I have never bought a console at launch, mainly because I was always too poor to do so, but also I didn't want to have to put up with all the issues that usually plague them...cough coughxbox360cough. As the Wii U approached its launch I became more and more enamoured by it. I thought to myself this looks like it could be fun. Gimmicky, but fun. My first console that I ever owned was a NES and I thought about all the great times I have had with it (and currently still have with it) and figured: yeah I'll buy a Wii U.

The above was my verbatim thought process when I was standing in my local gamestop looking at the demo display of the Wii U. I didn't play it but only picked up the tablet controller or tabcon as I will be referring to it from now on, just to see how the tabcon felt in my hands. I liked it. It was not as awkward or cumbersome as I thought it would be. So I plopped my money down and said in my best zoidberg impersonation, "One Wii U please".

And so, I got my newest game system, Mario U, and zombie U and headed home. The whole drive home thoughts filled my head such as you shouldn't have bought a launch console don't you remember what happened to Microsoft, or man I could have bought 125 cups of coffee with the money I spent on this. So for 30 minutes I was driving and having that same buyers remorse I get when I buy an expensive item. I got home and opened up the box and set up the system. When I first saw the actual system I was pleasantly surprised that the system was so small, sleek and sexy. It fit nicely next to its older brother with lots of room to spare, which is nice because I didn't have a lot of room left on my entertainment center. All the cables were easy to hook up and it even came with its own HDMI cable (Sony, Microsoft take note) which was great so I did not have to go out and buy one or switch one from another system. If you have a Wii then the sensor bar will work for the Wii U so you don't have to undo the bar, just switch the cable from the Wii to the Wii U. The only problem that I had with the setup of the system was the firmware update. It took one hour and twelve minutes and forty three seconds to complete. I was off doing other stuff but this irked me.

After I got the system setup and online I popped super Mario bros. U in to test out the latest and greatest from Nintendo. I have to say, I am having a blast with this game! I was worried about this one and what seems to be call of duty syndrome with the Mario franchise over the past few years, meaning at least one new game put out per year. I thought it was going to be like super Mario wii, which I got to world 2 and lost interest in, but when I got to world two at I had no doubt in my mind that I was going to complete this game, perhaps even pull a completionist on it and 100% it.

The graphics are sharp, crisp and colorful with the game-play of Mario at his finest. In my opinion this one ranks up there with the likes of smb3 or smbw. I can hardly put it down. Again, I was worried about how the tabcom would function when I was playing and if it would still be comfortable and precise. I am glad to inform you that it is still a comfortable controller. While its not as comfy as a N64 controller(yes this is the best controller ever made) it is a great controller still. This is by far the must own launch Wii U game and it gets my rating of 8.8 out of 10

I am going to put up a part two of this system slash game(s) review and will finish it up with zombie U and Nintendo land after I have played with them more, although preliminary playing of the games say they are fun and use the tabcon well. If you are looking for a new console this Christmas season and are worried about the Wii U, let me assure you it is a fun system with a lot of potential to become a great system.