Despite being a diehard Nintendo fan throughout most of my life, this is the first time I can remember where I didn't have a Nintendo console in the house. When I first got a chance to preview the Wii U prior to its debut I found it gimmicky and unwieldy. Much of what it promised seemed like rather needless improvements to the Wii, and the game selection really wasn't enough to make me consider dropping the cash on it when the PS4 seemed like the surer bet.
After some time to get going, though, the Wii U is starting to look more and more appealing. There's at least five games on the horizon that are making me reconsider dropping the cash on Nintendo's box.
Zelda Wii U Honestly, though Mario remains the flagship mascot for Nintendo it's Link, the perennial hero in the Legend of Zelda franchise, who has been starring in the better titles for the last decade. Nothing looks more awesome than the upcoming open-world Zelda adventure. As marvelous as Skyward Sword was, you could feel it being held back by the upcoming capabilities of the future. That's why it's sort of the Final Fantasy 9 of the franchise.
We didn't see a whole lot of footage of the game at E3, but what we did see was amazing. It looks like Nintendo has really pulled out all the stops in making Hyrule as open a realm as any fantasy novel. Though surely in the end there will be some boundaries, it's still the most ambitious rendering of the land ever done.
Hyrule Warriors Another Zelda, but quite a different one that what we've seen before. Nintendo is teaming up with Tecmo to use aspects of the Dynasty Warriors series but set in Hyrule. Instead of the adventure setting we're all used to, now Link mows down hordes of foes with huge, over-the-top crowd-killing attacks.
In addition, Zelda and Impa are both playable and both show just as if not more impressive attacks than Link, though Link hurling the giant bomb is going to be tough to beat in my book. The Zelda series has always been lacking a big, giant hack and slash entry and now we're finally going to get one.
This story continues on the next page.
