Console Debate #21 Wii U

[fox | 1,667]

Undercooked gimmick and lack of software killed the Wii U

Wii really captured the casual market a few years earlier, but then everyone dropped their wii motes for ipads.  So Nintendo wanting to jump on the bandwagon, but out a funky tablet controller system just didn't capture the minds or wallets of people, the way the motion control fad did.  I think there is something unique there in the form of asymmetrical multiplayer like Nintendoland, but other games never followed up on this, leaving the console's main gimmick to be a bit of a dead end technologically.

This was also suppose to be the return of third party support, bringing back core gaming, but that all but dried up after the initial poor sales.  Feels like Nintendo themselves saw the writing was on the wall, and rushed out the Switch to quickly replace the flailing Wii U, while life boating all the best Wii U games to the Switch and 3DS. 

Little reason to play Wii U today.

Edited March 30, 2021 by fox

[Strange | 1,700]

Here’s your hilarious reminder that the PS Vita outsold the Wii U (and deservedly so, IMO. The variety of genres and games on the Vita was better).

[Tanooki | 4,934]

19 hours ago, RegularGuyGamer said:

I feel like the Switch is the continuation of the experience Nintendo tried to bring on the 3DS and the opposite of what they tried to do with the Wii U. On 3DS, games were made to be as close to console games as they could with the adaptation of Wii and Wii U games to the handheld. The Wii U by contrast was  a console that let you play console games in a handheld setting. 

The Switch embraced the handheld aspect of the spectrum and that is really it's saving grace. Even now, by holding off on a Switch pro and focusing on making games look and run just ok shows their focus is more on making handheld gaming the center of the experience instead of trying to push frames and hd gaming. 

Oh yeah I pretty much agree on that sentiment.  The bare base concept of the WiiU was only semi-flawed, the horribly short and easy to screw up (solid wall, other signals) handheld mode at like 10ft from the base, yet still not a bad idea either.  It just wasn't matured properly, and they went wrong with their coding language, backwards re-use of very aged tech, having it work backwards to the other systems.  Sure the name was dumb, and it did confuse some sales reps and people into thinking the tablet was a $300 Wii accessory, and blame is deserved on that too.

The Switch really is the merging of both, and born of the WiiU failure and 3DS lifeline where they shut down and erased their console R&D department merging it into the successful handheld one. That IS what the Switch is, a hybrid handheld crafted from a hybrid handheld+console R&D group and cycle combined -- and it worked, super effectively.

That pro is coming or plus, depends where they go with it.  My brother still works at the same company as years back on the upper north west coast area, still a third party licensee.  I was told a Pro/Plus was coming, signs would start to appear, not lame rumors, but of tech shift.  We saw this very recent, nvidia killing the X1 line for the upgrade, Nintendo ramping up their investments and output of new parts for X mystery too.  That Nvidia tech people are assuming, it fits, a 4K docked capable device with more things expanded 2x or nicer in other ways, their classic Nintendo approach to beefing a handheld to add years to it (GB to GBC, DS/Lite to DSi, 3DS to NEW3DS) the pattern continues.  It's more of as you said, them wanting to focus on games and doing it well, and the Switch does it, but it does need to inch up a little both due to expired tech and the need to still get some custom crafted ports needing some basic general technical levels to do, just as Switch does now.  I'd just say unless something changes, later this year will be a whore and a happy moment as much as we'd love to see all scalpers put on an island and nuked, that won't happen.

[Reed Rothchild | 9,533]

31 minutes ago, Tanooki said:

I'd just say unless something changes, later this year will be a whore and a happy moment as much as we'd love to see all scalpers put on an island and nuked, that won't happen.

This is a tanooki sentence if I ever saw one 

[Tanooki | 4,934]

Well hey, if they're glowing green they're easier to spot.

[MiamiSlice | 3,095]

Oh great, finally a thread where I can rant. 

I love the Wii U, it has stellar games, and of course a great eShop and the best Virtual Console service to ever exist. Even though the library is small, there are still some unforgettable games on there, not just the ones that have been ported to Switch, but even some to-this-day unique titles like Game and Wario, NES Remix 1 and 2, Wii Party U and Wii Sports Club. 

That being said, there's this element of the fandom that grinds my gears to no end. There seems to be this contingent of Wii U fans that are angry the console flopped and despise the Switch for replacing it and being so successful. They will post these long winded speeches about how they still love and play the Wii U, they have no interest in owning a Switch, they don't see hardly any games on the Switch that seem good to them, and they continue to enjoy the vast variety of Wii U games that are all just amazing. I am not making this up. It's pure COPE. I mean by all means, enjoy your thing, stick to it if that's all you want to do, but please do not make up utter B.S. to somehow justify your situation. The Switch is an amazing console, and even if you don't like it, the library is fantastic. There's more good games on Switch than Wii U. It's just a law of numbers thing! There's no need to be offended about it! 

So basically I can't go around talking about how great the Wii U is in a Wii forum because I'll get this cacophony of Wii U die-hard defenders who start trashing the Switch and I just don't even want to encourage that. 

Rant over. 

Also I gave it a 6/10 but maybe I should have said 7. I love the Wii U but I don't think everyone needs to experience it. I know the dual screen feature isn't for everyone. 

[Tanooki | 4,934]

I'm sick of seeing those grown babies too, you don't need to convince me in the slightest as I've seen the WiiU denial train and it's the most pathetic thing I've seen in some years from the Nintendo fanboy contingent as it's excessively pathetic.

I think you're fine with that 6 @MiamiSlice as you said, the 7 makes it justify as something everyone should experience.  And really, they shouldn't the very slim select unique games it still has doesn't justify it, and they can experience it anyway otherwise in better form on the Switch too.  Just more fire for that bitterness of those you called out.

[MiamiSlice | 3,095]

And I'm going to point out some interesting stuff about Wii U third party support. Just some observations. 

There were some publishers that went all-in with Wii U, like Ubisoft and THQ/Nordic. Then there were others that just avoided it entirely. From the ones that supported it we have some interesting things that Switch doesn't have.

Wii U had two Call of Duty games, it had Deus Ex and Watch_Dogs, Mass Effect 3, Splinter Cell: Blacklist, and two Assassin's Creed games. Switch has the Assassin's Creed games but it doesn't have much else for modern FPS's. The one thing it does have is Fortnite. I'm not too knowledgable about FPS's but I guess it also has modern Doom and some other stuff? 

Wii U had Tekken and Need for Speed, which was pretty cool because Wii never had Tekken and the Need for Speed games it had weren't as good. Switch has plenty of fighting games but they are mostly 2D or arena fighting. Is there something like Tekken on Switch? And Switch has another Need for Speed game, not the same one on Wii U. 

Wii U had the last Madden game on a Nintendo console. Nothing on Switch yet since. 

Wii U had a bunch of LEGO games, and some were pretty good, and it had the best version of LEGO City Undercover (the Switch port was buggy by comparison). 

Wii U had the two Barbie games, and then it seems like Barbie games stopped showing up on consoles... looks like the franchise is mobile-only now. 

IMO it's the best console for DuckTales Remastered. 

It was the pinnacle of Toys to Life games. It had multiple Skylanders games, LEGO Dimensions, and Disney Infinity, plus a bunch of Amiibo support. Toys to Life pretty much died after the Wii U ended. 

It had the last game in the vein of Guitar Hero / Rock Band. I know Guitar Hero Live isn't anything special, but there hasn't been another game in this style since. End of an era. 

It had Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed, which surprisingly didn't get ported to Switch, instead we got another game in the series with Team Sonic Racing. 

And I think it was the last console to have singing games with microphones (including The Voice), now it seems like all the games just use the iPhone as the mic instead. 

And for what its worth, if you were going to put Tank Tank Tank on a home console, Wii U fits the bill. 

I'm just mentioning the stuff that isn't also on Switch. Obviously there's a bunch of games that are on Switch now and so you don't really need to play them on Wii U anymore. But my point is, while 3rd party support was almost nonexistent, there were some interesting third-party games that made the Wii U unique. 

Edited March 31, 2021 by MiamiSlice

[fox | 1,667]

@MiamiSlice
Doom has a really solid switch port.  Also Wolfenstein II, the Metro games, the Sniper Elite games, Ion Fury, lots of F2P and indie stuff too.

[Tanooki | 4,934]

@MiamiSliceNice list...but...

Remember I had that turd for 1/2 its life, bailed on it after MK8 came out, never did buy it either.

While Ubisoft went in, all is a stretch.  Sure they released a good bit, but much of came at a cost.  The early stuff ran badly, had problems.  Later stuff that was solely promised, would then get multi, then later yet came out far after like Watchdogs watering down any remaining interest except those very few who only had that system.

EA with Mass Effect 3 sure, we got it, for $60, at the same time PS3/360 got the TRILOGY for $10 less, a real slap to the face.  And then that NFS game, I had it, it was released broken with quite a few nasty bugs that hampered the ability to play well, never did fix them much either.  Between their first run and that second(and last basically for them) generations of releases they whined, pandered, so-called begged for Nintendo fans to kiss up and beg for stuff, which desperately ddi, and got Need For Bugs and it sold awful once found out.

The Lego games, you sure about Switch lego city being worse?  I don't remember it that way, but also Lego really isn't unique, it's multiplatform and more came to Switch since it lived on.

You win on duck tales, it's true, and I still have the give-away pin for that game on a lanyard with a bunch of disney pins.

There were some interesting releases that just hit that thing, shame some of the more nameworthy were not in their best form probably by intent considering the attitude against Nintendo at the time.

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

I gotta agree with @Tanookias I saw the 3rd party support in real time and it definitely looks better in retrospect than it was during the life span. Most of those 3rd party games were also slammed on the first year or so of the life span and then dropped off almost completely.

That is one reason why the lack of 3rd party support is so glaring bc those who did go all in got completed b-f'd by the lack of numbers and then the support comply dropped off. 

Having the system and so few games to play, I put a decent amount of time into some 3rd party games and all the ones I played except for Rayman Legends made me dust off the ol 360 and keep it around for game that I actually wanted to enjoy while playing. 

Even Lego City I preferred on the 3DS...

[Tanooki | 4,934]

@RegularGuyGamer Yeah thanks, and you did dig a direction I had kind of avoided as I didn't want to get really long about it.  Those launch third party games, none of them worked right.  They were all collectively ports, some like 3 years old like Ninja Gaiden was.  They all had audio, visual, other mechanics issues, just messy bugs that shouldn't have happened.  In the press they'd complain how bad the process was trying to port, having to start over, due to how the system was backwards to the other two.  They'd go one way saying be grateful we did this, then the other blaming fans for selling like 10k copies of the games and effectively blackmailing owners... kiss our ass, buy our next game, or we're done.  Well some did, less bought, then they quit.  It was a vicious circle of prophecy that the prophet chose the direction, created the situation, and made sure to sell fulfill that edict which was pathetic.

RRG remember when Ubisoft and others promised exclusive games...pitched, interviewed, and closed on dates of the stuff...and then went multiplatform just before (Rayman you pointed out) or after (Watchdogs) basically screwing the Nintendo base again and again giving them non-exclusives, and worse yet, the shittier copy.  I lost all respect for them last decade, don't buy their stuff anymore for it compounded with their required online for 1P only games to police them like criminals.

 

And yeah Lego City on 3DS is fantastic, got that one free in a bundle about 2 years ago, gave it to my kid to use on a 2DS I handed her and she has enjoyed it.  I checked it a few times and it really isn't bad at all, load times longer than the Switch, less than WiiU(as it's optical) but it works fine.

[Strange | 1,700]

Yeah, I’m not a huge fan of the waves of Wii U defenders you find on any thread or forum about video games. You mention anything negative and they’re like “Well ACTUALLY it had good games!!” Well duh, no one said it didn’t. We said we were disappointed with the overall console itself. The Virtual Boy had good games, that doesn’t mean it was a success and that it didn’t disappoint consumers.

It’s also not the modern Sega Saturn or Dreamcast. I’m sorry, it’s just not.

[peg | 371]

I'm really starting to go in the direction that the Wii U is the worst console of all time.  Even with garbage tier consoles like the N64 and even the original Wii, there are still maybe 2 or 3 games that I would consider playing.  The same cannot be said of the Wii U.

 

And even all of the "good" (not my words) games on the Wii U are being ported or are already on other platforms.  Seriously, what the fuck is left other than a disastrous attempt to merge tablet gaming with console gaming?  Who the hell ever asked for that in the first place?

 

Say what you want about the Wii (it sucks, one of the worst systems ever made) but at least it sold like crazy to people who didn't know any better.  You fooled them all the first time, but even people that slurp up whatever Nintendo puts in front of them turned their nose to this turd.

 

 

[Tanooki | 4,934]

Well I'll say this much for ya pegboy.  You have a hell of a lot in common with a broken clock, there's that rare second in time where it is right twice in a day, and your second cluster of words up there, is one of those rare moments.

[Link | 2,712]

23 hours ago, peg said:

Even with garbage tier consoles like the N64 and even the original Wii, there are still maybe 2 or 3 games that I would consider playing. 

Which Wii games do you look upon favorably? Inquiring minds want to know

[Link | 2,712]

When the console preview trailer came out I was super excited about the possibilities. 

How many games were there that did any of that? 

[RegularGuyGamer | 2,013]

3 hours ago, Link said:

When the console preview trailer came out I was super excited about the possibilities. 

How many games were there that did any of that? 

I always think back to this and wonder where it all went. Idk where the console that was profiled went. I feel like people always talk about the marketing, which was shit, but what the console ended up being was not as advertised. 

And I get that it was a bumpy time for Sony and Microsoft as well as the XB1 launch was rocky as hell but the Wii U just felt abandoned by Nintendo. Xbox by contrast seemed like MS rolled with the punches and played it by ear to make the most of what they had going for the with the XB1 and ended up pulling out a win for the generation.

The Wii U was DOA and left for dead within the first year in my eyes. Everything else was fan services. Just keeping the bare minimum while they worked on the Switch and making sure the 3DS finished strong. 

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

I hope this response is acceptable. It's still April 1st, and I thought responding this way was a good idea.

https://starwarsintrocreator.kassellabs.io/#!/CMXFkSTmhw80fivC4ySH/edit

[fox | 1,667]

9 hours ago, Link said:

How many games were there that did any of that? 

Remember how the Wii U update Wii Sports (the formally free pack in) offered a “day pass” you could purchase to play for 1 day?

Imagine if that scam had worked and the next Mario or Zelda title had been available as a digital rental?  Yikes!

Darkest timeline stuff

[Estil | 1,265]

9 hours ago, FenrirZero said:

I hope this response is acceptable. It's still April 1st, and I thought responding this way was a good idea.

https://starwarsintrocreator.kassellabs.io/#!/CMXFkSTmhw80fivC4ySH/edit

That's really neat!  I decided to be really blasphemous about it and make a Star Trek: The Next Generation intro from it (the blue intro reading, "A few centuries later across many, many thousands of light years")  

Edited April 2, 2021 by Estil

[YOURTURN | 1,256]

5 hours ago, Estil said:

That's really neat!  I decided to be really blasphemous about it and make a Star Trek: The Next Generation intro from it (the blue intro reading, "A few centuries later across many, many thousands of light years")  

Thanks. I found the site while hoping to do a "Happy Birthday" video for my cousin-in-law. Except I was hoping to do one in the form of Doctor Who.  And that sounds like something I should consider.  Even though I might still have the second Death Star be known as Jeevan's hidden base.

[Sumez | 2,953]

Wasn't marketed very well, but after the shovelware factory that was the Wii, Wiiu felt to me like a long awaited comeback for Nintendo. It was just brimming with fantastic first and second party titles coming out one after the other. And although now obsoleted by the Switch, the ability to just move the game into the gamepad and continue playing handheld on the couch was much more useful to me than I could have imagined. I love it. 

 

8/10

[Estil | 1,265]

5 hours ago, Sumez said:

Wasn't marketed very well, but after the shovelware factory that was the Wii...

Shovelware factory?  Is that anything like the Sunshine Factory?  

 

Edited April 3, 2021 by Estil

[SpoonMan Abrams X | 697]

I missed out on this entirely. A lot of things going on at that time so I just never bothered with it. Lot of interesting things on it but nearly all of the good/important stuff has been ported to Switch and/or 3DS at this point

I still want to get a Wii U just for the HD Zeldas though lol