Topic: Episode 316: Ninjabread Opus

[Pandareus]

Jared pops in to continue the Wii U avalanche, as we all four have one now. Also: Jonny dumps on Power of Illusion, and we try some free Mario levels.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/rfn/32669

Though you're hearing this show at least two weeks after the Wii U launch, it's the first episode in which all of us have the new system. James primes the coverage with a few thoughts on Nintendo Land (as a solo game), indifference to Mighty Switch Force HD, and surprised enjoyment of Scribblenauts Unlimited (which also prompts a quick reference to 5th Cell's forgotten DS game, Lock's Quest). Jared keeps it up with a quick recap of the recent NWR live stream from Neal's abode (archive here), mixed impressions of Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, and confused praise for Little Inferno. Jonny finally got his back his console a couple days before recording and has some random thoughts on setup and interface, including a test drive of the video chat service with Billy. The game Jonny spent the most time with, unfortunately, is the dreadfully limp Epic Mickey: Power of Illusion on 3DS. Luckily, we have Guillaume to raise our spirits with his love for the free, "classic" NSMB2 levels, as well as Ys 7, Falcom's brilliant action-RPG for PSP and PC.

In Listener Mail, we combine a pair of dismayed letters to introduce a lengthy discussion of the Wii U's technical prowess and how it may affect third-party support in years to come. We also get a humorous point of clarification from James Charlton on the recent "Super Wii" commercial/debate. We're always looking for intriguing emails to put on the show, so please send yours today! Also, be sure to subscribe to the NWR Exclusives channel on YouTube to keep up with all of Jared's great work as video producer!

[Pixelated Pixies]

Another great episode guys.
 
The question of the Wii U's technical horsepower is an interesting one; while numbers and specs can matter, they're not nearly as important as some people make out. Having said that, based soley on what the Wii U is currently demonstrating I'm not imbued with a great sense of optimisim. Nintendo and some third party developers will no doubt unearth how best to get the most out of the system, but the numerous technical issues and reports of underwhelming specs from developers certainly haven't made for an auspicious launch.
 
*Also thought I'd mention that Scribblenauts Unlimited does have multiplayer and based on the GB's Quicklook it looks pretty funny*

[DynamicG]

Long time reader and listener, but the Sonic Transformed part of this podcast was pretty hard to listen to.
Especially the cackling , sega mocking portion of things. I don't usually have a problem with that type of stuff, but this was really off putting for me. I'm an owner of Sonic Racing transformed and I think it's pretty awesome, so maybe that's why the the cackling felt pretty insulting.  Like a witch laughing at me for spending $40 on something I'm really enjoying.  I also know that parts of it are currently broken.




The podcastathon was awesome though.

[Kikori]

Clarification: Warawara of Warawara Plaza and warawara used for trolling are etymologically unrelated. The latter comes from the root of the verb meaning "laugh".

[geo]

I count roughly 53 nintendo published titles on the wii (65 if you count wiiware) in north america:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_products_published_by_Nintendo

This is vs (estimated by counting and trying to figure out japan only titles):

NES: 70
SNES: 45
N64: 50
Gamecube:  50

So, with the exception of NES, 50 nintendo published titles seems to be the M.O.   A
Also, note:  during the NES era, it seems like nintendo published a lot of titles that would normally be 3rd party published today.  Probably in an effort to gain steam for the video game industry. 

[yoshi1001]

My thoughts:

Free Mario Levels: Pretty cool, though I hope there's more to come in this vein.
Wii U Power: I think I'll repeat what my mom says about IQ: It's just a number-it's what you do with it that counts. Also, I think it was pretty inevitable that even if the Wii U was/is appreciably better, we'd still hear complaints of it being underpowered from somebody.

[Traveller]

Sonic Racing is really fun. I did not notice any terrible frame rate when I played it on day one either, and we had four players. Although, that night it did eventually prompt me to do an update for the game. Maybe this day one update has screwed something else up?


Or maybe the track we played and the settings just happened to not impact it as much or something.. Some other friends told me they had noticed problems when they were doing multi too.

[Lithium]

lol loved the sonic 06 talk in this ep
to those who have never played this game:
Sonic 06 in a nutshell


If you've ever been morbidly curious about that game but didn't want to subject yourself to it, the game grumps series on sonic 06 is perfect for you XD

[NWR_insanolord]

With the Wii U's power, I've made the argument that the fact that launch games, the first efforts on the platform from developers, look as good as (or better than) their counterparts on hardware developers have been working on for six years shows that the Wii U is an improvement. With very few exceptions, games only get better looking over the course of a console's life, and the beginning of the Wii U is on par with the end of the 360 and PS3.

[azeke]

After i listened to your podcast where you said they backpedaled from that WaraWata thing and there is no mention of it in manuals on Wii U, i did checked it and eh.. WaraWara IS there.

"Wii U menu" (chapter), Fig. 2 says that that is WaraWara plaza.

[Frozen Blitz]

The sonic bug talk was amazing.