Wii U Appreciation Thread

[FunAtParties]

The Switch is a little less than 2 months away taking up the mantle as Nintendo's home console from the short-lived Wii U. While the Wii U wasn't perfect, it still had its share of great gaming experiences on it, and I believe it deserves a proper goodbye, so share you Wii U experiences here.



I guess I'll go first. The Wii U was the first console I bought with my own money, and because of that I'll always have a lot of love for it.
Despite Nintendo abandoning it so early I had plenty of games for it too. Mario Kart 8 and Rayman Legends were my first games, I spent a lot of time on those daily challenges, I wonder if they're still going on? Played and beat my first Pikmin game, then DKC, 100% 3D World, but Smash and Splatoon really did it for me. Many hours went into FG and online Splatoon, and I wouldn't say one of them was wasted. It's going to be a sad day when those servers shut down, I already miss those Splatfests.

Sorry for the cornyness, but yeah RIP Wii U. Anyone else got some stories they'd like to share?

 

[A Distant Demon]

The wii U gave me Wonderful 101

Now THAT is something I can damn well appreciate. <3

Games like Captian Toad, Smash, Pikmin 3 and XCX were pretty great too and I cant exactly say I won't miss the console.


Also off-TV play was the greatest thing ever for someone with a roommate. Godlike.
RIP Wii U

 

[WeirdChillFever]

The WiiU was good
Splatoon was good

So the WiiU was good

 

[finalark]

If you wanted platformers it had platformers.

 

[Swamp Sensei]

It had nice games and off tv play was nice.

 

[N3ON]

I appreciate the Wii U first and foremost as a TV remote that's always easy to find and second as a place to play either Smash or Mario Kart. I heard it had other games as well but can't confirm.

 

[Arcadenik]

I appreciate...

• Splatoon (new IP that is actually fun)
• Super Mario Maker (after 25 years of dreaming, I can finally make Mario levels)
• Captain Toad (Toad finally gets his own game)
• SSB4 (Duck Hunt Dog is finally playable after 12 years of supporting... oh, and some of my most-wanted characters like Ryu, Mega Man, Pac-Man, Villager, and Little Mac actually got in)
• Super Mario 3D World (SMB2 heroes are back together in a new 3D adventure)
• Tropical Freeze (new DKC game and Dixie is back)
• Hyrule Warriors (fun Zelda spin-off game with plenty of fan service and shows the glory of Tingle)
• Pikmin 3 (long-awaited new Pikmin game)
• Mario Kart 8 (huge cast with non-Mario characters and courses and fun online play)
• Paper Mario Color Splash (long-awaited new Paper Mario home console game since Super Paper Mario)
• Yoshi's Woolly World (long-awaited new Yoshi's Island home console game since Yoshi's Story)
• GBA Virtual Console games (now I can play GBA games on TV again like I used to do with Game Boy Player)
• NES Zapper Virtual Console games (Nintendo proved they can make NES Zapper games w
• Castlevania GBA trilogy (I just love Castlevania games... also first time I played Harmony of Dissonance and Aria of Sorrow)
• Shantae and the Pirate's Curse (fun game)
• DuckTales Remastered (never played the NES game so the remake was a treat)
• EarthBound (never played it on the SNES but I liked it... still think it should be remade with cel-shaded graphics kinda like Dragon Quest 8 which is my favorite JRPG)
• Duck Hunt (fun time waster)
• Netflix (so I can watch movies, TV shows, cartoons, and anime)
• Hulu (same reasons as Netflix)

I don't appreciate...

• having to charge my Game Pad all the time

Wii U was a great console but it was not my favorite console. That would be the SNES and the 3DS.

 

[WeirdChillFever]

Hyrule Warriors was one of the best games of the WiiU.
Splatoon gets all the love for being the new WiiU concept but Hyrule Warriors was a love letter to Zelda fans in every aspect.

 

[AwesomeAussie27]

Most of everything I wanted to say has been conversed.

But if I want to say something original, Xenoblade X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE were the best RPG's I've ever played. And despite some nuisances, I loved Fatal Frame V for the horror experience it was. While the Wii U is far from my favorite Nintendo console (better than the Virtual Boy), it's definitely an experience that I would never forget.

 

[Tino]

Off-TV Play is perhaps the best feature on the Wii U, in my opinion. I use it mostly to play Virtual Console games.

Besides Smash Wii U, I enjoyed playing games like Mario 3D World, the Zelda HD remakes and Xenoblade X. Not my favorite Nintendo console by any means (N64 is still the best) but I did enjoyed the experience.

 

[Lola Luftnagle]

Yes, well...I bought a Wii U pretty late in its life (August of last year). I enjoyed playing Smash 4 but I also had Tekken Tag Tournament 2 which is unplayable with the bulky-ass gamepad in my opinion. It was on this console I purchased DLC for the first time ever. I'll tell you what, the Viridi costume for s was a damn good purchase, as well as the Ashley, Isabelle, and Inkling outfits, so...

The Switch is now available worldwide but there are still some Wii U games I have yet to play, such as Mario Party 10 and Mario Kart 8. Now, I don't know about the rest of y'all sugar pies, but I'm never letting go of the Wii U or my other gaming consoles.

 

[KatKit]

Wii U gave me Runbow (9-player FTW!), Bayonetta 2 (and Bayonetta 1 with cool new stuff), Nintendoland, Pokken, Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE, Wonderful 101, Zelda: Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Hyrule Warriors, Smash 4, Xenoblade Chronicles X, and more. And it allowed me to play various virtual console/backwards compatible games without requiring a television. I haven't had local multiplayer games of this caliber since the N64. The gamepad (and off-tv play) was a godsend. Highly underrated console; definitely worth every penny. I think it was worth it for Smash and Zelda alone, but I ended up getting a nice variety of excellent games.

 

[FunAtParties]

Game-wise, Wii U is definitely slept on. Releases were practically non-existent in the beginning and the end, but there was the 2(ish) year middle period where the Wii U just killed it.

 

[Pillowpet]

I really hope they keep the online smash mode after switch is released at least until Smash switch is released (because it obviously will be)

 

[Wolfie557]

I remember some lazy saturdays where I would just play Wii U games for 5-6 hrs straight when I first got it.
Great games, good console, fantastic Pro Controller.

 

[RogerBidon]

I got my WiiU when sm4sh cames out. I was seeing it as a bad investment, mainly justified by the possibility to play sm4sh and "the future zelda title."

Time passed and now I love my WiiU! Sm4sh and Mario Kart 8 gave my familly and me some wonderful christmas holidays, "the future zelda title," being Breath Of The Wild, surprised me while I was hyped, and on the late I can discover some great titles like Bayonetta! That's seriously amazing, and not a waste of my money!

WiiU, I love you. Sorry for my bad prejudices.

 

[Deleted member]

I will always appreciate Nintendo Wii U, great system, great games, quality controller.

 

[Jdaster64]

Loved the Wii U's offscreen play + the GamePad in general. Some particular standout games:

• Super Mario Maker - Not quite the same experience as full-game ROM hacks can offer, but even its single-level format and comparatively limited feature set produced, and continue to produce, virtually endless inventive content. I don't play it as much myself anymore, but I watch CarlSagan42's streams / YouTube religiously and it's always a pleasure to see the fruits of level creators pushing their design skills to the limits. This game was also made so specifically for the GamePad; I have to think it having come out earlier in the console's lifecycle could have really extended the Wii U's life and reach overall.
• Super Mario 3D World - Fun and chaotic multiplayer, nice to have characters with varying strengths again, and generally tightly-designed levels with decently interesting themes, at least compared to the later NSMB titles. Not on the level of 64 / Galaxy (nor is it really that comparable an experience), but a worthy play that'll be worth coming back to.
• Yoshi's Woolly World - Never got into Yoshi's Island, but the power badges allowing me to scope out secrets I was totally stumped on + not needing 100% completion of each level to get all the stages and skins made this game very approachable by comparison. Plus, the aesthetics + soundtrack hit all the same great points as Epic Yarn on the Wii before it, often to a greater extent.
• EarthBound Beginnings + EarthBound - Not really originally Wii U games, but credit to it for finally bringing us two-thirds of this beloved series. EBB really struck a chord for me in particular, due to my greater nostalgia for it (if you can call it that, since I only first played it in 2011), and how unexpected its release was.
• Super Mario Advance 4 (+ e-Reader levels) - The first Mario game I ever owned, and finally with all the extra levels that never ended up coming out in the States; was nice to come full circle. The Virtual Console ended up being really excellent all around on the Wii U, and I'm hoping the Switch does at least a good a job at allowing us to continue experiencing classic Nintendo on current hardware.

Smash 4 + Mario Kart 8 were both enjoyable as well, but for some reason or another didn't quite feel as complete a package as some of their predecessors (mostly lack of compelling single-player / alternate modes), as well as not being my favorite in the series mechanically (I slightly prefer Smash 64's less defensive playstyle, and MKDD/DS's more intricate drifting helped even my attention curve between the simpler and more complex courses). Still got dozens of hours of enjoyment out of both, though.

All in all, the Wii U was well worth the purchase for the aforementioned games, but I hope that Nintendo is able to take more risks + bring generally deeper experiences on the Switch.

 

[ILOVESMASH]

I appreciate how Nintendo learned from most of the Wii U's shortcomings. Things like...

• an unintuitive and slow OS
• Ridiculous load times for games and updates
• Terrible marketing campaign
• Limited connectivity of the gamepad
• Restriction the Gamepad placed on developers looking to port over games from other systems

...have all mostly been fixed with the Switch. Obviously Nintendo hasn't fixed every issue, but I'm glad they fixed the core issues most consumers and developers had with the Wii U.

I also appreciate how Nintendo gained crucial expirience from the Wii U in developing HD games. Many games looked stunning on the system, but unfortunately lacked content at launch, making many of the games feel lesser compared to standard Nintendo quality. Games like MK8DX and Splatoon 2 feature much more content at launch compared to their Wii U counterparts, making them more in line with the Nintendo seal of quality.