Yeah, MarioU not supporting the pro pad is befuddling. Probably my biggest gripe thus far.

Too lazy to look it up for myself.

But - can ALL games be routed to the gamepad for playing?

I bought one thinking it'd be my primary method of playing, and I've yet to play a microsecond of a game with it. Of the four games I have, only two support it, and both seem to encourage the use of the gamepad instead. I like the gamepad a lot more than I thought I would, so it's not the worst thing in the world, but I wouldn't get the pro controller if I were doing it all over again.

Will the wii pro controller work with wii u games?

Nintendo almost seems to be teasing us with the Pro controller. At least with the Wii, you could understand it because the main controller was weird for traditionally controlled games. And yet, some games still required you to hold the remote on its side, which I always found a bit awkward.

But here, a Pro controller doesn't even seem to be necessary, as the GamePad has a traditional layout. Still, if they're going to release a Pro controller, they should support it whenever possible. Frankly, it should be "enforced" by making both controllers send the same signals; the Pro controller shouldn't need any kind of special support.

Not sure. I never had one.

I played through Assassin's Creed III with the pro controller. The build quality is not up to the level of the other consoles.

No, not all Wii U games. Check the back of the game case for definite answer, but it can be misleading too (Sonic Racing All-Stars Transformed don't have Pro controllers listed on the back, but the Pro controllers work anyway).

Pro controllers don't work for Mario U, that's a confirmation.

That's correct... For games like AC, Batman, CoD, there's no point to play on the Wii U (for those of us have Xbox and PS3). It's not just the Pro controller kind of "weak" but also online communities... It seems that aside from those mentioned titles, the Pro controller is pretty much useless. I regret my purchase very much.

Totally agree... I'm seeing 3rd party pro controllers with Wiimote functionality:

http://www.amazon.com/Pro-Controller...pro+controller

Which is a slap in the face to the Nintendo's official Pro controller. I don't know what the heck Nintendo is thinking when they design the Pro controllers that can't even play Mario U... It still upsets me that I have to hold the Wiimote sideways (playing multi-player with friends, we take turns to use the gamepad, which we don't have to if the Pro controllers work).

It does for Black Ops 2. That's all I've tried it on so far. The button layout ends up being different though, since it doesn't have clickable analog sticks.

Well damn. I bought a pro controller to use with Mario. I guess I should return it now. At least I will save $40...

So when does new stuff get added to the Wii U store?

I added everyone in the list. I think.

Has anyone finished Mario with all star coins yet? Man I finally got through the "Run for It" level in World 9 last night with all coins after about 2 straight hours of trying again and again.




I don't know if my game skills are fading or what, but I find the later levels in these games to be quite difficult. Do I just suck?

That level becomes significantly easier with a P-Corn.

I agree, there's definitely a huge ramp in difficulty towards the end, especially if you're trying for all the star coins, where you have to be pretty precise.

I haven't even tried the challenges yet. Almost finished 9-5 last night so just 9-5 through 9-8.

Run for It definitely reminded me of the ice level in the Wii version where everything was melting and you had to stay on the move no matter what.

If anyone cares to read more about Nintendo's stake in this console, the first part of my article on the Wii U is up at http://theupstart.co/19597/can-the-w...ckle-fan-base/.

Great read JD, however:

Xbox didn't dominate at all. It barely sold better than the Gamecube, and technically the GCN was more powerful than the PS2, however your overall point about core gamers going elsewhere for adult fare, stands.

Completely fair observation. I had to trim that section down and removed a supporting statement that might have explained that point more fully. My editor decided the details weren't as important as the primary point. (I had to cut something like 600 words from the Nintendo history. Killed me to do so.)

I believe that NSMBU is the most challenging 2D Mario game in years - more so than all of the other NSMB games and I can't even remember the last one that was harder than this one. You have to go way back, for a 2D Mario to meet this challenge. I absolutely breezed through the other games, with all star coins and all of that, but I have hit more than few roadblocks in this one. I love this game all the more because of that. I may go so far that it's the most challenging since SMB3, it seems right on par with that one or so. This game is almost as if they took SMB3 and meshed it with SMW and then of course sprinkled it with the "New".

That's a cool looking controller. I'll wait for it to release and see what the reviews are, but I love the SNES look on that white one.

I don't think I'd want the controller with the colored buttons because they don't match up with the 360 colors. It would just be confusing for someone who never played a Super Famicom.

Unless you could take it apart and rearrange the buttons, of course.

Very good article, JD.

Gotcha.