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[Fitts]

I tend to agree. Outside of Boom Blox I really had no love for the Wii -- Nintendo first party or otherwise. I really like the Wii U's first party games (for the most part) and third party stuff like Bayonetta.

The tablet sucks, though.

 

[clevbrowns94]

I think it will end up with a better first party/exclusive lineup than the Wii. Third party games obviously goes to the Wii. That said, it's not entirely compare the two, as the Wii will be one of the longer lasting Nintendo consoles, and the Wii U will be the shortest lasting (aside from the Virtual Boy of course). Plus, while the Wii U going to last 4 years, let's be honest that the heavy hitting sequels like the next 3D Mario and Metroid will be saved for the NX. What you see now until the end are releases that have been long planned only.

 

[EhoaVash]

Outside the Galaxy games and wii sports, the wii was pretty much shit..so many damn droughts so many shovelware, Nintendo made.me think they forgot about their fans.

Thank you wii u for making me a fan again.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

Outside the Galaxy games and wii sports, the wii was pretty much shit..so many damn droughts so many shovelware, Nintendo made.me think they forgot about their fans.

Thank you wii u for making me a fan again.

The WiiU has been worse than the Wii for droughts . . .

 

[RampagingSoul]

The WiiU has been worse than the Wii for droughts . . .

I mostly agree with that. I think the main reason the Wii isn't as bad as Wii U, in my opinion, far as droughts is that we still got third party games, good or bad. There was still a decent amount of good third party games throughout until the final years of Wii's lifespan and 360/PS3 took over the generation. We still got gems in the droughts like Xenoblade and Rhythm Heaven Fever, but that doesn't excuse anything.

I still think Wii and Wii U had similar drought periods with years like 2007 for Wii and 2014 for Wii U standing out as examples of really solid release years for the platforms while 2011 and 2015 for each being droughts. I would mention 2012 for Wii, but that would be a cheap shot since Wii U released that year.

 

[4Tran]

Good products deserve greater sales. No matter what you may think about the Wii as a console, it was a fantastic product that pulled in an underserved audience. On the other hand, the Wii U is a terrible product so it deserved terrible sales.

 

[Cipher Peon]

I think the Wii is an infinitely better console. Glad it did as well as it did!

Wii U makes me more frustrated than anything. Shame, because it looked like a proper successor to what made the Wii so incredible

 

[m0t0k1]

I do think the Wii U deservers more sales. But the wii was better in every aspect in hooking casuals in. I still see people using their wii. Gimmicks are fun but if the wii u does not offer what casuals want they are not going to buy it. For me Wii aside from the graphics was a better console too.

Way better 3rd party support i had tons of games to enjoy. Like No More Heroes, Sakura Wars, Last Story, Naruto games, DBZ games heck we even got the Yearly Cod games and Fifa.
Also i am not a big fan of DLC/Seasonpasses. free to start and other "hooks" to get people to pay more. Wii had some free dlc and you got a "complete" game. Most newer Wii u games don't have that.


For me also the First party output was better. I enjoyed the galaxy games way more then the 3d mario wii u output. I enjoyed Mario Kart Wii way more then 8 and still play it more then 8. Enjoyed Brawl more then 4. I am wondering how the new zelda is going to turn out. But Twilight Princess is still my favourite 3d zelda.

There are some things i like on wii u i do like the gamepad. It gets me way more playtime then i used to get. But Wii is my favourite console ever not counting portables. So it is hard to top that.

 

[AmFreak]

It's unbelievable outdated hardware with a gimmick nobody wants for a laughable price.
I could agree certain games deserve better, but the hardware?
No.

 

[Adam Tyner]

I thought the gamepad was in reaction to the popularity of smartphone/tablet games.

The iPad had only been on the market a hair over a year before Nintendo revealed the gamepad. Factor in R&D / development time and all that, and the rise in popularity of tablets was probably just a coincidence.

Honestly, I think the gamepad was more of an attempt to translate the DS to the living room rather than anything about tablets in particular.

 

[LegendofLex]

I still see people using their wii.

I forgot to mention this in my last post: my downstairs neighbor powers on his Wii at least a couple times a week.

 

[hatchx]

We had ten years of Nintendo using the same hardware. I think that's why some WiiU software is so impressive, it was so long overdue to see a graphical upgrade on their franchises.

It's awkward because it was too underpowered for 3rd party games, but enough power to impress and update Nintendo franchises.

I agree OP, I've enjoyed the WiiU 1st party games more than Wii's so far. However, Nintendo deserves the failure they got for having their head's up their asses. They didn't listen to the market, developers, or gamers at all. They didn't do enough to update their account system and online infrastructure, they named, branded, and marketed the console horribly, and they didn't give developers a console they wanted to work on.

The console spelled failure the moment they showed it off in 2011.

 

[Gotdatmoney]

I forgot to mention this in my last post: my downstairs neighbor powers on his Wii at least a couple times a week.

The whole "only soccer moms played it and it died off and no one ever used it" was bullshit. It was popular when I was in school in dorms.

 

[AyaisMUsikWhore]

I don't think it's deserving of nothing. Nintendo had so much time to see the writing on the walls and they still decided that having a tablet based controller made sense. Imo, it was a wrong move, along with the name, neglecting a massively online presence that is very popular etc etc and it cost them.

Sometimes getting stumped on the ass carries the weight to make a huge comeback. I'm happy about it tbh

 

[Scoops]

The Wii might be one of the best consoles ever made. It's standing will only go up in time as its graphical deficiencies become less important as it achieves "retro" status.

I love the WiiU but there's been no moment where I've been like "Wow, I'm glad the tablet exists!" At least not enough to make the console like $100 more expensive or whatever.

The WiiU definitely had had the better 1st party offerings though. I Think the Wii has better 3D Mario which is my favorite game franchise but the WiiU has better Mario Kart, Smash and 2D Mario. The Wii has Metroid, Sin & Punishment and Punch Out but the WiiU has Pikmin, W101, Bayo, Captain Toad and Splatoon.

The Kirby, DK and Yarn games are pretty much washes IMO.

We'll see if Wii or WiiU ends up being the better Zelda, Fire Emblem and Xeno consoles soon. That could make a big difference.

The Wii had much better 3rd party support and that's where it passes the WiiU for me.

 

[10k]

The Wii U fad wore off on me after a year or so and I ended up using the pro controller as much as I could and the Wii remote plus nunchuck for Pikmin. It just wasn't as intuitive as the Wii.

 

[4Tran]

The iPad had only been on the market a hair over a year before Nintendo revealed the gamepad. Factor in R&D / development time and all that, and the rise in popularity of tablets was probably just a coincidence.

The iPhone was first released in 2007. Nintendo was dumb, and they were far behind modern trends.

 

[L Thammy]

The last game I bought for my Wii U was a Wii game.

 

[privitsan02]

I disagree. While the waggle fest annoyed me, there hasn't been anything nearly as innovative as Wii Sports on the Wii U. Also the Nintendo games on the Wii released more frequently than on the Wii U, with late 2008 and early 2009 being the only major drought period after its launch window. By 2011, it was clear they were killing the Wii for the Wii U. With the exception of Smash and Mario Kart, I don't see how Nintendo released "better" content than on the Wii.

The console really only missed a Star Fox and F-Zero in its library but its a good little secondary console. It also got some good 3rd party support here and there as well. Can't say the same about the Wii U.

The Wii more importantly did something new for gaming and it deserved its recognition and sales.

Best wishes.

 

[Astral Dog]

They focused on the core fanbase and got a 10 million selling console lmao :lol

You need to realize something. You core fans ain't important. Betting Nintendo wished they went all in on the casuals now lol

EDIT: and no the Wii deserved its sales. Was an amazing console. The best Nintendo games, best party games and the best hidden gems

It was the reverse.
They wanted both, Wii U was marketed first with casuals in mind, then hardcore. There was a lot of attempts to lure the Wii audience, just look at the name, hardcore players are keeping it from crashing further.

That said, of course they need both with a better strategy.

 

[KingdomHeartsFan]

I don't think so, there's less games and it cost more. Also the Wii U gamepad is such a horrible gimmick because you have to take your eyes off the TV to see what's happening on the gamepad, in games like Splatoon it makes the experience worse because it would have been better to just put a minimap on the TV, but Nintendo desperately needed a function for the gamepad so now if you wanna see the map you have to take your eyes off the action.

 

[Red Devil]

Both the Wii U and GameCube deserved better numbers than Wii, but the market decides. ¯\_(&#12484_/¯

 

[Rizific]

The Wii U fad wore off on me after a year or so and I ended up using the pro controller as much as I could

i bought a pro controller immediately after purchasing my wii u. my plan was to avoid the gamepad as much as possible. but i share the same feelings with the OP. the wii u is such a fantastic console. actually i take that back, the console itself is decent. its the library that really makes the wii u great imo. i can say that ive had a much better time on the wii u compared to the wii.

 

[Nerokis]

I don't know, "deserving" is subjective. The Wii was a better conceived console. From the outset, it distinguished itself from the competition in an interesting way. It knew the audience it wanted, and it was presented to the world very effectively. It has a software library that's at the very least close to as good as the Wii U's.

The Wii U was a more direct competitor to the 360 and PS3 than even the Wii was: in terms of technology, price point, audience...and it was worse-off for it. Partly because the advent of mobile gaming made the casual space more competitive, partly because so many people complained about the Wii's "casual" nature, Nintendo decided to double down on hardcore gamers, while not losing sight of the Wii's more casual user base. It resulted in a crisis of identity, and hurt both the concept and the marketing.

The GamePad was never as interesting or impactful a distinguishing characteristic as Wii's motion controls, either. No one knew what made it special. In the end, the Wii U initially looked like a 360/PS3, but more expensive and without the extensive library of games.

So nah, it didn't "deserve" better sales than the Wii, at least in my estimation. It's a cool console, though. A varied list of control schemes, with the GamePad specifically doing a lot of neat things (Amiibo and Super Mario Maker should have been around from the beginning); having fully realized backwards compatibility with the Wii is pretty nice; Miiverse is a lovely concept, and I wouldn't mind seeing an expanded version of it in NX; and of course, Nintendo's HD output has been wonderful overall.

 

[axisofweevils]

I don't think any console will reach 100m sales again, tbh. A lot of that audience went to smartphones and are never coming back.

 

[jhmtehgamr20xx]

Because complaining that a console should have beat this console because xyz is completely ignoring the market circumstances that lead one to be more successful than the other, not to mention the points brought up by the OP are subjective. The only real value metric we have for comparison are raw sales, and I find a discussion on what the Wii U did to lose the market gained by the Wii more interesting than yet another thread about how the Wii U has very good games.

We know it has very good games. Good games alone don't sell a console.

I agree with all of this. That was just me voicing my subjective opinion fwiw. The market was moving away from the type of games Dreamcast proliferated with as sustaining a system's core library.

Although I think there's a misconception that arcade style games as a whole were falling out of favor. Several arcade-style games continued to do amazingly well that gen. They just weren't the driving forces dictating trends in the industry or major sales for the platforms they were on, is all.

 

[m0t0k1]

I forgot to mention this in my last post: my downstairs neighbor powers on his Wii at least a couple times a week.

Yeah its mostly in houses where i didn't expect to see a console of any kind like woman in my age group from mid to late twenties. My Cousin who is 19 and still uses his wii next to his ps4. Its funny although its anecdotal some of those people really don't see or care for the difference in graphics. At first we where playing Mario Kart Wii and then we went Forza 4 on the 360 and my friend went like wow this looks so much better then MK and his Girlfriend went like what. Its just cars racing. Kinda blown my mind.

The whole "only soccer moms played it and it died off and no one ever used it" was bullshit. It was popular when I was in school in dorms.

It was popular in my student time. You only needed Mario Kart and Smash and usually a friend had some Gamecube controller hanging around so people played it all the time. We even had monthly tourneys at our Uni. Nowadays i rarely see any console being used most people are content with their phones and tablets. Or previous gen consoles. Although this does not represent the market in any way it funny to see things change in your own world.

 

[LegendofLex]

It was the reverse.
They wanted both, Wii U was marketed first with casuals in mind, then hardcore.

Given that Wii U threw out literally everything they said was important about the Wii controller design (complete with Nintendo execs saying they were abandoning the marketing philosophies behind it), I find it incredibly disingenuous to say that a couple token launch titles and commercials are evidence of where Nintendo was focused "first."

 

[Wvrs]

I like that Nintendo have their niche. They have a strong enough first party development that, whilst they maybe don't see astronomical success, allow them to comfortably have their own unique consoles.

I don't want them to just make another Xbox or Playstation. Those 2 are interchangeable enough already without a 3rd iteration. I love my XB1 for 3rd party games, but no one can make a Nintendo game like Nintendo and I'll buy their systems for as long as they still make them.

 

[Astral Dog]

Given that Wii U threw out literally everything they said was important about the Wii controller design (complete with Nintendo execs saying they were abandoning the marketing philosophies behind it), I find it incredibly disingenuous to say that a couple token launch titles and commercials are evidence of where Nintendo was focused "first."

Well there are some key differences and designs flaws, but i think its also disingenuous to say Wii U was marketed to the hardcore fanbase only.like Nintendo was not trying to get other people as well.

First, a lot of the overall Wii U software and commercials are extremely casual friendly. NSMBU, Wii Sports,Sonic and Mario, even AC Party, etc. then most of the marketing for the first years were for casuals with few exceptions like Zelda WW.

And the name,family tv ads etc. you have to admit these decisions and things actually repelled the Nintendo hardcore fanbase. many rejected the Wii U until at least Smash 4 was released, and most stayed on 3DS.

Wii U is a mess, but its not only targeted at the hardcore, far from it. if it was maybe it would have done much better. not a success, but better.

Edit: look also at the features they tried to push, Wii Panorama, TVii, OFF TV play, Youtube, low power consumption, small case etc.

 

[4Tran]

I like that Nintendo have their niche. They have a strong enough first party development that, whilst they maybe don't see astronomical success, allow them to comfortably have their own unique consoles.

Nintendo doesn't have any niche - they just have a dedicated fanbase, and even that group is shrinking. Moreover, this has nothing to do with their hardware designs as that fanbase buys Nintendo consoles for the games, so they'll sell at least as well regardless of how they're designed.

 

[Nerokis]

Given that Wii U threw out literally everything they said was important about the Wii controller design (complete with Nintendo execs saying they were abandoning the marketing philosophies behind it), I find it incredibly disingenuous to say that a couple token launch titles and commercials are evidence of where Nintendo was focused "first."

Yep. The Wii U was at least in part an attempt to win back hardcore gamers. I was surprised to see someone question this, and decided to go back and scroll through some articles from back then. I thought this, from a WSJ article, was instructive:

As the videogame scholar Jesper Juul wrote in his book “A Casual Revolution,” Nintendo realized that Sony and Microsoft were locked in an arms race to win over the entrenched market for “hardcore” gamers with a predictable set of features—better graphics, faster processing speeds, longer and more blockbuster movie-like games. Rather than chipping away at this demographic, Nintendo created a new market entirely.

With the GamePad, Nintendo instead seems to have caved in to pressure, perceived or real as it may be. And the company now finds itself in awkward position of trying to recast itself as a serious, gaming-centric company that can make its own “hardcore” titles just a few years after it proved that there was another was another, equally valid way to make consoles.

The Wii U did nothing to appeal to the Wii user base. On the other hand, it also did little to appeal to the 360/PS3 user base. Nintendo had a tough time showing what made the Wii U distinct from those consoles, while in terms of price, games, development infrastructure, network effect, etc. the 360/PS3 had a huge competitive edge over the Wii U. And all this while the PS4/X1 waited around the corner...

In terms of things specific to the hardware, you really had to look close to see what made the Wii U unique. Having Nintendo games is the one thing that made it stand out. All taken together, it makes sense that the Wii U ended up selling as poorly as it did, while at the same time somehow managing to be so compelling to a particular group of people.

 

[Mael]

Given that Wii U threw out literally everything they said was important about the Wii controller design (complete with Nintendo execs saying they were abandoning the marketing philosophies behind it), I find it incredibly disingenuous to say that a couple token launch titles and commercials are evidence of where Nintendo was focused "first."

Exactly, the very 1rst thing they did with the 3DS was basically say that they threw out what made DS and Wii successful and doubled down with WiiU.
Basically Wii has more examples of Nintendo keeping their fans happy than WiiU have to try to woe their new core/former expanded audience.
People weren't even sure New Super Mario Bros Mii was going to be more than a downloadable game!
Everything that made Wii a success took a backseat to whatever they were trying to do with WiiU.

 

[Astral Dog]

Exactly, the very 1rst thing they did with the 3DS was basically say that they threw out what made DS and Wii successful and doubled down with WiiU.
Basically Wii has more examples of Nintendo keeping their fans happy than WiiU have to try to woe their new core/former expanded audience.
People weren't even sure New Super Mario Bros Mii was going to be more than a downloadable game!
Everything that made Wii a success took a backseat to whatever they were trying to do with WiiU.

but thats the thing, it was not everything, they certainly tried to push the machine to a casual audience as well, repelling both.

its not a black and white case but i did not say they succeded.

 

[protomouse]

Disagree. I think Nintendo's gross mishandling of the Wii U is an insult to the Wii, and its failure a natural (and deserved) consequence of that. It's almost as if a different company devised the strategy for the Wii U. Nintendo always bring their A-game when it comes to quality (both hardware and software), but they desperately need to learn from the Wii U's failure as a product.

That said, I'm very happy with mine. As I said, the hardware and software quality is there.

 

[TI82]

Wii and Wii U are equal to me in that they are both the dark splotches on Nintendo's good history. Less than 20 games on each that I legitimately like... And I'm a nintendo fan. That aint good.

 

[LegendofLex]

Edit: look also at the features they tried to push, Wii Panorama, TVii, OFF TV play, Youtube, low power consumption, small case etc.

I don't know if "push" is the right word, but apart from low power consumption and the small form factor pretty much everything here had an analogous "media experience" or "remote play" equivalent on PS4 and/or Xbox One.

 

[mauaus]

The poor sales of the Wii U are due to poor decisions from Nintendo from the start.
1. Poor choice of name
2. Weak hardware = less 3rd party support
3. Too little too late too far apart
4. Ignoring key franchises (metroid?, Zelda 3 years into the console life, really?)

and so many other reasons, the wii u got the sales it deserves due to poor moves by ninty

 

[Malio]

If the Wii had Wii U's hardware, and the Wii U had Wii's software they'd have both been massive. As it stands, one was massive and the other was a failure worse than the (excellent) Gamecube.

 

[dead souls]

I can't agree. Both consoles have great games but when all is said and done my Wii library will dwarf my Wii U one.

 

[dampflokfreund]

Let's see...

Wii had a Metroid Prime. Wii U don't.

Wii had a Paper Mario, Wii U don't.

Wii had 2 true 3D Marios. Wii U don't.

Wii had one exclusive Zelda game, Wii U don't (Zelda U will 100% be cross gen)

Wii had one proper Mario Party. Wii U don't.

Yep, Wii U definately deserves its low sales.

Wii was a better console IMO.

 

[stan423321]

I guess I have written this a few times by now... but I think Wii U is a very interesting case of product research failure. The problem with the device is that while it's interesting for certain usage scenarios and possibly highly inspiring for game designers, there isn't really that much that you can't emulate without the GamePad. Ah well.

Anyway the thing is just too expensive for core audiences given the competing, despite Ninny's insistence, hardware, and absolutely useless to casual players who are satisfied with a phone/tablet - please note that in this sentence, I define a core player as someone not satisfied with their phone/tablet. For Wii, neither of these points applied. The name and (IMHO limited) confusion over it being an accessory were just a cherry on top.

 

[Jonneh3003]

I certainly agree that a system with a library of games like this one deserves to be more sucessful. While the gamepad is mostly baggage there are games that utilised it and in the case of Wind Waker HD and Zombi U they're better for it. The gamepad is a fantastic controller with so much untapped potential which thanks to peoples phobia of it will remain that way. It's a normal controller with infinite more inputs and additional information. The system certainly gets by on it's games and ones like Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon deserve to have sold 10x the amount they already have.

It's sad the Wii U has the image it does. It doesn't deserve it and it gets way more use than my PS4 and Xbox One combined. Aw well, I enjoy the games as they are.

 

[CaviarMeths]

I really dig my Wii U, but IMO the Wii was the 2nd best Nintendo console behind the SNES. Hell, most of my favorite SNES games are on the Wii VC. The PS1, PS2, and Wii are the only consoles to break 100 million and I really think those are the only 3 that really deserved to.

The Wii U could have been just as good though if it got the same enthusiasm. The droughts came because there was just no interest from 3rd parties (Nintendo's own fault) and Nintendo struggled to support the system themselves.

Now, the 3DS. Best handheld Nintendo has ever made and also the worst selling. Damn shame.

 

[entremet]

Let's see...

Wii had a Metroid Prime. Wii U don't.

Wii had a Paper Mario, Wii U don't.

Wii had 2 true 3D Marios. Wii U don't.

Wii had one exclusive Zelda game, Wii U don't (Zelda U will 100% be cross gen)

Wii had one proper Mario Party. Wii U don't.

Yep, Wii U definately deserves its low sales.

Wii was a better console IMO.

Not this poor argument again.

 

[Kagoshima_Luke]

I hated the Wii. I've slightly warmed up to it, after the waggle craze is well in the past, but it's still far from one of my favorites. Some of those Wii E3s were disgusting. Wii Sports is shit and I'm going to stand by this viewpoint until I die.

Wii U, on the other hand, has been amazing. I'm sad it hasn't sold well, but it's been one of my favorite systems in recent memory - maybe in my top five of all time.

 

[To Far Away Times]

Prime Nintendo is something really special.

 

[dampflokfreund]

Not this poor argument again.

But you know what I mean with this.

 

[Always-honest]

They didnt need the tablet

Indeed. If they used those costs to mske the machine way more powerful and just use a classic controller and a wiimote it would have been much better.

But i love the games on WiiU. Very high quality.

 

[Alex_Mexico]

What is astounds me the most is that the WiiU is performing markedly worse than the GC band that cube I thought was the absolute rock bottom of what Nintendo could do in terms of consoles (not counting the VB).

The WiiU has been consistent with the rest of Nintendo's home consoles. With the exception of the lighting-in-a-bottle Wii every system since the NES has sold less than the one before. NES, SNES, N64, GC, WiiU. The hardcore Nintendo faithful are many but they are decreasing with time and if Nintendo don't turn this pattern around they will be driven out of the console business eventually.

From 60 million NES sold to 10 million WiiUs 30 years later. This is sad.