The Wonderful 101 Release Date (WiiU) Is September 15 2013 (USA)

Awesome logo! Superhero-riffic!

The Wonderful 101 will be released exclusively for WiiU on September 15th 2013 in America and in Europe a month earlier on August 23rd.

This title has been long-awaited and was one of the first games revealed for the WiiU, being developed by Platinum Games, the makers of Beyonetta, MadWorld, Okami and other critically acclaimed, artistic titles. It was originally supposed to hit at launch, but was eventually delayed beyond the launch window to the end of Summer, and now into the Fall for America.

The gameplay looks awesome!

A very cool new logo was revealed for the game which you can see above. Check out the trailer too if you haven’t seen it before! The Wonderful 101 is somewhat similar to Pikmin, but like previous Platinum Games GameCube title Viewtiful Joe (made by the guys who went on to form Platinum back when they worked for Capcom); The Wonderful 101 has an interesting Superhero theme and vibe, where you control an entire group of superheroes! Over 100 of them, as the title suggests. They then combine their powers to take down enormous foes and pull off super attacks!

It looks pretty awesome, and is definitely an interesting, unique title to add to the growing WiiU library of hits and AAA titles. Now let’s hope it sells well!

Superheroes unite!

 

New Super Luigi U Retail Package Will Be Released To Physical Stores On August 25 2013 For $30

Oooo, snazzy! Love the green-colored WiiU box!

New Super Luigi U will be hitting physical stores as a WiiU packaged product on August 25th for $30, for those players who want to play the game but don’t yet own (or already sold, or don’t have online access) their copy of New Super Mario Bros. U.

If that’s the case, then you’ll definitely want to think about picking up the full retail version!

This version of the game will be exactly the same as the digital version, but it will cost $10 more and will come in a snazzy, green-colored Wii U retail box that’s been Luigi-branded and includes a physical instruction book, case and disc, instead of simply being a digital DLC product.

Of course, you can still download the game if you own New Super Mario Bros. U when it releases as downloadable content on June 20th. If you go the DLC route, you’ll only pay $20 to get New Super Luigi U, which re-imagines all 82 levels of the game with harder difficulty and has you playing as Luigi! It even adds a new playable character in Nabbit… Who cannot be hurt by enemies! Although Nabbit cannot pick up power-ups either…

The new Nabbit playable character in NSLU!

This new Nabbit character will definitely be a cool option for those players who want to play co-op with a less-experienced player, or a younger family member who won’t have to worry about getting hit if they play as Nabbit. All of these new announcements are to celebrate the “Year of Luigi” in 2013, which is definitely getting a boon with Luigi getting another all-new retail boxed game with this announcement (to add to the already-released “Luigi’s Mansion: Dark Moon” for 3DS).

It’s worth noting that the retail New Super Luigi U will be released in America on August 25th, but Europe gets it way earlier on July 26th. While Europe will get the digital version on July 20th.

I think this is really cool to see DLC released as a physical product in New Super Luigi U. I dig the fancy new box and I’ll definitely be picking this up to have a physical copy. It’s also worth noting that the physical copy version IS a standalone product and does NOT require New Super Mario Bros. U to play the new Luigi version. Huzzah!

 

Mario & Sonic 4 At the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games Announced (WiiU, 3DS)

Looks like love is blooming on the ice if you ask me.

Mario & Sonic 4 at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games has been announced for WiiU at the Nintendo Direct conference today. This is the 4th game in the Mario & Sonic series that started on the Wii back in 2007. However this marks the first next-generation title in the series and the first time that the series has been upgraded to HD graphics thanks to the power of the WiiU.

Strangely, they did not announce Mario & Sonic At the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games (official title) for the 3DS, only the WiiU. However I’d be surprised if the title didn’t also hit the 3DS. Maybe we’ll hear confirmation at E3.

Mario & Sonic 1 was called “Mario & Sonic At the Olympic Games” (Wii, DS 2007), Mario & Sonic 2 was called “Mario & Sonic At the Olympic Winter Games” (Wii, DS 2009) and Mario & Sonic 3 was called “Mario & Sonic At the London 2012 Olympic Games” (Wii, 3DS 2011).

No release date was given for Mario & Sonic 4, but it will assumedly release this holiday ahead of the start of the 2014 Winter Olympics on February 7th 2014 in Sochi, Russia.

There was a fun point in the announcement video where Nintendo President Satoru Iwata pointed out where Sochi was located on a map of the world. And that the location is surprisingly warm for Russia, which is known for it’s cold weather.

Here is a video comparing Mario & Sonic Wii to Mario & Sonic WiiU. As you can see, the graphics are nearly identical, just cleaner, sharper looking.

Lots of gameplay footage was shown off of the game including all-new and returning Olympic events that you can play with as either Sonic or Mario characters. New events include Curling and Snowboard Slope Racing, and you will use the GamePad in a number of games (using the touchscreen and getting a different view on the action that’s happening on the TV). Although you can also play with a Wii Remote & Nunchuck. One cool looking Biathlon event combines cross-country skiing with rifle shooting, and has players Skiing on the TV then having to switch to the GamePad to shoot targets with the Rifle.

If you liked the previous games in the series, which only received average reviews and are simple mini-game collections, then this game will surely satisfy.

This announcement follows the announcement of Sonic Lost World for WiiU/3DS.

 

Sonic Lost World WiiU, 3DS Exclusive. Details To Come At E3 2013

Sonic is riding on the Tales plane!

Sonic The Lost World has been announced as a WiiU-exclusive title in a new “worldwide partnership” that Nintendo has entered into with Sega. This means that Sonic Lost World will be exclusively released for 3DS and WiiU and no other system.

No details on the game were announced, only a single piece of artwork that you can see above. You can’t really glean any information from it, but we do see Sonic riding atop Tales plane, which may signify some “back-to-basics” or classic-style Sonic gameplay. But that’s only guesswork.

This is good news for WiiU fans, and a definitely “SONIC GET!” for Nintendo and Nintendo fans.

This isn’t the first time that Sega has released a Sonic game exclusively for a Nintendo platform however. Sega has released exclusive Sonic games for Nintendo platforms in the past including those below:

* Sonic Advance for Game Boy Advance (2001. Ported to N-Gage as SonicN in 2003)
* Sonic Advance 2 exclusively for GBA (2003)
* Sonic Advance 3 exclusively for GBA (2004)
* Sonic Adventure 2: Battle for Gamecube (2002)
* Sonic Adventure DX: Director’s Cut for GameCube (2003)
* Sonic Colors for Wii (2010)
And most recently,
* Sonic And the Secret Rings exclusively for Wii (2007) and
* Sonic and the Black Knight also exclusively for Wii (2009).
* That’s in addition to the Mario & Sonic Olympic titles which were Nintendo exclusives.

Nintendo of America President Reggie had this to say about the new Sonic Lost World WiiU/3DS game announcement.

“The onetime rivalry between Mario and Sonic has grown into a friendship that has never been closer. These announcements in conjunction with SEGA demonstrate the commitment we have to bringing great games to the Wii U platform, and set the stage for our upcoming announcements at E3.”