1001 Spikes Wii U patch offers new control options and Off-TV play

…but it has some issues

Last April, Nicalis announced that I’ll be a character in 1001 Spikes someday. As you might imagine, that announcement has changed the way my brain works. “Is today the day that I get to play as myself alongside Jonathan Blow and Curly Brace from Cave Story in a game that I once claimed was better than Game of Thrones?” That question will remain in the back of my mind, buzzing away like anxious, excited cartoon Seinfeld bee man, until the time if and when that update is finally released. 

That metaphoric bee man flew into a tizzy last week when he saw that Nicalis released a patch for 1001 Spikes on the Wii U. Sadly, I’m nowhere to be seen in this one, but there is still plenty of sweet fruit to be plucked. Wii U owners finally got the option to play Off-TV, and Wii remotes have been enabled for multiplayer modes. The downside is, if you already have a save file for the game, the patch will cause a few bugs. The d-pad on the Gamepad gets borked to the point where its almost unusable, though the left analog stick works fine for character movement. The Gamepad  “+” and “-” buttons also become inactive, which makes getting in and out of different game modes pretty cumbersome.

Nicalis tells me that a patch-for-the-patch is coming very soon, but in the meantime, there are a few ways to work around it. You can either delete your save file. or beat a level with a controller besides the Gamepad, go back to the main menu options, and select default controls. 1001 Spikes makes for a pretty great local multiplayer death party, so if you have a Wii U and need something to keep you busy until Splatoon drops next week, this may be your best ticket.