New Wii U Gamepad Design Spotted In Mario Kart 8 Commercial

The Wii U may not be the biggest selling console of the current generation, but recent AAA titles such as the new Mario Kart and of course, Smash Bros, are certainly giving the funky Nintendo console the boost it needed. Why Nintendo waited so long to release killer software is beyond me, but that’s a story for another day.

What we do know is that Nintendo are already looking to improve on the original Wii U design. In a Japanese Mario Kart 8 commercial, you can see the new controller in use, which features a smaller chassis design with a larger screen. The screen has a lot less plastic at the top which is currently taken up by the camera, while the D-PAD and the face buttons are now more in line with the analogue sticks, giving the controller an appearance that’s more like the PS Vita.

What is interesting is that you cannot buy the controllers separately, so either Nintendo are going to start selling the upgrade controllers as an add-on, or they’ll be bundled with a new model of Wii U; I suspect the latter is far more likely as revised consoles are common throughout their lifetime.

Thank you Paradiger for providing us with this information.