Cakes

Oh, I think it's fine. "Nintendo doesn't know how to do marketing?" Smash Hype is at a fever pitch. That game doesn't need a TV ad right now. But Kart will sell systems to people who don't know what a Nintendo Direct is.

A couple jokey moments didn't quite land in the top ad, but overall I thought it was pretty great. Hopefully they can condense it down and show it on TV, 'cause people still watch that, NOA.

And the concept of playing 2-player modes w/ amiibo makes a lot of sense. A brilliant way of adding value while not taking anything away from the main game if you don't want to buy 'em. Now I'm just curious how they affect MK8...

Kersploosh! is recommended, but it's so cheap I'd say just buy it. MaBoShi is another high rec from me. I'll be picking up Dream Course, w/ an eye on Star Tropics II.

You know I'm getting Little Mac. Look at those quads! Love the poses on display here... so dynamic.

Do GBA games on the VC still come with the scanned-in manuals? Hope so. Love that feature. I'm a big fan of handheld games on the Wii U GamePad, surprisingly. If you were to choose one between Circle of the Moon and Harmony, which would it be?

@Kroisos Yeah, it's amazing how different SMB2 is to more traditional platformers. Still a unique and distinct game that holds up today. But I'm biased.
And hey, now there's a book about it! What a fantastic idea. Would love to meet the chap who would write such a thing...

I definitely miss my Turbo-Grafx 16 games on the Wii U VC. This reminds me to go buy Lords of Thunder before it goes away. Man, that'll be sad when a majority of the Wii Shop games are no longer available...

But yay to GBA 'Vania games! Really enjoy the GamePad as a housebound portable.

Excellent news! Really glad I held off playing lots of these indie games finally coming to my preferred console (this, Gone Home, Guacamelee, etc.)
Now I just hope the Wii U can host games w/ as much press and acclaim as these instead of having them ported a year later.
(Scram Kitty was good, but didn't register the same kind of response as any of the above.)

Nobody's going to mention the KISS make-up wearing pirate? No? Okay then.

I'm kind of partial to the smaller New 3DS, actually. I miss the sharpness of the screens from my XL and the face plates are pretty neat. Hope they come over to NA early in 2015, but probably won't be until spring at least.

Wow. Really disappointed to see such lackluster responses here. I, for one, am excited to experience this on Wii U. Always wanted to but I keep my PC mostly business, w/ games elsewhere. Maybe there's no shooting or crazy boss fights, but maybe our definition of "game" has become far too narrow and limiting? Gone Home looks like a great game to me.

Guys, the answer is Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)!

@unrandomsam "@AndyWARbear When Retro first started they were able to handle 4 projects at once."

No they weren't. Are you talking about the whole Raven Blade/Car Combat/NFL Football period? They had some graphics in place but the "projects" were all just prototypes that, apparently, weren't very fun or impressive to play. To handle a job means to finish it.

Go to the actual Japanese store sight and check out the stitching on the Mario one... amazing.

Let me pile on the love for Scram Kitty. A tough, unique game, w/ excellent tunes. Easily worth your $5.

Aw man... was really hoping the "What's in the box?" image was from UHF.
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"NOTHING!!!"

To anyone who hasn't played the Telltale WD games, and if you have a system that plays them (basically any non-Nintendo one), do check them out. Fantastic experience.

As far as pinball goes, I just can't get into the Zen games. Love older video-gamey pinball (Revenge of the Gator, Alien Crush) or Farsight's table-accurate sims (Pinball Arcade). Zen's tables feel like this weird in-between compromise and I get tired of them quickly. But hey, at least the silver ball is becoming more popular. Viva la pin!

@JPickford If you're the real Mr. Pickford, I hereby support a VC release of PLOK!
If you're a clever fan with a sneaky demeanor: How dare you for getting my hopes up.

Ooh yeah. For all those getting Super Mario Bros. 2, I commend you for your taste. If you'd like to experience SubCon in a slightly different way, keep your ears and eyes open (and page-turning fingers ready).

Adelman: "I know there are going to be a bunch of forum comments and editorials saying, 'OMG Nintendo is doomed!' but the truth is that Nintendo's indie program is in good hands."

From the full interview. (Not saying that's what NLife said. But for those in the community with their hands to the sky screaming NOO, this is good to keep in mind.)

My personal Top Three list:
-Top Rank Tennis!
-Motocross Maniacs!
-Mole Mania!

EXCELLENT. Have waited to get this. Now we just need indies making this level of original games first on, or exclusive to, Wii U.

One of my most anticipated games. Love the atmosphere and concept. And why haven't more people used the touchscreen as a "make-your-own-controller" like they explained? Steel Diver on 3DS does something similar, but it seems like there's so much more that could be done. Hopefully this motivates other indies to get crackin'.

The charm of this game isn't apparent in the first hour of play, but in the days after that when you finally have some people in your apartment and the relationships and drama start to unfold. Stick with it if you've tried it and weren't blown away. It's a slow-burn game. With plenty of weird, LOL moments along the way.

Please keep up this public disapproval of Project Giant Robot/Guard! Last time the internet hated one of Miyamoto's games I stumbled into an all-time favorite... Wii Music. More of that please yes!

I didn't understand what the first kid said at all.
But yeah, at Christmas my nephew played on an iPad mini, my cousin's kids had a Kindle Fire and a smartphone. Mobile's a big problem for Nintendo. Advertise away to the kiddies...

Holy cow. The bile duct is not the place you want a growth to be found. Really, really hope the news is as optimistic as his letter makes it sound. Hope he recovers quickly and fully.

Weirdly, I think TVii is most useful to those without cable. We use a digital antenna to get Over-the-Air broadcast for free, so we don't have a fancy TV Guide built-in to our channels. But I've used TVii as a simple digital guide to see what's on and it works fine. (At least, it did before the update. Haven't tried it recently. But hopefully that functionality hasn't been dropped.) It's... okay. But nothing like the BIG DEAL they tried to sell it as.

Glad to know they're still updating older software. I wish they'd provide more Panorama Videos, personally, but I bet they didn't sell too well...?

I pop into Fit U every week or so. The Trampoline game is one of best uses of the GamePad screen, IMO, even if it's not essential.... love looking down and seeing the ground zoom away from me. Really adds that sense of vertigo.

Are those additional games in the Pac-Man Collection any good? Pac-Mania or Pac-Man Arrangement? Sounds like an intriguing mix.

And Pac-Land as an import? Pretty cool. Strong work, Sakurai.

Huh. This definitely has the feel of a 'Game that Americans Should Like' what with the steampunk + lovecraft + Honest Abe thing. Personally I'm not into those first two things as much as some, but the idea of a new kind of game from Intelligent Systems excites me WAAAY more than if they'd announced a remake.

And all y'all shrugging over the screenshots: You should know better that 3DS screens always look horrible. Link Between Worlds looked underwhelming too, but the game's beautiful. We'll see what happens. Quite an interesting week for the Nintendo faithful...

Really intrigued by both "Project" games right now. Love how Nintendo has flipped the idea of action genres by messing with the pace/control, first showed in Steel Diver. An FPS becomes an underwater sub game w/ slow-moving torpedos. And now Giant Robot, a one-on-one fighting game that becomes a mech sumo match that focuses on leverage. Wha! Why not, I say. Why not.

I saw Mappy! Yay.

I don't think I'll be able to hold out for the retail copy, though that's an attractive box, gotta say. This will give me a reason to return to the Tennis courts and finally get that elusive 10* rating... so close!

For me, Wii Sports Club has been a big surprise... amazed how much Tennis benefits from being online, and I love the simple/novel GamePad usage in Golf. I agree that it'd be nice to have a visual upgrade, but I have to imagine they're working on a "for-real" Wii U Sports package, similar to Resort. These games were not built w/ the GamePad in mind. These are clever retcons. I'll definitely be buying Baseball and trying Boxing.

(And for those that knew how to play, Boxing was pretty amazing and controlled fine even in 2006. Just because you can waggle doesn't mean you should.)

Ooh. This might bring me back to the Sub Wars waters. I went Premium soon after it came out and haven't regretted it, but interest wanted after a dozen or so hours. Which is still a good value in my book. Would love to get back into it. And the #StarFox usage on the tweet? That's gotta mean something...

I liked Costume Quest. Surprisingly didn't love it. But the art design and theme are lovely, and I'm quite happy they decided to add Wii U. Hopefully a good sign. I know most 3rd parties have jumped ship, but if devs like Drinkbox (Guacamelee) and Double Fine are bringing over their games, I'm less chuffed about all the bloated massive "blockbuster" titles that Wii U will miss. Give this game a shot, y'all.

I'll be seeing you on the road. Cakes is gonna be poppin' some balloons...

Really enjoyed the first one, but skipped the second one. Might take the plunge back into Denpa'ville. Whenever I go into a certain bathroom at my work, I remember the times I captured Denpa Men in the stall (there was a particularly strong one there for some reason). Worth it for that alone.

As much as Nintendo has been dipping into the DLC waters lately, I don't see them selling course packs for Kart 8. Especially since they need to hold onto other Retro courses for Mario Kart 9, 10, etc. I could see something like NSMB2 with its Coin Rush modes. Maybe sell Challenge Packs, kind of like how Pikmin 3 works. But full-on cups with original or HD-ified retro courses? No way.

If you're interested in music and know what the software can do, Wii Music is NOT in fact a casual experience but a fairly in-depth song creator with a ridiculous amount of nuance and subtlety. The original was demonized by those who never played it or failed to understand what the point of the game was.

I really really hope a Wii U sequel/enhancement comes out. And it's times like these that I'm glad Nintendo is mostly focused on Japanese market and does not cater to Western fans.

@Spanjard Thank you for the lovely jazz. And the mood fits that of the article, too.... people seem Kind of Blue around here.

This sounds excellent. Having the amped up crowd will be great, too, with everyone "ooh!"ing and "ahh!"ing. And in a situation that finally makes sense, instead of a bunch of press cheering for some franchise reveal. Hope this goes well.

(They should give out Wii U demo discs to everyone in attendance, too. That'd sell a few systems I bet...)

Ha, oh, this has been a laugh. Thanks everybody. Happy Move-In Day!

I need any last amazing Wii Music videos anybody wants to share! Tried to play an online match in Mario Kart DS but couldn't get the connection to work. Goodbye, sweet blue circle in the corner of packaging...

@Nintenjoe64 Finally, someone with a bit of sense! Wii Sports Club: Tennis is a knock-out online. The matches are swift, the control works beautifully if you know what you're doing, and things can get really intense. Even the Miiverse cartoon bubble posts can be brilliant if you draw your own and time them well during the replays. This game flies WAY under the radar. Can't wait for Wii Sports Club to be a full retail game. Hope it catches a few more eyeballs that way, 'cause it deserves more.

@Maelstrom WHOA. Metroid Dr3aD would be a-w-e-s-o-m-e.
I can see Next Level handling another classic Nintendo franchise, too. They've done it already with Punch-Out! & Luigi's Mansion.
My personal hope that ain't gonna happen - Wave Race 3: Deep Waters

@Rafie PREACH.

@AlexSora89 My pleasure! That stuff's bad for you, anyway

"So what is it called?"
"NFP."
"For what system?"
"Wii U."
"How does it work?"
"NFC."
When will we learn more?"
"E3."
Videogames are confusing.

@Luigifan141 Umm.. is that a real question? Or a sarcastic quip that I don't want new things like unique arenas in MK8? I'll assume you're being sincere: I would prefer the newcomers, especially Little Mac (of course)!

And hey, I'd love new arenas in MK8, too. But what is there is still a fun, new way to enjoy the tracks.