Over the years, Nintendo has traditionally produced my minions favorite gaming platforms. The very first one we owned was a GameBoy Advance. As of this moment, we still own that Gameboy Advance plus the DS, DS Lite, DSXL, DSi, 3Ds, and a GameCube, Wii and Wii U.
I wasn't planning to yet upgrade to the Wii U as that console seemed to be their least favorite, though it was my favorite due to Wii Sports and Wii Fitness. But the Wii U arrived as a review unit and the three youngest minions–17, 13, and 13–were eager to unwrap it.
Did I need a Wii U? Here are the advantages of the new system over the old:
- Play can be swapped to the GamePad. Meaning that one person can play on the tablet while the other person can use the television for something else. This is also true of streaming videos. If your children are still restricted to one television for the family, this is an incredibly helpful feature as one kid can play games and another can use the television at the same time.
- When streaming Netflix on the Wii U, the episode descriptions show up on the tablet. When streaming on the Wii, we could only see episode numbers.
- The GamePad can also be used as a television remote
- The addition of the Wii U means another console in the house that can stream video, meaning we can move one system upstairs to stream on the television that belongs to only my husband and myself.
Nintendo has always had backwards compatibility for their systems, meaning games from the previous system can be used on the new system. That means all the Wii games will work on the Wii U. This is good because the games designed specifically for the Wii U have been rolling out slowly.
I received Nintendo Land and the new Lego City Undercover, for review along with the Wii U.
Nintendo Land comes with many Wii U systems and features twelve mini-games based on some of the company's most popular games or brands, including Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong, and Mario. The samples are fun to play but are basically a way for players to become acquainted with the new system. Of the mini-games, Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, in which players try to collect candy as a team, quickly became my youngest daughter 's favorite, has been playing Animal Crossing games for years.
My oldest son quickly dubbed Lego City Undercover as a "Lego version of Grand Theft Auto," meaning that a player can do things like steal cars in the game but it's okay because the character is an undercover police officer trying to stop bad guys and, of course, there isn't the excessive gore and violence.
Like most Lego video games, it's imaginative but appropriate for most kids.
My youngest son reported he crashed the car our intrepid officer drives to the precinct three times before he was able to arrive safely.
We also received a download code for the new Pokemon game, Pokemon Mystery Dungeon: Gates to Infinity for the 3DS. The difference between this game and all the other Pokemon games is that users can play as a Pokemon, instead of simply training them.
Players can choose to be one of five Pokemon: Pikachu, Tepig, Oshawott, Axew, and Snivy. The 3DS technology is used to find round objects and that are then turned into portals to the various dungeons. The longer the 3DS is out, the more the games start to use this technology and this game has a more three-dimensional art style and the backgrounds definitely take advantage by modeling it all in 3D.
My minions haven't unlocked and explored everything yet on the new game but pronounced it "really cool" to be a Pokemon rather than training up them for battle. My youngest daughter said the choice of what Pokemon to be is critical, as the skills required differ from task to task. Check the video above for a more in-depth examination of the new game. A demonstration preview can also be downloaded at Nintendo's official site.
My conclusion on the Wii U:
If you haven't bought the Wii, the Wii U is definitely fun to play and worth the price. If you have the Wii already, the upgraded console offers a number of new features and sharper graphics and the GamePad is a neat new feature. It all depends on your need for the new games and how much money you may be willing to spend.
I know if I didn't have a Wii U, there would be a persistent demand for it right around the time a really cool new game is released. Especially if it's a Pokemon game.
Wii U games include New Super Mario Bros. U, Monster Hunter 3, released on March 19, and you can find a list of all the available games at Nintendo's Wii U site.
