You know when the Wii U was announced I was so excited about the asymmetric multiplayer games that would come out. I had a good half dozen ideas in my head the moment they showed off that controller. Yet more than a year later there has yet to be one really excellent game that makes use of the Wii U Gamepad. Yet last week Evolve was announced for PS4 and XBone but not for Wii U. A game literally tailor made for all the things the Wii U should be great at and it isn't coming out on Wii U. Meanwhile Nintendo releases new versions of Mario and Donkey Kong that make no use whatsoever of the Gamepad while the upcoming Mario Kart and Super Smash Bros likewise have made no announcement about Gamepad use and they are multiplayer games. So I thought I would list a couple of modes I hope to see in those games upon release. Make it happen Nintendo!

Mario Kart

• Have the player with the Gamepad change the track layout and item placement in real time. We've seen ModNation Racers do real time track editing on the less powerful PS3 but if you can't manage real time deformation then at least have a track with multiple paths and let a player open and close those paths as he or she sees fit. If a player is dominating the race maybe remove some items from his or her path or put some in front of losing players.

• How about a battle arena mode where the goal is to take out the player using the gamepad? Only thing is that no one knows what character that player is controlling and which ones are AI. The Gamepad player has to knock out the other four players before they knock him out.

Smash Bros

• Those random items? What if they weren't so random with a fifth player using the Gamepad choosing what items to spawn and when. Also have them control the maps that change over the course of the match. Want lava to raise slowly taking over the map? Let a player control how much lava there is. How about a map where the level is breaking apart with a player choosing which pieces to destroy and when. If you want to get really crazy, let a player change rules in real time. Want the game to move in slow motion for 10 seconds? Do it. How about the next player to get hit is automatically knocked out. Or the person who knocks out the next player gets all his or her health back? Or maybe they are pushed up to 300% or whatever the max damage is.

Nintendo is making two games that excel at random, crazy, game changing nonsense so it only makes sense to put that nonsense in the hands of a player not a computer. Obviously these would be party modes not meant for more serious competition but they are the type of modes that have made those two series so popular.

Also...

Lastly, the very first idea that came to my head when the Wii U was announced was Dungeons and Dragons. Being able to have a game console take care of the math and create a visual representation of the DM's campaign would be great. The game could have two modes, one where it literally just kept track of locations and did calculations, and one where the gameplay would be more similar to something like Baldur's Gate just with the dungeons and story created and updated by a real person on the fly. It just seemed like the perfect use of the system and yet we have yet to see any sort of game where one player directs the experience for the others. What if the AI director is Left 4 Dead was not an AI but a player? How about a top down shooter where one player had to guide and help other from an overhead view? Having one player with more info helping or hindering players who don't have that info just seems like it would make for great fun. Am I crazy or do others think those ideas would be hits?