Topic: How do you rate the Wii U's 2nd year in comparison to it's 1st?

With the release of Bayonetta marks the last game I'm going to buy n my 2nd year of owning a Wii U. It's been a little thinner on the ground for games, especially for 3rd party, but I wondered what has actually been the best year between the two? Below is my comparison list for the 1st and 2nd years of the Wii U's Release calendars.

BUUUT... My comparison lists follow a few rubber band rules.

1.I've listed Nintendo, 3rd party kids games and 3rd party 'adult' games as different partys. Games such as NSMBU and NSLU are listed as one game because one is merely an extension of the other.

2: Games that really are hideous shovelware and licensed cash in stuff are ignored (e.g: Ben 10, Hasbro Family Game Night).

3: Only retail releases are observed to keep it simple.

4: This is a UK list. Madden is not listed because of this, and the Scribblenauts mess is on UK release date. Year one starts when the Wii U was released in the UK on the 29th of November, and year Two Ends On the 29th of November. I'm counting Smash Bros as a year.

5: The line between year one and year two is a bit skewed, mainly for the reason I count the 2nd year starting with the 2nd Call of Duty (8th Nov). Arkham Origins and AC4 also break the rules. But it's my list so meh.

6: Obviously not all the games are out yet (Lego Batman 3, Sonic Boom, Watchdogs), but I've included them for the sake of where the line ends. Plus I think we can work out what at least two of these three will be like.

So what is the better year? Obviously 3rd party is leaner, but I would argue Ninty's 1st party line up has a slight edge in the 2nd year (even though W101 is in my top 3 all time favourite games). I'm saying there's been a slight improvement in the fun I've had with it this year. But what do you all think? Below are the categories, showing year one and year two.

NINTENDO YEAR 1
NSMBU/NSLU
Nintendo Land
Lego City: Undercover
Wonderful 101
Game and Wario
Pikmin 3
Zelda: Wind Waker

NINTENDO YEAR 2
Super Mario 3D World
Wii Sports Club U
Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze
Bayonetta 1/2
Wii Party U
Mario Kart 8
Hyrule Warriors
Wii Fit U

3RD PARTY KID FRIENDLY YEAR 1
Sonic Racing Transformed
Sonic Lost World
Rayman Legends
Epic Mickey 2
Just Dance 2014
Skylanders Giants
Skylanders Swap Force
Disney Infinity
Lego Batman 2

3RD PARTY KID FRIENDLY YEAR 2
Sonic And Mario Winter Games
Sonic Boom
Scribblenauts
Just Dance 4
Pacman and the Ghostly Adventure
Pacman and the Ghostly Adventure 2
Just Dance 2015
Skylanders Trap Team
Disney Infinity 2.0
Lego Batman 3
Lego Marvel
Lego Hobbit
Lego Movie

3RD PARTY SHOOTY/STABBY/PUNCHY/SPORTY GAMES YEAR 1
Arkham City
Assassin's Creed 3
Splintercell Blacklist
COD Black Ops 2
MH3U
Zombi U
Darksiders 2
Tank! Tank! Tank!
Resident Evil Revelations
Deus Ex
Warriors Orochi
Ninja Gaiden
Mass Effect 3
Injustice: Gods Among Us
Tekken Tag 2
NBA 2K13
Fifa 13
Need For Speed

3RD PARTY SHOOTY/STABBY/PUNCHY/SPORTY GAMES YEAR 2
Arkham Origins
Assassin's Creed 4
Watchdogs
COD Ghosts

First year was /10

Second year is /10

Why do the games need to split between adult, Nintendo and kids?

It's a shame 3rd party didn't look a little closer to year 1. If you had a game from 2 of the 4 major sports plus an extra or two random titles the over all line up would look a lot more balanced, but it is what it is. Personally I'll take year 2 because SMB3D and MK 8 are both amazing titles, but only because I haven't played a few of the year 1 games I picked up dirt cheap over the last couple months.

Year 2, if only because of Bayo 2 and Mario Kart and 3D world.

I'd say this year is better for a few reasons.

1. First Party lineup was better, and a tad more consistent. For a Nintendo console, that's a big deal.
2. Nintendo presented themselves and their console far better.
3. They showed that they were willing to adapt to market pressure.

A headscratcher that one.

As for the OP...
Worse for games?
Best for events?

Personally, this make any comparison useless. The indie game releases for Wii U has changed enormously during the past half year, with releases almost every week, and many many good releases, and a couple of solid Wii U-only releases. By limiting to retail, you also omit 3rd party releases that are digital-only on the Wii U (such as Child of Light). Personally, I play quite a lot eShop-only games, as well as retail games.

For example, this week there's 5 new eShop releases for Wii U in Europe:

• 1 eShop-only release of a 3rd party game (Falling Skies: The Game)
• 1 high-profile Wii U-only indie game (Stealth Inc 2: A Game of Clones)
• 3 other indie game releases (Cosmophony, Tetrobot & Co., Costume Quest 2)

1st year was satisfying

2nd year was awesome, best year for Nintendo in a long time.

3rd year is looking to blow me away

What @DefHalan said.

First year overall was better because of the tremendous third party support. Batman Arkham City: AE, Mass Effect 3:SE, Zombi U, even Deux Ex, are all masterpieces of Game Pad art. With first party, second year was stronger of course with DK and SM3DWorld on the top.. and now Bayonettas making the decision harder but I'll still choose the Zombi U year overall.

I think on reflection, and ignoring the Mario Kart - Hyrule Warriors drought over the summer, the 2nd year has to be considered more successful. I think Nintendo are now more aware of their direction as opposed to year 1 and while the quantity has been reasonably similar in my opinion, the quality this year has, and will continue to be exceptional. Taking nothing away from Wind Waker and 3D World, but in comparison MK8 and SSB are juggernauts. On top of that Hyrule Warriors and Bayonetta 2 have added a bit of still to the library. Just my opinion of course, but long may in continue. I love my Wii U and have just convinced no less than 3 friends to purchase the system, mainly through playing Bayonneta, Hyrule Warriors and MK8. Long live the king!

At least better than the first.

Simple.

A. Because Nintendo games are a very big reason we all buy Nintendo systems, not so much on the 3rd party.

B. Because it shows even though there were less 3rd party games in the 2nd year, there were actually more 'kid friendly' 3rd party games which I believe fit the system better.

C. It's my list and I;ll do what I want to. So nyah.

I think Ninty have done a good job in both years. However, I am disappointed with the VC progress

Both were equally lame~

I give the first year a Meh/10. I give the second year a Bayonetta 2/10

I would say it is better solely because of vastly inferior competition.

I'd say the first year was better. We got Mario Kart 8 and Donkey Kong this year, but alot of the Nintendo games came out last year. Wii U actually had a decent launch line-up, too, if you consider that anyone who actually bought a Wii U was probably willing to buy 7th gen ports like CoD Black Ops II, Tekken Tag 2, Darksiders, etc. Then we got Injustice, Monster Hunter 3, Resident Evil, Rayman, and a bunch of other games.

The people who actually bought the games and played them weren't bored. There were even less games this year than there were last year.

Xbox One and PS4's library aren't really worth writing home about, either. The only game worth buying on Xbox One was Dead Rising 3, and possibly Titanfall(which ended up getting updates to fix issues, plus additional content/features). It got CoD Ghosts, just like Wii U. Rayman, just like Wii U did, Tranformers and Spiderman, just like Wii U, and so on... Even if some of the games were a bit better on Xbox or PS, it was still basically the same, especially with last gen largely still having an impact on what we get in the first place.

From an October 31st, 2014 perspective? Lol no.

It's only going to get worse. After E3 2015, Nintendo will hit a brick wall along with SEGA as there's literally nothing outstanding on the Wii U that isn't associated directly with Nintendo. Almost every blockbuster title from November 2014 - June 2015 is on the competition's hardware. Nintendo fans are receiving Super Smash Bros., sure, but that's one game on a list of many, many others (that will be absent).