Laugh All You Want But The Wii U Line Up Is Looking Pretty Good

MasonicGamer.com: There’s no doubt about it, the Wii U will go down as one of the worst console launches of all time, if not THE WORST! After kicking everyone’s ass last generation from a sales perspective, Nintendo decided to start the next generation by going first. It sounds like a solid plan and they even called the system Wii U just so they could ride off the success from the Wii before it but they made one fatal mistake. They clearly weren’t ready and instead released a system about one year too early onto the market with nothing to play on it. Even now some 8 months later, we’re still relegated to slim pickings.

Much has been said about the Wii U since it’s launch, pretty much everyone has already poked fun at and taken jabs at Nintendo. Rightly so I might add and even I was taking shots at Nintendo last year in regards to how poorly they handled just about every aspect of the Wii U. The Wii U trashing however has gotten stale as of late and now everyone is just trying to score some hits by beating a dead horse, guys we get the point, Nintendo f**ked up.

What I’m here to do is take a look at Nintendo’s response to all the complaints, namely the lack of games for the Wii U. Pretty much every system not named Dreamcast has had a lacklustre first year but eventually many of them get going once the right games start to come along. I think the Wii U is FINALLY reaching that point where some good stuff is on the way soon and we at least have some idea of what we can expect in the more distant future.

Let’s all take a moment to put down our pitchforks and see what potentially cool stuff is coming to the Wii U.

[Neonridr]

Good Article. Lots of good games coming this fall for the Wii U. I will have tons to keep me busy as I plan on buying almost every game on that list.

[3-4-5]

Solid Freaking list:

All those games actually embrace using colors beyond yellow, brown , grey & black too so they will be nice too look at, as well as hopefully play well.

[PopRocks359]

Well for Nintendo fans at least. If people don't have an interest in Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Donkey Kong or a new IP then they probably won't get a Wii U for some time, if at all.

I personally think the lineup is decent at best and worst. Nothing massive, but hey, six good games in such a short span of time is no skin off my nose.

[ABizzel1]

@PopRocks

I'm surprised by your comment, but I agree.

11 exclusives is exactly what Nintendo needs, but over half the games (which are also the heavy hitters) aren't coming until 2014 if not 2015 (Zelda U). Smash Bros., Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8, Yarn Yoshi, Xenoblade, and Zelda U are all scheduled for 2014 title, but it's good to know they're at least in production.

[PopRocks359]

I was talking mostly about the end-of-the-year lineup. The games coming out next year are far more open and eclectic.

Frankly I'm surprised by the 9 disagrees. I was just trying to be honest about the situation.

[3-4-5]

Yea but, Wind Waker HD, Pikmin, Rayman Legends, Mario 3D world, Sonic Lost world, Wonderful 101, Donkey Kong all drop in 2013.

Wii U being a failure won't even be an issue at this time next year.

[ABizzel1]

@3-4-5

That's true but if you take the names out you end up with 4 platformers, 2 strategy games, and 1 Adventure game.

The games will sell well, but it's not going to move Wii U's outside of the normal holiday sales increase.

Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, and Zelda will sell consoles (if all 3 come out next year the Wii U may even hit 10 million consoles sold in 2014). Xenoblade, Bayonetta 2 are core fan service. Now they need to show Metroid, Star Fox, F-Zero, etc... Nintendo can save the Wii U, but they need to get huge and anticipated titles out and soon.

[Neonridr]

@ABizzel1 - I disagree with one point on your statement. Mario 3D World will move Wii U units for sure. Especially in a place like Japan.

[admiralvic]

"Frankly I'm surprised by the 9 disagrees. I was just trying to be honest about the situation."

Whys that? The second you said "if people don't have an interest in Mario, Zelda, Sonic, Donkey Kong...", you pretty much said that people that aren't in the demographic won't care. This is pretty much an irrelevant point, since Nintendo can't win these people over anyway, so nothing the Wii U does will ever get them. Just like if you don't care for Halo / Gears / Fable / Dead Rising, then logically you'll probably never get an Xbox One.

The long and short here is that Nintendo is showing a commitment to the system regardless of what people think and that's super. Will it pay off? Well nothing is set in stone till it happens, but Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate was amazing and Pikmin 3 was certainly worth the wait. Either or, fans of those series (aka the Nintendo demographic) should be excited and most likely are.

[PopRocks359]

I guess my comment came off far more negatively than I intended. I was actually trying to make a similar point to your second paragraph. Believe me, I do like the year-end lineup and I intend to get each game. If it had had Smash Bros. it would have been perfect, but even without that it's still pretty good.

[R00bot]

Can't really be uninterested in a new IP. Not until it's announced, anyway.

[PopRocks359]

That part was me being facetious. :p

[R00bot]

Oh, good. I thought you might have been, didn't give you a disagree, anyway :)

[kirbyu]

"Smash Bros. 'nuff said."

I like that.

[Kte]

Feelin that Kirby pic!

:D

Go Wii U!

[YamiHoshi]

That's the line-up that was supposed to happen a half year ago already.
No insult towards the Wii U, but if Nintendo could release a couple of these games before, I'm absolutely sure all of those bad sales won't happen, and EA not making games for it wouldn't even happen.

[3-4-5]

That is because they needed 600 people working on games and only had 300-400. ( random example )

They moved people towards the 3DS games, and are moving some of those people back to Wii U, to give it the same "tons of games" treatment the 3DS got.

It took 3DS 2 years to start dominating.

It will take Wii U 2 years to start being respectable and being back to good old Nintendo.

[YamiHoshi]

Hey, I'm a Wii U and 3DS Game Developer too!
Nintendo themselves are actively Updating the Wii U all the time behind the scenes, but these are irrelevant to gamers.
Me being an Indie Game Developer with a Team of 2 people (including myself), we're very dependent on the Unity3D Platform.
We'd be pleased to release something on the Wii U already, but Unity3D is still in Beta, and Nintendo doesn't accept any submissions made with Unity3D, as long as it remains in Beta.
I also have the choice to use the Unreal SDK, but I'm not a fan of FPS games, though.

[ibroman]

Actually EA is not making games for it is because Nintendo rejected their crappy Origin.

[Ol_G]

Ea screwing Nintendo is nothing new and nothing would change that as support already stopped before release of the console Ea made a decission to invest all their money in ps4 and x1 thats why all their old ports were half assed

[_QQ_]

So far it has the best upcoming game lineup if we are talking about 2013 and 2014.Other than PC of course.

[AbortMission]

That's subjective. Some people don't like playing the same rehashed IPs over and over (Mario) and would actually like to play other IPs (Metroid, Star Fox, F Zero)

[awesomeabe1998]

I agree with the part about the rehashed IP's and the part about playing different IP's, but dont ever use Mario as an example of a rehashed IP. HAHAHAHAHA

[ibroman]

You do know that there have only been 1 or 2 mario's of each genre on every console right?

[AWBrawler]

My body is ready

[Zodiac]

It is looking really good for this year

Picked up Pikmin 3 on launch day. It is fantastic!
The Wonderful 101
Sonic Lost World
Wind Waker HD(how HD remakes are actually supposed to look like)
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze
Super Mario 3D World.

Next year has some good games announced as well

Smash Bros
Mario Kart 8
Bayonetta 2
X

Hoping to hear more about Yarn Yoshi and FE X SMT soon.

[ABizzel1]

"Wind Waker HD(how HD remakes are actually supposed to look like)"

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

What is there really to change. No offense but Wind Waker is a game that's easy to remake for HD seeing how there's no real geometry, textures, or anything to reprogram for. It has a simple art style and it's a simple HD remake.

That being said it's good that Nintendo actually put some effort in upgrading things where they could such as the foliage, and the color palette, but watch Wind Waker Dolphin 1080p.

[kirbystar1]

Sonic lost worlds is gonna be awsome if u ask me! :3)and is there a new kirby game coming out this year or next year guys? Please say yes please!?

[Lionalliance]

A few third parties, but mostly all are nintendo games.

[WeAreLegion]

I'm definitely getting Super Smash, X, Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, and Wind Waker HD. That's their lineup for the next year though. :/

I wish Nintendo had more developers. I want them to stick around as long as possible.

[browngamer41]

Actually only Smash and x are slated for next year, the other two are coming this year..

[WeAreLegion]

From today until this day next year is what I mean. Thank you though. :)

[jcnba28]

Why would we laugh? This line-up is epic!

[Clunkyd]

Epic? Seriously?

I hate to have your taste.

[awesomeabe1998]

So you would rather have no taste? Good luck with that.

[Neonridr]

I would say all these games have a great chance of moving over a million units easy. And a couple of these titles could move several million easy.

That's not a feat that is easily accomplished.

[LAWSON72]

I agree compared to the 1st year line up for the Xbone and PS4 it is much better. I just wish the price was not so high. It is overpriced, when the PS4 has way better hardware for only $50 more.

[admiralvic]

"I agree compared to the 1st year line up for the Xbone and PS4 it is much better."

It's not really fair to compare a system that has been out for several months (a year by the time those come out) to a brand new system. The Wii U launched with maybe two noteworthy titles (Zombi U / Mario U / Nintendoland) and outside of Monster hunter / Pikmin 3, that hasn't really changed in the WHOLE first year. I have a feeling the PS4 / XB1 will have a better first year than the Wii U did.

" It is overpriced"

Maybe a little, but it's not like we're comparing the Wii U system directly to the PS4 1:1. The Wii U also comes with that tablet controller, which is where a lot of the cost went to (similar to how the XB1 cost more over the Kinect / TV stuff). Since a replacement controller costs around $150 dollars, you can pretty much say the Wii U system costs about $200 and considering a PS3 costs about that, I would say it's fair.

[Neonridr]

you seem to forget the AAA 3rd party titles like Black Ops 2, AC3, Batman, Mass Effect 3 that all released on launch day as well. Regardless if they may have been out already on other systems doesn't change the fact that they are quality games that were available for those who never played them before.

[asiatico]

Well I'm gonna get the WII U after a good price drop and when the zelda comes out on it. Then ill pick up games I missed out on for cheaper.

[N4g_null]

Hey pitchforks are fun until you fall on them.

The line up is looking wii good sales wise. The graphics are looking pretty good for what they packed in the box.the game pad should have been in all next gen consoles
plus the head start put them 4 million ahead xbox 360 style. Its definitely going to be a rough ride for all fanboys and marketing drones on the Internet yet gamers are about to see a crash and the start of another golden age of gaming in the same gen it seems.

[Nes_Daze]

I see Nintendo consoles as that second console you get after you get a Sony or Xbox console. I'm sorry, but another zelda, another mario, another mario kart, another ssb, every gen its the same thing, yet wheres those amazing third party games??? If you think this is a great lineup you must've enjoyed the wii's lineup this gen, even though it was the weakest of all three consoles, and the WiiU seems to be no different. BTW, I'm not saying those games aren't great, but there's nothing for me there that could sway me away from buying a console that will provide more variety in games, more quality in games, and a stronger online community.

[AJBACK2FRAG]

Lol! I see a Nintendo video game console as the only video game console I need. At least for five or six years!
The games you mentioned are the reasons I bought a Wii U. The the main difference (magic) between Nintendo and other video game developers. They can take a game like Mario Kart and change it up enough every generation to make it fresh. Compare Mario Kart Wii to Mario Kart ∞. It isn't just a new coat of hd paint that's different it's a vastly different game. Racing on walls or upside down, underwater and that's just some of the differences we've seen. Mario's always saving the princess but the games are always based on the hardware or art direction and the game play is always different.
Think if Madden did that. One video game per generation, w/ roster changes via dlc. Madden fans and other gamers would be dying to snatch up new releases. Then five or six years later bam a whole new game with many different changes. It could make a very stale, to me, series become great again. If the Call of duty franchise ustilized this method instead of bemoaning the fact that a new C.O.D. is arriving gamers could get excited to see a new generation release. Think of the excellent changes they could make to this somewhat tired genre.

[admiralvic]

Ignoring your obvious Nintendo bias, I think you're misunderstanding some things.

On one hand we have Nintendo consoles, which have historically sold due to Nintendo's fantastic games. Some titles aren't the most ground breaking thing ever (New Super Mario Bros. 2), but most of their games are solid attempts that work in their favor.

On the other hand, you have multiplatform releases where people buy them regardless of quality. CoD isn't going to make any one company profit (this also makes it FAR more costly / risky to do new things), so they pretty much offer an experience that people will buy.

In the end, people buy CoD / Madden / Assassins Creed because they like the games and can do so on every system. People buy Nintendo's systems so they can experience all the amazing games they're making, which is a far more impressive feat.

[Nes_Daze]

I agree with the big changes these franchises undergo over gens, but I would still like to see something other than a mario kart game or mario world. Yes, the platforming or content can evolve, but overall to me it doesn't make up for all those third party games that are unavailable on the Wii and most likely WiiU. Either way, the next Mario Kart games looks amazing!

[jakmckratos]

I love my 3DS...Ive never been happier with a handheld. I believe in nintendo..that being said I would never blindly buy a system...Zelda: WIndwaker, Mario Kart 8, 3D Mario, Pikmin 3 all look fun don' get me wrong...but I am not going to buy a console for any of those games...they need to sell me on something I really want and haven't just played on the Wii or 3DS..an HD Pokemon adventure(not necessarily like any of the handhelds), a definitive Star Fox game, Metroid HD, a GOOD Kirby 3D game, a Kid Icarus game without awkward touch controls, a Donkey Kong 64 HD remake/sequel, a Fire Emblem that plays out more like an action RPG than just tactical, an AMAZING single player Mario RPG with world traversal and Nintendo cameos.

I want more innovation that repetition. That's what Nintendo was always good at.

[jsslifelike]

Then why not buy a Wii U... FOR ALL OF THEM??

You don't WANT to be sold; you just desire validation for NOT buying one.

#HiveMind

[Yep]

I think it looks good, could be better, but a lot of my friends are looking to purchase the Wii U because of what coming to the console in 2013 and 2014.

Hopefully they bet correctly.

[Qrphe]

I only really care for Bayonetta, X and DK. Also, the clipping on Mario's arm on that 3D World screenshot is damn awful.

[Errefus]

really? since when do u care about bayoneta.....

>sonic lost world
>smash bros
>wonderful 101
>zelda

[Qrphe]

Dood, it's a cuhrayzee hack and slash, I had to play it at one point.

[GraveLord]

You practically pasted the whole article in the description. Talk about shitty quality control.

OT: Doesn't matter. It's too late. The Wii U isn't even new anymore, its ancient compared to the upcoming PS4 and Xbox One. I'm not even talking specs here, I'm talking in terms of public perception. It's the laughing stock of the video game industry. It isn't desirable beyond the loyal Nintendo fan.