BigJKO

The Nintendo Wii U is Great Thread

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Well I just got the WiiU as a birthday present last Sunday from my fiancee. I don't really have anything to play on it yet, since I can't get to the Mario games without playing them chronologically (I was last on Tetris Attack :/), but I should probably be able to get to Rayman Legends soon. I went ahead and downloaded The Cave, as I think I'll be making that my first game. I also have Nintendo Land, but I'm not sure how involved I'm going to even bother to get in to that.

 

For now though, I have to say it's been the worst experience setting up a console ever. Upon starting, I had to download an update before even using the damn thing and it took two hours before it had an error. Then it wanted to force me in to making an ID and I was so confused that this did not refer to my Club Nintendo account, so I went back and forth with that for a while. Then I started the system update again, gave it another 3 hours to do it's thing. While it was updating, I looked it up and apparently the first update is about 5 gbs. Way to go Nintendo. Once that was done, starting every app required more updates usually around 10-20 minutes each. Total bullshit.

 

Also, this is a WiiU deluxe with New Super Mario Bros. plus Luigi on one disc that only just premiered this month. Why the fuck can't Nintendo ship it with up to date firmware?

 

As it stands, it will probably collect dust for a while until I catch up a bit. The actual apps on the console don't seem very useful and way less interesting than the 3DS. The chat is idiotic since it still doesn't exist as a convenient way to message someone with text and looking at the Gamepad looking straight up your hulking face into nostrils is incredibly unappealing. TVii seems like broken shit and I wish I could delete that from the title menu along with parental controls. The message board thing is fine I'm supposed but I've already been warned four times about swearing.

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Jeez. It doesn't sound any better than when I bought mine on day one and had to install a bunch of updates.

 

Definitely give Nintendo Land a shot, especially the multiplayer co-op in Metroid Blast and the incredibly hard Donkey Kong thing.

 

Also good on the system: Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 (I didn't like the demo myself, but I know loads of people have been enjoying it), Earthbound on virtual console, and Super Mario 3D Land (I have no idea what you mean by playing the Mario games chronologically, but it would be a tragedy to miss out on by far the best game on the system).

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Got this for playing SM3DL on, which feels so far like a great game. However, the way everything other than the game stuff is done, both in the game and on the rest of the system, is just incredibly, unfathomably clumsy and outdated, like the game pad controller thing. From the very start it was clear to me Nintendo did not know what to do with this dumb thing in UI situations. Nintendo Land had some neat uses, and the Zombi U game seems like it hit the nail perfectly, but adding a second screen to Nintendo's already poor UI stuff is just hilarious. It's assuming you have the game pad turned on all the time, so they have the two different screens you can switch between that does I don't know what, and I just want to play Super Mario with my pro controller, so I turn the system on with that, and the game pad screen still comes alive, and I have to hit the pro controller power button again to enable it. And there's no way to tell the system I don't want to use your dumb big controller (though turning it on with the pro controller should've given it a clue) so it just sits there mirroring the screen and playing audio until its battery dies, and that's just dumb and I hate it. Also, the way they slowly show all these one-sentence screens to tell you obvious stuff (aka mom mode lol) is super annoying. It's like someone at Nintendo decided the system should only do one thing at a time, and always show what it's doing. That's why connecting to the internet on the 3DS is like dialing a BBS in 1991, and that's why the 2013 video game Super Mario 3D Land pauses after each level to tell me it's saving, and then pops up a message I have to dismiss to let me know that hey your game has just been saved please press OK to continue playing.

 

But Mario is super fun.

 

However, do they only have ten seconds of looping music per level?

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Yeah, setting up the thing was amazingly frustrating. Not a big fan of any of the user interface choices, either. For example, I'm not at all sure if I want to get used to selecting with the rightmost button.

 

That said, I'm happy that Nintendo games look super nice again and that I don't have pretend that the motion controls work and are enjoyable. So far, I have only played Wind Waker HD and drooled over Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3 gameplay videos, though.

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Weirdest thing about the Wii U interface: You know those icons of games that appear on the plaza on the TV screen? You can launch games straight from those using the Pro Controller or the Wii remote. So you have a shortcut available right there, but it's pretty much guaranteed to be gone in a few months when people are done playing that game.

 

I mean, you can also just press X or 1 to swap the gamepad and TV screens, but still.

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Nintendo UK (and probably EU later on?) are releasing a pretty cool package for the holidays: the Wii U premium with Mario 3D World, NSMBWiiU2 and Luigi DLC, plus a ridiculous Mario hat, for the appealing price of 299 the queen's pounds sterling.

 

I'm of half a mind to purchase it when it hits Hollandia, half a mind just to wait two years for Nintendo to update the hell out of this thing, get a good (N)interface, fix the weird Wii compatibility system (you have to boot into the old Wii environment - what the hell?), and release a bunch of insane color variations and decals.

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half a mind just to wait two years for Nintendo to update the hell out of this thing, get a good (N)interface, fix the weird Wii compatibility system (you have to boot into the old Wii environment - what the hell?)

 

Is there any indication that this will ever happen?

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It's assuming you have the game pad turned on all the time, so they have the two different screens you can switch between that does I don't know what, and I just want to play Super Mario with my pro controller, so I turn the system on with that, and the game pad screen still comes alive, and I have to hit the pro controller power button again to enable it. And there's no way to tell the system I don't want to use your dumb big controller (though turning it on with the pro controller should've given it a clue) so it just sits there mirroring the screen and playing audio until its battery dies, and that's just dumb and I hate it.

 

Just wanted to say I remembered that you can turn the Gamepad display off in the Home button menu. The gamepad is still considered turned on, and it's still dumb, but at least that'll save you some battery life. I just leave mine in the cradle when I'm using the Pro controller, personally. Hope that helps.

 

TVii seems like broken shit and I wish I could delete that from the title menu along with parental controls.

 

It's kind of bonkers to me that TVii is still a mandatory part of the system here, since in Canada it's barely functional. We don't have three of the four streaming services it supports and the other one doesn't work, so it just comes down to being a thing to route cable service through for no reason.

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A lot of the media integration in these new consoles is so completely US-centric, it's created a lot of weird exceptions and functionality gaps for canadian users.

At least europeans (sometimes) get their own relevant apps.

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Also good on the system: Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 (I didn't like the demo myself, but I know loads of people have been enjoying it), Earthbound on virtual console, and Super Mario 3D Land (I have no idea what you mean by playing the Mario games chronologically, but it would be a tragedy to miss out on by far the best game on the system).

Hmm, it's an OCD thing. So I still have a bunch of other Mario games to go through in the Gamecube and Wii era first, even though I will eventually get to 3D land. Same thing with Rayman, although I only have to beat Rabbids Travel in Time and then Origins to get to Legends. Also can't do Pikmin 3 until I finish 1 and 2 first (sad secret of mine).

 

My friend is really wanting me to play W101 with him online and I would love to play the Wind Waker remake (since Zelda seems to be a series I usually stay caught up on), but I can't find those two games for good prices at the moment. I searched around multiple stores on Black Friday looking for a deal on either, but no luck.

 

It's kind of bonkers to me that TVii is still a mandatory part of the system here, since in Canada it's barely functional. We don't have three of the four streaming services it supports and the other one doesn't work, so it just comes down to being a thing to route cable service through for no reason.

Since I only have regular free local TV, the TVii has very little to offer me, even though it will try to tune in to certain shows that come on locally. Only problem is, it completely fails to go to the channel it wants because it types in something like "59-2" in to the channel instead of "59.2." Dashes don't work on my TV so the WiiU is incapable of changing the channel. Wouldn't ever use it even if it did work though, I hardly ever watch anything on local TV and just use Netflix and Hulu when needed.

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I'm considering going to a Best Buy after work and getting a Wii U bundle.  The choices are the Wind Waker bundle and a Super Mario Bros U/Super Luigi U bundle.  I'll probably go with the Zelda bundle even though I'm not really interested in playing more Zelda at the moment and I don't have the same love for Wind Waker everyone else seems to have.

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As far as OCD habits go that's a pretty weird one. Are you even making yourself play the shitty spin-offs and such in order? Man. If Mario had anything remotely resembling a story I'd understand.

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Well, I only play them if they have a story, beginning and end, and they have to have been developed by a first or second party Nintendo company. So there's a lot of skipping, especially with stuff like Mario Party or Mario Kart. But I include Yoshi and Wario games in the same timeline. I don't know, I can't really explain it, I apply it to all game series, and it really has nothing to do with the story.

 

For instance, I won't be playing Metal Gear Revengeance until I get my damn friend to play Peacewalker with me sometime next year.

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Well, I only play them if they have a story, beginning and end, and they have to have been developed by a first or second party Nintendo company. So there's a lot of skipping, especially with stuff like Mario Party or Mario Kart. But I include Yoshi and Wario games in the same timeline. I don't know, I can't really explain it, I apply it to all game series, and it really has nothing to do with the story.

 

For instance, I won't be playing Metal Gear Revengeance until I get my damn friend to play Peacewalker with me sometime next year.

 

I have something similar but nowhere near as extreme.  I hate, hate, hate starting a game or movie that has a "2" at the end of the title if I didn't play the first one.

 

Also: I agree with others here that the Wii U has a pretty terrible basic OS and the setup process - if you want the firmware updates - is painful.  It's such an enormous step backward from the the 3DS and even original Wii user experience that it's hard to believe the same company is responsible.  Don't get me started on how the 3DS can run DS games without completely booting you into the DS menu while the Wii U can't manage the same with the Wii (which came out a good while after the DS.) Or how the Wii U's "Daily Log" has so many fewer features than the 3DS equivalent. Or, or or.....

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I really just wish I could choose what to transfer over from my original Wii instead of dealing with the transfer deleting everything off the original Wii. I will never get rid of my original Wii because of the Gamecube stuff and the need for the Homebrew channel for a few things. I do have $5 worth of Wii Points sitting there I'd like to transfer and that's about it.

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If I take an honest look at my Gamecube collection, it doesn't have a ton of must-keeps that I can't play elsewhere. The only things that come to mind are Mario Sunshine (good chance we'll see an HD remake of that, or at least a port) and Double Dash. Wind Waker has been upgraded, I can play Ocarina of Time on the 3DS and probably in the future Majora's Mask too, the Metroid Prime games have been ported to Wii, so... yeah, what else? Viewtiful Joe? I don't think it'll be a painful switch, whenever it comes.

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Twin Snakes, Eternal Darkness, and the Rogue Squadron games are pretty unique GC-only experiences, but your point is good. Also, I can barely stand the new play control Metroid Prime Trilogy, desperately hope that gets ported to Wii U with Pro controller format support.

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Mario's got me jonesing for some new hardware. I'm just waiting for the magic £150. I'd prefer the white one anyway, and a 32gb HDD is almost as useless as 8gb so it makes little difference to me. Would love it for xmas, but realistically I'll be waiting for a New Year deal.

 

I've thought about second hand, but

 

a) I won't get that 'new gear' smell when I open it,

B) I might get that questionable second hand smell when I open it,

and c) I'm not quite sure what that would entail with IDs, etc. Is is possible to format and return to factory settings?

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If I take an honest look at my Gamecube collection, it doesn't have a ton of must-keeps that I can't play elsewhere. The only things that come to mind are Mario Sunshine (good chance we'll see an HD remake of that, or at least a port) and Double Dash. Wind Waker has been upgraded, I can play Ocarina of Time on the 3DS and probably in the future Majora's Mask too, the Metroid Prime games have been ported to Wii, so... yeah, what else? Viewtiful Joe? I don't think it'll be a painful switch, whenever it comes.

Well, were they to port all of the major Gamecube exclusives to HD or something on WiiU, I'd transfer, but for now I still need it for Luigi's Mansion, Warioworld, Warioware, Mario Sunshine, Skies of Arcadia, MGS Twin Snakes, and Four Swords Adventures. There's probably others but this is me trying to remember off the top of my head. I also used that Zelda collection disc to play all of the major Zelda games through and through when I first bought my Gamecube brand new. I'm hoping for a Majora's Mask port though.

 

Really though, any time I can get rid of an old console is for the best, but it never seems to happen 100%. There's always a few stragglers that will never get ported or updated.

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Chibi-Robo, Simpsons Hit & Run, and Paper Mario 2 here.

 

Honestly I think I hate Wii's Gamecube compatability mode more than the Wii U's Wii compatability, because at least when I feel like playing a Wii game on the Wii U I can use a Wii remote to do everything I need to do to get to the actual game. Playing a Gamecube game is needlessly complicated for me now, because I have to boot the Wii, sync one of my Wiimotes to it since they're all connected to the Wii U now, attach a classic controller to the Wiimote because the sensor bar is also connected to the Wii U now, select the Gamecube game, and only THEN do I get to use the Gamecube controller that has been connected to the system this whole time and is clearly recognized by it since Wii games can use it. I keep wondering why Nintendo never patched in an option to control the Wii menu with a Gamecube controller, or to boot straight to disc rather than the home menu.

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F-Zero GX
 

Also, I can barely stand the new play control Metroid Prime Trilogy, desperately hope that gets ported to Wii U with Pro controller format support.


Not to mention that the Trilogy version of the first Metroid Prime is missing a ton of visual effects, trading it all for an ugly light bloom effect.

 

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