users would unplug the Wii U during installation why would you do that okay well to be fair I think the biggest issue that came with this update was the speed of it the Wii U is part of my French slow what takes three seconds on the Xbox 360 takes 30 here something as simple as going to the home menu takes eons so imagine how long an update like this would take well once we get everything squared away and boot up the system as normal our me is dropped into the warawara Plaza on the television while on the gamepad screen we have all of our applications now what is the wara Plaza that's what I'm looking at this is supposed to represent what all the Wii U owners across the world are doing as these are all users posting on me verse and the icons are some of the most popular games right now why is this the main menu this is cute but it's confusing if anything the only reason I know all of this is because look at me I understand what Nintendo was trying to do here a big part of the Wii U concept to them was Community whether it be in person or through the internet that theme is shoved right in your face as the console boots up showing what everybody is saying it made it so then no matter what you never really felt alone while playing the Wii U however I feel in this works better as a screen saver or just as a portion of the screen you can't do a damn thing here all the buttons control what's on the GamePad until we hit X or tap this corner nugget and our screens have switched now I can move all around the world Plaza tap on me zoom in and out and wow it's not much less pointless I've always found it incredibly annoying how you can't control what's on the TV screen with the GamePad if you want to get anything done you gotta swap it down here the only way you can select what's on the TV is by using a non-game pad controller like a Wii remote what a dumb limitation this feels like they're trying to get you to see the value in having two screens but it's just making me question it that much more like why is this better these screens don't complement each other what's down here suddenly doesn't make sense because of what's up there this isn't smart or well thought out it just feels like let's give them something nice to look at on their secondary display man just change the channel at that point the main applications menu is pretty damn similar to the 3DS but now with loads more detail and numerous buttons floating around in the background moving your controller around affects the reflection on all the icons hell when you insert a disc they animated one realistically spinning this user interfaces a lot of things but it ain't lazy I don't think everything coherently comes together here it functions it does what you need it to do efficiently enough and as long as the system software does that well it's hard to complain be grateful let's check out the meme maker one of the original Wii's killer apps I made so many memes just for fun back in the day seriously these are from my childhood Wii there's uh-huh yeah okay hmm oh I genuinely think this is one of the greatest character creators of all time and not the most fleshed out God no but it's so simple and intuitive with the weirmo pointer yet surprisingly deep even with the limited options if feels like everybody can make themselves with this and have fun while doing it you can sit down with everybody point at the screen argue over which options to choose it's such an underrated aspect of that system and it's back here on Wii U Mega Meez on Wii U just isn't the same man you use the touchscreen which works great but so much of the me making experience is exclusive to the GamePad on the TV there's a small picture-in-picture view showing what's on there but it just feels uninvolved for others in the room like oh this is what Scott is doing all by himself hunched in the corner it just feels oddly lonely especially when you use the photo option here we can take a picture of ourselves and it'll make a meme based on it God is dead and so is my self-esteem when we have the option of editing our me further after this they just don't show the picture in picture view why this is such a throwaway feature nobody's ever satisfied with what it comes up with and the only joy anybody ever gets out of it is due to how much it's off the mark Meme Maker could have been amazing on Wii U there's loads of ways they could have taken advantage of the two screens what if two people could be making me's at the same time you can even make a game out of it but try to make the same person and see who gets closest or what if all I'm making a on the GamePad the TV screen is showing them doing humorous things which would be entertaining for the audience and also helped showcase how they would look in a game or honestly just a full screen duplicate of what's happening on the GamePad either go all the way or fart it out this Middle Ground is demented it feels empty the me channel felt alive like it was an actual place that means we're walking around and interacting here you selected me in a static pose on a shelf and it's just depressing oh man I need a pick-me-up excuse me I was under the impression this second screen was more important than insurance which is really frustrating because I'm not using either okay so I understand not everything having this mind-blowing planet's aligning moment with the two screens but asking for more than nothing ain't asking for that sure there might be some sensitive details in the settings that's a perfect use for the second screen to input passwords or look at Wi-Fi networks but to have nothing on the TV during this sure when you have to fiddle with settings that's boring for others in the room but at least they have something to look at while you do it Wii U chat is another built-in feature offering video calls amongst users I actually never had the chance to try this before it was discontinued in late 2017 but that won't stop me there's activity log for info on how many hours you've sunk into activity log parental controls health and safety information you know basic stuff just like the pre-installed software on the Wii foreign [Applause] [Music] fun things baked onto the system it was the Wii U the only apps on here are productivity based and nothing like the photo Channel everybody votes Channel check me out channel on the Wii or ar games and Face Raiders on the 3DS those were such fun little time wasters that helped showcase the unique Hardware the Wii U none of these apps are inherently meant to be fun and honestly do a pretty poor job utilizing and validating this controller but that's where the other half of the OS comes into play so we have this row of icons down here these are apps we can open at Mid game do our thing in then hop right back into what we were doing so let's see if these turn the tides in the Wii U's favor me first labeled by Nintendo as the Wii U's killer app I would agree right alongside Wii U chat this service was discontinued in 2017. definitely because they did not want to keep paying the moderators my Lord me and verse was a very simple concept an online Message Board slash social media platform hybrid built into your game console every game had its own Community you could post in and what you posted was completely up to you completely you could ask for tips draw fan art type out your thoughts anything it makes a lot of sense considering if I post this to Facebook I'm a freak if I post this to me verse I'm one of the freaks there's just something kind of special about interacting with those who are just as up as you are I mean you needed to buy a Wii U to access me first automatically you and every other me versus user have something in common which led to each yeah you got every comment you received feeling so nice this was a social media based around everybody getting along and talking to each other about things they love which is such a far cry from what social media is today back then I found me verse to be a fun little distraction and I tried posting on it a few times but never got super invested it was mostly there to gawk at surprisingly good art and two-year-olds ruining their credibility however in retrospect it's obvious that Miiverse was the True Heart and Soul of the Wii U well somebody get some chicken soup for that Soul miivers didn't make the Wii U a must buy rather it was a cool element of the console that's easier to appreciate these days every system now has a button dedicated to sharing on social media which basically just amounts to Twitter and Facebook that makes all the sense in the world if you share a Nintendo related thing on Twitter that's remarketing for them plus they don't have to worry about server maintenance moderating all the headaches that come with managing a service like this but memevers offered a community of like-minded individuals who just wanted to talk about Wario and I think that made from one of the most engaging features of this console it gave the Wii U a unique feel that I didn't appreciate it enough until it was gone now I have to get banned drawing penises at Bob Evans the Nintendo eShop was here and accounted for at lodge not only could we download digital only titles but selectful retail ones too though no classic games via the Virtual Console yet like on the Wii in 3DS this whole setup was definitely better than the Wii Shop Channel though as Limited as that was the experience definitely stuck with you more the Wii uz shop is very pleasant and decently designed though it just doesn't have ah that the internet browser was honestly really damn good here it was fast worked with websites like YouTube and the touchscreen made browsing on here far easier than any other console plus there's this really great feature here where you can hide what's on the TV and proudly display it at a moment's notice I hope the moment was the only one that noticed that everything else here is pretty basic stuff the friend list for users you add is friends which thankfully the Wii U introduced to usernames for online profiles which is all you need to search for people this is a huge upgrade from the Wii which I guess for safety reasons they used Frank codes oh wait that's my IP address but not only did you have to use mile long codes but different ones for each game which was absurd so I'd love to comment Nintendo for this but you don't applaud the serial killer for not serial killing one day to end up serial killing again Nintendo TV wasn't available until a month after launch though you were able to launch standard Netflix Hulu Amazon and YouTube apps which all worked well here in fact they were all optimized for the system using the GamePad in unique ways which I will say for watching movies and TV shows this works pretty well on Netflix you could scrub through on the controller pick a new episode or just watch on the secondary screen it wasn't anything fancy but I definitely used it a fair amount because of these features however after a while I just ended up using the controller like normal since it required less brain power and that's the thing about two screens this far apart whether it's moving your eyes back and forth or cranking your neck up and down it just never gets super comfortable and I know that sounds pretty pathetic I need a cigarette but I think it just wears me down because this isn't necessary yeah it's being forced onto me like it is Netflix couldn't be controlled with anything other than the GamePad and while there are benefits using this all the time can get kind of overbearing but I felt like that with the weird mode and the 3DS's 3d effect those were genuine Innovations yet they were oftentimes used improperly it all comes down to that one thing that one game that can prove the worth of a gimmick and luckily at the Wii U's launch we had over 20 games released alongside it well at least one of these validate the console are dogs cats Wii U games came and these here blue cases with this droopy ass header featuring a yellow trim a really odd direction to go in especially considering this is fundamentally the GameCube box art template you know Nintendo's worst selling console at the time yeah I'm gonna do the thing I did to get shot in the face again it's like the world is out to get me I don't think these are ugly boxes rather they're just kind of lame it feels like they wanted to ensure there was no way you'd mistake these for Wii games but in doing that they just ended up making these look awkward if anything the header continues over to the spine where we get this Ridge that never lines up correctly with games surrounding it the fun on the spine constantly changes between a default one also reminiscent of the GameCube the actual stylized logos and sometimes a strange Middle Ground between the two the overall aesthetic just feels like it can't be taken seriously which is just bizarre considering this is the console Nintendo wanted to win the hardcore back with yet the box art design looks way goofier in kid like 10 the wheeze I don't know I mean I would be lying if I said I wasn't Charmed by these boxes I think they have a certain appeal to them though my Lord do I question some elements at play here the discs themselves can hold up to 25 gigabytes of data similar to a Blu-ray disc though this is its own proprietary format but we can tell by how cuddly they are my God these things have the smoothest edges of any disk and they feel so nice in the hands now why did they do this well why am I doing this it doesn't really matter because at the end of the day it's all about what's on these discs not what's around them I'm gonna jot that one down for later let's finally start taking a look at the Wii U's launch lineup starting with the most notable releases those published by Nintendo themselves of which there were four games Nintendo Land New Super Mario Brothers U Ninja Gaiden 3 razor's Edge and sing Party well obviously we should ring in the new system with the deluxe sets pack in this is Nintendo Land and this is a good good idea we use Wii Sports huh that sentiment alone caused many to immediately dismiss Nintendo Land it's a mini game collection with me using a fair amount of motion control yeah I haven't seen that one before but everything about this game felt like Nintendo was looking to bring themselves to the next level you're visiting a Nintendo theme park with 12 attractions based on some of their franchises with each one utilizing the GamePad in a unique way and while these attractions are very much so mini games they have so much depth content and replay value that it's sometimes hard to consider many of them just mini games the Zelda Battle Quest attraction has two modes two different ways to play depending on if you're playing with the GamePad or Wii remote over a dozen stages to go through this isn't a full game by any means but I'd say it's meteor than Link's crossbow training which was a full game albeit a freebie bundle with the Wii zapper but still this is one of 12 games and it has that much to it not all of these are complete winners some of them use the GamePad in pretty pointless ways uh others are just flat out not great but what's good here is so damn good I'd argue that this is one of the greatest multiplayer games of all time the attractions are split up via three categories competitive team based and single player and I'd say the competitive games are some of the best examples of how the Wii U gamepad can enhance things and offer experiences it just wouldn't be the same Elsewhere for instance Mario chase is basically tag up to four players on the TV one on the GamePad with a full map available such a simple idea a Timeless game at its core but the two separate screens make it work so damn well this makes the use special so why don't they focus on it Nintendo wanted to push how the GamePad could do all kinds of things but in the process of doing so I feel that revealed their lack of Direction with this concept you ask what the Wii remote can do you get a very definitive answer what does the Wii U gamepad do that the amount of things the GamePad does in Nintendo Land feels a bit over compensationally some of these ideas are really great but then you have these others where yeah you're using the GamePad but are you a lot of these could just be done with a weir mode or work on an iPad and some of them solve a problem that they created themselves which can lead to some fun ideas but that's not Innovation you can't act like this is the controller to change everything when you're actively designing your game to be harder without it a Nintendo Land doesn't do this too much but this is a trend in game design I saw consistently throughout the Wii U's life and I would have preferred it if they focused more on the asymmetrical multiplayer based experiences because that's what nintendoland does best and unfortunately it's only about half of the package the other half isn't bad many of the single player experiences are quite fun but they just don't leave the same impression so while I'm not sure if Nintendo Land completely validates this controller's existence at the very least shows the potential the groundwork is laid with this game it shows that this thing has potential and if some of the best ideas in this package are elaborated on then we'd have a game where it would feel as if the controller was specifically designed for it while currently it feels like the controller was designed first and they cobbled together some experiences that could use it in some way visually though this thing is off the charts which is really impressive considering this is the first HD Nintendo release they stepped up their game in numerous ways with this title the minigame collection with this much content looking this great being this much fun in both multiplayer and single player after years of what was often the bare minimum on Wii even if it didn't make as big of a splash as we Sports and didn't really convince the public why this controller needs to exist Nintendo Land was still great it's some of the most fun I've ever had in multiplayer the single player experiences are surprisingly enjoyable the Nintendo references well they obviously make the title less accessible than Wii Sports which I also feel was something holding the game back nevertheless they were cute and the amount of effort crammed into this ensuring it was replayable with loads of content and attention to detail proved to me that Nintendo wanted to start this generation off on the right foot we were officially in a new era for Nintendo new Super Mario Brothers U this was the main launch title everybody picked up because they didn't have a good excuse you're really gonna sit here and act like you're too good to buy a b grade 2D Mario you bought a Wii U why else would you get this at launch you're here to play the latest Nintendo games do it because of that on paper launching the Wii U alongside this game made a ton of sense new Super Mario Brothers was a massive success appealing to both casual and hardcore players with new Super Mario Brothers Wii selling over 30 million units you'd be stupid not to launch the Wii U with this and yet I am awestruck with how stupid this was new Super Mario Bros U is a good game it's yet another well-designed 2D Mario with everything you'd expect here and accounted for however this was the fourth new for Mario Brothers game and the second released year what originally made this series of games so enjoyable outside of the great design and control was how they were a return to classic Mario gameplay after being absent for over a decade entry was a return to the format on consoles and introduced simultaneous multiplayer and after just getting new Super Mario Bros 2 on the 3DS after getting a new Mainline Mario game almost every year since 2006 it left new Super Mario Brothers U with a lot to prove why does this game exist why does it need to be on Wii U does it add anything that pushes the series forward those were some of my questions leading up to release and Nintendo answered them thanks man what a nothing Mario game this is it doesn't do anything particularly bad it just doesn't do anything at all this doesn't feel like a sequel to New Super Mario Brothers Wii rather an alternate take on it where everything is pretty much the damn same outside of a few Wing consequential elements and the level designs I mean it's so bad that sometimes the only way I can differentiate between Wii and you gameplay is the player icon there's barely any meaningful additions to the core game this is just a new Super Mario Brothers game to play on Wii U there's no other reason to pick this up it's just to give you something to do with your new system now with that being said this could be far worse for a launch title being just another Mario game as the biggest negative that's pretty damn good other consoles would kill to have something remotely as good as a basic 2D Mario at launch though for Nintendo users this wasn't lucrative we got these games all the time so then even if it is minor what sets this game apart from the others uh well you have boost mode where one player is playing the game as per usual on the TV while another places blocks on the GamePad oh okay well disregard anything negative I've said about this game really that's the best you could do it's a fine feature but my Lord this was all over the Wii U advertising as if anybody was looking at this and saying finally a Mario game with blocks the world map is interconnected much like Super Mario World which was heavily requested prior to this and they delivered it with half of their asses each World in this game is still the generic Mario themes grass desert snow so when you travel to each of them there's a very drastic line separating things so this doesn't feel like a world this feels like a bunch of areas stitched together there are baby Yoshi's which operate in fun and unique ways alongside the new flying squirrel power up this new character NAB it appears on the world map every now and then and you can chase him to nav a special P Acorn item this is only somewhat noteworthy because nevit has a somewhat interesting design ah the story is a little different now in the sense that Bowser's overtaking Peach's castle so instead of starting a Peach's castle and going to Bowser's you're heading back to Peach's castle now run by Bowser I am really stressed about this Ransom letter the main campaign is typical as 2D Mario it's good but that's all it is this ain't an experience that sticks with you there's no real standout moments it's something to mindlessly blast through and nothing more though the side modes are a bit more interesting here specifically challenge mode which was really fun to chip away at coin battle allows you to edit coin placements with the Wii U gamepad which is a pretty smart use of the controller I'll be it very hidden now many don't even know about this and I think it's a way cooler feature than boost mode there's definitely a few Shining Moments in this package but that doesn't take away from this being the most boring new Super Mario Brothers to me both to talk about and to play level design is good yet oftentimes very empty and overly long the additions to the franchise don't make a difference for the first HD Mario game while it's clean and Polished it's not impressive or interesting to look at new Super Mario Bros U is just there I was always gonna buy it because well it's Mario we all love Mario games and this is a fine one but there's nothing exciting here it's the same damn game they've made time and time again which makes this a safe purchase you know what you're gonna get and while that's good for long time Nintendo fans at the launch of a new system it's pretty bad for anybody else hey when you get your new Wii U you have an actual Mario game to blast through most of the time you have to make do with the scraps available on launch day but with the Wii U hey this is an actual game it's fully featured with loads of levels all playable in multiplayer you can try and collect all the star coins to unlock everything or get gold medals on all the challenges this gave you quite a lot to do with your system right out the gate and I think most Nintendo fans would be playing this regardless of being a launch title or not so this was cool to have here however if you weren't a Die Hard Nintendo fan buying a Wii U the second was available why would you want this game it looks the damn same to the game you have on Wii but this one you have to buy a whole ass new console to play because of that I don't think this game did what Nintendo wanted it to do but what I think it did was give early adopters of the Wii U an actual game to play during this period it may not have been anything special but it was a Mario game and for Nintendo fans at launch that was enough for everybody else why would you spend over 300 to play this I love the color blue and that's included for free Nintendo Land and Mario were the big ones to get here but that doesn't mean Nintendo didn't put out other launch titles we can't forget Sing Party we can't the initial Wii U ad campaign really pushed this game as if it was a big deal it's karaoke That's all this is and it doesn't make it bad it just makes me question why Nintendo went this hard with it saying party was developed by freestyle games they were owned by Activision at the time and known for the DJ Hero series and uses the GamePad plus the included Wii U microphone to revolutionize karaoke you see before you'd be looking this way now with the power of Wii U well this is just embarrassing the idea is that you face the Audience by reading the lyrics on the GamePad while the others in the room can sing and dance along by watching the TV you're asking a Wii U owner to face a crowd and I'm gonna get deer in headlights if they had pants to piss I think the audience for this is a bit too idealized like who's doing this the singer you're the only one playing the game you're the only one getting scored then everybody else in the room the game's just asking them to dance along it doesn't matter they're not getting scored they're using no controller just do it if they did a just dance style thing for the audience where they're dancing with weird modes while you're singing towards them sure they'd be actually playing with you but here it's just asking people to dance for no reason at that point why do you need the game just play some music and dance but doing that doesn't involve the Wii U microphone well nothing other than sing Party does yep bundled with the game we get the microphone which was also sold separately at launch because in order to start a sentence without knowing how it's going to end this is literally just a basic ass USB microphone it's not as default USB mic as the ones included with guitar hero or buggy but that's all it pretty much is so acting like this is the official Wii U microphone designed specifically for the console I'm like okay sure like the swad of gum see it fits sing Party does support multiple microphones for multiplayer which is definitely why they offered these separate from the bundle and I just find this to be funny I left earlier I swear saying party is a fine karaoke game the Yes you're interface on the GamePad is slick and the track list is sure to please anybody in 2012 looking for the most inoffensive pop playlist but that's all it really is and I think it's silly for Nintendo to treat it as anything more strangely enough I think they advertise this more than their final published launch title Ninja Gaiden 3 razor's Edge how could that be Ninja Gaiden 3 originally released on 360 and PS3 back in March of 2012 following a ton of excitement I mean this was revealed for Wii U Back In E3 2011 and the crowd went wild and then the game came out the crowd did not go wild at E3 2012. Ninja Gaiden 3 wasn't bad I think it was just really mishandled and misguided the series was known for being brutally difficult and three aimed to widen its appeal by simplifying everything and making it far easier which translates to I can't stop drooling yeah it's pretty brain dead now and strips the core gameplay of the depth that made so many people fans of Ninja Gaiden to begin with and the effort to appeal to more people than ever before they ended up with a game that nobody really wanted but hey this is a Ninja Gaiden 3 no this is Ninja Gaiden 3 razor's Edge an updated version that was actually announced as the Wii U version back in 2011. so you announced an enhanced Edition a year before the actual game releases their foresight is incredible well we got the better version exclusive on Wii U for a bit while it did eventually release elsewhere and Nintendo published it on here making it the third m-rated title of theirs very impressive at this rate tomorrow they'll be eating solid foods Razor's Edge is still ninjag 3 at its core but with loads of additions tweaks and enhancements to make the best out of a bad situation there's only so much you can do especially within about half a year and taking all of this into account Razor's Edge is pretty impressive and definitely the definitive version of Ninja Gaiden 3. if only this was the definitive version of Razor's Edge the Wii U gamepad doesn't do much here displaying combos you can perform which actually isn't the worst idea for a game like this though for how fast paced this is it's pretty hard to fully take advantage of it a few actions have touch screen buttons which also have normal buns to press so I assume this is for when I feel like mixing it up and moving my thumb four inches to my left okay that's Sunday however probably the biggest upside here is off TV play we can jam through the entirety of Razor's Edge on the GamePad which was a big benefit to this version or really any multi-platform game on here and when it comes to Wii U gamepad features for Ninja Gaiden I think the way they did it here was the only true way to go this game ain't too bad not the best Ninja game but the best version of one of the worst ninja getting games and that's everything Nintendo published at launch which it's definitely an interesting lineup it almost feels like something's missing like if they had one more game this would be a bit more of a fully fleshed out lineup on Nintendo's end maybe if Lego City under cover made launch I don't know I mean it was in the launch commercial however as odd as these four games being together is I think they make for a pretty high quality offering by the company nothing that I'd consider a system seller but definitely a few must-haves for those who already owned a Wii U but that's where the third parties come in and nobody was more supportive of the console than Ubisoft especially at launch with their exclusive M rated title zombie you this red ear was the biggest deal for Wii U owners a game but this wasn't just any game this was a scary game see and a horror game exclusive to the Wii U using the GamePad in integral ways that sounds exactly what the doctor ordered side note he sucks however let's not forget that Ubisoft also promised we owners at launch that their dreams of a gritty first-person shooter with realistic motion controls would become a reality they also called you ugly you could draw a lot of parallels between zombieu and Red Steel before launch which was a bit concerning I mean this game didn't turn out all too great but zombie you zombie was gonna be different this had so many UniQue Ideas this had potential this was going to be huge and what it ended up being was what zombie you much like ubisoft's Wii launch title Red Steel zombie you received pretty mixed reviews this was a game with some incredible ideas utilizing the unique features of the Wii U as much as it could however to me it doesn't really stick The Landing you can drill a survivor in the zombie apocalypse and your duty is to survive I'll do better I promise when you die in the game your character is dead and you wake up as a completely different Survivor and try to pick up where your last character left off in addition the Wii U gamepad is used for numerous things but most notably your inventory when you're rifling through your stuff you have to look down at it while you're vulnerable up on the TV you're always a little worried something's going to attack you while you're looking down which these are genius additions to a survival horror game and in 2012 this genre was suffering and needed something like this and for ZombiU to come out and not only proudly label itself as such but also bring some great new ideas with it as well you gotta give it props for that but those great ideas are all zombie you really has you can appreciate them but you're not really experiencing them at their fullest potential this isn't a bad game I just find it to be an unpolished and repetitive one which downplays the survival horror elements these zombies take way too long to kill while on paper that makes them more of a thread and in tandem scarier in practice it just makes each encounter annoying and overly long the combat isn't interesting it's so basic which is fine it works but you're gonna be engaging in it so much and it's just so tedious the environments are really dark which obviously makes sense but they're so dark that it's hard to tell where I'm at most of the time there's barely any story The visuals look like they belong in the original Xbox and the overall package feels too dependent on the Wii U gamepad gimmicks and the new survivor upon death mechanic to make this worthwhile everything else just doesn't feel like it comes together to create a full experience but again that doesn't make zombie bad if anything many of the reasons I don't care for this game are why others like it this is the definition of survival horror and brings you back to the Golden Age of that genre both mechanically and aesthetically while introducing Concepts that are actually well thought out and work quite well it's definitely a mixed bag and isn't for everyone which I think threw many players off who bought it because this was one of the launch titles to get but you know what well I was never one to get super into ZombiU I still respect the hell out of it creating an exclusive M rated game on an unproven Nintendo console at launch heavily utilizing the new controller in a genre that most companies were too chicken to touch at the time for the sake of sales numbers that takes gumption and foresight while zombieu was obviously ubisoft's big launch title and they put out a handful of others ranging from more Wii U exclusives to multi-platform Ports most notably Assassin's Creed 3. tell me how would you rather play Assassin's Creed 3 like this or this other than that it's the same game it's pretty much identical to the PS3 and 360 releases outside of the GamePad usage which is just a map with the option to do off-tv play buried in the options but when we select that the TV just tells us to look at the GamePad unlike Mario U it can't do gameplay on both simultaneously but hey that just makes me think about the Wii U's true technical capabilities yeah I made pump out games that look like just Xbox 360 titles but for some of these titles the Wii U had to render the image twice and stream one of them to the controller or a completely separate image so take what the 360 is pumping out and double it I think that is pretty impressive so Pat's off to the Wii U for being able to do that and hands off to Assassin's Creed 3 for not giving a what I think this is a solid version I don't think the map on the GamePad makes a crazy difference honestly I mean I played this game with the mini map in the corner and without it having to look down at the GamePad I mean the less UI on screen is nice but it's not like this stuff was covering up anything important yeah plus it was honestly a bit easier to quickly look at the mini map than it is to look down at the controller yeah it's less cramped down here and we can see more but that was never a problem before this works just fine I'm thankful this is an option though keyword being option because I'm even more thankful this isn't forced upon you it's a cool little bonus for those who want it making this a perfectly fine way to play Assassin's Creed 3 though it does feel a bit shafted in comparison to the other versions the Wii U game got all the DLC released a few days after the 316 PS3 those platforms also got collector's edition variants the Wii U missed out on here in North America it just feels a bit like this version wasn't a priority for Ubisoft which did make it hard to warm pick in this one up compared to the other platforms but that's getting pretty nitpicky at the end of the day this is Assassin's Creed 3 on Wii U and that's all it really needs to be much like Just Dance 4 ubisoft's other multiply release It's Just Dance 4 on Wii U and this is Just Dance 4 with a hat that's pretty much what this feels like I mean it's or just dance so the Wii U version does have a few exclusive songs on the disc and the puppet master mode where the GamePad user picks which poses for the players on screen to do not about use it's a pretty cute Edition alongside song lyrics appearing on here I'd consider this to be the definitive version of the game however at this point the series was going hot and heavy on the Xbox 360 with connect and that in my opinion is the controller for dancing games you still have to use the Wii remote here actually a good chunk of ubisoft's games have Wii remote required plastered right on the box this was never a hard pill to swallow rather a weird one just kind of assumed you already had some weirdos lying around which I find to be a bit presumptuous and it's not like these games couldn't have possibly worked without them Just Dance why not use the camera on the Wii U gamepad prop that sucker up and dance in front of it ESPN Sports Connection well it doesn't actually require a Wii remote to play so they're ahead of me on that one ESPN sports connection because TBS said no seems like they added the ESPN branding fairly late into the game as at E3 2012 they were marketing this as Just Sports Connection with that original title sometimes still appearing in game this is just a Wii Sports wannabe with the ESPN Lego slapped on it which doesn't charm me nothing about this feels like ESPN nothing about it feels good it's such a choppy ass rough collection of six Sports it has incredibly dumb Gamepad use forcing touch screen controls for games like tennis I've played worse Wii Sports knockoffs but this one's just pathetic well why stop at Wii Sports Ubisoft also released a Wii Fit lookalike in the form of your shape fitness evolved 2013. this is basically just dance but focused on Fitness it's well made but the GamePad integration is stupid as hell you require a Wii remote to do the workouts in the GamePad to navigate the menus so you have to keep swap happened between them with the TV screen showing nothing if you're going to require the Wii remote why even bother with this just copy what's on the TV to the GamePad and advertise how you can keep working out without the TV but no if you want to see the worst type of Gamepad use look no further than having to use my sweaty fingers on a touch screen after a workout just because if I don't then why the hell did I spend 300 this game's okay but what's a Ubisoft without tumors this is rabbit's land their last published launch title the rabbit's made a name for themselves on the Wii whether that was a good name depends on who you're asking obviously the wanky motion control mini game collection was a staple of that system and the Rabbids were Kings of this domain so after Rayman Raving Rabbids was a Smash Hit launch title on Wii no matter what we were getting Rabbids day one on Wii U Rabbids Land interesting out of the Wii U had two minigame collections based around theme parks at launch and only 50 percent of them were worth a damn and Rabbit's land isn't the worst it actually has some fun ideas and I use this thing that pretty much every mini game is based around asymmetrical multiplayer and they can be clever and interesting Concepts that actually end up working quite well problem is there's only 20 games and the method you play them is via this game board a la Mario Party and this board is one of the most boring designs imaginable plus it's the only one even some of the worst Mario parties have a couple to choose from but rabbidsland only has one and 20 minigames while a game like Mario Party 8 has 6 boards and over 70 mini games this is just a really light and dull package it's not of low quality it has some good animation some fun ideas and minigames though they're just mini games they're fun that first time but that's not gonna last especially if the glue holding the games together is so lame I can't imagine anybody playing this for more than an hour anytime after the Wii used launch I continue to push the bar but I'm gonna hand it to Ubisoft they supported the hell out of Wii U even if most of their releases were a mixed bag you get at the very least tell they cared and wanted to take advantage of this console's unique capabilities which is something Warner Brothers did as well with their launch games headlined by Batman Arkham City Armored Edition what we have here is basically an enhanced definitive edition of Arkham City all of the DLC is included alongside some new Wii U features that are shoved down our throat out if you're not a fan of using the GamePad I know what your personal hell looks like no Wii U Pro controller support the lack of an option to just play the game as it was on 360 and PS3 always bugs me like these editions are cool but there's no reason to act like they're necessary the game works fine on the other platforms with normal controller so why force it here well I had to do something to get you interested in a year old game this released elsewhere in October of 2011 when Arkham City was announced for Wii U at E3 that year but people cheered and then realized what that meant yeah it's cool the Wii U is getting this game but if the console is releasing in 2012 am I going to Care by then so in came Armored Edition featuring the ba team mode oh my God that sounds incredible after the initial excitement from seeing three letters I soon realized what this entailed nothing bat mode is just a mechanic where you fill up a meter in combat and then can unleash it to be stronger for a limited time this is the easiest addition you can make to the game that makes no difference all just to say Batman's faster and stronger on Wii U now the real star of the show here is the unique Gamepad features contextualized with Batman's updated suits sparting a screen in the arm and anything to make this natural you know this game made me realize how most multiplats just couldn't win on this console if they don't utilize the GamePad what the hell if they do what the hell Arkham City uses it more than most others and it varies in usefulness many of these feel like nothing more than a gimmick while some are genuinely pretty cool I don't think it's enough to consider this the definitive version of the game I mean performance wise alone it does have a few hiccups in the frame rate Department compared to the other platforms but I think it's a cool alternative to the vanilla releases if this was the one you played you still played Arkham City if you already played Arkham City this might be a fun way to replay but it's definitely not necessary Warner brother's second headliner was Scribblenauts Unlimited the first Home console entry in the series The write anything and it'll appear gimmick translates beautifully over to Wii U as it turns something you'd play by yourself on the DS in the corner with a drippy ass nose into something the whole room can enjoy this isn't a dazzling use of the systems Tech rather an appropriate one this just works and I couldn't imagine Scribblenauts on a better platform interestingly the Wii U version includes Nintendo characters and items you can summon which showcase Nintendo easing up a bit on their IP usage for the Wii U generation you know throwing a bone to the company supporting them this was cool to see but to be fair and 10 does not as stingy with their franchises as we think they are where did he get that Scribblenauts Unlimited is a joy it's one of the best puzzle games out there but definitely a lower key one it's not the flashiest most groundbreaking of all time but it's so fun and lovable and relaxing you can play through the whole game as intended or screw around and see what you can summon and how it'll affect things this is just a magical time and it's best on Wii U well I'll be Warner Brothers has been handed out of the park on this console what's next at least it's out of my Park Game Party Champions a continuation of the Wii series often labeled as worse than Satan hey whoa let's give saying some credit here listen I never understood this year I hate these games God they're nothing special but for Budget Clubhouse and sports minigame collections it is what it is I don't know what you were expecting but these did their job they functioned and were harmless game party champions harms this game has a story mode where you place somebody who's clinically depressed due to the death of their father I know it was tough growing up without a dad that had to have sucked but I'm tired of the mopey attitude dad will be dead for the rest of your life to live now and player hockey just a bunch of minigames where the gamepad's touch screen is mostly used the controls actually aren't that bad for the most part I think this setup actually feels pretty organic with air hockey and basketball and football have the same kind of control scheme as takamaru's ninja Castle from Nintendo Land so they work well but all I can really say about these is that the controls are fine they aren't really fun they go on too long and take forever to load the other games are even more boring but have worse or just flat out strained controls the story mode here is unnecessary and the game as a whole just doesn't look all too good with the GamePad using stock images down there the budget minigame collection just doesn't work here like it did on Wii and now that we're in HD the flaws are that much more apparent like the dead dead story mode like what would happen if I put Game Party 2 in HD there was a cancer pain in here this whole time now of course if Nintendo wanted to solidify the Wii U as a destination for hardcore games you had to have Call of Duty and we got that alongside a few other Activision titles Black Ops 2 alongside Mario zombie un Nintendo Land was one of the most popular games to pick up alongside your system and for good reasons this game takes full advantage of being on the platform while also not forcing those who won as basic of a Call of Duty experience as they can get into having fun yeah you know what's actually really cool here is how Black Ops 2 supports pretty much every controller on Wii U including Wii Remote and nunchuck which was preferred setup for some people quote on some quote on people though also you get some extra Gamepad features in addition to local multiplayer where one person gets the whole TV the other the GamePad no split screen needed it runs and looks comparable to the other versions all the modes are here online multiplayer full campaign zombies this might be the best version of Black Ops 2 the sentences and over the DLC Packs never made it to Wii U outside of the Nuketown 2025 map which finally released on Wii U in August 2014. yeah that to me says Activision always viewed the Wii U version as a novelty bonus edition of the game rather than one they truly cared about and considered to be just as important as the other versions which okay if you're not going to include something in your Port DLC sure you can live without that but it just doesn't bode well for the consumer you can see right through it and judging by the rest of Activision's launch titles it's obvious what they viewed the Wii U as Skylanders Giants Wipeout 3 Transformers Prime this was just a wee in HD to um how Call of Duty consistently released there so what's the difference now I don't know I think I'm reading too into it right now because Black Ops 2 works really well on Wii U as for Activision's other launch games let's play a little game I like to call who gives us Tekken Tag Tournament to Wii U Edition proudly proclaiming itself to be the one the only fourth version released months later well you know me I'm down for anything tank German 2 is actually the first Tekken game on a Nintendo Home console which is really exciting and concerning at the same time if it took this long to get Tech and how long will it take to get my together well it's not like this was the first time we got Tekken on Nintendo it was the first time we got Tekken on Nintendo and to celebrate Tag Tournament 2 features an assortment of Nintendo goodies costumes for every character special modes one based on Mario power-ups they took Nintendo's blessing and ran with it there is so much here and not just Nintendo Cameo wise the DLC is baked onto the disc it was free to begin with on the other platforms but hey included right off the bat alongside the rest of a never-ending package seriously this is a stacked fighter it may have been the only in the genre at launch but did you really need anything else the unique features of Tekken on Wii U though focus more on the Nintendo fan service side of things rather than taking advantage of the console's capabilities you can do off TV play or have more complex moves as Simple Touch Screen commands which is a nice feature for newcomers though in a local multiplayer setting the fact that only one player has the GamePad it makes this pretty unfair but it's completely optional and in my opinion it only adds to the package this is the definitive version of Tag Tournament 2 no doubt about it but it wasn't the only title Namco released at launch it was the only one people didn't give a about tank tank tank a props to Namco for making an original Wii U game and fooling me because this isn't an original title it's from the arcades and this is its one and only console Port that makes a lot of sense considering each player had their own screen in the arcades the Wii U seems to be a perfect fit and yeah this is a really fun multiplayer game does anybody else smell burnt toast yeah this is an arcade game all right something that's fun for a bit but just doesn't have any staying power there's not enough content and the content that's there is only entertaining for like 30 minutes you're just a tank you team up with your friends to destroy things or one player on the GamePad can be the giant monkey threat everybody on the TV is up against good use of the controller though it seriously just boils down to one big player against the rest it's not deep or unique in any way there's no twist or anything special about this and fact that's the best way to describe the game as a whole quick dumb fun that's not special at all it's honestly a crime this was sold for 50 bones at launch and makes a lot more sense as a free to play download which is what Namco offered it as a few months later tang tang tang can be fun there's just nothing to it well surely epic oh my God Epic Mickey 2 the Power of Two strangely wasn't confirmed for the system's launch for a while I mean it was announced in Spring of 2012 as a multi-platform release we Xbox 360 PS3 you'd think with Epic Mickey 1 being a Wii exclusive and now Epic Mickey 2 coming to HD platforms with the gimmick of the game revolving around Mickey's paintbrush seemed to be a perfect fit for the gamepad's touchscreen a Wii U version was an obvious choice so I'd say on paper it would be the definitive edition in reality it was stated that a Wii U version was not in development in April 2012. so then what the hell happened oh that the hell happened this is a bad Board of the game frame rate problems are everywhere and it runs better on the Wii and what advantages do you get on Wii U no off TV play you can't use a Wii remote in nunchuck in single player if you want which is the control scheme the game was designed around you get a map down here but with the game designed around Co-op you'd think this would be use for your own screen nah we still have split screen like some kind of not Wii U this is horrible it's obvious this was rushed out to meet the launch and not only does it barely take advantage of the Wii U it just doesn't run well on top of being a pretty damn Lame Game man I need a pick-me-up and thankfully I think Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed does a fine job of that a real solid Kart Racer some it's even better than Mario Kart now it's a great Mario Kart substitute or alternative for just a quick change of pace but when you have both available why you really want to be that guy at a party well to be fair you can do five players on one console with Sonic with this Wii U exclusive feature plus play around with a few modes designed specifically for this version focusing on asymmetrical multiplayer yeah music to my ears I think that's what the Wii U does best and while these don't make the Wii U edition of the game an obvious must I mean the PC version runs way better and has a ton of exclusive characters but this is still a great addition to any Wii U owners collection a solid as hell eraser one that can definitely satiate those waiting for Mario Kart but then you have three games so forgettable and I forgot that Darksiders 2 was actually one of the first Wii U games ever revealed at E3 2011 but it always kind of felt like a pretty lame game to point at and say look ma the Wii U has games you don't want me to play but it's a solid game one that's obviously inspired by Zelda and God of War but that contributes to this feeling of this being nothing special now Ben 10 Omniverse and funky Barn these are special because I can't be a funky Barn the fact this game can be Miracle surprisingly none of these games are all too bad they are what they are and that's respectable they're just because I respect you doesn't mean my brain won't forget you the first opportunity it sees when Edward's game came to every console we got NBA 2K13 FIFA 13 and Madden 13 it was born in the wrong era there's some slick uses of the GamePad with all these like the biometric scan with NBA and calling your plays in Madden a second screen is just too fitting for most realistic sports games however FIFA and Madden are both missing a lot no Ultimate Team extra modes or the updated engine used on 360 and PS3 for both EA Sports titles it really left this version feeling like a middle ground between the actual games and the Wii releases well ACA did good with Mass Effect 3 special edition that was a fine conversion of the game released all the way back in March I added a decent amount in the form of a digital comic retelling of the first two games and nice Gamepad support that's not forced upon you and some DLC included for free while other DLC never came and the other platforms received a Trilogy bundle containing all games including Mass Effect 3 for the same price as Mass Effect 3 alone on Wii U Warriors Orochi 3 hyper thank Christ we're done and that was the Wii U's launch I often hear many say how this lineup was very lackluster help a Wikipedia article says so used to but I don't really feel like that's fair to the Wii U it did a lot of things wrong but not really with the launch lineup it wasn't that bad especially compared to the Nintendo 3DS's launch titles or the GameCubes the PlayStation 3s even the PlayStation 4s there was a lot of stuff to play here sure none of it was a system seller but if you already bought the system there was a great variety of games here the most of which were pretty damn good yeah Batman Arkham City was a year old at this point but it was still Batman Arkham City now available in a platform with a different audience I bet a lot of the people who picked up a Wii U at launch they hadn't played this game before but this being here wasn't exciting and really none of the launch titles were and that was the biggest problem with this lineup the multi-platform games weren't a graphical step up from what we got elsewhere so the only potentially exciting thing about the Wii U versions of these games was the GamePad use and most of them used it in acceptable ways but that's not exciting nor is it necessary the core exclusives were pretty good worth buying a console for though I don't think so oh wait we did get some cool Nintendo eShop exclusives at launch a little Inferno trying to Mighty switch Force hyperdrive edition if you were an early adopter of the Wii U and you were bored why I can't imagine you must have been in a coma or something which would be the worst thing to deal with during Prime Wii U hours oh man I told him he shouldn't get stabbed [Music] [Music]

Channel: Scott The Woz

Views: 2,451,311

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Id: 59O4q_SLk4E

Length: 108min 2sec (6482 seconds)

Published: Thu Jun 01 2023