During the holidays, we are republishing some selection feature from the past 12 months. A mix of talking points, interviews, opinions, etc. from NL staff and contributors, you’ll find our usual blend of thoughtfulness, expertise, caring frivolity, nostalgia and – of course – enthusiasm for all things Nintendo. Happy holidays!
Soapbox features allow our writers and individual contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve mulled over. Today, continue his work from a few weeks agoJim gives his verdict on the ten-year-old console and how it will last in 2022…
Scene images. It was 2012. I, then 14 years old, was at my best. Does that mean being yourself and not worrying about what others think of you? Absolutely not. I’m 14 years old. What others think of me is the whole and ultimate purpose of my existence. My 14-year-old coldness – or lack of it – was the exact reason why 10 years ago I No bought a Wii U and why I haven’t bought one since.
In 2012, I was busy doing what everyone else was doing, and it wasn’t buying a Wii U. While I was still obsessed with playing. Ocarina of time on my Wii or Pikmin on my friend’s GameCube, most of my friends rave about mysterious games like call of duty and GTAand something called ‘Xbox Live’. All of this means that when the Wii U was released, for me, there was nothing better than owning one.
Ten long years have passed and I don’t have a Wii U to call my own. That is, until recently. Seeing the celebration come up close was like a shock to the system. It suddenly dawned on me that a decade had passed and that the console I had always thought I was too cool to buy would soon be on our minds again. How can I call myself a true Nintendo fan if I’ve never held a GamePad? All of this had to change.
I bought myself a Wii U about a month ago. I asked my friends and you, Our amazing readersWhat should I do to make my experience U-phoric.
What follows is a journey of ups and downs, and quite a bit of confusion.
Remote control
Starting with the bigger picture or its smaller GamePad counterpart, the console could be the best Nintendo that Nintendo once left. Yes, it fails and its physical design isn’t great (more on that later), but it’s definitely one of the most innovative home consoles to date.
The whole idea of taking what worked with the DS and with the Wii and combining them together, in Frankenstein’s monster style, is a chaotic approach to console design, but one which I really love. Despite the Fisher-Price styling, the Wii U is not a game console that can be played safely by any imagination, and that’s what Nintendo is all about.
The GamePad feels like it was designed by someone unfamiliar with hand proportions
Getting to know the home screen and new user interface has always been my favorite moment, and the Wii U gives Nintendo a whole host of touches. So used to the Switch, booting the Wii U felt like a real return to what made me fall in love with Nintendo in the first place. Seeing all those Miis running underneath the giant game icons is an inspiring choice. Certainly, it may not be the most practical approach to Click to play the game, click to install – which it achieves in quick launch mode on the GamePad was added in a firmware update – but it still works well with Nintendo-ness.
This is also the console music use case. The Switch has gotten us too used to silence, but the Wii U takes the Wii’s approach to vibes and dials up to 11. Oh, you want to make a Mii? This is a banger. Want to relax on your home screen? Another explosion. Feel like changing parental settings? Guess what, another bang.
This being said, it wouldn’t be fair to talk about the console without mentioning the elephant in the room – I mean, just look at that thing. The console itself looks so much like the Wii (a major reason why I and many others initially thought it was nothing more than a new accessory), and the GamePad feels like it was designed by someone unfamiliar with the proportions. rate of the hand. The designer bethumbed go-go-gadget decided to swap out the original design’s 3DS-esque circular spacers for analog sticks and then put in a matching one. on buttons? Some games of splash gun about this bad boy and me is a carpal tunnel case waiting to happen.
Game
I very much know that playing this console for the first time after it has ceased production puts me in the highly privileged position of having all the games ever released at my disposal. Yep, I missed the big wait between blockbuster releases and the entire virtual console library is just over there. This console has some great games.
My month of play means I can barely scratch the surface but there’s plenty out there that’s guaranteed to keep me entertained for many more months. Xenoblade Chronicles X, Wind Awakener HD, Yoshi’s Wool World(I dare say zero fox star?). These are all top notch games not yet saw a Switch port next, so the Wii U still the where to play them.
