Ones To Watch 2015: Wii U

The Wii U has been out for two years and is only now beginning to become a true contender against the PS4 and Xbox One. It had a slow start, but 2014 has turned Nintendo around somewhat, giving their sales a chance to pick up with exclusives like Mario Kart 8 and the new Smash Bros. title. 2015 looks like it could be another good year for Nintendo, with enough exclusives to tip the scales for new buyers.

Captain Toad Treasure Tracker expands greatly the Adventures of Captain Toad mini-game fromSuper Mario 3D World, where we first saw the basic gameplay model. In a similar style, you’ll play as Captain Toad, or on some levels his companion Toadette, as they navigate their way through different puzzle games inspired by those bonus levels in Super Mario 3D Land. This game has already been reviewed by Dom, who praised the game for the ingenious puzzles and fluid camera controls – giving it a generous 8 out 10.

It’s a little odd to be having Captain Toad in this list actually, since it was released in North America earlier this month and in November in Japan. Though the release was pushed back to January 2nd in the EU, retailers have actually been allowed to release the game this past week, meaning that you can go and buy it right now. Perhaps Nintendo just wanted to break our lovely list of their upcoming games? Who knows…

The third-person shooter has been revolutionised. Did you think it could happen? And in a new game series from Nintendo that doesn’t feature Mario? Through combining paintball-like territory battles with covert squid swimming abilities, we think Splatoon has done it. From the announcement trailer, we see players will be treated to a range of different weapons and abilities, from jet-packs to paint tornadoes.

The game play does look quite hectic, but fun nonetheless, and we hope that they will introduce more than just territory focussed battles. We still have a little bit of time to wait for the release though, as its scheduled for mid 2015.

This latest addition to the Zelda franchise sees the return to a fully connected overworld. On-foot or riding Epona, you’ll be able traverse these vast lands, and this time without bumping into trees – apparently horses don’t generally walk into trees in real life. This edition moves away from the traditional emphasis on defined entrances and exits to temples and dungeons, and towards exploration – introducing players’ choice of how to encounter the game.

From the footage we’ve seen, such as the recent demo, it look as if many of the kinks which hindered the previous instalments, such as gimmicky combat controls seen in Skyward Sword, have been ironed out. Although there is no firm release date, as of yet, we’ve been told to expect this in 2015, just not before the release of…

Though a fan favourite, it’s been a long, long time since there’s been a new Star Fox game, but 2015 is about to change all that, with the most recent hint that it’s going to release before The Legend of Zelda. The next Star Fox has only been shown behind closed doors so far, with Nintendo keeping the game tightly under wraps. We do, however, have a few morsels of information about it.

For example, Shigeru Miyamoto said that the TV show Thunderbirds served as an inspiration to the game, with a more episodic feel to the game’s play and also some more variety in the vehicles you can play with. The Arwing will be able to touch down on the ground and transform into the Landmaster, for example, but most innovative will be the way that the game makes use of the Wii U’s gamepad, giving you a second screen and second viewpoint to aim and shoot from within the cockpit.

The next in the long standing Mario series will give players more control over Mario’s world, allowing you to design your very own levels using the Wii U gamepad, in Nintendo’s twist on the Play, Create, Share genre. You can switch on the fly between different graphical styles, be it the look of Mario Land 1 and 2 or the more recent side-on 3D trappings of New Super Mario Bros., and once you’re happy with your level, you can even see how your creations will stack up against others through entering them into popularity rankings online.

There hasn’t been a lot of noise about the release date here but we can confirm that it’s scheduled for 2015.

Embark on a brand new adventure in this Yoshi’s Island inspired game, complete with yarn, textiles and cloth. You’ll be able to explore this new world by unravelling objects and enemies and reforming them into weapons, platforms and warp pipes to reach new areas. There’s also a whole rainbow of yarn balls to play with, each with its own special ability, so there’ll never be a dull moment in Yoshi’s life.

You can also play with friends through the co-op mode and either: work together to complete each level in the quickest time; or just eat each other – but be careful you’ll lose your yarn! We haven’t received an official release date yet but an early 2015 release is expected.

We’ve seen this game in Ones to Watch before, but now its back under the fully revealed title. This new edition shares some common features with its predecessors, in that the emphasis is once again on exploration. By foot, or by “Dolls” – large humanoid robots – you’ll be able to travel on land, water or through the air within the vast open world. But it’s not just travelling that should be exciting you, rumour has it that you’ll also be able to experiment with tanks, motorcycles and aerial battles!

For those of you unfamiliar with Xenoblade, you may have seen one of the game’s main characters, Shulk, making his début in the new Smash Bros. We’re yet to receive an official release date for this, but we expect it’ll be available mid 2015.