In September 2010, rumors were circulating of a Wii Remote with Wii MotionPlus already built in after the box art for the upcoming FlingSmash revealed it to be bundled with "Wii Remote Plus". Nintendo initially declined to comment, but later announced the device on September 29, 2010, confirming it to be a Wii Remote with MotionPlus built in, allowing players to use peripherals like the Wii Zapper and Wii Wheel without having to remove Wii MotionPlus from the Wii Remote. It competes with the Kinect and the PlayStation Move with PlayStation Eye motion controllers for the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3 home consoles, respectively. Nintendo later announced that the remote would be available in white, black, blue and pink. It was released in Australia on October 28, 2010, in Europe on November 5, 2010, in North America on November 7, 2010 and in Japan on November 11, 2010.[23] It was also released in red as part of a bundle containing Wii Sports, New Super Mario Bros. Wii, a red Wii console, and red Nunchuk.[24] It has been announced that the European version of Wii Play: Motion will be bundled with the red Wii Remote Plus,[25] while the black Wii Remote Plus is also included with other versions of the game. All Wii Family Edition units contain a Wii Remote Plus. The first was released in North America on October 23, 2011, in black, along with a black Wii Family Edition console, black Nunchuk, New Super Mario Bros. Wii and a limited edition soundtrack for Super Mario Galaxy. The second was released in Europe on November 4, 2011, in white, along with a white Wii Family Edition console, white Nunchuk, Wii Party and Wii Sports. The third was also released in Europe on November 18, 2011, in blue, along with a blue Wii Family Edition console, blue Nunchuk and Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games. The fourth, which is a revision of the North American bundle was released on October 28, 2012, along with the initial Wii Sports duology. A red Wii Remote Plus and red Nunchuk is also included with every Wii Mini unit.
At E3 2011, it was revealed that a gold Wii Remote Plus with the royal Hylian Crest superimposed over its speaker would be released alongside The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword.[26][27] It was available as part of a bundle with Skyward Sword for a limited time.[28]
After the Wii U, the Wii's successor, was launched, Nintendo began releasing Wii Remote Plus controllers that are themed off of characters from the Mario universe, starting with Mario and Luigi on November 1, 2013,[29] to accompany the release of the Wii U Deluxe set. Months later, Nintendo released a Princess Peach-themed Wii Remote Plus, on April 24, 2014.[30] Over a year later, Nintendo also released Wii Remote Plus controllers themed off of Bowser, a Toad and Yoshi in the fall of 2015 to accompany the releases of Super Mario Maker and Yoshi's Woolly World. These three Remotes were exclusively available at GameStop in North America.[31]
