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Wii U is super fun


Reaperman

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That teconmoon's wii/gc nintendont injector looks way cool.  I'll have to try it some day but I'm way too distracted with other cool stuff.

The last thing I did was Haxchi and loaded up a USB stick with a handful if WiiU and Vwii games.  A few homebrew apps like retroarch.  Although manually loading Haxchi can be a bit of a nuisance.  I also have the vWii hacked and setup if I needed it.

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  • 1 month later...

I bought a Wii U at the very end of its life-cycle - early 2017, just after the Switch launched.  Had been awaiting a price drop that just didn't happen, then through 2016 and 2017 they were really rare to find in stores.  Bought a second-hand system with a dozen games for about $175 and have had a blast.  It's easily my favorite system of the last decade.  Bought a system and 15 games for my dad for Christmas who's spent the last few months sending me regular updates on his Zelda: Breath of the Wild status.  Splatoon, Mario Kart, Captain Toad, Bayonetta, Pikmin 3, Batman Arkham Armored, Deus Ex, Shantae, DuckTales, Monster Hunter, Yoshi's Wooly World, Shovel Knight, Lego City Undercover, Xenoblade X, Giana Sisters, Wonderful 101 Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze... too many to name. This thing has given me waaaaaaay more than the ~$400 in systems and games I've put into mine.  My collection's now just over 80 titles and it's been a blast to play them.


Happy to get the Switch and see these great games given an extension to a larger audience, but I won't be rebuying Wii U ported titles for a couple years I think.  Bought two extra Wii U consoles w/tablets in trying to piece together a collection over the years; going to mod one of those.  So many thanks for the guidance earlier in the thread!

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I sold my Switch and replaced it with a Wii U when I saw how cheap the same titles on the Switch had become on the Wii U. I had a Wii U early in its release, but I was drawn to buy a PS4 so I sold my Wii U. It’s a great system, probably the one that gets used the most in my house. Especially by my kids.

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The Wii U hardware is a perfectly fine platform for any gaming needs. Unfortunately its lack of success was simply a result of the industry supporting a mentality of more horsepower is better. All the 3rd party devs dropped it to build on PS4 or XBox, thereby killing it's acceptance before it even got a chance. That kind of stuff is why I'm pretty well done with consoles. I'd like to think something like the Amico could find a market as a true gaming device, but I'd be surprised if it's going to have the development support it needs. Games sell systems, and none of them are really getting much to write home about these days. The next great gaming system could be a toaster if somebody writes good games for it. 

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More power = better is part of it, but a larger part was the lack of clarification as to what it was. To many people saw it as a wii+, kind of like the pro versions of xbone or ps4, what is the point of upgrading? Didn't help that most games required that tablet controller, so Nintendo couldn't back out by releasing a cheaper system with a traditional controller.

 

I like mine ok, but honestly I play Wii far more for tv games (which continued to be sold throughout, and even after the Wii u's lifespan, adding to the confusion of what it was) or, I play switch for handheld, and there's no confusion that is an alternate system.

 

mine will likely get packed up soon, as most of what I use it for can be done on wii, or switch which is getting more sensible versions of the u's best offerings anyways.

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There are a lot of reasons the Wii U bombed compared to its competition. A big issue was Nintendo not properly communicating what it actually was and they even admitted this themselves. I still run into people today thinking it's simply a tablet add-on for the Wii, heh.

 

I don't do a lot of portable gaming so I ended up selling my Switch (my second one, even) about a month ago with the intent to focus on the Wii U and the 60+ games I already own for it. So many games I picked up during its life that I didn't give a ton of time, like Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2, Wonderful 101, the Zelda remasters, and much more. Lots to catch up on.

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 2 months later...

Got a used boxed complete Mario Maker Wii U with the intent to have something for family gaming and over about three weeks found all of the major titles I wanted for an average 15€.

Coming from Genesis, Jaguar, Atari 800 and kids playing Minecraft, the graphical differences to the Switch will be bearable and the average game prices would be at least triple.

I‘ll miss Luigi‘s Mansion 3 but plan to mod it to run the original from the GC.


Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

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  • 1 year later...

I haven't posted in this one in some time, but I feel like I'm about to go off on another Wii-U/wii/gc kick, and realized I never shared my setup.

 

See, the Wii-u never *quite* made my list of permanently hooked up consoles, and it's a mess with 2 hard drives, and a rat's nests of usb hub/devices that needed containment, so I thrifted up a briefcase and put it in there.  Now it sets up quickly and isn't nearly as messy.  I did kind of a crude job, but it works for my purposes.

 

The power supplies, USB mess and hard disks live in the basement under the main unit.  That section is constructed from a hacked-up cutting board and a piano hinge.  The other half is all for controllers, etc.  That's foam stacked in four layers with the bottom 3 glued, and the top layer magneted in.  I hide the cables in a cavity under the top layer.

 

gKh9aAOm.jpg U9KuOlzm.jpg

 

 

a peek into the horror lurking in the basement underneath the console:

Wf8aYPfm.jpg

Edited by Reaperman
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Good set up. I have the same black model, but mine is permanently hooked up. In fact I just recently migrated it from a 32" to a 43" TV and put the touch pad and charger bases on a table right next to my recliner, so I can use it for gaming AND as a remote control as intended. :D

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The Wii U always felt retro to me, even when it was current. I think it’s the best system Nintendo ever put out. The Switch seems more like a portable to me, and is sadly now up against the PS5 and Xbox Series consoles in some ways. The Wii U always felt like it was a console that fit nicely in its generation. It was different enough with the screen but still had that console feel. It also had those HD graphics that still look good today.

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I really enjoyed the Gamepad and the crazy experiences it enabled (and the not so crazy experiences like having a map at all times and managing inventory without having to pause). The Switch's lack of multi-screen support disappointed me when it was announced. The WiiU was basically a TV-based DS, and the DS was my favorite handheld ever. As with 3D, I understand why they dropped it, but I still don't like it.

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I really enjoyed the Gamepad and the crazy experiences it enabled (and the not so crazy experiences like having a map at all times and managing inventory without having to pause). The Switch's lack of multi-screen support disappointed me when it was announced. The WiiU was basically a TV-based DS, and the DS was my favorite handheld ever. As with 3D, I understand why they dropped it, but I still don't like it.

I sold my Wii U a while back as my kids are now older and aren’t so interested in those games. Also they played them to death as kids with unlimited time are want to do. I think I might repurchase a 3DS since thinking about your comparison to the Wii U. I’m one of those strange people that really liked the 3D. I liked link between worlds much more than links awakening on the switch, mainly due to the 3D. As I am an adult I don’t grow out of Nintendo love mainly due to time restrictions and my 8bit nostalgia goggles that don’t really care about HD. I’ve tried to care recently, but I purchased the Series S instead of the X because 1080p60 on my plasma still looks great to me. I think I’ll go check eBay for a 3DS. Thanks for the re-memories.

 

Ok I just got back from eBay, Wow they are selling for over $200 for the “New” 3DS XL. I guess I’ll look into a vita instead for the 2nd time around.

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Nintendo was selling beautiful refurbished ones for under retail just a few months ago. It looks like they're gone now. Yikes. I think they killed that hardware too soon, there's clearly still a lot of demand.

 

At current prices I think I’ll wait a few months and see if they come down. I also don’t want to spend that kind of money if Nintendo is going to release a new version of the switch early this year, which I’m thinking is very likely.

 

Although their are many great 3DS games

I never finished that would be great to give another try.

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1 hour ago, jgkspsx said:

Nintendo was selling beautiful refurbished ones for under retail just a few months ago. It looks like they're gone now. Yikes. I think they killed that hardware too soon, there's clearly still a lot of demand.

One should not underestimate the utility of the DS/3DS folding design that makes it a lot more tolerant of being taken everywhere, tossed into a schoolbag, etc. 

 

I got a family WiiU after the release of the Switch for two reasons. First I like the unique design which allows for asymmetric play (mostly Nintendoland and a bit of Mario Party so far which I like less - suggestions welcome!). Second the games are dirt cheap and the library is quite decent, especially if you add the Wii and older catalog. Mario Kart may have a bit less flash but that doesn‘t hurt gameplay. My biggest ‚missing game‘ is Luigis Mansion and the new Animal Crossing for my daughter (constantly on TV). I‘d be tempted to get a Switch for that...

 

To alleviate the lack of Luigi I also joined the 3DS party late. As the ‚old‘ 3D didn‘t work that well for me I got a ‚new‘ one as well but only use 3D occasionally. 
 

A new iteration with phone-like touchscreen would be quite a thing but it‘s probably hard to compete against free if rubbish phone apps with 30-40€/$ carts. 

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6 hours ago, adamchevy said:

Ok I just got back from eBay, Wow they are selling for over $200 for the “New” 3DS XL. I guess I’ll look into a vita instead for the 2nd time around.

With so many around and kids growing out of it I think this will be more of an "end of retail" spike. I'd look at Craigslist or comparable local listings first. Got both of mine that way, the "old" one came with a pack of Zelda games that I could probably sell for what I paid for the whole lot. 

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On 6/17/2019 at 10:22 AM, Reaperman said:

...I can't think of a reason to ever plug my wii in again.

A lot of emulators for the Wii support 240p mode on analogue TVs :)

Back when we had an HDTV that took component video, I used it to play GC games.

 

I'm not sure about Wii games over HDMI on the WiiU...I'm noticing a lot of stipple-alpha/dither transparencies that I don't remember noticing over component. It's a little bit better if you go into system settings and lower the video resolution, but it's still noticeable.

I would just play on the analogue TV, but Skyward Sword only supports widescreen, so I'm kind of torn...

 

On 6/17/2019 at 4:48 PM, spacecadet said:

The Wii U is a fun system but for me, most of the actual Wii U games that I have (which isn't many) are already available on Switch.

I have the opposite problem: almost all of the good games for the Switch, I already own on the WiiU :(

 

And like others have said, they're a lot cheaper on the WiiU. I just bought Pikmin 3 for less than $10 :)

 

On 8/1/2019 at 11:44 PM, power said:

...it's still the best console for Zelda imo with three mainline games on it two of which you won't play better anywhere except through emulation and then you miss out on gamepad functionality.

But BotW doesn't have any GamePad functionality? :???: (aside from gyro controls, I guess) ;)

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That's why he said that it has three mainline Zelda games available at retail, and then mentions how two of them won't play better anywhere else. :) 

 

He's referencing Twilight Princess HD and Wind Waker HD there for mainline Zelda games best experienced on the Wii U with the Wii U gamepad. Besides the obvious graphical overhaul, they both also saw a lot of polishing done to them along with full Wii U gamepad support such as for managing your inventory on the fly. 

 

Breath of the Wild on Wii U is an amazing achievement and apparently very competitive to the Switch version, but it clearly isn't the definitive version of the game. Only 720p versus 900p on Switch, a less reliable frame rate in villages and some busier areas like the stables scattered across Hyrule, and the complete stripping out of touch screen functionality late in development so as to not offer an advantage over the next-gen flagship version of the game.

Edited by Atariboy
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18 hours ago, Atariboy said:

He's referencing Twilight Princess HD and Wind Waker HD there for mainline Zelda games best experienced on the Wii U with the Wii U gamepad.

Yeah, I figured that's what he meant, hence my wink ;)

I just disagree...I loved Wind Waker HD, but I don't think the company(ies) that ported Twilight Princess really added anything to the experience, aside from the HD itself (bigger wallet to hold more worthless rupees, woohoo?).

It also had a lot of frustrating control issues that I don't remember having in the original GameCube game.

 

...and I miss the GameCube controller's beefy rumble, but that's just something that comes with the age of wireless gaming.

 

18 hours ago, Atariboy said:

Breath of the Wild on Wii U is an amazing achievement and apparently very competitive to the Switch version, but it clearly isn't the definitive version of the game. Only 720p versus 900p on Switch, a less reliable frame rate in villages and some busier areas like the stables scattered across Hyrule, and the complete stripping out of touch screen functionality late in development so as to not offer an advantage over the next-gen flagship version of the game.

I've heard that the WiiU and Switch versions both suffer frame rate issues in different areas of the game, but on the whole, WiiU has slightly better performance, and is the version preferred in competitive speedruns.

But that was one or two patches ago, so I'm not sure if that still applies or not.

 

Yeah, it would've been nice if they hadn't nerfed the touch-screen menu, but I get used to it. It's actually kind of annoying sometimes in the other two games, because using the menu doesn't pause the game. And I had to switch to the Pro Controller anyway, because days of nonstop playing on the Gamepad was starting to kill my left hand...and the battery lasts much, much longer :)

IIRC, I played most of TPHD with the Pro Controller, and annoyingly, the "quick switch to wolf" button is only on the touch screen :( Thanks.

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I missed the wink, sorry about that. :)

 

That said, it gave me the opportunity to sing the praises of the Wii U's crowning achievement, so I don't mind my mistake. Breath of the Wild is a game I'd of bought and played through on Wii U even if I had been a launch customer for the Switch, since the Wii U for whatever reason ended up one of my favorite consoles. There was no way I was going to let the Wii U fade into the sunset without experiencing BotW on it. I've not been disappointed and am actually in the progress of playing through it a second time on Wii U.

 

I believe there was a sort of equivalency with Breath of the Wild's frame rate performance early on (i.e., they'd both slow down, but in different areas and situations), but the last big patch seemed to pull it clearly ahead with little improvement on the Wii U but substantial performance gains on the Switch.

 

But I've largely only read about the Switch build, so I'm not speaking from first hand experience (I've logged about 15 minutes with it at a store kiosk).

Edited by Atariboy
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1 hour ago, youxia said:

So what are the best Wii U exclusives? I might get it one day, though atm they are a bit too dear, thanks to some strange Covid/Switch shortage effect.

Probably depends a bit on what you consider "exclusive".

 

Wikipedia has a list. Some games on the list might be debatable, as they were graphical upgrades from the Wii (like Wii Fit U) or were taken to the Switch with graphical improvements or got improved sequels like "Splatoon 2" but are not a fundamentally different experience.

 

Nintendoland should be exclusive and unique for certain. Plus any other game with "asymmetrical" play where one player is pitted against the others and uses the gamepad to see something different. Would appreciate recommendations for games like these, BTW.

 

Affordable Space Adventures should be exclusive and unique, too. On my list but have to try it yet, so hearsay only.

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