Why the Wii U is Still Underrated
By Daniel Sumpton | Misfit Media Columnist
I was one of the few Australian kids who rushed home with a Wii U on launch day in uncontrollable excitement. I had been mesmerised by an enticing (and terrifying) ZombiU cinematic trailer and overjoyed by the idea of playing the next big instalment in the New Super Mario Bros. Series. Even though on launch day I could only afford the system itself and the game it was boxed with, Nintendo Land, I still had an incredible day playing the Wii U with my family. I eventually got to play ZombiU, which I loved, and the many great first and third-party exclusive titles that came onto the system.
The Wii U was a system that, due to bad marketing and poor decisions by Nintendo, suffered in sales compared to other home systems by the company. This was often mistaken for the Wii U being a bad system, which is untrue. The fact that such a large portion of the Nintendo Switch’s most successful games are Wii U ports is strong evidence for this, as a gaming console is only as good as its games. With so many Wii U games being ported to the Nintendo Switch, it’s easy to assume that the Wii U has no purpose whatsoever in your gaming console collection, but this is also untrue. There is still a first-party game on the old system that is not likely to get ported to any other, and is a must play.
Game & Wario is an instalment in the WarioWare series that Kyle Hilliard in a review for GameInformer described as “a humorous and fun title that is perfect for showing off why the Wii U is special.” Game & Wario showcases why the Wii U is not a throwaway system, and gives you the chance to have endless fun in a way that you cannot experience on any other home system in existence. It is a party game that revolves around minigames that can only be played using the unique features on the Wii U gamepad. Every minigame is distinguished from the other and exciting. There is endless replay value within each.
You’re still not sold on the Wii U as a stand-alone system? The Wii U is still the only game console to have HD versions of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Not only that, but the Wii U also has an exclusive Xenoblade Chronicles title (Xenoblade Chronicles X), an exclusive Pokemon title (Pokemon Rumble U), and many other instalments from first party franchises that you cannot experience anywhere else (Kirby, Mario, Star Fox).
Look out for the Misfit Media subscribers only article on an exclusive Wii U game not mentioned in this article, but will blow your socks off.