In the last post i talked about my pre launch and initial month of owning a Wii U way back in 2012. This time im talking about what i would consider the pivotal year in the Wii U's ultimate demise - 2013. I had actually talked about the Wii U a fair bit on this blog during 2013 so i will draw on those thoughts throughout! So without further a do...
The Great Drought
Yeah... this is gonna be bumpy. The year began with a Nintendo Direct in January where Nintendo admitted themselves that there would be no new releases in Jan and Feb and even APOLOGISED for the lack of content. 2 months after launch, that is a crazy situation. The direct overall was actually pretty good for a budding Wii U owner. They announced Virtual Console, A new Yoshi game (Woolly World), A New Zelda (BOTW), The Wind Waker remake, Xenoblade Chronicles X and the Shin Megami Tensai x Fire Emblem project that eventually became Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE. They also launched the Famicon 30th Anniversary campaign for the next 6 months, which basically offered Virtual Console games for 30p for a month. This was pretty cool and allowed me to pick up great games like Super Metroid and F Zero that i had never played before!
There was also a massive focus on Nintendo's support from Platinum Games, with The Wonderful 101 and Bayonetta 2 receiving significant air time. This was great, i remember being super excited for W101 and i covered it alot on this blog!
As for what i bought in Jan/Feb, i ended up picking up Assassins Creed 3, Call of Duty Black Ops 2 and Batman Arkham City as well as a Pro Controller. The main reason i did this was that as part of HMV's financial issues at the time they basically liquidated all support for the Wii U so i was able to pick up all that stuff at around half price. I really should of seen this as a warning of the lack of support the Wii U was about to get but i was blinded by the £300 i had spent on the console and, to be fair, i was really enjoying it. I was playing the console for 40+ hours every month (thanks to the Wii U's daily log app i've been able to see all my numbers for the last 6 years!) and didn't really feel the drought... not yet anyway.
Nintendo kept up its Direct communication with another show in feb. In this one they proclaimed the "Year of Luigi" which highlighted the more timid brother in a number of games. On Wii U this amounted to Dr Luigi on the eShop and the New Super Luigi U expansion for the launch Mario game. Both of these were fun experiences with the Luigi U dlc being some of the best 2D Mario i have experienced in a long time.
Lego City: Undercover was shown again and it looked really fun. It was one of those games that never seemed to drop in price until it got to the Nintendo Selects line so i actually didn't play it till much later but it got a spring window of release during this direct. They also announced some free DLC for Ninja Gaiden 3: Razors Edge which i forgot was even a thing! A couple more third parties titles were shown such as the excellent Need For Speed Most Wanted and the Forth coming Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate!
During March i picked up Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and that was basically it till June! I've talked about it in the past but Monster Hunter is one of those series where you can really lose yourself once the game loop takes hold of you and 3 Ultimate was the game that did that to me. I played for well over 200 hours in solo, online co op with friends and for the first time on Wii U online with a community of strangers. This is where MiiVerse really showed its strength, allowing the MH3U community to share there loadouts, look for players and just generally show off all there stuff.
We also got some devastating news in March. Rayman Legends, which has previously been a timed exclusive, was being delayed till September in order to release on other platforms. This was a big blow, Rayman Legends was built to utilise the Wii U and at the time was arguably the most anticipated game of Q3. To tide us over Ubisoft put out the Rayman Challenge app that had daily and weekly challenges and leaderboards for players to compete. This app was great fun but just showed us what we were missing. Funnily enough i ended up not picking Rayman up till much much later because of this delay, if i remember correctly it came out just before GTA5 on other platforms and so got seriously lost.
There was another short Direct in April and this one was really a kick to Wii U owners. Other than Earthbound getting announced for Virtual Console and a Pikmin 3 still not getting a hard date, there was really nothing for us!
Another Direct in May showcased a few more updates on Wii U games. Sonic and Mario at the Winter Games was announced along with a tease for Sonic: Lost World. I'm a fairly big Sonic fan but i have somehow failed to pick either of these games up just yet so i can't really comment on them!
Game and Wario was finally dated for June and although not a smash hit, it is actually a pretty fun little game. The Criminally underrated Resident Evil: Revelations was announced as a port for Wii U from 3DS with added content for the end of May, They date New Super Luigi U and showed the Physical Version for the first time. I always wanted this but just never got around to it, sadly it is now super expensive! The biggest news for me personally was that The Wonderful 101 got dated for September but there was also some Pikmin 3 coverage and finally a release date of August!
E3 2013
With the Xbox One and PS4 being the focus of this event Nintendo had to really come out swinging through this show. Going into the show i was cautiously optimistic, Although content was very light for the first 6 months, Nintendo had done a fairly good job at giving us consistent updates in the mean time. I still held faith that my Wii U wasn't a big mistake but i kinda knew at this time i would be buying another console at some point in 2014.
The first big game shown was Super Mario 3D World a sequel to the 3DS hit Super Mario 3D Land. I think overall a lot of people were disappointed by the look of this game but personally i really liked the look of it. I hadn't played a 3D Mario game with Sunshine so perhaps didn't have the expectations built up by playing the excellent Mario Galaxy series. It also got a 2013 date - a good start.
Next Mario Kart 8 got announced and shown for the first time. This was HUGE. I couldn't believe how detailed it looked, the anti gravity mechanic looked crazy and it was already looking like a must buy. The game ultimately became the best selling game on the console and my favourite one, and even from this early showcase you can see why! It got a Spring 2014 date but excitement stayed high!
Wii Party U and Wii Fit U then both got delays to the end of the year and Wii Sports Club was announced. Party U is supposed to be fairly good but i didn't really care too much, having to use Wii Motes was still a big turn off for me. We had a, short, thrid party reel next. Batman Arkham Origins, Deus Ex Human revolution, Disney Infinity, Just Dance, Rayman Legends, Planes, Skylanders Swap Force, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Sonic Lost World,Assassins Creed IV, Watch Dogs and Call Of Duty: Ghosts were all shown for 2013 releases and overall its a solid list of titles.
Indies were next. Nintendo started to cultivate its Nindies program at this time which has really paid off now during the Switch's first few years. A few highlights for me with Shovel Knight, Scram Kitty, Cloudberry kingdom and Ducktales Remastered. Not an amazing list but Indies were only just getting into there stride on Nintendo Platforms.
Wind Waker got a very nostalgic trailer, my GF lost her mind for this, being her favourite game of all time she was very excited at the prospect of playing it again in shiny HD and i must admit even i was looking forward to it. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze was Announced next for a November release. Its another one where people wanted something else but, again, i didn't play the Wii game and so i was fairly excited for this. DK games are usually hard as nails and Tropical Freeze did not disappoint me at least!
The eagerly anticipated Bayonetta 2 got another hype inducing trailer that finally showed off some crazy gameplay. It's risque and adult style was something incredibly unique on the console at this point and it looked fantastic. Xenoblade Chronicles X then got another showing, again blowing me away with its graphical scale and ambition. I was found it funny how much the default character they used looked alot like Zack from FF7, especially when running with a large sword on his back! This game looked great too, the skell gameplay alone sold me on this and i couldn't wait for its 2014 release.
And of course, they ended the show on a gameplay trailer for Super Smash Bros 4. Announcing the Animal Crossing Villager and the long requested Mega Man would be joining the fight! It was only a brief tease but looked just as great as Melee but with the HD advantages of the Wii U.
Overall it was a very positive showing for the Wii U. There was a decent amount of 2013 games to end the year on and frankly, 2014 looked to be absolutely stacked. Sadly PS4's Xbox One bashing ultimately overshadowed everything Nintendo showed.
The Rest of 2013
Despite the fantastic E3 showing and Nintendo Directs the last 6 months were very quiet for me. I picked up Mass Effect 3 and played the Wonderful 101 Demo but due to a lack of funds that was really all i bought until Christmas time. I really enjoyed Mass Effect 3, there was tons of content in this version of the game and even the multiplayer was fun!
There were a few more Directs between June and December and ill briefly touch on the announcements from these!
The first mini Direct in July was focused mainly on Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 and Earthbound. With Earthbound getting a shadow drop on that very day. Earthbound was never released in the UK so i was pretty excited to finally play it. I picked it up that day and beat it in about a week, its a great and very different game so if you have a Wii U or SNES Classic it is something i would recommend to RPG fans.
August saw another shorter direct. The games that received a focus here were Sonic Lost World, Art Academy, Pikmin 3, Pokemon Rumble U, Wind Waker and the Animal Crossing Plaza app. A Wonderful 101 direct was announced and that's all she wrote. A really poor showing here for me, just nothing new or exciting with the new Sony and Microsoft system right around the corner.
Novembers Direct was headed up by NOA and as such had little bit more flavour and personality. I always find Reggie and Bill bring so much more fun to these directs and around this time they really kicked it into overtime. Onto the games! Pikmin 3 got DLC announced for December which looked fun, Animal Crossing Plaza got an update, a host of more indies got shown (Including QUBE: Directors Cut from my friends at Toxic Games!) and Super Mario 3D World got a firm date and a bit of a trailer.
And Finally, Decembers Direct rounded a year of directs out! This one started fast with an announcement trailer for Hyrule Warriors, a Zelda and dynasty warriors crossover game. I must admit i was a little sceptical at this, Dynasty Warriors games can get repetitive fast but the Zelda theming and fan service was very intriguing.
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze got another showing, this time announcing Cranky Kong as a playable character. I was still pretty excited for this but this showing didn't seem to sway most people! Sonic Lost World got strange Zelda and Yoshi DLC announced which im sure was cool but it was bizarre to see!
The next big announcement was NES Remix. The premise of this is a challenge based game based around classic NES games. It was a pretty cool concept and was available right away! Dr. Luigi was also shown and this is another underrated eShop title that i don't hear many people talk about too much. It was simple but still very enjoyable, especially online!
Lastly another Smash Bros trailer was shown, this time announcing Rosalina as a playable character. Smash has always had a way of hyping up the Nintendo community with its smart way of gradually revealing information about the games. People were so excited for Smash 4 and Mario Kart 8!
And PHEW, thats all the directs covered. Its very clear that at this point Nintendo were really pushing the Directs as a way of keeping there hardcore fans informed as to what is going on and i really admire there style.
End of 2013 Round Up
So my 2013 ended with me Getting Super Mario 3D World for Christmas which i enjoyed a lot! I've talked about on the blog before but i have always preferred the more linear Mario games. I like playing well designed and unique levels a lot more than different objectives within a more open world and 3D world is the perfect example of that. It also features the amazing Captain Toad levels that Nintendo will later use to form the basis of a whole new game!
Overall 2013 was a tough year for the Wii U. The first 6 months were so barren of releases that if you bought most of the launch day ports you would of really struggled for something to play. Luckily for me i held off buying Assassins Creed, Batman, Call of Duty and Mass Effect for my 360 and as such got to enjoy them on my new console. Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate and Super Mario 3D World were definitely the best games i played this year but Pikmin 3, Wonderful 101 and Wind Waker would of made the year a whole lot better had i been able to afford them!
So that was my 2013 how was it for you guys?
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