While it only launched with Tennis and Bowling available, Nintendo confirmed during this Direct that Golf would be added to Wii Sports Club for Wii U owners, starting today! Enhancements over the original Wii build beyond the added precision of Wii MotionPlus controls include the ability to place the Wii U Gamepad on the floor to spy the ball’s location, the ability to assess terrain and wind direction, and even play on a bonus course inspired by Golf U.S. Course, a Famicom Disk System game that was only made available in Japan, but one that Nintendo CEO, Satoru Iwata helped develop over twenty-five years ago.
Nintendo reminded viewers that Wii Sports Club should have already showed up on one’s Wii U’s main menu if they downloaded the console’s October update (and they had enough storage space on their hard drive), and that a Wii Remote Plus would be required for each player that wants to play, particularly in multiplayer sessions. They then took the chance to advertise the Mario-themed and Luigi-themed Wii Remote Plus variations that recently hit stores. Hey, when in Rome!
More good news came with the announcement that Nintendo would allow another free twenty-four-hour trial period for Wii U owners, even if they already took advantage of the previous free trial, to play the current Wii Sports Club events, giving them a chance to test out Golf. Boxing and Baseball still have yet to arrive, but the Wii U revision of what is still one of the Wii’s best exclusives is only getting better with time!
Yet another left-field surprise from today’s Nintendo Direct came from the announcement of NES Remix, a Wii U eShop game that blended scenarios and characters from various NES classics, including the NES’s primitive sports games, Super Mario Bros., The Legend of Zelda, Donkey Kong and Excitebike.
NES Remix takes these classic NES offerings and essentially blends them together with new twists. This allows you to play Excitebike with limited visibility for example, or play Donkey Kong while controlling Link instead of Mario! You can even play various stages from Super Mario Bros. backwards, or with an oversized Bowser! Talk about a twist on age-old game mechanics!
Best of all is that NES Remix will allow you to upload your high scores to Miiverse, also including various NES-themed stamps, so you’re constantly motivated to compete with others! The cherry on top? The collection of eccentric NES-inspired minigames is being made available on the Wii U eShop today!
Like Hyrule Warriors and Chibi-Robo: Photo Finder, you have to admit, you would never have seen this coming!
Not content to let Mario be the only apparent Mushroom Kingdom denizen with a medical license, yet ANOTHER surprise came during this Direct with the announcement of another left-field Wii U eShop game, Dr. Luigi, which aims to cap off 2013 being the Year of Luigi.
Effectively a sequel to WiiWare’s Dr. Mario Online RX, Dr. Luigi allows players to puzzle out attacking viruses with L-shaped pills, which will give less experienced players a better means to eliminate viral threats. As the difficulty increases and the levels climb however, you’ll be less likely to be given helpful pills, even putting Dr. Mario veterans to the test!
As with its WiiWare predecessor, Dr. Luigi also allows online play, but with a twist! Now, instead of just dropping capsules on your opponent’s side, chaining together virus elimination will now cause your opponent’s next pill to switch colours at the last second, forcing them to re-think their strategy on the fly. It’s a very clever and engaging twist on classic puzzle gameplay that should get avid puzzle competitors excited about Dr. Luigi right from the get-go! The Virus Buster minigame also makes a return from the Brain Age series in Dr. Luigi, this time played with the Wii U Gamepad’s screen while the main action unfolds on the television.
As with several surprise announcements from this Direct, Dr. Luigi isn’t far away either! The game will literally close out 2013 with a release on December 31st via the Wii U eShop. Nintendo will also be commemorating the game’s launch with some exclusive Luigi-themed rewards at Club Nintendo. If you love your Nintendo swag, don’t forget to check those out!