The Wii U ( WiiU ) Thread

[dave4shmups]

The sensor bar doesn't fit on top of my HDTV. Would double sided tape be the best thing to use to get it to stay on there? This TV just has a very sharp bezel at the top, rather then a flat surface.

[Sumez]

Well, they ship the sensor bar with two small pieces of double sided tape for this purpose, so I'd say it's a good idea. the sensor bar is so light almost anything can hold it in place though.

[BulletMagnet]

Soooo, after heaven knows how much dithering I finally plunked down on eBay for a used one of these things; it's a little beat up, but after a bit of time on the phone with Nintendo support to disable the parental controls left by the previous owner, the bugger seems to be up and running proper. Here's hoping it's in decent enough shape to stay that way!

So, now to figure out what to do with it: I actually already have a dozen or so games in my possession, as follows:

Bayonetta 2 (and 1)
Captain Toad
DKC Tropical Freeze
Mario 3D World
NES Remix
NSMB (+L) U
Paper Mario Color Splash
Pikmin 3
Tokyo Mirage Sessions
Wind Waker HD
Wonderful 101
Yoshi's Woolly World

Gonna hafta see how each of those strikes me...Nintendo Land and Wii Sports Club were also left on the HD, but methinks they're unlikely to see much play time.

Anything else notable past that? Off the cuff...

- Not into racing games so Mario Kart's out; nor zombies, so ZombiU is out; am worthless at creating stuff so Mario Maker's out; Star Fox and Kirby supposedly didn't turn out too hot.

- Semi-tempted by Smash and Hyrule Warriors but the load of DLC kinda puts me off; not usually into multiplayer but curious about Splatoon and TankTankTank; already beat Twilight Princess on the GC, any noteworthy enhancements here?

- Xenoblade X is a possibility, but I don't know a heckuva lot about how it plays. Intend to try BotW and Pokken at some point, but tempted to just wait until I get a Switch somewhere down the line. Know almost nothing offhand about what the eShop has to offer.

Any and all insight welcome from those in the know; might toss up an impression or two of the games if they catch my fancy (positively or otherwise). Thanks in advance; into the breach once again I go!

[mamboFoxtrot]

Hey man I actually liked some of those Nintendo Land mini-games

already beat Twilight Princess on the GC, any noteworthy enhancements here?

If you're coming from the GC, nah, not really. The graphics are barely updated so they actually might look worse in some respects. Hero mode is pretty pointless. The only new things I can remember are an item that slightly helps you find Poes I guess, and a bonus dungeon for doggo form which you need the Amiibo for. The slight change to the bug-hunting parts of the game aren't a big deal, and in some cases result in a few rooms being completely pointless now. Basically it just comes down to how much you like touchscreen inventory

The only other Wii U game I have experience that you haven't mentioned is Rodea the Sky Soldier, but... it's not really something I'd recommend to anyone. If you look it up and find yourself interested somehow, just make sure you get the Wii version.
And, uh, well, I guess there's the port of Noitu Love Devolution. If you ever played that and was like "yeah but I'd rather it was Sin & Punishment 2", then that version might be worth your time.

[iconoclast]

I think Devil's Third is really good, but you have to know what you're getting into with that game. The framerate sucks, there's a bunch of glitches and janky animation, but it has a unique mix of melee + TPS combat and a great scoring system. It's also short and highly replayable imo.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate is also great, but it's probably pointless to play now with MH4U and MHX out. It does have the advantage of good image quality (1080p on Wii U) and controls though. Might be worth a shot if you've never played MH and can get it cheap.

[Immryr]

there is the fatal frame / project zero game too.

[BulletMagnet]

The only new things I can remember are an item that slightly helps you find Poes I guess, and a bonus dungeon for doggo form which you need the Amiibo for.

That's actually another thing, I refuse to go down the amiibo rabbit hole, so any game that hides a notable amount of content behind them is off my radar.

The only other Wii U game I have experience that you haven't mentioned is Rodea the Sky Soldier, but... it's not really something I'd recommend to anyone.

I'm really not much of a Yuji Naka fan to begin with, and this particular project, from what I remember, is usually filed under "troubled", so chances are good it's not a match for me.

I think Devil's Third is really good, but you have to know what you're getting into with that game.

Speaking of "troubled" games, on paper this one holds absolutely zero appeal for me, though it has managed to build itself a niche following against all odds, which is enough to at least make me notice; maybe for a laugh if it's really cheap.

Might be worth a shot if you've never played MH and can get it cheap.

Funnily enough, I've never been particularly drawn to "hunting" games, but I did technically try the series recently with the "Stories" spinoff on the 3DS, which I rather like; as you say, maybe if it's cheap, to expand my horizons a little (because, of course, my backlog's not ridiculous enough already. ).

there is the fatal frame / project zero game too.

I'm not usually into horror games at all, but Fatal Frame has always lurked on my periphery, since the impression I get of it is that it's less focused on blood and guts than most of its peers; I seem to recall, however, that impressions of this one were mixed at best, or am I thinking of something else?

Thanks for the enlightenment all, keep it coming.

[BrianC]

Most probably have it on another platform, but Volgarr actually just came out for Wii U.

[soprano1]

Most probably have it on another platform, but Volgarr actually just came out for Wii U.

There's even a Dreamcast version of that game. The game creators even provided a .cdi file for free.

[BulletMagnet]

Slowly working my way through my new library, and have to note that Wonderful 101 is tearing me apart in a way that no game has done in some time: the affably cheesy trappings, the loads of little details and extras to find, Platinum's signature over-the-top vibe and encouragement of mastery for high ranks, the satisfaction that comes from figuring out an enemy that had been giving you trouble and watching their health bar drain in seconds, good God do I want to love this game unequivocally. But man, are this thing's technical shortcomings a stumbling block - the technique needed for drawing formations is unintuitive, for starters, but I managed to more or less wrap my head around that. What really kills the mood is how hard it can be to keep track of everything; not being able to tell my own troops apart from the enemy is frustrating enough, but if you zoom in to get a better look at that then baddies can and will ruthlessly attack with no warning from offscreen, which is even worse.

Sad things is, I'm at a loss to think of a realistic way to mitigate this, and I get the feeling the creators ended up the same way, eventually deciding "guess we'll just have to accept the inherent flaws of this setup, and hope the strong points are strong enough to make up for them." I have to admire that, to a point, but said admiration fades quickly when my troops are knocked out of attack formation by an unseen assailant for the millionth time, and I have to dash frantically around the screen trying to pick out which specks with dizzy stars around them are mine. So great, but so, SO flawed.

[Ebbo]

As derogatory it might sound, the first playthrough of W101 is pretty much a tutorial. While the over-the-topness helped me to stick around, I only fell in love with the game during my second time on harder difficulty after I had understood all the mechanics (which the game admittedly explains rather poorly) and knew how to handle the often ambiguous set piece moments. Surprisingly I didn't have any problems with the drawing system but I can certainly sympathize with the camera being suboptimal - I've some vivid memories of this one particular secret mission that involved several enemy tanks firing at you simultaneously, many of them completely offscreen.

All that being said, even if you aren't interested in playing the game several times you should definitely stick around just for the finale.

[NYN]

So great, but so, SO flawed.

Dunno how well you fare at games like Devil May Cry or Bayonetta.
Do you enjoy them for what they are, which is fast and aggressive, or do you go farther and want to master them?
I found that TW101 challenged me to reconsider my perspective. Other games allow you to control and care about one character. Just one. Naturally I was overwhelmed when it came to the holding command of entire troops but needily relying on the numbers. Can't form a big 'un without the minimum Wonderful Ones, which are scattered. Meanwhile the enemies are not inclined to hold back. It's a whole lot to take in. To acclimate to. And I dare say even hard-action regulars had to start from scratch. I consider it a step-up from the games that came before.
So, as Ebbo says, stick around from start to end. Only then you can get a take on what the game is about. There is a certain stretch when you have only minimum staff, and when you don't do it right you won't make it. Pretty frustrating. We all go through it. If that doesn't break you, you gonna be fine. Until Hard Mode.

There's a cool write-up by Saurian Dash about that kind of game and Platinum made it official on their site.

[BulletMagnet]

I certainly can't say I'm a master of the Kamiya-style action game, but I don't mind a bit of Bayonetta now and again; the thing is, though, my main issue with 101 isn't so much the way the nuts and bolts work (once you wrap your head around them after some trial and error, anyway), but how frequently inherent technical issues - mainly the camera - take the focus off of "okay, let's utilize all these neat mechanics", where it should be, to "I can't tell where anything is coming from, and until I do nothing else matters". Maybe there's a way to "master" that too, but at the very least it certainly doesn't feel like something the developer deliberately wove into the learning curve; I don't intend to write the game off entirely, but I'm definitely going to have to be in a particular gaming mood whenever I decide to bash my head against it in hopes that it cracks before I do.

[NYN]

Fair enough.

There's the possibility that I tend to overlook the ramifications in action others might find irritating. For example when they try something different and more unusual. I dread a stagnant and stale world. If they take their shot and I have to relearn things that were meant to be a given, I'm not mad, bruh. I'll adapt and sharpen up. O' course that has his limits. Games under tighter budget, like MGR and Transformers Devastation, make me go up walls. They take that one thing from Bayonetta (the parry) and fashion their combat system around it. They don't go nearly far enough, while clearly they could with a new IP.
Haaaahhh. But to each their own, I guess.

I think TW101, being Kamiya under Platinum, is also noteworthy of the things they developed from their time at Capcom. The whole Viewtiful Joe-ness as the biggest thing. Okami and original DMC follows up. Sometimes I'm not sure if it's technical cases of infringement. I'd say it takes some guts to show the few privy:"Ok then, we don't own the IP's. But we sure as muck designed the content to the former. Let it all hang out."

[BulletMagnet]

I'd say it takes some guts to show the few privy:"Ok then, we don't own the IP's. But we sure as muck designed the content to the former. Let it all hang out."

Heh, every once in awhile someone will get cheeky enough to try that, like Inafune and Igarashi did/are doing with Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained, respectively; I'm sure there have been others too, though I'm having trouble calling them to mind this early in the morning.

[Despatche]

I just wanna say that Captain Toad is fantastic, and I have no idea why they weren't making this kind of game years ago.

amiibos don't lock any content. amiibos lock funny little costumes/skins, and dumb noob traps like Samus Returns Fusion difficulty. Hard in that game is already above and beyond Hard difficulties in other Metroids. Also, difficulties don't usually mean anything in Nintendo games because they usually just affect damage. Really, you want Fusion difficulty for the funny little costume known as the Fusion Suit. Meh.

Way way way better than a preorder or a one-time code, because there's the actual possibility of getting the funny little costume/skin after the fact. Also, you get a cool little figure. That's really the appeal of amiibos, they're cool little figures release by a video game developer that happen to have a nice bonus for that video game developer's games. Let's be honest here, most people would rather have a Mario or Zelda figure than yet another stupid Saber figure.

[NYN]

like Inafune and Igarashi did/are doing with Mighty No. 9 and Bloodstained, respectively;

The difference to me on that one is, Inafking and Iga use it to get backed up for finance. They dangle it in front of hungry snouts, and lo! Nellah heave-ho'es the cart. With Kamiya, you pick up the game, recognize the name and it's practically like "Remember the Stinger with Dante? My idea! Clear as spit I'd put it in."