Sales of Nintendo‘s Wii U haven’t haven’t been quite as high as the company had been hoping. In January, fewer than 100,000 Wii U’s were sold worldwide and Nintendo recently revised down its quarterly sales estimates.
So what’s Nintendo to do now that it appears to have a console flop on its hands? It could release exclusive games, of course, and the company did announce an exciting lineup at the end of January, but that doesn’t solve the problem in the near-term. There’s simply no compelling reason (other than maybe LEGO City Undercover) to buy a Wii U until titles such as the Yoshi Yarn game, Bayonetta 2, and the mysterious “X” are out.
In the meantime, it appears that Nintendo will be leaning on its consoles that have actually sold well. More specifically, Nintendo today announced that the redesigned Wii Mini will be released in the U.K. on March 22. The red, top-loading console was released in Canada last holiday season.
Despite the slim design of the box, the Wii Mini comes with a huge drawback: it has no Wi-Fi, and no other way to connect to the internet. That means no Virtual Console and no online Mario Kart. The Wii Mini is only for consumers who are fine with local multiplayer only, or who are only looking to catch up on the Wii’s singe-player experiences, such as Mario and Zelda titles or Xenoblade Chronicles.
In conjunction with the console announcement, Nintendo has also announced that it is adding new games to its Nintendo Selects titles. Mario Party 8, Wii Sports Resort, Mario Power Tennis, and Super Paper Mario will be available at the Nintendo Selects price when the Wii Mini launches.