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« on: December 17, 2013, 02:34:13 PM »
The Wii U is a strange beast and that has been the biggest challenge. It's hard to explain to anyone regardless of their interest in video games. Nintendo has also dropped the ball on one of the console's most compelling features: backwards compatibility. The Wii U is the only console that can play last gen games and use last gen controllers. For those of us who like arcade sticks for fighting games, that is a big deal.
The other big problem is the Wii itself. By the end, many gamers didn't feel like that console catered to them anymore. I honestly abandoned the Wii platform after Wario Land Shake. There was a period of 6 months with not a single game that interested me. It seemed like a good time to sell off the system and get a PS3. Part of what made the Wii U a good purchase for me was the backwards compatibility. I bought the system for $200 and hit up a Gamestop used game sale and got 6 Wii games for less than $50. I had a lot to catch up on since I sold my Wii.
All that said, it comes down to content. For my money, the only must-have console on the market is the 3DS. The PS4 and Xbox One don't have a single game between them that I'm interested in. The Wii U gets a lot of play due to certain VC games (Earthbound, Mega Man X) and a few downloadable titles as well as Mario 3D World. I cannot even consider the Vita when the 3DS is in the picture. If Nintendo could learn to use the VC better as a crutch during the slow months, the Wii U would be much more attractive to retro gamers. Hell, putting more rare games out on the VC, like Earthbound, would help as well.