The Nintendo Wii U is Great Thread

[Tanukitsune]

Has anybody tried Mini-Mario & Friends: amiibo Challenge? At first I thought it was some sort of demo version, but it seems to be a full game.

 

I found it pretty charming even though there is a point were you can't progress without more amiibo. Each amiibo from Mario games has it's own small world that you can only access which the right amiibo. 

 

After playing a bit of Runbow and Swords & Soldiers II, I play this game and frankly like it more than those too combined.

[Kolzig]

I have it downloaded for both 3DS and Wii U. Haven't played it yet, but I've seen in gameplay videos how it's supposed to work.

The only so called Mario series amiibos I have are Yoshi and Toad so those I can unlock I suppose. Would be fun if other series Amiibos would unlock random Mario characters levels in the game.

[eRonin]

So I've just started playing Xenoblade Chronicles -- the Wii original via eshop download, not the latest game -- on the Wii U. And it's very good, but there's this one (weird) issue that's bugging me with the gamepad controls:

 

When I push the left analog stick all the way forward, my character starts running in the wrong direction, i.e. towards the camera, opposite to how it should be. I can't see any reason for this, and it hasn't done this with any other game so far. I can't tell if it's a system thing or if it's a problem specific to the game. 

 

So far I'm getting through it by just not pushing the left stick all the way to the end of its travel, which still seems to let me run at full speed forward, but it's really quite annoying. Has anyone else encountered anything like this?

 

It didn't happen to me but you're not the only one, I saw a thread about it on reddit the other day. Nothing in the way of solutions though, other than maybe try playing with the classic controller if you have one instead.

[Kolzig]

Some really great indie games coming during the summer months.

Axiom Verge, Jotun: Valhalla edition and Severed. The last one is even crossbuy enabled for both Wii U and 3DS!

Also ten days to TMS#FE anymore.

[Dr Wookie]

Now I'm really looking at getting a Wii U or NX! The Wii Uhas built up a very respectable catalogue of exclusives, and I really like the look of the new Zelda... The trailer didn't get me but watching the demo really did! I think I'll wait to see how backwards compatible the NX is before getting one though.

[marginalgloss]

So partly to get around that weird controller issue I mentioned with Xenoblade Chronicles - and partly because I'd been thinking about getting a regular twin-stick controller anyway - I ordered a second-hand Wii Classic Controller Pro from GAME, for the princely sum of £8. Oddly, it came unboxed, but it appears to be brand new. And it works very well! I had been thinking of getting the Wii U Pro controller, but for the most part it seems like most of the Wii U games that support the Pro controller also support the older Classic Controllers. The backwards compatibility isn't totally comprehensive, but it's good enough for the price.  

 

It also spurred me to get on and finish Yoshi's Woolly World. That is a really nice platform game which, by the time you get to the final worlds, hits a perfect sweet spot between difficulty and accessibility. I always felt like I was being challenged, but I never hit anything that felt impossible to finish. 

 

And the music in YWW is just so good. I mean it's...really, really good. It has the immediate tuneful quality of what we think of as 'video game music' from the 16-bit era, but it's all beautifully produced live instrumentation with incredibly careful attention to detail. I can't remember hearing such

on a video game lately, or

anywhere (outside of Mario Kart 8?). I know it does get mentioned from time to time, but I sometimes feel like we take things like this for granted; because my goodness, the standard of the music on the best Nintendo-published games is just so far ahead of what most video games do it's shocking. But then again, even the title music on Kirby's Epic Yarn was enough to make me well up, so perhaps I'm just growing soft.

[Vulpes Absurda]

I've been playing TMS FE and figured I would post my thoughts on it so far:

I'm kinda baffled by how so many people are freaking out about TMS FE. In my time with its been a mediocre Persona clone. It's okay I guess? It's got the same issue the Fire Emblem games have where it doesn't feel like there was a writer, so much as there was a guy payed to pick which anime tropes they would use by pointing to a bunch of cardboard cutouts characters from better media. The game play is fun enough, but not super deep as of yet, it doesn't have the fusion system from other SMT games so it feels shallow in comparison, it could very well pick up and become more interesting and there's room for it to do so, but as of the second dungeon it hasn't yet. Which to be fair is also true of most SMT games. My biggest issue is that the whole game feels skeevy because of the way it introduces women by panning up from their feet and stops at their breasts, and then puts the the dialogue boxes right at chest level so while you're reading you can watch the jiggle physics in action. It's really creepy, more so when you factor in that the several of the characters are 17 (technically 18 for the US release but that hardly makes it better anyways). Honestly the only reason I'm not willing to call the game out right bad is that I'm only in the second dungeon.

 

On the plus side: I guess the music is okay? I'm not into Jpop so I never expected to like the music anyways, but I do find the animated Jpop videos in it pretty dull but the battle music is fine.

[Kolzig]

I should never start testing things when I'm tired. I got the Fortissimo edition of TMS#FE and I started the game without looking at the box and it's contents carefully. Decided to jump to eShop from inside the game's menu and noticed there was some add-on content for the game so I went and purchased it.

Then next morning I started checking the art book etc and I noticed there's an included download code for ALL of the DLC...

[Vulpes Absurda]

Maybe someone on here who all the DLC will buy the code off of you. I would if I wanted the DLC.

[Kolzig]

Yeah, if anyone wants it, I can sell it a bit cheaper than what the price is in eShop.

[TheLastBaron]

Is there any way to request a refund? I know I've gotten refunds in similar situations on Steam, but Valve in general have very lenient refund policies and I have no idea how Nintendo is.

[Kolzig]

I doubt there is a refund chance here. Especially since it's been almost a week already since I made the dumb decision to buy the dlc in the eshop.

[Roderick]

I happened to watch a few hours of TMS#FE (what a convoluted name - and totally not using either the SMT/Persona or Fire Emblem brands... what were they thinking?), and it very nearly convinced me I needed a Wii U. Look, I've never played Persona, so perhaps this isn't the most informed opinion. But I loved the colorfulness, the cheek, the fighting style. To me, it was a perfect feel-good game with the right amount of Japanese weirdness that I sometimes crave. In terms of skeeviness, as long as it doesn't get to DOA Tropical Island Voyeur Edition, I'll be fine.

 

In no small part because it has this

 

[SuperBiasedMan]

The downside to consoles is you don't have the option to just mod out the skeevy stuff. :/ 

[eRonin]

The downside to consoles is you don't have the option to just mod out the skeevy stuff. :/ 

 

I'm pretty sure people have modded TMS Western release to get the original Japanese costumes and other things. It's perfectly possible to mod things on the Wii U, just need the know-how and a lot of determination.

 

http://www.siliconera.com/2016/06/28/tokyo-mirage-sessions-fe-modders-working-uncensoring-wii-u-rpg/

[SuperBiasedMan]

Ok I correct myself, you don't have the easy option to mod things.

[Twig]

Become one with the skeeve. If you are skeeve, all is skeeve, and nothing is skeeve. Skeeve yourself and you shall be skeeved.

[SuperBiasedMan]

Have you heard you about our lord and skeever Skeevus Christ?

[Twig]

And, yea, the Lord looked upon his work and said, "I have skeeved."

[Sno]

I am surprised to see TMS#FE get really, really positive reviews after all the pre-release buzz being so negative.

 

Also, i played StarFox Zero.

 

It kinda sucks.

 

To be fair, it probably sucks the least of any post N64 Star Fox game, and i have played them all, but it still kind of sucks.

 

It feels like Platinum trying their god damn best to make a decent game out of an awkward idea, and i think they actually get a pretty good part of the way there, but that game feels like it's pulling in five different directions with its control scheme. For example, it's incredibly difficult to aim with the third-person view, but it's incredibly difficult to dodge shit with the first-person view. Jumping between these perspectives does not work in a difficult, fast-paced action game, and that's just part of it. Why does the arwing mech have both a strafing lock-on mechanic and a torso-twist mechanic?

 

I love me some weird obtuse control mechanics, but even i think this game barely works.

 

Edit: I also played Pokken.

That game is weird as shit and kind of awesome, i might say more about it at a later date.

[Roderick]

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.

[N1njaSquirrel]

I like pokken. I like the way the stage switches between a more classic tekken fighting view to the less conventional 3d fighting view that you get with stuff like dissidia. The tactics involved in the fights are more interesting than your traditional fighting game, and is easier to understand. 

 

 

I can understand them pushing Star Fox over TMS though. TMS being a rather niche rpg about the idol industry, a thing that unless you're already somewhat clued into Japanese culture would be weird and confusing to explain, over the much easier appeal of shooting shit in a ship with a flagship Nintendo character.

 

I actually quite like SF0. I have found the mix of views to be quite easy to get into. Clearly this is only me who thinks this though. The chicken controls are the worst, but the flying stuff is quite fun I found.

[Kolzig]

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.

[Thrik]

Well Nintendo certainly seems to be on a roll this week! I too would definitely grab a SNES version for the convenience and nostalgia/collectable factor of the physical unit, if it came with key favourites like DKC1–3, Super Mario All Stars, Mario Kart, and Super Mario World 1&2.

[Roderick]

I wonder if the thing supports save states. That was really essential for my enjoyment of a lot of those classics on the 3DS. It made playing Mario Bros and Metroid a blast, instead of a kind of frustrating and time-consuming experience. (I know I didn't get the 'proper' old school experience this way, but for me to play and get to the end of them at all, it was invaluable.)