After only a 20 minute wait in line (because we were extremely lucky and picked out for a "VIP" line of sorts) I finally got to put my hands on it. Everything about the new console feels great. Even the simplest tech demos that were shown really showed what this console is capable of.
Everything about the design is comfortable, yet functional. It fit perfectly within my hand. I thought I would have problems with how large the controller seemed, but surprisingly it all came natural right away. To begin, the controller has dual slide pads. They feel like the one you find on the 3DS, but a tad bigger. The D-pad and 4 buttons (A, B,, X, and Y of course) have the same feel as the Wii controller's. The L and R buttons, positions on the back as triggers, have a nice firm-like click, something similar to the should buttons of the SNES shoulder buttons. The 6.2 inch screen is absolutely beautiful as well. The touching seems to be similar to that of the iPhone or iPads, where it feels more heat sensored than pressing down. I didn't get to mess around with anything that dealed with the camera though. Maybe next E3?
Nothing as been given as far as specs go, but just by playing the games, I can already assure you this is a fully high-definition system. New Super Mario Bros. Mii looked fantastic. It has the same art style that you would expect a Mario game to have, but everything was smooth and rounded off perfectly. No jaggies to be found here. Battle Mii and Chase Mii didn't look quite as good, but hey, it's all tech demos, what do you expect from a console that probably at least another year away?
The Games:
Super Mario Bros. Mii was the first game I got to experience for the system. Just like it's Wii counterpart, the game was a 2.5D side-scroller. Everything about the game came very natural after playing NSMB Wii. The demo levels were similar to NSMB Wii, but not exactly the same. Skeleton roller-coaster level, twisting blocks level, plain ol' Mario style level, you get the idea. Mario himself controlled extremely well with the slide pad. The controller even had the built-in "shake" feature. Overall, it was something I'd really like to see finalized on the system.
Next was Chase Mii. Imagine a new take on Pac-Man Vs. and that's Chase Mii. The game is a 5 player game. 4 players are Toad/Mii hybrids, controlled with Wii remotes, on the TV screen, and the 5th player is a Mario/Mii hybrid with the WiiU controller. The game is set in a 3-tier level with 4 colored quadrants (red, blue, green, & yellow). When it starts, Mario gets a 15 second head start to run throughout the level. Catch is though, that player has their own screen and map on the WiiU , controller so that they can see where the other 4 players are. After 15 seconds, the Toads then set out to tackle Mario. However, the Toad players can only see a little map of the arena so that they may call out to each other when they spot Mario and where he is ("He's on the 2nd level in red!"). Then they all try to tackle him. Mario can run back to the center to grab a star that makes him faster and knock over Toads. Mario must also survive being tackled for 2 minutes and 30 seconds. This was by far the most fun I had. My buddies Adam, Yosef, and I had way too much fun. The intensity of trying not to get caught and vise-versa was the thrill. I haven't laughed and had that much fun with a co-op game in a while. Definitely another title I would love to see on the system, maybe bundled in a package with a bunch of other mini games.
Lastly, I tried Battle Mii. This game pits 2 Samus Miis against her own airship in battle. 2 players on the screen, with Wii remotes and nunchucks, aim and shoot at the airship while the player controlling the ship has the WiiU controller and searches and shoots at them from the WiiU controller screen. Overall, it was decently fun. Again, another mini game packaged game I'd like to see.
Final Thought:
The WiiU has some interesting takes on playing games. As a gamer who doesn't enjoy motion gaming very often, the WiiU has me looking. I'm intrigued to see what Nintendo can do. It's very rare they let me down.
