Current Events > C/D. History will be very kind to the Wii U.

(+) Yeah! (+)

C. It is already having a major resurgence in popularity and people are already looking back at it fondly. I even see Switch owners lamenting how much more creative and fun old Nintendo used to be back in the Wii U days. They say the system and the games had a lot more personality than the corporate feel today.

I think down the line, it will be regarded the same way we regard the Dreamcast: a system ahead of its time that deserved to be more successful than it was.

No

Yes, it'll be the next Dreamcast/Xbox

If the Switch didn't have any Wii U ports, its library would be even more garbage than it already is

Only when people are reminiscing about Wind Waker HD.

The library just isn't there, a lot of it's best games are improved on an infinitely more popular/better piece of hardware, it won't be easy to emulate due to the funky tablet controller, etc. I look back fondly on my Wii U as a Smash machine but I still feel sour when I think of how it was basically stuck in a never ending drought til Nintendo pushed it along with filler life-support titles.

The Vita deserves to be looked back on fondly WAY more.

WrestlinFan posted...

The library just isn't there, a lot of it's best games are improved on an infinitely more popular/better piece of hardware, it won't be easy to emulate due to the funky tablet controller, etc. I look back fondly on my Wii U as a Smash machine but I still feel sour when I think of how it was basically stuck in a never ending drought til Nintendo pushed it along with filler life-support titles.

The Vita deserves to be looked back on fondly WAY more.

This. What little the Wii U had has been ported to the Switch, often heavily improved Mario Kart 8, Mario 3D World, Bayonetta, etc.). Even if those games somehow never got ported, it would still be underwhelming. It really was a misfire for Nintendo.

Most of the first party games ended up being ported to the Switch or had a sequel that improved it on almost every way (Smash, Mario Maker, Splatoon)

There's only a handful of games left, and many of those aren't exclusive either (TP & WW being on the gamecube originally, or NES Remix and Yoshi's Woolly World ending up on the 3DS)

That leaves what, Xenoblade Chronicles X? Star Fox Zero was a disaster.

The system was both a sleeper hit and kind of trash, just like the Dreamcast. I would expect it largely to be remembered fondly.

Deny, too much crossed over to the Switch.

No. A lot of games got ported to Switch. The switch is superior concept as well.

lol

Lion_of_Gemini posted...

It is already having a major resurgence in popularity

Is it tho?

The only thing it does better than the Switch is the community aspect that the Wii also had.

The best thing people tend to say about it is the Virtual Console and the homebrew capabilities, which makes its library look even more lackluster than it already is.

ellis123 posted...

The system was both a sleeper hit and kind of trash, just like the Dreamcast. I would expect it largely to be remembered fondly.

Never heard someone call the Dreamcast trash. Not angry. Just surprised. It delivered a lot of memorable classics and niche hits for how little time it was on the market.

Meanwhile, part of me wants to buy a Wii U because Zombie U looks like an interesting survival horror game with the gameplay concept, but want at least 5 games worth playing, and cant even come up with that. The only other two, Windwaker and Twilight Princess, I feel are going to finally be announced for Switch the moment I buy the system (genuinely shocked they havent been ported yet).

Was history kind to Virtual Boy?

I remember it the same way I remember the Dreamcast. A massive misfire.

Raikuro posted...

Is it tho?

Yes. Im seeing a lot of fanfare for the system on gamefaqs, YouTube, Reddit, etc. People miss it and didnt appreciate what they had.

I know dozens of people that had/still own Wiis. I dont know a single person who owned a Wii U, I dont think Ive ever even seen one in real life outside of a box in the store

I would guess there's always going to be a small community of people who are really into it, but most gamers won't care about it much.

Wii U is just a worse Switch.

Decades from now it will be remembered as a colossal failure that unfortunately didn't kill Nintendo

Deny.

It was bad and will go down in history as a footnote.

Nah. Barely any exclusives, and Nintendo intentionally gutted Wii U releases to make the Switch port more appealing (Breath of the Wild did this). Not much to be nostalgic for.

The Wii U was fire and I'm not sorry.

D

Lion_of_Gemini posted...

Yes. Im seeing a lot of fanfare for the system on gamefaqs, YouTube, Reddit, etc. People miss it and didnt appreciate what they had.

I guess if you mean one single vocal person talking positively about it would count as a major resurgence compared to zero people.

Zora_Prince posted...

Never heard someone call the Dreamcast trash. Not angry. Just surprised. It delivered a lot of memorable classics and niche hits for how little time it was on the market.

Meanwhile, part of me wants to buy a Wii U because Zombie U looks like an interesting survival horror game with the gameplay concept, but want at least 5 games worth playing, and cant even come up with that. The only other two, Windwaker and Twilight Princess, I feel are going to finally be announced for Switch the moment I buy the system (genuinely shocked they havent been ported yet).

Both had games that could easily be considered classics, but both largely had an extremely limited library to the point that the classics in question are the only ones that existed at all. For an example, both of the Donkey Kong Country games on the Wii U were bangers that everyone who is into platformers should play and thus we've already hit your requisite 5 games. Not to mention other massive titles on the console like Xenoblade, Mario Maker, and Splatoon: the Wii U absolutely and unequivocally has just as many, if not more, classic games than the Dreamcast. But just as mentioned, it doesn't matter if it has a couple of classics when the total number of games is so low. The Dreamcast had just above 600 games, the Wii U just below 800: numbers that mean that the vast majority of people will not actually view them as worth looking into due to the lack in variety.

They were both solid systems with some good games on them, but they are definitely failed consoles, hence why they are kind of trash. Heck, both of them have the same sort of issue in that the vast majority of the stuff worth playing on them got ported to other systems/was on another system in the first place. They very much are the same sort of console in every respect besides the Dreamcast being ahead of the tech curve versus the Wii U being more gimmicky.

*hugs Wii U*

I always loved you buddy. A lot of highly rated switch games came from the U so I'm happy to own it

Plus the best Xenoblade game is exclusive to it so there's that. And the Zelda HD games. I own and beat BOTW on it too. It had a great life but Nintendo ported most everything to the switch so it's library isn't as good now. Still, I already played and owned a lot of the games they tried to sell for full price with small to no adjustments years earlier so I'm happy regardless

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This. Plus, a lot of niche and cult classics.

No, it'll be the next Dreamcast/Xbox

lmao people don't even remember what it is at all. it'll be the next Saturn. only gamers will remember Sega ever produced that shit, but the rest of society doesn't give a crap, and it's certainly not remembered or thought about in any sense.

I liked my Wii U and thought this at the time. But the Switch absolutely buried the Wii U. It has nearly all of the games.

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The games were great. The pace of releases, the third party support and the actual hardware itself was the problem.

Seriously when I have plugged that thing in the last couple of years it's pretty crazy just how slow and clunky it is.

Turbam posted...

Yes, it'll be the next Dreamcast/Xbox

dont disrespect the Dreamcast like that.

GuerrillaSoldier posted...

lmao people don't even remember what it is at all. it'll be the next Saturn. only gamers will remember Sega ever produced that shit, but the rest of society doesn't give a crap, and it's certainly not remembered or thought about in any sense.

That's not really equivalent since a lot of the best Saturn games were never ported to anything else. That's a big reason they go for such high prices today.

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The Wii U had amazing games but the console itself and its gimmicks (even at their best) were horrendous and using the console was always a pain in the ass. Nintendo gave up on most of the unique software features early into the console's lifespan too.

Phenomenal_one posted...

dont disrespect the Dreamcast like that.

I havent owned an Xbox since the 360, but that seems unfair towards the original Xbox. I have zero regrets going with the PS2 that generation, but the Xbox had a good detail of exclusives that I was always jealous of (KOTOR, Jade Empire, Ninja Gaiden, Jet Set Radio Future) and not knowing many people who owned an Xbox growing up, I never appreciated how powerful it was (Conker:Reloaded and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory look like 360 games and the multiplayer form games in general look fantastic).

Im not a fan of the direction Microsoft has gone since the Xbox One, but its unfair to throw the original Xbox and 360 under the bus because of that.

Nah, most of the noteworthy games made it to the Switch. There are a few cult classics stuck on that system, though.

Dreamcast has the best arcade ports of all time

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See, as an outsider looking it, its offerings still seem slim. Let's pretend that the Switch isn't released or they had somehow never been ported. Its offerings are still slim. My go to example is Super Mario 3D World. It looks fun and charming, but it really was so meager and plain in comparison to all the other mainline console Mario games (64, Sunshine, Galaxy, Odyssey). That's how I feel about the Wii U in general: some fun unique titles here and there but not a single must-have/system seller/GOAT game.

It really was a low point for Nintendo. I'm glad they came back swinging with the Switch, which I believe is the greatest system they've ever released.

As someone who got a Wii U shortly after launch:

I think that if the Wii Us games had stayed exclusive to it, then the Wii U could have achieved cult classic status. It would never have become as loved as the Gamecube is nowadays, but a lot of the 13 million people who bought one would have fond memories of it. The exclusive games for it would be seen as underrated gems that few people played.

However thats not what happened, obviously. Almost every good Wii U game has been ported to the Switch. Most people think of games like Mario Kart 8 and Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze as Switch games. Even BOTW, the most critically acclaimed Switch game, is technically a Wii U game that was ported to Switch late in its development.

So no, I dont think the Wii U will be looked back on like the Dreamcast. Nintendo replaced it and ported the games too quickly for that to happen. Also, one of the best features of the Wii U was the Virtual Console, but that was shut down last year.

There is one Wii U game that will never be ported to Switch, that I think deserves more recognition: Nintendo Land. It was a launch title and was one of the few games to use the Gamepad in interesting ways. Its not a game that anyone can play like Wii Sports, but it is a lot of fun and has a surprising amount of content and replayability.

Well see what people think when the Switch 2 is finally released. Once it is 2 generations old, I think interest in the Wii U will skyrocket.