Japan just got its first batch of Play on Wii titles -- the classic Nintendo GameCube games refitted for the Wii -- earlier this month. Today, Nintendo has officially announced some of those titles for a North American release, with a small change.
It seems these GameCube classics will be recognizable by the New Play Control! title -- New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis and New Play Control! Pikmin are both scheduled for a March 2009 release.
The name makes a good deal of sense, as both games have been tweaked to take control of both the Wii Remote and the nunchuck. New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis, for instance, will allow you to swing the Wii Remote to hit forhands, backhands, and apply swing. An on-screen pointer in New Play Control! Pikmin can be used to select and transport pikmin.
It would have been easy for consumers to write-off these titles simply because you can already play GameCube games on your Wii. "Play on Wii," downplays (no pun intended) the main selling point, which would be the update controls. When you think about it, this is more brilliant Nintendo marketing at work. Good show, guys.
Contest:
8:20 AM on 12.17.2008
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@tron: try shopping somewhere other than malwart.
On the other hand, those Metroid Prime re-issues...
i agree that a new pikmin game is a must at this point. i think that the remake is an easy way to introduce the series to people who didn't play it the first time around (ie everyone who didn't play gamecube)
as for the "hardcore gamers" argument. i don't think it has merit any longer. alongside nintendo's aaa titles, you have some games coming out this year that are geared specifically towards mature audiences.
any way you look at it, wii has the marketshare, and publishers are going to have to develop more games for wii, due to cost/return rates with this gen's hardware.
@ Gamadaya- Huh? Nintendo has made more games for the hardcore in the past two years than they did for almost the entire lifespan of the Gamecube.
And is Pikmin really for "hardcore" gamers?
Can we just move on, please?
@ Holmes
Casual players certainly don't seem to care about Pikmin, only Nintendo fans.
So you're saying they've released 2 hardcore games for the Wii then, right?
Ugh... what sucks about this marketing ploy is that it's going to work. People are going to buy these games and the casual market is going to rave over them, and a portion of the 'hardcore' community is going to think Nintendo is finally throwing them a bone. What also sucks about this is the underlying truth to why they can reissue these games, which is that the Wii is just a refurbished GameCube. There's a reason Nintendo is turning a profit with all of the Wii's it sells, the technology in it is last gen tech that integrates 480i (*puke*) display and motion controls. Wii = GameCube 1.5
The new branding sounds naff at first, but your explanation makes it sound OK. And, as i've already mentioned, Four Swords Adventures remade would be epic.
Because Atlus took that label already at the Wii's launch lineup.
Gamecube games are backwards compatible with Wii anyway. Can't they just release a patch or something? I guess that wouldn't print as much money though.
Yes, kinda sucks that these are not new games, but there's a difference between old and worthless. They ARE developing Pikmin 3, though.
And I do agree that nintendo needs some attitude adjustment, seeing they released funny games like disaster and captain rainbow that are new cheese fun franchizes and don't seem to grasp the idea to bring 'em them here.