Topic: Is Wii U Nintendo's best home console ever?

[TOPHATANT123]

I would say pound for pound that the Nintendo Wii U is not only the best Nintendo console, it is the best console period, PS3 comes close but in the end the gap is in the favour of Wii U, in my opinion of course.

Please allow me to list some titles that are playable on your Wii U right now if you wanted. Punch-Out!!!, Mega Man 2, Super Mario Bros 3, Ufouria, Super Metriod, Super Mario World, Earthbound, Street Fighter 2, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario 64, Paper Mario, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Sin and Punishment, Advance Wars, Fire Emblem, Golden Sun and Castlevania Aria of Sorrow.

Not only do you have access to all of these titles, but every Wii U comes with a Wii included meaning you have access to great games like; Xenoblade Chronicles, Pandora's Tower, Sin and Punishment Star Successor, Okami, Resident Evil 4, The Last Story, Tatsunoko vs Capcom, Mario Galaxy 2, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Sonic Colors, Metroid Prime Trilogy and Trauma Center.

With the Wii comes the Wii shop channel, meaning provided you have the controllers you can have access to; Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, World of Goo, Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, Final Fantasy IV: The After Years, Sonic The Hedgehog 2, Ecco The Dolphin, Lords of Thunder and Cave Story.

Mix in all the Wii U disc based software and eshop download titles and I would say that the volume and quality of games available makes it a landslide victory over any Nintendo console. 2nd place I would put the Wii due to it's amazing library and true GameCube backwards compatibility, if you really love GameCube games I could see someone placing Wii over Wii U and it's up to your opinion really, but for me it's gotta be Wii U.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

I used to think that way, especially in the early days of Wii when I had high hopes for the VC, but stop kidding yourself man, the virtual console is a mess, yo can get maybe, maybe fifteen games on VC that you cannot get elsewhere without paying a huge bundle but the amount of games NOT on virtual console vastly out numbers the handful of games present. Sure you get a taste of each franchise or genre, but more often than not you get some odd ball game that only pisses you off because they put that game up instead of the one you really wanted.


How is owning a machine that emulates SNES but leaves out the majority of top SNES games a good thing? I mean sure if you ONLY want Nintendo and Capcom games then sure but even then you are still missing out on stuff you can get elsewhere, especially via the real hardware or in many cases with add ons like Super Game Boy and Game Boy Player, etc.


I agree with your sentiment except in practice it falls short because Nintendo and their partners are terrible at releasing the games people want on the virtual console, the games people still flock to used game stores and shell out way more than they are worth to get because they refuse to release on Virtual Console.

At least with Ps3 you still have the option to play the physical discs when it comes to PS1 and most of the better PS2 games have been released already usually in HD remakes.

I would say Wii U best ever hands down if it had the output of HD remakes PS3 had, just give us the top ten GC and top ten N64 games as HD remakes and bam done best console ever when you keep everything else there. But most people will take a God of War HD or a Prince of Persia HD over Wind Waker HD anyday, not all obviously but most.

Plus as you just said in order to even play all the games you h ave to buy so many extra controllers, which was the real reason when you get down to it, that I had such a problem with Wii. With PS3 you get the controller you need bundled with the system the only games that use the optional sold separately are not even worth mentioning anyways.

Also Ps3 still has most of the current gen games Wii U didn't even get as a next gen machine.

[ejamer]

Wow, couldn't agree less with that last comment.


Unless complete catalogs are offered - something that can't happen due to licensing issues, and financially doesn't make sense anyway - there will always be holes in the Virtual Console lineup. I'd like to know what games you are so disappointed about missing out on, because the most popular mainstream titles seem to be very well represented...


Also, complaints about needing too many extra controllers needed are silly and overstated. It's complaining about having too much to choose from - a complaint that I don't take seriously. The only reason that optional controllers are worth mentioning in this case (unlike PS3) is because they can improve the experience depending on what game you are playing.





Nintendo backwards compatibility is top notch. Wii supports ALL GameCube games, and offers a ton of Virtual Console games on top of that. Virtual Console isn't a perfect service by any means - being locked to a console in particular is an onerous restriction and game selection has some notable holes - but it offered dozens of "must play" games across a broad range of old consoles. Wii U does everything Wii does except for offering GameCube support, essentially trading out the GameCube library for the Wii U library.


The trick is, I don't know if it's fair to judge a console based on backwards compatibility.  Wii was an awesome little console that offered many fantastic games - so does that mean Wii U is a fantastic console by default? Not in my books. It needs to add something significant, otherwise you're better off just getting a Wii...

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

Well those are your opinions, which I think is clear I disagree with. But whatever best most popular games on VC my ass, at best you get a couple of representatives to give you a tastes, Licensing issues are an excuse because a lot of the games that are missing from VC are on PSN and XBLA. I am not going to sit here and list them all but


Final Fantasy, you have which one on VC? I mean you have a pair of Breath of Fire games but where are the Dragon Quest? Dragon Warrior? Mortal Kombat (can't get the Arcade Kollection why can't they get the SNES versions?) People seem content with the SNES versions of the Street Fighter games, again you get vastly superior versions on Sony. Let me see what else is there?



So what if they can't be emulate or licenisng news flash if I want to play a game on SNES that isn't on Virtual Console then I don't need to worry about licensing issues so YEAH to me that makes the Super NES a better machine if it has the games I would want to play. So you can get some old Super Nintendo games on VC but there are dozens, hundreds more you can't, having a handful of Super NES games on Wii U does not make up for the lack of current gen games on the Wii U. As for the current gen stuff Wii U is a wasteland but PS3 is still getting a good chunk of it so even that is better.

I wasn't trying to say Wii U was a terrible machine or that PS3 is better but if you are going to make the claim that it is better than PS3 because of Virtual Console you are delusional when PS3 has the vastly superior library in terms of current gen, last gen, and retro (PS1 has far more memorable RPG's and arcade style shooters than SNES anyways and a lot of the better Super NES games were upgraded to PS1 and re-released on PS2 and then again on Ps3. Also when you do get a retro collection on the PS3 you sometimes get them with major enhancements plus the original game with VC all you get is the original game, flaws and all, with minor enhancements like save states, but you can still get most of those games on the original machines anyways so saying Wii U is better than Super NES when it can only play what, 75 or so of the 700+ games that were released on the machine? So it gets the top 50 and that is supposed to be good enough? What if the top 200 SNES games are better than the entirety of the Wii U library?

[Dan Laser]

This is the correct thread.

The giant catalogue crossing multiple generations, backwards compatibility, and Off TV mode are superb. And you can't forget the Miiverse!

[NWR_insanolord]

Honestly I'm having trouble making an argument for any other Nintendo console being solidly better in terms of my liking. If Star Fox Zero turns out well I think it just might be.

[Shaymin]

I think it's in the argument for the podium, if only because its highs were really high (even me, a leading proponent of #TeamHandheld, has had Wii U games as GOTY each of the last three years). I can't give it the win, though.

If I was going to tier list it:
God Tier
Super Nintendo

High Tier
Wii U, Wii, N64

Mid Tier
NES

  Tier
Gamecube

[BranDonk Kong]

No.

[NWR_insanolord]

No.

That's a very thoughtful and well-reasoned argument. You've changed my mind on this issue, I'm now going to have to agree with your side of it.

[ShyGuy]

Great console or greatest console?

[ejamer]

...
Final Fantasy, you have which one on VC? I mean you have a pair of Breath of Fire games but where are the Dragon Quest? Dragon Warrior? Mortal Kombat (can't get the Arcade Kollection why can't they get the SNES versions?) People seem content with the SNES versions of the Street Fighter games, again you get vastly superior versions on Sony. Let me see what else is there?
...

Um... Wii Virtual Console (which is all available on Wii U) includes Final Fantasy I, II, and III from NES and SNES.  It's also got Actraiser, Chrono Trigger, Ogre Battle (from SNES and N64) and Secret of Mana from Square Enix, just for good measure.  Those versions are superior to PS1 conversions unless you enjoy loading times before every battle.

Dragon Quest and Dragon Warrior games are missing. On the up side, even though you list the series twice it's the same set of games. Also, if you love this series then the 3DS has you (mostly) covered with high quality DS remakes of IV-VI available now, 3DS remakes of VII and VIII coming this year, and IX being exclusive to the DS as well.


It's fine if you prefer playing PS1 games to retro games on other consoles. But Virtual Console includes many amazing games from NES, SNES, Genesys, TurboGrafx-16 and other consoles that aren't available via PSN.  Both services are good. Both provide access to lots of good retro games. Both have some holes also... but that doesn't prevent them from being awesome. Type the phrase "best snes games" into Google and check what comes back - most (not all) of those games are available through Virtual Console, so I stand by my original statement.

[Evan_B]

People claim the PSP is one of the best consoles of all time because it can emulate a whole lot of games from the third to sixth generations. They rarely cite actual PSP games as the reason, however.

Likewise, I don't think backwards compatability factors into my opinion of a console's library. The games that are created for a console are those that are important. Your mileage may vary with HD remasters, but when fundamental aspects of the gameplay have been changed or new content has been added, that material is made for the console. A straight hi def port is a bit hard to swallow, because I see those as emulation- much like Virtual console.

I like to judge consoles separately, and while I see your argument and I respect it, I wouldn't go for that reasoning.

[Soren]

No.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

I side with Evan here, I meant on it's own is Wii U library and features enough to make it the best home console/



Dragon warrior and Dragon Quest are the same franchise but they are not the same games, they stopped releasing Dragon Warrior games in the West and so what I mean was the Dragon Warrior branded games and the Dragon Quest branded sequels.


Also why bring up 3DS I was asking about Wii U can I play those 3DS games on my Wii U, no then how does having them on 3DS add to the Wii U?

Also you think waiting a few extra seconds and getting amazing CGI cut scenes and upgraded music is actually worse than bare bones copy of the game okay sure whatever.


I listed a couple of games but yeah the Square games are there but dozens, literally dozens of other RPG's that SNES fans often cite as reasons for it's greatness are still missing, where are the Mech games, the shooter games last time I checked there were maybe five SNES shooters on Wii U out of the 25 for the SNES.

There are over 700 games on SNES, 600 on NES, and 300 on N64 yet the total number of games on Virtual Console was less than 450 last time I checked, so that is what a third of what was out there and somehow having access to less than a third of a consoles library suddenly makes owning the original no longer relavant? If I want SNES games I am still better off just buying a SNES and getting the rare games on Wii U that are there but that is barely a little bit. Sure SNES had a ton of crap too, and seems to me like Genesis which was all over Wii, and PSN btw, is missing from Wii U, as is neo geo. Sure unless you want to go into archaic Wii mode which requires shelling out $40 extra bucks on a stupid waggle remote you weren't that impressed with ten years ago.

[Ian Sane]

I don't count re-releases or backwards compatibility as part of a console's library.  It wouldn't be a fair way to assess historical consoles which naturally will have less games that remain exclusive to them as decades go by.  So I would only judge the Wii U on games made for the Wii U.  Wii BC is credit to the Wii.  The VC is credit to the various consoles it has games from.  Otherwise the best console ever is the most recent one and then the discussion ceases to have any purpose.

There are also two approaches that a potential Wii U owner could come from.  If it was their first console then re-releases and backwards-compatibility would be major selling points.  But if the person already owned a Wii, backwards compatibility wouldn't be a selling point.  Same if they own multiple older consoles.  I'm not even going by retro collecting here.  Just due to my age I've owned every Nintendo console since the SNES.  What it is going to make the Wii U worthwhile to me are games made for the Wii U.  Really instead of "best ever" it's really more the answer to "which Nintendo console would be most worth owning at this time?"  Yeah with the VC and everything the Wii U would be a good choice.  Older consoles are now more for purists and collector's.  Modern digital download services are sufficient for the average user.

I'll give the Wii U credit for Earthbound Beginnings since it made it's North American retail debut on the Wii U.  Like how I would give the Wii credit for Sin & Punishment.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

That is what I was going for, discussing the Wii U on it's own merits, hey if you do that there are plenty of great things to say about it, no need to try and make it sound "better" by bringing up the Virtual Console service which if it satisfies you fine it doesn't do much for me. But I am a collector also so many of those old games I would rather have on the original hardware.

[Evan_B]

Where the hell is Terranigma on the VC???

[Mop it up]

If there are people who are new to Nintendo or have little experience with Nintendo, I think it's a fair point to make. The Wii U is almost a one-stop shop for great Nintendo experiences both past and present. However, for someone like me who has been playing Nintendo products since near the beginning (mid-NES era), I already own those previous systems and the games I want for them. Therefore, the Virtual Console and backwards compatibility hold no appeal to me.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

but Mop It Up if these people are new to Nintendo how interested are they going to be in decades old games that rely heavily on nostalgia to appeal to US, the core crowd? I have nephews that love Nintendo but they won't go further back than SNES for 2D and Wii for 3D, they won't even touch a Game Cube it's ugly to them (the graphics mostly) how many young kids know what an NES is? If they have a family member in the house to expose them to those games they already likely have done just that. My sister owned a Wii, loved it to death, and she still bought an SNES to show her kids the, in her words "right way to play" those games. We have that but a parent who grew up on Sony that gets their kid the Nintendo because it is cheap, plays all the kid friendly games and they don't want an expensive player in the house, they aren't going to show their kids the kind of care for these old games we do, a kid in the eshop just looking for a game to download is not likely to pick Wrecking Crew, Duck Hunt, hell any of the old NES games, unless they tried NES Remix first and then they might as well stick to the remix versions.

I love the Virtual Console but it is terribly flawed, yes in many ways it is better than PSN and Steam but in many ways it's not.

[Mop it up]

To be fair, I never said there were very many of those people, so I dunno what point you think you're arguing.

[michaelbaysuperfan616]

Well you could just say PC can emulate everything anyways and be done with it so, yeah I forgot what I was saying sometimes I just argue to argue, it keeps people on their toes.