The Nintendo holiday and early 2016 lineup, while impressive, is a perfect example of the design strategy that's lost Nintendo so many lifelong fans.īut maybe Star Fox Zero and The Legend of Zelda on the Wii U will be enough to draw more playrs back in, and the Wii U's enduring dedication to the couch multiplayer experience-a great aspect of gaming that sadly seems to be dying-is something to be admired.
Those who grew up playing Mario, Zelda, and Star Fox would like to continue playing those classic series, but also want access to more mature gaming experiences through their console of choice those gamers raised on the NES, SNES, and Nintendo 64 (if they are still gaming) are very often part of the huge audiences for the PS4 and Xbox One. The longest-lasting criticism of Nintendo is that the beloved publisher has not grown up with its fans. The figurines often bring an extra dimension of interaction between games, but they also raise the price of games ( Animal Crossing: amiibo Festival, with its two figurines, has a suggested retail price of $79.99) and potentially alienate mature gamers.
Nintendo is selling more Wii Us in 2015 than 2014, due to their increased library of exclusive titles and the amiibo figurines' highly addictive synergy with so many titles, and they appear to be doubling down on this strategy going forward. The prices of the bundles are still unknown but will be announced later this month. Nintendo is releasing two new Wii U bundles for the holidays: a Smash Bros./console bundle and a Splatoon/console bundle.