Wii U Retrospective: The Nintendo Failure That Became The Switch's Blueprint

The Wii U is Nintendo's lowest-selling home console, with 13.56 million units, and among all of its consoles only the Virtual Boy did worse. A weak launch lineup and thin third-party support hurt it, and the marketing never made clear that it was more than another Wii.

Even so, its ideas lived on. The Nintendo Switch arrived on March 3, 2017, barely a month after the Wii U was discontinued, and it kept and refined concepts the Wii U had introduced. On top of that, most of the Wii U's exclusive games were later ported to the Switch. (Nintendo's worst-selling home console turned out to be a very expensive prototype.)

Key facts

Released

November 18, 2012 in North America, November 30, 2012 in Europe, December 8, 2012 in JapanSource

Launch price

US$299 for the Basic Set, US$349 for the Deluxe SetSource

Units sold

13.56 millionSource

Best-selling game

Mario Kart 8, 8.46 million copiesSource

Controller

Wii U GamePad with a built-in touchscreenSource

Media

25 GB Wii U discs, and Wii discs tooSource

Discontinued

January 31, 2017Source

How a blue light became a screen in your hands

Nintendo first conceived the Wii U in 2008, after seeing that the public thought of the Wii as a console mainly for casual players, and it wanted core gamers back. Shigeru Miyamoto also admitted that the Wii's lack of HD and its limited network had set it apart from the PS3 and Xbox 360. However, the company could not agree on a direction, and the project started over from scratch several times.

The GamePad's screen began with the blue light on the Wii's disc slot, which lit up when new messages arrived. At first Miyamoto's team only wanted a small screen on the controller for feedback and status messages, much like the Dreamcast's VMU. Much later in development it grew into a full screen that could show the whole game.

When it launched, the Wii U was the first Nintendo console with HD graphics, and it played Wii games and used Wii accessories as well. Reviewers praised the GamePad and the lower price than its rivals, but criticized the hardware performance and the GamePad's short battery life.

The best Wii U games

Ranked by how often players recommend them, with picks other players backed counting extra. Super Mario 3D World takes #1, and Mario Kart 8 is second.

Every Wii U list

Handhelds for Wii U games

Only about one in five handhelds in our database plays Wii U games well, so this is still a console best played on the console.