TL;DR: What Kotaku (http://kotaku.com/sonic-lost-world-the-kotaku-review-x2-1448002806) said. The 3DS version "is a game that unfurls gracefully, that queues up its obstacles in a way that helps the player learn its basic moves through repetition, provides safe ways to try them out and accents its action with pace-changing elements", while the Wii U version "is tougher in ways that the 3DS version shows it doesn't have to be and that seem hostile to the player". Because he's not as obsessive about these things as I am, this guy does not even know how right he is.
Well I'm still enjoying the 3DS game, it's a shame to hear the Wii U version isn't all you first thought it was. That's one of the main games I was most excited for but Mario 3D World will make up for it a bit I guess. I've been a bit distracted with the X1 but I'm enjoying replaying stages in Lost World and like you I'm even warming to some of the puzzle sections, still not a huge fan of the 2D levels which I think are over complicated but it's still such a great portable version of Sonic overall.
I don't know who I was trying to fool. There is something profoundly "off" with the Wii U version, best exemplified by Lava Mountain 3. Underneath the great presentation, many of Sonic Team's control and design choices are downright bizarre. Admittedly, 3DS doesn't fully salvage some of them.
Well, it's great that Sega has patched the game so that 100 rings give you a 1UP and assorted obvious problems are fixed, but they never should have had to. If only they could patch the parkour so that it actually works like it does in the 3DS version.
• Collecting 100 rings will now grant the player an extra life.
• In the event of a Game Over, we have doubled the amount of lives the player will begin with when continuing. (From 5 to 10)
• The Indigo Asteroid, Crimson Eagle, Orange Rocket, and Black Bomb Color Powers can now be controlled using the analog stick and buttons.
• Fixed a rare graphical issue that would sometimes appear during the pinball section of the Frozen Factory casino area.
Additional Updates:
• When completing the NiGHTMARE DLC, users will be notified that they can re-play it after scoring 100,000 points.
• Items will now appear on the world map.
That seizure-inducing pinball glitch wasn't truly "rare"; I encountered it twice without even looking for it, and numerous people all over the Internet found it shortly after the game's release.
Wii U only seems good because it goes to great lengths to obscure its problems. The parkour section of Wii U's Lava Mountain 3 is simpler than the parkour in the second level of the 3DS version, yet I still die numerous times whenever I attempt it. Getting the Red Rings may as well be impossible. But, as fans may note, Sonic Team knew it was busted and made the whole section completely optional. Even if you wanted to argue that it was merely "difficult", the difficulty balance would still be out of whack.
In fairness, after dying dozens of times, I finally have the parkour section down. The fact remains, however, that Wii U does a much worse job of teaching you the controls than 3DS--and its level design is fundamentally flawed if you can complete the game without knowing how to use basic control mechanics.
One final point, since I'm pretty much done with this game: I mentioned earlier that the 3DS version had a few minor glitches and camera problems, but Wii U is much worse. In 2D, I got stuck inside of platforms far more often than I could possibly consider acceptable. In 3D, I encountered a couple of spots where the camera completely lost track of Sonic! The homing attack randomly cancels out for no apparent reason, and tends to get stuck on walls, something I'm not sure ever happened in any of the previous games.
The farther you get, the more the lack of polish is apparent. In Sky Road 4, there are spots where you can be hit by enemies after you have completed a segment of the level and the game is loading the next area! You can also get permanently caught in a spring. After you defeat the first boss in Lava Mountain 3, you have a second to control Sonic before the game stops you so you can listen to her final words. The boss fight takes place above a pit of lava, and you need to jump across it to proceed to the next area. If you try to spindash-jump over the pit before the game takes control out of your hands, bad programming will kill you instantly and you'll have to fight the boss all over again! This kind of stuff just infuriates me and saps my enjoyment of the game.
Also not a fan of Wii U’s blatant attempts to copy Mario. They made absolutely no effort to hide the fact that Lava Mountain is Bowser’s Castle.
I honestly don't think I could recommend the Wii U version to anyone who isn't a hardcore Sonic fan. It's just not worth the frustration. The 2D sections are unbearable. It never becomes as rewarding with repeat play as the 3DS version. The fact that it has moments of sheer brilliance doesn't make it any less of a mess. If you enjoy 3DS more the more you play it; Wii U just gets worse and worse. Even the NiGHTS level has one instance of amazingly careless design, which can result in the second boss automatically jumping on top of you during a cutscene.
Looking at that Zelda DLC, it's definitely time for me to jump in with Lost World! I've been concentrating on other games and been too busy for it for a good while. Though it'll take a lot to hold my attention as much as Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (seriously, one of the best platformers in a very long time).
Comments
This is just wrong on so many levels
MASS HYSTERIA!
Obviously you've not looked hard enough as there are indeed some Mario games available on both Megadrive and Dreamcast.
Well I'm still enjoying the 3DS game, it's a shame to hear the Wii U version isn't all you first thought it was. That's one of the main games I was most excited for but Mario 3D World will make up for it a bit I guess. I've been a bit distracted with the X1 but I'm enjoying replaying stages in Lost World and like you I'm even warming to some of the puzzle sections, still not a huge fan of the 2D levels which I think are over complicated but it's still such a great portable version of Sonic overall.
http://blogs.sega.com/2013/12/10/sonic-lost-world-for-wii-u-gets-free-update/
Wii U only seems good because it goes to great lengths to obscure its problems. The parkour section of Wii U's Lava Mountain 3 is simpler than the parkour in the second level of the 3DS version, yet I still die numerous times whenever I attempt it. Getting the Red Rings may as well be impossible. But, as fans may note, Sonic Team knew it was busted and made the whole section completely optional. Even if you wanted to argue that it was merely "difficult", the difficulty balance would still be out of whack.
One final point, since I'm pretty much done with this game: I mentioned earlier that the 3DS version had a few minor glitches and camera problems, but Wii U is much worse. In 2D, I got stuck inside of platforms far more often than I could possibly consider acceptable. In 3D, I encountered a couple of spots where the camera completely lost track of Sonic! The homing attack randomly cancels out for no apparent reason, and tends to get stuck on walls, something I'm not sure ever happened in any of the previous games.
The farther you get, the more the lack of polish is apparent. In Sky Road 4, there are spots where you can be hit by enemies after you have completed a segment of the level and the game is loading the next area! You can also get permanently caught in a spring. After you defeat the first boss in Lava Mountain 3, you have a second to control Sonic before the game stops you so you can listen to her final words. The boss fight takes place above a pit of lava, and you need to jump across it to proceed to the next area. If you try to spindash-jump over the pit before the game takes control out of your hands, bad programming will kill you instantly and you'll have to fight the boss all over again! This kind of stuff just infuriates me and saps my enjoyment of the game.
Also not a fan of Wii U’s blatant attempts to copy Mario. They made absolutely no effort to hide the fact that Lava Mountain is Bowser’s Castle.
I honestly don't think I could recommend the Wii U version to anyone who isn't a hardcore Sonic fan. It's just not worth the frustration. The 2D sections are unbearable. It never becomes as rewarding with repeat play as the 3DS version. The fact that it has moments of sheer brilliance doesn't make it any less of a mess. If you enjoy 3DS more the more you play it; Wii U just gets worse and worse. Even the NiGHTS level has one instance of amazingly careless design, which can result in the second boss automatically jumping on top of you during a cutscene.
Interesting to see Nintendo collaborating with SEGA like this. Plus it sounds like a Zelda themed Lost Worlds level is coming next year.
It looks amazing.
http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/03/26/sonic-lost-worldas-zelda-crossover
Well this looks fantastic! Almost worth buying a Wii U for...