The Wii U has been something of a bastard child for Nintendo Co., Ltd.—it’s an interesting idea, but public expectations and, equally so, market adoption seem to have fallen somewhat flat. As to the novelty of the second-screen in the GamePad that the Wii-U gives to players it’s often treated exactly like that for most games: yet-another-gimmick.

So, when Nintendo executives got turned into puppets for their E3 press conference and transformed into characters from Star Fox Zero to announce the game, the highlight of the reel became how the game will use the Wii U.

Star Fox Zero is being dubbed as “experimental” by some of the media because it’s turning the current controller archetype use of the second screen of the Wii U slightly on its head: by actually using the Wii U tablet as a cockpit screen.

In most Wii U games, the second screen is treated more like a mobile device, often showing extra information, or just providing a secondary set of controls. In many of these cases it’s more gimmicky than useful.

In the case of Star Fox Zero, the Wii U second screen will become not just a cockpit view, but a way for the player to aim and target during the space-combat portions of the game (which is really what Star Fox is all about.) It will use the gryros in the Wii U’s second screen to determine player facing and position. Because the second screen is a “cockpit view” players will be able to look and fire on enemy craft above, below, left, right, and even behind during gameplay.

As the game will feature multiple modes for the spacecraft in Star Fox Zero this could come in very handy: as it’s possible for the spaceship, or the Arwing, to transform between spacecraft and a land walker; although players can also drive a tank and fly a gyrowing.

The Wii U needs more going for it than the GamePad “tablet” controller

That is: the Wii U needs games that use the second-screen of the controller in a fashion that makes those games unique.

Already analysts have noted that the Wii U all but feels like a “failure,” or in the words of financial analyst Michael Pachter, “[Nintendo] is still in denial about the Wii U failure.” He said so after citing metrics that the Wii U has sold approximately 10 million units in its lifetime—the PlayStation 4 has seen 20 million units sold, and the Xbox One is at 11 million units (both which launched a year later than the Wii U.)

Star Fox has a long and stories tradition with Nintendo, featuring all the way back to the original Nintendo console with the original Star Fox in 1993.

Image credit: Star Fox Zero, Nintendo Co., Ltd.