Wii and Wii U - The Bear and Badger

mistercrayon

Moving from tablet -click - big tv is a properly magical bit of UI design.

mistercrayon

regmcfly wrote:

mk64 wrote:

regmcfly wrote:

Mario Maker 1 so outclasses the second

err wut?

I should have clarified. 2 has a much wider toolkit and is on paper the better game, but that tablet use for 1 meant I actually played and created more levels with it. It was also much more of a "moment" game, whereas the second, on a phenomenally more successful console has kind of faded into the ether in terms of popular conversation.

mistercrayon

I agree with all of this.

I make the case something similar is true with Splatoon v Splatoon 2.

regmcfly

I prefer splatoon 2 more streamlined as it is tbh. But Mario Maker 1 as you mentioned, feels a bit magic.

davyK

What's the deal with the Wii U pad? Is the battery user replaceable?

That's something that I'm not comfortable with re the Switch. The 8bitDo lets you use a battery pack or normal batteries.

EvilRedEye

Yeah, there was even an official high capacity battery pack.

davyK

I presume the battery pack is proprietory? I always worry about the longevity of such things being a retro collector.

mistercrayon

I don’t think it is hard to get a replacement one.

regmcfly

I bought the high capacity pack when it was pennies, now they're like gold dust iirc.

Moot_Geeza

I loved the games played log on Switch/3DS. Was better on 3DS tbh but both were much more in depth than the similar feature on Switch. Aside from that the main thing I miss is the tablet - every single time I can't find the TV remote I reminisce about the days where it was impossible to misplace the gigantic doofer.

ChopperByrne

mistercrayon wrote:

Of course it isn’t all roses - Star Fox was an absolute bomb.

If it just had a regular control scheme it'd be really good. Instead they went for this hold your controller up in front of your telly, using the gyros to aim, while trying to concentrate on both screens at once.

LivDiv

They were committed to the controller far longer than they should have been.
They definitely should have patched the console to work without it as well.

mistercrayon

They released a hardware patch called the switch.

davyK

You can see the progression from the GC/GBA linkup to Wii U and finally to Switch.

Pacman Vs on GC seemed to put Miyomoto onto that track although I wonder if the DC's VMU influenced it too.

retroking1981

LivDiv wrote:

They were committed to the controller far longer than they should have been.
They definitely should have patched the console to work without it as well.

This is true, being forced to use the Gamepad just to browse the shop always reminded me how much I hated the design of the console.

On the flipside though, you knew there was serious issues when first party titles didn't utilise the Gamepad at all, and when they did it was for really simple QoL options.

So little software really put its unique capabilities to good use, that's why many wanted the required Gamepad use patched out. Thing is without that USP, it was just a 360ish level console 7 years late.

It was a badly designed console imo, but with a surprisingly decent list of great exclusives. The wealth of Switch ports has made it mostly redundant though.

Nintendo have largely swept it under the rug with the Virtual Boy.

Blue Swirl

regmcfly wrote:

The WiiU was the first console launch where I had disposable income properly and I went far too hard into it. Embarrassingly hard.

Don't beat yourself up, I'm the guy that emptied my bank account getting the Cat Helmet Edition of Halo 3 and the green console. At midnight.

EvilRedEye

Booted up the Wii U to have a last look at the eShop. What an absolutely dreadful machine this was. Underrated software catalogue for its short life but just awful hardware and OS design.

davyK

I'm glad I passed. After it hit end of life I considered picking one up for the Wii BC and HDMI but I believe the image quality isnt too hot so I'll stick with the Wii and its component cable which looks fine on my smaller 2nd TV.. Given that the Mario games have been moved to Switch it's one for the diehard collector which rules me out.

I never really saw how the touted 3v1 gameplay that Miyomoto was so in love with could support an entire platform gen. Of course it didn't. Pacman Vs on GC with the GBA linkup was a marvellous one off but that was as far as it would go really.

Vela

It's out?

Blue Swirl

I liked my Wii U.

Blue Swirl

I mean, I was studying at the time and could only afford my 3DS and Wii U and a handful of titles... but I don't remember it being awful.

Vela

No, it has some fantastic games. Ive rebought most of the best ones on switch too, like wonderful 101, tropical freeze, Mario 3d world, Pikmin 3.

There are still a handful of genius games that won't be ported, mainly affordable space adventures and the balloon trip breeze game on Nintendo land.

It still has my virtual console library so I'm hanging onto mine.

And wind waker HD

retroking1981

EvilRedEye wrote:

Booted up the Wii U to have a last look at the eShop. What an absolutely dreadful machine this was. Underrated software catalogue for its short life but just awful hardware and OS design.

Couldn't agree more.

acemuzzy

Blue Swirl wrote:

I liked my Wii U.

Me too! It will gets played.

EvilRedEye

Blue Swirl wrote:

I liked my Wii U.

The games were great - I literally said the software was good in my post! But I don't think I've ever managed to turn it on without having a massive faff getting the GamePad to work and the OS isn't very good.

Raiziel

I didn’t like the Wii U either. I’ve got quite a few games for it, but most of them are still sealed as I hardly ever wanted to fire the thing up.

Moot_Geeza

I miss the days of almost never losing the TV remote.

LivDiv

Some great games but yeah awful design decisions.

Having to have the screentroller on at all times regardless of what controller was being used.

Piano black.

Wii being a whole other interface.

Cables bloody everywhere

Screentroller heavy and I comfortable for anything but mini games.

davyK

I have no doubt if I got one I'd have loved it.

I just wasn't sold on that tablet controller. And the marketing effort was so pitiful that I simply wasn't compelled to get one as I was relatively late getting a Wii so was still enjoying that.

hylian_elf

retroking1981 wrote:

EvilRedEye wrote:

Booted up the Wii U to have a last look at the eShop. What an absolutely dreadful machine this was. Underrated software catalogue for its short life but just awful hardware and OS design.

Couldn't agree more.

+1

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