Does Nintendo Land stick the landing? - Hidden Gems with Neerder

14 years ago, Nintendo released a new IP with a party game called Nintendo Land on the WiiU. While most people overlooked it, the few who did play it did not really have much to say. This Month the Maelstrom Holds very own excavator Neerder starts digging for hidden gems. With his eyes on Nintendo Land, he starts his journey!

Nintendo Land was one of the few released titles for the Wii U. It’s a party game, which was really popular at the time of the Wii. Nintendo itself released a few of them, like the still-running Mario Party franchise or the now-forgotten (but also really good) Wii Party games. Nintendo Land was really different from them, since it didn’t use the board game format and was just a collection of minigames with different levels inspired by various Nintendo franchises like Mario, Luigi’s Mansion, or The Legend of Zelda.

They are divided into three categories: Cooperation games, Wii Remote vs gamepad, and Solo gamepad games. They are pretty unequal, since some co–op games like Metroid are kinda boring, while Pikmin or Zelda are excellent and really funny. Versus games are all really funny, while the solo games are pointless past the novelty of the gamepad functionalities.

It’s also still a Wii U exclusive, and even tho it’s pretty obscure, it sold over 5 million copies and seems to be a success, even tho this could be attributed to it being sold as a bundle with most 32gb Wii U Premium Packs. The game is still a Wii U exclusive today.

Positive points

• Some of the greatest minigames ever made and really fun with friends

• Great visuals and art style, even for today’s standards

• Great usage of the gamepad, which was rare even in Nintendo-made games

Negative points

• Games may feel unequal in quality

• The collection aspect is poorly made and feels tedious to complete

• It’s not as iconic as the other Mii games
  
  Platform: Wii U

  Metascore: 77

  Userscor : 8.0

  Personal rating: 8.5/10 

  Release year: 2012

  
  
  Final quote: The game is actually a fun experience, especially with friends. Even with its shortcomings, like the collection plaza, the experience is still great. Sadly, it’s unlikely to have a re-release, since the game is dependent on the Wii U's unique features.