Summary
TheWii UGamePad was Nintendo’s bold experiment to further enrich the gameplay experience through a controller that could interact with games in ways we had never seen before. The problem? There were hardly any games that actually used the GamePad’s bells and whistles to their design.
Luckily, there were a select few titles on the Wii U that took a proper gamble with the GamePad beyond just using it to display the map or as secondary screen. These games moulded their design around the GamePad’s unique capabilities, resulting in experiences that you need to play on the Wii U to truly appreciate their creativity.
10The Legend Of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD
Polishing A Classic
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD may not have an all-encompassing adoption of the GamePad, but every feature it does take on board is for the game’s betterment. Items can be swapped without having to pause the game, gyroscopic controls make aiming an absolute breeze, and perhaps most importantly, Link can now switch between his human and wolf forms without having to speak to Midna.
These are all excellent quality-of-life improvements to a game that was starting to show its age on the Wii and GameCube. And, of course, you can always play Twilight Princess HD entirely on the GamePad if the television is otherwise occupied.
A Gem For The GamePad
After making a splash as a minigame on Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad’s treasure-hunting escapades were given the full-game treatment with this delightful puzzle-platformer. One of the more underrated aspects of Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker is how the game makes smart use of the Wii U GamePad in certain levels.
The GamePad can be used as a camera to peer around the diorama-style levels, while also being used to interact with certain environmental objects such as a touch-screen or microphone to move objects. This seamless integration between television and GamePad is something that the Switch version of the game can’t compete with, making the original Wii U edition arguably the superior way to experience Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker.
8Severed
A Cut Above The Rest
Severed takes the touchscreen combat of a game like Fruit Ninja and applies it to a first-person dungeon explorer. Despite beingone of Drinkbox Studio’s best games, Severed’s idiosyncratic gameplay does limit what systems it can be played on.
Thankfully, the Wii U is one of those systems; the GamePad’s 6.2-inch touchscreen makes it ideal for Severed’s slice-and-dice combat – particularly when using the stylus. When you factor in the game’s emotional story and gorgeous art style, Severed is a natural fit for anyone with a Wii U still lying around.
7Kirby And The Rainbow Curse
Follow The Rainbow
Following in the (non-existent) footsteps of games like Kirby: Canvas Curse, Kirby and the Rainbow Curse has you controlling everybody’s favourite pink blob by drawing paths for him on the GamePad’s touchscreen. These rainbow trails are the only way for Kirby to navigate levels, avoid enemies, and collect items, so you’ll become very familiar with the touchscreen during this adventure.
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse also stands out for its super cute claymation-style aesthetics and for being one of the few remaining Nintendo-publishedWii U games not yet ported to Switch. If you want to play this game, you better grab your GamePad and stylus and start drawing some rainbows.
6The Wonderful 101
Drawing On Your Power
The Wonderful 101 was a collaboration between Platinum Games and Nintendo to create a fast-paced action game that fully embraced being on the Wii U. After growing your mini army of superheroes, you’re able to draw different symbols on the GamePad to merge all the characters into one giant weapon or item.
These “Unite Morphs” are used for combat, traversal, and puzzle solving, and are a clever implementation of the GamePad that rarely drags down the experience. While the Wonderful 101 did receive a remastered edition with a revised control scheme, there’s still something so tactile and immersive about the original Wii U playstyle.
5ZombiU
Taking The Horror To Your Hands
One of the initial promises of the Wii U GamePad was that it would create a more immersive experience for players thanks to all of its additional features. ZombiU was one of the system’s launch titles that sought to fulfill this promise.
While trying to survive in this world of the undead, you can use the GamePad to manage your inventory in real-time or move it around to scan your surroundings. It was an inspired choice by the developers to use these immersive mechanics in a survival-horror game, and it would have been interesting to see other studios take these ideas to the next level.
4Nintendo Land
The Proof Of Concept
Launch games have a certain responsibility on their shoulders, and for experimental pieces of hardware – like the Wii U – are under even more pressure. Thankfully, despite not reaching anywhere close to the levels of mainstream crossover appeal that Wii Sports enjoyed, Nintendo Land is nonetheless a worthy showcase of the GamePad’s capabilities.
Each of the twelve minigames (or, attractions) demonstrates how the GamePad can be used for truly unique gameplay experiences. From the asymmetrical multiplayer of Luigi’s Ghost Mansion to the dual-screen design of Yoshi’s Fruit Cart, Nintendo Land was a great display of the GamePad’s potential.
33Souls
Building A Connection
One of the most interesting things about the Wii U is the interesting relationship between the Wii U and the GamePad. 3Souls is a little-known “Nindie” that explores this relationship by creating a connection between the player and the characters in the game.
There are so many clever ways you manipulate the world of the game through interacting with the GamePad. From blowing into the microphone to help propel the characters to using the camera to discover hidden platforms, the game builds a tangible connection that would be hard to replicate on other pieces of hardware.
2Affordable Space Adventures
Affordable Space Adventures was one of the most imaginative indie games on the Wii U, given how it made use of the GamePad. The entire controller is essentially transformed into the control panel of yourlittle spaceship.
This immersive approach harkened back to the glory days of the arcade, when specific games would do fun and out-there things with their control styles depending on the kind of experience they were trying to emulate. Affordable Space Adventures makes you feel like you are piloting a tiny ship in a large, alien world, and it could only achieve that level of immersion thanks to the GamePad.
1Super Mario Maker
Made For The Wii U
Here’s a fun thought experiment; imagine what would happen if Super Mario Maker was a launch game for the Wii U. Given how perfectly it justifies the use of the GamePad as a worthwhile way to extend an already outstanding concept, who knows? It may have been enough to turn around the fortunes of this otherwise doomed console.
What is clear is that no other game for the Wii U works as seamlessly with the GamePad as Super Mario Maker. Creating a level on the touch screen before playing it on the television feels as natural as Super Mario Bros and the D-pad or Wii Sports and motion controls. Pure bliss.
