Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker Strikes Gold in December

When a mini-game becomes so popular that it gets its own spin-off game, the potential for a sleeper hit is high. Nintendo is hoping for that success with Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, and now we know when we'll be able to join the good captain for his treasure tracking trials.

Captain Toad launches Dec. 5 for Wii U, just in time for the busy holiday season. The game is the first to give Toad top billing in Nintendo's history, which is hard to fathom considering how long Nintendo has been making games. Toad has been playable before (Super Mario Bros. 2 is a perfect example), but this is indeed the first time Toad's name appears in the title. Good for you, little mushroom guy.

Anyone whose played Super Mario 3D World knows what Captain Toad is all about, but for those that haven't these stages were simple obstacle courses where Toad is trying to reach a yellow star without being hurt twice. Moving the camera was the biggest part of each puzzle, as it provided new angles to approach puzzles and made things easier to solve. We loved these stages in small doses, but we wonder how effective they'll be in their own standalone game.