Lucas' Note: I originally wrote this piece in the wake of September's Wii U release date confirmation, to help me sort through my thoughts on just which games I wanted to buy alongside my new Wii U on Launch Day. Now that we're 10 days away, I still haven't fully decided. But this list may help remind you all to factor the download-only eShop games into your decision-making, so we're bringing it back for an encore appearance as part of our Countdown to Wii U article series. We kicked off this set of features two days ago with The Platformers We Can't Wait to Play, then kept things rolling yesterday with The Excellent Wii U Action Lineup. Now, once again, please enjoy What Excites Us About Wii U's eShop:
I'm in a classic conundrum. I've got my Wii U pre-order taken care of, so I'm assured that the system itself will be mine as soon as it launches – no problem there. But now I've got to decide which of the many launch titles I'm going to get too. ZombiU? Scribblenauts Unlimited? Tank! Tank! Tank!? The options are already overwhelming my mind and wallet, and I'm worried that I might miss out on beating the crowd and bringing home a critical game if I don't decide soon and get those pre-orders in place as well.
In the middle of this mental chaos, though, I am experiencing some comfort – because not every Wii U launch title will be available in those brick-and-mortar stores. I won't have to fight off any other gamers or put any pre-order money down for these games, because inventory never runs out for them. And I won't even have to go outside to get them.
I speak, of course, of the Wii U's eShop games.
These download-only options have been overshadowed in the talk about Wii U's launch so far, and that's understandable – most people, like me, are still focused on the physical and what they need to do to get their hands tangibly on the games they want to play. But Nintendo is positioning the new console's new eShop to be live and active on Day 1, right alongside all that real-world chaos. And there should be enough digital goodness immediately available that, if you wanted to, you could ignore those discs entirely and just enjoy the eShop-only choices.
(Nintendo has also announced a plan to offer retail titles like New Super Mario Bros. U in eShop download form as well, so it's possible that all those same disc-media games will be available digitally too. But for the purpose of this article, we're focused on just eShop exclusives – games that will only be available by download alone.)
All set? Alright, let's dive in. Here are 10 Wii U eShop titles to be looking out for in the new system's "launch window."
Just announced this past Thursday during the Wii U Preview Event, Mutant Mudds Deluxe is an upgraded port of the 3DS eShop hit, Mutant Mudds. Developed and published by Renegade Kid (the makers of Dementium: The Ward, Moon and ATV Wild Ride, among others), Mutant Mudds is a retro-styled platforming challenge that demands an exacting degree of precision – you've got to be nearly pixel-perfect if you're going to earn a 100% completion rate in this quest to rid the Earth of an army of invading mud monsters.
Fans of this game are suckers for a challenge, though, so even after finishing the tough-as-nails set of stages found in the original 3DS download, they demanded more. Renegade Kid delivered, developing a new set of 20 extra-challenging "Grannie Edition" levels where our hero Max sits on the sidelines and his energetic grandma grabs the jetpack and water cannon to blast the Mudds herself. Those new levels are set to be delivered to the 3DS game as a free update in the near future, and they'll be integrated from the beginning in Wii U's Mutant Mudds Deluxe.
But Deluxe won't stop there. Renegade Kid's Jools Watsham has confirmed that this new edition of the game will include even more new content that will be unique to Wii U, and that anyone concerned about how the portable game's visuals will translate to the big screen shouldn't be worried. "We're paying special attention to making sure the 16:9 display of the Wii U is taken advantage of while making sure the pixels are super crisp and delicious for those who have HDTVs," he said. Sounds good to us.
Another 3DS eShop hit that will be making the transition to the new home console is WayForward's Mighty Switch Force! – though it's taking the opposite approach in adapting its visuals for the big screen. Whereas Mutant Mudds will focus on preserving pixel precision in its translation, Mighty Switch Force! is having each and every one of its visual elements redrawn by hand. It will arrive on Wii U as Mighty Switch Force! HD.
The new graphics promise to make intergalactic police officer Patricia Wagon look more like she's a comic book character come to life, making her – and her enemies, the Hooligan Sisters – appear as more in line with their original concept art. Anyone who played the magical A Boy & His Blob remake on the Wii already knows what wonders WayForward can work with 2D art on a home console, and it's great that the Nintendo canvas they'll be painting on now finally supports high-definition resolutions.
The original Mighty Switch Force! had some extra levels added as a free update after its launch in the 3DS eShop too, and this new Wii U version will include those – along with some Wii U GamePad functionality, like seeing a map displayed in your hands or being able to play the game entirely on the Pad, if you choose. There may also be some extra Wii U-only content added as well, but we'll have to wait until a little bit closer to launch to know that for sure.
Now that we're at the end of the road for the original Wii, it's probably safe to say that its original download games service, WiiWare, didn't exactly set the world on fire. There were a handful of must-have hits spread out over the years, but most of the time it was safe to ignore the Wii Shop's wares. The biggest exception to that rule? World of Goo, a download-only Wii title that was so good we awarded it the overall Game of the Year award back in 2008.
Now, World of Goo's spiritual successor is on the way. Little Inferno is being developed by one of Goo's creators in partnership with one of the creators of Henry Hatsworth & The Puzzling Adventure, and that new combination of indie talent is setting out to set the world on fire – literally, this time. Little Inferno builds its gameplay on a mechanic of burning objects and interacting with them as the flames engulf them, all the way echoing the same kind of darkly comedic tone that defined World of Goo's world gone bad.
Few specifics are known about Little Inferno beyond that general description, though, as Tomorrow Corporation is hoping to keep as many details about it obscured as possible in order to preserve the mystery and sense of discovery for players' first playthroughs of it. (So it sounds like there will be much more to it than just burning things.) Check out its teaser trailer below and start trying to solve the mystery yourself:
Speaking of excellent games of Nintendo systems past, we can never miss the opportunity to trot Two Tribes' Toki Tori back out into the spotlight. This brilliant little platformer/puzzler was cursed with a release on the Game Boy Color so late into the life cycle of that portable that almost no one paid attention to it – the Game Boy Advance had already been released months earlier, and most Nintendo gamers had moved on.
The game then had a second chance to shine thanks to a WiiWare port a couple of years ago, but we've already established that WiiWare never really did a great job of drawing attention to itself either.
Which is why we're so excited about the potential for Toki Tori 2. We encourage you to go back and check out the original if you missed it – it just got an encore release through the 3DS eShop, making it easier to find than ever before – but even gamers who've still been unable to introduce themselves to the little yellow chick's original adventure can get in on the ground floor with his second. Toki Tori 2 has the best release date possible for getting itself noticed on Wii U – Day 1 – and as an all-new adventure with all-new puzzles, every fan new and old should be planning an instant purchase the minute their new Wii U machines grab onto the nearest Wi-Fi signal.
Nintendo has offered a lot of great options for gamers looking for engaging local co-op experiences these past several years, and the Wii U will keep that trend moving forward with titles like Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U and Rayman Legends. If you happen to be looking for a specifically three-player adventure, though, and would like something a little more mature in tone than those other, more cartoony options, you've got to check out Trine 2: Director's Cut.
Trine 2 brings together three classic fantasy characters types – a wizard, a thief and a fighter – and forces them to work as one cohesive unit. If you play it alone, you'll swap between the three characters on the fly and use their unique abilities – like the fighter's power to bash through walls – to progress through the game world. If you toss a couple of Wiimotes to two of your buddies and take on the game as a trio, though, all three of you will have defined, individual roles to play.
Trine 2 first launched late last year and earned huge praise in our review of its PC and Xbox Live Arcade versions – 9s out of 10s. The "Director's Cut" subtitle and a extra year of polish promise an even better experience than that on Wii U too, so stay tuned for more on this one.
Source : ign[dot]com
