Any retailers selling new Wii U?

[toptenmaterial]

It's looking sparse!!! What have you guys seen in your towns?

[Tanooki]

I've not seen any or exceptionally few. Nintendo stopped producing them nearly a year ago since no one was buying them and they were sitting on boxes.

[toptenmaterial]

I've not seen any or exceptionally few. Nintendo stopped producing them nearly a year ago since no one was buying them and they were sitting on boxes.

When I get a little cash together (tax returns likely) I'll look on Amazon, or maybe go used with a WTB ad here.

[Tanooki]

Probably best as it appears it will become excessively harder to come by. The 3DS is in temporary minimum run or on pause so they can put all their effort into cranking out Switch systems through and after the launch so I'm curious to see how they go with it as they said they're not canceling the 3DS. Said the same thing about the DS being a third pillar too, saw how that worked out for GBA.

[toptenmaterial]

My GameStop has them refurbished for $249. That's a far cry from when EB Games was blowing out Dreamcasts for $30. I really hope that the Wii U doesn't become some sort of ridiculously expensive retro gold. By the way, are the refurbished units actually refurbished?

[omegadot]

Probably best as it appears it will become excessively harder to come by. The 3DS is in temporary minimum run or on pause so they can put all their effort into cranking out Switch systems through and after the launch so I'm curious to see how they go with it as they said they're not canceling the 3DS. Said the same thing about the DS being a third pillar too, saw how that worked out for GBA.

Not that I trust Nintendo to hold on to the 3DS / 2DS but there is a form factor benefit to it that the GBA only sort of had in it's small size. There's no way I'd let my boy haul the switch out on the town or to grandma's but sure he can take we his cool game (NES style 3DS).

[Tanooki]

omega: I agree same here, I still carry a GBA usually around with me if I think there would be a benefit to it being stuck somewhere for a time or as a tester as it's just small and easy. I don't trust the either, but I do wonder. Will they say one thing like DS and kill it again in 2 years time, maybe. Or they will keep pushing people to make stuff as a budget box on the go, but it's hard to say. They may get scared thinking they're diluting sales and just choke it off.

 

 

topten: If it's from them I doubt it or if they do, they make due making franken-systems using parts from multiple busted systems to make one good one. Screw them, don't bother.

 

Go to store.nintendo.com and pay $200 instead of $250 for the Black 32GB WiiU Deluxe Ed w/NintendoLand in there -- https://store.nintendo.com/ng3/browse/productDetailColorSizePicker.jsp?productId=prod150200

They will gut any returned systems they get, put new or make it like new internally, use the best (used) shell they have for the body of the system (same goes in all aspects for tablet controller) and certify it with a 1yr warranty as if it were new from the box. Can't beat that.

[toptenmaterial]

Tanooki thanks for the link bro! I'll see where I'm at with that tax refund money.

[dgdgagdae]

I guess I also missed the boat on the Wii U. I never had a Wii, so the backwards compatibility would open up a huge library for me. I'm not particularly interested in a refurbished system.

[Tanooki]

No problem, it's a better deal than someone else's sloppy seconds even if you do maybe get more games. You have a warranty, and surprisingly enough the WiiU they sell they give you the NintendoLand physical copy of the game in the listing as well, not the late releases of it being installed already(like they did with Mario Kart and Zelda WW.) I'm not into refurbs either, but that said since it didn't sell well, and they cut off supplies, unless you want to play some scalper punk well better than it is worth NOA is the best option as it's internally new/externally lightly used looking and with the original warranty. This isn't a system that'll be hard to give away like the Wii produced into the 100+Million inventory you can locate anywhere basically. Nothing about the system is cheap or ever got cheap, even the damn games were going for more than their original value used in many cases (mostly annoying Pikmin3) until they did those Selects copies a year ago for $20 which kicked quite a few scalpers in the teeth.

[Austin]

I have read (from forum members here who had first-hand experience buying them) that the Nintendo Refurbished units are basically as good as new and will look as such when you receive them. It's about as good or as close to new as anyone is going to get from here on out.

[Tanooki]

Well I worded it that way because as parts (new stock parts) run out, they go with refurbished. Ever since the NES era they have had their repair shop out of New York called Radio City. I had my WiiU implode after that major system update they did about 2 years into the system life to correct the horrible loading times of the GUI in and out of anything among other critical fixes and the dumb update bricked my system. I got it back in less time than quoted, but they did not return my spotless system shell (black 32GB unit) and being that lame shiny plastic they went with it is prone to scuff/scratches VERY easy and it had enough of them. If they do have new you get new, but as the NOA office itself runs out on the west coast, they'll tap into the parts in the east and it won't be spotless.

 

That link I gave I have no doubt you'll get the entire package without the original box. But any of the contents including the manuals I'm sure you will even the physical game as it's listed as such. If you're not hard up over cardboard you're basically getting a brand new system with a good savings.

[godslabrat]

Man, I'm glad I bought mine last year. Best money I spent in 2016, hands down.

[dj_convoy]

I hardly use mine, to be honest. (No, that doesn't mean I'm looking to sell.) It's rare when I have time to play that I sit down and want to fire it up; my PS4 gets most of my attention, followed by my PS3 and my various retro systems if I've had something new come in.

[toptenmaterial]

I'm gonna pick one up after tax returns come in (which this year will be a little later for everyone). I'll get the Switch after Odyssey drops.

[TDIRunner]

I finally picked up a Wii U back in November on cyber Monday since Target had a good sale going on. I was kind of lucky, because I have not seen them in stores since.

 

I haven't had it long, but I've really enjoyed it. I had a lot of fun with Mario Kart 8, and I'm currently playing through Woolly World now. That is one of the best platform games I've played in a long time.

Edited January 25, 2017 by TDIRunner

[Tempest]

Wooly World is on of those games I originally passed on but now I need to pick up. Same with Star Fox, Twilight Princess HD, and Captain Toad TT. Gamestop is still super expensive on these, but ebay is much cheaper. I think now may be the time to grab them.

[toptenmaterial]

I'm doing my taxes today and intend to order a Wii U from Nintendo's site. I'd like to get back into 3D World, also it looks like the VC has a decent about of GBA/DS content. Do you guys think a lot of Wii U stuff will be ported to Switch?

[Atariboy]

Between the 3DS and the Switch, many of the 1st party exclusives look set to live on.

 

I've not seen any or exceptionally few. Nintendo stopped producing them nearly a year ago since no one was buying them and they were sitting on boxes.

 

Production closed just a few weeks ago, with the last units entering retail channels early in November.

 

Given their rapid and seemingly universal disappearance online and at retail very late in the Christmas shopping season, rumors have it that Nintendo took back stock to clear retailer shelves in advance of their upcoming system launch. So the best way to get a new Wii U today is probably to buy one off Nintendo's online store.

 

It will be labeled as refurbished, but all those unsold new Wii U's aren't just going to be scrapped, so the chances probably are decent that you'd score one with zero miles on it.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Atariboy

[Tanooki]

Yup for the last time it did, but they also shuttered it for a time in the past too because they were sitting on a lot of inventoried product no one wanted anytime fast or in large numbers. They shut down the lines and just moved what they had until it was out from under their noses, then the line came back up.

 

You're probably right though they had to have pulled back product as stuff just vanished out of nowhere somewhat fairly recently. It would make sense if they cut things off. They can inventory it, toss the boxes and packing materials(somewhat), and then just sell the new as a refurb at a decent discount directly, while also chopping up some of them and shipping the units off to Radio City in New York so they have new part supplies to do repairs and replacements on existing units for years to come.

[spacecadet]

It will be labeled as refurbished, but all those unsold new Wii U's aren't just going to be scrapped, so the chances probably are decent that you'd score one with zero miles on it.

 

Do they come in a retail box? Or just a beige/white box?

[Atariboy]

I've only ever bought controllers from their online store. Refurbished and new controllers that I've bought over the past 15 years have always come in plastic bags with cardboard stapled at the opening of it to seal it.

 

I'm not sure if they'd scrap the original box for new consoles that have been rebadged as refurbished, or gut it like Tanooki said and send it out instead like they would a repaired system from one of their service centers, with a generic brown cardboard box and styrofoam.

Edited January 26, 2017 by Atariboy

[D.Daniels]

I was looking for one on Amazon UK (I'm from UK), there still the price of a PS4 Slim and Xbox 1 S

about 40 pound cheaper than the Switch price in the UK

It must be on the off chance people buy one just for Zelda Breathe of the Wild, if they miss out on a Switch

Edited January 27, 2017 by D.Daniels

[toptenmaterial]

I was looking for one on Amazon UK (I'm from UK), there still the price of a PS4 Slim and Xbox 1 S

about 40 pound cheaper than the Switch price in the UK

It must be on the off chance people buy one just for Zelda Breathe of the Wild, if they miss out on a Switch

I don't know if that's their motive, but it's about the same price as Xbox and PS here in the states as well. It doesn't seem as though they are blowing them out like retailers did with the 30USD Dreamcast! My guess is they will stay at near full price until they are gone for good.

[Tanooki]

Same here as Atariboy, whenever I've ordered something over the years from NOA they've had a clear bag for accessories and smaller other stuff including game cartridges, and then the top would have a red cardboard paper sheet with white lettering on it stapled over the top. Back in the day they did not advertise it directly but I found out they actually sold left over game cartridges in the 90s. A good year into the life of the N64 I found out they did and I ended up buying the formerly $70(due to SDD1 compression chip) Street Fighter Alpha 2 from NOA for $20 shipped -- no box, just game, dust clip, and manual. They said they were brand new returns from retail or the manufacturer who would send the stuff to NOA to deal with. Nintendo back then offered stuff new but unboxed for a solid discount to move it. Knowing what i did then I really wish I had picked off a few more gems from the SNES library.