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[entremet]

The eight generation was pretty rough for Nintendo. The 3DS had a very slow start and the 3D conceit never really caught on. They were able make a decent turnaround, but it failed to match the DS's in overall sales.

Wii U was a disaster from the start, both from the marketing and initial design. Too many casual customers thought it was a Wii attachment. Nintendo went conservative on the system specs again, but the initial cost of the system was much higher that comparatively specced systems, both with healthier 3rd party support. So it's unique selling proposition was a tablet controller. Not too compelling.

However, Nintendo while had a rough generation Nintendo did make some good moves:

--Turning around the 3DS somewhat
--Capitalizing on their Amiibo initiative
--Hitting a homerun with Splatoon and being risky with new IP again
--Future IP collaboration--movies, Universal studios
--Embracing mobile (Pokemon Go being their biggest success so far here)

In terms of games, when you combine both Wii U and 3DS, Nintendo's output was fairly strong, although the recent Wii U releases have been mediocre--Star Fox being a prime example.

I had tons of with fun 3DLand/World, ABLW, Smash 4, MK8, Kid Icarus Uprising, Box Boy (exclusive not technically Nintendo I know), Bayonetta 2 (same) Fire Emblem Awakening, and Kirby's two 3DS games.

I don't know how well the NX will be received, but it does seems some of Nintendo's stubbornness is abating somewhat. They're embracing mobile. They're licensing out their IP more. The seem to be finally addressing the issue of supporting two consoles per generation.

What are your thoughts on Nintendo's WiiU/3DS generation?

 

[Already Torn]

3DS is an amazing handheld that got off to a slow start, Wii U has some of my favorite games of all time but it's clearly a disaster. I hope for NX they finally get VC under control.

 

[z0m3le]

The Wii U was a half hearted attempt to make everyone happy, Nintendo treated it like a red headed step child. Sacrificed to feed 3DS and then NX.

The 3DS had to make up for a horrible start, and came out doing well.

I just want them to get it right with NX. (be a single platform)

 

[Stone Ocean]

Amazing games, shitty hardware sums it up for me.

 

[hoserx]

For me, I'll always remember opening the WiiU and playing NSMB and smiling ear to ear saying "this is why I love nintendo."

Games wise, It's the xenogeneration for me. My favorite 3ds game was Xenoblade Chronicles 3d, my favorite WiiU game was Xenoblade Chronicles X.

 

[Zalman]

Combined they have the best first party output in Nintendo history. Mainly thanks to the 3DS.

 

[OrbitalBeard]

Despite a handful of truly great games, I can honestly say I've hated this generation from Nintendo. For me, it's been pretty awful.

 

[Chase17]

They each have some fantastic games.

I know this gen was a low point for Nintendo but I'm still rather fond of the Wii U, despite the hardware not being great.

3DS is/was a solid successor to the DS.

 

[entremet]

The Wii U was a half hearted attempt to make everyone happy, Nintendo treated it like a red headed step child. Sacrificed to feed 3DS and then NX.

The 3DS had to make up for a horrible start, and came out doing well.

I just want them to get it right with NX. (be a single platform)

I still don't get the Wii U premise to this day. It was cool seeing Nintendo games in HD--MK8 being the biggest showstopper here, but man that system was just poorly thought out from the get go.

 

[AntiFacebook]

3DS is great thanks to atlus and square
Wiiu is a disaster

 

[Spieler Eins]

3DS started good but slowly fell off a cliff after 2013. I'm still buying SMT4-A, but at this point I'm just so done with GCN-level tech (for new titles in 2016) and anti-consumer mannerisms like region locking and accounts that don't do what accounts are supposed to do. I'll lose tons of money from digital purchases early on if that thing ever breaks. And it's already in a bad shape, even though I only took it outside in my backpack for Streetpass.

WiiU is beyond redemption. It objectively has the smallest amount of franchise- and genre variety on any Nintendo console, it has the smallest amount of established IPs shaking up their formula compared to the previous generation, it has by far the smallest amount of critically well received titles, yet it had the longest droughts and for the first time literally no 3rd party support (excluding joke launch ports).
Trash.

 

[AppleSeason]

Feels like the generation where Nintendo paid the price of becoming too overconfident. Both consoles are still 1.5 versions of their predecessors. Minor new ideas, still underpowered, and both hoping that the userbase of the previous one would upgrade without thinking it twice.


I only had the 3DS. While I hated it with the first one (really flawed design), I'm loving it after deciding to give it a second chance with N3DS.

 

[EVH]

Didn't like any of the machines.

3DS had so many problems and the 3D was so fucking useless. Technically poor and software was good but most of it not interesting to me.
WiiU I dind't even bother to buy.

 

[zoukka]

3DS has one of the best lineup of games ever.

Wii U has one the worst.

 

[Jazzem]

Both systems feature some of my favourite games of all time, though in recent times I've really come to dislike the 3DS's low resolution and generally poor performance in games.

I have issues with the way the Wii U handles the gamepad (let me turn it off when I don't need it!) and controllers in general, but I'm so happy through it we finally got Nintendo games in HD. It features easily the best Mario Kart, Smash Bros and Pikmin, so the first party support has been tremendous. Just a shame its final year has been a bit of a wash, something the 3DS has over it.

 

[AGoodODST]

Wii U is easily my favourite console of all time. So many fantastic games, some among the best in their franchises. I adore that little black box.

 

[le.phat]

In 4 years of owning a 3DS, i bought 4 games. For me, the only redeeming factor being MH. Won't pick up the next nintendo handheld.

As someone who doesn't care for Nintendo's staple franchises / presentation, I never came close to picking up a wiiU. Another generation that failed to pull in a different kind of gamer outside of the nintendo echo chamber. I played the thing a couple of times at a friend, and to this day don't undestand what the fuck they were thinking with that controller.

 

[SolarPowered]

It's the first Nintendo generation I've skipped since I got my first console in an N64. Even the NES and SNES captivated me at the time even when it was playing at a friend's house. I feel like the one thing I missed was Smash U with it's inclusions of Bayonetta, Mega Man, Mewtwo, Sonic and Ryu in the roster. The 3DS hardware always looked dated, so I never picked that up either.

 

[esmith08734]

Both systems sure took some time to get going but each had amazing lineups.

Wii U library, to me, was better than the Wii's.
3DS was great.

Nintendo doesn't really make a system that I don't like.

 

[Newtype-001]

3DS software is super lackluster
3DS hardware is absolute crap
WiiU was pretty good.

The only thing im still waiting for on 3ds is DQ8 and maybe the new pokemon depending on how much i want it and NX.

 

[jobrro]

The systems being a bit under powered was disappointing but they still managed some great games and unique experiences. When the Wii U was revealed I expected it to be able to run all PS360 games at 1080p native, so was a bit shocked when launch reviews started coming out.

Loved the Wii U anyway though the GamePad probably wasn't so great that it should have been bundled with the system. Nintendoland, Splatoon and a couple other games made great use of it but it probably would have been best as a peripheral with the base system cheaper or more powerful. Those few titles and remote play would have had me buying it anyway.

3DS was good too despite the weak start, though I wish there was a second circle pad from the start and region free. So many good games, but the resolution of the screen was a bit low even from day one, standby time is terrible compared to Vita/DS with wireless on though StreetPass was a novel idea and I wonder if it will have an incarnation on NX.

 

[Tricky I Shadow]

Wii U - 2/10
3DS - 4/10

Overall - F

 

[Godzilla's Left Toe]

Great software hardware showed it's age quicker than Wii/DS

 

[Nibel]

I'm glad the Wii U era is finally ending

 

[Kraq]

Wii U was dreadful.

I really enjoyed the 3DS, but I'm also keen on my JRPGs so for me there was a lot of stuff to play. For many people who aren't as fond of those genres, then the 3DS was also a dud.

 

[Jo Shishido's Cheeks]

The 3DS undoubtably has the very best first-party games of any Nintendo handheld so it's a definite success.

 

[outunderthestars]

Great games but the worst generation of hardware Nintendo has ever produced. I actively dislike both platforms and cannot wait until they are a distant memory.

 

[Forkball]

3DS is a worthy successor to the DS. It actually has good Zelda games and SMASH ON THE GO. Not to mention our beloved JRPGs that are missing on other hardware.

For Wii U, if you liked Mario, you got a healthy offering. But I felt there were less hidden gems and so many holes in the software lineup. Splatoon is the best new Nintendo IP since Animal Crossing though, and Super Mario Maker actually made the Gamepad worthwhile.

 

[redlemon]

3DS is more or less my Atlus game machine so I'm happy enough with it but I'm never not going to be annoyed at its terrible resolution.

 

[Yagharek]

Commercially a major drop but I'm a customer not a company so if I could sum up my impressions in a gif form it would be thus:

Spoiler

An absolutely amazing lineup. Splatoon campaign I only finished last week and that was a brilliant finale. W101 and the onslaught of insanity with each level topping the last. Pikmin 3 control scheme genius.

It's a shame it didnt last longer but I'm happy with the library.

 

[Yarbskoo]

Both have amazing games, but most of them I still haven't played.

I still play Splatoon fairly often though.

 

[Trago]

It's pretty clear that Nintendo's first party output was badly split this gen. 3DS getting most of the attention of course. Wii U has some great games, but the system was lacking a lot of features.

 

[kinezu]

If think these were the consoles needed as a buffer between successful generations.

 

[dnmt]

Some good games but the hardware is such garbage. The low res on the 3DS is a joke.

 

[Spieler Eins]

3DS ultimately had a good but shallow library. It's like I've already got everything I wanted and there's nothing beyond that, really. While I'm still buying hidden gems for DS. That's probably because, while 1st party was much stronger than 3DS, 3rd party support has become drastically weaker. Also, region locking - fuck off.

If it was the only Nintendo platform this generation though, I might have still had good expectations for NX. However, WiiU was so laughably, almost impossibly bad, that I lost excitement for new Nintendo unveilings.

 

[Mr Waluigi]

Games published by Nintendo have been very mediocre if not outright terrible, with only a couple of exceptions. Wii/DS generation was much better, and GameCube/GBA generation was muuuch better. I see NX as a do-over, but I don't have high expectations for Nintendo games anymore since the 3DS came out. This generation was characterized by awkward controls (Kid Icarus, Star Fox), bastardization of franchises (we sent from Paper Mario TTYD and Super Paper Mario to Sticker Star and Color Splash, from Mario Galaxy 1 and 2 to 3D Land and 3D World, Chibi-Robo became a mediocre platformer, the only actually original Zelda came to come out was TriForce Heroes and it was poorly received, we got Metroid Prime: Federation Force, Yoshi's New Island, more identical Mario vs DK games, more experimental Mario Party games, and I could go on) that show that Nintendo has little understanding of what their regular customers want to see, which is particularly highlighted by the awful marketing the 3DS and Wii U got.

 

[Wildstar75]

Great games but the worst generation of hardware Nintendo has ever produced. I actively dislike both platforms and cannot wait until they are a distant memory.

This. Seems like at this point we can expect Nintendo systems to be technically underwhelming and have a gimmick. 3DS 3D is a gimmick but the games are great. WiiU Gamepad was mostly a gimmick except for maybe MarioMaker. But also some great games including the fab Splatoon.

 

[Calamari41]

They didn't sell very well at all, 3DS less so, but that doesn't have any effect on the fact that the combined generation has seen some of the best and most fun games I've ever played.

 

[Camper Van Beethoven]

Wii almost lost me as a Nintendo fan. Wii U finished the job. I really have zero interest in NX both from a conceptual standpoint and from the viewpoint of caring about Nintendo games anymore.

 

[Suzzopher]

Wii U didn't do anything for me personally but the 3DS has become my favourite system of all time, the games on there are just incredible! I think the Wii U having a similar line up to the 3DS hurt it in my eyes.

 

[DESTROYA]

3DS had a great lineup but I think the whole "3D" thing was way overrated it would have been better if they used a higher res screen to make games look nicer rather then the blurry mess we had to live with the 3D gimmick.
WiiU was decent and had some hits but way too many misses, I personally liked off TV play feature, Nintendo desperately needs some new IP's.

 

[Devilgunman]

3DS is probably my least favorite Nintendo handheld of all time. Shits hardware, shit ergonomic and poor battery life. The games are great but still weak compared to its predecessors.

WiiU is down-right disaster. It has the best Monster Hunter game and that's pretty much it.

 

[Godzilla's Left Toe]

Wii U didn't do anything for me personally but the 3DS has become my favourite system of all time, the games on there are just incredible! I think the Wii U having a similar line up to the 3DS hurt it in my eyes.

Which all those similar games being better on the Wii U.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

I'm more of a quality over quantity guy and as far as the Wii U is concerned, Mario Kart 8, Mario 3D World, Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2, The Wonderful 101 and Splatoon are amazing games. Do I wish it had more? Sure, but I got my money's worth.

 

[Ein Bear]

The Wii U was a underpowered, cumbersome piece of hardware with an awful UI and a shit gimmick.

It still managed to have some great games, but it always felt like they were great despite the console, rather than because of it.

Will be very happy to see this chapter closed. Roll on NX!

 

[ugly]

I had neither a 3ds or wii u. None of the games on 3ds appealed to me and i didnt enjoy the feel of the hardware, either. However I think the Wii U is a really special console even if it wasn't a great success - loved messing around on Miiverse on my brothers pad, gutted I won't get to play Wonderful 101 for some years when it's super cheap on ebay. The games on Wii U are so sweet. Nintendo Land is a blast, I beat Bayo 2 and Pikmin 3 on my bro's console. There are some choice picks on that system. If NX can continue those good vibes, I'll pick one up for sure.

 

[Oswen]

3DS seemed like a lost cause but they did turn it around and made it a great handheld.
Great first party titles with some third party gems aswell (MH, Theathrytm, SMTIV, BD/BS Yokai Watch etc).

WiiU...I don't know what they were thinking, it never had any hope to be successful.
It ended up having some very good first party titles...and that's it.

 

[outunderthestars]

This. Seems like at this point we can expect Nintendo systems to be technically underwhelming and have a gimmick. 3DS 3D is a gimmick but the games are great. WiiU Gamepad was mostly a gimmick except for maybe MarioMaker. But also some great games including the fab Splatoon.

It was frustrating because the games were good, but I disliked using the hardware so much that I found myself simply skipping them.

 

[Malakai]

The eight generation was pretty rough for Nintendo. The 3DS had a very slow start and the 3D conceit never really caught on. They were able make a decent turnaround, but it failed to match the DS's in overall sales.

The bolded need to freaking stop. No gaming system ever had moved units at the rate the DS did. The DS at it peak was did almost 30 million yearly for 3 consecutive years. No game console have ever sold at that rate before. Not the Playstation 2 not the Playstation 1 nor even the Wii! Hell not even Neogaf beloved Playsation 4 will move that many units.

 

[Duxxy3]

Wii U was a disaster. Nothing else to add.

3DS was disappointed for me. The original DS was my favorite handheld of all time. Nintendo's decision to shoehorn a shitty 3D effect did more harm than good. It increased the initial price of the console. It's also to blame for the uneven screen size. Which basically ensured that the touch screen would just be used a map for the entire generation. Oh, and the uneven screen is also to blame for the early models scratching themselves.
But Nintendo made a lot of amazing games on the system. I just don't like the hardware that the games are on. Third party support was weaker as well. I got 3 Castlevania games and the wonderful Monster Tale on my DS. Metroidvania's don't seem to exist on the 3DS from what I can tell.