Nintendo’s Wii Zapper out today for $20
Monday, November 19th, 2007 at 1:52pm by Press Release
REDMOND, Wash., Nov. 19, 2007 – Today, Nintendo’s new Wii Zapper™ brings the precision and thrill of arcade-style targeting games right into your home. Made exclusively for Nintendo’s Wii™ system, the Wii Zapper houses a Wii Remote™ and Nunchuk™ to provide a better feel in games where pinpoint accuracy is key. Best of all, the Wii Zapper comes with Link’s Crossbow Training™, a series of targeting challenges in the style of The Legend of Zelda®: Twilight Princess designed to demonstrate the full range of fun for the Wii Zapper, all at an MSRP of $19.99.
The Wii Zapper provides perfect immersion for core players, putting them right in the game and into the action. Immediately accessible and absolutely intuitive, the Wii Zapper is part of the progression started by the Wii Remote, one that continues in 2008 with the Wii Wheel™ and Wii Balance Board™.
“Our new Wii Zapper interface opens up a huge range of experiences for players and developers,” says George Harrison, Nintendo of America’s senior vice president of marketing and corporate communications. “Just as the Wii Remote put Link’s sword in your hands, now you physically pick up Link’s crossbow, take aim and shoot targets as though you were right in Hyrule. It’s another example of how Nintendo continues to change the way people interact with games.”
Link’s Crossbow Training puts players through a series of increasingly difficult targeting tests. In some challenges, hero Link uses his trusty crossbow to hit bull’s-eyes. In others he is greeted by an army of approaching enemies and navigates the terrain using the control stick on the Nunchuk. Up to four players can compete one at a time as they try to best one another’s scores.
Third-party publishers already strongly back the Wii Zapper. EA’s Medal of Honor Heroes™ 2, available at retailers now, lets players put World War II action into their hands using the Wii Zapper. The game features a Wii-exclusive Arcade Mode that offers accessibility to gamers of all skill levels, a full single-player campaign and support for up to 32 players in multiplayer. Capcom’s Resident Evil®: The Umbrella Chronicles reveals the back story behind the fall of the Umbrella Corporation by exploring locations from Resident Evil 0, 1, 2 and 3, as well as new never-before-seen locations like Umbrella’s stronghold. One or two players use the Wii Zapper to take aim against a horde of zombies in first-person perspective. SEGA’s Ghost Squad™ is one of the first titles that lets players replicate the arcade light-gun experience at home with the Wii Zapper. Ghost Squad™ is loaded with Wii-specific features, including a co-op mode for 1-4 players, a new training mode and online rankings.
Remember that Wii features parental controls that let adults manage the content their children can access. For more information about this and other Wii features, visit Wii.com.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:07 pm
Dear Nintendo,
Less Zapper, more Pikmin.
Sincerely,
Andrew-MG
November 19th, 2007 at 2:13 pm
I’m SO tempted to pick this up with my $25 gift cards from my Galaxy purchase at ToysRUs. But it feels so wrong to disrespect Mario that way. I’ve just cracked the surface of the water level.
Gosh i love my wii.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Released today or shipped today? Best Buy said it won’t get it till next week?!?!? EB said it will be in stores Wed. Who do I believe????!!!
November 19th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Well that just sucks, Gamestop is selling the thing for 25$ and my only way of getting it right now is to sell a game or two to them; god I hate donating to that devil of a company but it is the only way I can get one right now.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Can you guys tell me if we can use this gun with Metroid Prime Corruption?
November 19th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Sorry for double posting but to Pnut, Gamestop.com says shipping today so it should be in stores tomorrow, for Gamestop and EB anyways.
November 19th, 2007 at 2:46 pm
And to InvisibleMan it can be used for anything really, if the controls are good to use it with, like for Medal of Honor, there is a control setup specifically for the Zapper, but for Corruption, I can’t see it being useful, I haven’t played the game but I know that you use some Nunchuk motions in the game and that wont work while it is in the Zapper
November 19th, 2007 at 3:08 pm
I’ve got it ordered from amazon. . hopefully it will show up by the end of the week.
November 19th, 2007 at 3:21 pm
Since I don’t have a Wii (yet), maybe this will motivate me to get that SuperScope6 out of the closet…
November 19th, 2007 at 3:44 pm
I definitely plan on getting this as I want to eventually get MoH:H 2, Ghost Squad and RE: UC.
However, I am more apt to try this with RE:4. That game just calls for a setup with the zapper.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:17 pm
I wonder why GameStop is selling it for $5 more. They’ve sold other games for less before.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:22 pm
So I just called my local GameStop, and the clerk acted like I had four heads. The convo went a little something like this:
Me: “Do you have the Wii Zapper?”
Clerk: “Umm no. We haven’t heard much about it. Last I knew it was coming out mid-December.”
Me: “Really?”
Clerk: “Well I can check the system. Yeah, we don’t have a ship or release date for it. Sorry.”
I love well informed associates.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:31 pm
So this thing is a piece of plastic that holds your wiimote and nunchuck in much the same way as you’d be holding them anyways, except, it confines your range of movement and gives you less vibration ’cause you aren’t holding the wii-mote? No nunchuck motion controls? WTF are you people excited for?
I’d refuse to buy this on the grounds of Nintendo having already shown the classic zapper at an earlier E3, and dumping it in favor of this Sega Menacer-esque POS.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:34 pm
I have no interest in littering my living room with all sorts of useless, plastic, cheap Wii gimmicks. Not the upcoming Wheel, not the Wii board, and not the Wii Zapper.
The Zapper is really doing nothing that the Wii mote cant ALREADY DO on its own. And in some cases, like the popular Metroid Prime 3, it can not even be utilized, at all.The Wii mote itself is already great for these shooting games, no need for a plastic, useless, gimmick.
I can see why so any people are interested in the Zelda mini game, I want to know more about that.I think it could be very very fun! Hopefully, one can purchase it and enjoy it using the Wii mote at some point, and lose that cheap ,plastic peripheral alltogether.
I will save my game $ for much more usefull things…
November 19th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Rushli0n: I work at Gamestop and the clerk you talked to had it right (not the dec. part though.) The system didn’t have a ship or release date for it, so if he hadn’t seen the press release somewhere and the daily shipment hadn’t come in with it, then he truly didn’t know. Heck, I didn’t know until I read that it arrived at Kotaku Tower on the 16th.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:39 pm
Yes, the zapper itself is just a shell. But what changes is how the buttons are configured and what certain motions mean when a game is “built for the Wii Zapper”. Instead of holding it like a remote, which I don’t know about anyone else, but playing MP:3 it really starts to cramp my wrist, this is a welcome change in FPS.
It’s really all about changing the configurations which is what MoH:H 2 does. You can use the remote in the normal fashion with the configurations that way. Or choose the Wii Zapper config, which to me had to be easier on the wrist than the “normal” way, and have at it.
This of course is why games not built for the Zapper really won’t work, ala MP:3. But if the game remaps the buttons/motions to fit the zapper, I’m all for it.
November 19th, 2007 at 4:41 pm
To neko:
Thanks for the explanation. I guess I just assume that if you work there, you would be all-up-ons with all the latest news.
It’s the fanboy in me.
November 19th, 2007 at 6:05 pm
Don’t buy the wii zapper!
November 19th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
I think it’s ridiculous for everyone to either freak out or defend the zapper until you’ve given it a chance. The fact that Crossbow Training is shipping WITH the device speculates that the game was designed with the peripheral in mind. Plus, no games sell for under 20 bucks. If it’s 20 bucks, then that’s the Crossbow Training with the zapper holster for free. Doesn’t sound like there’s anything wrong with that.
All of the whining I’m hearing reminds me of the fuss everyone made about the Wii remote covers. I’ve had mine on for a few weeks now, and despite everyone’s complaining about them, I prefer to have them on now. My Wiimote felt naked without it when I went to visit my friend and played on his.
Bottom line: give the zapper a fair chance! THEN whine about it afterwards if you must.
November 19th, 2007 at 6:21 pm
I was fortunate enough to pick up the Zapper (not Brannagan) and Link’s Crossbow Training on Saturday, so I’ve already put it through its paces…
I’m really happy with both! I know many of you are decrying the Zapper, but I can’t help myself; when I hold the thing in my hands, whether I’m playing LCT or Medal of Honor (picked that up yesterday), I feel more like I’m really holding a gun than when I just use the remote and nunchuck. It’s true!
Yes, the Zapper is ‘just a shell’ and yes, it has a trigger near the front, rather than toward the back, but none of that matters to me. For $20, Link’s Crossbow Training, along with the pretty plastic pack-in, is a steal, IMHO.
November 19th, 2007 at 6:32 pm
I’ll probably pick it up simply because after I’m done with Umbrella Chronicles and Super Mario Galaxy, I’ll probably have nothing to play Wii-wise until Brawl comes out (not a NIGHTS fan though I may give it a shot). I don’t seriously think Nintendo or any 3rd parties will support it, given the past history of Nintendo extras like this.
But hey, at the end of the day, it’s $20. I’m not expecting it to revolutionize gaming by any means.
November 19th, 2007 at 8:36 pm
Aw shush! We’re all gonna get it and we know it!
November 19th, 2007 at 10:57 pm
There are a lot of negative comments here. I want this though, it will give the upcoming light gun shooters a much more arcade feel, I probably wouldn’t use it for more in depth shooters though, but still for the on rails shooters it should improve gameplay.
November 19th, 2007 at 10:58 pm
Sorry for the double post but also I was disappointed that it said released today in the head line, because I went to the store, and it was not there.
November 19th, 2007 at 11:48 pm
A lot of the times the release date you hear about is the ship date for some stores. This is normally the case with my store so we usually tell people the date is the day after. Even so, there are still a ton of people who get all huffy and think we’re lying to them. :\
November 20th, 2007 at 11:00 am
Thanks for the observation, Cory!
I’d like to get this gadget, but I’m going to wait until I am interested in a game that can actually use it! I’m playing only Super Mario Galaxy, Metroid Prime Corruption, Tiger Woods PGA Tour, and Excite Truck on my Wii right now, none of which can use the Zapper… but I could use a steering wheel for Excite Truck! Too bad they haven’t made one compatible with that game yet…
November 20th, 2007 at 12:14 pm
Stupid Amazon . . .
Delivery estimate: Dec 24 2007 – Jan 4 2008
* 1 of: Zapper With Link’s Crossbow Training
I ordered last week, and it was supposed to ship yesterday, I log in today, and this is what I get. . . grrr
November 21st, 2007 at 12:41 am
I bought two today and me and my brother had an absolute blast! It’s worth it! These minigames are loads of fun and I honestly feel like my aiming is more stable using the Wii Zapper.
I’ve got Ghost Squad reserved for tomorrow and can’t wait for some co-op action!
For those of you who just refuse to buy it but still want the minigame, you can look for one of my copies appearing soon on a certain auction site.