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What were you favorite non-first party games on the Wii U?

I always see the comments from people "I buy Nintendo systems to play Nintendo games...blah blah..." but I always hate hearing this. I buy any system to play games PERIOD. Wii U may have struggled with actual third party support, but it still had some, even if most were indie games.

I mainly want to see what games besides first party ones did people really enjoy for the Wii U that the system had to offer. I was all in with supporting the Wii U, even with third party games the first year or two, so I got all new games on it if I could. When I did play games like Resident Evil Revelations, and Assassin's Creed IV, I played em on Wii U. Even waited and bought Watch Dogs on Wii U....even though I hate that game now, lol.

I think one of the games that was a surprise for me that I just put a lot of time into and really liked was UnEpic. It kinda came out of no where, and was this little $10 game that I had seen a quick look of on giant bomb, but was still surprised with how big it was, and how much fun I had playing it. It didn't even seem like a game that ever got any buzz either, but I still ended up liking it a lot. Some of the humor is hit or miss, but it still worked for me at times.

I just felt like looking back on the Wii U because I got my Switch here, and my Wii U sitting next to it. Not sure how much more it'll be played going forward. Now that Breath of the Wild appears to be Wii U's swan song for major releases, even though it might see a trickle of the occasional VC update on it. We all know the great games that exist for the Wii U, but I was curious about hearing games that might be under the radar on the system, that didn't get mainstream buzz, but you still liked playing on it.
 
Black Ops 2

60fps Wii Remote first person shooter feels so fucking good it makes me really wish IR aiming was an option for PC shooters. FPS games on Wii were great, but finally having good visual fidelity and 60fps makes it my favorite way to play shooters. It helps this game in particular is one of the best in the series.
 
Rayman Legends, I was more excited for that game than NSMBU. So it sucked when that got delayed like it did.

Guacamelee was another favorite of mine. I wished that got a physical release would have easily bought a retail copy of it.
 
LEGO City Undercover

I was all set to finally buy this game when it got lowered to $20 after waiting for years...but then they went ahead and announced a Switch version, ugh lol. I want to play the game, but I remember when I had borrowed it from my brother, the game just had such bad load times that I couldn't stand to pay full price for it.
 
I honestly didn't own a non-Nintendo physical game outside Rayman Legends. The system was a true dearth of 3rd party. I own more 3rd party games on the Switch with a limited launch window and less than 1 month into it's life cycle (Bomberman R, Shovel Knight, Fast RMX, Blaster Master 0, and Bindings of Isaac).

There isn't hidden gems.

Lego City was ok, maybe there is a case for some indie titles tho. I know I missed out on Shovel Knight which is so good.
 
I honestly didn't own a non-Nintendo physical game outside Rayman Legends. The system was a true dearth of 3rd party. I own more 3rd party games on the Switch with a limited launch window and less than 1 month into it's life cycle (Bomberman R and Bindings of Isaac).

There isn't hidden gems.

That's just plain not true, because I could take one look at my eshop folder, and list a dozen easily. Much of the titles were eventually put on other platforms, but I remember a lot of these came out on Wii U first, or just were cooler to own on Wii U because of off-tv play.
 
Rayman Legends on Wii U is a masterpiece. Still burns that Ubisoft did it dirty so the shitty ports could sell less than the intended version.
 

dickroach

Member
Need For Speed Most Wanted
putting the camera in first person and holding the gamepad right up to my face was awesome

Zombi U
implemented the gamepad better than any Nintendo game ever did

Lego City
same

Bit.Trip Runner 2
first system I played the game on. I love it, and have it on a couple of other systems now.

+ I heard the definitive version of Rayman Legends and Armikrog are on the Wii U, using the gamepad. I haven't got around to playing either of them yet

edit: oh ya
Shovel Knight
got the retail version and a shovel knight amiibo. great game. great amiibo.
 
That's just plain not true, because I could take one look at my eshop folder, and list a dozen easily. Much of the titles were eventually put on other platforms, but I remember a lot of these came out on Wii U first, or just were cooler to own on Wii U because of off-tv play.

One dozen hidden gems? List 'em as it is the point of the thread. I am honestly curious because that is a solid number to justify a console.
 
Rayman Legends, I was more excited for that game than NSMBU. So it sucked when that got delayed like it did.

Guacamelee was another favorite of mine. I wished that got a physical release would have easily bought a retail copy of it.

Cause it's better.

I don't think I have any non first party games other than rayman legends so I go with that as well
 

Smeags

Member
Rayman Legends
Shovel Knight
Child of Light
Shante & the Pirate's Curse
Guacamelee: Super Turbo Championship Edition
Terraria
 
You just made me realize that I hardly own any non first party Wiiu games. I guess the first one that comes to mind is Rodea the Sky Soldier or the Platinum games if they count.
 

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
I think it's because Nintendo published it. I still would consider it third party also though simply because it was made by a third party studio, and is soon coming out on all the other platforms.

It's first party. Doesn't matter "who made it" if it's published by the hardware maker.
 
LEGO City Undercover

Lego City Undercover was damn good. Still my favorite Lego game.

Not third-party.

I think it's because Nintendo published it. I still would consider it third party also though simply because it was made by a third party studio, and is soon coming out on all the other platforms.

No, it was first-party. Nintendo helped with development in some way but whatever deal they had must have expired all these years later.
 

pixelation

Member
That's just plain not true, because I could take one look at my eshop folder, and list a dozen easily.

Well i have not heard of many (if any) here on Neogaf or other gaming sites TBH, not saying there aren't any, just that maybe they weren't good enough to get noticed (not even by gaming enthusiasts).

EDIT: Thought OP was asking about exclusive Wii U hidden gems... pardon my brain fart.
 

Stopdoor

Member
ZombiU, what an underappreciated game. No idea why reviewers were weak on it, it did exactly what it was trying to do, in my opinion.
 
I think it's because Nintendo published it. I still would consider it third party also though simply because it was made by a third party studio, and is soon coming out on all the other platforms.

Obviously, it was just my way of saying it was first party, it gettimg a multiplatform rerelease muddies the waters a bit but just being made by an extrernal studio would open up to Smash being a valid answer for the thread
 

D_prOdigy

Member
ZombiU
MH3U
Affordable Space Adventures
Runner 2
Need For Speed Most Wanted
Deus Ex: Human Revolution Director's Cut

NFS and Deus Ex are an interesting case study of adaptations/ports. The former is by the original developer and the latter is by a studio with a knack for good quality ports. It really shows because they're both great.
 
Rayman Legends, Zombi U, Deus Ex, Lego City Undercover, Steamworld Collection, Shovel Knight, Giana Sisters, Sonic All Stars Racing Tramsformed, and Need for Speed Most Wanted off the top of my head.

ZombiU, what an underappreciated game. No idea why reviewers were weak on it, it did exactly what it was trying to do, in my opinion.

I still feel like that game got the short end of the stick. Sure it had some jank, but it was one of the best survival horror games in recent memory.
 
One dozen hidden gems? List 'em as it is the point of the thread. I am honestly curious because that is a solid number to justify a console.

I guess I don't know if your definition of gem and mine are the same, and like my previous comment, many of these games didn't end up staying exclusive by any means. It's just as a Wii U owner, we still had a healthy selection of fun games.

I guess I'll list some of the ones I had in mind though in no particular order...

Shovel Knight
The Fall
Affordable Space Adventures
Freedom Planet
Unepic
Mighty Switch Force HD, and MSF2
Mutant Mudds Deluxe
1001 Spikes
One Piece Unlimited World Red
Sonic Lost World
All the Shantae games
Steamworld Heist
Runner 2
Guacamelee Super Turbo Championship Edition

That's not all of them, but that's just some of the games I own personally.
 

dickroach

Member
Obviously, it was just my way of saying it was first party, it gettimg a multiplatform rerelease muddies the waters a bit but just being made by an extrernal studio would open up to Smash being a valid answer for the thread

a lot of Nintendo games were made my external studios
Yoshi Woolly World, Paper Mario Color Splash, Mario Tennis Garbage Heap, etc.
they're still Nintendo games
 

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
1) where do you see that? i just searched and didn't find anything saying that
2) it's being ported to other systems. it's a third party game.

You really don't have a grasp of publishing terminology. Lego City Stories was produced and published by Nintendo on the Wii U. It was first party then. Obviously not know since WB is handling those duties.

a lot of Nintendo games were made my external studios
Yoshi Woolly World, Paper Mario Color Splash, Mario Tennis Garbage Heap, etc.
they're still Nintendo games

Even though those games were primarily handled by contract outer studios, Nintendo still involves itself in aspects of development and production. So outside of the pure publishing and distribution, Nintendo is still involved in the development.
 

D_prOdigy

Member
also lol, I really think in the spirit of this thread and the sort of the thing OP was going for, it wouldn't be some crime against semantics to count Lego City Undercover
 
Mass Effect 3 on Wii U and AC4 on Wii U is amazing.

Wanna know something amazing? I booted up ME3 on Wii U earlier today, because I just felt like playing the multiplayer after all the andromeda talk lately. I didn't actually expect to find anyone playing it, but I logged in, and actually got in a game with 3 other players lol. I was shocked to say the least.
 

Shikamaru Ninja

任天堂 の 忍者
Well I wouldn't consider Ninja Gaiden 3 Razor's Edge first party, even though Nintendo published that too...game came out months later on other platforms.

But it is. Your problem is wanting to believe that first party means something other than hardware manufacturer published.
 

NewGame

Banned
ZombiU is one of the greatest survival horror games of the generation hands down./

Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, while being an average port still showed that the WiiU had great potential as a multiplayer online console with great use of the gamepad, microphone and off-tv menu management.

Little Inferno. While this game is more suited to the mobile platform for it's meta-message, sitting at home in front of my big screen TV really hit home the disposable and time consuming nature of a lot of these things.
 

fernoca

Member
May not be under the radar, but own and played:

-Lego City Undercover (added anyway, despite the posts above...:p...is the best Lego game out there)
-Minecraft
-Tekken Tag Tournament 2
-Injustice
-Resident Evil Revelations
-Guitar Hero Live
-Scribblenauts Unmasked
-ACIV Black Flag
-Child of Light
-Batman Arkham Origins
-Darksiders II
-Watch Dogs
-Splinter Cell Blacklist
-Rayman Legends
-ZombiU


-Affordable Space Adventures
-FAST Racing NEO
-Shovel Knight
-Citizens of Earth
-Sword and Soldiers II
-The Swapper
-The Swindle
-Never Alone
-Oddworld New and Tasty
-Freeze Me
-Pure Chess
-Year Walk
-Teslagrad
-Freedom Planet
-Gunman Clive
-Runbow

And quite a few more. :p

Some like Affordable Space were unique games, others even stuff like a permanent moveset on the gamepad lime Injustice or a map in Resident Evil Revelations were nice additions that made me choose the Wii U version over others.

But yeah, I love Nintendo...but I also love gaming, so while Nintendo games on a Nintendo hardware are a priority, are not just the only ones.
 

bman94

Member
Batman: Arkham City Armored Edition & Batman Arkham Origins - Loved these games, put about 38 and 37 hours into them respectfully. I really liked the gamepad features in Arkham City.

Lego Jurassic Park - Big Jurassic Park fan and this was my first Lego game so I enjoyed it a lot. Didn't like the frame dips tho, and they were super noticeable.

Tekken Tag Tournament 2 - While I'm pretty bad at Tekken, it's a great port and the Nintendo centric features are cool.
 

Kazerei

Banned
Deus Ex: Human Revolution - Director's Cut
Splinter Cell: Blacklist

Both are great games no matter which platform. The Wii U versions add useful touchscreen features while maintaining comparable performance to the PS360 versions.
 
Wanna know something amazing? I booted up ME3 on Wii U earlier today, because I just felt like playing the multiplayer after all the andromeda talk lately. I didn't actually expect to find anyone playing it, but I logged in, and actually got in a game with 3 other players lol. I was shocked to say the least.

I got given the game for free at the UK Wii U launch event, only ever played an hour or 2, probably should play it properly some time
 
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