#Reggie the R Class Engine

[clancy14guy]

Reggie the R Class Engine (My TTTE AU)

Important express engine Reggie thinks he's Aussie's legend to beat off Serena, in fact, he is quite proud but rather grumpy/pompous like how Gordon is, and like Gordon, Reggie also prefers passengers over freight trucks, but the other engines (Especially Johnny and Sophie) keep telling him that he's a big showoff

[productivedramaqueen]

I'll Be A Better Man Today (2) - Reggie Mantle X Reader

Summary: part two to ‘better man’. reggie attempts to win his girl back, but it backfire spectacularly. Warnings: mentions of bullying, like one swear word. A/N: there will be a part three to this. the inspiration just flowed when i started writing, and it’s been a while since that happened so i’m going with it. hope you like it!

**

The week passed by painfully slow. Every day meant another attempt by Reggie as he tried his best to win you back. Tuesday morning saw him waiting outside your house in his Jeep, waiting for you. The car hummed quietly, the radio playing a selection of your favourite songs. You spotted him the moment you stepped out the front door. You froze, not expecting to have to face him just yet. He smiled cautiously out the window, and waved.

You turned on your heels and reentered the house. After a few uncertain seconds, he saw you leave - with a set of keys hanging from one hand. Without sparing him a second glance, you unlocked your fathers sleek silver Ford and got into the drivers seat, tossing your backpack into the passenger side, and starting up the engine. Reggie’s car blocked your exit; you met his gaze, expectantly. His face fell, and he pulled away from the kerb. You turned out the opposite way; it would take longer to get to school this way, but you took that route anyway. Reggie was in the parking lot, Moose by his side, and he waved again as you parked, on the other side of the lot. You walked towards the building, not looking back once.

But Reggie wasn’t ready to give up just yet. He waited outside your math class, and walked alongside you toward your english, and then sat down next to you at lunch. Jughead, Archie, Betty and Veronica looked a little surprised, exchanging glances, what should we do?

They didn’t have to do anything. You simply got up and left, disappearing into the large crowd of students in a matter of seconds. Reggie groaned and lay his head on the table. He glanced up at Jughead, and Archie immediately tensed. Jughead shot him a sideways look, but Reggie just left.

** You weren’t sure if you were more annoyed or secretly happy that Reggie was, once again, waiting for you Wednesday morning. You followed the same routine as the previous day; ignoring him, getting in the car, ignoring him, driving to school, parking, ignoring him, and going to class. However, Reggie knew it was time to start stepping up his game.

He waited by your locker at eleven am with a cup full of your favourite coffee. You slammed the door; 'I just had one.’ Reggie’s shoulders slumped, and he dumped the coffee in the first trashcan he came upon. That evening, he got your favourite Pop’s order and brought it to your house - after an extremely generous tip he convinced Pop to break the takeaway rule - and again, your dad had to open the door.

'Did he hurt you in any way?’ He asked you, later, as he devoured the meal meant for you. You shook your head, running your hands through your hair. 'No, not me,’ you muttered, looking down at the table.

'He seems like a sweet boy,’ your dad told you. He is, you think, just not to everyone.

**

Thursday morning, and Reggie waited for you again. You ignored him, again. Halfway through the day and the only gift you’d received was a handwritten note shoved through the open vent in your locker. It read 'you look beautiful today. love you, r x’. Crumpling it in your fist, you’d nearly thrown it away, but changed your mind at the last second, instead tucking it into your personal journal. You were wary; was he giving up?

No, of course not. Cheryl and Moose ambushed you on your way to science, and dragged you off to the gym. You protested, the whole way there, but Cheryl shut you up with a snippy retort about how much she knew you hated the class. The gym was empty, save for the entire squad of River Vixens, clad in their cheer uniforms, and Reggie, who was earnestly talking to Betty and Veronica. Both looked unsure, and my stomach clenched uncomfortably.

'Reggie! The guest of honour is here!’ Cheryl called, cheerful. The tall boy turned, a face splitting grin brightening his face the moment his eyes fell on you. For a moment, you almost smiled back - you forced it back, turning to the redhead on your left. 'Cheryl, what is this?’

'Sit, sit!’ She insisted, pushing you toward the bleachers and giving you a shove so you hit the bench, hard. 'Ouch!’ She rolled her eyes, and stalked back towards her squad. You climbed a few benches further up, Moose settling next to you. 'Do you know what this is?’ You asked, nerves writhing like snakes in your belly. He simply smirked.

'Okay, ladies! Lets go!’

Music filled the airy room, a high-tempo, upbeat rhythm, and the cheerleaders began to dance. You stared, not sure about what was going on. You could feel Reggie’s dark brown eyes on you, never once moving anywhere else. You kept your own eyes on the girls. The music quietened down, and they began to chant.

All the blood in your face drained away, embarrassment overwhelming you. The urge to cringe was almost painful; when you risked a glance in Reggie’s direction, he was blushing, a bashful smile on his lips.

'1, 2, 3, 4, who does Reginald adore?

5, 6, 7, 8, (Y/N), don’t say it’s too late!'

The squad finished their routine, bowing, Cheryl clearly pleased by their - or her own - performance, if the smug smile and flip of her long red hair was anything to go by. The music stopped. Silence stretched out endlessly; you could have heard a pin drop. Betty and Veronica were watching you - well, they all were, Reggie looked nervous but hopeful, Cheryl and the squad expectant. But Betty and Veronica were watching you with concern in their eyes. After a long moment, you stood up, shakily. 'That was really, really great, girls. Well done,’ your voice was strangled, and the hopeful look dropped off Reggie’s face. You headed straight for the exit. Footsteps followed - three sets, one you recognised as Reggie’s, the other two lighter, Betty and Veronica.

'Just - give me a minute with her, please!’ Reggie pleaded with the girls - you heard them sigh, giving in.

You rounded a corner, into the empty hallway. Reggie caught up with you, skidding to a halt in front and grabbing you by the shoulders. 'Wait, (Y/N), just talk to me-’

He was slightly out of breath, his hair falling over his forehead endearingly - you snapped. ’Talk to you? What do you want me to say? What the - what the fuck was that?’ Reggie cringed at the curse as it slipped from your mouth - you only ever swore when you were pissed beyond belief.

'I’m trying to prove to you how much I love you!’

You rolled your eyes; 'That’s not-! Ugh!’ Frustration hit you like never before, how could he still be so blind?

'Tell me what I can do, and I’ll do it, baby, please,’ he begged, trying to drag you closer to him, but you resisted, standing your ground.

'I told you! I asked you, a million times, to stop being such an ass to Jughead and everyone else you think is 'lower’ than you!’ You yelled, really losing your temper now. Not caring if someone heard, you kept going. 'You said you would but you never did! Is it really so hard to treat people as human beings, Reg? That’s all I wanted! I can’t date a bully!’

The words were like a slap to the face for the football player, the last one in particular. But he knew he couldn’t deny it; he was a jerk toward certain people, at this point, it was just a habit. He knew you and Jughead were friends, and, okay, maybe he was a little jealous of your friendship so maybe he had pushed the school loner a little harder than usual.

As what you said really hit you, you looked away and suddenly found more tears burning behind your eyes. You were sick of crying, sick of pining after Reggie. He wanted to know how to get you back? Well, now he knew. The ball was in his court. 'Get your shit together, and then we can talk,’ you said finally, firmly. You walked away. Reggie let you, still feeling guilty as he thought back on all the times he knocked Jughead into a locker, called him something nasty, even punched the smaller boy. He stood, alone in the hallway, until the next bell sounded out, and students poured from the mouths of classroom like prisoners from a cell. He didn’t even realise until the sea of bodies began shoving past him, and then he snapped back to reality. Turning, he slammed straight into the one and only Jughead Jones.

Automatically, he opened his mouth to snap at him - then, he thought of you, and closed it again.

'Sorry, man, that was my bad,’ he said, quietly, seeing the look of absolute shock on Jug’s face. His eyes widened, and he asked if Reggie was feeling okay. The taller boy laughed. 'Honestly? No.’ He shook his head and looked down. Discomfited at the sadness in Reggie’s face, he struggled to think of something to say - not for his sake, though. For yours, for his best friend.

'Look, man, if this is about (Y/N)…’ something like pain flashed in deep brown eyes and Jughead wished he’d bitten his tongue off instead of speaking. He shook his head, mumbling an apology. Reggie called him back, voice brighter all of a sudden. 'I think I know how to fix things.’

Reggie was planning something big, Jughead could tell. He’d known him a long, long time, and the calculating look that had replaced the sadness on his face made him nervous.

'Oh, no,’ Jughead said emphatically, 'why do I have a feeling this fixer-upper involves me?’

Reggie smiled. Yeah, he knew what he had to do.

[spxce-elf]

The Emo Masterpost

Y’know, the real stuff.

Hi there! This is an on-going list of currently active and inactive bands, alphabetically ordered for your convenience. Feel free to let me know of any bands I may have missed so I can add them, or if a band is no longer active, or if a band has reunited!

A

Acceptance

Adventures

a great big pile of leaves

Algernon Cadwallader

Aloha

Amber Inn

American Football

Anberlin

Anchor & Braille

Angel Hair

Annabel

The Anniversary

Antioch Arrow

The Appleseed Cast

Armor For Sleep

Arrows In Her

Assfactor 4

As Tall As Lions

At The Drive In

A Will A Way

B

Back of Dave

Balance And Composure

Basement

Bayside

Beautiful Mistake

Beefeater

Before Braille

Benton Falls

The Blacktop Cadence

Blis

Boilermaker

Boys Life

Boysetsfire

Braid

Brand New

Brandtson

Brave Bird

Breaking Pangea

Breakwater

Bright Eyes

Broken Hearts Are Blue

C

Calculator

Camber

Camping in Alaska

Canyon

Cap’n Jazz

Carb On Carb

The Casket Lottery 

Caspian

Castor

Certain People I Know

Chamberlain

Charmer

Chinese Football

Christie Front Drive

Circle Takes The Square

City of Caterpillar

Citizen

Clair de Lune

Clikatat Ikatowi

Coheed And Cambria

Colossal

Compound Red

Criteria

Cross My Heart

The Crownhate Ruin

Crying

cstvt

Current

Cursive

D

Dads

Daisyhead

Daitro

Dashboard Confessional

Daylight

Dead Red Sea

Dear in the Headlights

Death Cab For Cutie

Departures

Dikembe

Down To Earth Approach

Dowsing

Drive Like Jehu

Dryjacket

E

The Early November

Elliott

Embassy

Embrace

Emo Side Project

Empire! Empire!

Endpoint

Engine Down

Eniac

Envy

Errortype: 11

Ethel Meserve

Evergreen

Eversor

Everyone Everywhere

Ex-Ignota

F

Fairweather

Falling Forward

Far

The Farewell Bend

Few and Far Between

Fire In The Radio

Fireside

Football, Etc.

The Format

Foxing

Four Hundred Years

Frail

Free Throw

Friction

The Front Bottoms

Funeral Diner

Funeral For a Friend

Further Seems Forever

G

Gameface

Garden Variety

The Get Up Kids

Giant’s Chair

Glocca Morra

The Gloria Record

Gnarwolves

Golden City

The Good Life

Grade

Graduating Life

Gratitude

Gray Matter

Grown Ups

H

Halifax Code

Harbours

Harriet The Spy

The Hated

Have Mercy

Heart Attack Man

Heroin

Hey Mercedes

Hightide Hotel

Hodera

Hometown Losers

Hoover

Hop Along

Hot Cross

Hotel Books

The Hotelier

Hot Rod Circuit

Hundred Hands

Hundred Reasons

Hurry

I

I Am the Avalanche

I Can Make A Mess Like Nobody’s Business

I Hate Myself

I Wrote Haikus About Cannibalism in Your Yearbook

Imbroco

Indian Summer

Into It. Over It.

J

Jawbreaker 

The Jazz June

The Jealous Sound

Jeff Rosenstock

Jejune

Jeromes Dream - NEW LP!

Jets To Brazil

Jimmy Eat World

Joan of Arc

Joie De Vivre

Jonah Matranga

Joshua Fit for Battle

Joyce Manor

Julia

The Juliana Theory 

Julien Baker

K

Karate

Kayak Jones

Kerosene 454

Kevin Devine

Kind of Like Spitting

Knapsack

Koufax

L

La Quiete

Last Days of April

Lazycain

Lemuria

Lewis

Lifetime

Like Roses

Lincoln

Little Big League

logh

Lullaby for the Working Class

Lydia

M

Macseal

Mae

Marietta

Maritime

Matchbook Romance

Maximillian Colby

McCafferty

Merchant Ships

mewithoutYou

Microwave

Midwest Pen Pals

Mineral

Miracle Of 86

Mock Orange

Modern Baseball

Mohinder

Mom Jeans

Moneen

Moose Blood

Moss Icon

Motion City Soundtrack

The Movielife

N

Nai Harvest

Name Taken

Nation Of Ulysses

Native Nod

Navio Forge

The New Amsterdams

New End Original

Nightmare of You

No Knife

No Motiv

noneleftstanding

Northstar

O

Off Minor

Old Gray

One Last Wish

Onelinedrawing

The One Up Downstairs

On The Might of Princes

Orchid

Ordination of Aaron

Oso Oso

Owel

Owen

Owls

P

Palatka

Page 99

Paris, Texas

Pedro The Lion

Penfold

Pet Symmetry

pianos become the teeth

Piebald

Planes Mistaken for Stars

Plunger

Pohgoh

Policy of 3

Pop Unknown

Portraits of Past

The Postal Service

Prawn

The Promise Ring

PUP

Q

Quicksand

R

Race Car Riot

Raein

Rain

Rainer Maria

Ratboys

The Receiving End Of Sirens

Red Animal War

Reggie and the Full Effect

Remo Drive

Restorations

Reubens Accomplice

Rites of Spring

Rival Schools

Roadside Monument

The Rocking Horse Winner

Rocky Votolato

S

The Saddest Landscape

Saetia

Samiam

Samuel

Sarge

Saves The Day

Say Anything

seahaven

Sense Field

Settlefish

Seven Storey Mountain

Shotmaker

Silverstein

Sinai Vessel

Sinker

Six Going on Seven

Sleepytime Trio

Slow Coming Day

Snowing

Somos

Sorority Noise

Souvenirs

Sparta

Speedwell

The Spill Canvas

Split Lip

SPORT

Spy Versus Spy

Starmarket

The Starting Line

Stay Inside

Still Life

Straylight Run

Strikeforce Diablo

Sunday’s Best

Sunny Day Real Estate

Superheaven

Sweep The Leg Johnny

Swing Kids

T

Taking Back Sunday

Texas Is the Reason

Their / They’re / There

There For Tomorrow

This Town Needs Guns

Thrice

Thursday

Tigers Jaw

Time Spent Driving

Tiny Moving Parts

Title Fight

Toy Cars

Twelve Hour Turn

Two Knights

Twothirtyeight

V

The Van Pelt

The Velvet Teen

Vermont

Very Secretary

Vitreous Humor

W

Waterdown

Whereling

The White Octave

the world is a beautiful place

worlds greatest dad

Y

The Yacht Club

Yaphet Kotto

You and I

You Blew It!

You Me At Six

Z

Zookeeper

Source

What the heck is emo?

Keep up with current emo news:

Washed Up Emo

@washedupemo

See also:

2018 Releases

2019 Releases

Last update: 10/18/19

[workingclassaudio]

WCA #133 with Alan Evans

Working Class Audio Session #133 with Alan Evans!!!

Alan Evans is a multi-instrumentalist, singer, songwriter, studio engineer, record producer, whose “retro” style incorporates elements of rock, blues, soul, R&B, funk,jazz,reggae and the psychedelic. In addition to singing lead and backing vocals, Evans often plays all the guitar, bass, drums, keyboards, and percussion himself on his solo recordings. Alan Joins Matt for a discussion about his musical side, family, living in a small town and keeping things relaxed and musically focused in the studio. 

Alan's full bio follows as well as the show notes.  Early life Alan Evans was born on March 23rd 1974 in Buffalo, NY.  By the time he was 9 months old, Alan was banging on drums in the Evans home.  There were strong musical influences in Alan’s life from the very beginning. To say that the Evans family is musical is to say that the Kennedy family has a proclivity for politics. The record player spun in the Evans household the way the TV blared in many other homes. Alan’s father, Willie, and his older brother, Rod, played DJ and the assembly of vinyl they accrued was broad and vast. Miles Davis, Jimmy Smith, Ray Charles, Beethoven, Richard Wagner, Joe Cocker, Kool & the Gang, Jimmy Hendrix, the Headhunters – these were just some of the sounds emanating out of the Evans living room.

Alan’s musical journey is inextricably intertwined with his brother, Neal. A few years younger, Neal became a prodigious pianist, vibes player, and eventually gravitated towards the Hammond B-3 organ. At the age of 12, Alan started gigging out around Buffalo. Career 1990 - 1996: Moon Boot Lover (The Groove) During his sophomore year of high school, Alan formed The Groove with longtime friend Joshua Levitt and Peter Prince.  Neal Evans would join a year later on keyboards.  Levitt left the band after high school graduation but the Evans brothers and Prince continued gigging around Western New York.  In 1992, Alan Evans graduated from City Honors School and Prince from Buffalo State College.  The two decided to move to New York City looking for bigger and better opportunities.  Soon after arriving in New York City, Evans and Prince renamed the band Moon Boot Lover.  With their loud, funky and charismatic sound It didn’t take Moon Boot Lover long to become a household name in the early 90’s New York City music scene.  In 1993, the band moved north to Woodstock, NY and began touring the country non stop gaining fans along the way.  Neal Evans rejoined the band in 1994 and became a psychedelic organ trio in 1995 with the departure of bassist Jon Hawes.  Alan Evans recorded four albums with Moon Boot Lover before he and his brother left the band in 1996.

1994 - 1998: The Elements While on touring breaks from Moon Boot Lover, Alan Evans along with his brother Neal and lifelong friend Edreys Wajed recorded and performed as the Elements.  A live soul, hip hop group.  The Elements recorded 4 albums, the last of which featured Moon Boot Lover alumni Joshua Levitt as well as Screaming Headless Torsos members David “Fuze” Fiuczynski and Dean Bowman.   1998: Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe (Greyboy Allstars) After taking a year and half break from touring, Evans was contacted by a friend about an opportunity to audition for Lenny Kravitz saxophonist Karl Denson’s band the Greyboy Allstars.  After a brief meeting at New York City’s Wetlands Preserve, Alan found himself on a flight to Austin, TX for a weekend of shows/auditions with Denson.  For the next several months, Evans toured the US with the Allstars as well as, Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe.  He recorded an EP with the band before leaving at the end of 1998, to reunite with his brother Neal, and ultimately form what is now known as, Soulive.

1999 - Present: Soulive On March 2, 1999, Alan and Neal invited guitarist Eric Krasno to record some tracks with them in their home studio. That jam session became their first EP, Get Down! and the band shortly thereafter hit the road to begin touring. During their first Summer together they recorded their first LP, Turn It Out. The album featured various guest musicians, including John Scofield, Oteil Burbridge, and Sam Kininger. The independently produced album went on to sell 65,000 copies, enabling Soulive to gain recognition in the jazz/funk scene. This recognition resulted in a record deal with Blue Note Records, in 2002. Soulive’s first Blue Note album, Doin’ Something,  featured horn arrangements by Fred Wesley, the trombonist from James Brown’s band. Their second Blue Note record, Next, featured guest vocalists Dave Matthews and Amel Larrieux, and rappers Talib Kweli and Black Thought..

In 2003, Soulive released a self-titled live album, Soulive (Live), and a collection of remixes, Turn It Out Remixed, which featured guests Jurassic 5, DJ Spinna, DJ Krush, J-Live,Wordsworth, and the Beatnuts.

After two years with Blue Note, Soulive changed gears and decided to enter into a new contract with the jazz label Concord Records.

On September 13, 2005, Soulive released its first album with Concord Records, Break Out. On this release the band eschewed extended jams for beat-driven instrumentals and collaborations with Chaka Khan (featured on “Back Again”), Ivan Neville (featured on “Got Soul” and “Take It Easy”), Corey Glover (featured on “Freedom”), Robert Randolph(featured on the Jimi Hendrix cover “Crosstown Traffic” and also on “Interlude II”), and Reggie Watts (featured on “She’s Hooked” and “What Can You Do?”). Late in 2006 the group recorded No Place Like Soul with producer Stewart Lerman at his studio inGreenwich Village, The Shinebox.

As the record industry began to once again change, with it changed the band’s approach, and on April 4th, 2009 Soulive released Up Here, their first album on their own record label, Royal Family Records.   The album marked somewhat of a return to form for the group, as many of the songs are solely instrumentals. For this album, they were joined once again by Ryan Zoidis on Tenor Sax, Sam Kininger on Alto Sax - known also as “The Shady Horns”.

Since the forming of Royal Family Records, Soulive has continued to tour and release albums.  Their newest album produced by Pretty Lights will be released in 2018. 2012 - 2014: Alan Evans Trio Alan Evans recorded three albums with the Alan Evans Trio (AE3) with Danny Mayer (guitar), Beau Sasser (keyboards).  They extensively toured the United States and made one trip to the UK. 2015 - Present: Karl Denson’s Tiny Universe After becoming the newest member of legendary rock band The Rolling Stones, Karl Denson contacted Alan about rejoining his Tiny Universe.  Alan began playing with Denson at the end of March 2015 and started recording a new album in May of 2015. 1990 - Present: Iron Wax Studio Alan is also a highly sought after (recording/mixing) engineer and record producer mostly working out of Iron Wax, an analog / digital hybrid studio in Millers Falls, MA. In addition to his own recording and touring, he has had the opportunity to travel and collaborate with bands and artists worldwide.  His laid back style and vintage approach, makes it easy for him to bring his production aesthetic to a project while maintaining the artist’s character and vision. Workshops 2017 The Art Of Drum Recording - Evergroove Studio, Evergreen, CO 2015 The Art Of Recording Live In The Studio - Evergroove Studio, Evergreen, CO 2012 The Art Of Creative Recording sponsored by Berklee College Of Music at The Royal Family Affair - Stratton, Vermont 2012 The Art Of Creative Recording - Snowlive - Boulder, CO 2010 Hilly Chase series guest speaker at the Eaglebrook School

Show Notes:

Link to Evernote I mentioned in the monologue. https://evernote.com/

Link to Alan's studio: http://www.ironwax.com/

Check out this episode of Working Class Audio

[viralhottopics]

RIP Wii U: Nintendo’s glorious, quirky failure

Nintendo has ceased production of Wii U less than five years after its launch. What went wrong, and what will be its legacy?

In late January it was announced that Nintendo had ceased production of the Wii U console. The follow-up machine to the hugely successful Wii had sold fewer than 15m units worldwide since its launch in 2012. PlayStation 4 sold more in a year. Wii sold more than 100m in its lifetime.

What happened? How did Nintendo, one of the oldest and most respected companies in the video game industry, get it so wrong? And did anything good come out of the Wii U era? How will the machine be remembered, if at all?

Certainly, some believe the console was cursed from the start right from the first announcement at the 2011 E3 video game conference in Los Angeles. Before that, Nintendo had made vague references to Project Cafe, a new piece of hardware deep in development at the companys famed R&D labs, but the nature of the device was unclear. The E3 presentation was supposed to be the big reveal.

Then, there it was at the Nintendo press conference, in front of the whole games industry. Wii U. Reggie-Fils-Aim, head of Nintendo America, gave an obtuse introduction and showed the unique GamePad controller, with its built-in display. After this, came a showreel of gaming moments, then nothing. The crowd whooped, but when the lights went down, a few expressed confusion: was the Wii U GamePad an extension to the original Wii? Was it an entirely new console? That evening, in an interview with the Evening Standard, the late Nintendo president Satoru Iwata stated: Because we put so much emphasis on the controller, there appeared to be some misunderstanding.

The PS4 and Xbox One, high-powered machines arrived and changed the gaming landscape. Composite: Xbox One S v PS 4 Pro v PS4 Slim v Project Scorpio

A masterpiece of understatement. In some ways, that misunderstanding never went away. Even when it became clear that Wii U was a whole new console, with a unique motion-sensitive screen pad, consumers were nonplussed. There had been rumours that, with its custom AMD 7 series graphics chipset and IBM multicore central processor, the machine would be more powerful than the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 especially as it was arriving years after those machines debuted. But before the launch, developers were already whispering to news sources that this was not the case driving the second-screen would eat up the graphics processing power and the CPU wasnt that special. It was all academic anyway: barely a year later, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One arrived to completely change the technological landscape.

But Nintendo wasnt competing with PlayStation and Xbox, and never really had. Instead, it needed to convert the tens of millions of Wii owners whod rarely bought consoles before; whod been seduced by the Wii Remote controller and the immediate, social experience it promised. Those people were now quietly migrating to other platforms: smartphones, tablets, set-top boxes … Thats who the Wii U was aimed at.

In the months following E3, it was at least picking up interest from the development community. I had done work on the N64, Gameboy, GameCube and Wii and I still maintain they were my favourite systems to work on, so when the WiiU was announced it had me excited, says Byron Atkinson-Jones of Xiotex Studios I wanted to see how far we could go in game design terms with the two screen setup. Were we going to get new game paradigms like we did with the Wii and its controllers?

However, even before the launch, the games media was complaining about a lack of compelling first-party content. The machine would arrive with only two major Nintendo titles, the mini-game collection Nintendo Land, and New Super Mario Bros U, a decent side-scrolling platformer, but by no means a major Mario title with with little involvement from Miyamoto. There were intriguing moments: Nintendo Land has the clever asymmetrical multiplayer action of Luigis Ghost Mansion and the boisterous arena-battler Animal Crossing: Sweet Day. But there was also nothing as immediately compelling as Wii Sports or Wii Play nothing that completely crystallised the idea of the GamePad.

Veteran developer Rhodri Broadbent once worked for Q-Games in Japan, and met Shigeru Miyamoto while making Star Fox Command. He felt there should still have been a role for the Wii Remote in the new era. The fact that Wii U did not come bundled with a Wii Remote was really disappointing to me, he says. I felt that the identity of the Wii Remote was worth continuing, and that combining the jump to HD visuals with the jump to HD motion control of the Wii Remote Plus would have been a smart play. In terms of marketing, the Wii Remote was iconic from the get-go, whereas the GamePad sadly didnt really get to find its identity in either software, nor marketing. There were some truly excellent, best-in-class games released for Wii U, but very few of them gave life or character to the GamePad.

The GamePad, as a unique selling point, was also a unique curse, an albatross around the neck of the whole project. Designers struggled over its multifaceted nature: should they support it as a standalone screen, a second-screen for the TV, or as a device to allow asymmetrical multiplayer experiences (the player with the GamePad is able to have a different experiences to others using Wii Remotes). It was a tough business proposition too. Games publishers like to be able to transition their projects freely between different machines most modern game engines are platform agnostic making this process easier. But Wii Us controller demanded a different approach, so including the console on multiplatform projects was complicated and expensive even if they were just going to use the GamePad as a mini-map, which many did.

Of the third-party games available at launch, most were quick conversions of familiar PlayStation and Xbox titles: Call of Duty, Batman, Fifa… few of these exploited the GamePad feature-set in truly innovative ways. The best was perhaps ZombiU, a fascinating survival horror title with a neat permadeath mechanic, set in a post-apocalyptic London that made inspired use of the GamePad as both an environment scanner and a cellphone. With its tense, gory action, it also brilliantly subverted expectations of a Nintendo launch title. But it wasnt enough.

The problem is, mainstream game development is all about confidence. Console manufacturers have to be certain that third-party publishers will support the device; third-party publishers have to be sure that consumers will buy it, and draw confidence from first-party titles; and consumers wont commit until they know there will be great titles from both first- and third-party studios. Its a vicious circle of reliance, and it often all depends on that launch week. Nintendo just didnt come up with the goods to inspire consumers, and because of this, the likes of Activision, Electronic Arts and Ubisoft were all backing off right from the outset.

Meanwhile, Nintendo was trying to make things easier for independent developers, noticing the huge influx of excellent indie titles on the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3. After the success of the 3DS eShop in attracting experimental games, the company set out to improve its digital store for the home console experience. However, its legacy was not good. On the Wii, support for smaller studios was patchy: the submissions process was, according to some studios, extremely lengthy, and there were sales thresholds that made it risky to commit to offbeat projects. Even after these problems had been addressed, Wii U had no support for the important multi-platform games engine Unity until much later in the consoles lifespan, strangling its potential with the indie community.

[The Wii U dev kit] was clunky and far more difficult to setup than its predecessors, says Atkinson-Jones. I remember opening the box it came in and there was a warning saying it was very easy to brick the machine so getting it setup was a terrifying prospect. Id love to say I got further than this but the reality is that even though Nintendo had signed So Hungry to appear on WiiU, Unity would not actually be ready for another year its because of this my other game Blast Em! came about and thankfully that game has kept my studio running. Once you got past all the problems of setup and getting a working build of Unity, it was just that much harder than doing any kind of cross platform work – the big difference being the two displays of course.

Nintendos Wii and revolutionary remote. Photograph: Andrew Parsons/PA

So the Wii U had a lot to contend with: a poorly conceived debut, a unique selling point that was difficult to describe, and a hesitant development community unwilling to commit resources to a quirky machine. But it did provide moments of genuine brilliance. The defining first-party titles Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Super Smash Bros, Splatoon and Pikmin 3 may not have been top tier Nintendo originals (theres no Miyamoto Mario, no new Zelda), but they were excellent games, filled with interesting ideas and classic moments of design genius.

Pikmin 3 is one of the greatest games I have ever played on any system, says Broadbent. Its mission mode is so tightly balanced, with so many tricks and techniques to optimise battles, find new routes and shave seconds off your time that I can and often did replay the same mission for entire days without noticing that the my weekend had disappeared. Im a big fan of the oft-overlooked, but to my mind never bettered, New Super Mario Bros U, especially the challenge modes. And keeping with Mario, Super Mario Makers musical, whimsical user interface is a masterclass in hiding complexity and infusing character into menus the way the sound effects harmonise with the background music as you place objects on the screen is endlessly charming to me.

There were beautiful third-party games too, sparsely spread out though the machines lifespan perhaps, but certainly there. Cult Japanese studio PlatinumGames, best known for its demanding brawlers, was an unexpected hero producing two masterpieces for the machine: the extravagant Bayonetta 2, and the kookie super hero puzzler, Wonderful 101. Warner Bros brought us the excellent Armored edition of Batman Arkham City, but also the ludicrously overlooked Lego City Undercover, a hilarious Grand Theft Auto pastiche, which is now rightfully being remade for current consoles.

More importantly however, there were indie developers who truly embraced the idiosyncracies of the system and its development environment. We enjoy letting the quirks of specific hardware inspire new ideas and features here, so from a design point of view, Wii U was a lot of fun, says Broadbent. Gyros, a camera, a touch screen there was a lot there to use. For Scram Kitty, I had the idea of making the titular cat appear as a sort of sports commentator on the TV while the player focused on the GamePad action, and although in the end that element didnt turn out to be an essential feature of the game, it was a great source of personality for the game, and one which kept throwing up new ideas throughout development.

Highlights included DrinkBox Studios crazed platformer Guacamelee!: Super Turbo Championship Edition, the lovely retro platformer Shantae and the Pirates Curse, and the intriguing puzzler Art of Balance. Most were multiplatform, but lots used the Wii U capabilities in interesting ways. A key example was the engrossing Affordable Space Adventures from Danish developer KnapNok Games. In this interstellar puzzle game, the GamePad was used to monitor and interact with your crafts primary systems, including engines, anti-gravity controls and scanner, providing a great Star Trek bridge experience.

There were also thoughtful conversions of iOS titles, including Dakko Dakkos translation of the spooky narrative adventure Year Walk. We took a much more all-in approach to the machines feature set, combining the gyros, touch screen, separate displays, and even subtly altering the audio between the gamepad and the TV, to create very satisfying controls and puzzles, says Broadbent. The end result feels uniquely suited to Wii U.

Its also worth remembering Nintendos unique attempts to create friendly online communities around the Wii U. The Miiverse is a family-friendly social network in which players can chat about what theyre playing, draw and share pictures, and seek gaming advice, all within a safe, charming environment populated with customised Mii characters. It was a much more warm, human approach to networked play than Xbox Live or PlayStation Network and, as Jennifer Schneidereit, co-creator of luscious historical adventure Tengami discovered, it allowed unique relationships between developers and players:

It was possible to post to Tengamis Miiverse from within the game, to show level progress or ask other players for help, she says. As a developer I was able to interact with people in Tengamis Miiverse and help with puzzles, answer their questions and listen to their feedback. Because Miiverse posts are not only textual, players can also hand draw and incorporate stamps, it was a real delight to watch players using our stamps to create artwork of their own.

Wii U had a difficult start, with a difficult idea in a difficult era. The E3 presentation blurred what the machine actually was, and the GamePad was never an easy proposition to market unlike the Wii Remote that people could see was fun, just from the adverts. Meanwhile, with Xbox and PlayStation continuing their graphics arms race, and competition coming in from smartphones and tablets, the gaming audience seemed to be stratifying into two groups: the sorts of players who bought consoles and high-end PCs, and the sorts whod quite as happily play Candy Crush Saga for free on their phones. The idea of a console as the central focus of a party or family event, which had peaked between 2005 and 2010 with both the Wii and the rise of music games like Guitar Hero, had drifted out of favour.

Nintendos Shigeru Miyamoto. Photograph: Evan Agostini/Invision/AP

Now here comes the Nintendo Switch, a regeneration of the Wii U concept where the GamePad effectively becomes the console, with its own built-in controllers. If anything, it is a more flagrant attempt to seduce casual players away from their phones, while tapping into the family living-room appeal of the original Wii. Broadbent sees Switch as a reconnection with that machine: Im very happy that the joy-cons have so many little tricks in them, and encouraged to see games like ARMS push forward higher-fidelity motion controls right out the gate. But Im mostly happy that Switchs identity as a home console thats not tied to your TV is being communicated so clearly.

Communication, it seems, is key. The Wii did its own communicating: you just watched people playing Tennis or Bowling and you knew it was fun. Nothing Nintendo has done with its hardware since then has been quite so alluring. But to write off Wii U as a creative failure would be a gross disservice. The GamePad actualised a lot of vague entertainment industry hype about the second screen, and lots of games truly illustrated the magic of the concept. And lets not forget that Wii U also saw Nintendos entry into the toys to life market with its Amiibo characters little figurines that could be placed on the screen to interact with games. They sold over 40m of those.

In years to come, people will pick up the console second-hand, with a few games Super Mario 3D World, Bayonetta 2, Mario Kart 8 and theyll realise what it was that Nintendo had in mind, theyll understand the appeal of the hardware. Much too late, of course.

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from RIP Wii U: Nintendo’s glorious, quirky failure