New Features for Pikmin and Mario Tennis Remakes

Initial impressions on the Gamecube remakes hitting Wii were fairly mixed.  On the one hand, the Wii has its predecessor to thank for Resident Evil 4 and Twilight Princess. On the other hand, many were hoping Nintendo would start riding the New IP horse for a change, which sees little light from its stable.

For those camping in the latter category; here's a gem of hope.  Famitsu reported lately (via IGN) that Nintendo intends to make changes to two of their Gamecube remakes: Pikmin and Mario Power Tennis.  The changes being made to Pikmin are basically what is expected: the point-and-click aspects of the Wiimote will guide and select your Pikmin, as well as provide better aiming for where they will be thrown.  Interestingly enough, the new version of the game will also store "day-by-day records of your play" when you save.  In that regard, players can restart play from any day of their choice, making for a bit more of an "undo" button.

Mario Power Tennis, on the other hand, seems to be more complete in its Wii transition.  Similar to Wii Sports, players can now use their remotes to emulate a tennis racket; complete with the ability to perform "forehands, backhands, tosses and smashes."  By changing the angle of the Wii Remote and pressing buttons, spin shots and special shots respectively become available.  Similar to the Mario Super Sluggers gameplay options, players can also use a Wii Remote/Nunchuk combo for more control of their characters and more intense/strategic play.  Camelot is rumored as the developer for the game currently.

Considering the ways the remote is intended to be used in Mario Power Tennis (Wii), it wouldn't be too surprising to see this become a MotionPlus compatible game.  However, this has yet to be confirmed.  Changes being made to Gamecube games as they are Wii-bound may be nothing new overall.  Since a new branding is given to these games, they can be similarly likened to the Virtual Console; a means to play previous platforms on the Wii.

The difference in these ports comes in the changes and time spent in development given to the Gamecube titles.  While we can't necessarily expect a magical port of an NES game being given Wii-specific controls and updated features like online play with friends, knowing that these games feature more than just a re-boxing assures me that Nintendo still likes its fans.  But can we expect online play in other future Gamecube-to-Wii games, such as a complement to the multiplayer mode in Metroid Prime 2?  Perhaps not, but even Nintendo may see it as a possibility.