Wii U: How NOT to Save a Console

[@ZackLillipad]

Since it’s been commented 100 times - yes, I consider the Wii U to be a bigger failure than the Virtual Boy. The Virtual Boy was an experimental, secondary console. The Wii U was Nintendo’s mainline home console! Obviously I understand the Virtual Boy sold less units. But I think the actual impact of the Wii U’s failure was far more significant, and I stand by what I said in the intro. Thanks for watching!

[@egonyt]

one of the biggest reasons I didnt get a wii u until way too late is because whenever I'd ask for it from my parents they'd always say that we HAD a wii.

[@ZackLillipad]

real.

[@crazedlunatic43]

@@egonyt The confusion really killed the system. I wanted one too back then, but my parents were about as confused as your parents were. Pity isn’t it?

[@purwantiallan5089]

Seems like Nintendo Wii original is way more underrated than WiiU.

[@IsomerMashups]

Naming it "Wii 2" would have saved the system.

[@saltylemonton5537]

​​@IzaacGrossmanBegone child! Stop forcing me to face my mortality. 😤

[@dapedaily]

When PS4 and Xbox One released, I was like, "I can't wait to see what Nintendo offers," not realizing it was already released a year prior.

[@HACHIAttack]

Also, in a nice gesture from Satoru Iwata, due to the bad sales of Wii U, there's an impending layoffs that will happen in the office. But, Iwata-san decided to take the blow to himself and instead, cut his salary to make sure no one will be living Nintendo jobless. RIP Mr. Iwata. Thank you for your sacrifice.

[@hanh9982]

Wow. This is unheard of almost

[@GreyJackJack]

Iwata was such a legend. o7 gigachad

[@LucyKnight82]

Legend.

[@SENATORPAIN1]

Yes all out of the goodness of his heart.

[@AzurePip]

@@HACHIAttack That is true. Iwata was aware that employees would not be able to focus on their work and give their best effort if they knew they would be laid off, so he cut his own salary to ensure nobody would lose their jobs. Imagine if CEOs today did the same...

[@madphilx6397]

Wii U walked so the switch could run.

[@TwistedLullabies]

I'd run towards you but pain awaits

[@simnm8057]

Wii u is the nintendos greatest mistake

[@IsaiahFisher19]

@@simnm8057I love my Wii U even though it’s packed up…

[@madphilx6397]

@@IsaiahFisher19 I just unpacked mine and set it up recently! I’m having a blast. Now’s a good time to collect. Games are still relatively cheap !!

[@IsaiahFisher19]

@@madphilx6397 yeah just all the good games got ported to the switch feel like it lost its value

[@eiriseven]

Just one note: While the WiiU was somewhat on par with the XBox 360, it's underpowered CPU made developers struggle to port their games to console, having to rework their engines to leverage the stronger GPU, and that's why so many games had _worse_ performance than their last gen counterparts, despite some graphical improvements.

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

The Cpu was soo bad that It was efectivally a Gcn Cpu in a Hd console which made the theoretically more powerfull Wii U underpowered compared to the 360/ Ps3 let alone the Xbox one and Ps4.

[@ShadowFoxInfinite]

It wasn’t underpowered- the CPU was misunderstood. Espresso was a heavy integer CPU, with an INSANELY FAST L3 cache shared with the GPU. Instead of running heavy SIMD on the CPU, the point was to do that on Latte (AMD GPGPU) and pass the results back to RAM. The crazy thing is despite developers avoiding doing this like the plague, they ended up being forced to do so anyway when PS4/XBONE came around the following year with weak, tablet Jaguar CPUs. Just like Wii U, studios would have to put the bulk of SIMD in the GPU. Nintendo had it right. Nobody wanted them to lead 3rd party, because Nintendo doesn’t pay 3rd parties for ports.

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

@@ShadowFoxInfinite Kinda like the Cell Processor of the ps3 come to think of it.

[@ShadowFoxInfinite]

@@theothenintendomaster3717 Reiterating wrong information you heard elsewhere right after I correct it doesn’t make it right- it just makes you loud and wrong. I reiterate- Wii U’s CPU was not “weak”- developers expected high SIMD on it, but the system isn’t designed that way because even stronger SIMD than both 360/PS3 exists on the GPU for that, and this is the SAME THING PS4/XBONE would require. It’s called heterogeneous compute, and Wii U started it when it started the 8th generation in 2012. Not sure what that last bit was, but it was far from reality as evidenced by adults spending gobs of money on retro gaming for those very “kiddy consoles”.

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

@@ShadowFoxInfinite I am sorry that I told wrong information.

[@amadeus.7436]

Personally, the one reason I never got a Wii U was because there just weren't any games I felt like I really wanted for it. It does have good games, but no console sellers and it took a while for many heavy-hitters to come out.

[@zaneheaston8254]

They came close to convincing me to pick one up with Pikmin 3, but after that all future Wii U games, looked like HD 3DS games

[@orangeslash1667]

@@zaneheaston8254 It did have a great eshop. Not only did they have SNES, N64, indie games, but also Gameboy advance games. It was only the Wii U that was lacking in quantity.

[@koolooc726]

You could also say the switch is just full of Wii u games then

[@DragonGamer-ly3lf]

Splatoon, Mario Maker, Mario Kart 8 and Breath of the Wild were bangers. Maybe 3D World could have been a bit better since I played Galaxy 1+2 on my wii u all the time. Other then that the games were good, the Wii U surely could have run GTA V.

[@slickshewz]

​@@zaneheaston8254you understand that's essentially what switch games are, right? In fact, most wiiu games ended up just being straight ports onto switch. That's how similar they are in capabilities.

[@RestRabbitRest]

I remember I bought Wii U at launch for my nephew and the first message I got from him that he wasn't able to play any games for 4 hours because he had to wait for it to be updated

[@DerToasti]

pretty sure that's normal with all the modern consoles though. but they definitely somehow managed to also rush the Wii U launch and ship it in an unfinished state.

[@trip7002]

4 hours for a Wii U is a bit crazy, but it’s also not, not normal to have to wait a few hours for your (new) console and games to update/download

[@alancito10t]

This was the generation where both Microsoft and Nintendo understood that the most important thing in a console are the games. Between the gamepad, TV features and etc. they had put too much junk between players and console without caring about the games themselves. The PS4 single-handedly won the generation by designing a black box that played games, period

[@CengoDevrosu]

MS still sucks tho haha

[@Ninja-2.0]

​@CengoDevrosu you still swallow tho haha

[@KnowToChill]

Microsoft did understand what ? 😂😂😂They just understood they have to release theyr 360 Console one Year Earlier then Nintendo and Sony to get some Konsoles sold ...and loosed even then at the End of the " golden" 360 Area😂

[@blessedheart3917]

@@KnowToChillyou really burned them there. MS may never recover

[@alexoelkers2292]

It was the name that killed it. Unless you followed gaming you would hear Wii and Wii U and think that it was either same thing or a slight hardware upgrade to the same console.

[@ElAssoWipe-o]

No it wasn't it was the marketing.

[@Cybo-Man]

It was a horrible name for both consoles. It sounded like a baby product.

[@anna-flora999]

​@@ElAssoWipe-othe name is part of the marketing

[@nextlevellunatics-nll5074]

@@ElAssoWipe-oaka the name? They’re the same thing

[@ElAssoWipe-o]

@@nextlevellunatics-nll5074 No go watch the marketing.

[@luizkp]

If rumors are true, the next gen console is gonna be named switch 2 Nintendo finally learned the lesson lmao

[@portalalchemist320]

Nintendo never number names their consoles. The most they've ever done was a follow up to the nes to super nes or Gameboy advance. So the switch 2 will probably just be a word n then switch.

[@mt142X]

Nah, it’ll either be Switch U, or Switch Too

[@TimmyDaTurtle]

​@@portalalchemist3203ds since it was the 3rd ds that also used 3d

[@clipmaster6941]

​@@portalalchemist320 So what? Just because they never did it before does not mean they can't do it now. Companies should be evolving, especially Nintendo.

[@DevilSurvivor69]

​@clipmaster6941 Okay random KZbin comment dude. The company with amount of success should definitely listen to you lol.

[@matthewmspace]

I remember checking out the Wii U launch at the GameStop in my local mall. I couldn't help but overhear the sales clerk try to explain to some mom that the Wii U is a new console, not an accessory like a Wii Balance Board. The Gamepad is cool in concept, but it's a gimmick. The combo of the Switch being Docked or Undocked is actually a gamechanger, even with its lack of power. I myself was huge on Nintendo back then, but I didn't get the Wii U until Smash 4 launched. I just didn't care. When even a hardcore Nintendo fan is skipping out on the console, it's bad.

[@texanman7191]

If I remember correctly, Nintendo lost its fanbase since the Gamecube era. The Wii only sold high because it introduced motion control, which at the time it was seen as the future of gaming. A lot of Wii owners, especially Nintendo fans, were not happy with the console.

[@akaimizu1]

EA Never even tried. They basically lied when they showed up at the Wii U event. Truly lied. They basically put out one game. A port of Mass Effect 3.. and why did it not sell? Two months, yeah, two months before it would come out EA decided to quick announce and drop the Mass Effect Trilogy on all other consoles, for the same price. They basically bait and switched the console and killed their own product on it, only to follow up by not supporting it anymore, and then later officially announcing they were dropping support. EA created their own scenario and simply showed up, initially, for some weird PR stunt. Take note, this is what truly drew an incredibly large amount of skepticism about EA when they showed up at the Switch reveal conference. Nobody believed him. And yeah, EA *tried* to screw the Switch out..but after years of major success of the platform, and enough investors shouting at EA about missing opportunities for money, EA caved.

[@RGG800]

I know it doesn’t make sense business wise but I wish Nintendo would’ve been petty enough to not allow EA to publish games on the Switch

[@lacasadelvideojuego3880]

@@RGG800this, the console definitely doesn’t need them.

[@judge81]

EA's treatment of the Nintendo Switch speaks volumes of how EA views Nintendo and its players. Fifa 18 released on Switch as a port of Fifa 16 with current squads, refusing to use the Frostbite engine on Switch that Fifa 17 and onwards was made on. Plants Vs Zombies runs on Frostbite on the Switch just fine, so it wasn't like they couldn't do it, they couldn't be bothered to put the time money and the effort in to do so, they thought it would sell anyway regardless. Fifa 19-23 on the Switch were dubbed 'Legacy Edition' with nothing changed from Fifa 18 on the Switch, which was Fifa 16 in disguise. EA were right about the sales, every legacy edition of Fifa would make the top of the Switch games most sold in a month on release, returning to the top when discounts got put on it, likely due to the young demographic of Switch gamers having parents buy the game not realising the scam that EA were pulling. If Nintendo had any self respect here they were have stopped EA from doing this, but they were probably cashing in from it too. Then when Fifa rebranded to EAFC the Switch F.I.N.A.L.L.Y got the game with the Frostbite engine for EAFC24, myself and lots of others were pretty excited about this. Game released and EA had ported the game directly from the other consoles with zero optimisation efforts, meaning the game ran worse than a mouldy potato, I still play on Fifa 23 Legacy Edition on the Switch due to this, again EA didn't want to put the time money or effort in to something that would sell regardless. And it did, again the games are always on the top of the most sold list. You see other games optimised to run on the Switch, from companies who care about the console and its players: Fortnite, Rocket League, Hogwarts Legacy, Apex... EA could have done the same, if I were Nintendo I'd blacklist EA from working on their console cause it's all bad rep, but again, the money talks. That's how EA views Nintendo and its players, kids they can con.

[@tiberiusbrain]

Ea this, ea that. The wii u was so underpowered and sales lagging so much, that everyone checked out. But sure, ea bashing has been and apparently always will be easy. Have you ever played it-takes-two?

[@tiberiusbrain]

People could, in fact, also point to ubisoft and their zombie-something game and dropping all support after that. As far as i see it, the only people that supported it were sega, and a very small group of nintendofanboywhales

[@gligarguy4010]

The one thing the Wii U will always have over the Switch is you can play DS games on it. They should find a way to make DS and 3DS work on NSO on their next console.

[@anonymist-n8z]

just get a ds weirdo.

[@lpfan4491]

If they add a microphone, then DS games already work.

[@pattersong6637]

I fully expect DS to be added to NSO for the Switch 2 (Switch 2 is already heavily rumored to have a microphone). 3DS is more complicated, mainly because it has a camera and the Switch 2 won't so any game that uses the camera is probably out. 3DS games are also much larger (plenty are 2GB or even 4GB) and you probably couldn't have the system casually download the entire NSO library like you do with other systems.

[@lpfan4491]

@@pattersong6637 The camera really is not that relevant for most games. Even face raiders, the literal "camera:the game" game only uses it as a gimmick and allows you to create nonsencial "faces" from non-face images, so you could just use screenshots instead.

[@M64bros]

As a Wii U owner of my own that had a Wii U since launch (along with a dark version) It was never perfect but it's still a good console and I had some good memories with it, I still play on it still to this day. Back then during that era not everyone was able to get one. So I brought my entire Wii U to a friend's place and we played together.

[@Priception]

I wouldn't call it a good console. Charming yes, but it was shit and failed for that reason. Don't feel you can't like something just because it's bad.

[@M64bros]

@@Priception Exactly and you do have a good point. It's marketing was extremely horrible and half of the games we got on it were bad.

[@M64bros]

@@Priception Also don't worry, It's never better than the switch and I'm not one of those nostalgia blind people that pretend everything was beautiful and pretty during the 3DS and the Wii U era.

[@3dsfan2002]

@@M64bros quit forcing people to hate the 3ds/ Wii U era, if they like it they like it, it’s not nostalgia blind

[@M64bros]

@@3dsfan2002 No worries I'm still playing on my 3DS and Wii U still to this day, Don't worry, I'm on both sides! 👍🏻

[@ZontarDow]

Everyone brings up the Virtual Boy as Nintendo's biggest failure, but from Nintendo's perspective itqas the GameCube. The WiiU was ahead of its time though, it beat the PS5 and XBS/X by 1.5 generations at being a console with no games.

[@scaryhobbit211]

Lol, your points are true. But alas, the PS3 had already gotten the No Games title first. Once again, the Wii U was a day late & a dollar short.

[@anonymist-n8z]

>it beat the PS5 and XBS/X by 1.5 generations at being a console with no games. lol true that dude, im seeing people say "muh multiplayer" in this comment section when all you had for actual good multiplayer was obligatory mario kart and smash (something every other system had) nintendo land, and mario 3d world.

[@anonymist-n8z]

@@scaryhobbit211 ps3 has many many games depending on what you wanted to find. wii u truly has absolutely nothing to do on it especially nowadays

[@shutup1037]

Was Xenoblade games only on Wii U or Wii too?​@@anonymist-n8z

[@scaryhobbit211]

@@anonymist-n8z Most of the great PS3 library didn't come until the 2nd half of the generation. Until then, "PS3 has no game" was the meme of the era due to that console's own disastrous launch.

[@javierdelgado3915]

It was very disappointing how in march 2015 we heard the mention of the next nintendo successor in an investors meeting and if you kept up with gaming news you heard about it. March 2015, thats like 2.5 years after the wii u launch that they mentioned a successor

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

Tehnically the existence of the Wii was mentioned as early as 2003, and that console was kinda shown at E3 2005 (but that was a prototype and still not even named) the console was only shown off and named the "Wii" in 2006.

[@pattersong6637]

Remember that meeting was Nintendo announcing it was going into mobile games and if they hadn't also announced new hardware at the same time everyone's takeaway would've been "Nintendo abandoning dedicated hardware" because between the Wii U going stillborn and people's intense fears that mobile would threaten the very existence of dedicated handhelds people's takeaway would be "Nintendo's giving up on the Wii U and 3DS" if they just announced the phone games by themselves.

[@AlienGenotype]

Even just naming it the Wii 2 instead, would have made a big difference. I hope they won’t make the same mistake with the next Switch.

[@Kilaueaorph4n]

It’s gonna be Super Nintendo Switch

[@crazedlunatic43]

Problem was, people were not interested in the Wii itself by 2011 as it was later seen as a fad. And because the Wii U associated itself with the Wii brand, it essentially ensured the Wii U would never see the light of day.

[@XxMayhem88]

​@@crazedlunatic43Yep

[@themetalgamer9864]

If you look at the photo of the Wii U prototype that Nintendo officially put out, it's clear that the Wii U was always meant to be a Switch, but it was rushed out prematurely. The Wii U prototype had a detachable Wii Remote on each side, clearly a precursor to the JoyCon.

[@ask343]

please don't talk like your speculation is a fact

[@anonymist-n8z]

prove it

[@flyforce16]

BS show your proof

[@ask343]

​@@flyforce16 there's an image where Wii remotes were stuck to the side of a tablet screen as a Wii U prototype, which I'm sure you can find with Google. But that doesn't mean it was a prototype for JoyCons :/

[@themetalgamer9864]

@@ask343 I don't know how much closer you can get to JoyCon than detachable controllers on the side of a screen.

[@DeathMetalThrasher]

This thing was a hard sell for me back then. I was invested more into the PS Vita and 3DS during those times

[@Nickk7878-v8t]

There is a lack of new game output for the modern Xbox and PS5, but they are succeeding over what the Wii U did. Why is that the case?

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

Brand recognition sells consoles, The Ps5 doesn't have a confusing name, (you know that the Ps5 is the 5th Playstation), The wii U did have a bad name, that just sounds like the name of a Wii accesory (especially the U Draw tablet).

[@Nickk7878-v8t]

@@theothenintendomaster3717 Xbox's branding is confusing. I don't even know the differences between everything after Xbox One. Whereas with Wii U, it made sense that it was new after the Wii has been out for 6 years.

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

@@Nickk7878-v8t The Xbox one, Xbox One x/s and Series X/s might be the most confusing names for game consoles ever, like did Microsoft forget to count, who counts bakwards, 360 to one(the Xbox one was named because it was "an all in one experience") but that still is a terrible name.

[@TimmyDaTurtle]

Cause people who had the wii didnt likely see the point of upgrading because "If My wii is just fine, why buy a wii U for more money". The 3ds on the other hand just acted as a new DS, which had a lot of collectability, especially with if you were playing multiplayer, or just liked collecting them. They were relatively cheap, you could get one for multiple family members, so it worked out better.

[@Nickk7878-v8t]

@@TimmyDaTurtle Can't the same argument be made for an Xbox Series whatever and a PS4?

[@Priception]

Great video. I was a Wii U owner since 2013 and it was a painful time. I like how u went into all the reasons the Wii U failed. As a lot of people just entirely blame marketing and act, it would have been a Wii level success it ot was marketed well. When there were many different factors.

[@purwantiallan5089]

WiiU games at least is very memorable, like Mario Kart 7 and 8.

[@pattersong6637]

It was never gonna be a 100 million seller but it could have been something other than "A system that seriously called Nintendo's existence into question." Besides the obvious things like a different name and such, I'm personally a strong believer that releasing it in 2011 rather than 2012 would've dramatically helped it out (getting two year rather than one year head start on PS4/XBone). Not enough to "save" it but enough to give it a more dignified life than getting pulled out behind the barn when it was still in its prime.

[@ShadowFoxInfinite]

@@Priception You’re a very familiar troll that had a list of anti-Nintendo talking points on various social media platforms. Good to see this post isn’t that bad. Congrats.

[@Priception]

@@ShadowFoxInfinite who are you again?

[@ShadowFoxInfinite]

@@Priception Nevermind I got exactly what I needed here.

[@HigherQualityUploads]

My Dad had seen the frenzy for the Wii and tried to resell a bunch of Wii Us. Ended up having to return most of them 😅

[@thehighwaygoddesssss]

the intro ends at 20:02

[@i2egulus]

Is it a bigger failure than the Virtual Boy because of the expectations that it would catch on like the Wii being very wrong?

[@breadone_]

yeah, i don’t think nintendo had high hopes for the VB. the N64 was well into development by the time it came out

[@ZackLillipad]

Yes I would say so. Especially since VB was not Nintendo’s main console at the time, it was pretty experimental

[@joshuasommer6548]

​@@ZackLillipad Nope, the VB was a bigger failure. It was a commercial, critical and financial flop on every level. Nintendo would not revisit implementing 3D tech properly until the 3DS launched. The Wii U was a more viable minimal product than other systems (such as the dreamcast) and while not a financial success, it was a prototype and launchpoint for the switch. The Wii U had a ton of potential and value, but was just heavily underutilized.

[@arthurgamerpro6585]

@@joshuasommer6548 yes, virtual boy is just a failure, and wii u is like gamecube in 2010s

[@HandOn-c40009]

​@@joshuasommer6548VB was a side project, it was marketed as Handheld, it was never intended to replace Super Nintendo, while Wii U was intended to be the main console to replace Wii and its failure was severe enough for the CEO to cut his own salary so they don't have to lay off employee. Wii U failure by all account has bigger impact to nintendo than VB ever was.

[@thegreatmightyd]

I remember walking into Best Buy the same week the Wii U came out and they literally had a whole pallet of em sitting on the floor...

[@jordanwhite352]

So I was working with Nintendo at the time during Wii U and 3DS. It's so weird to look at that launch video and still see myself in it that want to point out a couple of things in your fantastic recap. First of all, according to the employees I talked to, they were originally going to call this system either the Yu or U. It's like what Reggie said in the beginning. The first one was all about us. Now it's all about you. Hence the term project Cafe where you can order a bunch of different things. How you want it the way you want it. The apparent problem was that both employees and stockholders were like why are we dumping the name Wii When that name and brand is what's given us the biggest success to date. So what they apparently did was combined both the wee branding name with the new name for it to try to satisfy everyone and as a textbook example satisfied no one. Second of all, I remember actually being at the launch preview day and being informed that because they we're behind so much on software that everyone's going to get this like ginormous day one patch. It's going to take forever to download so I made sure to include that when I was giving my homes system. And lastly, while I can't confirm it, from what I understood, the original idea for the Nintendo switch had a lot of features that the Wii U and the 3DS had such as having a stylist having multimedia support, dual screens with the dock and having things like street pass but a more advanced version of it. These were all stripped out because as you said, one of the biggest problems is that people kept confusing the brands. So even when it was a positive things from their predecessor, they did a hard cut to everything before the Nintendo switch to absolutely sell to even the dumbest monkey on the planet that this was an entirely new thing that was incompatible with all their previous stuff.

[@MonguzTea]

The wii u was sold for $300 when the PS3 and Xbox360 was $200. The wii u had no GTA5. That was the end of it.

[@danr8267]

And the PS4 was $399 a year later. It never stood a chance

[@jonklerfrompersona5]

“Wii U had no GTA 5” wtf is this argument💀💀

[@dathunderman4]

Wii didn’t have GTA IV. What’s your point there?

[@TreyMcDonaldAnimator]

Well it wasn't just ho GTA it was no third party support at all! $300 is fine but make it count.

[@Jormunguandr]

So I own a "wii" and nintendo showing me a controller called the "u", huh?! Aight and it's $300? Nah imma keep using my wii 😅

[@sonicprime1597]

“The Nintendo Wii U is Nintendo’s biggest failure” The virtual boy: peaking around the corner

[@moldyrefrigerator]

The Wii U was so bad, that I've never even played one before....because I never knew anyone who bought one. There's no other modern console that I can say I haven't played at least once.

[@Cybo-Man]

I tried at least a dozen times to buy a WiiU when it launched and for a year or two after. Now im glad i could never find one.

[@TwilightWolf032]

The Rayman Legends delay pissed me off so much, they had the game READY for release, but pushed it back with 2 weeks prior to the launch of the game so they could release multiplatform later down the line, a courtesy Nintendo platforms had not exactly been seeing from multiplatform releases, having its releases always delayed while Sony and Microsoft got them earlier. But then Rayman Legends released alongside a high profile game and it sold the best on the Wii U, so what was even the point?

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

At least RE4 was a gcn exclusive for 10 months.

[@Friendly_Neigborhood_Astolfo]

They should have called the Wii-U the Wii-Too. Missed opportunity

[@AzurePip]

It's such a bitter shame how badly the Wii U failed in the global marketplace. It really was ahead of its time with the GamePad controller and how some games were able to utilize it. Marketing and name confusion aside, there were so many great games on the system to speak of. Super Smash Bros., Mario Kart 8, Super Mario 3D World, the HD remakes of Wind Waker and Twilight Princess, Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Yoshi's Woolly World, and Xenoblade Chronicles X, just to name a few. While it is nice that the Switch is successful and so many of the Wii U's best games were ported to its successor for a second shot at life, I will always have fond memories of the Wii U from the time I got one as an early Christmas present in 2014. Alas, with the removal of Miiverse in 2017 and the shutdown of the Wii U eShop and online services in 2023 and 2024, respectively, it feels like the system nowadays is but a shell of what it once was. It's saddening, but I still love my Wii U and will cherish the memories I had playing it back during its prime.

[@lazydazey9282]

I loved the Wii U Soo much I would carry the pad around all day. I don't understand why people didn't like it.

[@Sacto1654]

Essentially, the Wii U was just too ambitious a device for its time. The original Nintendo Switch when it arrived in 2017 took full advantage of a much more powerful SoC than the one on the Wii U, and the less ambitious aim of Switch meant the device was much simpler to use, which explains why it became a huge hit.

[@mikeakaspike]

Opening 3 seconds "The Nintendo Wii U is Nintendo's biggest failure ever" Me, immediately: *cough Virtua Boy Cough*

[@CengoDevrosu]

I'l be honest, the main reason why i didnt get the wiiu was the 3DS for me. It literally had everything i wanted as a kid, so i waa happy. The WiiU had nothing i wanted, besides mario kart.

[@JCardo2502]

I didn´t even know the Wii U was a thing until a year after I bought the Switch. I assumed Nintendo just took much longer to make a new console. I had been playing on the Wii for pretty much 12 years. I never saw a single ad about the Wii U or about any game. And you might say "what about E3?" yeah, 11 or 12 years old me had no freaking clue what E3 was, so don´t even ask me about that and you might ask "don´t you had friends that could´ve told you?" and the answer is no. I was one of the best students in my class which of course means everyone hated and called me a nerd and then you might ask "what about the internet?" yeah, I didn´t had a youtube account until I was like 15 so I never kept up with any popular youtuber that covered Nintendo stuff so I was living under a rock. When the Switch came out I only found out because I saw an ad on the TV during Christmas.

[@SummerADDE_Elevators]

I am a huge nintendo fan, but I remember back when I saw the first announcement of the Wii U, my first reaction was "What were they thinking?" Compared that to the Nintendo Switch announcement, where I dropped my jaw and felt it was genius. I instantly wanted a switch!

[@purwantiallan5089]

Especially with Switch 2 on the horizon in 2027.

[@clipmaster6941]

​@@purwantiallan5089 2027? Lol, it will release this this year.

[@lordziz]

I got a Wii U purely for Smash Bros and I ended up playing mostly that and my Wii games on it because there was nothing else I was interested in. But I will give it that the Virtual Console introduced me to a lot of classics, and it was a much better way to experience legacy content than Switch Online.

[@Commanderziff]

When I first heard the name, and saw a picture, I assumed it was some kind of mobile version of the Wii. To be fair, I hadn't had a Nintendo since the N64. I wasn't going to buy one regardless.

[@trevorthesorcerer]

I like a the feature where you could watch tv and play a game. I still use at party’s.

[@crunkiss]

I personally think what killed the WiiU was the 3DS. The 3DS would’ve faced what I would believe to be worse marketing as the new gimmick could only be experienced in person, but by the time the WiiU came out, its price was cut to only $170, had a much bigger back catalogue of games and received much more support for years to come. Just like how Sony almost outsold the PS3 with their own PSP. Edit: I wanted to add this disclaimer. You did an excellent job breaking down all of this. One of the better video essays on one of Nintendo’s biggest blunders

[@therealjaystone2344]

Handhelds are forgiving to the customers because of easy access, unlike the vita.

[@olucasb93]

Nah, Wii existed alongside DS without hurting each other's sales. The gamepad just had no appeal whatsoever. Both Wii U and 3DS gimmicks were unappealing (for general audiences I still think the 3D is great) but Super Mario 3D Land (and the pricecut) saved the 3DS, I was an early adopter and it was rough. 3D Land changed public perception of that thing. It was a true system seller and the games kept coming. That didn't happen with the Wii U at any point and third party support was non existent. It was dead on arrival.

[@DevilSurvivor69]

Its kinda wild that a company go from the dramatic low of the Wii U and to climatic high of the Switch. I guess thats Nintendo for you.

[@wingedhussar1453]

It was a smart idea at the time. Kids loved tablets but issue was wii u had no games for too long and it was to much of a ipad gimmick. Swotch was the right successor combining two of their systems

[@Nabhan82]

Might not be their best but I enjoyed having the WiiU which I got pretty much within its launch timeframe. Many great games were released for it including MK8, Super Mario 3D World, Splatoon, Mario Maker, Breath of The Wild, Yoshis Woolly World, DK Tropical Freeze, Toads Treasure Tracker, Xenoblade X, Pikmin 3 to name a few.

[@Culbjay]

Awesome vid, you deserve way more subscribers. The quality from this vid is amazing! Good stuff keep it up !

[@douglashenrique188]

They should just went with Wii 2 honestly

[@NickTheEnlightened]

Either Wii 2 or simply just dropped the Wii branding altogether.

[@nora-bee]

I remembered seeing ZombiU playing on Wii U around the time of release and was amazed at the possibilities of dual-screen console gaming. Coming from a PSP fanatic, I was actually way more excited about the Wii U GamePad than I was the PS Vita, I mean actual console games on a (kinda) portable device? No concessions? Sign me up! It's a shame I could never actually afford one back then, I've had a Wii U for about 3 years now and it's honestly one of my favourite consoles ever.

[@OmegaTyrant]

The marketing gets overblown, yeah it was terrible but the Wii U's bad library I say is the biggest factor in sinking the system (like the PS3 had terrible early marketing too that contributed to it sinking early on, but was able to recover when it got the games to sell it). People not knowing what a Wii U was in its first year wouldn't have mattered if there was huge must have games on it, as people would have been forced to learn then what the Wii U was in order to play those games. This especially killed the console on launch; NSMBU (when the NSMB series was long stale and its terribly bland artstyle did absolutely nothing to compliment the jump to HD) and Nintendo Land were not system sellers whatsoever, the only other Nintendo consoles with similarly bad launch lineups were the Gamecube (which got major titles like Rogue Squadron 2 and Smash Melee very soon after launch, and ultimately wasn't that much more successful than the Wii U) and the 3DS (which nearly tanked as a result, with Nintendo having to do a huge price cut less than half a year after launch and the Ambassador program to save it). Those lack of games and most Wii U's first party titles being of niche interest additionally meant if you weren't into said niche game of the quarter, then that was just more months of waiting until something new comes out (like people will rave about Pikmin 3 as one of the "Good Wii U games™ ", yet if you didn't care about Pikmin such as myself when I bought the console on launch, then that was just several more months of nothing new to play). Then even the intended system sellers it did eventually get had big problems to them; Mario Kart 8 had its infamously bad roster at launch and no real battle mode (which would end up getting fixed in DLC and its enhanced port on Switch), and Smash 4 had a big dropoff in single-player content that hurt casual interest, while having its sales potential kneecapped by having a 3DS version launch before it (I seen so many casual players online go "well I don't need to get a Wii U to play Smash 4 when I can get it on 3DS!", terrible controls and much worse graphics be damned).

[@adamhand7119]

I was a FPS player at the time, and I was married to Microsoft. It wasn't until the pandemic I returned Nintendo (switch) and casual gaming.

[@nickperkins8477]

We are “Wii” You are “U.”

[@UrialsGift]

Great video, I remember being so happy on Christmas when I opened up my wii u under the tree lol

[@theelightbearer4254]

I’m shocked that people were so dumb that they thought it was an accessory and not a console. Not only was the context of the reveal was that it was a console announcement; but when has a console developer ever made such a big thing about a console accessory? Did everyone think the Xbox 360 was an accessory for the original Xbox? I got a Wii U after the switch came out to see what the previous system was like, and I was blown away by how cool it was. I felt bad that it didn’t succeed and still do. Such a cool concept that didn’t catch on

[@konradfun]

360 also had better marketing, a visually distinct design and the games made it obvious that what it could do wasn’t possible on last gen.

[@dannigro8794]

The 360 was a massive improvement on graphics and kind of a big deal bc it was released a full year before PS5 and Wii. People knew it was the next new Xbox. Even though the Wii U was released a year before its competition it wasn’t that much of an improvement and looked so identical to the Wii that people thought it was. The problem is people aren’t dumb but easily confused. I thought Wii U came with another controller besides a game pad but it’s really for people who already had a Wii. 360 could easily be for people who never had Xboxes.

[@phorchybug3286]

Poor dude. I loved the little critter. I just wanted it for the goofy Nintendo novelty it was. Thankfully I discovered more potential. The virtual console with exclusive crap like GBA and TurboGrafx. No plus tax buying crap from the eShop. Wii backwards compatibility.

[@sheep83]

I love my WiiU and play it regularly. It's trivial to install CFW and gives you a WiiU, Wii and Gamecube natively with one HDMI port. I don't understand why people pay insane money for GCs with ODEs and HDMI mods.

[@EPS5000]

Technically the Wii U is *not* Nintendo's "biggest failure ever" that would go to the Virtual Boy, which sold less units than the Wii U. So the Wii U is Nintendo's second biggest failure ever.

[@Mitsuraga]

Looking back, I don't think they were actually trying to save the Wii U, at least not after 2014, which was probably their last-ditch attempt at doing so. Holiday 2013 made it clear that they were never going to salvage this beautiful thing, so at that point, it was just a matter of biding their time and dishing out an appropriate trickle of new releases until the Switch could arrive. The fact that they never once cut the price seems to support this idea. I mean, I know they were taking a loss on each unit sold as it was, but still. Desperate times, and all that.

[@TheNickers69]

Nintendos biggest failure no, I’d say the virtual boy is the worst

[@IsomerMashups]

If your expectations are low, you won't be disappointed. That's why the Wii U was a bigger failure.

[@robertschnobert9090]

The biggest failure is measured in dollars, not expectations from Nintendo fanatics. It's called capitalism, honey 🌈 ​@@IsomerMashups

[@TheRealBigRed]

360 to one to XS or SI or whatever Xbox did turned a lot of people off. That's what I feel like happend from WII to WII U. If it was the WII 2 it would have probably sold better. That's why the new Switch is called that and has the number 2 after it

[@midnitdragoon]

I thought the virtual boy was the biggest Nintendo failure

[@Ayixlia]

Wind waker hd and breath of the wild for Wii u still has not lost their value since the day they came out. I'm not paying over 50$ for either game, still looking for copies under 50$.

[@Rons-Fansubs]

That's such a shame because the Wii U was essentially a precursor to the Switch.

[@NickTheEnlightened]

But I think it was because of the Wii U's failure that effectively allowed for the Switch to happen in the first place and become as successful as it did. Nintendo has proven with the Switch 1 that they learned from their mistakes with the Wii U era and that's why it took off the way it did.

[@Reepicheep-1]

The Switch's debut trailer I saw as a direct response to the pathetic marketing and lack of understanding for the Wii U. Directly showed the console, its uses, and various different ways to play it. Worked beautifully.

[@hugocastilla3102]

Something to consider is that the Wii brand was on itself a detriment. By 2011, the Wii was the unpopular console, viewed only as the underpowered machine to play Just Dance.

[@handsoaphandsoap]

I think the issue was branding it as a Wii successur when it’s much more of an evolution on the DS concept, what with the dual screens. If they had sold it as a hybrid console of the Wii and DS, meshing the best part of both into one console, I think it would’ve been an imediate hit.

[@kadebass6187]

Brother said "the Wii U was fairly on par with the PS3 and Xbox 360" yeah sure definitely yup

[@portalalchemist320]

It actually was tho

[@kadebass6187]

@ no, the games were at best scaled down to similar levels not that the consoles were on par I remember when Reggie was pushed on performance of the Wii U in an interview and whether or not it was on par with the "HD systems" (PS3 and Xbox 360) and all he said was "it's HD" he never gave out anything else in regards to the performance Like the PS2 supported 1080 resolution output but I wouldn't say that comparable to the PS3 Unless you want me to pull out the spec sheet and explain it to you how they weren't

[@LyokoWarrier1fan]

Just to add my 2 cents: Even a lot of us who were tuned in to E3 and the like back then were confused by the 2011 reveal. I remember knowing a new Nintendo console was coming but since they never really showed it at that conference it did make me second guess myself. As for E3 2012, I remember that one being a huge disappointment for many of us. We were expecting a blowout akin to what they did for the 3DS in 2010 with all the new games and I don’t think a single new first party game was really announced beyond what, Nintendo Land? And the digital fireworks being the “one more thing” lol Not to mention the third party games were a bunch of late ports at full price. The Wii U presentation they did later that year was the best one and even that was a bit so so. The emergency Wii U January 2013 direct gave us some sliver of hope.

[@LyokoWarrier1fan]

Also, something I think was also a factor of the Wii U’s failure was that many of the games available on it had 3DS equivalents that were good enough replacements during that gen for the more casual fan/ consumer. Smash Bros being the big one. I think the Wii U could have done better had Smash 4 been an exclusive.

[@IIResonancEII]

Wind Waker HD, Twilight Princess HD, Mario Kart 8, Smash 4. Probably the only MUST HAVES, though there were a few good ones like Hyrule Warriors, Pokken Tournament, Super Mario Maker, 3D World, etc. The biggest slap in the face was Star Fox Zero. Nintendo could be great again, like they were in the N64 and GameCube days…if only they had a playable Star Fox, a 3D DK platformer, F-Zero GX2, Super Mario Sunshine 2, Diddy (whoops) Kong Racing 2, Mario Kart Double Dash 2, and more. But they don’t do it.

[@XxMayhem88]

Most of them got Switch Porr

[@SnickterP]

I still think naming it Super Wii would have been a game changer.

[@Apollo1989V]

I didn’t get a Wii U until the Zelda bundle came out.

[@ThePossumCatcher]

Actually, the Virtual Boy did worse than the Wii U with 770,000 Virtual Boys sold Vs over 13 million Wii U’s sold. Which actually means the Wii U IS NOT Nintendo’s worst selling console. 😳

[@Dash120z]

the Wii U was like the Windows Vista of Nintendo.

[@IAmNotAFunguy]

At least Nintendo has learned of all their mistakes from the Wii U era: first thing when they announced the Switch 2 last week, the first thing they said was "Here is our new system!"

[@external-v6d]

when 32 gb was fine for a console

[@therealjaystone2344]

And when we realize the platinum edition was the most defective hardware

[@RapDog62]

It wasn't even really fine back then tbh. I could only fit a handful of games, then two when I patched xenoblade x.

[@Vortexone112]

32GB was made fun of at the time for being pitifully small

[@brunoheredia3244]

it was not… the PS4 and XONE launched the year after with 500GB of storage, and the PS3 before it had been regularly shipping in 160, 250, and 320GB configurations

[@TheConuresrule]

It was never fine lol

[@nicholasfornaro]

I was only 9 years old when the Wii U came out, and I remember thinking that the GamePad itself was the actual console, and I thought the console part was just a disc reader 😂. I still loved that console back then and it was my main gaming system alongside my 3DS up until the Switch came out. Excellent video btw!

[@lol-si8zz]

I’ve seen you around before.

[@purwantiallan5089]

Even PlayStation Vita considered to be more profitable than WiiU.

[@pinefruit.2269]

Main problem with the Wii U was literally because I thought the Wii U was a new attachment for the Wii rather than an a new console. If they named it the Wii 2, it probably would have blown up

[@WarioSaysSo]

Nintendo Wii U was never a bad console, it deserves not that trashing. However the Wii U failed because of 5 GREAT errors: 1. The name was confusing, and did not stood out in difference from the Nintendo Wii. Most people though of it as just a gaming-pad for the old Wii and not a whole new system. Did not help that what was mostly shown was just the gamepad, and not the console itself - And the console pretty much looked like the Wii for the untrained eye. Just bigger. 2. VERY POOR marketing and VERY POOR exposure of the Nintendo Wii U console. Nintendo was in simple terms, lazy and arrogant towards its customers and the market. As stated in (1.) above, it did not differ from the old Wii so people just thought of it as an apphereal for the old console. It also did not help its marketing by using footage in informercials and commercials games that looked just like games from the Wii ex. New Super Mario Bros U or Wii Sports Club. 3. Nintendo again was in simple terms, lazy and arrogant towards its customers and the market by not having a strong line-up of games in circulation development for the new system, and near blindly was counting on 3rd party publishers to either make new games for the system or port already existing games from what was on PS3 and Xbox 360 (who already was content with a vast library of games and was content with that until next Gen tech). So Wii U owners had little to look forward for gamewise. Nintendo was like a sleeping giant who could not wake-up and get to work. They struggled with there own developments, took long time and even admited so much they had underestimated the next-gen tech and its increased development time. Further does not help that Nintendo's in-house options of developers and 2nd parties at the time was few in numbers and delegating work projects was poorly done. 4. Nintendo's e-shop was a great downfall from its previous excellent Wii Shop. The library avaible was much more slimmed down combined with the loss of other consoles that offered games there ex. Neo Geo, Sega Genesis, Atari, Commodore 64 etc. This further made the Wii U not attractive to invest in for gamers. And then the load-times on the e-shop was bad. 5. Nintendo showed prematurly no faith in there newest home console, and with a mentality to give it up early was not unnoticed. Nintendo ported a lot of its games to the 3DS in hopes of getting better sales.

[@salvadormendoza5045]

This is the first time seeing the controller used to punch a code while being chased by Zombies, what a cool implementation of a second screen. One tablet per console was a huge flaw of the Wii U.

[@nintendonerdjoseph]

It is deranged how many Wii U fanboys will attempt to claim that the hardware was "misunderstood" or under-utilized and how much better the Wii U was than the Switch.

[@ShadowFoxInfinite]

@@nintendonerdjoseph Except Wii U WAS misunderstood- there are literal developer postmortems talking about not knowing how to use the CPU (Orochi Warriors 3), and no modern tools existed to port games- you had to figure it out yourself. Many games used only one thread, never touched L3, and hardly had games running over 33W. That’s not a “Wii U fanboy” take- that’s the observable truth given how much more capable Wii U was vs 7th generation. Need for Speed Most Wanted U is a night and day difference over 360/PS3, while Mass Effect 3 (from the same publisher) has texture pop-in, low resolution, and screen tearing on a system that clearly designed make screen tearing disappear. Now if you have info that counters that ALL DEVELOPERS had AMPLE information on how Espresso L3, SIMD chain, and MEM2 worked, I’d be willing to concede, but we know the few people that can answer that are probably still under NDA.🤫

[@EvilStevilTheKenevilPEN15]

@@ShadowFoxInfinite The Wii U was released on the 18th of November, 2012. The PS4 was released on the 15th of November the following year. Yes, for not even one entire year the Wii U was technically competing against consoles from the prior generation. Unsurprisingly, a console released in 2012 is more capable than one released in 2005, but the Wii U's contemporaries in the eighth generation cleanly blew it out of the water, and it spent the majority of its short life competing against _them_ The Wii U shipped with 2 gigabytes of RAM, a GPU which could perform 352 billion floating point operations per second, and the basic model only had 8 gigabytes of internal storage. Incidentally, The PS4 also shipped with 8 gigabytes...of RAM, along with half a terabyte of disk space and a GPU that could do 1.84 _trillion_ floating point operations per second. Whether or not devs went to the trouble to squeeze out _every_ last drop of performance from the Wii U, it was an objectively underpowered system with a then-unconventional and poorly documented architecture, both of which made _every single aspect_ of developing/porting games to it harder, slower, and more expensive.

[@fgvcosmic6752]

But... it was? Thats the primary issue with it. Despite its flaws, it was still a good console - the issue is that it was used terribly and marketed even worse. I dont think very many people say its "better" than the switch.

[@garf752]

@@ShadowFoxInfiniteWell the problem there is why was the Wii U competing with the 360/PS3 when the One/PS4 came out a year later. Who gives a shit how much potential it had if it was still dated tech that everyone had moved on from except Nintendo.

[@ShadowFoxInfinite]

@@garf752 Except Wii U was clearly far more advanced than those machines, and obviously it more competed with PS4/XBONE due to the advances in tech Wii U pioneered for 8th generation (GPU SIMD compute over CPU SIMD, lower CPU clocks/higher GPU clocks, modern day shader language, and running games in a hypervisor). In addition, Sony/MS clearly saw Nintendo as competition because PS4/XBONE launched rushed, and BOTH introduced 2nd screen solutions JUST IN CASE Wii U took off (Transfarring, SmartGlass respectively). This was 3rd party’s longing opportunity to ditch Nintendo for business reasons and they did. Now they’ve come to regret it.💯🥃

[@MetalHeadJagger]

The Nintendo Switch is one of the greatest comebacks in gaming history and Wii U Was Just A Prototype

[@xandercharmander]

Wii u is better

[@IsomerMashups]

​@@xandercharmander Justify that.

[@2NDFLB-CLERK]

▪️ They should've called it "Wii Me" 🟥

[@javierrios8027]

They should have gone with Wii 2. Adding HDMI and a better pro controller.

[@therealjaystone2344]

Everybody was tired of the Wii 1 back then by 2010

[@ask343]

@@therealjaystone2344 like how I'm tired for the Switch 1 now and waiting for the Switch 2 Or should I say, Switch U...

[@3dsfan2002]

@@ask343 i stopped buy new switch releases since 2022

[@ask343]

@@3dsfan2002 wow, the last titles I bought were Super Mario Bros Wonder and TOTK in 2023

[@3dsfan2002]

@ ok in reality I did buy engage, return to dream land remake and wonder

[@NekoTamer15]

I was able to play on the game pad in my bedroom with the console in the living room. My room is directly above the living room

[@carlosbobadilla7865]

I still use my wii u 🤪 I was playing Nintendoland a week ago and donkey Kong returns on my wii u ❤

[@spslayer9113]

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild did release on WiiU

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

But like who cares about the Wii U version of that game, nobody.

[@rolandserna7805]

Now that I look back on it, the only game I really cared about on the Wii U was Smash Bros

[@masterscambaiters3121]

Wii U was a great console. If they would have called it anything else besides Wii U, and emphasized it being a whole new console i feel it would have done a lot better.

[@jackbruno953]

I remember trying to convince my parents to get me a Wii U and I got it on Christmas. When I opened it up and played it Christmas Day. My mom walked in and I was playing New Super Mario Bros U. She then said “I don’t see the difference with the last one you had”. She also said “it looks like you’re playing the same game”. Although I enjoyed my Wii U and played it for many years. In that sentence it summarized everything wrong with the system. The early games weren’t a big graphical jump compared to the Wii and the branding was awful. The games were great late into its life cycle but the console itself really wasn’t great or marketed well.

[@cubeflinger]

Wii wasnt for me so skipped the wii u until i was asked to mod one. Absolutely amazing and honestly a travesty that colonial marines wasnt the front runner.

[@hidden3880]

i actually own/owned a wii u, strangest thing is i could barely walk any distance without the gamepad freaking out, but given the positioning of our kitchen and my room, it meant i could bring it in there and only there?? despite its flaws the games were hot thou and led to the switch

[@blushslice]

Zombi u on the Wii u.. cause I actually just discovered they ported it to other consoles.. damn it was so much fun playing the local pvp with one of you placing zombies and the other fighting, I wasted so many hours with friends

[@theothenintendomaster3717]

Yeah Zombi U is also on 360/ps3 and Xbox One/ps4

[@Chris-rj4bt]

My cousin had a WiiU and I didn’t even know it was an actual console until now lol. Always thought it was meant to be portable

[@pantslesswrock]

Sometimes the best way to save something is to stop trying and put your energy into the next iteration.

[@PieEater163]

One thing I love about the Wii U which it did better than a lot of it's contemporaries is local multiplayer. I have so many memories of having people round and playing on it. A good example of this is that when my cousins came round to mine we'd spend ages having fun on the Wii U whereas round at their house where they only had an Xbox One there was fuck all to play and we'd spend most of the time taking turns on Destiny! Local multiplayer is sadly a dying art, I'm glad Nintendo still gets it at least. It's the best way to play games in my opinion.

[@jumpman2326]

This was the last time Nintendo had free online 💔🥺

[@blueavokado4586]

It’s such a brave business decision by nintendo to stick with the screen console after such a bad launch.

[@staringcorgi6475]

13:16 you can just press b on start up but idk if that was in day one or an update