Nintendo Direct Spells Big Things for Wii U
Let’s face it, ladies and gentlemen. We’re all underwhelmed by the Wii U’s current lineup. There hasn’t been much released that really takes advantage of the hardware benefits provided by the game pad (though playing titles on the gamepad away from a TV is pretty slick). There have been titles like Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition and Assassin’s Creed III, but the former is riddled with performance issues and the latter is the least graphically advanced of the three console releases (Digital Foundry found quite an issue with the depth of field). There are no system sellers, right? Wrong. There are now. Nintendo took to the internet early Wednesday morning to talk about upcoming titles for their Wii U in Nintendo Direct.
Iwata and company talked on for a bit about firmware to speed up the Wii U’s OS menus. They did a little spiel about the Miiverse. There was also a lot of talk about the Famicom’s 30th anniversary and the Wii U virtual console. But that’s not what we’re here to discuss. We want the meat. We want the next generation Wii U games we have been expecting from a major hardware and software developer like Nintendo. And, to be perfectly honest, they’ve delivered quite a bit!
Among titles discussed were Pikmin 3 and Platinum Games’ The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2. There was a trailer for the former of Platinum’s titles and a small progress update on the latter. It was announced that a 3D Mario game for the Wii U is in the works and is being developed by the Super Mario Galaxy team. Tagged onto the end of that was news that Mario Kart Wii U is coming, as well as a spiritual successor to Mario Party in Wii U Party. A new Yoshi game is in development from the Kirby team responsible for Kirby’s Epic Yarn. From way out in left field, a Shin Megami Tensei x Fire Emblem crossover game was announced. The Zelda team is at it again working on a title for the Wii U, and they’re quoted as saying they want to, “…rethink the conventions of Zelda.” That’s not all for Zelda news, though! It was announced that an HD remake of The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker is in the works and will be released this fall! And last, but certainly not least, a new game from the Nintendo-acquired Monolith Soft. The trailer shows what appears to a multiplayer, open-world JRPG. You can check out that video below:
You can watch the full Nintendo Direct video here.
