My new Switch 2 has me thinking a lot about the Wii U
By bigsocrates 7 Comments
I can't stop thinking about the Wii U. Other than the Saturn it is the only major home console since the PlayStation era that I never owned, and so it has an air of mystery around it that fascinates me. Unlike the Saturn the majority of the Wii U's library, and especially the library of games that I'd actually want to play, has been ported to the Switch (and now the Switch 2 via backwards compatibility) so my obsession can lead me directly into playing games I have access to. I may never know what it feels like to hold that gamepad or experience Zombi U on the day of release and participate in that excitement, but I have Super Mario 3D World on Switch and not even @chamurai can stop me from playing that as much as I want!
And so I've found myself doing just that. It's not just that I've been watching Wii U content (again) recently in the background while I do other stuff, it's also that I've finished Donkey Kong Bananza and I find myself, again, with nothing to play on my new Switch 2. That game was fantastic, but the Switch 2 launch seems to be mirroring the Wii U launch in that there's very little to play for it, at least if you're not interested in multiplats or absolute garbage. Yeah there's an upgrade pack for Mario Party Jamboree, that people seem not to like, and a port of that Monster Hunter clone Wild Hearts, but I got Wild Hearts for Xbox 2 years ago and I don't have anyone to play bad Mario Party DLC with. If I am going to buy Shadow Labyrinth it won't be for full price and it probably won't be for Switch 2.
Both Switch 2 and Wii U were follow ups to enormously successful consoles that defined the previous generation, but one big difference is that people were tired of the Wii long before it was replaced, while the original Switch may not have had its strongest year in 2024, but had a phenomenal 2023 and is still a very popular platform with a lot of support remaining in the pipeline. The fact that so much of the Switch's library is digital and the fact that the Switch 2 uses pretty much the same control scheme also makes the transfer from Switch 1 to 2 much smoother than from Wii to Wii U, where using that backwards compatibility required setting up a sensor bar and turning the Wii U into Wii mode to access your software.
All that's to say that rather than buying mediocre Switch 2 games for my shiny new system I've been dipping back into my Switch library, which naturally means playing ported Wii U games. I'd beaten Super Mario 3D World but I'd never finished the Star Road levels let alone gotten all the green stars in the game, so I've been dipping back into that. I redownloaded New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe because I never played much of the New Super Luigi campaign, and I've been hearing that it's actually good for over a decade now, even though I don't really like it because it's New Super Mario Bros. U and I do not like New Super Mario Bros U. New Super Luigi U has tighter and more focused levels, which actually does make for a better experience, but it's still New Super Mario Bros. U at its core, so it's never more than kind of fun. That led to me playing some Super Mario Bros. Wonder, which I like much better, and that's not a Wii U game, of course, but it leads me to what I think is my point.
I like Super Mario Bros. Wonder more than New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, but they don't feel like they come from different generations. In many ways Wonder feels like a sequel that addresses NSMBU's flaws, but the kind you used to see on the same hardware, even though it's actually 11 years newer. Likewise 3D World doesn't feel like an old game, even compared to Donkey Kong Bananza, which is on hardware much more powerful than the Wii U (while the Switch was comparable in most ways.) One of the reasons I find the Wii U fascinating is that it was woefully underpowered in comparison to its contemporaries but in many ways its games have aged better. Early PS4 games now look a little bit rough around the edges, while Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze has barely aged at all because of its art style (though some Wii U games, like Bayonetta 2, sure have.)
The Wii U was always a console out of time. Launched a year before the PS4 but with power comparable to the PS3/360 gen it never felt "next gen" even when it was new. The gamepad was a misbegotten idea that only paid off in a couple games, and the Wii U barely outsold the Saturn and the Dreamcast despite being backed by the incredible IP bench of Nintendo and co-existing alongside the very successful Nintendo 3DS. But for a certain segment of the population the Wii U was a foundational console that they deeply love, and their attachment makes it fascinating to me. I like imaging what it would have been like growing up on games like Super Mario 3D World and Captain Toad Treasure Tracker, almost completely divorced from mainstream gaming on a little Nintendo island. I like the idea of Bayonetta 2 as a big spectacle action game even though it released after much more technically impressive games like Ryse: Son of Rome and inFamous Second Son. I regret not buying a Wii U when it was relevant even though I've played the games from it I would've wanted to, and I had good reasons for not getting when I did, but in a way the fact that I never got one just makes it all the more tantalizing and alluring.
And I don't think the Switch 2 is going to go that route. Nintendo entered the generation with a lot of momentum and despite the launch being pretty thin on games the Switch 2 has already sold almost half as many units as the Wii U did in its whole life in just the first 2 months. The Switch 2's "gimmick" of being a dockable portable is so popular that there are dozens of knock off PC products at this point. The Switch 2's name is clear, rather than confusing (Wii U was always a terrible name for a system.) Different products at different times with some similarities.
But the Switch 2's immediate and probable future success also points to the final fascinating thing about the Wii U, which is that it still feels like Nintendo's greatest home console failure was not that far off from being a success if a few things had gone a little bit differently. If they had launched with Super Mario 3D World instead of Super Mario Bros. U. If the name had been better, the gamepad a bit less clunky, the software lineup just a little bit better thought out. The fact that so many Wii U games thrived on Switch, to the point of the Switch's best selling game and one of the best selling games ever being a Wii U port, just shows the potential. New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe sold more copies on the Switch than the total number of Wii Us sold. That's a launch title from the Wii U put back on sale 6 years later with few changes for full price and outselling the whole console. And I don't even think it's a great game!
The Switch 2 is likely to have the life that the Wii U could have if Nintendo had handled it a bit better, and I think that's really interesting. Meanwhile I'm continuing to play Wii U games well over a decade after launch and even though they were outdated at launch they don't feel old to me. It's such a weird console and I will always find it interesting, even if there's never going to be a reason for me to pick one up.
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