Nintendo Wii U

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ratsoalbion
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Nintendo Wii U

Post by ratsoalbion »

Please post your recollections and opinions of the Nintendo Wii U here for potential inclusion in the podcast.
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Magical_Isopod
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Re: Our next console special podcast recording (20.11.22): Nintendo Wii U

Post by Magical_Isopod »

I distinctly remember when I bought my WiiU... It was late 2015, I had just moved to a new city for a new job, and it was a holiday long weekend. I was cash-strapped, but I needed groceries, and the only store open was Shoppers Drug Mart, which is a Canadian pharmacy chain that also carries a limited selection of nonperishable food and electronics.

When I was checking out - I believe I just bought a can of gravy - I noticed they had the Mario Kart 8 Wii U bundle for $100 off MSRP, PLUS a $25 gift card was included. I checked my bank account to see if I could make it work, and I was a bit short... But I also noticed an eBay notification. A game I'd listed for $120 had sold - and now, I had enough for the WiiU. It was their last unit in stock, and I felt like a criminal mastermind.

As a console though, the WiiU is a bit of an odd duck. I have a generally positive opinion of the thing, but its library is absolutely limited. Some of the highlights for me include Yoshi's Woolly World, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, and the Zelda remasters. But a lot of the games I had purchased it for wound up really disappointing me - Breath of the Wild, Xenoblade X and DKC Tropical Freeze among them. I know these games were a hit with a lot of people, but examining my personal experience with the console as a whole, I have strange feelings... The games I expected to be great, I whiffed on. The games I had zero expectations in wound up really surprising me and impressing me. I can't say I've ever really had that experience with a console before, and the WiiU sticks out in my memory for exactly that reason.

My greatest value in the WiiU has actually come in its backwards compatibility. I can't really find any specific technical reason for why, but I swear Wii games look better on WiiU. I tried a side-by-side with two different HD displays using two copies of the original Xenoblade, and the WiiU image looked far sharper, and seemed to run better, with fewer frame stutters. Perhaps you folks will know better why this is, but every source I can find online seems to suggest they should be identical. The WiiU also had a great lineup of virtual console games - some of which were also available on the Wii (and regrettably, you could not simply transfer those licenses over), but it also hosted a ton of brand new titles that are still not available for the Switch.

The WiiU also has an incredible amount of utility. It's a very easy console to mod, and because it has the guts for a Wii system, it can be modded to play Gamecube games in glorious HD. It also has robust emulation support, and can run N64 and Nintendo DS games very well. Bit of caution on this though - when I modded mine, I managed to mess up the CMOS files such that it can no longer run all legitimate Wii games I own... Only about half of them play. The console has also become what I like to call the "Great Value Switch." Since a lot of the best Switch games are WiiU ports, the original WiiU versions have plummeted in value. You can get Mario Kart 8, for instance, for around $15. If you don't feel like paying $80 for Pikmin 3, Tropical Freeze or Mario 3D World, you can get them easily under $30 on the WiiU. However, a lot of the desirable games that have not yet been ported - like the Zelda remasters and Xenoblade X - have been steadily climbing in price.

One other odd bit of trivia I love telling folks... WiiU discs have rounded edges. If you've never felt the edge of a WiiU disc, you'll find the edge is formed in a very soft, rounded taper. Was there an epidemic of kids being slashed by Blu-Rays? Who knows. It's probably just some oddball Nintendo quirk, but I always found it amusing.

Overall, I do have a generally positive opinion of the WiiU. I think this era of Nintendo was intensely creative and experimental in terms of the games being produced, but poor marketing and failure to secure adequate third party support really kicked this one in the shins. I see an alternate timeline where Nintendo is a very different company, had the WiiU succeeded - one where bolder risks were taken, and where game design felt less assembly line. But that's a story for another episode.
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Rhaegyr
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Re: Nintendo Wii U

Post by Rhaegyr »

Oh no - has the recording happened? Blast.
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ratsoalbion
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Re: Nintendo Wii U

Post by ratsoalbion »

That's why I put the date on the post title!
:P

Sorry you missed it. The show should be out soonish for Patreons anyway.
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Truk_Kurt
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Re: Nintendo Wii U

Post by Truk_Kurt »

I somehow missed the post but I would like to share my WiiU experience anyway.

I remember buying one of the Black 32GB ones from a Sainsburys after I had just finished my university studies, so bought it as a treat and for something to play whilst I searched for a job. It was only my second Nintendo home console after the Wii and I had a great experience with it.

Despite having a great time with it, I had very few games for it and those I did have were all first party. That can often be the case for a Nintendo console for most people but there were still some exclusives on there I didn't play due them not being genres I was interested in. However of all the games I did play on it, each of them were fantastic games I had a blast with, making it a memorable console for me overall. Thinking back, it was only Bayonetta 2 and DK Tropical Freeze I didn't get on with. Otherwise I had a great time with Super Mario 3D World, Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, Yoshi's Woolly World, Mario Kart 8, Wind Waker HD and of course the amazing Breath of the Wild. Wow, I really didn't own many games for it as I have just listed all of them! I don't regret the purchase at all though.
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