Unexpected Wii U....help

[My2CrazyGirls]

So we get an Wii U last night from my BIL. This was not expected and he never asked us if we wanted it for our girls (ages 6 and 8). But here it is, the Zelda Bundle. I know our 8 year old will LOVE to get the Mario game because she loves Mario. I don't know if either will care for Zelda. He also sent some other game...Just Dance....which is cool but it needs remotes and the Bundle does not come with Remotes. So I guess we need to spend 72 bucks on 2 remotes to even use that game.

Does anyone know how long it takes to set this system up? I almost don't want to mess with it because they won't be excited about Zelda and they cannot do the Dance one without the remotes. If I knew he was getting this I would have bought Mario and then they would be excited.

So WWYD? Just wait to give it to the girls until we have remotes and a game they would want to play. It seems weird to say, here look what your uncle sent. Sorry you can't play the dance game because we don't have remotes and sorry we don't have the Mario game.

For those that have Wii U, do you like it? I am trying to get excited about it, it just was so unexpected. My husband and I talked about getting a game system for the girls and then decided against it and figured maybe we would get an XBox in the future because the Kinect would get them moving in the winter months.

 

[CarlisleMom]

Not the Wii U , but we do have the regular Wii. At their age, I would wait until you have the remotes. As far as I know, the old games will play on the U. DD is now 12, Santa gave it to her when she was 6.

Some of the games we love: Carnival, Wii resorts, Ski (we do not use the balance board), Mario Cart.

I would splurge on Wii remotes and numbchucks...from experience the generic ones do not work as well or last. Invest in a re-chargable battery system.

 

[Jedimike]

I have two girls (7 and 9) -- I also suggest waiting on the new controllers. We've had the regular Wii for several years now, and my girls love Mario Bros, Just Dance, Mario Kart and the Wii Resort (sports) games. We got a Wii U this morning and it doesn't take long at all to get it going...just a couple minutes. If you wanted to update the software, depending on your connection, this could take quite a bit longer (about an hour for me).

Once your into the Wii U, it looks like there are several more things that you can do (ie, streaming Netflix, Hulu, YouTube, cruising the Internet, etc through it)...

 

[mrzrich]

Is it New in the box? I wonder if you can exchange the Zelda Bundle for one of the Mario Bundle systems?

 

[msmama]

Brand new Wii U today. I feel like it was taking longer to set up today then it normally would (everyone who got one was updating today). Still maybe about an hour and the 5 1/2 year old was busy with other toys).

You could get it ready now so when you do get the games it's ready to go.

 

[My2CrazyGirls]

Is it New in the box? I wonder if you can exchange the Zelda Bundle for one of the Mario Bundle systems?

It is new in the box but I am not sure where he bought it. The Mario bundle would have been better yes! We didn't tell them today. We will wait until we have remotes, a game they will enjoy, and time to set it up.

Thank you for the replies. It sounds like it will be fun, just totally unexpected and something I didn't want to think about Christmas Eve and Christmas morning, lol.

 

[PatMcDuck]

We just got the WiiU 2 weeks ago. We love it. We had Wii already. I love that the WiiU takes the Wii remotes, and plays the older Wii games.

My other son, who is 26, wants to buy a Wii U now, because it is so much fun. We have Mario bundle, got Mario 3D, Nintendoland, and Wii U Party.

 

[SandrA9810]

You can also look for third party controllers that would be cheaper for the time being. I wouldn't set aside Zelda just yet, it can be just as fun to play. Although it might appeal to the older one moreso than the younger one.

 

[Neelloc]

My girls were about your girls ages when we got our Wii and they loved and still love Wii Party. I think the equivalent for you would be Wii U Party. Tons of mini games that are geared for everyone.

Hopefully you'll like the Wii U. There are also games that can be actively played to get the kids moving, especially the Just Dance games. My girls can work up a sweat dancing!!!!

 

[Kellydelly]

My mom sent us a Wii last year, I think we were the last people in MI to get one . Of course the basic game she sent didn't have anything with it. So we then had to go out and spend a lot of money buying games my kids actually wanted to play, and all the remotes and accessories that go with them. Don't pay full price for any remotes. You can get them really cheap at amazon or ebay.

 

[3boymthr]

The Wii U is newer but not as new as the Xbox 1 or PS4 and used games are available at Game Stop. The selection isn't as great right now as it would have been around thanksgiving but give it another week and the selection will increase dramatically as people will be clearing out their closets and will bring in old games that they upgraded at Christmas.

 

[kimblebee]

For those saying to buy knock off remotes, or rechargeable battery packs- if your system breaks, it will not be covered by the warranty. The pieces you recommended are not licensed by Nintendo so the warranty would be void.

 

[JB2K]

OP asked about the Wii U, which hit stores in late 2012.

Seems many comments here are still about the "old" Wii (a favorite of the "budget mom" crowd), which has been around since way back 2006, making it an "old" gaming system -- especially when paired with a newer HDTV, as the old Wiis were not made for HD.

Setting-up the system is pretty straightforward -- it plugs into one of your TVs HDMI outlets (the HDMI cable is included). You may have some initial "out-of-the-box" updating you will need to do to the system via Wi-Fi/internet, but nothing that will take a long time.

My oldest son (20's) owns the Zelda edition (as he is a fan of that franchise) -- the only thing I don't like about that system is the Wii U Game Pad is festooned with a lot of gold-colored trim and Zelda iconography, which, to me, takes-away from the appearance, a little...

Good luck, and enjoy!