I'm thinking of getting a Wii U but am not sure if I want to go the new route or the refurbished route. You can get a refurb Wii U from Nintendo directly for $200 or you could obviously just get it new for $300. Are refurbished consoles from Nintendo about as good as new ones? Has anyone had issues with them before?
Wii U
Platform »
The Nintendo Wii U, the follow-up to the monstrously popular Nintendo Wii console, launched in North America on November 18th 2012.
Is it worth buying a refurb Wii U?
Buying directly from Nintendo is probably ok, I'm sure they have some sort of warranty on there as well in case of any problems within the first few months.
There's a year warranty apparently. It's just, after tax and shipping I don't think I'm far off from the price of a new one. So maybe new would be better. I'm also going back and forth if it's ultimately worth even getting with the new console supposedly out in like 6 months. But there is a good number of games I want to play on woo u though. Including some old Wii ones.
And I'm worried about this new console supposedly using cartridges, which could mean no backwards compatibility with Wii and Wii U
if warranty is important, i would go with Nintendo. Refurb stuff has to pass criteria, especially from Nintendo. If you don't care about warranty and price is your biggest concern, go on craigslist. there are a ton of them out there super cheap because nobody really wants to play them. it's how I got mine, and I got mine super super cheap.
@ravensword: Nintendo's refurb stuff has a really good reputation. I bought a refurbished Wii U several months ago and I honestly can't tell that it isn't new. Absolutely no problems with it and it came in perfect condition.
That said, I only used it for about a month before I barely started touching it anymore. It's been sitting behind my TV for months. That's more of an overall issue with the console than the quality of the refurb. If you're hell bent on buying a Wii U, Nintendo refurbished is a good choice.
@immunity: that's what I'm worried will happen once I play the game I wanted to play. Who knows if Nintendo will continue supporting it also.
@ravensword what games do you want to play?
@upperdecker: twilight princess, windwaker, Mario kart, super Mario 3D world, bayonetta 2, I want to finally play Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Pikmin, the new Zelda coming out, super smas brothers, and I think that's it. There might be a few others.
I might actually wait a bit. Maybe when it comes time for the new Nintendo console to hit I'll make a choice between getting that or maybe a possibly discounted Wii u.
No issues with my refurbished one I bought a couple years ago now. Couldn't really tell it was used at all, it pretty much looked mint to me. Definitely worth it for the dozen or so great games on the system.
I never have an issue with manufacturer refurbished stuff (as it usually is handled well), so I'd say go for it. There's a ton of good Wii games, and some gems out there for WiiU. I'm not too sure price will go down based on how previous Nintendo stuff tends to hold value/the collector's market kinda messes with most of that.
That said, you do you man.
One of my worrys is that the new Nintendo console is going to be some weird thing that I'm not even going to want. It's supposedly using cartridges and is some weird handheld hybrid. And my worry is that if I wait too long to get a Wii U then they either be hard to get or impossible to get.
One of my worrys is that the new Nintendo console is going to be some weird thing that I'm not even going to want. It's supposedly using cartridges and is some weird handheld hybrid. And my worry is that if I wait too long to get a Wii U then they either be hard to get or impossible to get.
If you're comfortable with used systems this is very unlikely. The only systems I can remember this happening to were the original Xbox (which had to do with a chip manufacture deal, and they aren't expensive even to this day) and the Dreamcast (since Sega pulled the plug and pulled out of retailer relationships, though many were liquidated online cheaply.)
There are millions of Wii Us out there and many people will sell their systems when they buy the next thing (NX) so the used market should be pretty cheap during the transition. For example Nintendo Wiis are still widely available for $50 or so used from various online retailers (and probably brick and mortar too.) The Wii U was never as ubiquitous or cheap, but I'd wager that it will be pretty easy to get for at least a couple years after N/X launches, and at least until we know if NX is back compat.
I think you'd be able to find one down the line if you wanted to wait, but I feel like now is a great time to get a Wii U -- on the tail end of its run, with plenty of superb games already available. I didn't end up getting mine used last year thanks to a Black Friday sale, but I was going to go the refurb through Nintendo route before that. Nice that it still comes from the manufacturer and seems like fair warranty too.
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