The Wii U May be Dead, But its Library is Still Incredible

With the news that Nintendo may be ending production of the Wii U, it's not a bad idea to remember the system's small but stellar library.

[ElectricFeel]

Definitely agree. The Wii U had the best first party games this gen imo. Nothing released broken and buggy and all high quality, fun games.

[SquidBuck]

First party platformers maybe. Just wish they had more genres in their first party lineup.

[lobocob]

Yup. Console with the best Nintendo games

[ElectricFeel]

I agree, I wish Nintendo would diversify. They could easily have studios developing games of all genres, yet they decide to limit them. Although the fact that Splatoon was developed by a younger team at Nintendo suggests we may see very different things from them in the future.

[dedicatedtogamers]

Well, for starters those first-party platformers are pretty darn good: 3D World, Wooly World, Tropical Freeze, Mario Maker, and NSMB U (and Luigi U). For a fan of platformers (I fall into that category) it's a pretty phenomenal system especially when you add in the Wii backwards compatibilty.

Beyond that, there are quite a few top-notch games in their respective genres: Mario Kart 8, Smash Bros, Captain Toad, and Xenoblade were all excellent, and I say that as a PS4 and PC owner. There are others like Kirby Rainbow Whatever, Hyrule Warriors, Pikmin, two Zelda remakes, and Splatoon that I don't personally have any interest in but there you go.

And lastly, any action-game fan would be missing out on two of the best action games ever made: Bayonetta 2 and Wonderful 101. There's also the best version of another cannot-miss action game: Bayonetta 1.

Not saying it's the best system ever made, but the library has some undeniable gems. Everyone know the system was a huge bomb. Let's move past that. It'll be replaced soon by Switch. May as well acknowledge the games in the system that were good.

[Army_of_Darkness]

Naw... If the wiiU had enough good games then I would have had one by now...

[WeAreLegion]

You mean besides all the crappy titles like Game & Wario, Mario Party 10, and Amiibo Festival?

[JunMei]

Mario Party 10 was pretty terrible. All they have to do is get rid of the stupid car.

[LOL_WUT]

You can add Star Fox Zero, Paper Mario Color Splash, and Kirby and the rainbow curse ;)

[buttcheeks]

Nothing impressive about that considering it's been out longer if anything the Wii u had the weakest exclusive lineup of any Nintendo console

[Redx165]

The Wii U has been dead for 2 years.

Most of their lobby is from 2014 and even that isn't so much.

Wii U is a failure.

[DanteVFenris666]

Nah 2015 was a great year as well. Yoshi wooly world and Mario maker were great.

[Monster_Tard]

Also Xenoblade Chronicles X, Splatoon and Pokken Tournament was released in 2015.

[OzzY-waZZy]

D-E-A-D

[JumpAction]

I had a great time with my Wii U. There are plenty of fun games to play on it. :)

[Kyizen]

5 great games over 4 years is not impressive...

[Segata]

I own 40

[Stevonidas]

I only buy consoles for the exclusives (and odd 3rd party title), and I own more games for my Wii U than my PS4 and XB1s COMBINED.

[MrMagz]

Splatoon, New Super Mario Bros U, Mario 3D World, Super Smash Bros for Wii U, Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8, Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Pokken, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Hyrule Warriors, Yoshi's Woolly World, and Mario Maker are all amazing games. I could even keep going, but I think I've made my point.

[superchiller]

No, you really haven't made your point. That's a sad little list for the lifetime of the Wii U, and many of those games are just average (at best).

[MrMagz]

@superchiller My point was that there are way more than just 5 good Wii U games, which is the point I was responding to. I never said that the Wii U had the biggest lineup of games, but every game I listed (as far as I know) has a 75 or higher (with a lot of those being higher than 85), and the ones that are below 80 are 2nd and 3rd party exclusives. So saying that there aren't any games that are good and fun to play on the Wii U just isn't true.

[PhoenixUp]

I wish Nintendo would cut the price of their games more frequently so I could binge play through more of the system's library more effectively

[Muzikguy]

If the library were so incredible, the system would have sold. Just sayin'

[Segata]

Not really. Turbgrafx,Neo Geo,Saturn,Dreamcast are systems with a fantastic library. Just other variables happened that prevented them from having more success. Sometimes poor marketing or the hardware was not up to standards and other reasons.

[WeAreLegion]

No. Those are systems with good libraries that came out at the same time as systems with much better libraries.

[Muzikguy]

Turbografx, neo geo, and the 3DO were too expensive. I believe that was the biggest problem there, but yes I agree. I never played the Dreamcast but I'll believe it was a good system. Controller and that VMU though weren't that great IMO. Saturn I didn't like and I'm glad I got the PS system over that. I will say though that at the time I was envious of some of the games. Even if the console ports were crap, like Virtua Cop and Virtua Fighter. There are definitely many variables that go into a console's lifetime sales

[Muzikguy]

I know guys. I was just being a smart ass 😄. I actually really hate the term "just sayin'". Sounds like a cop out for the weak to me.

There are many factors that make a system not sell. It doesn't all hinge on its library of games. Timing is a huge one along with a poor vision of the future being another. Of course there are still many more

@fleece

Yeah word of mouth is probably the biggest factor in determining sales, whether they be good or bad. It is sad that more people don't think for themselves and just buy whatever is "cool"

[joel_c17]

Incredibly small

[kevnb]

I don't regret owning a wii u, I also have a 7 year old son that seems to prefer it to any other sysyem. Mario maker keeps him busy endlessly, and Bayonetta 2 is pretty near my favorite game ever.
Other standouts:
Pikmin 3
Splatoon
Smash brothers
Mario kart 8
The zelda remakes (I never played either originally)
Donkey Kong country tropical freeze
Kirby rainbow curse
Lego city undercover
Super Mario 3d world
Xeonosaga chronicles x

[DanteVFenris666]

A sad day when you know some people consider themselves gamers have never picked up a Zelda game. I'm glad you got to experience 2 really must play games in my opinion. Like to me Zelda was the gaming franchise that got me sucked in. Oh I'll always remember orcarina of time.

[hiawa23]

If u r not into the Nintendo games maybe not. I bought my daughter a Wiiu and every exclusive. All her girlfriends were online on Xbox and Playstation, so she wanted and Xbox 360, now the Wiiu with all those games have not been turned on in months. I guess I will keep it. It just has no apoeal to me. Incredible is not a word I would use and judging by the install base, the Nintendo games by themselves I am not sure does not have the same appeal in the console space as they once did, whoch translates to console sales. Nintendo needs to make sure this does not happen with the NX, and it seems they have making the console what seems as a handheld that can be docked, console second.

[ikarodemon]

Is the minimum that is expected from a company game. Nothing impressive. If the company had not any good game should exit the game market.

[Stevonidas]

Can anyone translate this into English? Google doesn't recognize it.

[Nivekki]

I don't think Google can translate the Shit language, only people like ikarodemon are fluent in it.

[Segata]

wut

[CocoaBrother]

I play mine every time my friends are over. The amount of local multiplayer games on the system brings lots of fun to us, especially my girlfriend and I.

Two games I highly recommend are Runbow and Affordable Space Adventures. Runbow is chaotic when you play 8 players and ASA is a really interesting game when played by yourself or with 3(yes 3) players.

[Dario_DC]

Damage control for a useless system with the biggest gaming droughts in gaming history. Please keep your useless opinion to yourself

[JumpAction]

Have you tried the Wii U before or is it not your cup of tea?

[Dario_DC]

Yeah I did, funny enough I even played Mario kart before most people. It's not my cup of tea thou, way to expensive and next to no games.

[JumpAction]

Was it the quality of games that are avaiable on the system that didn't draw you in or just the price point and quantity of games?

[EddieNX]

Says the guy who's missed out on all WiiU games amd has no idea how good they are. But I guess your opinion is what really matters hmm? Get out of town!

[AKR]

No opinion is "useless". This is the Internet, where anyone is free to share their thoughts, just as you shared yours. Do you have a problem with that? Well, then get off Internet.

[343_Guilty_Spark]

Why hasn't it been put on sale?

[superchiller]

Because Nintendo is greedy and cheap.

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

why do people defend nintendo so much? lol

[Monster_Tard]

How is this a defense? The author stated that the console is dead. The games may not interest you, but you can't argue with the fact that it has many games that have received great reviews and many have sold more copies than most of the exclusives from the other 8th gen consoles despite the console having a much lower install base.

[chobit_A5HL3Y]

i don't mean the article, i mean the people in the comments lol

[MrMagz]

I think people feel like they have to defend Nintendo because there seems to be way more articles dissing Nintendo than praising them. Nearly every day I see at least one opinion piece talking about how much Nintendo doesn't get it or just isn't good, and most of the time the writer hasn't even played a Nintendo game in forever. Not even an hour after the Switch was revealed I saw three articles about how it was doomed just from the 3 minutes commercial that only revealed the basic concept and not much else concrete. So if the world seems to think it is the cool thing to hate on Nintendo, then there is nothing wrong with people bringing out the positives of the company as well.

[LOL_WUT]

It's because people have been saying this for the longest yet you guys still defend them. Most of you can't even admit when you're wrong LOL. ;)

"Wait a year, the console will pick up then"
"Wait till E3"
"Wait till Mario Kart"
"Wait till Smash"
"The WiiU isn't dead"

[blawren4]

We defend because we don't like to leave Nintendo bashing unchecked. Especially those that spread lies. Why do people bash nintendo so much? What exactly is gained by this.

[DanteVFenris666]

Let's be real here. I own a PS4 and a wiiu. So I'm not trying to pick sides. But the truth of the matter is others do. They want to prove to themselves the price of plastic they bought has more meaning than the plastic others people bought. When really there just missing out on more good games and experiences.

Basically just people trying to validate there purchase. Or I've even seen very insecure men thinking that if they touched a Nintendo game that means there a kid. You'd have to be Very insecure to think that way.

[KwietStorm_BLM]

There's nothing to sugar coat about the Wii U at this point. It's a Nintendo machine, and I mean that through and through. If you enjoy Nintendo made games, then it might have some saving grace, but seeing as how the industry lives and breathes off of third party developers, there's nothing at all incredible about the machine to a lot more people who *didn't* buy it, and that's the problem.

I'm really hoping Nintendo cuts out the idea that the other guys are doing things wrong, because going against the grain and being unique and innovative for the sake of being innovative just doesn't matter if you can't reach outside your comfort zone. They're becoming borderline irrelevant just because they're trying too hard to be different. Just put some more damn GBs and GHz and Wifis in your system so you can have your Nintendo games and make third party studios happy at the same time.

[hiawa23]

Some will say that is why they designed the NX as a handheld that docks, and maybe the 3DS gamers will come aboard, and merge the two. There is no way the NX can bomb like the Wiiu, right?

[Automatic79]

I would pick up Wii U if sold for 99 dollars being that the support has dried up.

[lobocob]

What weird buying patterns Nintendo fanboys have. You guys miss out on great ambitious games.

[deafdani]

I don't miss on anything, I own a PS4 as well. That said, all of my favorite current gen games are on Wii U, with the exception of Bloodborne, which is my favorite PS4 game by a mile.

But I've yet to play Witcher 3. :P

[gbsrnctaln]

Incredible is a massive overstatement. MK8 and SM3DW were great. B2 was good. After that...

Missing out on all of the AAA multiplats makes their library a huge net negative.

[Tatanga]

Wii u library is ridiculous compared to the gamecube.

[gbsrnctaln]

Yes. In a bad way. I would rather have an updated library of GC games 10000 times more than what we got on wiiu.

[Xzviur_Azai]

I have a Wii U but come on, the Switch will have ports of the U's best games. The only people who missed out are going to be those who never had interest in Nintendo anyways. I just got Smash U but I'm already annoyed at the ports which will perform better on Switch, least it was free.