The Wii U’s exclusives will ensure its relevance in the 8th generation

Doom! No not the game developed by ID Software, I am referring to the terminology used these days by several media outlets to describe Nintendo’s future. You see it on the internet on a daily basis these days in fact, if I do not see any doom and or gloom articles about Nintendo I have to check the calendar and make sure it isn’t April fools day.

My parents used to tell me when I was a kid that I was becoming obsessed with video games and it scared them a little. Nowadays, it isn’t the video games themselves that we should worry about people becoming obsessed with, it is the sales of video games and game consoles. The world is obsessed with sales! If a certain game doesn’t for some reason sell over a million units worldwide it must be a complete flop right? If the Wii U does not sell more than what the Wii sold worldwide it must be a failure right? The Wii U has no future right? Why am I being like this? Nintendo has recently released a new trailer showcasing Wii U exclusive games that have been released and games that have not yet been released. What this trailer tells me is one thing is certain about the Wii U: The exclusives it has makes it a must own system.

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Before I carry on, let me make one thing quite clear, I am fully aware of what a fanboy is and do not consider myself to be one. I am a big fan of Nintendo and a lot of their games but also fully appreciate the work of other developers. One of my favourite games of all time for example is Sega’s own Skies of Arcadia on the Dreamcast and hope they see sense one day and make a sequel. I respect peoples opinions of Nintendo as I too have my own opinions and I am in agreement with certain subjects surrounding them. For example, online functionality has always been something that has eluded them, yes there are some games that have good online functionality like Mario Kart 8 and Monster Hunter 3 but in general there is a LOT more Nintendo can and should do to improve online functionality on their consoles. Why can’t they just make a damn party chat system? A system in which I can play on Monster Hunter 3 while a friend of mine is playing Call of Duty and we can chat to each other still. Why not have some kind of achievement system? It’s not the be all and end all for me and many others but I know it will please a lot of people and it might make people appreciate their games more.

A lot of people were quick to write the Wii U off near the start of it’s life and said that it wouldn’t even sell as many unite worldwide as the Gamecube. Now saying that the Wii U will not sell as well as the Wii is slightly stating the blatantly obvious, it will most likely sell as well as the Gamecube in it’s lifetime and go down as a niche fan favourite console rather than a global success. That sounds fine to me as long as we get enough triple A titles along the way, we have had some already and there should still be plenty to come.


When people say that there are no games on the Wii U, it usually means that the games on the Wii U are different to a lot of games you will find on other consoles. For example, if all you want to play is the next Call of Duty or FIFA game, then the Wii U is probably not the console for you. OK so obviously I know there are a lot more than just Call of Duty and FIFA not coming to the Wii U, a lot of games that I would love to play too, but the Wii U offers different games that are unique. The Wii U has had game droughts already and I personally would consider right now to be one with only really Mario Kart 8 to keep me going until my next purchase which will be in September/October. There were games that were supposed to be released a long time before they were, games that should have been ready for the Wii U’s launch (I’m looking at you Pikmin 3!) thus causing game droughts. The fact that third party support has been dropping off as well has not helped when it comes to filling the gaps between big first party releases and getting as much third party support that we all want back on board the Wii U is not very likely. The Wii U will have some decent third party exclusives to come in it’s lifetime but the problem is that it won’t get near as many multiplatform games as the Xbox1 and PS4, but many will argue when the 8th generation is done that the Wii U had the best first party software in the 8th generation.

We have had some decent games thus far including some of the best platformers I have played in a long time such as Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze and Super Mario 3D World. Also we have had the outstanding Mario Kart 8, (read my review) Pikmin 3, The Wonderful 101 and the very underrated Zombie U. By the time Christmas hits this year, we will have had Hyrule Warriors, Bayonetta 2 (which comes bundled with the original Bayonetta) and hopefully the new Super Smash Bros. Us Europeans will unfortunately have to wait until February 2015 to get our hands on Captain Toad but I can bear that wait. Providing Smash Bros comes out by Christmas (and even if it doesn’t) the Wii U will look like a very good choice for a Christmas present with all these brilliant Wii U exclusives coming out not to mention the back log of games already out.

The Wii U is a must have system, people would argue that it is a great secondary system to have and while I agree with that it some respects I would challenge what they think the primary console is. If they think the Xbox1 or PS4 is the primary console I would say they are wrong, there are a lot more games out on the Wii U than either of those two consoles at the moment so it makes no sense right now to say either of those two consoles should be primary. It makes more sense to say that the PS3/Xbox360 or PC would be the primary console because of the amount of games they have in my opinion.


A lot of you might have heard of Nintendo’s latest business model: Amiibo. Following suit in what Skylanders and Disney Infinity has already given us, figurines of various characters that allow us to transport each figurine into the game via the NFC chip. Nintendo will too be releasing their own figures to do essentially the same thing. What is different is that each of Nintendo’s figures will be able to be transported into more than just one game making them a good choice in terms of value for the consumer. We are already aware that the new Smash Bros game is going to be the first game on the Wii U that will allow you to use Amiibo functionality, but what the figures will actually be able to do once transported into the game is still mostly a mystery.

My take is that once you transport your Amiibo figure into the game, you can have it fight against other characters as an AI gaining and building stats along the way. If this is the case it seems a little underwhelming in my view as I would prefer to actually play the game myself rather than watch an AI controlled character do it for me. Maybe (and most probably) I’m wrong about the whole thing and it will actually be awesome, one thing is for sure, I am interested to see where this Amiibo model will go in the future. Another question I have heard a lot of people ask about Amiibo is that there are a lot of figures including the Wii Fit Trainer, how are Nintendo going to incorporate her into Mario Kart 8? (which will also be using Amiibo functionality in the future) My guess is that you can only use certain Amiibo figurines in certain games and the Wii Fit Trainer along with others will not be able to be used in Mario Kart 8. Again, we don’t know much about Amiibo and maybe it will be the lift that Nintendo need right now and will take Nintendo places we didn’t dare to dream of at the beginning of the Wii U’s life.

In short, I think the Wii U will be fine, it will have a number of great first party exclusives, some third party exclusives and will deem itself worthy of having due to the exclusives it has whether you consider it a secondary console or not. To back up my case, please enjoy the following trailer released by Nintendo a couple of days showcasing some of the Wii U’s excellent exclusive games!

Uploaded by RajmanGaming HD

Written by Sammy J on 13 August 2014

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