Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Ignores The Gamepad Screen

It is looking more and more like Nintendo actually had no grand gameplay design for the Wii U’s Gamepad when they were conceiving of the console, and that it really was just a gimmick to cash in on the tablet craze sweeping the market; none of their games since Nintendo Land, which was a launch pack in game, has actually supported it meaningfully, relegating it to a secondary map or inventory screen at best.

Well, at least that was still something– Nintendo’s next big title for the Wii U, the Retro Studios developed Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, will not actually be using the screen in any capacity at all. The screen will just sit there, blank. In a way, I suppose I appreciate the lack of useless gimmicks and the decision to turn the screen off instead of mirroring the gameplay on the TV like New Super Mario Bros. U does, because it does save up my battery. Still, it’s clear even Nintendo’s own teams don’t quite know what to make of this controller.

[Nintendo World Report via Eurogamer]