• Hey Guest. Check out your NeoGAF Wrapped 2025 results here!

"The Wii U Has No Games", A Study

My three WiiU games are Bayonetta 2, XCX (which I traded in as soon as I finished the main story), and TMS #FE.

But since the console only cost me $200 I'm OK with that.
 
I don't think I've ever bought so few games for a console. I played most of its big games. I think 4-5 WiiU games entered my Top 10 from 2012-2016.

My most played game on the system is still Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I'm not going to sit here and say I didn't enjoy my time with it, but these are the facts.

It's one of the most inconsequential consoles I've ever bought.
 
It's been worth it for me personally, I have hundreds of hours played in MK8, Smash and Splatoon. Think we bought around 15 games for it so def worthwhile for us but I can 100% understand the general feeling towards the system.
 
I have significantly more WiiU games than I do for my Xbox One or PS4; all bought at launch.

The WiiU definitely has lesser quality and less "influential" games coming from Nintendo - and 3rd party support is pretty much nonexistent.

That said, SM3D World, WW & TP HD, Wonderful 101, Kirby CS, Yoshi WW, XCX, TMS#FE, Bayonetta 1&2, SSB, Mario Kart, Super MM, Pikmin 3, DKCTF, Splatoon... there are some absolute must-owns on the system.

Must owns on the other consoles, for me at least:

PS4:

Bloodborne (best game of the gen, by far)
Driveclub
Uncharted 4
Last of Us HD

Xbox One:

... MCC was my second biggest disappointment after The Old Republic and right before Too Human, so that sucks. And Halo 5, I guess? Forza Horizon 3 is looking to be a blast.

***

Everyone's list is different, no doubt. But I would argue if you do enjoy "Nintendo games" the WiiU is a must-own system. Shame about its price and 3rd party support, though, of course.
 
Wii U owner here with most of the first party titles on the shelf.

It basically has no games. Or at least, very few games actually worth playing.

I'm pretty disappointed in Nintendo's first party offerings this generation (no, I am not going to blindly say "they're the best games in their respective IPs" because I genuinely don't believe that), mostly lame/lazy/uninspired games or remakes.
 
I don't think I've ever bought so few games for a console. I played most of its big games. I think 4-5 WiiU games entered my Top 10 from 2012-2016.

My most played game on the system is still Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I'm not going to sit here and say I didn't enjoy my time with it, but these are the facts.

It's one of the most inconsequential consoles I've ever bought.

That's basically how I think of it. It's, by far, the weakest console released by one of the big 3. I bought one refurbed and played less than a dozen games on it before selling it off. The library is fucking pathetic. It had some amazing games, but what console doesn't? If you don't like a big game on most consoles, fine, go play something else. If you didn't like some of the WiiU heavy hitters, you just didn't have a reason to even keep the console plugged in.
 
Worse than N64, but surprisingly, not by much. Makes sense. I bought/sold 3 N64s throughout its lifetime because of the dry spells. Never really felt that with the Wii U, though. I've consistently had stuff to play on it over the nearly 3 years I've owned it. I'm not blind though, and realize that its library -- quantity-wise -- just isn't there compared to other systems or Nintendo's most recent efforts. To be fair, while there were tons of great Wii titles, there were even more complete turds and mostly budget/bargain bin sub-casual garbage plaguing its library, especially in its later years.
 
Seeing its numbers compared to the Gamecube is legitimately depressing, damn.

I remember when I bought one reluctantly thinking "well, at least it can't be worse than the Wii..." good times. I think I bought almost everything I had interest in after getting the system and since then I've purchased like 3 games and I'm having a hard time caring about new ones. I mean it's still bad even counting eShop stuff because most games I care about are indies that are available on PSN and there's literally no benefit for owning them on Wii U over PS4, quite the opposite actually lol.

If you didn't like some of the WiiU heavy hitters, you just didn't have a reason to even keep the console plugged in.
Pretty much. I can't for the life of me see the appeal in stuff like Mario Maker which is apparently a system seller and this year all it has is... TMS and I'm not touching that either. Not liking a big game for this thing basically lets you with no reason to care for it for half a year. Terrible.
 
Yep, 3DS support is terribad. As comparison, PS Vita, which has less than a quarter of the install base of 3DS has more than 1000 third party games by now.

If you are counting digital download only releases, then count those for the 3DS also. There are close to 700 of those (that never released at retail) in the US market.
 
I have an iCloud Pages document with the entire Wii U retail library that I've gone through and categorized by what I own and what I want to own so I make sure to pick up everything I want before Wii U games get stupid difficult to find.

Q3WM1zRl.png


A quick count of the games in green tells me that I have 56 games in my Wii U library and that'll easily cross the 60 count by the time the system leaves retail availability.

Not a bad little library of games for what some called a "disappointing" system. And that's not taking into account eShop exclusives and the like.
 
I have an iCloud Pages document with the entire Wii U retail library that I've gone through and categorized by what I own and what I want to own so I make sure to pick up everything I want before Wii U games get stupid difficult to find.

Q3WM1zRl.png


A quick count of the games in green tells me that I have 56 games in my Wii U library and that'll easily cross the 60 count by the time the system leaves retail availability.

Not a bad little library of games for what some called a "disappointing" system. And that's not taking into account eShop exclusives and the like.


Any way you'd be willing to share or link that library list?
 
I sort of did this comparison for myself a few weeks ago and really as far as boxed releases go the Wii U has about 30 retail releases worth owning with maybe another 20 on the eshop if were being generous. Which to me is acceptable as most of my other console collections are about that size and it's still more games than I'd be interested in buying for the N64 or GC. It's not on the level of the true greats obviously but still fairly competitive with everything else despite having a much smaller library than everything else.
 
It never got the support it desperately needed. I wasn't all bad to me though, while I own much more retail PS4 games, I tend to play my first party Wii U games much longer.
 
I think anyone who has a WiiU is thinking "no shit."

It's got a ton of games, just not many that people want to play.

Yeah, i mean, what people don't seem to understand is that third party means choice. When you have to rely on Nintendo for games and they only have a few games a year, you are going to be SOL if the game of the quarter is not that great or of no personal interest to you.
 
Yeah, i mean, what people don't seem to understand is that third party means choice. When you have to rely on Nintendo for games and they only have a few games a year, you are going to be SOL if the game of the quarter is not that great or of no personal interest to you.

This happened early last year for me. I bought my WiiU late 2014, played most of what I wanted to play, and then when it came time to refill there was basically nothing for a 6 month period.
 
Interestingly the Wii U and 3DS both have fairly decent attach rates compared to past systems despite their poor hardware and even poorer software sales and overall smaller libraries, 6.8 and 4.7 respectively. 3DS has a slightly better attachment rate than both the GB and GBA which were just above 4 each. Wii U is tied with the N64 for lowest console attachment rate. GC was the best with nearly 10 games, Wii right behind it with just over 9, and the NES and SNES at just over 8 and just under 8 respectively. DS was just over 6 games with its mammoth library and hardware sales.

Not sure if Wii software numbers include Wii Sports which would inflate total sales by over 100 million, making Wii attachment rate closer to 8 games.

https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/sales/hard_soft/index.html
 
I have significantly more WiiU games than I do for my Xbox One or PS4; all bought at launch.

The WiiU definitely has lesser quality and less "influential" games coming from Nintendo - and 3rd party support is pretty much nonexistent.

That said, SM3D World, WW & TP HD, Wonderful 101, Kirby CS, Yoshi WW, XCX, TMS#FE, Bayonetta 1&2, SSB, Mario Kart, Super MM, Pikmin 3, DKCTF, Splatoon... there are some absolute must-owns on the system.

Must owns on the other consoles, for me at least:

PS4:

Bloodborne (best game of the gen, by far)
Driveclub
Uncharted 4
Last of Us HD

Xbox One:

... MCC was my second biggest disappointment after The Old Republic and right before Too Human, so that sucks. And Halo 5, I guess? Forza Horizon 3 is looking to be a blast.

***

Everyone's list is different, no doubt. But I would argue if you do enjoy "Nintendo games" the WiiU is a must-own system. Shame about its price and 3rd party support, though, of course.

Judging by this list....you dont like 3rd party games?

Cuz if you include 3rd party I'm sure ppl's list of XBO and PS4 must haves is alot bigger.

That said... I know, opinions n all.

Yeah, i mean, what people don't seem to understand is that third party means choice. When you have to rely on Nintendo for games and they only have a few games a year, you are going to be SOL if the game of the quarter is not that great or of no personal interest to you.

Which is why I enjoyed the Wii.

There were some games that were Wii exclusives but they were 3rd party. And I think thats gonna happen with the NX. It will have 3rd party support....just not multi platform. Many will probably be NX exclusive. One of my fav games on the Wii was Lost in Shadow. Could only be played on Wii and was 3rd party.

But hey...some ppl think 3rd party on Wii was all shovelware.
 
I'm sure this has been echoed in the other NX threads, but this data shows one of the reasons I'm excited about a hybrid NX system. Most of the biggest games I'm interested in are third-party and Nintendo will probably continue to be weak in that regard. Does that mean I have to give up buying nintendo consoles? No, but it doesn't make sense to me to invest in multiple nintendo systems for a handful of games. The hybrid idea to me means they're accepting their position as a supplemental console rather than the home's primary one. So how do you make it the greatest "second" system ever? Low entry cost and one-stop shopping for nintendo quality games. If I only need to invest in ONE nintendo system, have it double as a portable and the cost is reasonable then I'd be crazy NOT to buy it!
 
I got my Wii U at launch. I still only own three games.

I feel like the lack of third party makes its variety somewhat limited.
 
The drop in first party output probably is due to the fact that Nintendo still had to adjust to HD game development despite being late to the party.

The whole point of the article is that the first party output hasn't dropped significantly. The article calls it "fairly consistent".
 
The most interesting stat here to me is that Nintendo has consistently produced about 50 first-party games per console, with a bit more for a larger install base and longer life cycle (NES) and a bit less for a smaller install base and shorter life cycle (Wii U). I wonder if 50ish is a number that they have repeatedly aimed for.
 
You don't buy a Nintendo console for 3rd party games.

I've bought most of Nintendo's consoles partly for their third party games.

I bought the NES in part for Mega Man, Contra, and Castlevania.

I bought the SNES in part for Street Fighter II, Final Fantasy, and Super Star Wars.

I bought N64 partly for GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and Turok.

I bought GameCube partly for Rogue Squadron, Eternal Darkness and Skies of Arcadia.

Elebits, Muramasa and Zack & Wiki are still three of my favorite Wii games.

Your post is not the universal wisdom you think it is. Nintendo's third party support has been diminishing over time, but was still a major part of its appeal up until the Wii U completely thumbed its nose at third parties.
 
I've bought most of Nintendo's consoles partly for their third party games.

I bought the NES in part for Mega Man and Castlevania.

I bought the SNES in part for Street Fighter II, Final Fantasy, and Super Star Wars.

I bought N64 partly for GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and Turok.

I bought GameCube partly for Rogue Squadron, Eternal Darkness and Skies of Arcadia.

Elebits, Muramasa and Zack & Wiki are still three of my favorite Wii games.

Your post is not the universal wisdom you think it is.

Yup.

And I would even argue that Nintendo losing out on Metal Gear and FF 7 hurt them alot and they never really recovered from that as far as mind share.

Over the years most of my Nintendo console library was 3rd party. After Mario, Zelda most everything else was 3rd party.
 
We love the WiiU at my house. Mostly first party but amazing first party.

Mario Kart 8
Pikmin 3
Yoshi WW
Mario 3d World
Splattoon
Hyrule Warriors
NSMW WiiU
DKC Tropical Freeze
Wind Waker HD
Smash Bros
Nintendo land was a lot of fun too

Need to pick up Mario Maker and Zelda BOTW and Lego City Undercover.

Wii U will go down as one of the greats and underappreciated systems..
 
I've bought most of Nintendo's consoles partly for their third party games.

I bought the NES in part for Mega Man, Contra, and Castlevania.

I bought the SNES in part for Street Fighter II, Final Fantasy, and Super Star Wars.

I bought N64 partly for GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and Turok.

I bought GameCube partly for Rogue Squadron, Eternal Darkness and Skies of Arcadia.

Elebits, Muramasa and Zack & Wiki are still three of my favorite Wii games.

Your post is not the universal wisdom you think it is. Nintendo's third party support has been diminishing over time, but was still a major part of its appeal up until the Wii U completely thumbed its nose at third parties.

GoldenEye, Perfect Dark, and Eternal Darkness were all published by Nintendo.
 
Yup.

And I would even argue that Nintendo losing out on Metal Gear and FF 7 hurt them alot and they never really recovered from that as far as mind share.

Eh. Those certainly helped lose them the PSX/N64 console war, but it was hardly an unrecoverable situation. They could have come back if they'd made different decisions since then.

They could potentially come back at any point by delivering a top of the line console that third parties can easily port their games to; they just have no interest in doing this for whatever reason. They've willingly abdicated the power wars in favor of pursuing other gaming concepts, but they have not succeeded in interesting anyone else in taking that journey with them.
 
Interestingly the Wii U and 3DS both have fairly decent attach rates compared to past systems despite their poor hardware and even poorer software sales and overall smaller libraries, 6.8 and 4.7 respectively.

Larger attach rates are easier to achieve with smaller install bases than with large ones.
 
The Wii U figure doesnÂ’t include games (like indie titles) that were only released digitally. I'm not sure if you could say that these would have previously been retail releases. They probably just wouldn't have been released at all in previous generations.

Well, not with the toxic cartridges business model at least.
 
What this doesn't distinguish between is meaningful selection and junk. WiiU has a small library, but I've found more games I've wanted to play on there than the xbone and ps4 combined.

The author kinda alludes to it, but glosses over that too much.
 
What this doesn't distinguish between is meaningful selection and junk. WiiU has a small library, but I've found more games I've wanted to play on there than the xbone and ps4 combined.

The author kinda alludes to it, but glosses over that too much.

Yeah, but when it comes to hardware sales, quantity always wins. "This machine has a lot fewer games, but the ones it does have are disproportionately good" is not a sales pitch that tends to win over parents at Christmastime.
 
I've got about three times as many Wii U games as I have PS4 games, that's the real disappointment. Next gen just didn't seem to arrive this time around.
 
Judging by this list....you dont like 3rd party games?

Cuz if you include 3rd party I'm sure ppl's list of XBO and PS4 must haves is alot bigger.

That said... I know, opinions n all.


.

I have a very capable PC, so I was focusing more on exclusives; especially since most 3rd parties are on both the PS4 and Xbox One.

That said, there are a few other gems I unfairly skipped: Destiny, Dark Souls III, Wolfenstein, DOOM, Gravity Rush, Sunset Overdrive, etc.

But here's a quick pick of my WiiU collection:

28580522776_9d5febd9cb_b.jpg



Tekken, Epic Mickey, CoD, AssCree, Batman, and Wheel of Fortune are hot fucking garbage.

Just Dance, ZombiU, StarFox, Rodea, and Devil's Third are pretty bad, but decent to screw around in. Absolutely not system sellers, admittedly.

But everything else? Must play in my opinion. SSB alone is worth the price of admission. Wind Waker HD is one of the best HD remasters I've ever played. Mario Kart is the best in the series. Mario Maker is a master-class release. Pikmin 3 is beautiful from beginning to end. When's the last time you played anything like Wonderful 101?
 
The problem with a lot of arguments here is the assumption that people want a library of 3000 games.

The Wii U library is tiny, but the argument can be made that the ratio of stellar titles to overall library is subjectively much higher than either the PS4 or XB.
 
I don't think I've ever bought so few games for a console. I played most of its big games. I think 4-5 WiiU games entered my Top 10 from 2012-2016.

My most played game on the system is still Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. I'm not going to sit here and say I didn't enjoy my time with it, but these are the facts.

It's one of the most inconsequential consoles I've ever bought.

Same boat here. I purchased 5 games total for my Wii U and two of them were purchased when I bought the console. I rented several games from Gamefly and enjoyed them, but never really felt the the desire to buy many games. The Wii U was absolutely my worst ever console purchase. IMO Nintendo never truly supported the Wii U and the launch lineup was complete trash. Console launches generally do not have tons of amazing games but that's why third parties are important and most of the third party games had already been released on other consoles. I truly hope Nintendo learned from the Wii U but judging from the info in these NX leaks it sure does not seem like it. Nintendo is hanging by a thread with me right now, nostalgia is the only thing keeping me from jumping ship.
 
I'm perfectly content having just Nintendo first party titles. Anything else is a bonus.

I'm going to buy the other consoles anyways.
 
Top Bottom