33 – Nintendoland
Nintendoland will be always remembered for failing where Wii Sports had succeeded: showcasing the virtues of the new Nintendo console. It’s a pity, because Nintendoland is a fantastic party game that can provide hours of fun, with 12 “attractions” of considerable length that go depth beyond to the concept of “mini-game” that you’d associate to a tech demo.
The six individual attractions have variable interest going from great (Donkey Kong’s Crash Course) to forgettable (Octopus). All of them are interesting to try, but are probably a bit limited. Team attractions, on the contrary, are complex enough experiences that resemble complete games, with Metroid blast being a funny TPS, Pikmin Adventure a nice action-adventure game and ToZ: Battle Quest a really thrilling on rails game. These games can be played solo, although to enjoy them properly is better to have at least one companion, and I personally spend many hours with them. Competitive attractions, for its part, is where the game reaches its best, with three multiplayer games that make great use of asymmetric design (probably the best use in the console), with that kind of competitive multiplayer fun that Nintendo creates better than anyone else.
At the end of the day, Nintendoland shared its main faults with the Wii U: it didn’t know who to appeal. Some of its attractions were deep enough to attract “hardcore” gamers, but it was hiding under a “mii esthetic” and the party-game structure of the game what would repeal them. At the same time, “casual” gamers would enjoy some of its experiences, but the complexity of the games would probably make them interested, especially if they already had a Wii. For those who enjoyed it, though, was a great experience.
