Wii U Edition

This page describes an edition of the game that has been officially discontinued.

 

This edition is no longer updated nor available for download but can still be played if previously downloaded on a compatible device or through a physical copy.

Minecraft: Wii U Edition

Author(s)	Mojang Studios 4J Studios
Platform(s)
Written in	C++
Latest version	Patch 43
Release date	Digital - Nintendo eShop December 17, 2015 Retail Disc June 17, 2016[1]
Rating(s)	(Online interactions not rated) PEGI: 7[2] ESRB: E10+[3] ACB: PG[4] DEJUS: L (Livre)[5] USK: 6[6] Russia: 6+[7] CERO: All[8]
Size	468 MB (Initial Version) 1.62 GB (Final Patch)
License	Proprietary
Source available	No
Links	Store page (UK/IE)

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Minecraft: Wii U Edition was the edition of Minecraft developed by 4J Studios and Mojang Studios for the Wii U. It was announced on December 7, 2015, and released on December 17, 2015^[9] for US$29.99 on the Nintendo eShop. A retail disc version was released on June 17, 2016.^[1] This edition was bundled with seven add-on packs, and sixteen additional packs were also available as downloadable content. Exclusive content based on Nintendo properties was also available for the game: a mash-up based on the Super Mario franchise was released in May 2016.

The Wii U Edition's most recent feature update is the Update Aquatic.

As of the shutdown of the Wii U eShop on March 27, 2023, it is no longer possible to purchase this game digitally, though it can still be redownloaded if the game was previously purchased and physical copies still function normally. All online functionality, including the ability to transfer worlds to Nintendo Switch Edition, was later discontinued with the shutdown of the Nintendo Network on April 8, 2024.

Development

In late 2013, Mojang Studios founder Markus Persson announced that there were no plans to port Minecraft to the Wii U, stating that he wasn't aware of any plans but agreed that "a Wii U version would make sense."^[10]

In June 2014, Shigeru Miyamoto and Shinya Takahashi were asked about porting Minecraft to the Wii U. Miyamoto stated:

Takahashi followed with his statement:

In September 2014, Mojang Studios' Daniel Kaplan reiterated that there were no plans to bring Minecraft to the Wii U because he claimed that the user base for the Wii U was "very small".^[12] This was not the case at the time of this post, as the Wii U was ahead of the Xbox One in terms of sales around the same time.

At MINECON 2015, Mojang's COO Vu Bui was also asked about porting Minecraft to the Wii U. Bui stated:

On November 11, 2015, PEGI accidentally leaked a rating for Minecraft: Wii U Edition. The leaked rating was removed six days later.^[14][15]

On December 7, 2015, the game was officially confirmed, and Mojang and Nintendo announced that Minecraft: Wii U Edition would be released on December 17th, 2015.^[16]

On May 9, 2016, Nintendo and Mojang Studios announced that there would be a special Super Mario-themed mash-up pack released for Minecraft: Wii U Edition on the May 19 for free.^[1] Mojang also announced that a retail version of the game would be released on June 17, 2016.^[1]

Gameplay

Wii U Edition featured Off-TV Play, which allowed the game to be played exclusively on the Wii U GamePad's screen. There was some limited touchscreen functionality, allowing players to select items on their hotbar, navigate through the Crafting menu, and more. When asked about whether the Wii U GamePad could be used as a second screen for full inventory management, Owen Jones stated it was not planned at the time, but "it would be cool".^[17] The Wii U GamePad was never usable as a second screen. Mii characters were used as the player's in-game username. In addition to the Wii U GamePad, the game was also playable with the Wii U Pro Controller, the Wii Classic Controller, or the Wii Classic Controller Pro. Like the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PlayStation Vita Editions, the World Size is always limited to the "Classic" 864x864 blocks, but the outer 2 blocks are unusable, resulting it being 862x862. Due to the Wii U not having a built in achievement system, they had an achievement system built into the game that is unique to other console editions. The achievement system associated Mii Characters with achievements.

DLC

The Wii U Edition came with six of the "most popular add-on packs" included.^[18] This is the reason that Wii U Edition was more expensive than all of the other editions of Legacy Console Edition.^[19]

The following DLC was included in Wii U Edition:^[18]

• Skin Packs:
  • Battle & Beasts Skin Pack
  • Battle & Beasts 2 Skin Pack
• Texture Packs:
  • Natural Texture Pack
  • City Texture Pack
  • Fantasy Texture Pack
• Mash-up packs:
  • Festive Mash-up
  • Super Mario Mash-up

Trailer

Super Mario Mash-Up Pack Trailer

Trivia

• Wii U Edition (alongside the Java Edition and Bedrock Edition for Windows bundle and the other versions of Minecraft for Nintendo platforms) was the most expensive edition of Minecraft to date, at US$29.99.
  • This was due to the game releasing with 6 add-on packs included.
    • All DLC included with Wii U Edition were the same as the Xbox One Edition Holiday Pack, with the exception of the Halo Mash-up pack, which was released as additional paid DLC for the Wii U edition, having been previously exclusive to Xbox platforms.
• The PlayStation 3 Edition was released exactly two years earlier, on December 17, 2013.
• The Nintendo eShop did not have a free demo for Minecraft, unlike the PlayStation and Xbox.

Gallery

• 
  Minecraft: Wii U Edition logo
• 
  Minecraft: Wii U Edition key art
• 
  Minecraft: Wii U Edition box art
• 
  Minecraft: Wii U Edition app icon
• 
  Minecraft: Wii U Edition Japanese app icon
• 
  What appears to be a placeholder image that would've been displayed when choosing DLC for the Battle mini-game. A completely different icon is used instead, showing the actual DLC instead of this. An early name for the mini-game is also present.
• 
  Development image
• 
  Minecraft: Wii U Edition Main Menu as it appeared on launch.

References

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