The Wii U was built around a fundamentally flawed premise that more screens = better experience. People can only pay attention to one screen at a time, and giving just one player at the console a personal additive screen in their hands doesn’t provide much meaningful benefit. The most widely appreciated feature of the system was simply the ability to play elsewhere in your home instead of in front of the TV, which is why they leaned hard into that portability with the Switch.

Edit: that said, the name and marketing were absolute disasters too.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 year ago (4 children)

Yeah, I never bought into the line that people were confused that a Wii U was a Wii add-on. That's never been a major problem for similarly named consoles before and anyone I knew all knew it was a separate thing. I think that focus on having to pay attention to two screens, as you said, as well as the severe under-powering for a home console of its generation and an abysmal launch lineup of games, all leading to an abysmal launch for the console itself and third parties deciding pretty quickly to mostly bail on it, led to its relative failure.

That said, I still have my Wii U and also have fond memories of playing it. Say what you will about the severe lack of 3rd party support, Nintendo themselves put some great quality games on it: all the Zelda games (including Hyrule Warriors and the BotW port), Smash Bros 4, the original Mario Kart 8, Mario Maker, 3D World, DKC Tropical Freeze, the list goes on. Sega was pretty kind to them too for a 3rd party: Bayonetta 2, TMS #FE (underrated, IMO, good TMS/Persona style gameplay even if its story is goofy... Expected more actual FE-related content though), the quantity of Sonic games (if not quality).

[–] EvilBit 3 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I guarantee that SOME people were confused about whether it was its own console or not - I just couldn’t say if it was enough people to make a significant difference. Frankly, it was a dumb name and a poorly marketed device that didn’t have the means to command a news cycle through power, exclusives, or an instantly compelling use case. I think it’s basically a huge swing and a miss on Nintendo’s part.

But Nintendo also has the uncanny ability to release incredible games on anything. They could release a 3-button, motion-controlled, tethered monocle game system with a smartwatch chipset and I’d give you 70% odds they launch with a game that has an unforgettable amount of charm and joy infused in it.

[–] Detheroth 2 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Anecdotally, it was a very confusing name and system for consumers. I worked at a game retailer during the launch of the WiiU and easily over half the people I'd try sell to would respond with something likd "Oh no, Ive already got a Wii and I don't really need the tablet for it"

I'm glad the WiiU existed - I'm certain it paved the way for the Switch. But it was a disappointing console, released a year before a major overhaul of the gaming ecosystem (PS4/Xbone).

[–] EvilBit 2 points 1 year ago

Great points. The timing was really awful too. It was rightly a poor seller, but certainly not without its merits. I think the relative excitement over its best feature, the remote play, almost certainly drove the creation of the Switch, which is damn near a cultural phenomenon.

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