Nintendo Land began development around the same time as the Wii U. While Nintendo’s hardware development group was still in the process of settling on a concept for the Wii U, the team developing Nintendo Land was busy conducting its own experiments with the idea of a second screen for console games.
This was their first experiment:
That’s the Wii Zapper with a miniature screen wired onto it. While this prototype itself didn’t go anywhere, it did result in Nintendo’s decision to add a gyro-sensor to the Nintendo 3DS, which would allow for motion control.
The second prototype was much closer to the Wii U GamePad itself:
That’s a monitor attached to two Wii Remotes with double-sided tape, and wired together along with a pair of analog sticks. About 30 pieces of experimental software were designed using this makeshift Wii U GamePad, and it was this prototype that eventually led to the development of Nintendo Land.
Published: Dec 7, 2012 12:00 pm