Wow. Announcements galore. Let's start with the obvious: Nintendo has pushed back some of their "launch window" titles to a more nebulous Summer 2013 situation and Iwata explains that there won't be any new games coming to Wii-U until March. Ouch. That's a big blow to the new install base and those that expected to play something new on their Wii-U's by the time 2013 started.
Here's where Iwata is forced into a corner, and he's gotta show his hand. A lot of this information wasn't new... but hearing it from the president of Nintendo may cause the hardcore fan base to ease their frustration. I'll list it out here:
Hardware:
Wii-U fixes. There's a list of things that need to be patched, updated, and fixed. Notable loading times on the menu is going to be fixed in two large patches to be pushed out in the spring and summer. I'm guessing Nintendo will probably patch some other things, and make some UI improvements as well.
Wii-U Virtual Console will allow NES and Super NES titles to be played on the gamepad, and allow for button customization. This was the biggest no-brainer that should have been a day one feature. They also introduced a SONY-esque pricing model to import virtual console games that you've already purchased on your Wii to transfer to the Wii-U. Yeah... its kind of a lame move by Nintendo, but it probably offsets the price for whatever they had to do to develop the emulation on the new system. At least you get a discount if you previously purchased these titles... All of this data should honestly be tied to a Nintendo ID, but hey, it's better than nothing I guess. I never bought virtual console games for this very reason.
Gameboy Advance games will be introduced for the first time on virtual console.
Software:
With Pikmin 3 being pushed back a few months, Iwata showed off some more footage of the game and I have to admit that it looks great. I've never played a Pikmin game, but the plants and textures that they've shown make me interested at least.
Iwata then went on to talk about Platinum Games' The Wonderful 101 a Pikmin-ish superhero game. It looks great, and the footage they showed looks polished. The game should come out by Q2 this year.
Iwata went over some games in development:
- New 3D Super Mario. From the team behind the development of Super Mario 3D Land, arguably the best Mario game in years, is making a Wii-U 3D Mario game. That's really great news.
- New Mario Kart. Iwata explains that they've always had a Kart game for their hardware. It'll sell like crazy.
- A new Yoshi game with the stylings of Kirby's Epic Yarn. Interesting. This game appeared on a list of games that was supposedly leaked from Best Buy.... and now it has materialized. Looks like a interesting platformer that will show off the Wii-U hardware. Can't say if I care or not. Doesn't it seem like these 2.5D games are trying to imitate Little Big Planet? I don't know.
- A new Legend of Zelda Game. During the Zelda presentation there were a few things that they wanted to make clear: that they would rethink the next Zelda, avoid linear style gameplay, and try something different (while trying to go back to basics). I don't know how that'll translate, and it's likely that we won't see a playable Zelda anything until 2014 or 2015.
- Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD remake (Fall 2013). Wow. For those that have played Wind Waker on Dolphin Emulator, this game looks incredible in 1080p. For those that haven't played the game (like myself), it will be a new and interesting experience. For fans of the old game the response was divided. This will be the most beautiful looking Zelda game ever, even if you don't like the cartoon style.
Then some bombs were dropped:
Atlus on Wii-U?! Shin Megami Tensei X Fire Emblem?! Wow. Who saw this coming? With the new Fire Emblem game about to hit the 3DS in a couple weeks, and a huge name like Atlus on the new console, I think Nintendo is going to have a super RPG hit. The Shin Megami Tensei games, like Persona, are HUGE in Japan, and Persona is now really big here in the US. If there was any developer riding high right now from success, that's Atlus, and Nintendo is smart to hitch their wagon to that hype train.
Monolith Soft Game: X
We knew that they were making an RPG. But I didn't expect to see gameplay footage this early. I'm blown away. Monolith Soft developed Xenoblade Chronicles for the Wii, and this game looks veeeeery similar. Xenoblade was amazing (I still need to finish that game), and this game kicks it up a notch. When is this game going to be released?? Giant dinosaurs? Mechs? OMG. I'm hyped for this title.
So what did we learn?
Nintendo needs to get their act together and release some games for their new console. I believe that with Nintendo combining their console and portable teams together this should improve support for hardware with better updates, and bug fixes. The 3DS is rocking with new games this year, but the Wii-U is off to an interesting start. Promising all these software titles is great, but when will we expect to see them on store shelves? 2014? 2015? 2016? This Nintendo Direct will help to calm down the hardcore super fans, but it may take more to make other people give Wii-U a chance.
Buy somethin' Will Ya!: Wii U
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