#found a bunch of retro shaders and had to use this one

[moonwoodmillz]

Frank's Food Mart. 1995.

[c7thetumbler]

WiiU Games Retrospective

Now that the WiiU is on the way out, I’m going to go through my entire collection and give my opinions and recommendations on each title as I remember it today, regardless of my playtime. This is both good because I’m not viewing it from hype/rage and bad because I have shit memory.

Should be interesting. Let’s get the

Going!

... We’ll go alphabetically. Also I won’t be including any non-exclusives that don’t do anything interesting with the gamepad. It’s not really worth the trouble

Also it’s pretty long, loads of pictures. I have bolded my final 1-2 sentence long opinion/recommendation after each game for TL;DR purposes, and have a summary on my whole opinion on the WiiU’s library at the end.

Bayonetta 1 + 2

(Note: NA did not actually get this cool box because NoA is butts)

So unfortunately I’m lending this out right now. This is a weird one to start out as; I personally don’t mind this kind of game at all, but it does some design choices that turned me off of them both. I never actually got to 2; basically my experience was getting about halfway through 1 before I got really tired of being told I suck at the game after every fight and level. The final straw on the back was failing a quick-time event in the cut-scene, which INSTANTLY kills you and therefore gives you the worst award at the end of the level, making it feel like I just lost all progress despite them putting a save point just before the cut-scene for what I’m assuming is that reason.

Basically the gameplay is fun, but not for me. Recommended that people give it a shot first before a full purchase, but honestly I can respect it being a fun game

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker

This is a fun little experiment; basically you play a game where the goal is to the star at the end of a very compact, clever puzzle level without jumping at all. It stems from Super Mario 3D World (we’ll come to that later) and honestly it’s a pretty fun title. There’s unfortunately not much here in the way of thrills, and it does get kind of repetitive, but it’s good for a few hours of light puzzling fun.

If that sounds good to you, I would recommend a purchase, but not for much more than $15-$20

Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

So Retro Studios and Nintendo were given a lot of flak for putting resources into making another 2D platformer DK game instead of like StarFox or Metroid. This flak was misplaced; yeah, DKCTF wasn’t going to (and clearly didn’t) ship consoles, but it is probably one of the best 2D platformer I’ve played in a long LONG time. Retro knows game-feel, they learned what DKC needs to feel right, the level design is top-fucking-notch, and there’s so much content there for what looks like an easy game to make. A lot of love went into this game, and it shows as you swing your way through.

I highly recommend this game to anyone who has a WiiU; It’s well worth it.

Game & Wario

This game was supposed to be a compilation of mini-games that effectively showed off all the little uses the Gamepad could be good for in designing new games. Instead it showed us a bunch of potentially good ideas that were ruined by a silly, unnecessary gimmick. Somewhat poetic really.... But yeah, the platformer mini-game was ruined by blind jumping between screens, the bullet hell was ruined by bad motion controls, the micro-game compilation was ruined by having to stare at the wrong screen, etc. etc. Its only redeeming factor was that some of the multiplayer mini-games were pretty fun, but not at all worth it.

Avoid this game, it will only bring frustration

Hyrule Warriors

So this game is available, and from what I’ve heard is even better, on 3DS. The problem is, it runs like crap on not n3DS’s and I don’t have any intention of getting one. But this game is too much fun to leave alone. I actually dumped at least 200 hours into this thing; It’s pure, mindless fighting with a variety of interesting characters and challenges and I love it. Yeah, it gets repetitive and obscenely hard and grindy at points, but honestly? I love playing it. There’s just something cathartic about taking your favorite Zelda character and saying “I’m going to annihilate all 200 of the clumped up bad guys right in front of me”. And then doing it, of course.

Recommended for people who are fans of mindless arcade combat with a lot of content to boot, but if you have a New 3DS, check out that version first.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse

This game’s gorgeous. I will give it that. It’s also pretty fun. But unfortunately I’ve played Canvas Curse, and this is basically Canvas Curse lite. Unless you are one of the people playing as players 1-5, you wont ever get to see how pretty the game is since player 1 (Kirby) should be staring at the gamepad AT ALL TIMES. It’s a fun gimmick game, but ultimately it’s not really found it’s place in my heart.

I don’t recommend this, but I don’t knock it too bad either. Good for a few hours with friends, but doesn’t stand up unless you’re really into it.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD

This is better than the Wii/GC version in almost every way. I remember having a few nitpicks with it at the start, and I would still argue that this game didn’t really need to happen, but it’s still a really solid title since it did. The controls are better, the game looks good, and while they didn’t really change my main issue with TP (it kinda teetered off at the end and a lot of the tools are used once in a dungeon and then twice outside of it, then completely ineffective otherwise), TP is still a pretty fun game. I’m going to rail on this less because they handled collectibles and new content better.

You like Zelda? You’ll like Twilight Princess HD. You know what you want.

The Legend of Zelda: WindWaker HD

So the story behind this is that it was made in 6th month to test out HD shaders for Breath of the Wild. That’s nice. In the meantime they also streamlined some of the more annoying parts of the original game (which I will say is one of if not my favorite Zelda game).

But the thing with this is... It’s a pretty poor HD remaster. There’s not really anything new here, and they took out a core feature, the tingle tuner, and replaced it with something pretty bleh. Additionally, WW was famously rushed and had at least two entire dungeons cut, if not even more, so to see that they didn’t at least add something more in to make it more appealing to those who had already played it was pretty cash-grabby in my eyes. In their defense they had to get this out quicker to help end the launch-game drought, and the dungeons that were supposed to be used in WW have since been reused (TP had one or two dungeons that felt Windwakery) so it would’ve felt cheapened I suppose. Regardless, Jabun still giving you the pearl, the Ice and Fire islands, and the triforce piece quest are still there, but improved. 

If you’ve played the original WW, you’ve played this but less pretty. If you haven’t this is the definitive version and I would recommend it.

Mario Kart 8

The best Mario Kart if you take off nostalgia goggles. It’s well balanced, there’s a lot of variety in vehicles, the new gravity mechanic is fun as fuck, and it’s just beautiful. The only complaint I have is character variety; everything else just makes it a really solid title, and the DLC is pretty fun too. The item system had a lot more thought put into it this time around, and they struck a good balance between skill and those crazy moments where you get Mario Kart’d on. You know what I mean

The essential Mario Kart, and therefore an essential WiiU title. Probably the best WiiU party game as well

Mario Party 10

This one’s pretty obviously fallen victim to a number of massive problems. For one the closest thing to a classic Mario party it has is the amiibo mode, which requires you purchase an additional thing in order to play all the content on the Disc, and is itself needlessly tedious as it requires you to scan you amiibo every time a player needs to move. Secondly the modes it does have, Normal and Bowser Party, suffer all the problems Mario Party 9 and even Wii Party game modes had: a heavy, HEAVY reliance on unpredictable and unalterable luck that makes it completely unfun. Sure, that’s always been a huge part of Mario Party, but there’s really no way to even tip it in your favor with most of the games. Additionally Bowser Party is fun in concept, but really it also boils down to luck. Unless you’re Bowser. In which case, just kill one guy and the rest should come easily. The team movement thing makes literally no sense.

Avoid. If you’ve ever played another Mario party, you’ve likely played a better one than this.

New Super Mario Bros. U

This game got more crap than it deserved, and only because Nintendo made the massive mistake of releasing NSMB2 on 3DS earlier that same year. While NSMBU falls into the same criticisms of being an uninspired Mario game with the same environments, the level design is all there, and it’s still a pretty fun game to play with friends. Hardcore players will also find a decent amount of challenge in it as well. The crap it gets for being a cheap cash-in is a bit undeserved though; love went into at least a few of these levels and you can tell.

Recommended for fans of 2D platformers. Not a must-have, but a fun title to keep in mind

New Super Luigi U

NSMBU’s little brother, NSLU is either DLC or a standalone purchase because it takes every level in NSMBU and re-does them to be short-and-quick challenges. The gimmick is you play with Luigi’s controls, and you only have 99 seconds to complete each level. And just like Mario’s Little Brother, NSLU is basically better in most ways; sure, it can get stressful, but at the end of the day if you’re looking for a unique spin on the modern NSMB, this is it.

Well, outside of Super Mario Maker, but we’ll get to that shortly.

Quality purchase for 2D platformer fans of all kinds, though it is a bit more challenging than most modern Mario Platformers. I believe it’s still cheaper as DLC.

NES REMIX PACK

I only ever played the first (there’s two) but honestly as a long-time Nintendo fan, this scratches that classic challenge itch. It’s basically a collection of NES games that have been split into multiple challenges, and then some of them are twisted to have mechanics from other games or slightly different tweaks to make them interesting. It’s a really fun and interesting idea, and I loved going back and playing old games I used to enjoy in small doses with fun little zest added to challenge myself. my only criticism is some of the games they picked; I’ve yet to meet someone who genuinely like NES Open Tournament (Golf) or Ice Climbers (Glitchy as fuck)

Recommended for those who like to challenge themselves, or nostalgia. Both or either; it can stand on its own.

Nintendoland

As the launch title that was to showcase the gimmick, this game stands out pretty well honestly. Some of the mini-games are bleh, but if you have a friend willing to play co-op Pikmin, Zelda, and Metroid missions there’s a lot of content and fun to be had. Most the pure single-player mini-games are pretty bland, but the pure multiplayer ones are good for some fun if friends come over. Really, this should be pre-installed on every WiiU given its purpose, but regardless it’s a good time.

I can recommend this title as an essential one to the WiiU experience, and it has a decent amount of both multiplayer and singleplayer content to revisit if you’re a completionist.

Wow, you made it halfway!

Lotta reading at once huh? Time to take a break.

Or continue, I’m not your dad. 

But by now you’ve probably noticed a trend. I’ll expand at the end of course, but this is a long post and I needed to put another “keep reading” button somewhere. I won’t blame you for stopping now either, but who doesn’t love nerds talking about video games they hardly remember on the internet?

... Wait you can only have one of those per post?

Shit.

Paper Mario Color Splash

I actually just got this and am playing through it.

It’s Sticker Star 2. Yup. That’s basically it. The visuals look great; they nailed what they were going for... But they did in Sticker Star as well. Honestly the only praise I can give it is the writing is a lot better, but I can’t overlook the mechanics actively encouraging you to avoid the main battle systems enough to recommend this.

You like Sticker Star? Sure get it. You never played Sticker Star? You don’t need to; avoid this.

EDIT: Upon starting this up to continue playing, I came to an incredibly badly designed minigame gauntlet that punishes you so severely for failure, yet has safeguards immediately after it so you can try again over and over, meaning they knew it was bad. I’m changing my “recommendation” to “DON’T FUCKING BOTHER”

Pikmin 3

Everyone who knows me knows my opinion on this. It’s the best controlling Pikmin game in the whole series, and anyone can start with this and get a good grip on what the series is about. For the longest time I would argue this made the best use of the Wiimote + Nunchuck + Gamepad combo, as controlling the map and captains through the pad while using the controller to move around the world felt right with it. My main complaints with the game is the lack of proper save files (it’s not a minor onel: these games are supposed to be highly re-playable) and the game was entirely linear. In the first two Pikmin games, you got access to all Pikmin types about halfway through, which allowed you to plan your days better. This one however you find a new Pikmin type per area you unlock until you get to the final boss area. Otherwise a great game.

I won’t pretend Pikmin’s for everyone, but I can’t recommend this game enough if you got even a little enjoyment out of it or are looking to try out a game in the series.

Pokkén Tournament

I spent an hour with this game. Granted; I’ve never been a fan of traditional fighting games like this, and I know this tried some new things with that formula.... but it just wasn’t for me. It’s not friendly to new players to the genre, or even the game itself, and the UI even user experience on the whole just felt unpolished. Sure, the game itself i pretty, but I don’t know what the fuck half the shit it’s presenting me with means, and the VA for your trainer sure sounds like she doesn’t know either.

I’ve heard good things from the fighting game community, but as a casual to that myself, I’d give this a pass.

Rayman Legends

I’m still pretty mad at the stunt Ubisoft pulled with this one; screwing over fans multiple times before release is just bad. However, the Murphey Mechanics (I think that was his name?) is best done on the WiiU, which is why I’m even putting it on this list. Other than that, it’s a really solid platformer and really creative as well. Rayman really shows what you can do to keep 2D platformers fresh and interesting

I highly recommend this title. WiiU version over the rest, but really you shouldn’t miss out period.

Rodea: The Sky Soldier

I played this on stream- Well, the Wii version at least. Not sure if you can even get that anymore. It’s an alright concept; spiritual successor to NiGHTS basically. Apparently the Wii version was closer to the director’s initial visions, but they had to release a WiiU version by the time it was actually complete. All-in-all, not a bad game, but it didn’t hit the right notes for me. Kinda clunky controls, but then again I didn’t sink too much time into it.

An interesting experiment; there might be something here for NiGHTS fans, but for me personally it didn’t strike the right notes.

Sonic & All Stars Racing Transformed

Not much to say about this other than it’s a really fun and satisfying racing game. It’s hard not to draw a comparison to Mario Kart, but once you get a grip with all the items and controls (doesn’t take long) it’s super fun and stands out much more than just “Mario Kart 7 clone”.

I can wholeheartedly recommend this, if not for WiiU than any other platform besides 3DS it’s available on.

Sonic Lost World

What happens when Sonic Team gets their hands on a working formula? They toss it out and start over for no reason. There’s like 2-3 levels in the whole game that make good and interesting use of their new engine and mechanics. The rest are poorly designed gimmicky exercises in frustration and repetition. Not worth the time, money, or effort.

You want to play a good Sonic platformer? You won’t find one on WiiU.

Splatoon

Nintendo’s first step into online competitive multiplayer shooters. And it’s glorious. Had SO much fun playing this game, and while it looks like it may die soon due to Spla-2-n (You better use that pun Nintendo) being right on the horizon on the Switch, this is a multiplayer experience that is ESSENTIAL to any WiiU collection. Single Player is pretty fun, albeit short. My only complaints were how amiibo were handled and some growing pains as Nintendo tried to work out balancing stuff.

I highly recommend Splatoon, but its multiplayer community has a high chance of dying out soon so you may have to gather some friends to play with since that’s where the bulk of the game is.

StarFox Guard

This is Miyamoto’s tower-defense prototype from E3.... 2014 I believe? I forget, but yeah. It’s weird; what I like about TD myself is being able to strategize the best towers and placements and watch my creation get to work while I do some minor cleanup and adjustments.

This isn’t that. Which isn’t bad, exactly, but it’s not really fair to call this much of a Tower defense, since you have to micro-manage every tower and do all the shooting yourself. It’s an interesting concept, but one that just doesn’t tickle my fancy.

If you can find a way to demo it first, do so before buying. It’s not for everyone, but that doesn’t make it not worth it.

StarFox Zero

And another controversial one. I’m just be blunt; the motion controls are bad and completely unnecessary, creating a boundary between people who are willing to tolerate them and those who just want to play the game, or an audience that Nintendo seems to forget exist, the ones who can’t use motion controls at all. Am I against them as a whole? No; Splatoon did them amazingly. In this game however they needlessly complicate something that just worked before into something that you needed to split your attention to use properly and constantly readjust as well.

I’ve been told I’m just flat-out wrong on this. Look; if you get a kick out of it, that’s great. All power to you. But after unlocking all the missions about 10-12 hours in and still arguing with the gamepad, I just can’t like this game. Controls are something you absolutely must get right, or else they stick with even the most devoted players throughout the entire game and make the experience a chore. In my eyes, they failed with SF0. I could talk about all the other flaws, but ultimately that’s what did it for me and I’m trying to keep these “short”

I can’t recommend this. If you’re really curious, borrow it from a friend, but it’s just not there.

Super Mario 3D World

Is this the 3D Mario Platformer I was hoping for? Eh, not really; I enjoyed the open worlds of SMS and SM64 more, and even the Galaxys’ world hubs and linear-ish levels felt better than just a translation of 2D Mario design into 3D. Does that mean it’s a bad game? Not in the slightest. It’s fun, challenging, and looks great. Music is really good as well, and multiplayer is good for kicks.Of course, it’s not ACTUALLY 3D as its predecessor SM3DL was named, but we’ll chalk that up to Nintendo poor recent naming habits.

Recommended to any Mario fan, 2D or 3D. Basically the WiiU Mario Game everyone should have if they own the console.

Super Mario Maker

This is the 2D Mario game to end all 2D Mario games. Basically every good Mario level ever made, and even more that would never have been made, can be created and therefore found in this. It’s really robust, there’s a ton of tools to use, loads of content, and it’s just all-around a good time. My only complaint is that they’re still back in 2006 when it comes to online functionality.

Basically everything you’d want in a level-creation game and a 2D Mario platformer rolled into one. Do not consider the 3DS version; it’s the WiiU version but without proper level sharing.

Super Smash Bros. for WiiU

Personally I think the multiplayer, which is why my people buy it, is probably the best in the series if only for its diversity and ease-of-use (I don’t have to study advanced glitches techniques to get good (until you get very high-level, that is (bidou)))... But I’m weird. I don’t necessarily buy Smash for the multiplayer; sure, I get my money’s worth out of it for that, but I loved all the challenges in every previous smash, and adventure modes as well.

Those are gone. Smash Party or whatever it is takes its place, and like every recent Mario Party, it’s not worth your time. Custom moves are fun, but an absolute grind to get because they’re all random drops, and coins can only be used to purchase trophies. amiibo were interesting but ultimately unnecessary tacked on price tags, and the stages selected all have some ridiculous gimmick that makes them unpredictable or unfun to play if you’re just looking for a pure skill match. Thanks, Sakurai.

I recommend this, but obviously only if you’re interested in the Multiplayer; there’s nothing much for you here otherwise, but I mean that’s why you would buy smash anyway so it’s fine.

The Wonderful 101

God, I despise this game. I’ve spent a good 10 hours trying to get into it over the course of the past few years, but I just can’t. Everyone who likes this game has told me you just have to get used to the controls, but honestly? It’s the camera. The things you need to tracks are tiny, and everything else is spread out. It’s very common to be attacked from a charging enemy you couldn’t see off-screen, or the camera isn’t looking at the place you want, and it comes back down to memorizing enemy attack patterns by getting wailed on for a good few failures, ultimately suffering from the same “You won but you suck” score system that turned me off of Bayonetta

I’ve heard if you like Platinum games a whole lot you’ll love this once you master the controls, but honestly I just can’t personally recommend this game.

Xenoblade Chronicles X

This is the spiritual successor to Xenoblade Chronicles, a game I would highly recommend on Wii (and n3DS if you have one). Does it live up to its predecessor? In story and gameplay.... nah. In sheer scale? It surpasses it greatly. There’s a metric shit-ton more to do in X, and the combat’s in the same vein as Xenoblade Chronicles. I’m like 50 hours in and I still feel like I can’t give a fair assessment though because I still haven’t gotten skells (the giant robots), which are heavily featured in all promotional material. It’s also incredibly grindy and the world could’ve been better laid out for progression, but that kind of adds to its charm? It’s hard to explain.

I can recommend this for action RPG fans and fans of the first XC, but if neither of those are your cup of tea, it’s probably passable. 

Yoshi’s Woolly World

It’s Yoshi’s Island but with a new aesthetic. It’s pretty fun, and the levels are well designed enough. There’s also more than enough content for completionists out there, but I would say it doesn’t really do much for 2D platformers other than be another example of a well-polished game.

I’d recommend this, but a 3DS version is coming out soon that looks basically better in every way, so keep an eye on that.

So where does that leave WiiU retail games

You’ll notice that my collection mostly consists of 1st party titles or IP’s. There’s a reason for that, but what’s really interesting is how a lot for these games either play it completely safe or are niche titles. Most of my recommendations are 2D platformers or what you would find on every Nintendo Console.

Does that mean I didn’t have fun with the WiiU? Obviously not; I had at least a little fun with most of the games on here, even if my reviews don’t sound like it. But ultimately the WiiU banked on a gimmick it didn’t properly utilize, and didn’t cater to the audience it needed to to compensate for that. 

On the whole, it’s hard for me to recommend a WiiU. I can’t say everyone will find something on it, because the truth is they might find one or two games, but I can’t recommend a console without saying there are more than enough games for everyone to get a library of their favorites. I think it’ll likely go down like the Gamecube did in a way, if all the titles don’t get ported to Switch or 3DS first of course.