Nintendo Land
The Legend of Zelda Battle Quest
How it Works: There are two options for play in this game. You can either play with the Wii U Gamepad, or with just the Wiimote (no nunchuck). Basically, the Wiimote is to play as a swordsman and the Gamepad is to play as an archer. Wiimote players will be holding the Wiimote vertically, like a sword. Your swordsman character, appropriately attired in the legendary hero’s garb, walks on his own throughout the course and it’s up to you to control his swordplay. The sword feels about 1:1 with your actions with the wiimote. You can slash in any direction with a quick flick of the wrist, or point your wiimote to the sky to charge up a powerful spin attack. You’ll face standard enemies at first, like bokoblins and chuchus, that go down with just one slash no matter what direction. But you’ll soon come across enemeis that require a bit more precision. The bokoblins will now be donning shields along with their swords, and your task is now to slash in the direction opposite or perpendicular to the direction theyre holding the shield. This is similar to Skyward Sword’s battle strategies.
Animal Crossing Sweet Day
How it Works: Animal Crossing: Sweet Day allows for 4 people to play with wiimotes (held horizontally), and one person to play with the Gamepad. Wiimote players play as friendly townsfolk walking around trying to collect candy that they shake out of trees by standing on a button right at the base. Some trees only have one button, but others have 2 or 3 requiring that number of players to stand on them for a few seconds before the tree releases it’s candy. The townsfolk’s goal is to collect 50 pieces of candy before the time runs out.
The Gamepad player controls 2 characters at the same time. One with the left stick and one with the right. His goal is to chase after the townsfolk who are collecting candy and lunge at them by pressing the ‘Z-right’ and ‘Z-left’ buttons to attack them with a giant fork, making them spill their candy cache.
Donkey Kong Crash Course
How it Works: In this game you control a little triangular cart-like object by tilting the Gamepad left and right. The harder you tilt it, the faster the car will speed around the course. There are weirdly positioned ramps and drops to navigate; having your little cart tip over on it’s head or slam too hard into a wall will destroy it causing you to lose a “life”. It’s made more complex by having levering ramps along the way that you control by pressing either the ‘Z-r’ or ‘Z-l’ buttons (triggers) – so you’d come up to a ramp that appears to be a dead end, hold ‘Z-r’, and the ramp lowers, opening a new path (just be sure to keep holding the button until you clear the ramp or you might inadvertantly flip yourself over). There are also pullies and elevators that you wind yourself over with by rotating the left or right analoge stick.
Luigi’s Mansion
How it Works: You have 4 players with Wiimotes (held sideways) moving with the d-pad and shining their flashlight with the 2 button. Their goal is to walk around and find the Ghost by shining their light on him; teamwork is key here. The only way to see the ghost is if you shine your light on him, or if a lucky flash of lightening hits an area that he’s in. But here’s the fun part, you *feel* when the ghost is near you; the wiimote will start to rumble intensly when the Ghost is in a certain proximity with your character.
Takamura’s Castle
How it Works: In this game, you hold the Wii U Gamepad sideways and flick ninja stars from the touchscreen in your hand up to the targets on the TV. The game registers the difference between a hard/fast flick, which sends the ninja star shooting onto the TV like a bullet, and a slower/gentler flick, that lobs the star onto the TV more like a frisbee. The more consecutive enemies you can hit without missing, the more points you are awarded. You face enemy ninjas that are static at first, but progressively move faster and faster as you continue, eventually throwing ninja stars and bombs back at you that you’ll have to knock out of the air with your own projectiles.
