The Nintendo Wii U is Great Thread

[undermind9]

Additionally DK Tropical Freeze and pikmin 3 are on sale this week on eshop.

I'm tempted by the DK since I don't imagine even black Friday going much cheaper

[tegan]

I'm pretty sure Nintendo's just covering their ass with regards to the external HDD thing. I've yet to see anyone complain about a drive not working. I'd still get an externally-powered drive myself, though.

[Griddlelol]

I bought a USB SSD yesterday...I didn't even read the guidelines from Nintendo. If you can wait a few days I can tell you if it works or not!

[N1njaSquirrel]

I'm pretty sure the SSD Read/Write limitations is not a problem any more, unless you got an SSD from a few years back, the R/W count is so high that unless you were running a server off of it, it's not going to run out any time soon.

[Griddlelol]

DK Tropical Freeze or NSMBU?

[BusbyBerkeley]

Donkey Kong, easily. Mario if you aren't super into platformers and want to play with friends.

[N1njaSquirrel]

agreed, DK:TF is miles better than NSMBU.

[Griddlelol]

Is DK too hard for people who don't play a lot of games?

[RubixsQube]

It can be, but they try to balance this with little power-ups and an abundance of free lives. It rewards wanting to try things one more time. I also hope you've played Rayman Legends, which is another gem of a platformer. 

[undermind9]

I played it at one of those demo kiosks and thought was great and returns to donkey Kong country of SNES.

Apparently can be controlled with wiimote, nunchuck and pro (which I've yet to get).

[Griddlelol]

It can be, but they try to balance this with little power-ups and an abundance of free lives. It rewards wanting to try things one more time. I also hope you've played Rayman Legends, which is another gem of a platformer. 

Yeah my partner likes rayman a lot. I just kinda want something new and DK might fit the bill. My only concern is that I hated the DK game for the game boy. But I was like 9.

[Merus]

I can't imagine any of the Game Boy DK games being relevant: Donkey Kong '94 was great but pretty different, and Donkey Kong Land was not good.

[Griddlelol]

I played donkey kong land. It put me off all DK games since. Strange, apparently it got really good reviews at the time. I loathed it as a child.

If it ever goes on sale I'll grab it. I'm really done with physical games, but Nintendo rarely does sales.

[tegan]

"Bad game that inexplicably got good reviews at the time" is kind of Rare's entire modus operandi from the early nineties right up until Grabbed by the Ghoulies came around and the part about getting good reviews no longer applied.

[Merus]

This seems like a golden opportunity to plug this ol' thing I wrote a few years ago about Rare's output and collectathons: http://www.gamespite.net/toastywiki/index.php/Games/TragedyOfTheCollectathons

[Thrik]

"Bad game that inexplicably got good reviews at the time" is kind of Rare's entire modus operandi from the early nineties right up until Grabbed by the Ghoulies came around and the part about getting good reviews no longer applied.

 

I would say that Rare's home console catalogue was consistently excellent during the 90s. That was really a completely different company to the Rare that's existed in the 2000s and beyond, though.

 

DKC:TF is stellar shit, for real.

[Griddlelol]

 

I finished Hyrule Warriors! It's good!

 

It seems to have wildly varying responses from both the press and everyone else. I'm torn between getting it or DK. I just think Hyrule warriors has longer legs. I can get pretty deep into Dynasty Warriors games if I try, and I've not played on in ages. 

 

 

I'm probably gonna get it. 

[SecretAsianMan]

It seems to have wildly varying responses from both the press and everyone else. I'm torn between getting it or DK. I just think Hyrule warriors has longer legs. I can get pretty deep into Dynasty Warriors games if I try, and I've not played on in ages. 

 

 

I'm probably gonna get it. 

 

The impression I've gotten from opinions (not my own, I haven't played it) on Hyrule Warriors is that if you can handle Dynasty Warriors gameplay and like Zelda lore/characters/settings then Hyrule Warriors is the game for you.  Which I guess is exactly what they were going for.

[tegan]

I played it with a friend the other day. It's crammed full of Zelda fanservice, but Dynasty Warriors gameplay and environments feel like a pre-alpha version of a game, not like something that was meant to actually ship. It's boring and repetitive to both play and look at.

[undermind9]

i bit on DK:TF online store sale and played the first island last night.  

 

the controls took a few tries to get going, i had in mind the SNES DKC roll->into run and roll/cartwheel off a ledge to get a slightly dropped long jump.  Except in here there is a run button and separated roll button, anyways i ended up running directly into some baddies

 

so far it feels great, looks great, and really excited to play through.  The collectibles & effort to 100% each level seems daunting, i think i'm going to finish game first before coming back to find them all.

 

 

Regarding Hyrule Warriors - they updated the wii-u kiosk at target this last week so i'm excited to try that as well.  I only use the demo machine when kids aren't near by.  I feel somehow they get first dibs on the controller because their parents dragged them to the store against their will, whereas I am actually shopping for groceries, clothing, etc.

[aprettycooldude]

I spent my weekend pretty much doing nothing but play Hyrule Warriors. Quick thoughts in the worst form (bullet points)

 

The Good:

 

- Legend Mode is stupid fun. It is exactly the kind of nonsense plot you would expect from a Warriors game, and the mission quests actually feel like they mean something as opposed to Dynasty Warriors. In Dynasty Warriors, if you muck up a fire attack, it doesn't matter. In Hyrule Warriors, you've probably just lost the map. It lends a sense of urgency and meaning to what were once nuisances.

- Boss fights are... good? I dunno, I liked them a lot, but that seems to be a point of contention. I can't really articulate why, they just kind of... did.

- Adventure Mode is a brilliant idea. I thought I'd be mad, but I'm not. It's cute and goofy and some of the A ranks are infuriating to get, but I'm digging it.

- All characters play great after a few shots. Once you start unlocking characters outside Legend Mode you've generally built up enough materials to get everyone a full moveset right off the bat, which is good.

-

Oh my god Zelda is never damseled it's a Christmas miracle

 

The Questionable:

 

- Replaying Adventure Mode maps for cards gets pretty old pretty fast, especially when they land on one of the full maps as opposed to one of the "kill x dudes" or "answer the questions haha." That said, materials as a bonus

- Locking weapon levels in Adventure Mode makes sense on paper but is a little annoying when it comes to actually wanting to use a character on a map.

- There are something like... 15 maps? Maybe more maybe less? I haven't figured out which map is optimal for experience yet, but the fact that I have to say "which map is optimal for experience" is a problematic statement.

 

The Straight Nasty:

 

- Grinding for materials is the *literal worst*. Boss materials are actually the easiest part; there are Adventure Mode missions that are quick five minute jaunts through a boss gauntlet, and you'll get 3 or 4 drops out of those. Base materials from enemy captains - especially the ones used by multiple characters - take a century to build up; and then you chew through them immediately. You get maybe 7 to 10 drops of the Token Bad Captain (Redead, Gibdo, Aeralfos, etc.) per 20-30 minute mission, and you'll chew through that immediately after. Off the top of my head I'd wager you need 70 or so of certain drops (MOBLIN FLANKS), which is a whole bunch of time running the single goddamn Skyloft mission.

- Leveling is... bad. Your best bet is to pick one character (hint it's Link since you're forced to play Link more than anyone else), grind them up to 99, and then Pay Your Way with everyone else. That is... bad design.

- ughhh the inherent misogyny and sexism in Cia's design and role as a character ughghghhhh

 

tl;dr only buy if you are used to grinding in MMOs/RPGs and also a Warriors fan. No amount of love for Zelda will help you overcome the agony of the grind

[Spenny]

Super Mario 3D World is super good. Friendo and I sat down and got through the first 2.5 worlds last Saturday, I went back and got some stars yesterday. 

 

This guy is too cute for me to handle.

[tegan]

HOLY SHIT YOU GUYS, FOLDERS

 

 

[N1njaSquirrel]

 

 

It seems to have wildly varying responses from both the press and everyone else. I'm torn between getting it or DK. I just think Hyrule warriors has longer legs. I can get pretty deep into Dynasty Warriors games if I try, and I've not played on in ages. 

 

 

I'm probably gonna get it. 

 

The other thing that they never mentioned about Hyrule Warriors is that the whole game can be played co-op. Which is pretty neat if you're not too fussed about getting every base and finding all the Golden Skulltulas (which is kinda lame btw. They appear generally after 1000 kills, but in the story mode, there is 2 per map (you unlock the other one after completing the game), and only one golden skulltula will appear in a playthrough, which is annoying.) Basically, One person plays on the Tablet, and the other person (with either the pro controller or the wiimote + nunchuck) plays on the TV. Which is pretty rad. It's also quite funny, as P1 is generally locked to one or two characters, whilst P2 can choose anyone, so we had a blast playing as Ganondorf and Zelda, as watching the princess of light siding with someone evil to do evil things.

 

In contrast, DK:TF's co-op is pretty terrible. It really is a single player game with co-op tagged on, for three reasons:

 

First, the second player cannot swap character between or mid levels. This is a serious hindrance, as sometimes you need to play with cranky kong to get a 'KONG' letter that's in a spike pit.

Secondly: The later levels (especially the last world and the bonus stage) require some perfect platforming that is hard with 2 players, as it generally reacts to whomever has touched the ground/gate first, usually leaving someone either constantly dead.

Thirdly: On the later levels, 2P will mostly spend their time on DK's back, as it's the most useful spot for survival.

 

Also on a seperate note, Diddy is fucking useless. I don't understand what he's got over Dixie, who can actually fly, instead of just hovering. Cranky at least has moments where he's useful. BAH!

 

Also Also, I just realised I've been saying skulltula 'skull talla'. Stupid words.

[undermind9]

Also on a seperate note, Diddy is fucking useless. I don't understand what he's got over Dixie, who can actually fly, instead of just hovering. Cranky at least has moments where he's useful. BAH!

i can see the advantage of diddy, although i also prefer dixie

 

ive only been played through island 1 & 2 but diddy's float is much more consistent and predictable (like princess in smb2, etc) whereas dixie has a drop then rise which can be tricky when jumping between hazards

 

i generally find cranky to be annoying with the pogo bounce, but i dont think ive been in a rough enough situation yet to require it