Mutant Mudds Deluxe Screen2

Mutant Mudds Deluxe is now lined up to hit North America on 13th June for $9.99 — the European version is being "wrapped up", though there's no release date yet — and will include all of the content from the 3DS original along with 20 new Ghost Levels. For fans of the handheld version, it's a tempting opportunity to enjoy the title on the big screen with a HD resolution, making those "12-bit" pixels even more eye-catching.

Renegade Kid has been a big supporter of Nintendo handhelds, and this will be its first venture onto the Wii U, which makes the studio one member of a key group of regular developers that are appearing on the company's consoles. In an interview to be published later today, we spoke to co-founder Jools Watsham about the upcoming arrival of Mutant Mudds Deluxe, as well as some wider issues around the Wii U and Nintendo's eShop platforms.

Watsham has been an outspoken supporter of Nintendo's latest system, though not without taking a balanced view; he had a blog posted on industry website Gamasutra reflecting on Wii U design and messaging issues, giving his two cents on why the system had struggled for early momentum. He is primarily a fan, however, re-affirming to us that the studio has future plans for the console — he's hinted at the use of the studio's 2D platformer engine and says the team is looking into the use of the Unity engine for 3D games.

When we asked Jools for a summary of his views on the Wii U's concept and capabilities for carrying it through the next generation, he made very clear that it's in gaming experiences and related potential, and not multimedia add-ons, where the system shines.

What I love about Wii U is the fact that it knows what it is. It is a gaming console through and through. In-conjunction with the great controls and HD display that the Wii U offers, the Miiverse is a world-wide mega-forum for gamers to talk about games. Once you start tapping into what the Wii U has to offer as a player, you really start to understand the brilliance of what Nintendo has created. The Wii U knows what it is, and it does what it does very well. Nintendo's challenge is to communicate Wii U's message loud and clear to the general public. The Wii U message is tougher to communicate than the Wii's motion controls, but the Wii U has so much more to offer everyone.

With E3 around the corner, Nintendo arguably has that chance to truly start getting that message out to the gaming public. Let us know what you think of these comments below, and be sure to check back on Nintendo Life later today for the full interview.