Nintendo announce list of European Wii U release day titles

Regardless of how impressive the technology in a console is, if it lacks support it will struggle to succeed. So with eight days to go until the European Wii U release date, Nintendo have announced the titles of 24 games coming out alongside it.

Nintendo’s desire to cover both its traditional fanbases as well as drawing in gamers who may have seen the Wii as less “hardcore” is present. Titles include family-friendly titles, such as the obligatory Mario with New Super Mario Bros U, Ubisoft’s Rayman spin-off series continued with Rabbids Land and Disney’s Epic Mickey 2; while on the more mature side are titles including a conversion of Assassin’s Creed 3, the widely trumpeted Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, and Ubisoft’s ZombiU, which seeks to use the Wii U’s pad display in numerous ways and drew large crowds when demoed at the Eurogamer expo last month.

The list, covering 11 publishers in total, is near identical to the US launch titles from last Sunday with only a few exceptions – several sports games are removed from the list, as are titles such as Ninja Gaiden 3 and Scribblenauts Unlimited (both of which European gamers will have to wait until 2013 for). There is also a title making the European launch that was not for the US – Namco-Bandai’s tongue twister Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade.

While the Wii U launch in the US resulted in consoles flying off of the shelves, any feelings of success were marred by the complications arising from a 1GB firmware update needed almost immediately – which had the side effect of bricking the console if the power was interrupted mid-update. It is currently unknown if the European systems will have the update pre-installed or not.

The full list of titles, in order of publisher, are as follows:

505 Games

• Funky Barn

Activision

• Call of Duty: Black Ops II
• Skylanders Giants
• Transformers Prime

Disney

• Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two

Electronic Arts

• EA Sports: FIFA 13
• Mass Effect 3: Special Edition

Namco-Bandai

• Ben 10: Omniverse
• Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade
• Tank! Tank! Tank!
• Tekken Tag Tournament 2 Wii U Edition

Nintendo

• Nintendo Land
• New Super Mario Bros. U

SEGA

• Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed

Tecmo Koei

• Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper

THQ

• Darksiders 2

Ubisoft

• Assassin’s Creed III
• Just Dance 4
• Rabbids Land
• Sports Connection
• Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013
• ZombiU

Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment

• Batman: Arkham City Armoured Edition
• Game Party Champions