The Big Wii U Mystery: First Party Launch Titles

As of now we know barely anything about the Wii U launch lineup – and absolutely nothing about basically anything coming out of Nintendo’s first party studios during the first few months of its life. I suppose that’s to be expected, as the new system isn’t due until later this year, after the big announcements hit at E3 in the summer, so we’ll hear more about what to expect then. Still, I can’t help but wonder what Nintendo might have up its sleeve for the Wii U launch, especially since both Mr. Iwata and Reggie insist that they intend to correct their mistakes with the 3DS’s early months.

Now I think we can safely say that one of the Wii U’s first in-house titles is going to be Pikmin 3 – it’s the only first-party game we know has been in development for long enough to make the deadline – but if Nintendo learned anything from the GameCube it’s clear that Pikmin alone won’t sustain the system. What else do I think Nintendo might have cooking?

Wii U Sports

Nintendo proved with the Wii that sports games don’t need fancy association or player endorsements to be a hit with audiences everywhere. In fact, if you look back at the NES’s library, it’s clear that sports games are the bread and butter of video games. This probably explains why they tend to be safe bets, with any big sports release almost guaranteed to sell in the millions. Just look at Wii Sports and Wii Sports Resort – both land in the Top 10 Best-Selling Video Games of all time list.

That we already saw footage of a Wii Sports like game running on the Wii U hardware pretty much clinches it. Wii U Sports will happen, and if I had to place my bets, I’d guess it’s going to happen pretty early in the game.

Wii U Fit

I won’t argue for a minute that Nintendo invented the fitness game genre – as far as my knowledge goes, that award belongs to Konami’s Dance Dance Revolution – but it definitely popularized fitness play in a way that we hadn’t seen before. Wii Fit may not have enjoyed the same level of success as the Wii Sports series, but it’s still an important part of the Wii family that I don’t think Nintendo will want to leave out.

Do I think it’ll be an immediate launch title, though? Not necessarily. I think they’ll give Wii U Sports some time first, then trickle Wii U Fit out for those who didn’t rush out to buy a Wii U within its first holiday. After all, most members of Wii’s extended non-traditional gaming audience don’t really buy many games at once – it’s probably best not to force-feed the market too many of those games too soon.

New Super Mario Bros. Mii

We all know that on any Nintendo platform, a Super Mario game is not a question of if but a question of when, and in the case of the Wii U, they’ve already got a game engine up and running. Albeit, it’s just a somewhat modified version of the system used for New Super Mario Bros. Wii, but that’s something, isn’t it?

The big variable as far as I’m concerned is that we know another side-scrolling Mario is on the way this year for Nintendo 3DS. I’m not entirely sure how Nintendo would feel about releasing two similar games on different systems. We’ve seen dual releases before, most famously with the Pokémon games, but it’s rare for Nintendo to release games on two different platforms. Do they think that one Mario game might compete with the other? Or do they see a dual-release as a path to tons of sales – tighter-budgeted gamers might go for the 3DS game, while those with lots of cash to blow on a new system can play it on Wii U.

Wii U Mini-Game Pack

I’ll be honest, I’d still get a Wii U even if the only big launch title consisted of expanded content versions of a lot of the demos we saw at E3 last year. You’ve all probably heard me sing praises up the wazoo for Chase Mii, and my adoration for that little game hasn’t died yet. There’s simply too much potential for non-stop multi-player fun for Nintendo to waste all their efforts in developing these showcases by not releasing them in some form later on.

And if they do release some kind of full version of Chase Mii and include online multiplayer, you can bet that I’ll be the Supreme Overlord of that shit. Mark my words. (Okay, I need to cut back on the cocky a bit.)

Other Possibilities We Can’t Rule Out

These are the only real possibilities in terms of what’s been specifically indicated as “in deep enough development to actually be considered,” but there are a few other potentialities that I don’t think we can throw out just yet.

Metroid Wii U – I’m not sure that this one’s particularly likely at this stage in the game given that Metroid games are pretty niche, but Metroid and HD go together like peanut butter and jelly. Besides, I’m sure we’ve all thought about how neat it’d be to layer the Wii U controller over the main screen to scan the environment Metroid Prime style. And we all know that Retro Studios is working on something that they’re not ready to let out of the bag just yet…

Donkey Kong Country Wii U – This is another candidate for Retro’s Secret Game, and given the success of Donkey Kong Country Returns I believe another sequel is basically inevitable. I’m just not sure whether Nintendo will really care to release anything but the big guns so early in the game unless they can think of some creative way to make use of the Wii U touch controller – and I imagine that a side-scrolling platformer would be pretty conservative in that department. But I’ve been wrong before…

Pokémon Wii U – Wii U’s image so far has given special attention to its social networking features, and what bigger Nintendo name is there in social gaming than Pokémon? (Okay, there’s Animal Crossing…) Of course, Game Freak’s already got new Pokémon games coming to DS this summer, but I doubt Black & White 2 really required all that much development power. Certainly they could have channeled a good-sized staff into a true blue Pokémon online experience for Wii U… if they wish to make such a game, that is.

Zelda Wii U? – The reason why this one’s got a question mark at the end of it is that it’s a pretty sure thing that if Zelda is on its way to Wii U soon, it isn’t in development by Nintendo EAD. They just wrapped up Skyward Sword, and while we know they’re working on Zelda games for 3DS and Wii U, that doesn’t mean there isn’t a project by another internal studio that’s already underway. After all, it’s a little-known fact, but that Zelda HD Experience tech demo wasn’t created by EAD.

Is this significant? Maybe, maybe not. We know that Nintendo’s looking to out-source things like graphics and online to companies with vaster resources for handling those elements. We also know that Nintendo’s working to collaborate with different studios to make important projects happen. We’ll see how things pan out.

Aside from these possibilities, what’s going on behind the scenes with Wii U at Nintendo is pretty much a complete wildcard. What kinds of games would you like to see in the system’s early life? Share your thoughts in the comments!