20 Most Underrated Wii U Games

Bayonetta 2 picks up a few months after the first Bayonetta. She is shopping on Christmas Eve with Enzo when angels suddenly attack New York City, and things go downhill from there in the most stylish way possible. Weapon customization returns from the first game, so you can put different weapons on Bayonetta's hands and on her feet. The Special and First Print Editions also included a Wii U port of the original Bayonetta, which made the box a very good deal.

It received widespread critical acclaim, and a Switch version followed in February 2018. On the Wii U it still gets lost behind the Nintendo names. Players keep putting it on their short lists of Wii U games to own, often right next to the other PlatinumGames game further up this list.

Wii Party U is the sequel to the 2010 Wii game Wii Party, and Nintendo announced it in a January 2013 Nintendo Direct. It mixes board games and minigames on the TV with tabletop games played on the GamePad. In Feed Mii!, one player works the counter and has to pick out the food the others order. Do U Know Mii? is a quiz where players guess about another player's personality, which is a fast way to find out what your friends really think of you.

It came out in the shadow of Mario Party, and most people picked the plumber. Players who tried both disagree. They call Wii Party U a party game that hardly anyone talks about and a blast whenever friends come over, and some like it better than Mario Party.

Runbow was the debut game of 13AM Games, a Canadian independent studio, and it came out in North America on 27 August 2015. The idea started at the 2014 Global Game Jam. Platforms and obstacles appear and disappear as the background colour changes, so if you can't see something, it doesn't exist. You race to be the first to reach a trophy at the end of the level, and one player can take the GamePad and become the ColourMaster, changing the colours on everyone else.

With Wii Remotes and their attachments it supports up to nine players, which is a lot of people yelling at one television. Players call it a great platformer with a unique twist. For local party fun, they put it near the top of the eShop.

NES Remix was announced and released on the same day, December 18, 2013, on the Nintendo eShop after a Nintendo Direct. It cuts old NES games into short challenges and then adds remix stages that bend the originals. One level is dark except for a spotlight on your character. Another has you play a Donkey Kong stage as Link, who can't jump, and that is exactly as hard as it sounds.

A second game, NES Remix 2, followed on April 25, 2014. There is a 3DS version, Ultimate NES Remix, but it is a select compilation of the two Wii U releases. Players say the series deserves more love and tell others to give it a shot. It is a good game to pick up for ten minutes and put down again.

Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE is a crossover RPG from Atlus and Intelligent Systems, built on Shin Megami Tensei and Fire Emblem. Nintendo producer Kaori Ando came up with the idea. A group of teenagers team up with friendly Mirages, based on characters from the Fire Emblem series, and merge with them to become Mirage Masters. It is also a game about Japanese idol culture, with musical numbers produced by Avex Group.

It came out in Japan in December 2015 and worldwide in June 2016, and the Western release kept the Japanese voice track with subtitles. An enhanced Switch port, Encore, arrived on January 17, 2020. On the Wii U it was a late release on a console that was already winding down. Players who own one keep it among their reasons to hold on to it.

Hyrule Warriors is Zelda crossed with Dynasty Warriors. Koei Tecmo's studios made it, and Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma supervised, hoping for a different style of play from the main series. You cut down whole armies as Link, Zelda, Midna and other Zelda characters. Adventure Mode puts you on a map based on the original The Legend of Zelda and gives you goals like beating a set number of enemies before time runs out.

It came out in Japan in August 2014 and worldwide the following month, and it became one of the best-selling Wii U games, with downloadable packs from 2014 to 2016. Ports reached the 3DS and the Switch later. Two players can play together, one on the GamePad and one on the TV. Players who skipped it at first say it is a lot of fun, alone or with someone on the couch.

Star Fox Zero came out in April 2016. Miyamoto called it a reimagining of Star Fox 64, not a remake or a sequel. The TV shows a cinematic view of the fight while the GamePad shows the cockpit, so you aim in one direction while you fly in another. The Arwing turns into the Walker, and you also get the Gyrowing and the Landmaster tank. A tower defense game, Star Fox Guard, was bundled with it.

Reviews were mixed, and the control scheme was called impractical. No new Star Fox game came out until Star Fox (2026), a decade later. Players who stuck with it think the hate was overdone. The controls take about an hour to learn, they say, and after that it is fun and challenging.

Kirby and the Rainbow Curse follows Kirby: Canvas Curse, the 2005 DS game, and it came out in North America on February 20, 2015. Everything looks like it was made of clay, and the team used real claymation for reference. You draw rainbow ropes on the GamePad's touch screen to move Kirby, and tap him to attack. He can also turn into a submarine or a tank.

It got mixed reviews, but its art style and soundtrack were praised. The problem, players say, is that many people glanced over it because you spend most of it looking at the GamePad instead of the HD screen. Its fans call it fantastic, and some rank it as their favourite Kirby spinoff.

Paper Mario: Color Splash was made by Nintendo and Intelligent Systems, and it came out worldwide in October 2016. Mario has a paint hammer, and he uses it to put the colour back into Prism Island. Director Atsushi Isano came up with the paint theme to use the Wii U GamePad. Battles are played with cards.

Critics praised its graphics and comedic writing. The combat and its lack of RPG elements were criticized, as they were in the game before it. Players are split the same way. The writing is great and the battles are the part they could live without. Plenty of them still call it a good game that does not deserve the hate it got. It is very funny, and it is a Paper Mario game that people argue about, which is a long tradition by now.

Rayman Legends is the fifth main Rayman game and the direct sequel to Rayman Origins. It was meant to be a Wii U exclusive. Then the financial failure of ZombiU pushed it back six months and made it multi-platform. The Wii U and Vita versions kept Murfy, a helper you control with touch, who cuts ropes and works mechanisms. That part was taken out of the other versions.

It received critical acclaim for its level design and the large amount of content. It sold slowly at first and passed a million copies by 2014. Players say it does not get the love it deserves, and some think it uses the GamePad better than almost anything else on the console. A remake, Rayman Legends Retold, is due on December 3rd, 2026.

Game & Wario started as a minigame collection that Nintendo wanted to put on every Wii U out of the box. As the ideas grew, it was delayed and became a new WarioWare game instead. Nintendo even promoted it with a mock crowdfunding website. It came out in Japan on March 28, 2013, and in North America and Europe that June. You play it only with the GamePad, and of its sixteen minigames, four are multiplayer only, for up to five players.

Critics said it was short on content. Players who own it say the party games make up for that. They recommend it to anyone who wants a party game, and the Sketch minigame gets requested whenever company comes over.

Lego City Undercover was the first Traveller's Tales Lego game on a home console since Bionicle Heroes (2006) that was not based on a licensed property. Nintendo approached TT Games about making it for the Wii U, and it was first announced at E3 2011 as Lego City Stories. You play Chase McCain, a cop who chases crooks through a big open city built from several real locations.

It was re-released for the Switch, PS4, Xbox One and PC, but on the Wii U it went mostly unnoticed. Players say most people dismissed it as just another Lego game. They point to the open world and how much there is to do. One player summed it up as "More like GTA Lego."

Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker grew out of the Captain Toad levels in Super Mario 3D World. The team wanted to make those into a full game from the start, and work began after 3D World came out, at Shigeru Miyamoto's request. You guide Toad through small puzzle-box stages, turning the camera to find gems and gold stars. It came out in North America on December 5, 2014.

The Wii U version sold over 1 million copies, and it came back on the Switch and the 3DS in 2018 with extra content. Players say it gets overlooked anyway. They call it a fun little puzzle game and say it should get more love, and for some it is their favourite game on the system.

Yoshi's Woolly World is the seventh main Yoshi game and his first home console entry since Yoshi's Story in 1997. Like Kirby's Epic Yarn, it takes place in a world made of yarn and cloth. Yoshi throws yarn balls instead of eggs, and he can tug at loose yarn to unravel walls. Two players can play together. Mellow Mode gives Yoshi wings so less skilled players can fly through a stage, which makes it a good first platformer for a kid.

Reviewers praised the art style and criticized the easy difficulty. A 3DS port, Poochy & Yoshi's Woolly World, came out in 2017. Players say plenty of people know it but few bought it. They recommend it for young kids, and its fans just really love it.

Xenoblade Chronicles X is the spiritual successor to Xenoblade Chronicles on the Wii, with series creator Tetsuya Takahashi back as executive director. It was first announced in 2013 under the working title "X", then slipped from 2014 to 2015. The world is huge and open, and the team built it on a tight budget. You get around on foot or in giant robots called Skells, which can fly and turn into vehicles. Anime composer Hiroyuki Sawano wrote the music.

Critics praised its combat and world design, but not its story or how little it explains its systems. Players know the series did not sell well on the Wii or the Wii U. They say X deserves far more recognition, and some call it one of the best RPGs they have ever played.

The Wonderful 101 comes from PlatinumGames, directed by Hideki Kamiya and produced by Atsushi Inaba. You control 100 heroes at once, members of the CENTINELS Planetary Secret Service, against the space pirate Prince Vorkken. It came out in August 2013, a month later in North America. It got generally positive reviews but failed to meet sales expectations.

A remaster for the Switch, PS4 and PC, paid for through crowdfunding, came out in May 2020. It was PlatinumGames' first self-published game. Players name it as the Wii U's most underrated first-party game. Plenty of people know the name and never picked it up, they say. Its fans admit it is a niche game, and it is still their favourite on the console.

Affordable Space Adventures came out on the Wii U eShop on April 9, 2015. The GamePad becomes the control panel of a cheap little spaceship, with two different engines, a scanner, a mass generator, landing gear and more on the touch screen. UExplore keeps telling you how safe its trips are, and the ship keeps falling apart around you. Up to two more players can join with Wii Remotes and take over moving and scanning.

Destructoid gave it Best of PAX East 2015 before it was even out. Players who found it say it is one of the few indies that really uses the GamePad, and they recommend it again and again. It is best as asymmetrical co-op, where one person flies and the others shout about the engine.

ZombiU was a Wii U launch title in November 2012, made by Ubisoft Montpellier after Nintendo asked Ubisoft for a mature game. It started life as a Raving Rabbids spin-off called Killer Freaks from Outer Space, until the team realized the GamePad suited slower games. You survive in London during an outbreak. When you die, you take over a new survivor and can hunt down your old, infected self to get your gear back.

Critics praised its atmosphere and permadeath system. A port called Zombi reached the PS4, Xbox One and PC in August 2015 without the multiplayer, to mixed reviews. Players call it the most talked-about underrated game on the console. They say the GamePad is what makes it, and that it is a lot better on the Wii U.

Pikmin 3 is the sequel to the GameCube games Pikmin (2001) and Pikmin 2 (2004), and it came out in Japan on July 13, 2013. Three Koppaite explorers, Alph, Brittany and Charlie, are sent to find food that will save their home planet. You direct Pikmin to build bridges, break barriers, carry spoils and fight. How the game ends depends on how much fruit you brought back.

It got generally positive reviews for its gameplay and level design. Pikmin 3 Deluxe came to the Switch on October 30, 2020. Players still say it gets some praise, but not as much as it deserves. Its fans call it a masterpiece and their favourite Wii U game, and some bought the console for it.

Nintendo Land came in the box with the Wii U at launch. It is a theme park with twelve attractions, based on series like Mario and The Legend of Zelda, and it was built to show what the GamePad could do. Its big idea is asymmetric play: the player on the GamePad has a different game from the players on Wii Remotes. Metroid Blast and Mario Chase grew out of Wii U tech demos shown at E3 2011.

It sold 5.21 million copies by March 2023, the fifth best-selling Wii U game, so lots of people own it. Players named it as underrated more than any other Wii U game. They say a lot of people played it once and set it aside, and they never hear anyone talk about it. For its fans it was the game to play when friends came over, and they wish it had become a series.