Our First Trip To Nintendo Land

Update: Screenshots and concept art have been added to these extensive hands-on impressions of Nintendo's latest...thing.

Original Story: When it comes to Wii hardware, Nintendo has been fond of launching new products alongside software that’s specifically tailored to showcase its abilities. The Wii launched with Wii Sports, a title that perfectly demonstrated the console’s accessibility and the remote’s functionality. When it was time to introduce MotionPlus, it was packaged with Wii Sports Resort. Once again, the possibilities of the hardware were made apparent thanks to a new title. While we don’t yet know if it will come bundled with the Wii U console, it appears that the newly-announced Nintendo Land will serve as an introduction to the GamePad’s unique functionality. Set in a Nintendo-themed amusement park, the game will feature a dozen “attractions” based on the publisher’s back catalog. I recently had a chance to play three of them: Takamaru’s Ninja Castle, The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest, and Donkey Kong’s Crash Course.

Based on the Japanese-only NES title Nazo no Murasame-jō, Takamaru’s Ninja Castle’s gameplay should look familiar to anyone who watched Nintendo’s press conference during last year’s E3. Enemy ninjas that appear to be made out of origami pop out from behind bushes and fences, and the player is tasked with tossing shurikens at them. This is accomplished by turning the GamePad sideways, pointing it at the enemy, and swiping your finger forward across the screen. Your toss is determined by the speed of the swipe, along with the way the GamePad is tilted. Some situations may be easier if you turn the controller vertically, allowing you to throw shurikens through gaps in fences. As the levels progressed, I encountered enemies that threw their own shurikens and bombs my way. I was able to shoot these down in mid-air, sometimes even doing damage to nearby enemies if I hit a bomb early enough.

After spending some time with Ninja Castle, I moved onto the Zelda-themed Battle Quest. This mini-game allows for up to four players, with one player holding the GamePad and the rest using Wii remotes. All player characters appear as their Mii in Link garb, and the Wii remote players wield swords. As the Miis move along in the on-rails level, these players can swipe their swords at nearby enemies just as they would in Skyward Sword. While these players manage enemies on the ground, the GamePad player is tasked with taking out guards in elevated position. Armed with a bow, this player can move the GamePad around to aim anywhere in the environment. Once a target is in sight, an arrow is fired by pulling back on the right analog stick and releasing it. These battles aren’t rocket science, and neither are the mini-game’s light puzzle elements. When the Link Miis arrived at a blocked path, the foot soldiers had to swipe at two spheres while the archer shot an arrow at an elevated sphere (this didn’t have to be done simultaneously). This opened the gate, allowing the team to continue along on the pre-determined path. Moving the GamePad around to spot enemies was a nice novelty at first, but the bare-bones gameplay left me hoping for more.

My last demo was Donkey Kong’s Crash Course, which tasks players with guiding a cart through a massive obstacle course. The entire course is visible via the TV’s zoomed-out view, but the GamePad’s closer view makes the obstacles easier to navigate. Your cart features two wheels with your Mii’s image suspended above it, and you lose a life if it crashes or flips. Tilting the GamePad causes the cart to roll back and forth, while L, R, and the right analog stick activate various ramps and mechanical elements of the course. Checkpoints help to lessen the blow of deaths, but the massive course should still be a challenge to complete.

In terms of reaching a wide audience, I just can’t see Nintendo Land having the same impact that Wii Sports did. I only had a chance to play three of the 12 attractions, but they all seemed extremely basic and lacked the entertainment value of the Wii’s pack-in title. It was easy to explain to non-gamers what the Wii was all about. You could hand the remote to your grandpa and say “swing it like a tennis racket!”. Somehow, “you can view a zoomed-in view on the controller and a wide view on the TV!” doesn’t have the same ring to it. I’m intrigued by the capabilities of the Wii U GamePad, but Nintendo Land didn’t exactly blow me away with my first experience with the controller.