The 12 Best Games for the Wii U

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Hail, ye Nintendo faithful! New hardware has appeared and, loyal folk that you are, the Wii U now rests in your home. It's still early in the new console's lifecycle but that doesn't mean there aren't games that will make your latest pledge of fealty to the House of Mario feel worthwhile. Check out the list below for the two-screen offerings that make the Wii U shine.
Update 09/20/13: The moment you’ve waited for is here. At last, Nintendo’s latest home console has gotten a price drop. Lucky for you, the Wii U’s library has swelled with more great games since the machine’s launch. So, in celebration of affordability and quality, we’re updating the list of what we think are the best games on the platform. Pikmin 3 bumps Assassin's Creed III, Rayman Legends replaces Trine 2: Director's Cut, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD take the spot once held by Mighty Switch Force: Hyper Drive Edition and The Wonderful 101 muscles out Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Update 04/18/13: Slowly but surely, the Wii U's software library is getting stronger. Games like Lego City Undercover and Runner 2—both new additions to this Bests list—offer up fun and clever experiences for Nintendo's newest home console. Give 'em a warm welcome, won't you?
[HR][/HR][h=2]Bit.Trip Runner 2[/h]
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"Push a d-pad button or move the analog stick in the desired direction. Watch game character move in said direction." It's something that we take for granted in video games. But Runner 2—the sequel to Gaijin Games' hiit auto-running platformer Bit.Trip Runner—opens up a whole new level of challenge by taking away the need to steer. The focus in Runner 2 is on lightning-quick avoidance and jumping, so that you can careen through the game's visually stunning worlds. A game that does the character movement for you may sound boring. But that's the last thing it is.
A Good Match For: People who want more excitement out their daily jogging. The always-forward routine of run-centric exercise may do wonders for your heart but a body's brain may feel a bit understimulated. Think of Runner 2 as a way of giving your grey matter and twitch reflexes their own workout.
Not for Those Who Want: Shooting or violence. There are threats all around CommanderVideo in Runner 2, but he can't take them out. All he can do is slide under or bound over them. That's all right; it still feels pretty good.
http://vimeo.com/59360511 Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: The Wii U's eShop. It's download-only.
[HR][/HR][h=2]The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD[/h]

Take one of the prettiest games in the Legend of Zelda franchise. Re-master the graphics in high-definition and add stuff that streamlines and improves the play experience. You’ll wind up with a game that will make re-think its place in the canon of Nintendo's action RPG series.
A Good Match for: People who hated the sailing in the original Wind Waker. The HD version introduces a Swift Sail tool, which improves the speed of your boat and frees you up from having to shift the wind on longer voyages.
Not a Good Match for: Players who wanted that too-long final section trimmed down. The infamous quest before Wind Waker’s ultimate showdown is still a bloated mission that kills the game’s momentum.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kmWn-ZOvtkU Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: The Wii U eShop or Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop.
[HR][/HR][h=2]Lego City Undercover[/h]
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We’ve referred to it as a Lego take on Grand Theft Auto, but, don’t worry, it’s kid-friendly, and it plays as a comedy. But if you’re actually worried that it’s kid-friendly, don’t sweat that either. In LCU, you play as Chase McCain, a Lego cop in a massive open world full of Lego riffs on New York City, San Francisco, Cape Canaveral and more. Even better, the city is full of dozens of Lego vehicles. You can play the game’s main missions and enjoy the adventure as a silly send-up to old cop shows, or you can simply indulge in what feels like a kids’ dream come to life: a massive, great-looking explorable world made of Lego playsets.
A Good Match For: anyone who was worried the Lego games had stagnated; this one is more open and more full of interesting things to do than the ones before it. It’s also frequently funny.
Not for Those Who Want: a co-op game, since, in a major Lego-game first, there’s no co-op. You might also dislike the game’s minute-long loading times, tough crafty players can avoid sitting through too many of them.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0CyH8Na_Hck Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop
[HR][/HR][h=2]Little Inferno[/h]

It's an interactive fireplace that challenges you to burn various things. And it has an emotional storyline. Ok? Please trust us! It's from the World of Goo people and it's… really best if you go in knowing nothing more than that.
A Good Match for: People who don't want the norm. There's never been an interactive fireplace video game that has an emotional storyline before. There probably won't be one again. You play this, you get your indie cred boosted as a bonus.
Not for Those Who Want: A traditional video game. You've got to like weird stuff and not be bothered that this isn't a shooter, a platformer, a racer, a sports game, a fighting game or anything else. Plus you have to not mind possible criticisms of the gaming medium, because that just might be what Little Inferno is really about.
Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: The Wii U's eShop. It's download-only.
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[h=2]Mass Effect 3[/h] The conclusion to BioWare's sci-fi epic might have let down a few fans with its controversial ending, but it's still a solid shooter/RPG that works well on the Wii U. You can hotkey special biotic abilities to the touchscreen on your tablet controller, so you can fling aliens around with the tap of
a finger. You can also use the GamePad as a map as you try to save Earth from the Reapers.
A Good Match for: People who don't own an Xbox 360 or PS3.
Not for Those Who Want: A perfect frame rate. The Wii
U version of Mass Effect 3 occasionally looks less than perfect.
Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: The Wii U eShop or Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop.
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[h=2]New Super Mario Bros U[/h] The first-ever high-definition Mario game is also warm,
familiar, and consistently fun
. You might not be surprised too often while jumping your way through the single-player campaign, but stomping on Goombas really never gets old. Plus, the Wii U's tablet controller allows for some surprisingly enjoyable multiplayer twists.
A Good Match for: People who like to game while watching TV. If you're playing single-player, you can play all of New Super Mario Bros. U on the GamePad controller.
Not for Those Who Want: Something new. Something that changes up the standard Mario formula we've been following for so long.
Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: Purchase from: The Wii U eShop or Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop.
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[h=2]Nintendo Land[/h] It's a dozen games in one and most of them are good. Nintendo Land is sort of the Wii U's version of Wii Sports, except that its games are more substantial and… not as simply, purely brilliant as the bowling and tennis in that famous Wii launch game. Half of Nintendo Land's diverse games are made to be played solo, three are multiplayer-only and three can be played solo or with friends. All 12 show different, interesting ways the Wii U GamePad can be used to control games. The stars of the bundle are the surprisingly deep co-op Zelda adventure, the graphically-shocking Pikmin missions, the lovely Balloon Trip iPad-like game and the crowd-pleasing party favorites: Mario Chase and Luigi's Ghost Mansion.
A Good Match for: Nintendo buffs, since the game is presented as a Nintendo-themed theme park and reward players with all sort of Nintendo-themed unlockable décor. Nintendo Land also serves as a great instruction manual for the Wii U's features, too.
Not for Those Who Want: One focused game (this ain't that) or one game as perfectly tuned for people of any age or type as Wii Sports tennis (Nintendo Land's Mario Chase comes closest).
Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop
[HR][/HR][h=2]Pikmin 3[/h]

Supposedly conceived while Mario and Donkey Kong creator Shigeru Miyamoto was thinking about gardening, the Pikmin games let players control an army of up to 100 little colorful creatures who behave like a cross between plants and ants. The game is played more or less from an overhead view. The playing field is a zoomed-in version of Earth where, to our titular characters' view, flowers might as well be trees. Players control any of three diminutive explorers from Alph, Brittany, Charlie, all of whom can pluck the Pikmin out of the ground, marshal them to swarm big bug-like enemies and haul what are, to our explorers, massive, house-sized pieces of fruit. The better you do this stuff, the easier it will be to grow a bigger Pikmin army, which can in turn take on tougher enemies and overcome trickier, puzzling obstacles. This Wii U sequel introduces excellent co-op and competitive modes to supplement a fairly brief nine-hour campaign. (Read our review.)
A Good Match for: Strategy-gaming fans who enjoy the likes of StarCraft or Command & Conquer and are therefore looking for a game that involves using wits and reflexes to conceive a complex a multi-unit plan and carry it out.
Not a Good Match for: Those who played Pikmin games on the GameCube or Wii already and are looking for something that feels more like a sequel than like a refinement of something they played before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mUmDp3WHxE Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: The Wii U eShop or Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop.
[HR][/HR][h=2]Rayman Legends[/h]

Who needs arms and legs to be the star of a brilliant platformer? Not Rayman. The second game in the resurrected cartoon action franchise still sports an incredibly lush art style but also shows off sharp ideas that make the most of the Wii U GamePad.
A Good Match for: Co-op fanatics. Legends is a very good game for solo play but it’s great for folks to team up and take on. And using the GamePad to control helper character Murphy lets players of different skill levels join in on the fun.
Not a Good Match for: Those wanting turn-your-brain-off platforming. Rayman Legends’ occasionally challenging difficulty requires quick reflexes. For the most part, there’s no coasting here.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yMIKs1PKrEM Here's how it looks in action.
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[h=2]Scribblenauts Unlimited[/h] The Wii U version of Scribblenauts Unlimited presents all the crazy mad-libs puzzle-solving of 5th Cell's charming game in hi-def. That alone is a reason to cheer. But Unlimited also lets players in on Maxwell's back story and offers up clever multiplayer features to boot. Combine all those elements with the fact that a TV-centric Scribblenauts makes for a laugh-out-loud experience and you may have the best version of an already good game.
A Good Match for: Wannabe comic-book creators. This version of Scribblenauts has the Object Editor, with lets players craft their own unique mashed-up creations—like a winged zebra—and share them with other players, who can then tweak them even more. If someone else's twisted imagination has thought of a weirdo lifeform, then you can revel in using it.
Not for Those Who Want: Variety. More words and more creativity mean that many of the game's puzzles will feel really lightweight and repetitive.
Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop
[HR][/HR][h=2]The Wonderful 101[/h]

Being a superhero is fun enough on its own—being 100 superheroes at once is just ridiculous. As the eponymous Wonderful 100 (the extra 1 is YOU), your job in this game is to, naturally, save the earth from marauding aliens. You do this by morphing your gang of caped crusaders into guns and swords and boomerangs in what turns into a challenging, satisfying chaos. Combine frenetic action with some spectacular fights across giant robots and incredible landscapes, and you've got one of the most original games on Wii U to date. . (Read our review here.)
A Good Match For: People who love fast-paced action games that challenge both minds and thumbs. This is a game that takes commitment, and if you stick with it, you'll be rewarded.
Not a Good Match for: Folks wanting a game that's easy to pick up and enjoy. This one takes some learning.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDKZOQwNeT8 Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: The Wii U eShop or Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop.
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[h=2]ZombiU[/h] The best third-party game on the Wii U takes a hackneyed scenario and puts it in a locale where it feels a bit more unexpected. While ZombiU's undead apocalypse does feel fresher because of its London setting, it's really the chain-link single-player campaign and asymmetrical multiplayer that make it shine. There's something morbidly apropos about having to find and loot the walking corpse of the character you previously controlled—to keep use of the best gear after you die—while playing solo. And facing off against others in the game's asymmetrical multiplayer battles makes controlling the bad guys more fun than being the hero.
A Good Match for: Passive-aggressive survival horror fans. The atmosphere is dark and desperate in ZombiU and every bullet counts. Holding the Wii U gamepad up to use as a scanner isn't just a new-hardware gimmick. It's a crucial mechanic that reveals zombie placements and where weapons and items might be. And if you're stuck on a particular sequence, a hint from another player might be your salvation. Or a trick to doom you to yet another death.
Not for Those Who Want: Meaningful relationships with playable characters. Other than "Zombies! Holy crap! Don't die!", the avatars you'll control in ZombiU single-player don't get much in the way of backstory and motivation.
Here's how it looks in action.
Purchase from: Amazon | Wal-Mart | Best Buy | GameStop
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