BigJKO

The Nintendo Wii U is Great Thread

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What an exciting device! What a nice game lineup! 

 

THAT BEING SAID I really wonder how the emulation is going to be on those things. I have a hacked/homebrew Wii with component out to my TV (only delivering 480p) to play NES games on my HDTV and it works pretty well for NES/SNES emulation. Perhaps (and this I say only because of the plug shape on the front of the system) they're taking the guts of a Wii and repurposing it for emulation, which, if they do it right should be good. The WiiU emulation has noticeable issues with colors and brightness, and these were not seen on the Wii emulation.

 

I also wonder whether or not it will have noticeable input lag. I bought a raspberry pi 2 and put retropie on there, and the lag was so frustrating. It wasn't my TV, it was the device just not doing a great job upscaling things so as to make the game run in a snappy way. 

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Does anybody else find it particularly interesting that the mini-NES thing has several Konami games on it? At least we can rest assured that Konami isn't going to bury its library and end its licensing.

 

Even having no interest in Pokken, when I played it I was very underwhelmed. Mind you, of all genres, Streetfighter-clone fighting games are among my least favorite, but still I can enjoy something like Smash Bros. Pokken just seemed very boring and slow.

 

I read an article somewhere (always the best possible thing to base your opinions on!) that Star Fox was indeed kind of bad and it was especially a shame that Nintendo apparently chose to push it, rather than the superior TMS#fe as 'the game to have' for this period.

 

The game is anything but boring and slow, but i think i can understand how you got that impression. I had a hard time getting a feel for it at first, i wasn't sure how i was supposed to approach it because it's such an unfamiliar game.

I started watching random matches on youtube to try and get a feel for what i was doing wrong, and it was me watching this set that kind of made me realize a few things about the potential Pokken has as a fighting game:

 

As of right now, i'm pretty positive on the game, i think it's super cool. I'm eager to see people play it at Evo.

 

Holy crap, what is this now?

 

https://www.nintendo.co.uk/Misc-/Nintendo-Classic-Mini/Nintendo-Classic-Mini-Nintendo-Entertainment-System-1124287.html

 

Oh man if they would do the same for SNES that would blow my mind.

 

I like Star Fox Zero also, it has a learning curve with the controls, but the game is quite nice if/when you learn to handle it. I do understand the criticism though. But for example I almost stopped reading Polygon's website completely after the absolutely ridiculously stupid Star Fox Zero "review" that they made. The reviewer didn't even try it for real.

 

To be clear, for my part, Star Fox Zero is something i went into wanting to like and gave a sincere chance. I'm a big fan of Platinum and i have played every other Starfox game, Starfox is something i want to be good. Starfox is my Sonic the Hedgehog.

 

I also don't think it's egregiously bad, nor do i think its control scheme is unreasonably difficult to grapple with. I think there's some good mission design in there and despite the low-fi aesthetic at a glance, there's a ton of detail in those levels. It's clear to me that a sincere attempt was made with this game. It is trying so god damn hard, and in the moments where it comes together, it is a technical and engaging action game.

 

I think where it fails is that playing that game well is made harder and not easier by its central gimmick, and moreover that the interesting aspects of the game that are enabled by that gimmick aren't emphasized enough to justify that control gimmick's existence. Starfox Zero is unfocused, it's messy. It's a game that is made worse by its central feature, and i think that qualifies as a failure.

 

Again though, i would say it is the least bad of the bad Starfox games.

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So, this mini thing is a clone micro console done proper? Like all those Atari/Mega Drive plug&play efforts, but hdmi and Nintendo build quality?

I have a Retron5 and an actual NES. This isn't for me but I can see it working for 30-somethings who left games but still have happy memories of their brother's/cousin's NES.

@Sno

What's your Starfox list? For me it's one game. 64 was my first N64 game and it's amazing. Everything else I've touched is disappointing (including the original just recently - I guess you needed to be there for that one.) I'm intrigued by Zero.

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The thing that makes me wonder about the mini NES is this:

 

*Note that an AC adapter for the USB cable is required to play the system but is not included in the packaging.

 

Why again the AC adapter is missing, wtf? Same thing as was with the 3DS consoles.

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They just mean one of the USB to Power Socket adapters right? Doesn't everyone have 20 of those already?

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Yes, but don't some adapters have different voltage and mA going through those, like some are more powerful than others.

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Yeah you really don't want to be mix and matching those things. For example the wrong one charging an iPhone would probably melt it. I've outright killed a laptop by plugging the wrong power brick into it.

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You see, Rody, the thing is this. It's really strange to say people's name a lot, Rodi. That's, that's just like, it isn't normal Rodi, you hear me Rodi?

PS Watch Rick & Morty

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I then read that in Rick's voice. Ugh, you know what the worst one is? Whenever I read an insightful piece about human psychology and how to lifehack that, I read it in the 'School of Life' youtube voice (which may or may not be Alain de Bottom?). Caught that one this morning.

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Pulling this over from the NNID thread,
 

Setup a weekly weekend tournament for Mario Kart

Its probably using my local time settings for the times so I left time open pretty much all day sat/sun cst

0030 Saturday through 2330 Sundays CST (-6 GMT)

150cc
All items/vehicles
8 races, base cups only

 

Any chance we could get something like this going again?

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I'd be willing to at least try and fit a quick MK8 tournament into my schedule! Although it'd mean getting up at 7am on a Sunday. Doable, but not particularly desirable! 

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Fair point! I liked the idea of having a general drop-in window rather than a specific start time, for international time zone reasons, but maybe that didn't work out last time.

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Soooooo, I finally got a Wii U (wow, I've never been this late to a party) and am having a blast with Mario Maker and... you'll never believe this... Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Yeah. It's the first time I've ever played a CoD game, and one of my first games on the Wii U. The reason is obviously because I could pick it up for 2,98, so I gathered that even if I just liked the intro cinematic I'd have had my money's worth of fun.

 

Turns out it's pretty OK. Nothing great. Nothing like Spec Ops: The Line. Its story is messy, the gameplay often incomprehensible and chaotic, some levels laughably bad and others kinda cool. I'm glad to play it.

 

But the real deal is of course Mario Maker. I had not expected this to be such a good title. Before, I assumed it was more like any level editor: only for the hardcore fans, I guess? I had not anticipated how much it already feels like a game to make a game. Over the years I read all those stories on how the original Mario taught you the skills necessary to play it, and I was finally able to put that into practice. My first two levels are up (and you'll probably never find them because the search engine for this game is so woeful as to beggar belief - why can't you just search for level or user names?) and they're called 'Maze of Mild Despair' and 'The Strange Armada'. (My Nintendo Network ID is HeerRood.)

 

https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/profile/HeerRood?type=posted

 

Plus, it's so much fun to just play a bunch of random levels and see what weird things people have come up with. The sheer diversity in levels is astounding. This pushes so far beyond what Nintendo ever did with Mario, all the while using the same toolbox. None of this would've ever happened without Mario Maker - it's a fountain of creativity.

 

(If all goes well, today a bunch of new games arrive from Marktplaats. There really are advantages to stepping into a console cycle at the eleventh hour.)

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Hey, Roderick, if you're playing Mario Maker take a look at levels made by Tom Hall (if you know what I mean) https://supermariomakerbookmark.nintendo.net/profile/ThatTomHall?type=posted

Aside from that, and if you love platformers, I'd strongly recommend Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze and Yoshi's Wooly World. These are extremely well-thought-out platformers with lots of creativity, collectibles and hidden stages.

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Cool, I want to play levels made by one of Commander Keen's designers!

 

I already had my eyes on DK Tropical Freeze. Played it once at a convention and it was already so nice to see a Nintendo platformer in HD. It's a pretty cheap game nowadays, so I'll get it at one point. On the other hand, I'm not a big fan of Yoshi, and I somehow expect it to be a little light on platforming. Like, a game more geared towards kids, like Kirby. Is that at all true? Woolly World is still an expensive game, so it'll probably wait until I can get it for a lower price.

 

(You guessed it, I'm on a bit of a budget here!)

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Main excitement with Mario Maker for me is Tom Hall involvement with this editor. Not sure about other users made content, but I'd love to play his puzzle-like stages. I have yet to buy it for my small collection, though.

Considering Yoshi, it's funny because I had exactly the same prejudice as you about Wooly World in particular (knitted world? what?) and Yoshi's series as a whole (I've never played previous entries to say). Up until I decided to buy it for my girlfriend to play some relaxing co-op with her, seeing she's not much of a hardcore gamer. To my surprise it was pretty tight even for me and actually hard to beat with 100% collectibles found. Some of hidden unlocked stages were a real challenge to what you've already learned through out the game, they were so hard that they needed a lot of die-hard attempts to finally make it to the goal. With that, all of it was wrapped up in some cute childish game as I initially thought from the start. My advice find yourself a friend to play with and get this game. Don't get scared off by aesthetics or implied easiness. I got it for $34 or near that and I think it's worth it.

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Thanks for the endorsement. I'll try out Woolly World when I get a good deal on it. I can play with my gf (who has also made some Mario levels, hers a little more chaotic and less structured than mine), so that should be fun.

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Cool, bookmarked your levels! I've been meaning to check out more of this game. Last time I booted it up I just played the event courses for Hello Kitty and Pokemon stuff; I haven't played a community-made level in a while.

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I finished Yoshi’s Woolly World for the first time quite recently. It’s a beautifully made game, and scales very nicely in terms of difficulty. There’s plenty of challenge in it for The Experienced Gamer, but there’s nothing in it that had me thinking ‘nope, I cannot do this’ as there was in New Super Mario Bros U (which is so hard I’ll probably never finish it). It also has an extra difficulty mode which lets you basically just fly through levels forever, in case you get really stuck, or you want to play with someone a bit less capable. 

 

(If you dig the aesthetic, I think Kirby’s Epic Yarn is on the eshop now. That’s very good as well. Possibly easier, but with the same gorgeous aesthetic, and still looks really nice upscaled to something approximating HD. Also it has an odd interior decoration minigame? You might need a Wiimote…)

 

I just started playing Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze with my gf. It’s clearly excellent, and defiantly old-school in design terms, but it’s pretty tough and unforgiving by comparison. It supports same-screen two player, but multiplayer actually makes the game a bit harder because the camera doesn't know quite how to track two players, so it’s often more fun to just pass the pad whenever you die.  

 

If you really want a good multiplayer platform game, Rayman Legends is brilliant on Wii U. It was, after all, designed as a Wii U exclusive, and it still very much plays like one, even though Ubisoft got cold feet about poor sales and ported it to every platform imaginable. I would even go far as to say it’s the only narrative-style platform game I’ve played which is actually improved by playing with another person.

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Thanks, I'm adding all of that to my list. I got the Rayman Legends demo a few days ago and it was chaotic and fun. Already in the demo I was getting vexed because I hadn't found all the sprite thingies, which is good. The craving has started.

 

(Meanwhile, I finished COD:BLOPS 2. It had some fun entertaining levels and some stupid ones. An overall haphazard experience that isn't helped by the developers' poor choice to end the game on a post-credits scene where the character models are suddenly playing in a digitized, existing rock band (that I didn't know), playing a godawful song. That was baffling, undermining.)

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I have to shout out Affordable Space Adventures. Roderick, if you like cave flying games like old Wings etc. then this one is really great. It's made by Knapnok Games and Nifflas who made the Knytt games. The game becomes even better if you get two others to play it with you in co-op.

AFA can be found from the eShop and it's Wii U exclusive.

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Nice! The trailer looked like fun and I have a co-op person nearby.

 

I just missed the Swords & Soldiers II eShop sale, which is annoying because I bought eShop monies and had worked it out precisely to get Ace Attorney 6 and the discounted S&S2. I'll have to wait another cycle before it's on sale again. Oh well, enough stuff to play.

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