Topic: I really need your help guys.

So my lovely girlfriend just gave me an old black Wii U she had lying around at her place and, being a person who's never used a Wii before, I took it without realising that it didn't have the GamePad with it. I didn't know that it had to have one. I went online and checked and what not, and everyone said you could easily play with a Pro Controller, hence the GamePad would not necessarily be needed. So I went ahead and bought a Pro controller and New Super Mario Bros. To my disappointment, I couldn't play Super Mario because the game kept asking me to press "2" which was nowhere to be found on my Pro. So the question is this: How the hell do I get the game to work without a GamePad? I've looked everywhere for the Gamepad and no one is selling it. I've found a few people on ebay but it's not worth it because they're selling it for 160 Euros and the whole new console costs about 230, so I don't see the point. Please help me play Mario .

You need the gamepad

Call up your lovely girlfriend and ask her where it went

The Gamepad is a part of the Wii U. Tell your girlfriend to give you the Gamepad as well.

EDIT: Also, it seems like you bought the New Super Mario game for Wii, and you need a Wii-compatible devices for that (for example a Wiimote).

She doesn't have it. She said she's never seen it around. This sucks :/ I spent money on the pro controller and Mario for nothing.

Yeah you are going to have to get the gamepad from your girlfriend. If she doesnt have it anymore or its busted well then you are screwed. If it's busted you can send it in to Nintendo for repair but if it's gone you are going to have to get one from ebay since you can't buy a gamepad separate.

She never played the console?

On the bright side, if you buy a gamepad for 160 you're still saving like 70 euros opposed to buying the entire console new.

Not ideal, but at least you'd be able to play your game

She should have got one with her Wii U. Where did she get the Wii U from?

Are you sure it's a Wii U? Sounds more like it's a Wii.

If it's a Wii U, it can't be that old, since it was first released 2 years ago.

Fall back position, get one off eBay or ring Nintendo and say its broke and you need a replacement.

It's a 32GB black Wii U. She never played it. It was for her roommate; he left the apartment and left all his stuff and this was part of it. Apparently he ended up taking it with him or losing it or something...bottom line it's not there. I'm just going to return the game and the controller and play Xbox One then.

I live in Germany. I don't think ringing Nintendo will do any good.
I'm trying to get one off ebay but it's not as easy as it seems. There's one person selling it and she lives 100 kms away and wants me to wire her the money first. I don't trust ebay. Amazon has nothing.

Try maybe Craiglist or something similar they have there. If not just call Nintendo and tell them your situation and maybe they might sell you a replacement.

I'm going to email them now and see what they'll say. Thanks guys!

You don't need the gamepad to play New Super Mario Bros U, it can be played with the pro controller.
Just press the A button to make your selections. A ok, B back.

I tried that but it didn't work. The Pro controller connects on the homescreen, so I can actually move the mouse cursor around and select to start the game (pro controller at that point has one blue light on it always on), but the second I start the game all the lights on the pro controller go off. However much I try to press the power button or connect the controller, it just keeps flashing all the lights on the bottom and then turning off.

Cex in the UK Seem to have them for £60.

The problem is only the scummiest places will sell them because they are bound to be stolen.

Based on one of the recent system updates, the Wii U Gamepad is no longer necessary to run the system. It is necessary for some games, but I would not have thought NSMBU was one of them.

For certain games like Lego City Undercover won't work without the gamepad, but games like Super Mario 3D World should.

Japan used to sell gamepads separately, an input based asian webstore might sell new ones.

Of course, instead of playing Wii U, theres other things you could be doing with your GF !

I known your problem. You don't have the Gamepad so your system is not updated fully, hence New Super Mario Bros. U is likely not updated either so only the Gamepad and Wii Remotes are compatible. Tell me, what does it say next to "Ver" in the bottom right corner of the title screen?

From that, it seems like you need to connect your WiiU to the internet and do an update. Which sounds easy enough, but unfortunately you need the gamepad to do so.
The only thing that I can suggest is asking around friends and family if they have a WiiU, and would be willing to let you borrow their gamepad so you can set up the internet and do the update. Once it's done, you can either turn the internet off if you don't play games online, or leave it on an set the WiiU to do automatic updates.
You'll also need to start NSMBU with the internet on, as there was a patch to allow pro controller support.
If all else fails, you can always buy a Wii remote Plus, that will work without updating your WiiU.