Nintendo’s latest entry into the ever-expanding ‘New Super Mario Bros.’ series launched alongside Wii U, but can it do anything to bring this stale franchise-within-a-franchise back to the glory days of old?

Author: Jack

With the launch of a new console– Wii U in this case– industry staple Nintendo always turns to a premier intellectual property to act as a catalyst for initial sales to hopefully make a dent in the marketplace. With Wii U’s predecessor “Wii”, Nintendo forwent tradition and went with a (highly anticipated) Zelda game, in addition to a new family-friendly motion-gaming-based aesthetic, and the rest is history—Twilight Princess became one of the most critically acclaimed games of the seventh generation, and the Wii went on to outsell its Sony and Microsoft contemporaries by 29%.

This time around, Nintendo is going back to its roots and kicking things off with a Mario game, oddly enough only three months after releasing the third New Super Mario Bros. iteration on 3DS. The fourth in line for the series, will New Super Mario Bros. U break the mold of the increasingly cookie-cutter series and offer a fresh experience akin to Super Mario Galaxy, or will it continue down its road of slight obsolescence? Upon (near) completion, the latter is definitely a better descriptor, but New Super Mario Bros. U still manages to be well worthy of your time and money.

[Review] Nintendo Land

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Podcast Stories, Reviews, Wii U | 12 Comments

I am the minigame queen and Nintendo Land is my kingdom.

The virtual Nintendo themed amusement park may seem like a very obvious way to teach us all of the new features of the Wii U, but it also delivers a fun and charming party game with the familiarities of our favorite Nintendo games.

Author: Laura

Following in the footsteps of Wii Sports, Nintendo Land uses a fun mini game style to teach us how to get the best experience out of the Wii U’s new features. I played some of it multiplayer on the livestream we did a few days ago, and some by myself, and I’m happy to say that either way it was a lot of fun. Party games are usually only fun in a…well, a party! But I can honestly say I enjoyed playing by myself as much as I did with friends, and you can’t get that same feeling with games like Mario Party, Wii Sports or Wii Party.

[Review] ZombiU

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Podcast Stories, Reviews, Wii U | 0 comments

Survival horror has made its triumphant return to consoles.

(Note: This is a review of the single player. Multiplayer is pretty much exactly what you’d expect.)

I’ve been playing ZombiU constantly over the last two days, and when I first started out I considered myself nothing more than certifiably intrigued. A couple of hours in, and I went from intrigued to impressed. A few hours on top of that and I was enthralled. Add an hour or two more and I found myself legitimately surprised that I was enjoying the game as much as I was. I had read in so many places that at best it was “fun-but-flawed”, and I had damn-near convinced myself that such a label was “good enough”, and very admirable for a launch title.

When it comes down to it though– and I do NOT say this lightly– I’ve ended up thinking that ZombiU is one of the best survival horror games I have ever had the immense pleasure of playing.

The Colossal Wii U Launch Game Roundup

Posted on 12 years ago by Patrick(@Patricklous) in Features, Podcast Stories, Wii U, Wii U eShop | 1 Comment

I’ve counted no less than 30 games releasing alongside the Wii U in North America tomorrow (or today, depending on when this goes live). So let’s not waste any time going over all the games you might be playing if you’re not waiting two more weeks for the console to come out like I am…

Here’s a Podcast – Episode 16!

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Podcast | 0 comments

If you want to know all about the Wii U, this is the episode to watch! We talk about our impressions of ZombiU, NSMBU, Sonic All Stars Racing, SiNG Party, Nintend0 Land, and Call of Duty Black Ops 2. It’s all Wii U, all the time! And some regular news, of course…

Nothing too much to say about this one other than that it was a very good, clean podcast! Thanks for the questions all, and we hope you enjoy hearing our impressions of all the games and features.

~Austin

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[Review] Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in 3DS, Podcast Stories, Reviews | 0 comments

Note: This is the very first review written by podcast crew member Laura. Be nice, but be sure to let us know if it’s really terrible so we can fire her.

We all grew up with that love-able talking mouse who charms his way through any situation, right? Well, he’s back again with another ‘Epic Mickey’ installment, only this time he’s charming his way across side scrolling platforms.

With a lot of gaming franchises you’ll end up seeing a poorly-transferred version of a console game come out for the handheld device of the time, presumably for some easy money. Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion takes that idea and gives it more hope. While the game has quite a few flaws, it carries many of the same elements as the original console game but at the same time holds strong on its own. Disney Interactive Studios has created a whole new game for the 3DS that fits with in the Epic Mickey world, and instead of trying to recreate an entire console game and shrink it down for a handheld device, they used the transfer to their advantage.

[Review] Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two (Wii Version)

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Podcast Stories, Reviews, Wii | 0 comments

Exploration platforming makes its extensively flawed return, but do the pros outweigh the cons? It’s a strong “maybe”.

I’ve said about the first Epic Mickey that it was a flawed, but ultimately deeply engaging exploration platforming experience. We don’t have enough of the genre these days, so when the inevitable sequel to the game– tag-lined “The Power of Two”– was announced, I felt quite a bit of reserved excitement. If Junction Point could manage to take the good of the first game, strike out the bad, and add just a few minor touches, we would have this generation’s Banjo Kazooie. After playing the game, I still stand by that concept.

The problem is that they didn’t do it.

[Interview] The last ZombiU interview you’ll see before launch

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Interviews, Podcast Stories, Previews | 0 comments

Co-creative director Florent Sacré talks to me about ZombiU’s “Survival” mode, creating a tense atmosphere, and how “open world” the game is.

There are a lot of Wii U launch games coming out on Sunday, but none of them are quite as hotly anticipated as Ubisoft Montpellier’s ZombiU. This isn’t necessarily because we all think it looks incredible (which, admittedly many of us do), but there’s a certain excitement surrounding it that isn’t present when talking about New Super Mario Bros. U or Scribblenauts Unlimited. It’s a new IP, for one, but it’s also a return to the survival horror styles of yesteryear, and it uses the Gamepad more interestingly than any other launch title, bar none.

Even if you forget about all of that, though, the concept alone might be enough to call ZombiU the zombie game we’ve been dreaming about for years.

[Preview] Getting past the hype: How good does ZombiU really look?

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features | 0 comments

First you’re skeptical. Then you’re excited. Then you’re REALLY excited. Then you’re skeptical.

It’s a vicious cycle that constantly churns within you whenever something exciting is about to launch in the video game world. Be it a game or a console, you will find yourself one day nearly shaking with anticipation, and the next ferociously scouring the internet for reasons why it won’t be as bad as you’re worried it will be.

This is exactly where I am with ZombiU today.

[Preview] Why Scribblenauts Unlimited is even cooler than you thought

Posted on 12 years ago by Austin(@NE_Austin) in Features, Wii U | 1 Comment

It’s really not very often that simply hearing the premise of a game makes you tingle with excitement. ZombiU does that a little bit, Minecraft has that draw, and another such game came along when it was shown at E3 a few years ago. That game, predictably, was Scribblenauts. The concept of creating anything was legitimately awesome (as in, full of awe– not “super cool”), and 5th Cell went ahead and topped even that by throwing adjectives into the mix with the second game in the series, Super Scribblenauts. The sheer grandioseness of the series is almost daunting at times, and if you don’t relax and let your imagination take over you may find yourself stuck for ideas, which in turn may cause your opinion of the game to suffer!

So yea. Don’t do that.