It’s a Christmas miracle! The Wii U is set to receive six new releases this Thursday, ranging from Pikmin 2 on Virtual Console to a digital release of Minecraft Story Mode: The Complete Adventure. That’s not all – there’s a huge assortment of discounts, including what appears to be Ubisoft’s entire Wii U back catalogue.
Pikmin 2 is the ‘New Play Control’ Wii version with pointer controls, rather than the vanilla GameCube iteration. While the £17.99 asking price may seem a little high on first glance, that’s roughly half the price of what it sells for in physical form – it’s one of the hardest Wii games to track down, with copies selling for between £30-£50 on eBay.
The eight-episode strong Minecraft: Story Mode – The Complete Adventure meanwhile will set you back £28.99 and is due Friday to coincide with the retail release. American gamers received the three extra episodes months ago, leaving us Europeans to wait until now. Stock at retail outlets is likely to be thin on the ground, so you may want to consider going digital for this one. The eShop price actually a quid cheaper than the current pre-order price at GAME.
The remaining new Wii U releases are 2D shooter Teslapunk (£8.99) – which failed to make a splash on Xbox One – plus the Pictionary alike Scribble (£2.99), Alleyway/Arkanoid clone Breakout Defense (£7.00), and the two-player brain teaser Test Your Mind (£1.99).
Nintendo Life didn’t think much of Test Your Mind, giving it a lowly 3/10 back in November 2015. “A shallow pool of brain teasers limits replay value, and a broken two-player mode all but ensures players won’t return after their first visit,†they said.
Nintendo Life also reviewed Johnny Dynamite (£1.29 until 5th January), which is about to hit 3DS. The 2D platformer – which looks similar to Bomb Jack – scored poorly due to “cheap†presentation and a mere 1-hour runtime. “According to the 3DS Activity Log, we blew through all of the levels on offer within an hour, gaining 2-3 star ratings as we went,†they claimed.
Another ten new games due on 3DS this week. While this may sound like an impressive amount, they’re 99p mini-games from CIRCLE Entertainment, all of which are aimed at younger gamers. Each stars Kutar, an orange bi-pedal animal that’s “not a dog, cat or bear”. Burger making, jump rope, skiing, baseball and more are on the agenda.
The New 3DS gets a Virtual Console release too, in the form of Capcom’s Demon’s Crest (£7.19). This Ghosts ‘n Goblins spin-off is a SNES cult classic, and easy to recommend if you’re up for a challenge.
Additional DLC Shin Megami Tensei IV: Apocalypse and 7th Dragon III Code: VFD Quest is this Thursday as well, some pieces of which will be free. Nice.
Onto the week’s discounts we go. For those curious about the aforementioned Wii U price cuts from Ubisoft, here they are: Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag (£9.99), Assassin’s Creed III (£7.99), Just Dance 2017 (£23.99), Rabbids Land (£7.99), Rayman Legends (£11.99), Tom Clancy’s Splinter Cell Blacklist (£6.59), Watch_Dogs (£12.49), ZombiU (£6.39) and Child of Light (£3.95).
THQ Nordic has a few discounts too, such as Darksiders II (£7.99), Legend of Kay Anniversary (£3.99) and The Book of Unwritten Tales 2 (£3.59), while other Wii U discounts include Shadow Puppeteer (£9.44), Soul Axiom (£5.99), Brave Tank Hero (£2.49), Inside My Radio (£5.19) and Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures (£4.49).
Angry Video Game Nerd Adventures is also down in price on 3DS, dropping to £4.49 likewise. Handheld gamers can also grab the following on the cheap: A-Train 3D: City Simulator (£9.99), Brave Tank Hero (£2.24), Gotcha Racing (£2.49), Super Strike Beach Volleyball (£2.24), Goosebumps: The Game (£7.49) and a rather sizeable assortment of Circle Entertainment titles. Also: some positively thrilling virtual pet games from Treva Entertainment.
We’re hoping Shantae: Half-Genie Hero will make a Wii U appearance before the year is out. The trailer states a 27th December launch date, but on closer inspection that appears to be for the US-only retail release. Maybe next week’s eShop line-up will shed some light on the situation.