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[Ushojax]

I think in terms of the quality of the libraries it's pretty similar, but Dreamcast had some amazing new IPs that the Wii U can't compete with. Aside from Splatoon the best Wii U games are all Nintendo sequels, whereas the Dreamcast had Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Samba De Amigo, Skies of Arcadia, Space Channel 5, etc.

Nintendo's Wii U games are of a very high quality but they are almost all straightforward sequels aside from W101 and Splatoon.

 

[george_us]

I'd say Dreamcast just because of the sheer variety in such a short amount of time. Wii U has a fantastic library on it's own but not quite the variety. I've said this many times but the Wii U has my favorite Nintendo lineup since the SNES.

 

[Synless]

Wii U is the better system.

 

[LordOcidax]

Wii U. Bayonetta 2, Smash, Xenoblade X, 3D world... etc etc. BTW. Bayo 2 >>> The complete Dreamcast library.

 

[thecouncil]

Wii U had a better list of games and better hardware but Dreamcast had more... heart. It captured the imagination and ran with it into the future. Dreamcast wins on that alone. Wii U is just shit for kids.

 

[Menitta]

Wii U. It had a good controller. (At least better than the Dreamcast)

Lego City Undercover is the most underrated game on the console!

 

[Plinko]

I think Wii U had higher quality, but the Dreamcast was no slouch.

 

[BrendanSinclair]

Dreamcast by a mile. So many great arcade ports, so many fighting games, Giant Gram 2000, SF Rush 2049 with the awesome THPS-like stunt mode, Fire Pro Wrestling, Seaman, superior versions of Tony Hawk 1 and 2, Typing of the Dead, and all that in a lifespan about a year and a half shorter than the Wii U's.

 

[Celine]

Dreamcast has more variety, WiiU has better games.

 

[AdmiralMikey]

There were more good games on launch day for Dreamcast than there were for the first year of Wii U. Even when it has a Legend of Zelda game, the Wii U's library doesn't even come close to half of the number of good games that came out for Dreamcast in its much shorter lifespan.

 

[Boss Mog]

Dreamcast by far. PSO alone was a revolution at the time.

 

[Fireblend]

Wii U

You forgot the best game of this generation, Pikmin 3.

Perfect first post. Pikmin 3 is soooo good.

 

[maxcriden]

I think in terms of the quality of the libraries it's pretty similar, but Dreamcast had some amazing new IPs that the Wii U can't compete with. Aside from Splatoon the best Wii U games are all Nintendo sequels, whereas the Dreamcast had Jet Set Radio, Shenmue, Crazy Taxi, Samba De Amigo, Skies of Arcadia, Space Channel 5, etc.

Nintendo's Wii U games are of a very high quality but they are almost all straightforward sequels aside from W101 and Splatoon.

Crazy Taxi came from arcade, just FWIW.

 

[shandy706]

I'm annoyed that Metropolis Street Racer isn't in the OP's list.

It's one of the greatest racers ever released. A LOT of people never played the spiritual precursor to PGR. :*(

The game's graphics blew my mind coming off GT2.

 

[KingJ2002]

Dreamcast... although it's time was cut way shorter it's innovations changed gaming and is still loved by many... while the Wii U's unique features didn't quite have the same impact and many want to move on from the "Wii" era.

 

[entremet]

Wii U.

Never was a Dreamcast fan. I vastly preferred PS2/Xbox/GCN.

I enjoyed it though, especially Soul Caliber.

 

[Tain]

Wii U has a nice, small selection of great exclusives, but the Dreamcast is still the best place for many excellent Naomi games. I'm leaning Dreamcast. If we include games that were exclusive to Dreamcast for a reasonable amount of time, there's no contest.

On the other hand, if we take away all of Dreamcast's arcade ports, things become much harder.

 

[Possumowner]

Wii U...you can bash it all you want,but it's got some stunning games on it.Not saying Dreamcast didn't,just the Wii U's were/are better

 

[random25]

Objectively, it's Wii U. Preference of games would you only subjectively choose Dreamcast. Both are good consoles, though.

 

[e_i]

Dreamcast.

 

[akashhhhh]

One of these platforms had Rez. The other did not.

 

[privitsan02]

Dreamcast managed to do more in half the lifespan the Wii U had. While there are some real standouts within their respective franchises on the Wii U, it had a less diverse line up of games. While owners of Dreamcasts at the time were ticked off at how quickly the consoles life was cut, Wii U owners had to wait through heavy droughts which make the previous drought king, the N64, look like it got games in heavy rotation.

Honestly, the 3DS carried this generation for Nintendo and really offers everything you need from a Nintendo console. While it might not have been a great console itself, at least it got the better Nintendo games, (imo) and at a better rate throughout its lifespan. It had its droughts too but again, the Wii U just made it look better in every way.

Best wishes.

 

[ashleythedragon]

Dreamcast, hands down. it was waaaay over it's competitors when it was launched, a real innovation, stated the basis for many thing we use today like sandboxes, or QTE.

Wii U? It has a tablet as a controller. games are more or less "like that game you liked, but made today with a few gimmicks that doesn't really add anything". Only game that really can be called innovative and will be looked over in the future, is Splatoon.

 

[superNESjoe]

How on Earth are Pikmin 3 and DKC Tropical Freeze not on that list?

 

[Dr. Feel Good]

Wii U is one of the finest showcases of Nintendo software but the volume of titles it just barren compared to what the Dreamcast had.

Dreamcast not only killed it with first party software, they had amazing third party support in Japan, and they also innovated in online gaming and memory cards.

 

[Alienous]

Well Dreamcast had better software, but the Wii U didn't end up killing its parent company.

Yet

 

[mrmickfran]

Dreamcast didn't have Bayonetta 2.

 

[z0m3le]

The big difference IMO is that Dreamcast did it in 2 years, Wii U did it in 4. At the end of the day, Wii U has the better library, but Dreamcast is no slouch, if it had 4 years, it would absolutely win this argument every single time.

 

[galvatron]

Hard to choose...WiiU had some really great games, but you can probably count them on both hands. Still hard to equal a Mario game, for me...and NSMBU + luigi U is the best 2d Mario game and that's from someone who was a gamer during the SMB3 launch.

Dreamcast may not have hit those highs, but there were a lot more 8/9 out of 10 games there. I feel like every WiiU owner's library is 90% the same whereas the OP didn't even list most of my favorite DC games (tons of SNK ports, Capcom vs SNK 2, SF3: 3rd Strike, Ikaruga, Cannon Spike, Zero Gunner 2, Cool Cool Toon, Typing of the Dead, lot more).

 

[Serohiro]

You forgot Wonderful 101, Bayoneta 2 and Zombie U on the Wii U side. But I would go with Dreamcast because it was ahead of its time. It led the way in online play and communicating. The support of a keyboard and online play in sports titles and Phantasy Star Online was groundbreaking. Had it come out a few years later with a dvd drive. Gaming history would be completely different.

 

[Ushojax]

Crazy Taxi came from arcade, just FWIW.

OK but it was a new type of experience. There was some crazy shit on the Dreamcast that no other console has matched from a first party perspective.

 

[E-phonk]

Games I owned out of your list:

Dreamcast
Sonic Adventure - Sonic's first real 3D platformer. Might not hold up the best today, but it blew me away when I first played it.
Soul Calibur - An awesome 3D arcade fighter that came to the Dreamcast like I was playing it at the arcade.
Crazy Taxi - A near arcade perfect version of the Craaaaaaaaaaaaazy Taxi arcade game.
Jet Set Radio - An artistic game full of spraypainting fun.
Resident Evil: Code Veronica - A solid entry to the original Resident Evil Franchise.
Skies of Arcadia - A great RPG full of flying ship pirate fights.
Shenmue - One of the most ambitious games for its time I've ever played.
Sonic Adventure 2 - Sequel to Sonic Adventure. lot of Sonic Pals.
Marvel vs. Capcom II - A classic fighter. All that has to be said is that It's Maaaaaahvel Baybee. Where ya' curley mustache at?

VS

Wii U
New Super Mario Bros. Wii U - Good game. Crappy music
Super Mario 3D World - A good entry in the 3D Marios. Similar in vein to its 3DS predecessor.
Mario Kart 8 - A Great entry to the Mario Kart Franchise
Super Smash Bros. Wii U - Solid Entry to the Smash Franchise. This time it is playable on 3DS as well.
Super Mario Maker - Fun to be had making your own Mario levels and sharing them. People had been doing this themselves with Rom Hacks for years.
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - A great return of the SNES classics.
Splatoon - Probably the one game that started on the Wii U that will shine for future years.
Bayonetta 2 - A solid crazy action game. A game we were lucky to get.
Zelda: Wind Waker Wii U - Pretty deep overhaul of the original game to make it shine with the graphics of the Wii U. Emphasis on the shine.

9 vs 9, it's a tie!

(although you're missing nintendoland and monster hunter)

EDIT:

For real. You also forgot these gems:

Nintendo Land
New Super Luigi U
Captain Toad
Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
Yoshi's Woolly World

You also missed these. So pure in number of titles I owned Wii U won.
It's hard to say how some of those titles will stand the test of time, although I did injoy most of the Wii U games I played.

 

[trixx]

Probably better comparing wii u to the GameCube. Wii U might have the best nintendo first party output since SNES(in terms of consoles). If only the two were more powerful and had third parties on board.

I might have to go with Dreamcast. Phantasy Star is pretty impressive

 

[Vinnk]

Despite being failures.

Dreamcast and Wii U are 2 of my top 5 systems ever.

What they lacked in quantity they made up for in quality. Or at least in the type of games I like to play.

 

[NotLiquid]

Dreamcast may have been the more next-gen feeling console but Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, The Wonderful 101 and Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze have already reached legendary status to me as some of my favorite games ever made, so I'm feeling inclined to go with Wii U.

But I still love both consoles tbh. Both of them had superb titles that couldn't elevate their console struggles in the end.

 

[randomengine]

Can we consider the Virtual Console on Wii U as being included in the evaluation?

 

[mark_79]

Dreamcast by an absolute mile. Software library was better, simple as.

 

[El Pescado]

This thread is insane. I loved my Dreamcast, but its software library is no where close to as good as the Wii U's. I've been playing games for over 20 years now and some of my favorite titles of all time are Wii U releases.

 

[Zia]

Dreamcast is my favorite console but it had its time and has been bettered in many, many areas. Wii U has a handful of timeless classics in Bayonetta 2, Super Mario Maker, 3D World, Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon.

Wii U.

 

[thecouncil]

The big difference IMO is that Dreamcast did it in 2 years, Wii U did it in 4. At the end of the day, Wii U has the better library, but Dreamcast is no slouch, if it had 4 years, it would absolutely win this argument every single time.

But if Nintendo had a lot of hypothetical third party support, then would it have been better than the hypothetical 4 years of Dreamcast?

 

[Spades]

Dreamcast didn't stop delivering right up until it died.

I'd go along with this.

 

[Thud]

Wii U has bigger highs, but dreamcast has more quality games.

 

[Ran rp]

Wii Who?

 

[z0m3le]

How on Earth are Pikmin 3 and DKC Tropical Freeze not on that list?

Rayman legends, Toad Treasure Tracker, wonderful 101, and shovel knight.

Some cool dreamcast games are missing too.

 

[Klart]

Dreamcast. It was so ahead of it's time.

 

[SolarPowered]

The Dreamcast and it's not even close once you throw third party support into the mix.

 

[MacTag]

Dreamcast had a higher quantity of first party games, and had the best versions of multi platform games-Soul Reaver, Tony Hawk, Dino Crisis, Street Fighter Alpha 3 were all significantly improved from there PS1 versions.

SFZ3 had the best port on Saturn. Better controller, non-scaled sprites, more animation frames, arcade effects and reverse dramatic battle. Only downside was the longer load times.

 

[GamerJM]

I'd say Wii U but if I wasn't a huge Nintendo fan I'd almost certainly say DreamCast. I like almost every first-party Wii U game, whereas the DreamCast in hindsight has a lot of stuff that got ported or was ported to another platform. The DreamCast has much more strength in terms of breadth of games.

 

[Nikodemos]

Dreamcast fought tooth and nail to the very end. It pioneered tech that would become commonplace half a decade later (Internet, motion control) and had the support of a great many publishers (except EA). At the moment of its death, there was a Half-life version in the works for it (and some pretty amazing games, like Agartha). It had a wide and varied selection of titles in pretty much every genre.
By contrast, WiiU... well, doesn't, exactly. It has a relatively solid if occasionally uninspiring selection of Nintendo games, some decent to good financed games, and a tiny handful of titles publishers decided to port, mainly due to previous commitment. It does have one of the most innovative team shooters out there, but in terms of absolute catalogue, I'd rank it under Dreamcast.

 

[LordOcidax]

The Wii U have a amazing library of games, i love the Dreamcast, but the Dreamcast was more about the WOW effect than good games compared to the Wii U. The only genre that the Wii U lacks is a good "simulation" race game.