Wuhu Island
| Wuhu Island | |
|---|---|
| Created by | Nintendo |
| Genre | Video game |
| Type | Tropical island |
| Notable locations | Maka Wuhu Wuhu Town |
| First appearance | Wii Fit |
Wuhu Island, originally known as Wii Fit Island, is a fictional tropical resort island created by Nintendo. Although used in a cut demo for Wii Sports, the island was later repurposed for a minigame in Wii Fit before being prominently featured for Wii Sports Resort. Named locations on the island correlate to various landmarks.[1] The island has underwent some changes, but overall kept the same layout throughout its appearances and cameos in other Nintendo media and video games, such as the Super Smash Bros series.
Description[edit]
Wuhu Island is a fictional tropical island that is the largest of an archipelago of various islands and rock formations.[1] "Wedge Island" is the second largest island of the archipelago, where the golf minigame takes place in Wii Sports Resort.[2] At the center-right of the island, a large volcano is prominent, called "Maka Wuhu". To the south, a town and beach can be seen, called "Wuhu Town" and "Sugarsand Beach", respectively.[1][3] To the west, a group of wind turbines and a lighthouse can be observed. At the center of the island, there is a large lake, called "Duckling Lake", which contains a waterfall.[1]
History[edit]
Wii Sports demo and Wii Fit[edit]
Before being given a name, a similar but less detailed version of the island was featured in a playable demo at E3 2006 titled Wii Sports: Airplane,[2][4] a minigame similar to PilotWings where the player would fly a plane around an island, passing through rings on a set time limit.[4][5] The game was showcased alongside other sports demos of other sport-related minigames,[6] which were later incorporated into Wii Sports; the airplane minigame was never added into the final game,[2][7] but was later repurposed in a jogging minigame for Wii Fit.[2][8] The island was given named locales and was called "Wii Fit Island"[lower-alpha 1] in the game's manual,[10] although the island lacked certain characteristics that were refined later on in future Nintendo games, such as in Wii Sports Resort.[2][11]
Wii Sports Resort[edit]
To celebrate the release of Wii Sports Resort, on 23 July 2009, Nintendo transformed a part of Time's Square in New York City to a beach-style vacation area based on Wuhu Island, containing a beach, pool, lounge, and bar. Additionally, people who visited were allowed to play the full game before its intended release on 26 July 2009.[12]
In an interview with Satoru Iwata about Wii Sports Resort, Shigeru Miyamoto's intentions of the island was to make it a notable franchise,[13] saying that he thought of having an island concept for more than 10 years.[11] He suggested the island was so much of a concrete location, with polished graphics and key details, it was as if it has become its own character. He furthered that the island generated familiarity, stating, "We thought it would be a fun idea to have a location that everyone knows and then have all sorts of stuff going on there." Miyamoto agreed that the island would be featured in multiple genres of video games, listing adventure games, role-playing games, and simulation games.[13]
Later appearences[edit]
A few months after the release of Wii Sports Resort, Wii Fit Plus, the succesor of Wii Fit, utilizes the island as its location in several of its minigames.[14]
Wuhu Island is the named location of the third installment of the PilotWings series, titled PilotWings Resort. The game features gameplay similar to the piloting minigame in Wii Sports Resort.[15]
Mario Kart 7 includes three courses set on Wuhu Island, those being "Wuhu Loop", "Maka Wuhu," and "Wuhu Town".[16][3] A glitch was later disovered where the player was able to skip sections of the Wuhu Loop and Maka Wuhu maps, which Nintendo fixed a few months later.[17] The Wuhu Town map was also included in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.[3]
Wuhu island acts as a selectable stage in Nintendo's Super Smash Bros. series, first appearing in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. On the stage, the players fight on an airplane that flies around the island, stopping at various locations.[18][19]
Reception[edit]
Alex Spencer at Kotaku praises the island for its design and attributes, saying, "Wuhu Island is relaxing in a way that games rarely are." He also compared the island to other maps in video game titles at the time, such as Liberty City in Grand Theft Auto IV, first criticizing the island for its blocky geometry and empty space, but admiring the design of the island when viewed from the sky, with such flaws of the island vanishing.[9] A paper craft model was created to represent Wuhu Island, featured by Engadget.[20]
Notes[edit]
References[edit]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Wii Fit Plus Game Manual (PDF). www.nintendo.com. United States: Nintendo of America. 2009. p. 12. Retrieved 4 April 2021. Search this book on
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Segers, Andre (4 August 2009). "Wii Sports Resort Walkthrough". GameSpot. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Kain, Erik (20 April 2017). "Review: 'Mario Kart 8 Deluxe' Fixes The Original's Biggest Flaw". Forbes. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 Kumar, Matthew (25 May 2006). "Wii Sports". Eurogamer. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
- ↑ "Wii Sports Folder Page - Wii". Jeuxvideo.com (in French). 15 May 2006. Retrieved 1 April 2021.CS1 maint: Unrecognized language (link)
- ↑ Iverson, Dan (10 May 2006). "E3 2006: Hands-On: Wii Sports Pack". IGN. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
- ↑ Stockdale, Henry (8 February 2021). "Unseen E3 2006 Demo Footage Showcases Early Gameplay For Super Mario Galaxy And More". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
- ↑ "Week one: 'My husband was on the lower borders of obese ... '". The Guardian. 15 June 2008. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- ↑ 9.0 9.1 Spencer, Alex (23 September 2019). "Wuhu! Wii Sports Resort, Ten Years On". Kotaku Australia. Retrieved 1 April 2021.
- ↑ Wii Fit Game Manual (PDF). www.nintendo.com. United States: Nintendo of America. 2008. p. 10. Retrieved 1 April 2021. Search this book on
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 Purchese, Robert (7 July 2009). "Wii Sports Resort island is a character". Eurogamer. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ Nunneley, Stephany (15 July 2009). "Nintendo to turn Times Square into a Sports Resort". VG247. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- ↑ 13.0 13.1 McWhertor, Michael (7 July 2009). "Nintendo's Newest Mascot Is The Wii Sports Resort Island". Kotaku. Retrieved 2 April 2021.
- ↑ Holmes, Jonathan (19 October 2009). "Review: Wii Fit Plus". Destructoid. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ George, Richard (8 May 2012). "PilotWings Resort Review". IGN. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ Dutton, Fred (22 November 2011). "Full Mario Kart 7 track list revealed". Eurogamer. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ Usher, Anthony (15 May 2012). "Nintendo finally fixes Mario Kart 7 track-hopping 3DS glitch". Pocket Gamer. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ Whitehead, Thomas (7 November 2014). "Masahiro Sakurai Shows Some Wuhu Island Madness Coming to Super Smash Bros. for Wii U". Nintendo Life. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ Cryer, Hirun (10 December 2018). "Super Smash Bros Ultimate Stages - All New Super Smash Bros Ultimate Stages". USgamer. Retrieved 3 April 2021.
- ↑ Hinkle, Dave (21 August 2009). "Papercraft recreates Wii Sports Resort's Wuhu Island". Engadget. Retrieved 4 April 2021.
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