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[kiphalfton]

People who say Wii U must hate the Switch.

I never tried it but I have to assume the Wii U.

You would be wrong then.

 

[Generic]

Anyone choosing the Wii over the Gamecube or WiiU is crazy. The Wii had more good games than these two consoles combined.

 

[xanaum]

Switch 2

 

[Midway-AGNC-]

There's no way Nintendo - a videogame only company - could lose $200-300 for every console sold. Sony lost a billion of dolars with the PS3.

People keep repeating this idea that Nintendo "couldn't afford" to make an HD console, as if it was some kind of financial impossibility. That's just not true. The fact that Sony lost a ton of money on the PS3 doesn't mean any HD system would automatically bleed cash. Sony chose an extremely expensive, overengineered design packed with proprietary tech. That wasn't the baseline cost of going HD.

A straightforward, modernized successor to the GameCube — more RAM, a stronger GPU, updated architecture — would have been nowhere near the PS3's price tag. It was completely feasible. And let's not pretend Nintendo was struggling back then. The DS was selling at historic levels and generating huge profits. They absolutely had the financial cushion to support a more powerful console if that's the direction they wanted to take.

The reality is that Nintendo didn't make the Wii because they "had no choice." They made it because they wanted a different strategy focused on expanding the audience. That was a deliberate business decision, not a technical or financial limitation. Rewriting history to make it sound like Nintendo's hands were tied just doesn't line up with the facts.

 

[Games Bookstore]

Wii - The successor to the Gamecube which was my favourite console of that generation, spare a few titles was disappointing to say the least. The amount of shovelware was rediculous

 

[BlackTron]

This is a tough question for me because although the Wii disappointed in some very severe ways, it's also one of the most distinctive and memorable gaming experiences of all time.

To this day the IR aiming is perfect and you need a VR system to find something that works as well.

Big games like Smash were a let down, while random dumb games like Rayman Raving Rabbids got family in front of the TV for co op "light gun" sessions.

I think it still loses enough accumulated points to be worst, and something's gotta be worst. The game droughts, low power and meh flagship games.

You'd think it would be Wii U, but it had excellent games, better than Wii. It only becomes bad later on after they've all been ported to Switch, leaving nothing but the wonky hardware.

 

[Generic]

People keep repeating this idea that Nintendo "couldn't afford" to make an HD console, as if it was some kind of financial impossibility. That's just not true. The fact that Sony lost a ton of money on the PS3 doesn't mean any HD system would automatically bleed cash. Sony chose an extremely expensive, overengineered design packed with proprietary tech. That wasn't the baseline cost of going HD.

A straightforward, modernized successor to the GameCube — more RAM, a stronger GPU, updated architecture — would have been nowhere near the PS3's price tag. It was completely feasible. And let's not pretend Nintendo was struggling back then. The DS was selling at historic levels and generating huge profits. They absolutely had the financial cushion to support a more powerful console if that's the direction they wanted to take.

The reality is that Nintendo didn't make the Wii because they "had no choice." They made it because they wanted a different strategy focused on expanding the audience. That was a deliberate business decision, not a technical or financial limitation. Rewriting history to make it sound like Nintendo's hands were tied just doesn't line up with the facts.

The Wii had a production cost of $160 per unit, while being sold for $250 (bundled with Wii Sports) or $200 (Japan, no bundle).

The Xbox 360 had a production cost of $470 while being sold for $400.

How could Nintendo compete with the Xbox 360 without losing an insane amount of money? Maybe a slighty better GPU with a $50 price increase but the Wii would still be a gen behind the HD consoles.

 

[VeganElduderino]

the Wii with all its fucking attachments and motion shit, fuck the Wii , but it did spawn some great games tho Mario Galaxy, Galaxy 2 , Donkey kong , Kirby epic yarn

 

[Dr Bass]

Uhhh the Virtual Boy?

 

[Vaquilla]

Gamecube.

As an SNES/N64 kid, the direction that a lot of their IPs took on the Gamecube really disappointed me, I hated the likes of Wind Waker, Starfox Adventures, Double Dash, DK Jungle Beat, Sunshine, etc.

 

[Midway-AGNC-]

The Wii had a production cost of $160 per unit, while being sold for $250 (bundled with Wii Sports) or $200 (Japan, no bundle).

The Xbox 360 had a production cost of $470 while being sold for $400.

How could Nintendo compete with the Xbox 360 without losing an insane amount of money? Maybe a slighty better GPU with a $50 price increase but the Wii would still be a gen behind the HD consoles.

That's pure assumption dressed up as fact.

Those "production cost" figures get thrown around all the time, but they're rough estimates based on teardown guesses, not actual internal numbers. Acting like Nintendo had to build a $160 machine because anything more would magically jump to $470 is just console-war mythology. Nintendo had multiple ways to compete in the HD space without bleeding money like Microsoft did:

• They didn't need cutting-edge parts. A modest HD-capable machine using off-the-shelf components (which got drastically cheaper by 2005–2006) wouldn't suddenly put them in PS3/360 territory. "Wii with HD output and slightly stronger hardware" was absolutely within reach.
• Nintendo wasn't in Microsoft's situation of throwing money at the brand to brute-force market share. They could have aimed for a balanced design — not a powerhouse, but not SD hardware in an era when HDTVs were exploding either.
• And let's not pretend they were financially constrained. The DS was printing money. Nintendo had the safest financial cushion of the three companies at the time. Acting like they had no room to invest is revisionist.

This whole "Nintendo couldn't afford to make a competitive HD console" angle sounds less like analysis and more like retroactive apologism for a business decision that aged poorly. The Wii sold a lot, yes, but the long-term consequences for Nintendo's third-party ecosystem and brand positioning were real — and could have been avoided with a more future-proof system.

 

[DeepEnigma]

N64

That 18-20fps "Silicon Graphics / Cray Computer Hollywood Powerhouse" scam they lied about building up the hype bittered me when the final product was significantly neutered.

 

[Soltype]

Poll is too easy with the WiiU there.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I know it's sacrilege, but GameCube easily.

I had Dreamcast, PS2, Xbox, GameCube, plus a PC and Gameboy Advance. GameCube was by far the least used out of all of them.

 

[Pasta la Vista]

Wii U is the worst, its especially worthless now considering the vast majority of its games got ported to Switch.
Plus the tablet was shit, terrible quality, they're all doomed to fail with that battery.

 

[Gambit2483]

WiiU easily.

Had a tiny ass library, some weak entries in multiple series, and most of its games got ported to Switch anyway.

Most of the good second screen gaming happened on DS & 3DS.

This. Also the UI startup and loading speed was shit before they patched it.

 

[poodaddy]

This is the thread where a bunch of people who never tried the Wii U choose the Wii U despite it being one of the best console libraries Nintendo has ever had huh?

The answer is N64 if you take off the rose tinted nostalgia glasses. I liked the N64 at the time, but it's atrocious to play now.

 

[Mobilemofo]

Went for the switch. Horribly underpowered..barely more powerful than the Atari lynX 2..I couldn't get over paying a fair bit of wedge for old hardware.

 

[DKPOWPOW]

Wii U

Every other Nintendo console mentioned was either great or legendary.

Only this one could just be considered good... And it was just barely good.

Worst Smash game, but still great. No Metroid Prime. No Metroid at all. 2 Zelda HD ports and then a nerfed version of its own Zelda. Despite that, Breath of the Wild was still phenomenal. It had surprisingly solid 3rd party support in the beginning, and an amazing Donkey Kong game in Tropical Freeze.

Nintendoland was quite fun. Mario 3D World was cool, and Mario Kart 8 was a stunner. Mario Maker was... interesting.

But this system was nothing compared to the Wii, despite the impressive graphics upgrade. I think the Wii's first year outpaces the entire lifetime of Wii U

Zelda: Twilight Princess
Excite Truck
Wii Sports
DBZ: Budokai Tenkaichi 2 & 3
WarioWare: Smooth Moves
The Godfather: Blackhand Edition
Mortal Kombat: Armageddon
RE4: Wii Edition
Mario Strikers: Charged
Metroid Prime 3: Corruption
Manhunt 2
Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn
Super Mario Galaxy
Need for Speed: Pro Street
Guitar Hero 3
Ghost Squad
Zack & Wiki: Barbaros Treasure

All of these games and more were out in Wii's first year. Nuts. Few if any consoles compare. 5 killer apps from Nintendo alone. Plus all the solid good to great 3rd party games. I didn't even put games I liked that many hated (Red Steel, SSX Blur) because thats how solid the first year of Wii was.

Wii U couldn't even take on that heat. As much as I loved DK: Tropical Freeze... Not enough. Wii was a monster few consoles could stand up to. And this was a terrible unimaginative follow up.

 

[EverydayBeast]

Switch was basically Wii U on steroids, you can do so much more with the Wii U gamepad because of the second screen, it's an aspect that makes the Wii U and Switch so deadly.

 

[alabtrosMyster]

The Wii is the last Nintendo product I got, it killed a love story that had lasted since 1987 at that point.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

This is the thread where a bunch of people who never tried the Wii U choose the Wii U despite it being one of the best console libraries Nintendo has ever had huh?

The answer is N64 if you take off the rose tinted nostalgia glasses. I liked the N64 at the time, but it's atrocious to play now.

Wii U was fucking awesome, I loved it. I had so much fun playing Nintendo Land with friends and some beers (and wine for the wives). Plus Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Rayman, Pikmin 3, Xenoblade X, Mario 3D World, Bayonetta 2…

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

Wii U was fucking awesome, I loved it. I had so much fun playing Nintendo Land with friends and some beers (and wine for the wives). Plus Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Rayman, Pikmin 3, Xenoblade X, Mario 3D World, Bayonetta 2…

I never understood really much of the negative discourse around the Wii U

I absolutely loved mine

 

[Pejo]

I legitimately love and still have my Wii U. I'm not saying it's the smartest opinion, but it at least had charm.

Anyways, my least favorite system was the Wii. Underpowered (as usual) and I will always hate waggle. True 1:1 tracking is a whole separate thing than what Wiimotes had going on. Even Wiimote + was just glorified waggle. A whole gen wasted on that shit, including a Zelda game that might have been good if it wasn't designed for waggle. I liked Virtual Boy more than the Wii.

 

[DonkeyPunchJr]

I never understood really much of the negative discourse around the Wii U

I absolutely loved mine

You could probably write a whole book about all the reasons the system bombed but I enjoyed the hell out of mine. Most of the people bashing it probably never owned one. It's easy to talk shit about it now that all its hits got ported to Switch (and are a huge contributor to its success)

 

[simpatico]

Wii was a blast for me. That was the last gen I owned personal consoles. My kids were very young. We got hours and hours out of it. I played all the big first party, most notably Red Steel 1 and 2. I lowkey loved waggle.

For me it's WiiU. We have one in the house but no one ever played it really. Certainly the only one I'd view as anything other than very positive. Just neutral. I could see the screen being cool. I was working so much in that era I never played it!

 

[MayauMiao]

People who say Wii U must hate the Switch.



You would be wrong then.

The switch is portable hybrid that you can take anywhere while the Wii U shackles you to the main unit.

Wii U uses resistive touch screen, and still using inferior tech when next gen was already about release. 3rd party support sucked too.

The only positive thing I can say about Wii U its disaster led to the creation of Switch.

 

[MayauMiao]

Wii was a blast for me. That was the last gen I owned personal consoles. My kids were very young. We got hours and hours out of it. I played all the big first party, most notably Red Steel 1 and 2. I lowkey loved waggle.

For me it's WiiU. We have one in the house but no one ever played it really. Certainly the only one I'd view as anything other than very positive. Just neutral. I could see the screen being cool. I was working so much in that era I never played it!

Wii is still great and I have it next to my PS2. Its a great gamecube unit too since I never had one.

 

[Rran]

NES invented a ton of classic games and genres. It's a revolution.

SNES fine-tuned these games into 2D perfection and also invented a ton of other classic games and genres. Best system ever.

The N64 had a small library but about 50 strong games, 20 of which are particularly great. A revolution but one with some big flaws.

The GCN felt like a modern leap, the last really big one IMO. Some all-timers here, one of Nintendo's best.

The Wii is underrated. One of the last bastions for super-creative and arcadey games although admittedly the best games here aren't as fantastic as other systems.

The Wii U gets my vote. I still like it and there are some awesome games (NintendoLand is super underrated, BotW and Tropical Freeze are all-timers) but its library is tiny. Especially after Switch ports, there are fewer than 40 games still exclusive to this system. Off-TV play was pretty cool but the battery on the GamePad dies pretty quickly.

The Switch's library is too massive and strong to be Nintendo's weakest system. Although I think this is by far the spottiest track record Nintendo has had on one system. Lots of sucky 1st and 2nd party offerings. But lots of great ones too.

 

[LavitzSlambert]

The Wii was a total joke. With the exception of Super Mario Galaxy, it was pretty much straight downgrades (or absence) of every other large franchise. Every other game was a shitty wagglefest. It became a non-gamer short lived fad that extended an entire generation, meanwhile it ran out of fresh ideas only a year or two in, and the accuracy of the wiimote even with Wii motion+ was terrible. It's the only console I've ever sold in the middle of its lifespan.

 

[David B]

The original NES was the worst. Now playing was fine and the level designs on the games were great indeed! However tons and tons of the games on NES were not savable. For instance Mario, oops no saving ever. Every single time you put the game in you start from the beginning again. It was just horrible and I hated it.

 

[PlayStaytion]

NES, but I only own NES and Wii U and I don't really hate it. The original Wii, the SNES and the GameCube are my favorite.

 

[I collect VHS tapes]

The Wii was a total joke. With the exception of Super Mario Galaxy, it was pretty much straight downgrades (or absence) of every other large franchise.

Wii version of RE4 is easily the best version

The motion controls were flawless