The Nintendo Wii U turns 5 years old

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November 18, 2012 was a big day; Nintendo had just released its latest console onto the market. The Wii U was ready for the spotlight, armed with its tablet controller and exclusives like Nintendoland and New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo was ready to move into the "HD" era. Offering two variations, a white 8GB console that retailed for $299.99, and a 32GB black version, for $349.99. Bundled with it came the infamous Wii U tablet controller, Nintendoland, and the system itself. Those who purchased the console on launch also had access to third party ports and titles like Assassin's Creed III, Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition, and Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed. It was a modest lineup, and many people balked at the mildly outdated technology and few games offered. Nintendo had high hopes for its console, projecting sales of 90 million units.

The Wii U would go on to get mild third party support, with ports of games like Deus Ex: Human Revolution, Monster Hunter 3: Ultimate, and Mass Effect 3. Ubisoft had planned to really back the Wii U, but when sales weren't up to expectations, the publisher began to turn its back on the console, to the point of taking the then to-be Wii U exclusive Rayman Legends, and making it multiplatform. Competition from stronger consoles like the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 further hurt the Wii U, as customers weren't swayed to buy a weaker console with few exclusives. Nintendo looked to be in a bind--their 2013 lineup would be crucial if they wanted to turn around their low sales.

The following year brought a good chunk of games to the table. There was a mainline Mario game in the co-op focused platformer, Super Mario 3D World. A classic Zelda game from the GameCube era got a fresh coat of high def paint with Wind Waker HD. Pikmin 3 hit store shelves to moderate praise, and SEGA signed a contract with Nintendo to create three Sonic games for the Wii U, one of which being Sonic Lost World. However, it wasn't enough. Sales foundered, and the Wii U continued being ridiculed by many.

2014 was certainly a turnaround year for the system. Nintendo came out of the gate strong; their highly anticipated Super Smash Bros. title was released after years of teasing. SEGA had given an unlikely sequel in the form of Bayonetta 2. In-house studio Retro put out what was considered one of the best platformers in years: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze. Nintendo fans cheered as a new Mario Kart game finally revved into full gear. An even more unlikely alliance occurred when Koei Tecmo and Nintendo partnered to create Hyrule Warriors. Nintendo Nindies was established to give indie devs incentive to put their games on the console, which resulted in beloved games like Shovel Knight, Freedom Planet, and Shantae. Things were looking much brighter for the Wii U.

2015 kept up the pace with a sequel to a well established Wii RPG, Xenoblade Chronicles X, had an overnight success with the creative online shooter Splatoon, and had even more success with Mario Maker. In the end, though, all these games were not enough to save the Wii U from selling abysmally. With the aforementioned library, it has a solid amount of cult classics, well enough to be remembered for years after. Nintendo however, would halt production on the Wii U before the system could have a 5th birthday. Today, the Wii U turns five years old. Though the Switch now overshadows it, the Wii U still made an impact.

What are your fondest memories of the Wii U? Were you a fan? Did you dislike it? Are you yet to purchase one at all, or were you a loyal early adopter? Be sure you share your comments below!
 

comput3rus3r

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Wii U still my favorite console. I could care less what console sales the most. I have so many favorite games on the system not to mention that you also get backwards compatibility with wii giving you a huge library of games.
 

PICTOCHAT

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I can't believe it's been half a decade since Wii U released. I remember playing NSMBU every day after I bought it. I still use my Wii U to play MK8 and MKWii online. Gonna get a Switch soon to play MK8DX online :)
 

socialbacon

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It simply looked too much like a Wii, confusing consumers. 'Is it just a new controller for the Wii?'

Nintendo's mistake was modelling it after the Wii. The Wii was a family console and many families are of the opinion that once you own a toy, you don't need to upgrade to a newer version.

I bought my WiiU used about 2 years ago for $100. It was a great deal that I couldn't pass up and Nintendo's first-party games on the system were a blast to play (except Colour Splash).

The WiiU was worth a purchase for the first-party games alone. I'll probably whip it out from time to time, but I'm moving forward and cheering on the success of the Switch.
 
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Stephano

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Find any good deals on a used Wii U? Should be kinda cheap, at least in the $100-200 range, I bet.
I'm hoping to find one in the 120-150 range. We have 52 dollars right now that we have collectively gotten from change and college campus surveys.
I haven't really found one there yet. The best i have seen are on amazon
 

SSG Vegeta

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I'm an early adopter of the WiiU & here are my thoughts Nintendo could've saved the WiiU had the added a play style similar to the DS but they didn't. I would say my fondest memories but I still have my WiiU even though I'm getting a Nintendo Switch for christmas
 

qqq1

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I bought a Wii U at the end of its life because I was not interested in the Switch. I'm still mad that they cut the second screen Zelda features so they could pretend like it was intended for the Switch and not the Wii U.
 
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Lazyboss

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Wii U vs Switch? the Wii U wins by miles.
i have no idea why people hate the Wii U that much and hail the Switch even before the release, the Wii U have many exclusive games over the years and it can even play Wii games, and the Wii can play Gamecube Games, and thanx to many people who worked on Homebrew apps and made the Wii U the ultimate console for nintendo, Wii U, Wii, GC and Emulators all in one console, while the Switch have 2 or 3 games worth playing, maybe in the future the Switch will succeed then i will get one, but as of now all i see is the Switch have the same problem of the Wii U, no games, but still many people defend the switch.
shame, shame, shame.
 

Kioku

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Wii U vs Switch? the Wii U wins by miles.
i have no idea why people hate the Wii U that much and hail the Switch even before the release, the Wii U have many exclusive games over the years and it can even play Wii games, and the Wii can play Gamecube Games, and thanx to many people who worked on Homebrew apps and made the Wii U the ultimate console for nintendo, Wii U, Wii, GC and Emulators all in one console, while the Switch have 2 or 3 games worth playing, maybe in the future the Switch will succeed then i will get one, but as of now all i see is the Switch have the same problem of the Wii U, no games, but still many people defend the switch.
shame, shame, shame.
So much wrong with this post.. Not even counting formatting.
 

Kioku

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Thank you for explaining.

The Wii U was objectively a failure. The Switch is succeeding in ways the former could not.

"maybe in the future the Switch will succeed then i will get one"

To be completely and brutally honest? If you're that ignorant to think the Wii U had a shot and somehow the Switch is doing poorly, nothing I say will change that. Also, try to avoid such a long run on sentence. That was terrible to read.

Not to mention, poor marketing is only a small piece as to why the console did so bad. Everyone knew it was out there, not a lot of people cared for what it offered from a hardware aspect. It went to shit less than halfway through its lifespan. First party titles were there, but they weren't enough to keep the system going.. Obviously.
 
Last edited by Kioku,

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