Gaming Cafe Diem Baby: The Nintendo Wii U Discussion

You can probably just call it "The Legend of Zelda" or "Zelda Wii U", the "open world" distinction really isn't necessary .

They specifically mentioned somewhere that this was being designed with a harder difficulty level than Kirby.

My thoughts:

The Legend of Zelda (2015)- Of course. A throwback to the designs of Zelda 1? YES PLEASE!

Hyrule Warriors (Sept 26, 2014)- I was on the fence about this one being anything other than an acquisition based solely on the Zelda connection but the demo footage has sold me on it- I really like the way they've worked in the items, special powers, bosses and other Zelda elements.

Smash Bros- My body is ready. My skill level is not.

amiibo- I'm going to need a new display shelf.

Yoshi Wooly's World (2015)- I love platformers and Yoshi games, and since New Island was supposedly not that great, I'm looking forward to this one . No Baby Mario, for one. The overall look is pretty neat and, as mentioned before, should provide a good degree of challenge compared to Kirby.

Capt Toad's Teasure Tracker (Holiday 2014)- I didn't even know about these levels in SM3DW until after they announced this game. Looks like an awesome puzzle platformer. Anything that can make a single Goomba or Shy Guy a big threat also deserves points.

Kirby's Rainbow Curse- I never played Canvas Curse, only know of it's positive reviews from early on in the DS lifecycle that helped turn that system's fortunes around. This one looks potentially interesting- but really I'm inh love with the claymation visual style. That said, there have been so many Kirby games out in the last few years (Mass Attack, Triple Deluxe, etc) that are probably more likely to get my money unless it's a budget eShop title.

Splatoon (2015)- This is probably Game of the Show for E3 this year. Such original ideas and mechanics. I cannot wait for this to come out.

Mario Maker (2015)- With the interface, flyswatter game and such, this is almost Mario Paint 2 (heck, most of us used Mario Paint's stamps to recreate Mario sprites and such anyways)- if they could add a composer mode back in, it'd be perfect. That you can play your creations instead of jjst path animating them really is the next evolution of the concept anyways.

Devil's Third- I'm willing to give it the benefit of the doubt, I know it's visuals are held back from being a delayed/salvaged title from THQ so I won;t hold them against it. But the mix of 3rd person slash 'em up and FPS is different at least. That said, it doesn't really distinguish itself based on the trailer other than it might have a degree of Duke Nuk'em type fun while still being grounded.

Star Fox- I'm genuinely intrigued by the suggested control options- one of my favorite parts of SF Assault were the levels where you rode on a ship's wing and fired your cannons from there. This sounds a lot like that only giving you flight control on top of that. It also seems to have an echo of old PC/Mac 90's flight arcade shooters that gave you stringer reticle controls like the Rebel Assault series.

Project Giant Robot- I can't see this being an entire game. It's almost certainly going to be integrated or repurposed into something else. Maybe ground missions determining the components you have at your disposal to customize your robot with before an actual match or something.

Project Guard- This, on the other hand, is awesome and puts a whole new spin on the tower defense genre. I'm looking forward to this one a lot. For a single player game, I think it's going to make a great party game (I'm jealous of the Treehouse feed players, ha).

Mario Party 10- A dedicated agro Bower player will elevate this game series to it's purest form. A game that has probably dropped more college GPAs, instigated more violence amongst family members and ended more friendships around the world will now have attained perfection. Or so it would seem upon first glance.

Bayonetta 2- I'm not super hyped for this-it looks just a little too Japanese Arcade Hectic in style to fully engage me, but I'm still curious enough to check it out.

Xenoblade Chronicles X (2015)- I love big RPGs, even if I rarely have the time to play them. This looks pretty awesome and will probably be my non-Zelda epic for this generation.

 

The Treehouse just hinted that there is another mode in the game that they think people will be spending more time in than the "Legends" mode we've been seeing so far. They couldn't say what it was yet though.

As a matter of fact, they just revealed the protoypet packaging. Here's one:



Now I don't want to take them out of the packaging

The amiibo logo and packaging background really reminds me of the Super Famicom's.

There just HAS to be be a Captain Toad/Wario mash-up at some point.

1-3 were N64, 4-7 were GCN, 8-9 were Wii. There has also been a portable version for GBA, DS and, now, 3DS with Mario Party Island Tour.

I suspect we'll get a Mario 3D World 2 or a Galaxy 3 in 2016 or 2017 but they want to spread them out. I wouldn't expect a 2D Mario game until the next platform though (they've already done 2 in a year, basically).

 

They're not battery operated- NFC tag chips do not use an active power source- they're powered by the devices reading them.

So any stickers, toys, devices or body implants do not need to be changed out except in the uncommon event of hardware failure.

 

4 games from last year's Nintendo Games Seminar are coming to the eShop for free.

 

I finally got around to popping in SM3DW (I used the $20 Smash fest coupon) and also did a mini demo splurge on the eShop, downloading the demos for Sonic Lost World, Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, RE: revelations and Monster Hunter 3, I also purchased NES Remix 1 and Child of Light.

While it's pretty, Lost World continues the odd disconnect I have with Sonic games- I just can't get into them. Even the original Sonic lost it's novelty after Green Zone 1 for me. I think the Mario Galaxy approach works very well for the series- and the game does a very good job of capturing what I would consider to be the Sonic feel (which is probably why it doesn't click for me ).

It's hard to quantify- you do get the sense of speed but a lot of times stuff happens so fast (even by accident) that you move past stuff you want to do before you're done them and then can't go back. I think it's just because I prefer the exploration elements of platformers and while there is a small facet of that in the game, the constant motion is counterproductive to experiencing it.

Racing Transformed (the title of which, up until the Sega Arcade Voice Announcer spoke it, I had no idea was actually "Sonic & All-Stars" as opposed to "Sonic All-Stars"), on the other hand, seems pretty fun. It's very much an overt Mario Kart clone, but it's pretty good clone- adding in the classic Sega arcade racer feel into the mix which is unique and the 2 levels you get to try were pretty cool. Though MK ultimately added in vehicle transformations, they're done in very different manners so one doesn't feel alike at all.

It's not as polished as one would expect an MK game to be (for example, one of the pre-race environment camera beauty shots literally passes through the two raised bridges in one level, which seems kinda sloppy of them) but it doesn't feel cheap either.

NES Remix isn't bad- the actual Remix stages are pretty cool and inventive (such as "what if SMB1 had an ice level?") and often very challenging. The mini challenge stages for each individual game that you use to accumulate stars to unlock the Remix stages can sometimes be a bit more tedious and have more of a WarioWare micro-game vibe to them.

But, to be fair, it's very likely that those micro-challenges are only tedious right now because they're early stages still and, thus, rather simple. It's possible the later stages get more challenging.

Haven't loaded up the other two demos or COL yet.

 

No Sega VC titles in development for Wii U (just 3DS)

Bummer- though they give hope that fans are free to convey the demand for such titles to Sega.

 

And for some fun...

 

The controls might be different than earlier versions of the game, but they are very tight- this version of the game is all about fine tuning and balancing things.

If you want more speed, try different vehicle and character combinations (press the + button on the vehicle select screen to see the speed & handling stats for the various component customizations you select). Some of the bike combos with certain characters will more very fast.

Learning the various boost tricks will also keep the game feeling fast-often to the point where it can get out of control (max coins + fast rider/vehicle combo + mushroom boosts, speed strips, Zero-G bumpers or a properly angled collision bump with an opponent can give you a lot of speed chaining options).

 

The coins make some difference but it's not major- but even a small increase in max speed from them can mean the difference between outrunning a shell or winning a race. Not to mention it helps keep in check some of the more violent bumper car players a tad. Not having played MK7 where they were first reintroduced, I find it refreshing to see the coin mechanic return from the original MK SNES game.

I agree about the map though- there's an update coming August 27th that will add on-screen maps back into the game, as well as other minor tweaks and the Mercedes DLC vehicles.

 

Nothing sends you out of control more than a poorly timed bump (or near-collision) with an opponent that had mushrooms and accidentally stealing one when you least want a boost. Rainbow Road's corners have claimed me often because of that.

However, in general, being able to steal weapons? Really awesome additional strategy element to the game.