Was the Wii U Actually Bad?

in 2006 the world saw the launch of one of the most successful video game consoles of all time the Nintendo Wii this system revolutionized how video game could be played its motion controls allowed for so many new ways to experience video games whether it was swinging the remote like a bat aiming and shooting it like a gun or uh fishing the Wii had it all but once the system's lifetime started to come to a close and the motion control fads started to die out everyone was wondering where Nintendo would go next I mean how would they follow up their most successful Home console ever while E3 2011 everyone's questions would finally be answered with the reveal of their brand new console the Wii U this console is notoriously known as one of Nintendo's biggest commercial failures but was it really all that bad in this video I want to take a deep dive into the history and lifetime of the console Nintendo wants you to forget about my name is Mario Mikester and today I'm going to try to answer one simple question was the Wii U actually bad the earliest evidence of the Wii U can be traced all the way back to 2008 when Nintendo after receiving lots of criticism from their core audience about the Wii's graphical limitations started conceptualizing ideas for a more powerful console a console that would be capable of full HD graphics many people despite not knowing Nintendo's plans started theorizing a few years into the week's lifespan that the console would receive an HD Revision in the coming years fans dubbed this HD revision the Wii HD and speculated that it would come out sometime in 2011. however president of Nintendo Japan at the time Satora Iwata shut down these rumors in a 2009 interview stating that he saw no significant reason to make the system HD compatible though if they were to release a new console the new system would naturally support HD resolutions along with being HD compatible creator of some of Nintendo's most iconic franchises Shigeru mimoto stated in another 2009 interview that he would push for motion trolls to be featured on this possible new console since motion controls were one of the biggest reasons behind the Wii's success after this not much was heard about a new console from Nintendo with a lot of telling news sources in early 2010 that Nintendo would only start announcing a new system once they ran out of ideas with the Wii fast forward to April 2011 rumors started to float around that Nintendo was planning to reveal a successor to the Wii known as project Cafe at E3 2011. sources claimed that the system would output full HD graphics and be fully backwards compatible with the Wii some sources even went as far to say this new console would come with a tablet-like device featuring a touch screen and the ability to stream games from the console directly to the tablet many fans though were very skeptical about these rumors and denounced the idea of a reveal at E3 2011. however to many people's surprise Nintendo would release a statement only a mere two weeks after these rumors started to float around stating that a successor to the Wii would be released in 2012 with playable prototype units available at E3 2011. after and even before Nintendo confirmed their new console would be revealed at E3 2011 many mock-ups for the system were made using the vague details provided by sources and out of the many I've seen this one has got to be my absolute favorite it reminds me of the Wii phone and after months of continued speculation and rumors The elusive project Cafe would be revealed at E3 2011. hey it's time to watch some baseball okay swinging enemies 98 mile per hour fastball this trailer was awful the entire time it keeps referring to the gamepad as the new controller and never once mentions the fact that it's a brand new console if I saw this trailer without the prior knowledge that this was in fact a new console I would just assume it was an accessory for the Wii because that's exactly what it's presented as and due to the awful presentation and skepticism about this new controller Nintendo's stock plummeted the levels they hadn't seen since the GameCube days after the we use Rocky reveal at E3 2011 Nintendo would continue to provide more information about the console in the coming months with newly revealed games new Super Mario Brothers U and Nintendo Land being the big launch channels Nintendo was pushing for the system and despite all the negative press and criticism Nintendo continued to receive closer and closer to the console's launch on November 18 2012 the Wii U would officially launch at launch the Wii U actually sold pretty well with the console selling out at a lot of North American retailers in its first fiscal year the system sold 3.45 million units not as much as the Wii's 5.84 million in its first fiscal year but still a decent launch nonetheless however one thing you may notice from looking at the sales chart here is that in its first fiscal year the Wii U was outsold by its predecessor the Wii which is uh not very good another thing you've probably noticed from looking at this chart is that while the Wii almost tripled its sales in its second fiscal year the Wii U have did sales with the next few years never topping that initial launch here officially making the console a commercial failure sales wise but sales are not what this video is about so without further Ado let's get into the console itself [Music] upon starting the system you're greeted with two screens one on the TV and one on the GamePad the first of the screens is the main menu which is very similar to the Wii's although it's a bit more of a modern and HD take on the interface the other screen is warowaru Plaza which you can switch to the GamePad if you hit X this Plaza shows a bunch of applications and games on the Wii U with your me standing in the middle when Miiverse was still up which we'll talk about soon the plaza would show you different things community members of certain applications and games were drawing and talking about I absolutely adored this the plaza here gave a sense of community I loved booting up my Wii U and seeing all the things people were talking about I loved clicking a certain me in the wide pool of them all and seeing what that particular person had to say or what they were up to the ambient music that plays in the background while you explore the plaza or search across the menu is also just so calming it's not something you would think is that important but going back to this after the Silence of the switch menu is so refreshing menu themes are important they're the first thing you hear every time you boot up the console this ambient theme reminds me of what it felt like when I would rush home from school or wake up early to get on my Wii U the menu and Plaza of the Wii U Were incredible but moving on to the applications of the Wii U how could I forget the me maker making its triumphant return from the Wii the Wii U features an upgraded version of the me maker although not offering any new customization options the Wii U's me maker makes use of the gamepad's camera and allows you to take pictures of well anything and convert them into me's this picture system was not perfect but it was so fun to mess around with I remember taking pictures of my friends or just silly images I found on the internet and seeing what the me maker would cook up oh God the Nintendo eShop initially launched on the 3DS about a year before the Wii U's release the Nintendo eShop was and still is Nintendo's Digital Store the shop was created to follow up the success of the DSi shop on the DS and the Wii Shop Channel on the Wii the big difference of the eShop though was that you could buy anything on the Wii shop you couldn't buy and download games like Super Mario Galaxy or Super Smash Brothers Brawl as Not only would they take hours to download with the internet of the past the Wii only had 512 megabytes of space without an SD card installed and most Wii games were gigabytes in space but with the Wii U Nintendo realized the potential of a full digital market and allowed for all Wii U games to be purchased from the eShop along with that Nintendo also brought back the Virtual Console and expanded its library to now include Game Boy Advance and DS games the big issue with the Virtual Console on the Wii U though was the exclusion of Game Boy and Game Boy Color games the 3DS received those systems so why didn't the Wii U it doesn't really make any sense these shops were literally connected to the point where you could add funds on your 3DS and then use those funds on your Wii U so why didn't they both have the same Virtual Console Library I would have loved to been able to buy a Game Boy game on my 3DS under my same Nintendo network account on my Wii U and be able to download and play that game on my Wii U it would have made these two systems connected there is literally no excuse for why this didn't happen so the Wii U eShop while still having an amazing Virtual Console selection still suffered from things that could have easily been avoided moving on to the absolute best Wii U application we have Miiverse Miiverse was basically Twitter for Nintendo systems you could join different game and application communities see what people were talking about and even post drawings and interact with people Miiverse was very poorly moderated and you could get away with saying just about anything but that's what made it so perfect this application was home to some of the funniest posts I've ever seen on the internet and it's all made 10 times funnier when you take into account that this was posted on a Nintendo operated social media I mean just look at John here in the Sonic the Hedgehog Community who even thought it was remotely okay to put this here the point of it is that it's a trap it's to prevent you from just holding right be standing outside your house with a bat is also a trap it's to prevent you from just walking forward Miiverse wasn't only exclusive to the app though in select games like Mario maker and Splatoon you could put your drawings on display in Mario Maker levels or on your character in The Splatoon Lobby this made these game so much more fun and just like I said earlier made the console have a sense of community sadly though meaver shut down years ago back in late 2017 but with the use of a website called archiverse you can search up your Nintendo network ID and find your old post if you have any looks like 2014 me was very proud of himself for beating Luigi U Miiverse was by far one of the coolest and funniest parts of the Wii U I will never forget it so share the applications on the system were great but what about the games Mario Kart 8 Super Mario 3D World Splatoon Yoshi's whirly World Smash 4 Zelda Wind Waker and Twilight Princess HD Nintendo Land and a bunch more absolutely incredible games released on this system throughout its short lifetime although not many of these games made good or well in some cases any use at all of the GamePad that doesn't deny the fact that they are amazing games both graphically and gameplay wise the power upgrade from the Wii to Wii U was incredible Nintendo went from running games at 480p to 1080p games like Mario Kart 8 still look beautiful by today's standard and so many of the games on the system hold up astoundingly well graphically the failure of the Wii U cannot at all be attributed to the games just look at how well their ports sold on a successful console the switch Mario Kart 8 Deluxe despite being a port of a Wii U game is the best-selling Nintendo switch game with a whopping 52 million units sold as of a few months ago new Super Mario Bros U Deluxe again a portable Wii game has sold 15 million units on the switch triple what it sold on the Wii U these games were doomed to fail not only because of the Wii U's awful presentation with most not understanding it was an entirely new console but also the very bad marketing of the system hi hi yeah the Wii U commercials these are notoriously known as some of the most cringe-worthy commercials Nintendo hell any company has ever made not only did these ads only target children a demographic Nintendo wasn't only appealing to after the success of the Wii with the Casual audience they were also just weird Mario and Peach together me and Gina together I'm in I mean honestly what was Nintendo thinking their commercial and AD campaigns were fine in the Wii era what was the point of changing up something that already worked returning back to the games though I want to highlight a few that I think made great use of the GamePad starting off with Super Mario Maker this game was hands down one of the best ideas Nintendo has ever had and made use of the GamePad wonderfully Super Mario Maker as the title implies allowed you to create your own custom Mario levels using a ton of assets from all over the 2D Mario series along with being able to make levels you were also able to upload them and play other people's levels the concept was incredibly simple but executed amazingly everyone has always wanted to make their own Mario level and the Wii was perfect for it by using the stylus and the touchscreen on the GamePad you could easily select and place assets all over the level there was such a novelty to watching a friend place down objects on the GamePad using the touchscreen and seeing them appear on the TV with one of the many hand and options representing their hand on the stylus Super Mario maker is one of the best examples of a game that needed the GamePad it showed just how useful the GamePad could actually be I genuinely think if this system launched with Super Mario Maker instead of new Super Mario Bros U and was marketed a little better it would have sold significantly better just look at the Wii it launched with the legendary Wii Sports a game that in one of the most simple forms perfectly demonstrated just how Innovative and important the system's motion controls work and Super Mario Maker does exactly that it perfectly and simply demonstrates the abilities of the Wii U gamepad using a character and franchise everybody knows but it's not like the Wii U didn't launch without a game that showed off the capabilities of the GamePad I mean just look at Nintendo Land Nintendo Land was a mini game collection that came bundled with the system similar to how Wii Sports came bundled with the Wii this game is heavily underrated and is some of the most fun I've had with the system but the game wasn't marketed well I mean if you dive deep yes this shows off incredible ways that the GamePad can be used with Mario chase a tag game where the Seeker uses the Wii U gamepad as their primary screen to hunt others so those on the TV can't see where they are being one of the best it's way too complicated to sell someone on the system with I mean what's more convincing buy our new system and use the GamePad to hunt your friends in a Luigi's Mansion minigame or buy our new system and use the GamePad to make your own custom Mario levels that you can share with anyone I love Nintendo Land and may even make a full video on the game one day but it's just too complicated to sell someone on one of the only other games I can think of that made really good use of the GamePad is game and Wario this game had you using the controller for all kinds of things sometimes you were using it to shoot arrows sometimes you were using it as a shield and sometimes you were even using it as a camera games like this show just so much potential the controller had there was so much you could do with it that would really enhance and change the gaming experience the GamePad was such a cool idea it's a shame the thing would disconnect if you went 10 feet away from the system moving on though I want to talk about one of the absolute best things the Wii U did backwards compatibility yes Wii U discs weren't the only disk the system took it also took every single Wii disk along with this the Wii U also provided a built-in Wii menu and everything on the main menu if you put a Wii game in and opened it or just click the Wii menu icon you would be transported back in time having the ability to do this was so cool it would have been one thing if they just allowed you to play your Wii games on the Wii U but the fact that they integrated a full-on Wii into the system is nothing short of incredible and at first you might assume that the Wii U is emulating a Wii menu and emulating Wii games but it's actually not Wii games run natively on the Wii U being able to play Wii games on the Wii U was incredibly convenient and a severely underappreciated part of the system the Wii U is a weird console it was released to try to follow up Nintendo's best-selling Home console of all time and ended up being their worst selling Home console of all time there are so many aspects about this system that I dislike and whether it be the underutilized GamePad weird eShop decisions or awful marketing it can never make me hate the console apps like Miiverse added a lot of charm to the Wii U ever since day one there was always a community aspect to the console it didn't matter if you were playing a game alone you always got to see what others had to say about it which is something that I will always cherish about it every time I remember something that I disliked about the system I instantly remember three things that I loved about it the Wii U laid the groundwork for the switch he took so many of the best aspects of the Wii U like the hybrid home portable console concept and improved upon them tenfold the Wii U taught Nintendo so many valuable lessons about the importance of marketing the importance of third-party support and just how important it is for them to keep innovating maybe I'm just blinded by Nostalgia but to me the Wii U has and always will be one of my favorite consoles it has stood the test of time and proven that despite its shortcomings it's easily one of the most important consoles Nintendo has ever made so to answer the question posed at the very beginning of this video was the Wii U actually bad absolutely not it was amazing thank you [Music] foreign [Music]

Channel: Mariomikester

Views: 439,208

Keywords: wii u, nintendo switch, nintendo, mariomikester, wii u games, nintendo wii u, wii u gamepad, review, mario mikester, best wii u games, wii, mario wii u, wii u retrospective, mario bros u, super mario 3d world, mario kart 8, nintendo land, why did the wii u fail, was the wii u a failure, scott the woz wii u

Id: fEOZvf4Lr-M

Length: 18min 57sec (1137 seconds)

Published: Tue Feb 14 2023