Wii U Basic Vs Deluxe, that is the question. Okay, it's not really a question, but it's still an actual dilemma. E3 is coming up and chances are, on the other side of it, Nintendo's going to be looking pretty good - and Microsoft pretty bad. This E3 will give many gamers their first actual reasons to think about buying a Wii U. And that leads us to the dilemma: which model should you buy?
Actually, that leaves out the question that comes before deciding between Wii U Basic vs Deluxe: whether to get a Wii U at all. For a long time, the answer was probably not, unless you were a hardcore Nintendo guy like I am. But that's starting to change, and the system is finally getting a real software lineup. Yea, it's pretty much all first party. But that's the way Nintendo rolls; we knew that going in, whatever they said otherwise. At E3, they are unveiling a new 3D Mario, Mario Kart, and Wind Waker HD for release this year, and a new Smash Bros. for release sometime, plus a whole slew of other things.
E3 may not immediately make you pull the trigger, but it will bring the Wii U Basic vs Deluxe question a lot closer to home. Anyway. There are six key differences between the Wii U Basic vs Deluxe models.
Wii U Basic vs Deluxe: Flash Drive
The most obvious difference between Wii U Basic vs Deluxe is the flash drive size. Wii U Basic is 8 GB, Wii U Deluxe is 32 GB. Here's the thing, though. These are both tiny fractions of the size of a traditional HDD, like Xbox and PlayStation have. Deluxe will hold a few full games and some DLC; Basic can handle a bit of DLC, but that's about it. But if you plan on buying a lot of DLC or download more than one or two full games, you are going to need an external HDD either way. This is by design. As a result, this difference doesn't really matter.
Wii U Basic vs Deluxe: Nintendo Land
Wii U Basic vs Deluxe for a lot of people comes down to Nintendo Land, the pack-in game with Deluxe. But Nintendo Land, unlike Wii Sports, is also available as a stand-alone title. And it does not cost $50 or $60 - it's on Amazon right now for less than $30, and on sales it goes even lower. So you can pick it up if you get a Basic without negating the cost difference.
Wii U Basic vs Deluxe: Deluxe Digital Promotion
Wii U Deluxe comes with something called the Deluxe Digital Promotion, which returns 10% of the amount you spend on the eShop - including on full games - as free eShop credit. So if you bought Game & Wario on the eShop for $39.99, you'd get $3.99 in free points. This is cool, but there's a caveat: the deal is only good until December 2014. That's more than a year away, but you'd still have to spend more than $500 on downloads to make up the cost difference between Wii U Basic vs Deluxe - even more if you pick up a Wii U Basic on sale. That's just not likely to happen, no matter how many games Nintendo puts out at E3.
Wii U Basic vs Deluxe: Extra Junk
Wii U Deluxe comes with some knickknacks that aren't in Basic, most notably a GamePad charging stand. This is nice, but not really necessary; GamePad doesn't take batteries anyway and it comes with a charger. The other parts are stands for Wii U, if you want to position it vertically. Pretty irrelevant.
Wii U Basic vs Deluxe: Color
This may be changing, but for now, Wii U Deluxe is always black and Wii U Basic is always white. Nintendo just announced a white Wii U Deluxe for Japan. No word on an international release yet. I hope we get it, because right now, the color is one of the best reasons to get Wii U Basic. I can tell you from personal experience: the black Wii U Deluxe smudges very, very quickly and noticeably. Like, every time you use it for more than a minute. And since you'll have your grubby paws all over the GamePad, this is no idle concern. Go with white.
Wii U Basic vs Deluxe: Price
Wii U Basic is $50 cheaper than Wii U Deluxe, in theory. But the Wii U Basic has seen price cuts - most recently at Target, by a whopping $60 - and the Wii U Deluxe has not yet done so, at least in North America. If E3 goes really well, Wii U may start selling better and get fewer sales - or it may get an actual price cut. Some people think Wii U Basic will be straight up discontinued, in which case it would get a pretty deep price cut.
So what's the answer? Wii U Basic or Wii U Deluxe? It is much less clear cut than the people who argue for Wii U Deluxe or nothing seem to think. Basic really needs an external HDD, and Nintendo Land is great. But those are both cheap. If you can get it on sale, and you can, Wii U Basic is really the way to go. Unless you really want a smudgy black GamePad.
