My son helped me out the first time I played it and I was doing the 50cc courses, so I was pretty good. Also, I totally agree that Nintendo games in HD really do shine! Do you have a favorite driver? I was using Ludwig, but then switched to Metal Mario some time after I unlocked him. Since Metal Mario is "heavy," I figured that would help me stay on the track, this strategy might have actually helped!

Yeah, although in New Super Luigi Bros. U, it's Luigi that helps her as he replaces Mario. One thing that's missing is Toad telling you that the princess is in another castle. It's obvious from the beginning which castle she's in. LOL

Well I have no idea who Anita is, so my interpretation of your joke was that you were using a sarcastic voice.

Anyway, I'm kind of proud that I made two posts today!

Awesome! Sadly, I haven't really been paying attention to E3, although I caught some Zelda videos. I have been enjoying the Wii U lately, though.

I like that there's now two or three of you that are thinking about getting a Wii U. I wonder how many of us here have one.

That's awesome that you guys are wanting a Wii U! I'm interested in knowing more about this desire, why you want one. I still haven't checked out Nintendo's E3 announcements other than one or two Zelda videos. I told you, with this post, that I played New Super Mario Bros. U. Honestly, I found Mario Kart 8 to be much more fun. I tend to get frustrated with Super Mario Bros. games (such as SMB and SMB3, etc.) although I don't remember getting frustrated with SMB2. I really enjoyed that one. As for other Mario games, my feelings vary. I enjoyed Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario, but the Paper Mario game for the Wii didn't quite appeal to me very much. I also have Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga for the GBA, which I also enjoyed. I got my son Mario & Luigi: Bowser's Inside Story, which seems to be part of the Mario RPG series. The box says it's a really good and funny game. Unfortunately, the night before I was going to play it I saw it and the next night when I was ready to play it, I couldn't find it.

I was excited about the Wii U when it was announced, but I lost interest in it some time after it's release. I think the fact that I couldn't afford one at the time was a big part of that. Still, I'm not aware of very many games that are out for it and so far I think Mario Kart 8 is definitely one of the very best. I have now unlocked all the characters and have decided to start playing Pikmin 3.

I think the Wii U GamePad is quite interesting. With my most recent experience with it, I'm finding that it's great in some games and doesn't even need the TV, but in some games I like using the Wii-mote instead. In Pikmin 3, you can use the GamePad's touch screen to move the cursor around, but I realized that I'd prefer to use the Wii-mote to move the cursor. When I held the GamePad for the first time at GameStop, it seemed bigger than I expected. Now that I've used it a bit, I find that I'm impressed with it. The screen seems to be bigger than the screen on my 3DSXL, but I believe the size of the GamePad is just right. It doesn't feel too heavy, bulky, or odd. It also has it's own charger that comes with it. Without looking it up on the Internet, I can't tell you how long the internal rechargeable battery lasts, but when I played New Super Mario Bros. U., I spent a few hours playing in one game play and had to charge it twice in one session. I think it's battery life is similar to my 3DSXL.

I hope you guys decide to get one and, if you do, I recommend getting the Wii U Mario Kart 8 Deluxe Set and register your copy of the game before the free-game offer expires. Thanks for the comments! =)

I don't know anything about Bayonetta 2, so I can't comment on that. I haven't seen anything about Starfox for the Wii U, which means that I need to start checking out Nintendo's E3 conference (the only one I care about). I remember the original Starfox on the SNES. I did play the one for the N64 at a friend's house and enjoyed it, but that's about it. I have Starfox Assault for the GameCube, although I want to play Starfox Adventures, also on the GameCube. I totally agree with you about Zelda! I thought Hyrule Warriors looked cool, but the other new Zelda game looks awesome, too! I, of course, really enjoy playing Mario Kart 8.

As for SMB2, I am aware of what you stated. It was one of the very few in the American series that I was able to beat. I'm not sure if I've played The Lost Levels, but I'm familiar with it. Thumbs up for your knowledge of Mario trivia, by the way! That's two things you've stated about the series so far that most people might not be aware of (the first was about Toad Retainers).

As for Mario Galaxy, I agree that a Wii U version would be really cool. I thought Mario Galaxy and Mario Galaxy 2 were very beautiful, even if I got frustrated with them, too. I did finish them last year while Vinny was away. I'm glad you and Katie enjoyed playing Mario Galaxy together. I played those games with Vinny, but preferred to play it on my own.

Super Smash Bros. is also a big Nintendo title coming out for the Wii U and 3DS that is exciting. I've enjoyed every game in that series so far and am looking forward to the Wii U version. I'm not sure if I'll get the 3DS version, but it should be out sooner than the Wii U version. I think GameStop told me it comes out for the 3DS in July and for the Wii U later in the year. That series is very popular and I imagine Nintendo will sell a lot of units when it is released.

Seeing as how popular and cool Mario Kart 8 is, I imagine their sales are doing better now. I'm surprised and glad to see so much enthusiasm for the Wii U now.

That's cool, Adym, and thank you for your comments. I was into the original XBox, but the 360 never appealed to me. It seems (to me) to be a system more for FPS games, which I'm not really into anymore (I played those kinds of games a long time ago when the earlier Doom, Quake, and Wolfenstein series were out). I suck at Halo and have only played that at a friend's house. Oh, I should also say that I loved Golden Eye on the N64. The only game I saw for the XBox 360 that I'd like to play is Blue Dragon (a Final Fantasy game). As for the PS4, I don't know what's out for it. I imagine I'll want one when a single player Final Fantasy or Kingdom Hearts game comes out for it.

I'm also not at all interested in a Steam machine. I have been enjoying Steam on my PC, but the console idea hasn't appealed to me. I still only have a small Steam library, but I have some great games in it. I recently played Skyrim on the PC via Steam and was wowed. My PC is able to run the game on Ultra High settings without any lag. I have also recently created a Steam account for my son. I finally got most of the games in my library installed on his computer (my old one). I also decided to get him Gary's Mod.

Mario Kart 8 does look very great and is cool. I've been following the Zelda series and have been enjoying those games. The graphics in the first Wii game are some what disappointing, but it's still fun. I also have the second Zelda game for the Wii, which I enjoyed as well. I think Super Smash Bros. is one of those "must have" games for a Nintendo system like Mario Kart.

I totally agree with your statement about Nintendo games and playing them when kids are awake. One of the main reasons I got the Wii U was so that my son could play it and we could play it together. I played GTAV when he was asleep. He's been asking me if he can play it, but I keep telling him no because he's 10. Of course he doesn't like that as his friends are allowed to play it and Call of Duty and similar games. I got Gary's Mod for him because it said it was a "sandbox" game, but there are still realistic guns, which makes me kind of "iffy" about letting him play. My reasoning behind denying him from playing GTA games is not just the violence and gore, but also the language.

I'm really excited after watching some videos from Nintendo's E3 events. Adym, Splatoon looks pretty cool and interesting. Travis, I could only seem to find very brief mention of Star Fox for the Wii U, but saw the video for Star Fox 64 on the 3DS. Was there more about Star Fox on the Wii U that you saw that I didn't see?

One point to keep in mind about the Wii U is that it is backwards compatible with the Wii, although I have not yet tried this feature. Since I got one of the first Wii consoles that were released at launch, my Wii suffers from an original disc drive that has issues reading games such as Super Smash Bros. Brawl and the Metroid games. I'm looking forward to seeing if the Wii U is able to recognize those games where my Wii has failed. Although I don't know very much about the other newest consoles, I know that the PS4 is expected to bring older Playstaton games to the PS4 via the online store. However, Nintendo has had a Virtual Console for quite a while now and many older games can be purchased and played on the Wii, DS, and now the Wii U.

Right now, I think the only negative thing I can think of about the Wii U is that the hard drive is only 32 gigabytes. In today's technical world, that is pretty small. My Kindle Fire HDX has internal storage of double that size (I did pay extra to have the maximum amount of storage available). Hard drive storage capacities have exploded and prices seem to have gotten better as well. My old PC that I built and is now used by my son has a 320 gig hard drive and a 1 terabyte hard drive. My new PC has a 3 terabyte hard drive, so 32 gigabytes seems pretty small. My PS3 has an 80 gig hard drive and even though I don't have a lot of video games, it has filled up pretty quickly and easily.

After watching some Nintendo E3 videos I was excited to find out that the GamePad has a feature that I didn't even know about. I'm talking about amiibo (http://e3.nintendo.com/amiibo/), which is a figure that you can place on an area on the GamePad that can interact with games and store information. This is a new feature especially for the new Super Smash Bros. Wii U game. However, I also learned that it will be usable with Mario Kart 8, which answers the question of characters like Diddy Kong that are visible in some pictures, but not yet featured in the game.

I also watched the Tree House video featuring Hyrule Warriors and I was very impressed! You should check it out (http://e3.nintendo.com/treehouse/)! One of the guys who plays it shows what one of the fairies can do. I don't want to spoil it here, but I was totally in awe of what happened!