The Wii U

[Smokey]

Did you own a Wii U before the Switch  launched? We picked one up years ago and it was fun for awhile but it was just a very underpowered system and the gamepad tablet was clunky and uncomfortable to play games with IMO. I feel like they should've just released the Switch instead of having the Wii U be a stop-gap between the Wii and Switch, personally.  What do you think? Did you own an Wii U?

[Kane99]

Nope, I never owned or even played a Wii U. I wanted one, but it wasn't a console I made much of a fuss over. I just remember it being kind of a let down among fans, and it's what pushed them to innovate even more with the Switch. 

If I ever find one at a thrift store or at a yard sale for cheap, I'll pick one up. :) 

[killamch89]

I had one given to me but I never played it much if I'm being honest and I sold a year later. The concept itself was rather ambitious but the execution was extremely poor by Nintendo.

[Empire]

Not at all. I got to experience those games earlier on, and now more people get to have fun playing those great games.

Heck, I'd argue the Wii U is still a console worth owning in 2022 - it has a handful of great exclusives, and can be used as a device to play a strong backlog of Nintendo games.

[Moonface]

I bought one with my wife and honestly besides the few gems still stuck on it like Wind Waker HD, it was an utter waste of money and I think it was a poorly executed idea that didn't get properly realized until the Switch. If anything I hope Nintendo just learned their lesson when it comes to naming console successors poorly because this plus the New Nintendo 3DS was a period of atrocious naming and marketing by Nintendo for their systems.

[Shortie]

Yes, I did own a Wii U before the Switch was launched but to be honest, even though we owned one, it didn't get used as much as we thought it would and after a while of it not being use, we ended up selling it. I am so glad that the Nintendo Switch is a lot more powerful and enjoyable to be honest and we tend to play the Nintendo Switch way more than we ever did the Wii U.

[Ravenfreak]

I got a Wii U brand new a few years after it was released. I though it was cool at the time, if someone in your family wanted to use the TV but you wanted to keep playing your game you could just play it via the gamepad. I just feel like it's name really made sales worse than they could have been. After the huge success of the Wii, it's a shame the Wii U couldn't be as good as it's predecessor.

[killamch89]

On 1/14/2023 at 9:13 PM, Shortie said:

Yes, I did own a Wii U before the Switch was launched but to be honest, even though we owned one, it didn't get used as much as we thought it would and after a while of it not being use, we ended up selling it. I am so glad that the Nintendo Switch is a lot more powerful and enjoyable to be honest and we tend to play the Nintendo Switch way more than we ever did the Wii U.

Same here - I bought it but hardly used it and I never liked it all that much to begin with so I got rid of it within a year. If I'm being honest, it irritates me when I even have to talk about the WII U lol.

[Anders]

I bought a Wii U back in 2013, and I loved that thing. Being able to play on the gamepad alone without the TV was honestly kind of mind blowing for me at the time. Besides the obvious Windwaker, Mario 3D World and Smash Brothers, my favorite game on the system was probably LEGO City: Undercover. It was a Wii U exclusive when it launched, and it was so much fun. I also remember playing a ton of CoD: Black Ops 2 of all things, which actually had a surprisingly active community at the time. That game also had a very neat feature where you could play local Zombies multiplayer with one player playing on the TV and the other on the gamepad. Show me another console that can pull off that trick, I dare you. 

[killamch89]

On 5/4/2023 at 4:25 PM, Anders said:

I bought a Wii U back in 2013, and I loved that thing. Being able to play on the gamepad alone without the TV was honestly kind of mind blowing for me at the time. Besides the obvious Windwaker, Mario 3D World and Smash Brothers, my favorite game on the system was probably LEGO City: Undercover. It was a Wii U exclusive when it launched, and it was so much fun. I also remember playing a ton of CoD: Black Ops 2 of all things, which actually had a surprisingly active community at the time. That game also had a very neat feature where you could play local Zombies multiplayer with one player playing on the TV and the other on the gamepad. Show me another console that can pull off that trick, I dare you. 

You know, you're one of the few people that I've met that has a good opinion of the WII U. I liked the concept but the execution is what really let it down - in my opinion at least.

[The Blackangel]

On 12/16/2022 at 2:55 PM, Smokey said:

Did you own a Wii U before the Switch launched? We picked one up years ago and it was fun for awhile but it was just a very underpowered system and the gamepad tablet was clunky and uncomfortable to play games with IMO. I feel like they should've just released the Switch instead of having the Wii U be a stop-gap between the Wii and Switch, personally. What do you think? Did you own an Wii U?

I never owned one, but I do think it was an important system. It was a precursor to what would make the Switch a success. They heard what gamers were saying, which led them to design a console that fixed those problems as best they could. The Switch is a complete redesign of the Wii U. So while it was a massive flop, I think that told them that they had to do something different for their next console if they didn't want to go back to making playing cards again.

[Tsalagi_Dragon]

I got one not long after it was released, and I still have it. I really enjoy the Wii U. I bought a game on the eshop before it closed this year.

[Lens]

I honestly think the Wii U was definitely an innovative experiment, but its limitations and poor marketing is what is holding it back.