Nintendo of America has announced the finalized day one launch line-up for the Wii U. There will be twenty-three games in total:

• Call of Duty Black Ops 2
• Skylanders Giants
• Transformers Prime
• Wipeout 3
• Disney Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two
• EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge
• Nintendo Land
• Sing Party
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed
• Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper
• Darksiders 2
• Assassin’s Creed 3
• ESPN Sports Connection
• Just Dance 4
• Rabbids Land
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
• ZombiU
• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• Game Party Champions
• Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition

Looks like a little something for everyone there.

Cool to see Scribblenauts at launch. That's probably the one I'm most excited for, which is to say I'm excited for it. Which isn't to say there aren't other games I wouldn't mind playing there, I just find it hard to get excited for yet another side-scrolling Mario game, and I don't know if I'd want to get something like Assassin's Creed III on WiiU.

That's a bunch of games! I'm actually pretty surprised about the amount of games here for day 1.

@Hailinel said:

• Sing Party

The hell is this?

Wish Pikmin 3 was out on day one. Regardless, this looks like a decent lineup of games.

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

• Sing Party

The hell is this?

They showed it off during the E3 presser. It's exactly as it sounds.

Also I wonder what's in the rest of the 5 month launch window then, if that's the Day One line-up.

No Skyrim?

I wonder, does it come with Nintendoland? I could never see myself or many people, buying it as a separate product.

@Turambar said:

@Video_Game_King said:

@Hailinel said:

• Sing Party

The hell is this?

They showed it off during the E3 presser. It's exactly as it sounds.

Oh god. It's worse than I could have possibly imagined!

I wonder, does it come with Nintendoland? I could never see myself or many people, buying it as a separate product.

That's a pretty impressive day-one launch, not going to lie. Doesn't get much stronger than that.

@MAGZine: Are you serious?

@msavo: Can you give an example of what you'd consider a strong launch lineup?

@LordAndrew: I thought the PS2 had a strong launch at the time.

@Hailinel: SSX?

@Hailinel: how did u come up with ur name

@msavo: Absolutely. It's a larger selection of games than any console in recent years (XBox 360, Wii, PS3, Vita, PSP, DS, 3DS). I know that you're hoping for 60 titles on launch day, for all new consoles, but that will won't happen. There is a strong mix of 1st party, 3rd party and 3rd party exclusives here. I'm not sure what else you would've wanted on launch day except every other game you've heard about for the Wii U. Try to be realistic.

@MAGZine: I wanted Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101 on day 1 not ports of year old PS3/360/PC games and less of a focus on minigame and sports games collections. I don't think I'm being unrealistic.

@MAGZine: I wanted Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101 on day 1 not ports of year old PS3/360/PC games and less of a focus on minigame and sports games collections. I don't think I'm being unrealistic.

@Hailinel: SSX?

So it turns out PS2 actually did have more launch titles than Wii U, or any other console. It definitely wins in terms of quantity. But how many can you name? Four or five?

@LordAndrew: And you think more than four or five of these WiiU launch games will stand the test of time?

@msavo said:

@MAGZine: I wanted Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101 on day 1 not ports of year old PS3/360/PC games and less of a focus on minigame and sports games collections. I don't think I'm being unrealistic.

Speaking of sports game for launch titles...

Wii U - 3 + 0 racers: ESPN Sports Collection, FIFA 13, Your Shape: Fitness Evolved

PS2 - 9 + 5 racers: ESPN International Track and Field, ESPN X-Games Snowboarding, Madden NFL 2001, NHL 2001, Ready to Rumble Boxing: Round 2, SSX, Swing Away, Q-Ball Billards Master

PS3 - 5 + 1 racer: NFL 07, NBA 2k7, NHL 2k7, Tiger Woods PGA, Tony Hawk's Project 8

Xbox 360 - 8 + 3 racers: Amped, FIFA 06, Madden 06, NBA 2k6, NBA LIve 06 (lol?), NHL 2k6, PGA Tour 06, Tony Hawk Am Wasteland,

@msavo said:

@LordAndrew: And you think more than four or five of these WiiU launch games will stand the test of time?

I can't say yet. It's not even out at this time.

@MAGZine: I dunno in my head snow boarding and skate boarding games aren't sports games in my mind because they are so arcade like.

@LordAndrew said:

@msavo said:

@LordAndrew: And you think more than four or five of these WiiU launch games will stand the test of time?

I can't say yet. It's not even out at this time.

I'll say it for you, they won't.

@msavo said:

@MAGZine: I dunno in my head snow boarding and skate boarding games aren't sports games in my mind because they are so arcade like.

Yeah same with Ready 2 Rumble, calling that sports is a big stretch.

@msavo said:

@LordAndrew: And you think more than four or five of these WiiU launch games will stand the test of time?

What does that even mean? Does Ocarina of Time stand the test of time? Goldeneye? Super Mario Bros? the early FFs or MGS?

That "benchmark" is entirely subjective, and I bet any other platform would have a hard time saying that "oh yeah, 20% of our launch title games "stood the test of time". Also, these are launch title games. Stop being inane.

@MikkaQ: Is boxing/wrestling not a sport? No, it's not Football, Hockey or Soccer.

There are more than 3 sports -- news at 11.

Wow okay this may be the worst launch for a main nintendo console in history.

@MAGZine said:

@MikkaQ: Is boxing/wrestling not a sport? No, it's not Football, Hockey or Soccer.

There are more than 3 sports -- news at 11.

One could argue that Ready 2 Rumble is a fighting game, and not a sports game.

I thought Monster Hunter was going to be an American launch title. Or was it just that we were going to be day and date with Japan on the release?

Still, this is a pretty good launch lineup. Blops 2 and AC3 at or around the same time as the other consoles get it, Sonic racing for the huge fanbase sonic has on Nintendo systems, FIFA for europeans, Orochi for the musou fans, and Skylanders for that insatiable fan base. There's even a new mario game. Well, sort of new, anyways.

@AhmadMetallic said:

No Skyrim?

They might be scared of running into another PS3 debacle. Slowdown, more bugs, etc. Granted, the Wii U is at least a little bit more powerful and has a lot more RAM, so I don't think performance would be an issue, but you never know. Or it might be as simple as waiting until the console comes out to see how well it will do. I can think of some possibilities for Skyrim not showing up yet.

Really wanna play Ninja Gaiden. Shan't be able to afford a WiiU for awhile.

It's not a bad list, but as a Xbox 360 and PS3 owner there isn't much there that I can't already get without buying a WiiU. If you only owned a Wii this generation, then it's a hell of line-up, but for everyone else it's nothing special.

@MAGZine said:

@msavo: Absolutely. It's a larger selection of games than any console in recent years (XBox 360, Wii, PS3, Vita, PSP, DS, 3DS). I know that you're hoping for 60 titles on launch day, for all new consoles, but that will won't happen. There is a strong mix of 1st party, 3rd party and 3rd party exclusives here. I'm not sure what else you would've wanted on launch day except every other game you've heard about for the Wii U. Try to be realistic.

I actually agree with this. While financial problems are going to keep me from buying a Wii U possibly for years, I think that's a strong lineup of new and old. All that remains to be seen for me is how the games play differently on the Wii U. Will the controls hinder or help? Will the extra features be worth the switch?

As it stands, I think they've made a strong selection of 3rd party multiplatform titles to go along with their original Wii U offerings. Arkham City might be a year old, sure. But it's still a fantastic game, and the more consoles it's available on, the better, especially if that release comes with added content and some shiny new features. And I genuinely want to get my hands on Zombie U and New Super Mario Bros. Sure, I'd love something a bit more challenging from the House of N such as a new 3D Mario game, but honestly, NSMB is a great way to get both long-time players and new ones into the system and playing together. That's a good call on their part.

@believer258 said:

@AhmadMetallic said:

No Skyrim?

They might be scared of running into another PS3 debacle. Slowdown, more bugs, etc. Granted, the Wii U is at least a little bit more powerful and has a lot more RAM, so I don't think performance would be an issue, but you never know. Or it might be as simple as waiting until the console comes out to see how well it will do. I can think of some possibilities for Skyrim not showing up yet.

Yeah, good points.

Seeing as how most of the Wii U launch window titles that looked interesting to me are coming out on day one, I'd say it's a strong launch.

And kudos to whoever brought up The Bouncer. I liked that game, bad as it was.

@msavo said:

@LordAndrew: And you think more than four or five of these WiiU launch games will stand the test of time?

Do you need more than four or five complete classics on day one?

@Hailinel said:

@msavo

@MAGZine: I wanted Pikmin 3 and The Wonderful 101 on day 1 not ports of year old PS3/360/PC games and less of a focus on minigame and sports games collections. I don't think I'm being unrealistic.

Neither Pikmin 3 nor Wonderful 101 will be ready in time. Game development isn't so simple that a launch release will manifest with the wave of a hand. The line-up that does exist looks pretty good, and as for the ports, I actually don't own any of those games on other platforms.

I too was one of the few people who heard about the eventual Wii U ports and decided to wait for those versions. So yeah, I've got a lot to look forward to on launch day.

I keep double-taking whenever I see Wipeout 3... alas, it would be too good to be true if it was what I thought...

Not bad. I'd play 8 of those.

I'm only interested in the following 11...

• Call of Duty Black Ops 2 (1080p on Wii U)
• EA Sports FIFA Soccer 13 ( - want the GamePad's tactical features)
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition
• New Super Mario Bros. U
• Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge ( - looks like a vast improvement over the original)
• Nintendo Land
• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed ( - fastest console verion framerate)
• Assassin’s Creed 3
• ZombiU ( - great from what I've played)
• Scribblenauts Unlimited
• Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition ( - not played it yet)

Looks like a lot of crap, a few good games that are already on other platforms (or soon will be), and hopefully a couple solid exclusives.

If I were I going to pre-order the only games I'd take a chance with are New Super Mario Bros U and Scribblenauts.

Before I really consider getting one I'll wait to see how Zombi-U turns out, and Pikmin 3 and Wonderful 101 are close to release.

@Fearbeard:

I played Zombi U earlier on in the week and was very surprised by it's overall quality and controls, it's a lot of fun, but I think it's a bit over the top with it's difficulty.

I've written my impressions on The Wonderful 101 here:

http://www.giantbomb.com/forums/the-wonderful-101/8465/the-wonderful-101-plays-wonderfully-well/562192/

edit:

As of right now I'm getting Nintendo Land (pack in), Mario, and ZombiU. I would like to how Ninja Gaiden 3 plays with all the changes.

@algertman said:

I would like to how Ninja Gaiden 3 plays with all the changes.

From what I heard the game still isn't that great. If the game does turn out to be better, then I might get it at later date.

@JJOR64 said:

@algertman said:

I would like to how Ninja Gaiden 3 plays with all the changes.

From what I heard the game still isn't that great. If the game does turn out to be better, then I might get it at later date.

Sadly, it looks like it will still be very much the same game. What a shame. :(