Gaming Cafe Diem Baby: The Nintendo Wii U Discussion

I somehow doubt they'd include the most direct Pokemon competitor in a Smash game. Sonic can at least argue mascot status.

If one NAMCO character gets in, it's Pac-Man. 3rd party wish lists can get pretty long but it's safe to say the majority will be Nintendo characters, with only a small handful of 3rd party challengers.

Snake, Sonic, Mega Man, maybe 2 others (Pac-Man and Simon Belmont would be my choices, though the latter is unlikely-MAYBE a Rabbid), that's it.

 

Yeah, there needs to be some kind of association with Nintendo platforms. The only SW character that would make sense would Dash Rendar, since SOTE is primarily an N64 game. All the others were either multiplatform or featured ships, not characters.

So I managed to hit up the Nintendo Best Buy E3 Experience yesterday. It ran from 4-8 (though they could stretch it to 8:30) but I didn't get out of work until 4, add in rush hour traffic and I couldn't get there until 5:40. So, I missed out on the free Luigi hats (first 30 or so in line got them- I did get a Luigi MK flag, though. ) and they had a sign-up sheet for people for the games, and I managed to get the last sign-up slot for Mario Kart for 7:45.

After an hour+ in line, it looked like this:




From other accounts I've read, that was one of the shorter lines- some places filled up 8:30 playslots at 4PM!

The main problem is that Nintendo didn't bring in any additional kiosks- they only used the existing one in the BB store, so the Nintendo rep rotated between games off a single demo disc.

So, most people only got a chance to play one game (one level of Mario out of 5 options, 1 level of DKC out of, I think, 3 options, 1 level out of 2 for Zelda or a series of 3, 2 lap races on Mario Kart). I was fortunate enough to stick around after the list had finished and squeeze in a second game, and I did watch others play the other two games to at least get some impressions.

Mario Kart 8: The 3 races were a Mushroom Kingdom/Mario Circuit-like level, a Delfino village-like level and a Boo Mansion. The latter had the most in terms of antigravity tracks, under water elements and hang glider moments. Weapons were limited in the demo (green shells, bananas, gold mushrooms) and it was 2 player split screen only. One player got the Gamepad, the other a Wiimote (no nunchuk).

I used the Gamepad for races 1 & 3 and offered to trade for the 2nd race to the wiimote for variety (though I forgot to look at the other screen until it was far too late, doh!).

The Gamepad can work both as wheel-like motion control or use the traditional sticks- and you can toggle between the two on the Gamepad screen with one button. Another button activates offscreen play, I believe. The rest of the screen is used to show current placing of characters in the race and a giant horn button (different sound for each character).

There's room for other buttons still, so there may yet be additional features yet to be added or revealed.

The game didn't feel radically different, but the F-zero-like track elements are a welcome addition. And there are already small touches (like how the Mansion doors open eerily as the green light hits) that add a lot of atmosphere.

Super Mario 3D World: The level options were 2-1, an "easy" cat level (seen in most demo videos), a clear pipe-centric level, a more difficult cat level with Bullet Bills, a boat level (which no one played because the rep advised it was a relatively short level) and a boss fight.

My group played the pipe level, and I played as Peach (DEATH TO YELLOW TOAD!). The pipe obstacles are not as simple an addition as I had initially thought- besides just the looping patterns you also have to deal with obstacles, a curious pop in-out mechanic for pipes that lead to nowhere (you need to time yourself to shoot up onto a moving cloud platform or else you fall back into the pipe and cannot jump out of it- OR if you're being dumped into an abyss, you have a brief mercy moemtn that allows you to reenter the pipe before you fall).

You can also walk on top of the pipes, which is easier said then done if you're trying to bubble back in and land on them without dying a second time. Peach's floating power came in handy for that portion.

Also, after getting a fire flower, I was very pleased to witness Fire Flower Peach for the first time since, I believe, the Super Mario Bros Super Show.

Another neat detail I noticed during someone else's playthrough: cat suits let you run up the flagpole! Also, I thought I saw someone shooting/throwing balls of yarn at enemies with a cat suit, but I didn't get a clean look at it.

Donkey Kong Country- Tropical Freeze: Players had a choice of the first level we saw in the previews or a minecart level (maybe a third one, i forget).

This one was actually kinda hard to just watch and not play. I'm definitely playing some DKCR today because watching DKCTF gave me a big urge to play some DKC.

Game looks lovely- the underwater elements of the levels in particular and how you dive into them in a smooth motion was the biggest surprise. I think its really going to be the unexpected small details like that that set this game apart from its predecessor.

The rotating camera barrel maze obstacles also look like a welcome change up to things.

LOZ: The Wind Waker: Looks gorgeous! Watched someone play the boss fight against the giant bird in the tower. Not much new to be gained from seeing it (no use of Tingle, quicker sails or hints of the Triforce quest improvements), though that was just because it was a boss fight.

Only a small handful of people chose to play Zelda, given the playtime limitations- and almost all of them did so before I arrived (presumably at least one played the Outset Island level option), until the last kid to play for the evening did Zelda- to the relief of those of us who were hanging around just to see that.

 

So it looks like Bayonetta 2 will be using the stylus on the GamePad- that's unexpected.



Interesting that they are able to load the entire ocean this time. And seeing this video I'm sold on using the stylus for the Wind Waker commands, though i hope its sensitive enough to work well with a finger because having to pull out the stylus and then store it afterwards would be cumbersome.



The segment on the barrels shows the possibilities the camera changes are contributing pretty well, at towards the end of that segment. I also wasn't aware of the multi-island structure of the game or the connection the game has to SMB2 (SMB abilities bieng brought into SM3DW and DKCTF- SMB2's legacy is on a sudden roll).



That Bingo Battle mode sounds really fun. Also, Miyamoto has a really cute anecdote as well.



Shows off the GamePad touch screen controls I wasn't aware of- you can freeze enemies and uncover hidden blocks and coins. Also reveals that Land was developed with World in mind, thus the similarities.

Don't expect a lot of 3rd party characters in Smash bros.

Also, 1st party Release schedule:

 

They'd really be the only outlet capable of doing this besides TRU. GS is too small and cramp in every store, Walmart and Target tend to have small game sections/single aisles. BB has the space.

 

Sweet! That's really awesome, given how legendary the original DKC tunes are.

Yeah, its going to be an expensive year. Not only with all the 1st party titles but I also want to support the 3rd party sales as much as a I can (not to mention they'll probably be rather good).

 

Nice that Donkey Kong Country Returns is getting a follow-up. I always love playing that, especially since I find it a lot easier than NSMBW. And yeah, it has some great music too.

 

I've had to finally crack open DKCR because of the DKC TF previews- I played a few levels back when it came out on my sisters copy but never started my own.

Absolutely loved the Kraken and tidal wave levels in the Beach area- extremely clever designs there and just cool ideas in general.

Of course since I started the game file using my wii u, it looks like ill eventually find out if, when you transfer your Wii data over, it will overwrite wii data already on the Wii u...

 

Yeah, this game certainly isn't like NSMB where you accrue lives faster than you use them- you might amass what you think are too many lives, only to have a single stage drain an unhealthy portion of them from you.

Also, with all the pirate ships and stuff, I can't help but have this play in my head:



I blame this for my unusual urge to pre-order AC4

 

I doubt either Super Luigi or 3D World will come out on the 3DS- 3D World is already based on 3D Land, so that's already the 3DS version of the game, even if its not a port. And NSMB2 hit just last year as the 3DS NSMB game, while NSMBU hit the Wii U. Since Luigi is basically just an expansion pack for the latter, it wouldn't be coming to 3DS either. Unless they do some kind of Luigi-themed DLC for NSMB2, it's not hitting 3DS.

Plus, Nintendo isn't going to want to take too many 1st party Wii U exclusives and make them playable on the already successful 3DS- it'll just eat into Wii U sales. Even Smash Bros will have different versions.


EDIT- Went out to throw some 3rd party support at GameStop today. Pre-ordered AC4, Watch Dogs, Rayman (& Luigi...). Also picked up Arkham City (figured I'd play it at its discounted price before taking a gamble on a full priced Origins).

They weren't taking orders on Deus Ex yet, however. Of course, there's still the 1st party titles to look forward to but I'm not worried about not finding those/their continued support of the platform ).

 

Well, they've ruled out cross platform multiplayer due to the different stages and such.