What are you playing on your Wii U/Wii right now?

I've got Super Mario 3D World back on. I've not played it very much since my first run-through of it back when it came out in 2013, for no particular reason. At the time it was easily the best game on Wii U, but I'd always hoped that it would be surpassed many times in the years afterward. That didn't really happen for me; besides Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and Mario Kart 8, 3D World is still as good as it gets on Wii U. Which, on one hand, is all right by me, as it's a brilliant, brilliant game...but on the other, I think Nintendo have made brilliant-er games before.

As good as 3D World is, I don't think I can ever enjoy it as much as Super Mario 64 or either of the Galaxy games. That's a bit of a shame as, as I've said, it's bloody brilliant. I feel like I'm doing it a misservice. But, as mental as it is to say it, there is a very slight tinge of disappointment whenever I play it. That's surely induced only by what it had to follow. Am I the only one who thinks that?

On a side note, I wonder how the fortunes of 3D World itself would have turned out had it been released on the first Wii, back in it's prime. 3D World just sold 5 million copies worldwide on Wii U very recently, but how many multiples of the number might it have been had it launched back when Nintendo sold a console that wasn't damaged goods even before it's first anniversary?

When the 5 million news hit, there was a fair bit of Super Mario 3D World chat on twitter yesterday. Comparing it to Mario Galaxy, I think Matthew Castle hit the nail on the head:

Quote :

It sounds mad, but 3D World is 'only' amazing.

The Cappuccino Kid wrote:

On a side note, I wonder how the fortunes of 3D World itself would have turned out had it been released on the first Wii, back in it's prime. 3D World just sold 5 million copies worldwide on Wii U very recently, but how many multiples of the number might it have been had it launched back when Nintendo sold a console that wasn't damaged goods even before it's first anniversary?

Looking at the numbers of the Mario games on Wii and even 3D Land on 3DS, I would hazed a guess it could have done close to 10m at least but it might have done more then SMG due to the more 2D aspects of the game on a system where the 2D Mario, New Super Mario Bros. Wii sold nearly 30m units.

Glad you're enjoying it Cappa. Like you, I found it disappointing compared to its 3D predecessors. It's the 2D-ification wot dun it: time limits, boxy levels, none of the Galaxies' sprawling star systems or SM64's exploratory platforming. While still very good, it and SM3DL are comfortably at the bottom of the 3D Mario hierarchy for me.

It's a sin that people talk about Super Mario 3D World in these sort of terms, as it's just the 'gamiest' game I've ever played. Imagine if 3D World was the first game that you'd ever played - you'd love games forever after that.

I've always felt it was a tad unfair to compare the likes of SM64/Galaxy with 3D Land/World as the latter is a mixture of the 2D & 3D formula which it absolutely nails perfectly. Though you can't blame folk for liking one style over another I guess.

I was thinking the other week how I'd actually really like to see a 3D land sequel on 3ds.

I'd really like a proper 3D Mario on 3DS, or a rehash of SM64 that doesn't completely botch the controls.

I don't think it is unfair to compare them either, because they are the 3D Marios on the last two Nintendo consoles. We did not get SMG3 or SM128 or Super Mario Moonshine (set in 1920s America) on Wii U or 3DS; we got the 3Ds instead.

I'd probably be a lot more sympathetic towards the "3D games" if they hadn't replaced proper 3D Marios on both of the last two Nintendo consoles. I'm definitely not alone in that either.

Balla wrote:

or Super Mario Moonshine (set in 1920s America)

I take it back 3D Land/world were shit & we deserve to have that Moonshine game.

I think you have to be a it more lenient to 3DLand because it's on the 3DS but with Wii U, yeah I would have liked a proper 3D Mario.

Hopefully the NX gets one, maybe even on launch

Balladeer wrote:

Super Mario Moonshine

"It's-a-me, Mario!" *fires Tommy gun*

The Movie would feel much more appropriate after that Mario game

Wowsers this changed a bit!
I really liked 3D World - almost as much (if not as much) as Galaxy. It helped that I was playing co-op with my sister (who is MLG at this sort of thing - she even did the last last level )

Inspired by Cappa, I've just had a crack at Super Mario 3D World again. I stopped playing after unlocking the extra levels (full disclosure: I did the first extra level and I can't find its second star anywhere) and, miffed that I'd not unlocked Rosalina (the most interesting new character to appear in Mario games since Yoshi), shelved the game with a low opinion of it for whatever it was that was biting at my ankles at the time.

I think my poor opinion of it was borne from the fact that I wanted Galaxy 3, and 3D World was not that. Anyway, I've now unlocked Rosalina ( :queen: ) and might be prepared to change how I feel about it for the better. It's just fun - sheer, unadulterated, classic Mario fun. It's a shame I've got so much on my gaming plate at the moment, though...

In addition to SM3DW now, I'm also trying to knacker Majora's Mask, SMB2, the recently downloaded Kirby 64, and I really should be playing Bit Dungeon + so that I can review it for Gintendo.

As I want a game on a Nintendo system to talk about on GNamercast, and I don't think anyone on it has played it.

TMS #FE is what I think I will be playing on Wii U unless anyone thinks I should try something else between now and possibly Sunday.

I'm in what I call the 'audition phase' at the moment for my second game (SM3DW is my main). It's between Golden Sun and Nova-111 (though I really should be playing Bit Dungeon + ). The former has been stuck in my craw for ages - and completing it will mean I'll be downloading its sequel - whilst the latter is a bizarre and cute 2D side on strategy game. I just don't know.

I played Nova-111 on Vita when it was free with PS+ and quickly got bored of it. It's decidedly okay, I didn't feel like I was going to get anything more out of it from playing it more.

Oh, I quite like it: that curious mix of real-time and turn-based strategy is more than enough to keep a fella on his toes. Having said that, Golden Sun has won out, purely because you can play it on the GamePad but Nova-111 has no such mode.

In other news, I've run up against SM3DW's Boss Rush stage and am having trouble. There's one boss that takes me far too long - the one with the minions who wear saucers on their heads that you have to jump on to reach - and it's annoying.

DoPo to announce a total change-up. I've kicked off Arkham Origins (the new voice guy is surprisingly good considering he also does Sonic) and have returned to both Asdivine Hearts and Donkey Kong 64. The former is a classic port from mobile - it's rough around the edges but a little bit fun. DK64 in 2016 should be renamed 'Camera Wrestling' but I'm quietly fond of it. Just rescued a couple of Kongs this morning and am off to get more bananas. Or Bee Eh Enn Eh Enn Eh Ess, as Gwen Stefani might say.

ZeroJones wrote:

DoPo to announce a total change-up. I've kicked off Arkham Origins (the new voice guy is surprisingly good considering he also does Sonic) and have returned to both Asdivine Hearts and Donkey Kong 64.
...
DK64 in 2016 should be renamed 'Camera Wrestling' but I'm quietly fond of it. Just rescued a couple of Kongs this morning and am off to get more bananas. Or Bee Eh Enn Eh Enn Eh Ess, as Gwen Stefani might say.

Oh wow - I've just started DK64 as well. Yeah - you're exactly right about the camera - having to back out of a tunnel and into an open space so you can make the camera appear behind the Kong is a big problem. Rare were definitely more bothered about Banjos.

Donkey Kong 64 is the most daunting, overwhelming platformer that I've ever played. It's a seriously meaty game. I didn't mind the collect-a-thon nature of it back when I got it in 1999, but it still asks a lot of the player even if you ignore all of the non-mandatory stuff. Fair enough if it was value for money, but it's a struggle at times. Looking back, this seems to be the start of Rare's mentality that 'more is more, and more is not enough'. It's a colossal undertaking - and just too much for me when I tried it again at the start of the decade. It's still quite good, that said. I hope that youse have a good time with it.

~

I've started playing something just a bit more simple - Snoopy's Great Adventure on Wii U. Simple is definitely the word to describe it.

Re. DK64 (I've not played Snoopy), my major gameplay gripe was the amount of non-platforming minigames they shoe-horned in. My main aesthetic gripe was that everything seemed grimmer and less memorable than B-K. I can't remember how a single DK64 level was put together.

The graphics aren't quite so classy, that's for sure. A lot of the movement seems to involve random stretching / squashing. It gets a bit Klasky-Csupo.

Double-o-post-o-bump! I've now got 4 Kongs present and correct... which means following the topography of each level 4 times. Much confusion inbound (I stopped at the water level last time I tried to play DK64 for this reason). Oh Yooka-Laylee, be the Gandalf to this Saruman!

I'm fannying about with Wii Sports Club while I'm waiting for all the big Christmas Wii U games.

At the time, it was obviously a half-hearted schedule filler, rushed out one summer because there was hee-haw else going on. Two-three years later, it's not a great game - or even an important one - but parts of it are satisfying enough. The online Tennis was good with the MotionPlus, for example, and the Skills Shaper minigames are quite creative too. Still, I felt that it lost a lot of the Wii original's casual charm through the MotionPlus controls. Boxing was mince with the set-up of using two controllers. Baseball is too hard, in my opinion - the success of Baseball (and Golf, for that matter) in the first Wii Sports was it's simplicity, which is gone when you have to be so exact with the swinging. With the GamePad, the Baseball fielding is a bit of a gimmick which looked better in the E3 2011 Wii U reveal than it plays in the final version. It's not that impressive, really.

The best thing about Wii Sports Club used to be the online, which was fairly reliable and lag-free. That said, it's 2016; I'm the only dick that's still playing this game. The fact that the Clubhouse charts show that only 218 online games of Boxing have been played in Scotland since it was first released in mid-2014 tells me quite a lot. I looked for a game of Tennis earlier today, but I had no joy. I could try ten time again and I'd probably still not find a match.

So, aye, Wii Sports Club, it's just sort of there. I'd have expected everything about Wii Sports to have been significantly improved on Wii U, but that's not the case. There's no reason to seek it out when there's literally tens of millions of copies of the first Wii Sports kicking about.

Oh boy. That's a bit sad. I guess a lot of online games don't last that long, but given the original Wii Sports' massive pedigree, it does seem a bit surprising...