Nintendo Wii U Launch + Games Confirmed

On today’s European Nintendo Direct broadcast today, Nintendo Europe President Satoru Shibata confirmed the Wii U launch date as 30th November 2012. 3 launch console options were announced, alongside a list of launch window games.

The Games

Available on launch day – November 30th

• FIFA 13
• Mass Effect 3: Special Edition
• Nano Assault Neo
• New Super Mario Bros U
• Nintendo Land
• Rayman Legends
• Trine 2: Director’s Cut
• Toki Tori 2
• Zombi U

Coming out during launch window – 30th November 2012 to 31st March 2013:

• Aliens: Colonial Marines
• Assassin’s Creed 3
• Batman Arkham City: Armoured Edition
• Call of Duty: Black Ops 2
• Darksiders 2
• Disney’s Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
• Funky Barn
• Just Dance 4
• Lego City: Undercover
• Madden NFL 13
• Marvel Avengers: Battle for Earth



• Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate
• NBA 2K13
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
• Rabbid’s Land
• Rise of the Guardians
• Runner 2: Future Legend of Rhythm Alien
• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• SiNG Party
• Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed
• Sports Connection
• Tank! Tank! Tank!
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2
• Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013

Coming later/No release window given:

• Bayonetta 2 (launching exclusively on Wii U)
• Game & Wario
• James Bond 007 Legends
• Pikmin 3



• Skylanders Giants
• The Wonderful 101 (formerly Project P-100)
• Transformers Prime

The Hardware

The console itself will come in two varieties:

Basic Pack

• White
• 8GB hard drive
• Gamepad (i.e. the tablet controller)
• 2 AC adaptors, one for the gamepad and one for the console
• 1 HDMI cable

There will be no sensor pack and no games included. People without a Wii can buy an additional accessory pack (the “Wii Remote Plus Additional Set”) that includes a Wii Remote plus, a nunchuck and a sensor bar.

You can preorder this package online from £210 £230. See The Hut, Simply Games, Sainsbury’s, GAME, Amazon, Argos, Play, Zavvi, HMV, Gamestation

Premium Pack

• Black
• 32GB hard drive
• 2 AC adaptors
• 1 HDMI cable
• Sensor bar
• Gamepad stand
• Console stand
• Charging cradle for gamepad
• Nintendo Land software

The premium pack will also let you access the “Nintendo Network Premium”. This will allow you to collect points on your purchases. Shibata placed the rate at about 10% of your product’s digital value – e.g. an item that sells on the Wii store for €5 would net you 5 points. These points can be redeemed online at a value of 1 cent per point. Basically, it’s a digital version of a Boots Advantage card but with a poorer earning rate.

Online retailers are listing the Premium Pack at around £250 £275. See Zavvi, The Hut, Simply Games, Amazon, GAME, Argos, HMV, Play, Gamestation

An additional ZombiU Wii U console bundle will also be available at launch premium. This will be the Premium Pack that includes ZombiU and pro controller (i.e. the controller-shaped one, not the tablet).

You can pre-order the Zombi U bundle from £299 at Zavvi, The Hut, ShopTo, HMV, GAME, Play, Gamestation

Compatibility

Most Wii titles will be playable on the Wii U, but the broadcast didn’t cover a list of tested or excluded games. WiiWare and Virtual Console games will be playable on Wii U and (I believe) you should be able to transfer games you already own.

Oddball Game Details

The full list of areas was revealed for Nintendo Land – You’ll earn virtual stamps as you play through the various areas and there will be a mix of single-player, primarily multiplayer and games that include both modes.

• Animal Crossing: Sweet Day
• Balloon Trip Breeze
• Captain Falcon’s Twister Race
• Donkey Kong’s Crash Course



• Luigi’s Ghost Mansion
• Mario Chase
• Metroid Blast
• Octopus Dance
• Pikmin Adventure
• Takamaru’s Ninja Castle
• Yoshi’s Fruit Cart
• Zelda Battle Quest

And here are some factoids that I thought noteworthy during the broadcast.

Metroid Blast: Playing with gamepad will allow you to fly in a starship to shoot down airborne enemies or play as a ground trooper running around the map. Other players will be limited to ground offence. There’s also a 4-player split-screen mode where you can battle each other.

ZombiU: You’ll improve your prowess with each weapon as you use it, rather than relying on points-style levelling. All that prowess will be lost if your character dies. As you know from our previous article, dying will leave your character on the map as a zombie opponent. The Wii U gamepad will track the progress of these poor creatures and show you stats on how any people they’ve killed. Shibata talked about leaving messages in the map for other players and finding them by scanning with the gamepad. As with Dark Souls, you’ll never know who to trust.

New Super Mario Bros U:You can play as your Mii or as Mario characters. I posted a hands-on gameplay video from E3 back in June.

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate: Ryozo from Capcom confirmed that this game will launch simultaneously on Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. You can share save game data to play across either console, which is a pretty handy feature. You can also play with other people online or across local wifi.

Zelda Battle Quest: This combat-oriented section of Nintendo Land will see you fighting with a bow and arrow or sword and shield. The Battle Quest mode will include 9 basic stages. Completing these will unlock new, hidden locations. There’s also a time attack mode with 3 levels.

Conclusions

It looks like Nintendo has been listening very carefully to the core audience over the past couple of years. They’ve been saving up all that feedback for precisely this announcement. Today’s Monster Hunter 3 and Bayonetta 2 announcements are welcomed by core (and niche) fans who have been crying out for these sequels for years.

Including New Super Mario Bros U at launch should get the attention of the traditional core crowd and you can see above that the first 4 months will have plenty of releases. Admittedly, many of them are already out on the Xbox 360 or the PlayStation 3 or both. LEGO City: Undercover looks very good for all audiences, Skylanders Giants will appeal to families and the wide range of games does show that publishers are backing the hardware for the moment.

The 2 bundles look good on the surface but seem to be just a sneaky way of getting below that £200 threshold looking like a cheap option. Unlike the Wii – which always included Wii Sports – the basic pack doesn’t actually include any games. Sure, you can play your virtual console or Wii Shop purchases but you’ve still got those on the Wii. The cheapest Wii U games are going for just under £30 so if you already have a sensor bar, you could save yourself around 20 quid. Is the hit on storage space really worth that saving though?

I’ll probably pick up the ZombiU bundle at some point this year, but I can justify part of that as investment in The Average Gamer. If I didn’t have the site, I’m not sure I’d bother. Will you?