This week, Nintendo announced the release dates of a few of their most anticipated games for the Wii U. Captain Toad, Yoshi's Whooly World, Sonic Boom and, of course, Super Smash Bros Wii U will all be coming out before the end of the current year. Which means of course, along with the current line-up of games like Zelda: Wind Waker, Mario Kart 8, Super Mario World Wii U and so on, there's no better choice of console right now than the Wii U.
Of course there's nothing that can guarantee things won't change. Especially with the spectacular quantity and quality of triple-A titles coming to both the XBox One and the PS4, it is in fact highly unlikely that the Wii U will remain in its favorable position for long. By this time next year, Nintendo could be looking for ways to salvage whatever they can from the wreckage that 2015 will have left for them.
But credit must be given where credit is due. Nintendo went through some rough times during the late N64 and even up until the Wii era. Not enough innovations, small number of high-quality games that the opposition was more than willing to offer and poor use of their own exclusives is what practically drove them to the brink of bankruptcy. If it wasn't for the handheld market that they pretty much owned (since the PSP and Vita turned out to be poor opposition), we could be remembering Nintendo as a relic of the past right now.
However they managed to shift things into high-gear with the arrival of the Wii U. Not only did they create a quite different console in the way that it is used to play games, but they made clever use of the highly advanced capabilities of this new piece of hardware in order to make better games exclusive for that console. They began with the extremely fun Super Mario World Wii U, a game that is based on the popular Super Mario formula but can be played with up to 4 people at once!
They moved on with Mario Kart 8, a game that isn't so much a racer, as it is a fun passtime with friends and family. However even on single player the addictiveness is on an entirely different level. Someone could pick up the controller in the morning and end up putting it down in the afternoon without even realizing it! And that's what makes a great game.
Nintendo also utilized their on-going co-operation with SEGA, with them re-introducing their all-star Sonic The Hedgehog and his friends with a series of games, comics and CGI animated episodes all tentatively titled Sonic Boom. There will be two different games, one for the Wii U and one for the DS and both will tie in with the story that will be carried on in the episodes broadcast on TV.
But the most anticipated game on the Wii U is undoubtedly Super Smash Bros Wii U. The number of characters that span from different series that have been introduced in this brawler along with the ones that already existed promise for a variety of choices. Also, with the number of different stages and the 4-vs-4 action that only the Wii U can offer, one can only imagine the epic battles that will go on in the arenas of the players' living rooms. It has already been touted among gamers as the greatest fighting game and its counterpart for the DS sold 2.8 million copies in its opening week!
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Other games such as Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, Zelda: Hyrule Warriors and Zelda: Wind Waker have also sold well and there's still loads more to come like Captain Toad, Yoshi's Whooly World, Bayonetta 2, the new Zelda RPG and Monolith's X are sure to carry the Wii U for a while. And there's also the DS to think about that has Pokemon Alpha Ruby and Omega Sapphire releasing in November as well. But will all of that be able to deal with the upcoming opposition?
Nintendo have managed to shift a bad situation. Right now, both the Wii U and the DS seem to be the ideal consoles for exclusive, fun, interactive games that someone can play either alone or with friends/family. The big question here is, how long will that remain?
But credit must be given where credit is due. Nintendo went through some rough times during the late N64 and even up until the Wii era. Not enough innovations, small number of high-quality games that the opposition was more than willing to offer and poor use of their own exclusives is what practically drove them to the brink of bankruptcy. If it wasn't for the handheld market that they pretty much owned (since the PSP and Vita turned out to be poor opposition), we could be remembering Nintendo as a relic of the past right now.
However they managed to shift things into high-gear with the arrival of the Wii U. Not only did they create a quite different console in the way that it is used to play games, but they made clever use of the highly advanced capabilities of this new piece of hardware in order to make better games exclusive for that console. They began with the extremely fun Super Mario World Wii U, a game that is based on the popular Super Mario formula but can be played with up to 4 people at once!
They moved on with Mario Kart 8, a game that isn't so much a racer, as it is a fun passtime with friends and family. However even on single player the addictiveness is on an entirely different level. Someone could pick up the controller in the morning and end up putting it down in the afternoon without even realizing it! And that's what makes a great game.
Nintendo also utilized their on-going co-operation with SEGA, with them re-introducing their all-star Sonic The Hedgehog and his friends with a series of games, comics and CGI animated episodes all tentatively titled Sonic Boom. There will be two different games, one for the Wii U and one for the DS and both will tie in with the story that will be carried on in the episodes broadcast on TV.
But the most anticipated game on the Wii U is undoubtedly Super Smash Bros Wii U. The number of characters that span from different series that have been introduced in this brawler along with the ones that already existed promise for a variety of choices. Also, with the number of different stages and the 4-vs-4 action that only the Wii U can offer, one can only imagine the epic battles that will go on in the arenas of the players' living rooms. It has already been touted among gamers as the greatest fighting game and its counterpart for the DS sold 2.8 million copies in its opening week!
And that's just the tip of the iceberg. Other games such as Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze, Zelda: Hyrule Warriors and Zelda: Wind Waker have also sold well and there's still loads more to come like Captain Toad, Yoshi's Whooly World, Bayonetta 2, the new Zelda RPG and Monolith's X are sure to carry the Wii U for a while. And there's also the DS to think about that has Pokemon Alpha Ruby and Omega Sapphire releasing in November as well. But will all of that be able to deal with the upcoming opposition?
Nintendo have managed to shift a bad situation. Right now, both the Wii U and the DS seem to be the ideal consoles for exclusive, fun, interactive games that someone can play either alone or with friends/family. The big question here is, how long will that remain?
