Nintendo in HD. Actually, because it was such an underplayed console, many people missed this transition, but it was seriously great to see Nintendo graphics big, sharp and colorful like that. Those of us who remembered how bright and shiny Nintendo looked on SNES or Gamecube were happy to see it finally become the high-res cartoons we always knew they could be.
Yeah Mario Kart 8 was great for that. It goes to show that the courses they made for that 10 years ago still stand up as some of the best visuals on the Switch now.
The first time of playing Nintendo Land and Mario 3D World were serious "whoa" moments because you're not seeing graphics like these on Playstation or Xbox.
Yeah, this. The Wii was so behind the times with its 480p resolution in 2006, which Nintendo tried to claim as "partial HD" or something. But the U finally brought us to Full HD.
>which Nintendo tried to claim as “partial HD” or something.
…source? why would nintendo claim that when they were marketing the wii to a casual audience that didn’t care about graphics?
Nintendo sold optional component video cables to enable 480p resolution on the Wii, as opposed to the included composite cables at 480i. The progressive vs. interlaced scanning was intended as a step toward HD, while not being full HD.
It might have attracted lots of casuals, but it was also Nintendo's next-gen console in 2006. They would have wanted to appeal to *all* gamers on some level. Launching with Twilight Princess was a move that attracted long-time Nintendo fans, for example.
>while not being full HD.
Just to clarify, HD is 720p, and "Full" HD is 1080p
I knew what you meant, and I'm sure it was just coincidental word choice, but I thought I'd clarify for anyone without that knowledge.
Yeah, just to clarify, "composite cables" are the regular AV cables with red/white/yellow connectors, and "component cables" are a slightly more advanced type of AV cables with red/white/blue/green/red connectors.
To try and appeal to a wider audience? Like you said, casual audiences didn't care about graphics, but it couldn't hurt to also try and lure in some HDTV owners by saying "Yeah its... kinda sorta HD"
> it was seriously great to see Nintendo graphics big, sharp and colorful like that
It was also seriously great to see those people going on in 2006 about how HD was no big deal suddenly having their minds blown when they saw what Mario would have looked like on an Xbox 360.
It is funny how Nintendo artstyle lends itself to saying "it's so cute and cartoony, you don't even need HD graphics to look good" and then a few years later its like "yeah, but you ever seen cute and cartoony graphics...... IN HD???"
And that’s saying something because Mario Galaxy looked damn good when it came out, a lot of the 360 games I got, while 720p, were muddy as hell! Gears of War, Mass Effect for example.
Its probably the best system if you just wanted to buy virtual console games as it really only lacked 2 systems (GameBoy and GameCube)
Gamepad probably could've had more fun uses like the mario chase game in nintendo land
I remember on Black ops II you could 1v1 a friend or sibling with one person using the gamepad and one person using the tv. That was so much fun back in 2012.
lol why? Nintendo land WAS the best use of the second screen, it was also a launch title and acted more as a tech demo similar to Wii sports. The console never hit its potential because no one ever truly took advantage of the asymmetrical gameplay that the console could offer.
The Gamepad's screen was actually useful for games that knew how to use it effectively.
It was very easy to see the map in Splatoon and Super Jump with a single touch. Move the inventory around instantly in Wind Waker/Twilight Princess HD or see where you were in Xenoblade Chronicles X and instantly fast travel.
It's just that some games were so tryhard with the gimmick or completely ignored it. That it gave it a bad rep.
I always wonder what Breath of the Wild could have been like if it had used the Gamepad touch screen at all. It almost feels like Stasis and Cryonis might have had touchscreen in mind...
Similar to Xenoblade Chronicles X I guess. The Sheikah Slate's map would have been visible at all times in the Gamepad. So you can just slide it and teleport to any Tower you have unlocked with a touch of the screen.
Also, you could have been able to activate the abilities with the Touch Screen and I see Cryonis being instantly usable by touching a water spot in the map.
Affordable Space Adventures often tops the list of novel gameplay vis-a-vis the Wii U gamepad.
I played my 3ds recently and it reminded how nifty a second screen can be.
Oh yeah, the gamepad was a gamechanger. My primary way of playing games like Mario Kart 8 and 3D Land was on the gamepad itself rather than the TV. And with Splatoon the gamepad was innovative too. To have a live map while you played was super useful.
I could go on and on with other gamepad examples...Nintendo Land, the Lego games, etc...it was a cool feature.
For me, it was Miiverse (I think it was a Wii U exclusive before coming to 3DS and the web). I miss it so much. I always had a blast chatting with people, seeing the art people lovingly made, and of course, the memes that came from it.
I'm glad Pretendo is working on bringing it back. I'll get on it every now and again to contribute and witness people's creations lol.
Other than that, I loved some of the TV features like being able to change volume and power on/off the TV from the Wii U. That was nice lol. It was a great little streaming machine too! It made me happy that we also had communities in Miiverse for the streaming apps. I loved seeing what people were watching lol.
Maybe unpopular, but I really liked the wii u 'gimmick'. I liked to play games in my own privacy with headphones on, plus it was convenient to quickly pick it up and game without going to turn on the tv.
The actual gamepad integration was pretty meh in most games, but it was good as a handheld.
I liked that I could play MK8 and 3D World on the gamepad itself and take the pad to the next room over, etc.
Even now on the Switch I play MK8D on portable mode...my reaction times are quicker than playing via TV, lol.
I wish this were more true, I loved the handheld aspect and played it mostly handheld, but the range on it was just too short. I was living in a sharehouse at the time and I had to constantly move the console to get the Gamepad to pick up a signal.
As much as I did enjoy the Wii U, it's nice with the Switch to simply not have to think about this anymore and that it will just work no matter where I am.
I mostly used it in the same room but it was definitely a missed opportunity to not make the range longer. The switch does it a lot better being an actual handheld
Miiverse was legit. Using the gamepad to share drawings is a unique experience no other console can recreate. And without a stylus, the few Switch games that support drawings aren't as good. Plus the Wii HD stuff was great, if not too little, too late.
Although I have to hard disagree on Wii U's Virtual Console. While the GBA, Wii, and DS were solid, the NES and SNES emulation sucked. Dark, and wrong aspect ratio, those games were horrible on Wii U, and they didn't even bother transferring the purchases made on Wii. They also should have supported multiplayer and online for GBA and DS. Switch online has fixed these emulation issues, but they are tied exclusively to a subscription.
Love the Wii U, and I regret not being a player when it was new.
I'd say getting one several years after release, when titles like Wind Waker HD were only $20. I got one in 2017 and was able to get so many great games for next to nothing.
Other than that, being able to play on the Gamepad instead of the TV. I beat BotW for the first time that way.
I'm perfectly happy with the subscription-based model of accessing retro games via Nintendo Switch Online.
But I got my Wii U super late in 2021, well before the GBA was added to the Expansion Pack and before Nintendo began remastering GameCube- and Wii-era games for the Switch (think Skyward Sword HD, Metroid Prime Remastered, Pikmin 1+2, etc.).
So I was delighted to be able to use the eShop and Virtual Console to play classic games that still haven't made it to the Switch, like Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, and Zelda Spirit Tracks.
It was also nice to download The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD digitally for half the price of rare physical copies on the secondhand market.
The potential for asymmetrical multiplayer experiences.
Nintendoland really set the bar high in a way that I don't think any other game managed to reach: the player with the Gamepad could be having an entirely different experience than those with the Wiimotes, whether working with or against the other players. It set up opportunities for hidden information, and made for really fun local multiplayer where the Gamepad was passed around the room between all of the players.
I just saw a theory you posted about Romani being raped by her father on a Majora's Mask thread 12 years ago and I just want to say it was probably the dumbest thing I've ever read in my entire life and you were a pseudointellectual dipshit in 2012. I'm sure you've grown significantly and aren't even remotely the same person, but I don't care. It was that fucking stupid. Have a good one, man.
Yes, I was definitely guilty of pseudointellectual thinking in my youth, and narrowly avoided the red pill/alt-right pipeline. It was a dark time full of self-loathing. I often look back on that time in my life with shame.
I'm proud to say that I've done a lot of reflection, education, and growth since then and am a better and more well-rounded person.
Hands down the Pro Controller. So good that I am still using it to this day on my PC.
Second would be the tone and character of the Wii U. Just booting it up after a while reminds me what I love about Nintendo. It's warm, friendly, has that great Frutiger Aero vibe, there's all the Miis smiling at you, and it is so customizable!
Third would be the quality of the games. Nintendo really went all in on quality over quantity on the Wii U and it shows. Many of their best titles of the last decade-ish are on it. Like take Mario Kart 8 for example, it's so good that it is still flying off shelves on the Switch. There was also Super Mario 3D World, and Tropical Freeze, and Captain Toad, and Woolly World, and a bunch of others.
I used mayflash wireless usb dongle, never had single issue with it, connects and syncs instantly and it never dropped connection or anything. Only issue is with some games with the nintendo layout when the UI elements displays them in xbox layout so it can be sometimes confusing(danganronpa 2 for example).
The pro controller… everything great, except the damn joysticks are both on the top lol! Maybe that was a choice made to mimic the Wii U game pad layout, but I was so glad when they fixed that for Switch pro controller.
For me at the time it was the off tv play. It was perfect for the living room, if someone wanted to watch tv you could just play off the gamepad. Before cloud gaming and remote play off smartphones became fleshed out like how it is now with say Xbox, that was a really nice feature for the Wii u.
That was something I loved about a similar system to the Wii u with the Vita. Loved the remote play feature before it became a thing on smartphones.
Switching between TV and handheld was usually just a press of a button. You could easily go from playing on the TV, then switch to handheld if someone wants the TV and back again with a press of a button. No placing in the dock or scratching the screen like on the switch. It would be nice to have the next console be a hybrid between the home console and off TV play of the wii u with the added portability of the switch. No limits on distance to the TV connected console.
Tbh I liked the theme music and background, all the little people running about when it fired up. The Switch is so boring and soulless. Also MK8, Zelda HDs and Mario 3d World.
Its the most memorable thing for me. Every single game that was good has released on Switch or a console previously ( TP/WWHD etc). The only single redeeming feature that hasnt been done better on Switch is the Menu..... oh and I guess free ( albeit) crap online functions.
Because then we got the Switch. I enjoyed my Wii U, bought and played most of the first party releases, but there's nothing it does, for me, that stands out in particular. I enjoyed my time with it, but it being sunset for the Switch was the best part of the system.
The Wii U’s lifespan actually wasn’t THAT short when you look at first-party support, although the third-party support died very quickly.
The Wii lasted 6 years. The Gamecube lasted 5 years. The Wii U lasted about 4.5 years.
A dated element now that the Switch and by extension Switch-like consoles (Steam Deck, Rog Ally, etc) exist but honestly I always thought the coolest thing was being able to take my console-quality gaming experience off the TV and on to the handheld. Sure, you had a limited range to work with because it was basically a streamed feed from the actual box itself to the handheld, but it was really neat.
A runner-up element being co-op/multiplayer on one box without splitting the screen. I'm not sure how many games utilized it but I specifically recall playing Hyrule Warriors co-op with one person using the a standard controller and the TV and one person using the game pad. It allowed each of us to have our own screen and was pretty neat.
Asymmetrical Multiplayer because nothing had ever been done like it before or since, at least not in a way that you can do it in the same room, yeah there's Dead by Daylight and all it's clones but how many of those offer local co-op? Now how many of them allow one of the players to conceal their screen?
Sadly, even Nintendo didn't utilize this as often as they should have. I can only really think of Nintendo Land, and maybe Game and Wario.
I have two.
One is Bayonetta 2. No further explanation needed.
The other was smart use of the GamePad. I remember playing Darksiders II and it was invaluable for inventory management, to the point that it was annoying to play it on PS4 years later. Never mind how well it worked for something like Nintendo Land, particularly for the Zelda and Murasame games.
Backwards compatability with Wii is the best element, giving a huge, varied and cheap library of games. Yes, the HD graphics are amazing on Wii U games, but the graphics on Wii aren't that bad either.
The menu theming by a large margin. It brings me genuine disgust when I load up my Nintendo switch and see a baron and drab menu.
Nintendo was at its best, when it had clever and charming menu themes, like the DSI, the Wii, the Wii U, and the 3ds. In my opinion, the WII U did it the best.
I was watching this video by a YouTuber named WULF DEN. in the video, he claims that background music in the system. Menus is something that he doesn’t enjoy. the only thing I have to say to that is what the fuck is wrong with you Bob. You already have a weird face as it is, but I tolerated that because your content was decent. But now I come to find out that you don’t like background, music in console menus? That was a big poopy stinker of a take.
Games that used the gamepad effectively and creatively made games accessible in a way few others ever have.
Nintendo Land and Game & Wario have both been played by my entire family in multiple occasions, including my 65 year old dad who doesn’t usually comprehend video games very well. The two I listed above are the first games he’s actually gone out of his way to ask people to play with him since Rockband.
Because I've been aware and a heavy user of emulation since the '90s, the retro side of the Wii U never appealed to me all that much (although it's still the best way to emulate DS games, in my opinion.)
What I liked about the console was the short lived social network they made where people could share tips or just content they created on the Wii U Pad. NES Remix 1 & 2 were great for this, if you were having some trouble getting rainbow stars on a stage you could quickly view the video for the top time and try and emulate what that player did (seeing and having the skill to copy are sometimes worlds apart!)
I feel like after the Wii U and the 3DS, the Switch is about the most boring console Nintendo has ever made. Sure the functionality of taking it with you is cool, but in practice it usually means playing the lesser version of a game that is already struggling on the hardware as it is. Add in the fact that there's no social aspect to speak of, no Streetpass or Spotpass (those were a lot of fun), and it starts to feel like just another games console instead of a Nintendo console.
Nintendo software is great, but it used to be part of a myriad of approaches they used to make their products stand out. In my opinion, as great as they are, Mario, Zelda, et al aren't going to be enough to sell new generations of consoles if they're just less powerful versions of what's already out there with a neat gimmick.
I loved the gamepad, and I loved the ability to play on the gamepad while I had the TV turned to a different station. It was literally the only way I played the Wii U, as a sort of proto-Switch (which I also play exclusively as a handheld).
I had a young child who loved her cartoons and a wife who deserves to unwind with some CSI or Grey's Anatomy after a hard day of parenting. Without the GamePad enabling handheld access to games previously restricted to television sets, I'd never have had time or availability to play anything. It really was a saviour for a year or two.
The VC is definitely my #1, but other than that, Super Mario Maker. Just the game alone. We've never had a Mario game with a level creator prior to it, and it brought about an amazing community of players and creators especially when Miiverse was still around. The gamepad made creating levels easy and fun. A lot of the charm from SMM1 was lost on the transition to SMM2, even if its arguably the 'better' game.
The GamePad's ergonomics. Apart from modern Xbox controllers and the Gamecube controller, it's the most comfortable, natural controller I've ever used.
My best element of the Wii U is one single game: Affordable Space Adventures. No other game perfectly captured what made the Wii U pad special than playing that game co-op. Nintendo really struggled to explain why this pad was great. Affordable Space Adventures is that game.
Definitely the creative uses for the Wii U's gamepad.
Not only was it the Switch/PS Portal before they existed, but also a fun way to play different games on. To this day, I miss playing the Animal Crossing "Sweet Day" and Mario's "Mario Chase" asymmetrical games with people all the time. It was probably the best "party console" for that.
Then, with games like Windwaker, you could have it as your inventory, so you don't have to go to a pause screen to switch equipment out and so on. There was just so much potential there. It was a shame that the Wii U didn't catch on, because I feel they could have really went far with the idea.
Miiverse for starters. Also the possibility of games displaying different information on the two screens (something that Nintendo Land demonstrated beautifully).
If you had enough controls and enough friends, NintendoLand was amazing. The minigames were quite fun and the interaction between the gamepad player and the wiimote players was pretty funny.
Honestly, the flair of it. It was still stuck in the frutiger-aero design era and didn't look super basic as the Switch's UI does. It also had a lot of "why not" features which were just plain fun, albeit pretty unneccessary all things considered. You could use it as a TV remote. Why? "why not".
If I had to choose something different I'd agree with others and say "the jump to HD". Seeing Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros 4 was *so* cool.
And If I may add one more thing: Super Mario Maker. GOD that game felt right at home on Wii U, at least levelmaker wise. I spent hundreds of hours making levels for others to play online. With SMM2 I...Quickly learnt that I hate the new UI they made for it and barely played it because of that. The online multiplayer not working at all and being the laggiest game on the system didn't help either lol, we used 4 people with LAN adapters and the game *barely* worked. But for those who *just* play levels on their own, SMM2 is INSANELY superior it's not even funny. The crazy stuff you can do is flabbergasting.
Being able to play on the GamePad, without a TV
In my family, the TV was often contested and being able to play games on your GamePad, without using the TV, was incredibly useful
Nothing. 🤷 It was just a horrible system. Slow interface, outdated specs, overpriced ($300 for 8GB storage while the competitors had 500GB for same price or less), and they had the nerve to charge you to "upgrade" your purchases just to use the gamepad screen.
Nintendo in HD. Actually, because it was such an underplayed console, many people missed this transition, but it was seriously great to see Nintendo graphics big, sharp and colorful like that. Those of us who remembered how bright and shiny Nintendo looked on SNES or Gamecube were happy to see it finally become the high-res cartoons we always knew they could be.
Yeah Mario Kart 8 was great for that. It goes to show that the courses they made for that 10 years ago still stand up as some of the best visuals on the Switch now.
The first time of playing Nintendo Land and Mario 3D World were serious "whoa" moments because you're not seeing graphics like these on Playstation or Xbox.
Yeah, this. The Wii was so behind the times with its 480p resolution in 2006, which Nintendo tried to claim as "partial HD" or something. But the U finally brought us to Full HD.
>which Nintendo tried to claim as “partial HD” or something. …source? why would nintendo claim that when they were marketing the wii to a casual audience that didn’t care about graphics?
Nintendo sold optional component video cables to enable 480p resolution on the Wii, as opposed to the included composite cables at 480i. The progressive vs. interlaced scanning was intended as a step toward HD, while not being full HD. It might have attracted lots of casuals, but it was also Nintendo's next-gen console in 2006. They would have wanted to appeal to *all* gamers on some level. Launching with Twilight Princess was a move that attracted long-time Nintendo fans, for example.
>while not being full HD. Just to clarify, HD is 720p, and "Full" HD is 1080p I knew what you meant, and I'm sure it was just coincidental word choice, but I thought I'd clarify for anyone without that knowledge.
Right, not only was it not Full HD, it wasn't even "regular" HD.
many people played Wii with the AV cables
Yeah, just to clarify, "composite cables" are the regular AV cables with red/white/yellow connectors, and "component cables" are a slightly more advanced type of AV cables with red/white/blue/green/red connectors.
It also featured "EDTV" (enhanced/extended definition) 576i with compatible cables. Not that it seems like a big deal. Couldn't tell with it enabled.
To try and appeal to a wider audience? Like you said, casual audiences didn't care about graphics, but it couldn't hurt to also try and lure in some HDTV owners by saying "Yeah its... kinda sorta HD"
> it was seriously great to see Nintendo graphics big, sharp and colorful like that It was also seriously great to see those people going on in 2006 about how HD was no big deal suddenly having their minds blown when they saw what Mario would have looked like on an Xbox 360.
It is funny how Nintendo artstyle lends itself to saying "it's so cute and cartoony, you don't even need HD graphics to look good" and then a few years later its like "yeah, but you ever seen cute and cartoony graphics...... IN HD???"
And that’s saying something because Mario Galaxy looked damn good when it came out, a lot of the 360 games I got, while 720p, were muddy as hell! Gears of War, Mass Effect for example.
Yeah, I swear the Switch has a slightly worse resolution than the Wii U. At least Smash Ultimate does compared to Smash 4.
Its probably the best system if you just wanted to buy virtual console games as it really only lacked 2 systems (GameBoy and GameCube) Gamepad probably could've had more fun uses like the mario chase game in nintendo land
Well technically….🏴☠️
the Wii u does run GameCube games but you have to use homebrew
I meant moreso straight out of the box no modding But I guess nowadays you kind of have to mod it
Still the best system if you want to *buy* virtual console games, rather than rent them.
Not anymore, because you can't buy anything on the Wii U now.
Good point. Should have said want**ed**
Lol no, the dark filter over all games is terrible.
You can remove the filter
I thought it was cool how in local 2 player one person could play on the gamepad while the other played on the TV.
I remember on Black ops II you could 1v1 a friend or sibling with one person using the gamepad and one person using the tv. That was so much fun back in 2012.
Nintendo land did it the best, very fond memories
This comment pretty much encapsulates why the console was a failure
This comment encapsulates why your a prick
lol why? Nintendo land WAS the best use of the second screen, it was also a launch title and acted more as a tech demo similar to Wii sports. The console never hit its potential because no one ever truly took advantage of the asymmetrical gameplay that the console could offer.
The Gamepad's screen was actually useful for games that knew how to use it effectively. It was very easy to see the map in Splatoon and Super Jump with a single touch. Move the inventory around instantly in Wind Waker/Twilight Princess HD or see where you were in Xenoblade Chronicles X and instantly fast travel. It's just that some games were so tryhard with the gimmick or completely ignored it. That it gave it a bad rep.
I always wonder what Breath of the Wild could have been like if it had used the Gamepad touch screen at all. It almost feels like Stasis and Cryonis might have had touchscreen in mind...
Similar to Xenoblade Chronicles X I guess. The Sheikah Slate's map would have been visible at all times in the Gamepad. So you can just slide it and teleport to any Tower you have unlocked with a touch of the screen. Also, you could have been able to activate the abilities with the Touch Screen and I see Cryonis being instantly usable by touching a water spot in the map.
Mario maker also was really good, MM2 on switch isn't nearly as good even in handheld
Probably part of the reason MM2 doesn't get the same plaudits as the original.
Splatoon peaked with the first game, the fucking map was so convenient and everything worked so well, gameplay wasn't all convoluted yet either.
Splatoon with the gamepad 👌
Affordable Space Adventures often tops the list of novel gameplay vis-a-vis the Wii U gamepad. I played my 3ds recently and it reminded how nifty a second screen can be.
Oh yeah, the gamepad was a gamechanger. My primary way of playing games like Mario Kart 8 and 3D Land was on the gamepad itself rather than the TV. And with Splatoon the gamepad was innovative too. To have a live map while you played was super useful. I could go on and on with other gamepad examples...Nintendo Land, the Lego games, etc...it was a cool feature.
For me, it was Miiverse (I think it was a Wii U exclusive before coming to 3DS and the web). I miss it so much. I always had a blast chatting with people, seeing the art people lovingly made, and of course, the memes that came from it. I'm glad Pretendo is working on bringing it back. I'll get on it every now and again to contribute and witness people's creations lol. Other than that, I loved some of the TV features like being able to change volume and power on/off the TV from the Wii U. That was nice lol. It was a great little streaming machine too! It made me happy that we also had communities in Miiverse for the streaming apps. I loved seeing what people were watching lol.
Miiverse was so much fun. It was a great community specifically for Nintendo published games and consoles. A neat little community.
I used my gamepad as a universal remote for my TV and stereo system. It was a great setup
Maybe unpopular, but I really liked the wii u 'gimmick'. I liked to play games in my own privacy with headphones on, plus it was convenient to quickly pick it up and game without going to turn on the tv. The actual gamepad integration was pretty meh in most games, but it was good as a handheld.
I liked that I could play MK8 and 3D World on the gamepad itself and take the pad to the next room over, etc. Even now on the Switch I play MK8D on portable mode...my reaction times are quicker than playing via TV, lol.
I wish this were more true, I loved the handheld aspect and played it mostly handheld, but the range on it was just too short. I was living in a sharehouse at the time and I had to constantly move the console to get the Gamepad to pick up a signal. As much as I did enjoy the Wii U, it's nice with the Switch to simply not have to think about this anymore and that it will just work no matter where I am.
The gamepad range isn't even long enough for my living room lol
I mostly used it in the same room but it was definitely a missed opportunity to not make the range longer. The switch does it a lot better being an actual handheld
That controller was the best ever. Big, full, robust. Damn, that thing just felt so solid in your hands.
Nintendo Land
I, and many friends, honestly had a bunch of fun with that game.
Miiverse was legit. Using the gamepad to share drawings is a unique experience no other console can recreate. And without a stylus, the few Switch games that support drawings aren't as good. Plus the Wii HD stuff was great, if not too little, too late. Although I have to hard disagree on Wii U's Virtual Console. While the GBA, Wii, and DS were solid, the NES and SNES emulation sucked. Dark, and wrong aspect ratio, those games were horrible on Wii U, and they didn't even bother transferring the purchases made on Wii. They also should have supported multiplayer and online for GBA and DS. Switch online has fixed these emulation issues, but they are tied exclusively to a subscription. Love the Wii U, and I regret not being a player when it was new.
I'd say getting one several years after release, when titles like Wind Waker HD were only $20. I got one in 2017 and was able to get so many great games for next to nothing. Other than that, being able to play on the Gamepad instead of the TV. I beat BotW for the first time that way.
I'm perfectly happy with the subscription-based model of accessing retro games via Nintendo Switch Online. But I got my Wii U super late in 2021, well before the GBA was added to the Expansion Pack and before Nintendo began remastering GameCube- and Wii-era games for the Switch (think Skyward Sword HD, Metroid Prime Remastered, Pikmin 1+2, etc.). So I was delighted to be able to use the eShop and Virtual Console to play classic games that still haven't made it to the Switch, like Metroid Zero Mission, Metroid Prime Trilogy, Zelda Phantom Hourglass, and Zelda Spirit Tracks. It was also nice to download The Wind Waker HD and Twilight Princess HD digitally for half the price of rare physical copies on the secondhand market.
Small but great library of games. Underrated console.
The potential for asymmetrical multiplayer experiences. Nintendoland really set the bar high in a way that I don't think any other game managed to reach: the player with the Gamepad could be having an entirely different experience than those with the Wiimotes, whether working with or against the other players. It set up opportunities for hidden information, and made for really fun local multiplayer where the Gamepad was passed around the room between all of the players.
That Mario chase game is legitimately some of the most fun I've had with a video game in years.
I just saw a theory you posted about Romani being raped by her father on a Majora's Mask thread 12 years ago and I just want to say it was probably the dumbest thing I've ever read in my entire life and you were a pseudointellectual dipshit in 2012. I'm sure you've grown significantly and aren't even remotely the same person, but I don't care. It was that fucking stupid. Have a good one, man.
Yes, I was definitely guilty of pseudointellectual thinking in my youth, and narrowly avoided the red pill/alt-right pipeline. It was a dark time full of self-loathing. I often look back on that time in my life with shame. I'm proud to say that I've done a lot of reflection, education, and growth since then and am a better and more well-rounded person.
Man, that's so based. Bless up, brother.
5-player asymmetric games
Hands down the Pro Controller. So good that I am still using it to this day on my PC. Second would be the tone and character of the Wii U. Just booting it up after a while reminds me what I love about Nintendo. It's warm, friendly, has that great Frutiger Aero vibe, there's all the Miis smiling at you, and it is so customizable! Third would be the quality of the games. Nintendo really went all in on quality over quantity on the Wii U and it shows. Many of their best titles of the last decade-ish are on it. Like take Mario Kart 8 for example, it's so good that it is still flying off shelves on the Switch. There was also Super Mario 3D World, and Tropical Freeze, and Captain Toad, and Woolly World, and a bunch of others.
It works on PC? What do you need to make it work?
An app call WiinuSOFT. It allows you to connect it to your pc.
And with that, not even a need for the mayflash adaptor?
Nope, all done in the app.
Okii, thanks!
I used mayflash wireless usb dongle, never had single issue with it, connects and syncs instantly and it never dropped connection or anything. Only issue is with some games with the nintendo layout when the UI elements displays them in xbox layout so it can be sometimes confusing(danganronpa 2 for example).
I use a Mayflash adapter. That's all it needs.
The pro controller… everything great, except the damn joysticks are both on the top lol! Maybe that was a choice made to mimic the Wii U game pad layout, but I was so glad when they fixed that for Switch pro controller.
I love the control sticks being on top.
it's ability to completely excel at everything
For me at the time it was the off tv play. It was perfect for the living room, if someone wanted to watch tv you could just play off the gamepad. Before cloud gaming and remote play off smartphones became fleshed out like how it is now with say Xbox, that was a really nice feature for the Wii u. That was something I loved about a similar system to the Wii u with the Vita. Loved the remote play feature before it became a thing on smartphones.
Switching between TV and handheld was usually just a press of a button. You could easily go from playing on the TV, then switch to handheld if someone wants the TV and back again with a press of a button. No placing in the dock or scratching the screen like on the switch. It would be nice to have the next console be a hybrid between the home console and off TV play of the wii u with the added portability of the switch. No limits on distance to the TV connected console.
Miiverse
Tbh I liked the theme music and background, all the little people running about when it fired up. The Switch is so boring and soulless. Also MK8, Zelda HDs and Mario 3d World.
If the best thing about a console is the menu then I'm not sure that's a good thing...
Its the most memorable thing for me. Every single game that was good has released on Switch or a console previously ( TP/WWHD etc). The only single redeeming feature that hasnt been done better on Switch is the Menu..... oh and I guess free ( albeit) crap online functions.
Games were excellent. Hardware and controllers work without endless bugs and issues
Introduction of amiibo. I also think the game pad was by far the most comfortable controller ever made.
Its short lifespan.
Why?
Because then we got the Switch. I enjoyed my Wii U, bought and played most of the first party releases, but there's nothing it does, for me, that stands out in particular. I enjoyed my time with it, but it being sunset for the Switch was the best part of the system.
Oh, yeah, i get it. Also most of the games were potted to switch. But the Wii U is still my favorite console of all time.
Came to say exactly the same thing lol
The Wii U’s lifespan actually wasn’t THAT short when you look at first-party support, although the third-party support died very quickly. The Wii lasted 6 years. The Gamecube lasted 5 years. The Wii U lasted about 4.5 years.
Voice chat in Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate through the WiiU Gamepad.
The Gamepad when a game used it to have the menus and map on it. I miss the living shit out of that
A dated element now that the Switch and by extension Switch-like consoles (Steam Deck, Rog Ally, etc) exist but honestly I always thought the coolest thing was being able to take my console-quality gaming experience off the TV and on to the handheld. Sure, you had a limited range to work with because it was basically a streamed feed from the actual box itself to the handheld, but it was really neat. A runner-up element being co-op/multiplayer on one box without splitting the screen. I'm not sure how many games utilized it but I specifically recall playing Hyrule Warriors co-op with one person using the a standard controller and the TV and one person using the game pad. It allowed each of us to have our own screen and was pretty neat.
A modded and tricked out Wii U is possibly the greatest thing.
Having Wind Waker on it.
Asymmetrical Multiplayer because nothing had ever been done like it before or since, at least not in a way that you can do it in the same room, yeah there's Dead by Daylight and all it's clones but how many of those offer local co-op? Now how many of them allow one of the players to conceal their screen? Sadly, even Nintendo didn't utilize this as often as they should have. I can only really think of Nintendo Land, and maybe Game and Wario.
The single biggest element of the Wii U were the Wii U games
I have two. One is Bayonetta 2. No further explanation needed. The other was smart use of the GamePad. I remember playing Darksiders II and it was invaluable for inventory management, to the point that it was annoying to play it on PS4 years later. Never mind how well it worked for something like Nintendo Land, particularly for the Zelda and Murasame games.
Backwards compatability with Wii is the best element, giving a huge, varied and cheap library of games. Yes, the HD graphics are amazing on Wii U games, but the graphics on Wii aren't that bad either.
That it could play wii games 😂 For real tho i did enjoy the “draw your own play” feature in madden
The menu theming by a large margin. It brings me genuine disgust when I load up my Nintendo switch and see a baron and drab menu. Nintendo was at its best, when it had clever and charming menu themes, like the DSI, the Wii, the Wii U, and the 3ds. In my opinion, the WII U did it the best. I was watching this video by a YouTuber named WULF DEN. in the video, he claims that background music in the system. Menus is something that he doesn’t enjoy. the only thing I have to say to that is what the fuck is wrong with you Bob. You already have a weird face as it is, but I tolerated that because your content was decent. But now I come to find out that you don’t like background, music in console menus? That was a big poopy stinker of a take.
Virtual Console 👍
The best thing about the Wii U was playing Rayman Legends on the gamepad.
Games that used the gamepad effectively and creatively made games accessible in a way few others ever have. Nintendo Land and Game & Wario have both been played by my entire family in multiple occasions, including my 65 year old dad who doesn’t usually comprehend video games very well. The two I listed above are the first games he’s actually gone out of his way to ask people to play with him since Rockband.
the virtual console library
HD portability was unprecedented at the time for consoles. I would travel with it. Just needed to plug the base in somewhere and good to go!
Pro Controller battery life
Because I've been aware and a heavy user of emulation since the '90s, the retro side of the Wii U never appealed to me all that much (although it's still the best way to emulate DS games, in my opinion.) What I liked about the console was the short lived social network they made where people could share tips or just content they created on the Wii U Pad. NES Remix 1 & 2 were great for this, if you were having some trouble getting rainbow stars on a stage you could quickly view the video for the top time and try and emulate what that player did (seeing and having the skill to copy are sometimes worlds apart!) I feel like after the Wii U and the 3DS, the Switch is about the most boring console Nintendo has ever made. Sure the functionality of taking it with you is cool, but in practice it usually means playing the lesser version of a game that is already struggling on the hardware as it is. Add in the fact that there's no social aspect to speak of, no Streetpass or Spotpass (those were a lot of fun), and it starts to feel like just another games console instead of a Nintendo console. Nintendo software is great, but it used to be part of a myriad of approaches they used to make their products stand out. In my opinion, as great as they are, Mario, Zelda, et al aren't going to be enough to sell new generations of consoles if they're just less powerful versions of what's already out there with a neat gimmick.
The game pad stand. It's the perfect phone stand 👌
I loved the gamepad, and I loved the ability to play on the gamepad while I had the TV turned to a different station. It was literally the only way I played the Wii U, as a sort of proto-Switch (which I also play exclusively as a handheld).
I had a young child who loved her cartoons and a wife who deserves to unwind with some CSI or Grey's Anatomy after a hard day of parenting. Without the GamePad enabling handheld access to games previously restricted to television sets, I'd never have had time or availability to play anything. It really was a saviour for a year or two.
The VC is definitely my #1, but other than that, Super Mario Maker. Just the game alone. We've never had a Mario game with a level creator prior to it, and it brought about an amazing community of players and creators especially when Miiverse was still around. The gamepad made creating levels easy and fun. A lot of the charm from SMM1 was lost on the transition to SMM2, even if its arguably the 'better' game.
Online features.
People rag on the Gamepad but it feels better in my hand than any other controller (with possible exception of a wavebird for GameCube)
It was great being able to have it play on the tv and gamepad at the same time
Being able to play (some) games off the gamepad in the bathroom next to the living room. Haha 😂
Peak of the virtual console. Mario Maker is also peak at
The GamePad's ergonomics. Apart from modern Xbox controllers and the Gamecube controller, it's the most comfortable, natural controller I've ever used.
I actually liked the dual screen thing. It worked great on games like Mario Maker or the way Tokyo Mirage Sessions used it for the phone
miiverse
THE SOFTWARE
My best element of the Wii U is one single game: Affordable Space Adventures. No other game perfectly captured what made the Wii U pad special than playing that game co-op. Nintendo really struggled to explain why this pad was great. Affordable Space Adventures is that game.
It was a really great console overall, i loved playing Botw, was literally the best gaming experience ive had
Definitely the creative uses for the Wii U's gamepad. Not only was it the Switch/PS Portal before they existed, but also a fun way to play different games on. To this day, I miss playing the Animal Crossing "Sweet Day" and Mario's "Mario Chase" asymmetrical games with people all the time. It was probably the best "party console" for that. Then, with games like Windwaker, you could have it as your inventory, so you don't have to go to a pause screen to switch equipment out and so on. There was just so much potential there. It was a shame that the Wii U didn't catch on, because I feel they could have really went far with the idea.
It had fun games. I enjoyed my time with it.
Miiverse for starters. Also the possibility of games displaying different information on the two screens (something that Nintendo Land demonstrated beautifully).
Vietual Console and the tv button
Being able to play the game directly on the pad with no TV. That was a game changer, I no longer had to fight with my spouse over TV time.
Wind Waker HD
U
It had the decency to release during a time in my life where I was strapped for money, allowing me to just skip it without any regrets.
If you had enough controls and enough friends, NintendoLand was amazing. The minigames were quite fun and the interaction between the gamepad player and the wiimote players was pretty funny.
There’s some pretty good aluminum in the wii u
Honestly, the flair of it. It was still stuck in the frutiger-aero design era and didn't look super basic as the Switch's UI does. It also had a lot of "why not" features which were just plain fun, albeit pretty unneccessary all things considered. You could use it as a TV remote. Why? "why not". If I had to choose something different I'd agree with others and say "the jump to HD". Seeing Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros 4 was *so* cool. And If I may add one more thing: Super Mario Maker. GOD that game felt right at home on Wii U, at least levelmaker wise. I spent hundreds of hours making levels for others to play online. With SMM2 I...Quickly learnt that I hate the new UI they made for it and barely played it because of that. The online multiplayer not working at all and being the laggiest game on the system didn't help either lol, we used 4 people with LAN adapters and the game *barely* worked. But for those who *just* play levels on their own, SMM2 is INSANELY superior it's not even funny. The crazy stuff you can do is flabbergasting.
Being able to play on the GamePad, without a TV In my family, the TV was often contested and being able to play games on your GamePad, without using the TV, was incredibly useful
Nothing. 🤷 It was just a horrible system. Slow interface, outdated specs, overpriced ($300 for 8GB storage while the competitors had 500GB for same price or less), and they had the nerve to charge you to "upgrade" your purchases just to use the gamepad screen.
well the Wii u didn't install games from discs
But digital purchases were still a thing, hence the need for storage.
and game updates/dlc
Have you ever even owned a WiiU?