32GB New Super Mario U and New Super Luigi U Premium Pack - Black (Nintendo Wii U)

We have managed to go over 8 years without a games console, but we have bowed to the inevitable now my son is nearly 9. Yes we have succumbed to a bit of peer pressure, all his friends have them (so they say). I never have time for Gaming anymore, though I let my son play Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman on the computer he has quite a few restrictions placed on how long he can play on it. I leave it to my wife to police the usage and commiserate with my son when he feels he is being hard done by. I got a lot of advice from other dads, 'Play Station 4, it has to be a Play Station 4 it's new you know!' then 'Don't listen to him, it has to be an Xbox, get the new one it's fantastic!" though it won't play the old games. We have managed to go over 8 years without a games console, but we have bowed to the inevitable now my son is nearly 9. Yes we have succumbed to a bit of peer pressure, all his friends have them (so they say). I know their dads do, most of them spending all evening playing Call of Duty etc. though I cannot understand how they find the time. I mean I have two children under 9 and a wife whose first question when I get in is ‘whats for tea?’ Arrive home, cook, talk, read stories, bedtime, finally sit down eat, oh look it’s already 10.30pm, fall asleep on the sofa. I never have time for Gaming anymore, though I let my son play Lego Star Wars and Lego Batman on the computer he has quite a few restrictions placed on how long he can play on it. I leave it to my wife to police the usage and commiserate with my son when he feels he is being hard done by. I do this very quietly though. I got a lot of advice from other dads, 'Play Station 4, it has to be a Play Station 4 it's new you know!' then 'Don't listen to him, it has to be an Xbox, get the new one it's fantastic!" though it won't play the old games. What I found was that the other 'amazing all singing and dancing' consoles were aimed at more towards teenagers and adults rather than children especially when looking at software. The Wii U on the other hand offered more family friendly entertainment for younger children, it hit the sweet spot and did everything I needed it to do. What clinched the deal was the availability of child friendly software and the ability to play games on it using the screen on the control pad rather than only through the television. It’s like having a very powerful Nintendo DS. This in my mind would also lead to less aggravation should my daughter want to watch CBeebies or one of her DVDs and from my wife when she is playing catch up with Coronation Street. Accessories are available and I have added a Pro Controller to the package, I mean, how else will we be able to play together? Might even get my wife interested in it too.

Excellent gaming system! This has been enjoyed for years now by all our family! It was such a worthwhile purchase! It was a really fun upgrade from the original wii. Our children could play wii bowling and similar games from age 2 onwards and we saw our son cement his number bonds to 10 through wii bowling. Wii Fit u is a fantastic game. It brings health ascpects and excerise in with the fun of the games. The pedometer that goes with it was brilliant for counting steps and receiving virtual rewards and recognition. The Super Mario bros game that came with it has also been very much enjoyed. Fun update to a retro game. The other ingenious part of the Wii U is the handheld section that enables play without using the tv. This has prevented countless arguments in our house. Overall the Wii U has been brilliant for our family and I’m sure that when my children are older they will have many amazing family memories involving the wii u and the time spent together.

Having owned just about every Nintendo console ever, it was inevitable that I'd eventually go for this one too, despite the generally poor response, and the distinct lack of third party support. I took the plunge after seeing the review for 3D Mario World, and then realising that slowly but surely a fine collection of games was now available for it. More, it must be said, than either of two new leading consoles have right now (though we all know they will expand). It's a strange beast at first, the controller is large, but not unpleasant to use, and I have also brought the optional controller for a more console feel. But, so far, we've (the whole family) enjoyed it. From the excellent gameply of Zelda Windwaker and the Mario games, through the excellent Picmin, and the slightly weird, but lots of fun with our 4 year old, Wii Party (well worth it for the effectively free controller too). It may not be cool, it may not have all the best games, but those it does have are in a class of their own, and sometimes, it's nice to be a little bit different! This complements my Sony kit, and I'd prefer not to live without either.

Console arrived early... but wasn’t in its box, Wii U pad was kind of dirty and didn’t receive the Luigi game, come with 2 wii games that were too scratched so couldn’t even be traded in. So I’m not overly impressed but the console works as well as the Wii U pad

What can i say, this console is awesome! I had a snes years ago as my first nintendo console, my next was the wii. However the wii was a let down for me. It was aimed at games for 2 year olds and the only thing i really enjoyed on it was super mario world. Trying to play anything like resident evil was just a no no. Then along comes the wii U and at first i turned my nose up at it and said im not buying another nintendo as the games are crap and its just for kids. Well how wrong was i? Took the plung and got this for christmas and i absolutely love it. The graphics are on par with the 360 and ps3, and who needs better than that for a game? The game pad is actually quite fun to use and interacts with games well, such as zombi U where it acts as your back pack and map. Nice to see the console isnt just marketed towards games for 2 year olds, splinter cell, zombie U, call of duty etc, loads to choose from, great to play with the wii u Pro controller and a nice move with nintendo wanting to be a console for everyone to use. Perfect for kids who want the 3+ games and perfect for adults too. If you have a wii i would seriously upgrade to a wii u, it is 10x better and if they had a better marketting campaign i think it could have done so much better. Do not delay and buy one today! You wont be disapointed!

I bought the wii u in October 2014 for my 5 year old for Christmas. When we tried to switch it on on Christmas morning, there was an system error message, which we could not get past. We rang the Nintendo helpline to be told that their lines would not be open until 10am. When we got through, there was nothing that could be done to fix the error (and we spent hours ringing and engaged 'helpline'). I searched online while we were waiting to get through to find others had experienced the same issue a year ago (Dec 2013). This means that Nintendo were aware of the fault and allowed defective systems to be sold to their customers, rather than recalling them. This company allowed 5 years olds across the world to wake up on Christmas morning to a defective Christmas present. I have bought a replacement system because I could not disappoint my little boy, but I will NEVER buy another product from Nintendo and neither should you if you have a choice. What a disgusting display of consumerism and greed; Nintendo know they have backed parents into a corner, as they monopolise the market in gaming consoles for this age group. Armed with this knowledge, they were happy to leave defective products on the shelf for 5 year olds to be left bitterly disappointed on Christmas day - don't buy this console if you have a choice, and show Nintendo that they cannot treat their customers with so much disregard.

Some background, first. I doubt I am the "average" Wii U user/purchaser, so this may help those similar to me, who may be on the fence. I'm a 32-year-old married guy (with no kids) who used to play a lot of PC and console games many years ago, and I still own a GameCube (which I got on launch day), N64, and PS2. I fell away from gaming and totally skipped the PS3/XBox generation of consoles. I was tempted by the original Wii and for a couple of Christmases considered getting it as a present for my wife, but it always seemed to "kiddy" and gimmicky. A member of family ended up getting one, and although some of the games were fun, some (such as Mario Kart) were quite frustrating as I do not like to tilt but prefer a traditional gamepad approach, which was not possible it seemed. Plus the Wii graphics were pretty poor, so, I'm glad I skipped it. When the Wii U came out I thought it looked interesting, but it got mixed reviews and there were not too many games around for it the first Christmas so again I skipped it. I was also not too sure about the gamepad. Fast-forward a year, and in between, we have seen the release of the PS4 and XBox One. I didn't register for a launch-day PS4 but ended up realising that although I skipped the PS3, I really wanted a PS4. For some reason I have simply never liked the XBox much. Christmas came and went and no-one had a PS4 in stock (as I write this review, Amazon still don't!). I ended up finding one in stock in my local Game store last weekend and went for it, buying just the console there and everything else from Amazon. I wasn't really sure what I would think, having been away from console gaming for about ten years, but it is very, very good. The Sony "experience" - i.e. the main console aspects - is great, with everything slick and effortless. It was easy to get set up with a PSN account and get gaming. ("What", I hear you ask, "this sounds like a PS4 review!" - sort of :o) Seeing as the main competition for the Wii U right now are the PS4 and the XBox One, I wanted to put this into perspective.) After having my new PS4 for only a day, I realised something very interesting. Yes, the graphics are great. The gameplay is great. The console is superb. But - there's something missing. There aren't all that many games around yet, as you might expect so soon after launch, but I bought eight games and they are mostly single-player, or a second player that is not quite as important (Knack). Proper two-player games are rare (Injustice is awesome) and more than two players? None in sight; despite the PS4 supporting four controllers, it seems everyone expects you to play online. Hence I made up my mind to also get a Wii U, and ended up in the strange situation of owning both these consoles, which I did not originally expect. My reason for buying the Wii U was not primarily the graphics - I knew the PS4 would be far better. As I play on a 1080p projector with a seven-foot screen, I crossed my fingers that the graphics would not be too bad. Rather, I bought the Wii U for the gameplay - and for the Nintendo stable of games, i.e. Mario. I was surprised how excited I was waiting for the Wii U to arrive. Probably more excited than getting the PS4! Plus, I bought seventeen games at the same time, which gives a lot of variety. First impressions of the Wii U upon unboxing were not good. The gamepad seemed cheap and somewhat flimsy, and to some degree so did the console. It also has, confusingly, not one but two power bricks - one for the console and one for the gamepad. It would have been nice to have the power unit inside the console, and charge the gamepad from the console - never mind. Also, although it came with a sensor bar, I have not yet found out what that is for... Upon turning it on, I was struck with just how awful the interface is. It's somewhat embarrassing! I felt like I had decided, at the tender age of 32, to buy some Lego - no, Duplo! Whereas the PS4 feels very slick and mature. Still, it's all about the games, right? (I should also mention that for some reason the first HDMI port on my Pioneer amp that I used was not liked by the Wii U. After half an hour of fiddling I found one it liked. I have no idea why. Plus it's wi-fi only, so I ended up buying a LAN adaptor - shame on you, Nintendo, for not including a LAN port.) Then began a long-drawn-out and frustrating sequence of events: register a Nintendo account, but no, can't do that until the system has updated; where's the update option? Hidden away behind the maddening, childish interface... now tie it to a Nintendo Club account... create that... doesn't work... aaaaargh! For anyone else in the same situation, it seems you have to log into the new Nintendo Club account before you can then link it to the Wii U Nintendo account (why two accounts? I have no idea...) Also, if you are registering for stars, the Wii U will not show up for a day or so. Yup, I found that out with a lot of Googling. Bizarre. All in all it was about an hour and a half of fiddling around with the online sign-ups, updates, etc. before I could even think about playing a game. Nintendo seems to have no idea what they are doing in this area, and could learn a lot from Sony (and no doubt Microsoft). They should also improve the terrible interface while they're at it, or risk totally alienating gamers like myself who are not children (even some of the games are clearly designed with kids in mind, e.g. Zelda, mentioning parents... cringe.) Still, when I finally did load up a game, the graphics were pretty good. I chose Super Mario Bros. 3 first, and although nice enough, I wasn't really taken with it. But then next I tried Mario 3D World, and oh wow. Buttery smooth, great full-HD graphics, nice textures... and really fun to play. I cannot really tell the difference between the Wii U and the PS4 on this game, because of the nature of the game (ultra-real games like CoD will obviously be superior on the PS4, but fun games look just fine on the Wii U). The only problem is after half an hour of gaming, the controller died (flat battery already). Boooo... I prefer the Pro controller anyway, and that lasts a whole lot longer. I'm not yet convinced about the point of the gamepad. I've not tried all the games I bought yet, but over the course of a few evenings I have found myself using the Wii U a fair bit, slightly more than the PS4, perhaps. Some of the games are really fun, others quite nostalgic. My wife also grew up with Mario and so it's nice to be able to play together - something which is very enjoyable, as Nintendo don't seem to have lost their knack for that. We're very much looking forward to Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. U, which they really should have launched already if they wanted better console sales. So, in conclusion, if you want a game purely to play ultra-real FPS games then the Wii U cannot compete with the PS4 and XBox One. But if you want to play fun, multi-player games - especially if you have kids - the Wii U is actually pretty decent, with good graphics, good controls, and all-round good fun. It's also very good value for money right now, as I paid £757 for a PS4 with 8 games, 2 controllers, and PSN Plus subscription, but only £638 for the Wii U with 17 games, 2 Pro controllers, classic controller, and LAN adaptor (with the exception of the PS4 console, all from Amazon). That's pretty good value for money. Just ignore the horrible interface, and grit your teeth through the online registration farce (and all the tedious surveys when you register games) and you'll be happy. The Wii U certainly deserves a place alongside the "next-gen" consoles, but I do think maybe Nintendo should give up making consoles and just release their games on PS/Xbox, like Sega ended up doing. I can't speak for kids (who I assume would like it?) but I'm happy overall and am glad I bought it, although my initial experiences made me think I would regret having done so, and it took a couple of days for that to wear off as I settled into enjoying the games. It would be five stars based on the high quality of graphics (please take that in the described context!) and gameplay, measured against the low price, but I deducted one star for the appalling interface and online woes. Summary: - Graphics: 4 stars (high-res - full HD, 1080p - smooth and slick, but not as powerful as next-gen consoles for ultra-real games) - Sound: 4 stars (shows up as surround on my Pioneer amp, but somehow not as immersive as the PS4; this however is highly subjective and likely down to the games) - Build quality: 3 stars (simply because it looks/feels cheap and plasticky) - Interface: 1 star (simply shocking - I can't believe they released this to the world) - Online experience: 1 star (frustrating, fragmented, not well thought-out, no LAN port) - Gameplay: 5 stars (again subjective, depends on the game, but overall this platform is great fun, especially multi-player) - Exclusivity: 5 stars (many titles, mainly Mario ones, only on this platform) - Value for money: 5 stars (recent price drops have made this a good buy and some games are a steal)

The seller was very good, messaged me to let me know that console and game would arrive in separate packages before even sending them. Console didn’t arrive in original box (considering I don’t keep boxes after opening things I’m not marking down for this) however was well packaged in bubble wrap and paper in a cardboard box. Was quite a dusty, but a good spray of air got that sorted and all works perfectly. No data from previous owner had been left on the device (it’s one of the things I check for as this was a present for my husband) Our data from the old Wii was easy to transfer over and watching the little flower people running from one console to the rocket and out again was very cute (though I nearly cried when it looked like one of the little guys was going to be left behind - I’ve recently had a new baby so my emotions are all messed up.... that’s my excuse and I’m sticking with it!) you need an SD card (the rocket) and both consoles set up with internet to do the transfer. The game that came with the console arrived in perfect condition and has caused much excited screaming from my three year old as he watches his daddy play. I play more for the fitness games and the game pad actually makes it easier for me. I can set up the little ones with CBeebies and then go the other side of the sofa and work out while they are entertained rather than waiting for bed time. Wii games work just fine and with the data transfer you lose no progress.