Buying a Wii U This Winter?

Wii U Bundle With Mario and Luigi

I like to feel like I am getting something
of value for my money.  I am guessing that most of us feel the same way.  When we occasionally splurge on something, I want to get the most bang for my buck.  Trying to avoid impulse purchases and taking the time to look for the best deals can often save us some money.

The item in question for this post is the Wii-U.  I think it looked like a lot of fun and it had some games with my favorite video game characters, Mario and Luigi.  There is also a Zelda game that I have my eyes on.  Not to mention, I LOVED the option of being able to play games on the hand held unit while other family members did something else with the TV.  I can only watch the Cars movie so many times without passing out from boredom.

The black Wii U unit comes with 32Gb of memory.  I knew we wanted that size.  I looked around at the basic price of the unit and then the different bundles that are available.  Did we want just the unit alone?  Did we want the Zelda bundle?  The Zombie bundle?  The Super Mario Brothers bundle?  The original bundle with Nintendo Land?

After checking the bundles out online and in the real stores, I went with the Super Mario Bros. Bundle from Best Buy.  It was $299.  I felt like this was a decent price considering that I wanted the unit, the Super Mario Bros. U game and the Super Luigi U game as well. 

The Zelda game costs about $49 from what I have seen.  The Mario game is about $45 and the Luigi game is about $30.  I also have my eye on the Zombie game ZombiU.  This game has had a recent price drop because it was over $40 at Best Buy but is now on Amazon for only $22.  It has been out for a while so it was due for a drop, in my opinion.  For some off reason, the ZombiU bundle was over $400.  I couldn't find any reason to justify THAT price.

That just leaves the original bundle that comes with Nintendo Land.  As this is the game that most Wii U owners will have, I felt that it was a complete waste of cash to get this game in the bundle ($299).  This game will flood the marketplace and is available used now for $13-$15.  I expect that price to drop significantly in January after everyone gets Wii U for the holidays, plays Nintendo Land, gets bored with it, wants better games and sell Nintendo Land in order to finance the purchase of better games.  I will probably buy it in January or rent it somewhere to see if it is even worth owning.  I think that my kids may enjoy playing it, though. 

I could have purchased the Zelda bundle for $299 as well.  But, since I also wanted Mario &  Luigi this would have been more expensive in the long run.  The Zelda bundle plus the 2 games would have cost $299 +$45 + $30 = $374.  But buying the Mario & Luigi bundle, and then buying Zelda alone, I spent $299 + $49 = $348.  This leave enough in the budget to also buy ZombiU now that it costs $22

My master plan is to wait on Zelda though.  The next game will probably be the recently reduced ZombiU.  Once these games are played out, then hopefully we can get the Zelda game when it's price drops down below the current $49 or so.

Also, I was really happy to buy this bundle at a real b&m store.  I hardly ever buy the consumer protection plans that are offered with many electronic purchases.  But, since this gaming system comes with a separate hand held unit, I could foresee some future damage being done.  I spent the $70 on a 2 year protection plan at Best Buy for this purchase.  If I feel like we need it, I will extend for another 2 years before this one expires.  With small kids in the house and some crazy animals as well, I feel like this protection plan may earn it's keep!


















Disclosure
I haven't been compensated by Best Buy, Nintendo, Mario nor Luigi for my post.  I just like to find ways to save money so I can spend some money on my pets, kids and hubby.