Does the Wii U Matter?

With E3 on the horizon and the inevitable overload of gaming news headed our way, the conversation seems to be dominated by whether the Xbox One or the PlayStation 4 will be the will winner in the console wars. Mention the Wii U and you’re sure to be laughed at. Poor graphics, terrible internet, and “baby games” are just a few of the complaints people seem to throw at Nintendo’s latest console. Rarely does it get discussed when talking about which console deserves a place in our entertainment center. Does the Wii U even matter anymore? Has it ever? The answer is a resounding YES.

The problem we have when discussing the Wii U is really more a problem of how we tend to discuss games as a whole. For some reason we all seem dead set on having the sleekest console with the sexiest graphics that allows us to take part in killing as many on-screen foes as possible in triple A titles that we all pretend to hate but buy every year anyways. If you take a look at people’s most anticipated titles for the PS4 and Xbox One, they’re almost certainly filled with series like Halo, Uncharted, Assassin’s Creed, Far Cry. That’s not to say we aren’t eagerly awaiting new franchises by any means. The Order: 1886, Sunset Overdrive, and The Crew are just a few of the anticipated new titles. But why don’t we seem to have the same heated discussions, or any discussions at all, when it comes to the Wii U and their exclusive titles?

Part of that is most likely due to many people who are unafraid to try new games and who seem to think that anything outside their comfort zone is not worth playing. Bayonetta 2 has been long awaited and it being a Wii U exclusive was a major reason to many people for picking up the console. And while the game has been long heralded as a hardcore hack and slash in the same vein as Devil May Cry, a quick internet search will show that even among DmC fans, Bayonetta touched some kind of nerve for being “too girly”, “too weird”, or “too Japanese” by people who never even played it. Platinum Games’ first Wii U title, The Wonderful 101, also got fairly positive reviews and was acknowledged as a great send-up to Viewtiful Joe. But it still seemed to get passed over by the majority of gamers. With other upcoming titles, many people have never played any of the other games in the series they’re continuing. Take the upcoming Fatal Frame sequel. When the news hit that there was a sequel planned I couldn’t hide my excitement. I’m a longtime fan of the series, and I had essentially given up on ever getting another title after Fatal Frame 4 failed to reach the US, and no one really seemed to care outside of people cutting their teeth on survival horror. Ask the majority of people if they’ve ever played any of the titles and you’re sure to get a resounding “Huh?”

Keep in mind that I’m not necessarily trying to hate on people who haven’t picked up these titles. Most of these serve very, very niche markets. The difficulty of hardcore Japanese hack and slash titles certainly turns more casual players off and survival horror has struggled in a world where people ask why Silent Hill doesn’t have more guns and ammo and Resident Evil has turned into more of an action-horror franchise than survival-horror. Thankfully, we’ve seemed to have a rebirth of interest in these genres. Outlast becoming a free download for PS4 owners and Shinji Mikami’s upcoming The Evil Within are doing great things to revitalize interest in survival horror. And the Zelda/Dynasty Warriors title is sure to open up the floodgates of new interest in hack-and-slash titles. Because really, why should we expect people to be excited about genres that have been mostly stale for years? Actually, we should.

The problem with dismissing the Wii U without acknowledging that these games exist solely on the Wii U is exactly the reason we don’t see as many titles. We’re not supporting them. Take a look at Square Enix’s recent acknowledgement that people still really, really like JRPG’s. That wouldn’t have come up if we hadn’t supported the excellent Bravely Default in droves. Some people bought a 3DS just for that game. Or bought one for the excellent RPG selection in general. The library of RPG’s the 3DS delivers got many RPG fans to pick up a 3DS based solely on that being pretty much the only place to get a solid and constantly growing library of RPG’s. And RPG giant Square Enix acknowledged that we actually exist all because we actually bought their stuff. Now I’m not saying we all must go out and buy a Wii U to acknowledge we’d like titles besides military shooters and military shooters set in space, but I seriously have to question why more of these lesser known titles aren’t on the tips of people’s tongues when discussing the Wii U if diversity is actually what they want. For gamers who are so reminiscent of Viewtiful Joe, we sure seem to lack to mention the titles of other Platinum Games games with the same fervor. Mostly because we didn’t even bother playing them. But if we want so many more titles and types of games to play because Triple A titles are so focused on profitability that they seem to shy away from originality, why aren’t we discussing the future of them? We’ve latched onto discussing good examples as an example of what we want companies to do that we seem to forget that companies are actually still doing it. Can you imagine what the impact of a new Fatal Frame selling mass units would be? Because I remember a time when we regularly were getting games like Siren and Clock Tower 3. So why are we still talking about how great Fatal Frame was and not bringing up how great it will be. Why do we seem so afraid of discussing these in the same ways we enjoy hating on Call of Duty? We need to get over this sort of “my games are better than yours” mentality that we have because it’s hurting us. It’s like we think the more underground a game is the better it is. Newsflash guys, the more underground a game is because you didn’t want to bring up its title because the other person “just won’t get it” or you want to keep it a “hidden gem” is most likely another reason why that title won’t sell, won’t get made again, and won’t become a staple. We need to start hyping up Nintendo’s 3rd party titles among ourselves because face it, none of us need a reminder of the Wii U’s and Nintendo’s main draws – the best social multiplayer experience and longtime series that haven’t failed in being amazing games.

The reason I waited to bring any of this in is because I know that’s what every single one of you already knew. Zelda, Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong, and so on have not failed us (for the most part). Mario is synonymous with Nintendo. As in the continual multiplayer experiences we have had on the console. Although the Wii U fails to have a great online multiplayer experience, it is still just about the only console that caters to people who actually want to get together and game. Sure we get the occasional title elsewhere but how many of us have already made plans for Super Smash Bros? How many social media posts did you see of people in their 20’s and 30’s excited to play the new Mario Kart? How many of us got excited about the upcoming Gamecube port just because we all still have our Gamecube controllers and still squad up for some Super Smash Bros. Melee? What game console are you going to be busting out when your friends come over and you all feel like trash talking each other as you potentially ruin friendships? Multiplayer changed forever when we all got together for Goldeneye and that kind of experience is regulated these days to either Nintendo consoles, sports games, or fighting games (when they aren’t re-releases with additional DLC). It’s a given to expect excellent titles from the mainstays so much that I feel I’ve said all I’ve needed to say. Is anyone out there seriously lamenting the release of yet ANOTHER Zelda title? Is anyone asking why we even have Mario games anymore? Is anyone sitting out there and saying they wish there wasn’t a new Super Smash Bros because they feel it’s getting too repetitive and stale and isn’t 3 of them enough?

Which is really why the Wii U does matter. Nintendo characters have been universal. Ask someone who’s 40 if they know who Mario is and then ask a 5 year old that. I bet you’re going to get the same reply. There’s not much of a difference between children and adults talking about their first Mario Kart experience and we’re going to continue to have these stories no matter how much we want to pretend like the Wii U is playing to a dead audience. The reason we want to dismiss it so badly is because it’s not pandering to the same audience we’re discussing when we discuss console waters. Off course I can’t play online multiplayer while I stream my experience on Twitch with the best graphics consoles have to offer. But I know what console I’m going to discuss the next time my friends bring up who’s house we’re going to so we can cry over some blue shells and banana peels. Or what console is going to have the most unique upcoming titles on it and the most titles I feel I can’t do without. The Wii U matters because it provides us experiences we can’t get elsewhere. We don’t ask people why they still own a bike when they have a car. Sometimes its not so much about how sleek something is or how much it can do at one time or how fast it is or how powerful it is. Sometimes its about how much fun we’re having and if we’re able to do it with friends.