Topic: Help this mama out - wii U or switch?

Hey everyone,

We are looking to get my 5 year old son his first Nintendo video game system. He currently plays Disney infinity on the PS4, but that's the only thing he can play on that system. His birthday is on Christmas so we were thinking it would be fun to give him some more age appropriate games. We ordered the wiiU from GameStop and now I'm reading all of this stuff about the new system coming out in March? Should we stick with the wiiU or wait and get the switch when it comes out. Obviously, a 5 year old is not going to notice picture quality or anything like that, but I am concerned that the wiiU will be completely old news in a few short months. Any suggestions? He already has an iPad with games so we are not interested in a DS. We want a gaming system that we can all participate and play, and eventually for little sister to enjoy playing as well.

Thanks in advance for all of your help!

Give him a retro console like a NES or SNES (the new NES Mini perhaps?). That will give your 5 year old room to breath from his PS4 and iPad gaming sessions.

Since he's a youngin, he's not going to know the difference between the shiny new console and the one released in 2012. I'd say go for the wii u, it has a full library's worth of child friendly games that I'm sure he'll love. You can get new Super Mario Bros U or even Mario 3D World if he likes a challenge. He can even test out his creative side with you or dad by making some levels in Mario maker together it would be a very fun Christmas and birthday present I think

The Wii U won't get any new games anymore (maybe an occasional indie game). The last game will be The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. I doubt that's something your son will be interested in anyway, and that game will also be released on the Switch. That's something you need to know, what you see is what you get. That being said, the Wii U has a pretty good library of amazing games, and I'm sure that you can find a better deal on a good Wii U bundle during black Friday, than the Switch will be at launch.

My five year old daughter loves our Wii U, but she is also excited about the upcoming Switch. As mentioned above the Wii U game library is almost 100% released there will be very few titles coming out in the future. If you wait you might see the Wii U get marked down, clearanced, or go on sale as the Switch gets closer. No store will want Wii U inventory come March.

As other have mentioned, the Wii U is pretty much nearing its end, it's last week news. But if you really want to gift him with a new console this Christmas, the Wii U is the best you can get now.
The Wii U won't get more games, but it already has plenty of great and age appropriate games for your child. Some like New Super Mario Bros, Nintendo Land (great ,under-appreciated party game up to 5 players) and Super Mario 3D World can already be found at discounted prices on the Nintendo Selects line. I am quite confident he will have much more fun with the Wii U than the PS4.
The Switch coming in March will be starting its game library from square one, it could take some years to gather an equivalent amount of Nintendo games.

I don't think having the latest tech is that important for a child that young, as long as he is playing games he likes and the Wii U has dozens of those. I can only tell that by my personal experience, I started playing video games with the NES at the age of five. It was the middle of the 90's, so the Super NES was already ageing and the NES was considered obsolete. I didn't mind it, but back then we didn't have access to that much information so I couldn't really have an accurate perception of what I was missing out.

My advice is get the Wii U in time for his birthday this year, get the Switch later on, in a year or two if you can.

PS: Games worth checking out on the Wii U for young children: Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U + New Luigi U, Lego Dimensions, Lego Marvel and all the Lego games, Skylanders, Kirby and the Rainbow Paintbrush, Yoshi's Wooly World, Super Mario 3D World, Mario Party 10, Sonic Lost World, Wii Sports Club, Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed, Mario Kart 8, Rayman Legends and Splatoon to name a few.

@Auburnnike I advise you hold out for a Wii U firesale in the approach to Christmas before deciding, but err on the side of Wii U.

Unless your lifestyle is one of 'keeping up with the Jones'', and the Jones' just happy to be flashy so-and-sos, a 5 year old does not need to know that a games machine is the 'latest thing' or not.

The Wii U has a great selection of exclusive family friendly games, but also plays every game launched on the Wii, which adds a massive amount of 'family fun' type games. If you're prepared to buy 'used' games then you can save a fortune in games, afford to experiment a bit, and have great fun for the next 2 or 3 years with it.

The Switch is still a bit of an unknown. But if you like the look of portable gaming so much why don't you consider scrapping the Wii U/Switch idea and buy each member of the family a 2DS instead?

Thank you all for your help. I guess my biggest concern was the fact that they won't be making many more (or any) new games once the Switch comes out. I think we will go with the WiiU this year. It looks like there are a ton of games for the system already that my son will love, and I will love the price tag if they are trying to clear shelf space in the months/years to come! Thank you all again for the advice. I think he will love it!

Does it have to be a console? You could get him a 2DS. The library (3DS games) is much larger and it's receiving new titles next year. It's also super cheap and durable for a child.

I'm sure that will keep him busy until the next holiday season, when you can get him a Switch and some games.

I don't think it should be much of an issue really. I grew up with a Game Boy at that age and my parents still set perimeters

@TheLZdragon I think couch multiplayer and co-op is a plus in this case, hence the preference for home consoles. And in this regard there isn't anything quite like Wii U on the market. Five year olds tend to need an helping hand from the grown-ups and in games like NSMB U or 3D World they get that.
The OP states:

We want a gaming system that we can all participate and play

get him the retro NES, that has the perfect games to play growing up. plus he's only 5 he doesn't need video games/expensive video games yet

I agree the NES Classic Edition is perfect for a child his age. It's probably alot more durable too then say a Wii U gamepad for younger kids.

Well, a few other things to take note of is that the Switch isn't out until march 2017. so that's the christmas 2016 idea already gone. Plus, with the Switch, nobody knows the launch period games yet, there might not be many games that will be appropriate for a 5 year old for a while after it's release.
The WiiU at the moment stands as a better choice for now as there are alot of great games that can be picked up at reasonable prices, alot of them being games that a 5 year old would really enjoy.
I have 2 nephews that come over with their mum, 6 & 3. They're both like Minecraft, Mario 3D world, Lego city under cover, Zelda wind waker, Mario Kart 8, and Mario Maker.
The WiiU is also bacwards compatible with the original Wii, so there's another huge library of games to look at. Plus there's a ton of games on the eShop that can be downloaded, which includes most of, if not all of the games that are featured on the NES mini.

The Wii U is great if you don't own another Nintendo system. Great exclusives like Lego City Undercover and (for the moment) Splatoon, Wii backwards compatibility, a HUGE Virtual Console selection... If you can find one for a good price this Black Friday, I do recommend it.

Id go with the wii u.
He would get it for christmas and not easter.
There ia great games for it.
You can get great games for cheap.
You can play wii gamea on it.
Lots of great wii games are cheap.
It will definitely keep him busy for long or until he makes the switch

The WiiU may be in its twilight but it is several systems in one. It is a fully functioning wii in addition to the virtual console library. Both of those libraries are cost effective and you have access to numerous games that will tide your child over and you and your family can play together. As of right now we know nothing about the games or the pricing of the NS but we do know it is not backwards compatible. So your library will be whatever comes out at launch.

Definitely, without a doubt, go for the Wii U. My kids have dropped the gamepad so many times, and it's survived with barely a scratch. The resistive touchscreen gives a layer of protection to the screen that the Switch will not have, not to mention those tiny losable Switch controllers.

The Wii U has enough quality, kid-friendly games to last a few years, like Yoshi's woolly world, nintendoland, Mario 3d world, Mario kart, splatoon, captain toad, Lego city undercover, poken tournament, Zelda wind waker, etc, and it's also compatible with original Wii games, and you can hack the 'wii mode' fairly easily to enable you to play games from many other consoles via emulators. Even GameCube classics. You'll need to buy a wiimote and sensor bar to do that though, really. There are literally over two thousand games playable on a Wii U from just the GameCube, Wii and Wii U alone.

Yes, the Wii U has basically reached the end of the 'getting brand-new quality retail games' period. Good! The games will hopefully come down in price a bit, . Original Wii games are pretty cheap to buy nowadays.

Also, and this may be a minor point, but the gamepad touchscreen interface is the best way to control Netflix on any home console, and the on-screen keyboard will be very familiar to your son if he's used to using an ipad.

Finally, the console user-experience is designed to be friendly and safe for kids. Nintendo has their own, heavily-policed, safe social network called 'miiverse' where you can share messages, drawings and screenshots, and there's almost never anything objectionable on the eshop.

I guess my only caveat is that even though the gamepad with the touchscreen is pretty rugged, if it does break, they're expensive to replace. Official repairs from Nintendo are also expensive. One silver lining though, is that if it's just the screen that breaks, replacement LCD panels are actually pretty cheap on eBay, and can be fitted by any confident, patient person with no extra special skills required.

So yeah, I'd definitely go with the Wii U for a 5-yr-old. If your kid was 12 or 13, or that age when there's pressure to be 'cool' then I'd say wait for the switch (or a ps4 pro), but for a 5-yr-old, then absolutely definitely the Wii U.

Just to note - not all of the games are /just/ for kids. Mario kart is for everyone, as is splatoon. Mario 3d world stays too easy for too long IMHO, but the later levels do have a real challenge. Xenoblade chronicles is a big complex RPG. Paper Mario is cartoony but pretty universal as far as I can see. Affordable space adventures is not for babies. Kind of like Pixar films - enjoyed by everybody except edgy teenagers

I will suggest something different.
Get a 2nd hand Wii console with a lot of classic game titles bundled with it. It is easy to find a good deal.
For a 5 year old get the console with some titles like Mario Galaxy, Mario Super Bros. and Kirby (many good games) and maybe Pikmin 2, Just Dance or Sports Resort. You will have loads of fun for the money. These games are so good that it never really got much better.
My son is now 11 and we have both Wii and Wii U. He got the Wii when he was 5. Even now we very often play the "old" Wii games together simply because they are so GOOD. My son finished Pikmin 2 on Wii on his 6yr birthday.
(Personally I think the quality of Wii games was Wii U's worst enemy.)
Then when your kid is a bit older - who knows what will be ?

The Wii U plays all Wii games as well if you can get them. The new Switch (?) console has NO backwards compatibility with any platform. And the Gamepad is a totally awesome controller no matter what.

Lastly a rather nasty thing: We waited for years for Pikmin 3 for Wii. Then it was announced for Wii U only. Then we bought a Wii U. Then we waited another year before Pikmin 3 was released. Now we have been waiting 4 years for Zelda. Even before its release Nintendo announces a new platform and denounces Wii U. (and withhold the game release for another couple of years!). This is absolutely ridiculous. Don't ever rely on a game actually being released. Play the great stuff that is already there!
/kind regards

Truthfully, I would suggest a 2DS, as it is way more durable and portable than the Wii U or Switch, and is much more inexpensive. But if it has to be a console, I would recommend the Wii U, as the Switch is way too much of a mystery at this point. Plus, it has an impressive library of games, and, as everyone else has said, can play the entire Wii library too.