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[Honey Bunny]

Don't try it. Wii U had ninty fans trying to hype up every mediocre shitpile game that released on it, i.e. the two they got a month. I know how this felt as a Vita owner.

 

[RoboFu]

Don't try it. Wii U had ninty fans trying to hype up every mediocre shitpile game that released on it, i.e. the two they got a month. I know how this felt as a Vita owner.

Yes those shot pile games like MK8, smash bros, new super Mario bros, Zelda botw, and DKC tropical freeze .

 

[ReBurn]

I played the heck out of my WiiU. It had some good games.

 

[lillars]

I loved that controller. I don't care what people say. It was unique and I miss that kind of console innovation.

 

[Xaeroxcore666]

Was the WiiU slightly more powerful than the XBOX 360/PS3 as the video suggests?

CPU wise it has a horrible bottleneck, having basically the same Wii CPU overcloked (which was originally the GCN´s CPU on steroids) and with 2 additional cores...But at the same time, Wii U has better/more modern GPU and RAM than PS360.

So, in theory it should be slightly more powerful, i guess. At least i coudn´t see any Kart Racer or Plattformer on PS360 looking better or at least equal to Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World. But, of course, Nintendo are masters on art direction and taking their systems beyond their limits. In other hand Zelda BOTW has an impressive art, beyond Wii U´s limitations, but also it has physics and a living/breathing world beyond anything i´ve seen on PS360, and even surpassing some PS4/One games with better graphics and resolution.

Or could i be wrong?

 

[Porcile]

Still have it hooked up to play GameCube games from an SD card and they look pretty decent but Wii games look really bad on the Wii U unless you do some homebrew ripping trickery.

 

[spookyfish]

Not only does it have many bangers, but Nintendo, for the first time, went all out with online features and packed the fucker with tons of cool applications and personality.

I still miss Miiverse. That was a lot of fun, for a single player who's not online a lot like me.

 

[Kumomeme]

Was the WiiU slightly more powerful than the XBOX 360/PS3 as the video suggests?

just think of Xbox 360 but with more ram.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

Was the WiiU slightly more powerful than the XBOX 360/PS3 as the video suggests?

No way. The Wii U has an old gen cpu. the company synthesized three Wii cpu cores at a clock speed three times lower than the Xbox 360's, so in addition to a lower IPC, there's also a lower clock speed. This means the difference is too large as the xbox series X cpu and xbox one cpu,
making 7th gen games like Crysis, Metro LL, and Battlefield 3 unplayable ( That's why these games skip the platform even with support from these companies). Back then, game physics were 100% cpu driven, which is why in games like Xenoblade X, characters could pass through objects, etc. This also means lower resolution shadows.

The Wii U also has fewer gigaflops than the 360. Its only advantages are having more memory (but this is because the Wii U doesn't have a hard drive to instal) and being able to do DX11 effects like simulating wet floors. But it exhausts its potential before it can show anything interesting with that effect.

Honestly, it would be the same as a console being released today with the power of the PS5 claiming to be next-gen five years after the generation started. It's very easy to praise Wii U games after the generation ends, with all the best games available, but back then, in real time, it was just 2D games with cartoonish visuals, hi res 3ds ports or ports worse than the 360 version.

 

[Geometric-Crusher]

So, in theory it should be slightly more powerful, i guess. At least i coudn´t see any Kart Racer or Plattformer on PS360 looking better or at least equal to Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World. But, of course, Nintendo are masters on art direction and taking their systems beyond their limits. In other hand Zelda BOTW has an impressive art, beyond Wii U´s limitations, but also it has physics and a living/breathing world beyond anything i´ve seen on PS360, and even surpassing some PS4/One games with better graphics and resolution.

Or could i be wrong?

You're wrong, but I won't go into details because you like the games mentioned. To summarize, you don't compare different games or art direction (which in the Nintendo dictionary means cartoon game) because in this case you will be comparing the developer's skills. The correct way is to compare FPS, resolution, and detail measurements in identical games, and for games that demand a lot of cpu, all three elements I mentioned are sacrificed on the Wii U. And if the game doesn't use much cpu, then the competition is over gpu, and in that case, games released for both suggest equality. This means that any Wii U game could be the same on the 360, in fact, the 360 could improve the game in question.

 

[March Climber]

My memory of it is fine. It was just ok.

I will always consider it Nintendo's second weakest all-around system.

Yes those shot pile games like MK8, smash bros, new super Mario bros, Zelda botw, and DKC tropical freeze .

I don't agree with him that every game was shit, but I do agree with him about looking at the Wii U like a PS Vita and people overhyping some Wii U titles (including NSMBU and Starfox, which I distinctly remember people shitting on both especially the latter).

Let's say that the Switch 2 had these titles you've listed stretched out across it's lifetime with no new 3D Mario, no mainline Pokémon entry, no Metroid game, and a Zelda game releasing near it's final days (because botw was a cross-platform title). Would everyone here seriously call the Switch 2 a win after experiencing Switch 1's first party library?

There's a very good reason why people wanted everything decent ported off of that system and onto the Switch. No one wanted to deal with it nor keep their Wii U consoles.

The 3DS did what people wanted the Wii U to do, 5x better.

 

[nush]

At launch (or soon after), didnt Wii U have some popular games like COD, EA Sports, Batman, AC, Mass Effect? Same hit games as 360 and PS3. So Ninty and third parties tried. And from what I remember they were just as good

The problem as that they were just posts of games that people could play on the systems they already owned tha did not look any better and had a couple of tacked on Gamepad features. They needed to be reasons to upgrade to the console and not me too releases.

 

[Thebonehead]

Better than you remember? Well, I don't know, mine's a brick with a corrupted NAND (like millions of others), thanks Nintendo.

You can easily bypass a fucked nand with softmod booted off a pi Pico.

 

[MidGenRefresh]

Terrible hardware that aged like milk more than any other non-portable video game console of the last 20 years. Avoid at all cost.

 

[Randall365]

I think the main problem is that the vast majority of people don't remember it, because they didn't buy one.

 

[bender]

The Gamepad was a terrible idea as it wasn't easy to replace and one of my triggers started to squeak. Mario Maker was the standout and made smart use of the Gamepad. I thought MK8 was rather weak until the DLC. New Super Mario Brothers U and Super Mario 3D are two of my least favorite 2D/3D Mario games. I love BOTW but I played it on Switch. Wind Waker 3D, Splatoon, and Pikmin 3 are the other standouts. Wii U also has one of the worst "WarioWare' games in Game and Wario. Wii U is the worst Nintendo system I owned during its' heyday as a mercifully skipped the virtual boy.

 

[Robb]

Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, and Bayonetta 2 were highlights. But over time the system has only gotten worse imo, if only just because you can pretty much get improved versions of the entire library on the Switch - and you'll be able to play them in handheld without being tethered to anything.

 

[Mozza]

WiiU is the proof that great games cannot save a failed concept - Good lord, WiiU's operating system is one of the slowest software i had the 'not pleasure' of use! I like to imagine how the same system would be better (or at least cheaper, of course) without the second screen (for the sake of 'what if' scenarios, let's imagine the Swich would be released regardles of WiiU game pad).

They did improve the speed of the home menu over time, but it was still pretty sluggish. The Switch's home screen is a night and day difference in terms of response time.

 

[Panajev2001a]

Yep. Iwata was so wrong about "all it takes is one game".
WiiU had many excellent games, but the press and the gaming community united were hell-bent on shitting on every good thing it did manage to do anyway (remember the 7/10 to Tropical Freeze?). And almost all big third-party devs weren't going to waste a second developing for it, not even porting PS360 games which would have been quite easy.

The system was horribly slow and having to use the GamePad for some functions was a bad decision, but the library was worth it.
I've never had couch multiplayer sessions with my friends again with a game like Nintendo Land.

Wii U was, as a user, a great concept very badly executed. So badly executed that Nintendo removed any semblance of soul in their systems from then on.

Their loud fans are to blame too or maybe more Nintendo's inability to listen properly. They built a system, Switch 1, with FAR FAR more resources than the Xbox 360 and stripped all the joy out of the system UI with the argument "it is the ONLY way we can make a snappy UI" (they even boasted about it in technical presentations…)… Xbox 360 did it within 32 MB of RAM and far less dedicated CPU / GPU resources too. This was no crappy UI it was one of the best UIs they have ever done, "The Blades". With Switch 2 again same thing, even more power and resources dedicated to it and all we got was a 1080p UI… not even AI upscaled to 4K when docked, nope… oh and yes, some HDR like light effects here and there. No soul… barebone system UI . No OS features on top of what Switch 1 launched with (oh yeah… "folders"… yeah… much better than MiiPlaza and MiiVerse… :/)…

Otherwise, aside from how slow the UI was in general, the system had a lot going for it. Great library, streaming to the tablet worked very well (the quality was good too), the GamePad was actually quite ergonomic and comfortable (people hate things that look bulky and seem to pretend that thin, long, and sharp is what they like and then spend money on expensive accessories to make up for how uncomfortable they are). I cannot stress how much more comfortable the Wii U GamePad and the Steam Deck are compared to Switch's JoyCons… but in the era where people actually like bullshots and appearance first (see the "oh it gets crappy when it moves but in still it is gorgeous" trend) people seem to look at the JoyCon and imagine things they will not do as they will end up purchasing accessories to make up for problems in the controller type that appealed to them over something like the bulky Wii U GamePad.

The OS and the GamePad were otherwise quite cool to use and they allowed for a lot of creativity with the simple use of a pen (people really did seem to mind resistive single touch screens though, so maybe this butter more than it could help at least for the masses) and MiiVerse and its integration in the games were awesome (I like the idea of collecting stickers instead of stupid achievements). The system UI, albeit not as cool as the Wii Channels were for its time, still had a soul and made me really long for an updated Animal Crossing asap…
In an era where due to security outside most of our portable devices never stay on unlocked if we even just look away, I still think that a separate screen to hold a map, utilities, and other parts of the dedicated interface of the game was very useful and declutterred the game making some things more immediate.

Their software story extended from a poor OS to poor BC and Virtual Console support. The BC mode felt a bit half baked and slow to use and the Virtual Console with a per title upgrade fee as well bugs in the emulation (remember the over darkening of the UI?), but not so bad to make it unusable and something to avoid.

I am sweet on the Wii U as it was my only console when I moved to the UK year and years ago and I had no furniture yet in the rented crappy Essex place I had found (we lasted there long enough to find somewhere else and fast ). I think I bought it shortly before travelling and I only unpacked it after the drive there (the months before the move were a bit… tough hehe work and temporary accommodation too).

It would be cool if they optionally allowed another Switch or Switch 2 controller to act as secondary screen for Wii U back compat and for games that want to make optional use of it. Save that… maybe they will sell us a $129 GamePad accessory..:

 

[Panajev2001a]

They did improve the speed of the home menu over time, but it was still pretty sluggish.

They barely did nothing, best they did was trying to give a quick start menu to deeplink into a feature and preload more intelligently.

The Switch's home screen is a night and day difference in terms of response time.

Well, it has a lot of resources available and basically no feature. Bunch of tiles and flavourless menus.
Not sure why we cherish them stripping things away for not being able to compete with something like the Blades UI (Xbox 360 dedicated OS footprint was ~32 MB of RAM and small percentage of CPU and GPU time for a mic mic older architecture).

 

[Panajev2001a]

prefer weird Wii-U (+3ds) era Nintendo to Switch era by a mile, actually

Miiverse was fun and different. Nintendoland was actually a fantastic family game, probably the most fun we had on local multiplayer with the kids to date. 3D World was better than Odyssey. And in general I love the way it didn't feel like other consoles.

oh and second-screen for inventories (like the GC Zelda remakes) and maps was perfect, actually a great idea that we've lost

Yes to everything but the Odyssey comment.

 

[Mozza]

They barely did nothing, best they did was trying to give a quick start menu to deeplink into a feature and preload more intelligently.


Well, it has a lot of resources available and basically no feature. Bunch of tiles and flavourless menus.
Not sure why we cherish them stripping things away for not being able to compete with something like the Blades UI (Xbox 360 dedicated OS footprint was ~32 MB of RAM and small percentage of CPU and GPU time for a mic mic older architecture).

I think Nintendo learned their lessons with the Wii U and wanted a simple speedy home menu, which I am glad they stuck with on the Switch 2, with of course some minor changes and a resolution bump.

The upgrades on the Wii U home menu speed where pretty decent to be honest, but improving something that took ages to swap between apps/games, to even half the time will still be slow.

 

[Panajev2001a]

I think Nintendo learned their lessons with the Wii U and wanted a simple speedy home menu, which I am glad they stuck with on the Switch 2, with of course some minor changes and a resolution bump.

It feels like talking to a wall here hehe. Nintendo saw the bitching and moaning and just stripped off all features to make it simple on them to achieve a snappier UI, boasted about it, and people to this day that it as an achievement that with far better HW they achieved less than what the Xbox 360, heck the Wii, did with far less.

Xbox 360 with 32 MB (not GB, MB) of dedicated OS RAM achieved a considerably better and yet very very snappy UI out of the game. Switch 1 had more dedicated resources to the system and the UI is stripped to the bone. Now they went yet another big level of performance up and you are glad they did not even put up the effort to add some soul back in the system. I am not sure if you love or hate Nintendo as your stance feels a bit like an odd backhanded compliment / congratulations . The best defense seems incompetence and lack of effort defended by lowering the bar / expectations.

The upgrades on the Wii U home menu speed were pretty decent to be honest, but improving something that took ages to swap between apps/games, to even half the time will still be slow.

No they were not pretty decent, it was smokes and mirrors trying to hide the loading. It was like adding an elevator in a game to make you busy wait… not the same exactly but along those lines.

 

[Griffon]

Nah, I had one and it was trash.

I was so soured by it that it made me skip the Switch altogether.

 

[Aurelius]

Never owned it, but I do enjoy playing some WiiU games through an emulator on Steamdeck since they run better than Switch (for me at least). Mario Kart 8, Windwaker HD, Ducktales Remastered are great. Ron Gilbert's The Cave is a hidden treasure. Looking forward to exploring more games on the Ayn Thor with its dual screens.

 

[PeteBull]

It had few high quality games, but thats all. It sold so extremly terribly

 

[Melfice7]

nah wii and wii u were pieces of trash that should have been 99€ at launch

 

[tomato shrub]

There constantly were 6 month droughts between shit like a Mosou game and a Gamecube remaster positioned as a flagship title.

Worst purchase ever. Fuck this gaslighting from the Nintenbabies that refused to buy a real console.

 

[JohnnyFootball]

This console will go down as the all time biggest failure. Completely pissing away all the momentum from the Wii

Calling it Wii U will go down as the biggest blunder ever.

 

[Sintoid]

Two Power Adapters needed for one console
I have nothing more to say