Wii-U thoughts so far

[Xeogred]

Glad to see you guys break them down. With Color Splash out and my post above, it's been interesting hearing people talk about the series on some podcasts. The first two do seem to be the fan favorites. But yeah, they all sound pretty different in general. I literally can't remember which one I played the most of... I want to say the Wii game but I have no idea. I remember more interesting platforming than RPG mechanics. I didn't even know the N64 had one.

[PartridgeSenpai]

I've only played the N64 one (although I have the Wii and Wii U releases), and I absolutely adored it. It felt very much like an evolution of the SNES Super Mario RPG to me.

The original Paper Mario, called Mario Story in Japan (a sister game to Yoshi Story? O.o), actually was made out of the skeleton of what was going to be Super Mario RPG 2. When things fell apart with Square though and the copyright situation of the whole thing started to break down, they went for a new naming scheme to try and distance themselves from that (I image).

I'd argue the RPG mechanics are extremely strong, they just come at you in a different fashion. The combat algorithm is incredibly simple; attack - defense = damage. This means using a badge that increases your attack by one can be enough to break through enemy defenses, or hit that breakpoint where now you kill an enemy in one attack rather than two. It gets even richer in Thousand Year Door with the availability of things like the Danger Mario build. The first two Paper Marios definitely scratched me itch for optimizing numbers that I enjoy in RPGs.

Exactly! The Power Plus badges and badges in general are the bread and butter of that game. Optimizing your badges to most optimally fit the scenario is the whole dealio. Granted the Gamecube one makes it twice as crazy because you can get SO many power-plus badges in that game, you can get to where your jumps are just doing absolutely stupid amounts of damage.

[isiolia]

Production of the Wii U is ending, which is probably no surprise to anyone at this point.

[darsparx]

Not surprised but a little sad considering it was a good system. Wish they could have put a better battery on the pad but that's another story. Hope they figure out a way to really make the NX surpass everything in the past at this point. I love Nintendo but they are obviously a portable console company now so I hope they can somehow pull one out and make the NX worth it at this point....

[ElkinFencer10]

The expanded battery that they sold online (for $35 in ridiculously low stocks that sold out within a day or two almost every time for the first year) give it a good 5 or 6 hours of battery life; I get 7 or 8 out of mine depending on the game since I keep my brightness relatively low.

That is, however, a separately sold thing, so it doesn't really count.

[Tanooki]

Not surprised but a little sad considering it was a good system. Wish they could have put a better battery on the pad but that's another story. Hope they figure out a way to really make the NX surpass everything in the past at this point. I love Nintendo but they are obviously a portable console company now so I hope they can somehow pull one out and make the NX worth it at this point....

Totally agree with this. It is a bit sad, even if they did set themselves up to fail being arrogant after their Wii success. Thankfully before Iwata got sick and croaked he saw as a gamer and designer the writing on the wall internally but also population interest too. Mobile is now, consoles no matter how OOOH factor are floundering more and more. A good bridge box like the Switch allows you to have a solid home base thats easily slipped out and taken wherever with tiny rugged physical media on the go. It is a solid happy medium and depending how they setup their tablet like mechanics with apps, a better hopefully revised eshop, more 3rd party forward thinking beyond the eshop, and a solid price value setup with it I think it can be done and well rescue them. I think they are ahead of the ball here, VR while cool seems to pop up every decade and ends up more of a technophile fad than a convient, cheap, and easy to pick up and go type gaming setup many would prefer. Sony and MS are going one way and Nintendo is driving towards the microconsole-handheld market instead which is flourishing.

[darsparx]

Exactly. Nintendo still puts out games with fun IPs I love(wish I could say the same for sony but they let crash, spyro, and the plethora of others go a long time ago and I still think that was a bad choice). i have high hopes at this point for the NX but won't be buying one at release unless I happen upon some money soon.

@Elkin that sounds exactly like the NGC GB player....if I had the money I would try and hunt one down....

[ElkinFencer10]

wish I could say the same for sony but they let crash, spyro, and the plethora of others go a long time ago and I still think that was a bad choice

You're right that Sony let some great IPs die, but their reboot of Ratchet and Clank, if handled properly in the future, was a fantastic game, and Uncharted is an incredible series, even if not as recognizable and "lovable" as their 90s IPs. I do, however, think they need to let God of War chill and spend some time doing some soul searching on where they want to go with the series. I haven't played much of it, so I can't really judge it, but it looks extremely same-y (but again, that's an uninformed outsider's opinion).

[darsparx]

Well and i'm all for people who enjoy uncharted but ehh I'm not a big fan 3d shooters(unless we're talking Portal). Sony is still a niche rpg platform for me, along with what I do have of their classic IPs. I just wish they hadn't strayed so far to the bro gamer. One of these days though I'm going to get back into PS4/Vita once everything calms down around here...

[isiolia]

I do, however, think they need to let God of War chill and spend some time doing some soul searching on where they want to go with the series. I haven't played much of it, so I can't really judge it, but it looks extremely same-y (but again, that's an uninformed outsider's opinion).

I dunno, what they showed for the upcoming one seemed like that's what they were doing. It seemed like it could be interesting, and this is coming from someone that hasn't played the previous games on the basis that Kratos is a douchebag I don't want to play as.

Sony is still a niche rpg platform for me, along with what I do have of their classic IPs. I just wish they hadn't strayed so far to the bro gamer.

Eh, first off, labeling gamers like that is kind of silly, especially if it's used in a negative way.

That aside, Sony has continued to publish a fairly diverse library. Bloodborne, Gravity Rush, LittleBigPlanet, Tearaway, Until Dawn, and so on.

Microsoft has been decent as well.

Both have their marquee titles that some may love to hate, but both do publish a fair bit more than those.



Anyway, Nintendo is officially denying ending production for the Wii U...though that doesn't necessarily mean much