Wii U

Wii U will be safe for the kids, as there won't be an end to your Zelda/Mario/Animal Crossing/etc. family friendly stuff coming out, and the multiplatform family stuff will come for it, like Lego games, Disney Infinity, etc. That's true to an extent for the Xbox/Sony stuff too, but you'd have to invest in the more expensive new generation stuff which is way more focused on M-rated (Call of Duty/Titanfall/Killzone/etc.) manshoots. So I say go for Wii U and get a copy of The Wonderful 101 or something

OTOH yes a 3DS is an even safer bet, and with Wii U your kids will be all over the tablet controller anyway, if for nothing else that someone can watch TV on it while someone else is playing a game on the TV and vice versa (surprisingly undersold gimmick)

Aside from budget, is there any reason to go old-school Wii, or would that be a step back?

depend on...
will your kids care or notice they can't play any new games
or will your eyes bleed looking at upscaled 480p on a current HDTV

(also if you're into digital purchasing the whole nintendo marketplace is kind of a mess; purchases don't transfer from system to system, the Wii has a store, the Wii U has a separate store, as does the 3DS, and you'll see virtual console / digital game listings for each specific platform. basically, i'm saying it's just another reason to just go to the Wii U)

I've read that some of the later Wii games look ok on HDTVs (e.g. Mario Galaxy 2).

http://uk.ign.com/games/upcoming/wii-u

If you take out the first party and the indie downloadables there's almost nothing left on this list.

yes, welcome to nintendo

is there a real mario game for this shits

super mario 3d land counts as real mario, right? idk i haven't played it but it looked like the halfway point between galaxy and the retro 2d ones

i realized at some point that i don't actually like mario games that much other than 64 and sunshine

the only reason to buy nintendo consoles is to play zelda games, as far as i'm concerned

err actually i like the paper mario series a lot too but those aren't really ~mario games~

mario galaxy was super tite imo

idk if 3d really counts

3d land

It counts, it's great.

it can be great and not count tho

galaxy 1&2 were both okay but i much prefer the feeling of inhabiting a fleshed-out game world that you get in 64 and sunshine rather than a series of dioramas which is what galaxy and the new one feels like. i've posted about this before on other threads and people were saying 'mario isn't supposed to be about immersion' but for a short time it was, and for me it's hard to drop that and still feel the same way about the games

i thought it was really cool how they switched up the game play in the different worlds, i vibe to that

Well I 100% agree with that (xp). But yeah, I don't we're ever going to get Mario 64-2.

(And I'd argue that Sunshine doesn't count either)

what why doesnt sunshine count

i bought a gamecube just to play sunshine then i returned it when i was done lol

gamecube was an underrated console in general i think

wind waker and paper mario 2 are like top 5 nintendo games imo, and metroid prime is up there too, plus there were a lot of neat 3rd party games the likes of which we don't get anymore on nintendo

i played windwaker too tbh which was good tho i dont think i ever beat it then i returned the gamecube

You can just play Wind Waker on a emu and it'll be good you don't need to buy a Gamcube

I played Wind Waker on an emu and it was tite

i tried to set up a gamecube emo sitch a while ago and it was a complete disaster including me attempting manual modification of the $15 playstation controller i bought off amazon, but i have a new computer now so maybe it wld work

was v laggy on the 4 y/o mbp

Well, firstly because that fludd thing changed the core gameplay enough that it didn't really feel like a mario game to me. Secondly because in my memory a least, a significant portion of the game took place in the special stages, which weren't immersive and worldy, they were abstract diorama style, and maybe it was even the hugely positive critical response to those parts specifically (loads of reviews at the time talked about those being the best parts) which led to the series going back in that direction overall.

xps

those special stages played way more arcadey tho. galaxy games didn't really have that feel to em.

f-zero gamecube was the shit btw.

speaking of gamecube people are paying crazy prices for component av cables on ebay

Well, full disclosure, I've still not got round to playing either of the galaxies. Since Sunshine I've played NSMB on DS, NSMB2 on 3DS, NSMBU on Wii U, 3D Land on 3DS, 3D World on Wii U. And I think they all have that abstract arcadey thing that the Sunshine special stages had.

If I got my family a U I would get the Mario/Luigi bundle, a couple of Just Dance things for the kids and their buddies, the Marvel Lego game and maybe Zombi U for me, because it looks cool and scary. Oh, and Super Smash Bros., if/when it comes out.

You can just play Wind Waker on a emu and it'll be good you don't need to buy a Gamcube

I played Wind Waker on an emu and it was tite

― 龜, Friday, March 28, 2014 10:03 PM (Yesterday) Bookmark

I was drunk when I made this post

Now I remembered that I actually bought a gamecube off amazon for $15 that smelled like sweaty nerd meat and bought Wind Waker for $40 from some guy in Queens

It was still tite tho

lmao

xps F-Zero GX was like aarrrrrrrrrrrrrrghhhh all the time, it was great
the OG Wiis were backwards compatible w/GameCube discs, seems like that'd be the easiest option nowadays. though Wind Waker HD exists now, too

Finally got around to playing Rayman, truly amazing for two players. The additional stuff with the touchpad is not groundbreaking but still a cool extra on the game.

Nintendo free digital game promotion if you buy & register Mario Kart 8 by July 31st

games for NA - Pikmin 3, New Super Mario Bros U, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Wii Party U
games for EU - Pikmin 3, New Super Mario Bros U, The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD, Wii Party U, Nintendo Land, Game & Wario, Sonic Lost World, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, The Wonderful 101, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate

Choice of one

awesome, i'll probably pick up pikmin

Anybody on Mario Kart 8?

yup

do we still do friend codes? i don't know how wii u multiplayer works

Nintendo Network ID

don't forget to register game on Club Nintendo to get free digital game & then claim back money if you are on the Network Premium thing http://p.nintendo.net/index.html

hexenducted on nintendo network hit me up for that blue shell

adnaus23 here if you wanna

Mario Kart 8 is pretty amazing! I like the Wii U Mario games better than anything since SNES. Looks way better than anything I've seen on xbone or ps4. The motion controls are pretty much perfect; this is the best controlling racing game I've ever played.

Also I love that it is simply called "Mario Kart 8" and not "Super" "New" or anything.

We just discovered the slow motion option for replays. SO COOL.

ugh I am gonna have to order a ton of Wii U Pro controllers or whatever the fuck and buy this game, on a major local multiplayer kick right now and this is the price I pay

This was a bad week for us to accidentally hoover up and destroy the cable on the AC adaptor for the wii u gamepad.

i keep hearing about pikmin 3, is it really good