Nintendo's Support for Wii U Questioned

I decided to make a forum post for those wondering how well Nintendo is doing at supporting the Wii U. Its seems people are doubting Nintendos support and putting into question whether Nintendo has given up on the Wii U. I hope to shed light on the subject and ask for fellow Nintendo fans to help if they would like in discussing Nintendos support for their devices.

All systems can be debated, however, ill be focusing on the two most recent systems, the Wii and Wii U. Up for debate is games developed and published by Nintendo in America, also would like to include eShop and highlight in bold games developed by Nintendo, but those will require more time and i have errands to run real quick. First up will be the Wii.

Wii Year 1

Wii Sports, Excite Truck, The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess = 3

Year 2

WarioWare: Smooth Moves, Wii Play, Super Paper Mario, Mario Party 8, Big Brain Academy: Wii Degree, Pokémon Battle Revolution, Mario Strikers Charged, Metroid Prime 3: Corruption, Donkey Kong Barrel Blast, Battalion Wars 2, Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn, Super Mario Galaxy, Link's Crossbow Training = 13

Year 3

Endless Ocean, Super Smash Bros. Brawl, Mario Kart Wii, Wii Fit, Mario Super Sluggers, Wario Land: Shake It!, Wii Music, Animal Crossing: City Folk = 8

Year 4

New Play Control! Mario Power Tennis, New Play Control! Pikmin, Excitebots: Trick Racing, New Play Control! Donkey Kong Jungle Beat, New Play Control! Pikmin 2, Punch-Out!!, Wii Sports Resort, Metroid Prime: Trilogy, Wii Fit Plus, New Super Mario Bros. Wii = 10

Wii U Year 1

New Super Mario Bros. U, Nintendo Land, Sing Party = 3

Year 2

Lego City Undercover, Game & Wario, Pikmin 3, New Super Luigi U, The Wonderful 101, The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD, Wii Party U, Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games, Super Mario 3D World = 9

Year 3

Wii Fit U, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8, Wii Sports Club, Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2, Bayonetta, Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker, NES Remix Pack =11

Year 4

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse, Mario Party 10, Splatoon, Art Academy: Home Studio, Super Mario Maker, Yoshi's Woolly World, Fatal Frame: Oracle of the Sodden Raven, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Devil's Third, Star Fox Zero, Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash, Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival = 12

Wii Published= 34

Wii U Published = 35

Wii Developed = 24

Wii U Developed = 27

Year 3

Dr. Mario Online Rx, My Pokémon Ranch, Magnetica Twist, Maboshi's Arcade, Art Style: Orbient, Art Style: Rotohex = 6

Year 4

Bonsai Barber, Lombos, Rock N’ Roll Climber, PictureBook Games: Pop-Up Pursuit, You, Me & the Cubes, Excitebike: World Rally, Pokémon Rumble, Eco Shooter: Plant 530 = 8

Year 2

Art Academy: SketchPad, Pokémon Rumble U, New Super Luigi U, Wii Fit U, Wii Sports Club Tennis and Bowling, Wii Sports Club Golf, Animal Crossing Plaza, NES Remix, Dr. Luigi = 6

Year 3

NES Remix 2, Pushmo World, Wii Sports Club - Baseball & Boxing = 2

Year 4

Mario vs. Donkey Kong: Tipping Stars, amiibo tap: Nintendo's Greatest Bits, EarthBound Beginnings, FAST racing NEO = 4

On the digital side of things its a little more complicated, Nintendo didnt start publishing WiiWare games until year 3 and only devolped 3 by the same time frame of Wii U. Wii U on the other had more but a few are games that would be released physically, HD remasters with add features, and a greatest hits amiibo thing. So if we strike out the physical games we would get.

Wii eShop published = 14

Wii U eShop published = 12

Wii eShop developed = 3

Wii U eShop developed = 10

Seems like a pretty even match. Im sure Virtual Console support is pretty good also. Nintendo is very impressive.

@mesome713: Mario Galaxy 2, LoZ Skyward Sword, those are also missing from your list.

I feel like Nintendo should get away from a lot of the things they've been doing for the past decade on their home consoles, and kind of go back to a more Gamecube-like mindset.

Mario Galaxy 2 came in year 5, Skyward Sword came in year 6.

@mesome713: I dont think anyone doubts nintendo is trying to make this work, but the reality is that nintendo has to push out a lot of titles to balance out the lack of 3rd party content. If Nintendo didnt push out the first party games, at a pace maybe more like microsoft or sony, the wii u would have failed

Youd be surprised how many think Nintendo is not supporting the Wii U at all.

Great work, @mesome713! There's no doubt that there are ways to blur the lines a bit in terms of how Nintendo has supported the two systems, but you're bringing the facts and numbers to the table, and those can't be taken away. For example, it can be argued that a few of the Wii U's year three titles (Wii Sports Club and NES Remix) were eShop games put on disc and Bayonetta 1&2 were one offering, as they part of a single package. On the other hand, you'd then have to acknowledge that the likes of Donkey Kong: Jungle Beat, Pikmin, Mario Power Tennis, and two of the three games in Metroid Prime Trilogy were GameCube games. What's really to make note of, though is that the Wii U has had a more active past two years, whereas the Wii was stronger out of the gate.

I'd dig into this deeper, but time's short. Again, solid, solid stuff! :D

@Madmangamer364: Thanks mate, yeah, im gonna work on it a little more cause im curious to see the development side rather then the publishing side. Also curious to see how the eShop stacks up.

Year 4 probably will be quite good on the whole. I think people are just bummed about the lack of future games announced. Is there anything known to be coming next year except Zelda? Maybe that Jpop shin megami game that no-ones gonna buy...

All Nintendo would've had to do at E3 would be announce a new Metroid and an HD remaster of Sunshine and people would've been happy.

Supporting a system means the company is getting games on the console regardless who makes them. The Wii had first and third party games available and a more rounded and thorough library than what we see on the Wii U. Companies were anxious to get their games on the Wii unlike today where they wont touch Nintendo with a ten foot cattle prod. The only ones making a case for this system being supported are the die hard loyalists.

@garywood69: Yeah, just Zelda, Fire Emblem x Shin Megami, and Reggie rumored some RPGs would be coming. But thats it, they said they want to focus on this year.

I dont know if most doubt their support for the u, its just that we think they want the NX out asap.

I kinda would too if not many people were buying my stuff. I would say, whelp, o well, i tried. A bunch of people think Nintendo is holding back a bunch of games and saving them for NX, i just wanted to show people they are just doing their normal thing. If NX comes and sells like the Wii did, im sure they would support it about the same as they always do, they are great at balancing support.

@mesome713: Great project! Its so refreshing to have positive, helpful, and informative posts.

Thanks, i was thinking about doing Gamecube but the post is kinda too long with the eShop stuff.

The main difference is that there was a plethora of 3rd party games that worked decently on the Wii as to where the Wii U is reallty lacking in that area. The Wii had Zak and Wiki, Little King Story, Last Story, Muramasa, Sin & Punishment, Okami, Red Steel, No More Heroes, Dead Space Extraction, and Tatsunoko vs. Capcom just to name a few.

Nintendo is putting in their effort with some high quality games, but it's hard to support a console on your own. Not having games like the 3rd party games I listed to fill in the gaps is what makes it feel like the system goes through droughts. It's been a great console for Nintendo games, nobody should doubt that.

Ultimately it is Nintendo deciding what games are released on the system and it is also the responsibility of said company to get games on the console. When you do that sufficiently, it's called SUPPORT. Doing that insufficiently is called the lack of support.

The Wii was one of the more recently supported Nintendo consoles because it had a diverse and ample library rather than relying (with futility) on one aspect of game development. The support was there. Not one logical person can make a case for the Wii U being supported when there has been and continues to be such large gaps in releases. Even Reggie has said, on the record, that getting timely releases has been an issue.

@mesome713: Nintendo has always decently supported their platform, its just the others that dont. And this thread is why. This shows how Wii and WII U dont appeal to a large variety of people. All I see are platformers, Mario spin offs, some hardware-based gimmick games (nintendoland, wii sports, wii fit, etc) and then a little bit of other genres sprinkled in. If someone likes shooters, rpgs, racing games, open-world, story-based, ect games they are going to have a hard time finding a lot of them on nintendo consoles. Those are very popular genres. That is why Nintendo isnt selling that hot like they used to- platformers arent the number one genre like they were in the 90s, and nintendo refuses to adapt and make new genres of games. Splatoon was a step in the right direction but even that has its problems that we've covered before many times here.

Support huh? What in the hell ever happened to releasing more Wii games on the eShop? I recall being told more games were coming beyond MPT, Punch Out and Galaxy 2. That's that?

Of course Nintendo is going to support the platform with its own games. It kind of has to, as it's the only big publisher releasing much of anything on it. They dug themselves in a hole, now they have to deal with it until the next cycle begins.

This. Exactly this.

Most of the games on the Wii U are 2D platformers and it needs more games for the other genres and games with online multiplayer.

The last N console I owned before buying the U was the 64. So I cannot comment on the rate of satisfying games coming out on the Wii. I do know that N needs way more big 3d games, or at least just 3d. DK:TF should have been made like a much improved version of DK64 maybe. I know that there are those who love the DK 2d platforming but with so little 3d games in a time where most should be 3d imo, and just bc DKTF was a good 2d platformer doesn't mean Retro could not have made a bigger 3d DK game that would be great as well.

Splatoon was a good idea to get more kids playing shooters on N console and whatever other age gamer enjoys it. And Zelda U is getting the much needed modernized layout that should be its natural evolution with an open world with more sidequest (maybe). I like that zelda developers looked at skyrim as a model for the game and hope it provides enough content to satisfy a Zelda adventure in this era of gaming.

Providing the handheld releases with console releases is a great idea and really the only option they have at this time with the NX. I would be much happier with my U if I could play some of the great rpg's and other genre's that have come out on the 3ds. Add the handheld games to the NX and provide at least a little more big 3d games for the NX compared to the U lineup,and whatever the other big ideas they have to entice more people to buy the NX and things will be ok.

never again, I'm still waiting for Fatal Frame for F's sake... so if and when that comes out I'll have only 2 games to dust off my Wii U for eventually; Fatal Frame and Xenoblade Chronicles X. Buying the Wii U was a waste of time and money. Even if I eventually get the new Zelda and a few Mario type games it still wasn't worth the money. My Wii U was shut off for almost an entire year collecting dust last time I checked on it... I forced myself to buy some old Castlevania game just to have an excuse to use it.

@yixingtpot: Thats a sad story mate, you need another console or something if you cant find games. In todays day and age you should have no problems, godspeed my friend, stay fresh.

There's no doubt they did in the past, but support moving forward is what's important.