Squashy

@JohnRedcorn Wow you argue your point very well haha. Although it's basically certain that this would never have sold like hot cakes, by showing lots of support for a beautifully ported game it would have been great advertising for the Wii U and it would have shown third parties that they'll be helped if they're willing to make the effort

I agree with you @Damo, it's a real shame that Nintendo didn't give them some support and special treatment with this game seeing as it stands out from the other multiplatform games on the Wii U as having had proper effort poured into it to make sure it got the best out of the system, and therefore shows off its superior graphical abilities and unique features compared to the PS3 and Xbox 360.

By giving Criterion the star treatment, it would have been a message to all third parties that if you give the Wii U the love it deserves, we'll make it worth doing!

Blimmin' 'eck I didn't see that coming, it's berwilliant! I love Mario Golf!

Ooo I would love to go to this, perhaps I can convince my Parents that we should go on a family outing to Portsmouth!

@Nintenjoe64 Did you ever go in the other Portsmouth branch of GAME that was in the Cascades centre? It closed a few years ago and it's now become a shop called 'lol'. I'm not making that up it really is called lol haha!

I love that picture of Diddy and Donkey together, cute!

@Bulbousaur If tragedy did befall us and Yoshi wasn't in it, seeing you do that would cheer me up a lot! Like @BAGBOY I think he'll be announced when Yoshi's New Island comes out, but you've just made me think how brilliant it would be if wollen Yoshi was a costume change for him!

@ChuJelly It's always been a Smash Bros tradition to make the characters look a bit different to how they look in their own games, like how Mario's dungarees have a denim look to them

Wow..... Alexander Armstrong and Richard Osmond would be proud!

@Klimbatize What a cool friend to have!

@Undead_terror Not only have I not watched it, I don't even know what Twitch is haha! (I'm not into these new fangled social whatsit websites. Gosh, I feel like an old person saying that!)

@vnminh1999 Break a Motionplus do you mean? I wouldn't worry, Wii Remotes and Motionpluses have always seemed pretty robust to me and besides, you can just keep the jacket on. I always use the jacket because I really like the texture of them!

@unrandomsam Yeah that's a nice idea the 3DS would work very well with the Gamepad, in fact you could have a game that uses up to four 3DS's (like Pac-Man VS did with GBA's as you said) and the Gamepad. Imagine The Legend Of Zelda Five Swords Adventures!

WaterMelon are such a cool company, it's great to hear that they're making use of the Gamepad for Wii U exclusive stuff! I still can't wait for their SNES game!!!

@AJWolfTill Wow that's a brilliant idea! It could be some of the best 'asymmetrical multiplayer' we've seen yet! Motionplus would be perfect for it as well.

Ahhhhhhhh that is loverly! I reeeaaaaallllllllyyy hope this comes out here too!!

(Yes I would be very much interested in this)

Shockingly I only just bought Returns, so I can't wait to get this straight after finishing it for back to back monkey madness!!!

P.S. Lolololololol at Gamespot

@Frapp It sounds like he was a fun person to know, I love Jaaaags!

I wish I could have seen video shops in the 80's, I would probably spend hours in one. I've always wanted to see a Laserdisc in action too, they look very fancy, it's like a shiny record! Is it Video 2000 where the tapes have a B Side like an audio tape? That's such a cool design, it's a great shame it wasn't more successful.

Woah that's brilliant it's a combination of two of my favourite pieces of technology! I'm quite a VCR nerd, I love the way they work, it's just fascinating to me and I think tape formats are much more interesting than optical disc ones.

@Link-Hero I was born in 1993 so I was around to see VHS at the height of its powers after it had won the famous format war against Betamax!

@ungibbed Nice I love top loading machines and watching them pop up! (I'm quite easily amused lol) As for your Betamax I'd be delighted to take it off your hands as I'm a real Beta anorak enthusiast!

@Frapp So he had one of the 'VCR' format VCRs? Wow they were the very first home video recorders weren't they, it must have cost him a fortune! My Dad got a Sanyo Betamax in 1978 and it cost £300, which apparently is equivalent to a whopping £1460 today! I never got to see that machine but a few years ago I bought a really nice example of the exact same model on eBay and I love it!

As somebody who's never played a Castlevania game, and therefore has no expectation of what a Castlevania should be like, I really like the look of this from the screenshots and video here. I wish games weren't so afraid to be punishing now, we need to go back to the days when it felt rewarding to win!

@HouseofBees Good attitude, sometimes it seems like people play as if they're some sort of critic, and forget to just enjoy the game!

@Kid_A Glad to see I'm not the only one who feels that way about Yoshi's Story, when I was on holiday last year I took my N64 with me and drove my brother and sister mad because I kept leaving it on the adorable title screen with all the Yoshis singing haha!! It truly is the happiest game in the world!

And they said the Wii has a silly name! I had never heard of this console before but there's no way I'm going to forget it

@Damo This was a really interesting story to read, thanks! I should buy Retro Gamer more often.

@FullbringIchigo Haha that's it in a nutshell!

If these shops are like Gamestation used to be I will love this. The Gamestation near me (Chichester), used to have a huge selection of retro games and consoles but after they were bought by GAME the retro sections shrank and shrank until they were gone.... And then it was just made into a GAME a couple of years ago. I really miss how it was.

Wooooooooooo must buy Happy Meals!!!

@MyNameIs- Tee hee very good, I also hope this film turns out to be Mega!

I want a Nintendo theme park! An actual Nintendo Land!!!

Oh blast I completely forgot about this! I really wanted to join in as well. Drat, drat and double drat! I'll have to make sure I don't miss the next one!

@Jowy My thoughts exactly!

@NintendoMaster Lucky so and so

@unrandomsam That's a good point, in fact you've inspired me to go and refresh my memory of all the differences between Zelda on disk and cartridge. Thanks hehe!

@unrandomsam Yeah I know, I was going to write Famicom Disk System, but I was becoming a bit concerned that I sounded like a smart arse lol. When you say this is what it would have been like on a NES cart, what exactly are you meaning by that? Surely the VC version is identical to playing it on the FDS, with the exception of not having to wait for the disk to load of course, is that what you were getting at?

@Pokefanmum82 Yeah All Stars was released everywhere but The Lost Levels on it is a 16 bit remaster (as are all the games on All Stars). This Virtual Console release is the original NES version so that's why it can only be the Japanese version. Sorry that was a bit long winded, I'm rubbish at keeping things short!

How can people still be buying Aliens Colonial Marines!!?? Didn't anybody tell them it's rubbish?

@Bulbousaur Yeah I don't really understand that reason either, he said they worked hard on the cutscenes so maybe he just felt disheartened that anybody could just watch them all without playing.

@Grubdog Wah-hay!

@MAB Yeah what a bunch of whingers! By the way nice GIF, is it Simon Pegg?

@Bensei Darn you beat me to it haha! It was only released in Japan so yes it's the only version there can be!

I'm a traditional kind of person and I would hate to see this happen. It would almost certainly make lots of money in the short term but I feel it would do more damage than good in the long term. Nintendo would never want to permenantly tarnish their reputation to make some quick money.

@Nomad Exactly! The best comment of 2014 so far!

@Dazza Oh I see, thanks for replying! It's a shame they made it eShop only, but I guess with it being half price now the profits would have been too small for the boxed version. I'm still convinced that what I suggested before would have worked though!

Iwata is brilliant and I totally believe in him to sort things out! I'm not saying he hasn't made any mistakes but we all do, anybody who thinks he should resign should be ashamed of themselves, in fact the very notion makes me gag like I'm doing the eating trial on I'm A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here!

@Artwark #40 Well said sir!

@Henmii "Miyamoto? Nah, he has lost the plot!" Wash your dirty mouth!

@Shiryu Indeed, you're quite right I'm sure, even so I just can't help but think that if they had kept the online and charged a bit more it would have sold just as well and the higher price would surely have more than paid for the servers.

They better not shut down the servers for Need For Speed, but then this is Electronic Farts we're talking about!

@Baum897 Unfortunately advertising for the Wii U is still fairly non existent in the UK. Good to hear that they're doing a great job in Germany though! Maybe the fact that Nintendo Of Europe's headquarters are there helps.

@Dazza By the way did you find out why it was delayed for so long Darren? Especially seeing as it's been out for ages in Japan

As an F1 fan (well until it became Formula Vettel anyway!) and an enormous Mario Kart fan (I own every single one), I've wanted this since it came out on PS3, but waited so I could get the Wii U version. And waited I have!

It's a real shame that the online has been taken away, what I don't understand is why didn't they do the following:

• Update the Driver line up to the 2013 season
• Keep the online multiplayer
• Keep it as a retail release at a price of around £29.99/$39.99

The graphical work required to update the driver line up would be minimal because the paint jobs on the cars barely changed from their 2012 designs so it would simply be a case of swapping the helmet colours around and changing a few names.

After saying all that it still looks like a great game that I'll enjoy and not buying it just because it doesn't have online would be ridiculous!

@Shiryu Yeah I feel exactly the same! I'm a bit sad that I can't own this on proper disc!

I'm rather late to this topic but I thought I'd say something anyway because why not!

I think it's outrageous that Digital Foundry have published this interview without making it crystal clear that these difficulties were only because the development tools for the Wii U weren't yet finished, it's like they are deviously trying to harm the Wii U's reputation, but why would they want to do that?

@Bulbousaur  Nintendo have definitely messed up when it comes to advertising the Wii U, but I don't think there's anything wrong at all with its design.  I don't think the fact that it's not as powerful as the PS4 and Xbone is what's putting off the third parties, I think it's simply because the Wii U hasn't yet sold well enough for them to feel it's worth their while supporting it, and they aren't going to the trouble of releasing games anyway to make money out of later when it does start selling better presumably because they don't think it ever will at the moment.

The reason I believe this is the cause of the third party desertion rather than the power difference is because there's evidence which suggests the Wii U is perfectly capable of sharing mutiplatform games with the PS4 and Xbone. This evidence is.....(insert drum roll here).....  Titanfall!  Yes Titanfall, the Xbone's big game, a game that's being made by Respawn (the developer containing most of Infinity Ward's original talent), and a game that that you would imagine will be making full use of the Xbone's muscles seeing as it's been made as an exclusive for the system. The point is, we've known since E3 that Titanfall is now going to be released on the Xbox 360 as well, with somebody else doing the porting. While it's fair to assume that there will be some compromises other then lesser graphics, like the number of players in each online game perhaps, they would surely not be bothering to port it if it wasn't possible to deliver the main experience of the game and at least most of it's content. Therefore we have proof that an Xbone game can be ported to the 360.

I feel that this is HUGE news for the Wii U because we know it's comfortably more powerful than the Xbox 360, so it makes me confident that it's up to the job of sharing games with the PS4 and Xbone. In other words, I now strongly believe that the difference in technical ability is nowhere near as big as it was last time with the Wii and PS3/Xbox 360. All we need now is for the Wii U to sell in the numbers it deserves to and then the third parties will have to release their games on it!

Seeing as Nintendo were able to sort it out with Sega to make Bayonetta 2 a Wii U exclusive, maybe it wouldn't be impossible to do the same thing with Shenmue 3. Now that would be special!

@SheldonRandoms Your Christmas Spongebob avatar is a work of genius! Handsome Squidward!

Shockingly, I've never played a Castlevania game. I must right that wrong!

@LinktotheFuture Steady on mate, this is the Wii U VC don't you know!

Am I correct in thinking this is the game that was intended to be released on cartridge, but the developers had trouble sorting out a publisher? I too would really like for it to be released in the UK, it looks like the kind of game that entertains with it's charm just as much as it's gameplay. It's a shame they didn't make a hard mode though, I love the rewarding feeling of working out a hard puzzle because it makes you feel clever! (I rented the first Professor Layton a while ago and I refused to use hint coins when I was stuck!)

@Bulbousaur I see you've got a new name! I'm trying to work out the significance of the 'ou' where an 'a' would normally be, am I missing something obvious? (As I often do)

Great news, the original Renault Alpine is very beautiful. I wish there was a Renault 5 Turbo included as well though, they're the bee's knees when it comes to outrageous hot hatches!

@Nintenjoe64 I would also love to have a Top Gear game! Imagine having the Top Gear track complete with Jeremy Clarkson commentary as you go round! "Some say, that he kisses his Super Mario doll goodnight, and that if he was the Boss of EA he would have actually tried releasing something brand new on the Wii U before moaning that their games don't sell on it! All we know is, he's NOT the Stig.... But he is the Stig's Nintendo loving cousin!"

Although we usually feel deflated by delays, I agree that this is a very good idea and won't worry too many people because all Wii U owners should be glued to Mario this Christmas!

Hopefully Nintendo will make full use of the golden chance to advertise it like crazy as being perfect for losing weight after Christmas like you suggested. (Must...resist...temptation to make fat joke at American people's expense!)

Ha, EA are such twits! If only Hiroshi Yamauchi was still around to offer his thoughts on their behaviour, he would have said it like it is! Just like he told Microsoft to suck his (you know whats) when they tried to buy Nintendo. Hilarious!!!

@PinkSpider Yeah Most Wanted U is excellent but it's important to know that EA don't deserve any of the credit for that because it was developed by the brilliant Criterion who, even though they're owned by EA these days, are a completely seperate team and have always put a lot of effort into making their games really polished. In fact, when they made Burnout 2, the Gamecube version came out 8 months after the PS2 one because they took the time to take advantage of the Gamecube's extra power which meant better graphics and a smoother framerate, so as a result the Gamecube version was made to be the best it could be - exactly the same situation as with Most Wanted and I highly respect them for doing things that way.

@Gunorgunorg Yeah like you said EA was just the publisher for Timesplitters Future Perfect, it was made by the same people who created the legendary Goldeneye for the N64 after they left Rare to make their own company called Free Radical. Apparently when they were making Future Perfect EA made stupid demands which is why it's not as good as Timesplitters 2 (which was published by Eidos who left them alone and let them make it how they wanted).

@MrWalkieTalkie Yep that about sums it up nicely!

@Absolute_Zero [youtube:Ir9LhF01KtA]

Wow, I'm so happy to hear that A Link Between Worlds is a truly worthy sequel to the magnificent A Link To The Past. What a special release this is for Nintendo, and for everybody who loves 'em!

@Hunter-D That GIF is exactly how I felt when I read that bit! They're the kind of words in game reviews that you don't forget. Properly spine tingling stuff!

@Boukman Sorry for the ridiculously late reply but thanks for the answer. I'm English so I probably won't understand all the jokes but it looks like my kind of humour so I'll definitely watch it at some point!

@Tsuchinoko He he, I'm such a plonker!

Ahhhhhhhhh so lovely..... How will I decide?

@uel You don't keep your game boxes!!!? What do you do with them then?

Oh God no! Micro transactions make me gag, I hope Nintendo stop them because I don't want it on a Nintendo system.

@HopeNForever I've never seen that before, it was really good and I adore Polaroid cameras so that made it even better for me!

Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog is the greatest and this is why!

@GeminiSaint Quite!

@Damo Have you ever played the Master System versions of Sonic 1 & 2 Damien? In my opinion they're just as good as the Mega Drive versions!