Topic: Is anyone else disappointed with the Wii U's 1st Party lineup?

I haven't bought into it yet, but that said....HD games take time. Nintendo has some great looking titles lined up for the near future, and after smash bros releases marketing will shift back to those

For me personally, I'll wait a while longer and catch up on my PC/Handheld gaming.. Once Nintendo has finished creating the engines they need to tackle HD (splatoon, zelda), they should be able to pick up the pace.

I am because it is all so short and easy. (And I hate the fan noise so only go for digital).

I'm not. At least nearly every game they're putting out is top-notch thus far. I skipped Mario Kart 8 and Wii U Party, but even those were very tempting. I still need Tropical Freeze and Wii Sports Club, too.

No, I have to disagree with the OP, I am enjoying the Wii U more than the Wii, and I can't really comment on the Gamecube because I sold it for a Xbox right after launch in 2001.

Nintendo's first party offerings have been pretty stellar so far,..........New Super Mario Bros. U, Pikmin 3, Wind Waker HD, Super Mario 3D World, DKC: Tropical Freeze, Mario Kart 8.............so of them are some of my favorite games in their respective years.

The problem is that first party offerings are 50% of everything on the system, the Wii U needs more quality software (and I'm not counting 5 dollar eShop titles, please)

No though if you asked me a year ago I'd have said definitely yes. To me the fact that Nintendo is embracing DLC to further expand their games is making the small quantity of games not really an issue (outside of console sales but that's something different).

I've put over 350 hours into Mario Kart 8 which is due to getting all unlockables (including Gold Glider), GameXplain's Saturday weekly tournament, Nintendo Life tournaments featuring real prizes and finally reaching 9999VR before the Mercedes update. Now if the DLC wasn't coming I'd be completely burnt out unless more tournaments featuring real prizes happened but as 8 new tracks are coming in a month, the lifespan will be even larger.

Hyrule Warriors also has a lot of DLC coming including a completely new Adventure mode map (not even half way through the one on disc) and new story levels (completed Legend mode but still have lots of collectibles to get in it).

In fairness you said "to me", but the small amount of games are still an issue, MK8 is addicting, it's a title I'll still be playing during the Wii U's last days (unless Diddy Kong Racing U comes out).............but most people haven't stuck 350 hours into it.......thiers nothing wrong with that...............but a lot of gamers who are over 18 will play a game for a week or two and move on to the next thing, only going back once and a while, making the Wii U's software droughts a problem.

OP said first party lineup, not the entire lineup, which is definitively lacking a variety of titles while frontloading the usual titles with scraps inserted.

I played far fewer Wii games before I bought them than I have with Wii U games. The reason is that the Wii's hardware itself was compelling enough to drive me to buy it at launch. Also, I'm a lot older than I was when the Wii came out so I have more freedom to drive around and demo as I please.

I'm quite a bit more skeptical about buying a Wii U, so I wanted to give a fair shot to a lot of the 1st party titles. And to be fair, I expected a lot of them to be good. I expected Hyrule Warriors to be exciting, I expected SM3DWorld to be as good as Galaxy (The level design is still solid, but it's hampered by ass backwards controls), and I expected Mario Kart 8's level design to blow me away. None of those things really came to fruition.

I disagree that motion control couldn't be expanded upon a meaningful way. The control scheme has always been incredibly limited by the range of motion for which it could be accurate. It has further been limited by the fact that some people think its too far removed from reality to feel like reality. Improving the sensing technology, adding better filtering, and adding better haptic feedback can all improve that.

Additionally, IR sensing can be used for head tracking, which works well in tandem with motion controls.

There were tons of ways Nintendo could have built upon the Wii. They CHOSE not to.

Yes, of course we do, variety is the spice of life, I love my racers, and I don't mind the odd sports title here and there...........this is something that Reggie promised pre Wii U launch, and something that they ultimately failed at...........Microsoft and Sony both offer a superior selection of genres, and although I won't be playing MK8 or Tropical Freeze on my PS4, I also won't be playing Infamous, Destiny, The Last of Us, or Driveclub on my Wii U (throw in the Microsoft titles if you want).

3rd year's the charm

I'm not at all disappointed by the first party line-up. I'm only disappointed by my wallet's lack of holding.

Nintendo wasn't ready to release games when the Wii U launched. They launched it at the time, because they assumed third party companies would support their system. Nintendo didn't really start releasing games until August of 2013, so consider now to be the first year of Wii U, and 2015 to be the second year, and there's a lot of games coming in 2015.

I wouldn't say I'm disappointed, but I'm in a similar boat where I just feel 2 games have been impressive being Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and Mario Kart 8. They're the only two titles that have enough effort in terms of their detail to make me feel Nintendo's move into HD was worth it. All the other titles haven't really done anything worthwhile to me, at least not enough to make me think they're a good fit for the Wii U.

Super Mario 3D World completely goofed what's so great about Super Mario 3D Land just by simply being made for the Wii U, as 3D Land offered a near perfect handheld experience for a 3D Mario title with its more bit-sized approach. To me, it doesn't really feel right on the Wii U, and had SMG2 not taken such a big dump on SMG I would consider putting it at the bottom of my 3D Mario experiences.

Pikmin 3 came out around 9 years after Pikmin 2? I think Pikmin 3 is not just heavily stripped down in terms of backstory, which was a great aspect of Pikmin 2, but also in terms of gameplay and general atmosphere. The game only has six major bosses if I recall, and as a result, the world feels pretty unthreatening and controlled to me. I think the game's biggest threat to my Pikmin squad has actually been adjusting to the new controls. Aiming in this title has really been off, doesn't matter if it's with Wii Motion + or Game Pad, and the developers had to know that because iirc the game features lock-on. Pikmin 3 is the worst in the series in my opinion, being very unpolished compared to both previous entries.

New Super Mario Brothers U is all right, probably the best of the these three titles so far, but I've always felt that the New Super Mario Brothers series has been a more enjoyable and unique experience with its handheld experiences. Having New Super Mario Brothers 2 and New Super Mario Brothers U release so close to each other in 2012 really made that stand out to me. While New Super Mario Brothers 2 did something that's never been done before, going all out with a theme on coins and their collection, New Super Mario Brothers U basically produces an HD-make of New Super Mario Brothers Wii. If there's one thing I really like about NSMBU, it's the fact that it began naming levels, which gave the levels of the game more character outside of completely feeling like retreads from prior NSMB games. That said, it's "been there, done that" vibe is excessive within its own series and for a release launching Nintendo's new direction in household gaming.

I don't know if I should even get into Nintendo Land and Game & Wario. For some reason, both with the Wii and Wii U, Nintendo has decided to make games that use their unique hardware to provide a family gaming experience. For the most part, these kind of games feel the most unpolished of any of their other releases, and it doesn't make much sense to me why they can't just stick to Mario Kart and Smash Brothers to provide that family gaming experience at a much higher quality. I will admit though that I have enjoyed my time with my family while playing these two games, but again I can also just as easily have a memorable experience with my family with MK and Smash. Nintendo's strive to have innovative inputs sometimes really gets in the way of their quality.

Since Super Smash Brothers U is coming soon, I will say right now that if Smash 3DS ends up being my most played 3DS title, it's got no chance with me. Since the Nintendo DS, I've enjoyed my handheld experiences significantly more than my console experiences. Putting down $60 for what would be, for me, the inferior version of Smash 4 is close to something I'm not even considering. To me, Mario Kart 8 was the only major title Nintendo had this year for the Wii U.

I'm interested in the rest of 2014, specifically with Bayonetta 2 coming out pretty soon and then Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker probably hitting December, and I'm highly interested in Nintendo for 2015 on the Wii U. 2012 and 2013 though were pretty big duds and I hope Nintendo doesn't start any future system with that again.

I find the first party offering really good, im quite fine with it, NSMBU is the best mario game, DKCTF easily among the best platform games ever created, Mario Kart 8 its superb, im not sure we should count W101 and Bayonetta2

But i do feel it lacks "variety", had a blast with most nintendo games but a RPG, adventure or other kind of game from time to time would be much better

We all know that the Wii U needs that Fire Emblem game soon.

Last I checked the N64/GC was getting quite a lot of love. More than the SNES era tends to anyway outside of that small period where all portable games were basically SNES ports. If you look at what games are big on Wii U and 3DS it's all Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, Luigi's Mansion, Pikmin, Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, StarFox. This is fan service 101 type stuff. You take popular childhood memories and shove it down their throats. If you're missing that then... maybe look a bit closer. Because for me, as a SNES kid? This is enough for me to go weak at the knees...

........... GC and N64 kids still get whole ports of games and direct sequels

SM3DW isn't supposed to be 3D Land on the Wii U. It's the first Mario game where multiplayer matters IMO, and with more variation than SMG1+2.

Is it the pre-2.0.0 version you played, regarding Gamepad aiming? And FWIW, we've spent about 150 hours in Pikmin 3, almost all of that time in Bingo Battle and the co-op Mission modes (including the DLCs). Pikmin 3 is such an amazing game.

This is a game I really think is extremely boring myself. Nice that there are different games for different needs.

3D World was everything 3D Land wanted to and should've been. A perfect balance of new and old with enough variation and creative lengths to make sure it never gets stale.

@iKhan - FYI, HW has motion controls, my youngest likes playing that way. I'm not sure how all the moves work exactly but he was swinging that Wiimote all over the place and the character on screen was swinging w/ him. When you start the game up you can choose DW or Zelda controls, I'm assuming Zelda means motion. I don't think motion would work using the Gamepad though

Also, you seem confused by what "1st party" means. 2 games you mentioned in your original statement, Wonderful 101 and Lego City, are NOT 1st party, they are exclusives, but not 1st party, Nintendo did not make them.

Disappointing is a relative and personal term of emotion and can be endlessly debated, but Wii U certainly has less titles than Wii had, 1st, 2nd or 3rd party, exclusive or multiplat. Wii was famous and sold well for "Sports" and Fit, but gamers had Zak and Wicki, Elebits, Red Steel, No More Heros, Mad World and the Mario sports games and Paper that you mentioned. Variety and quantity was greater. It also launched w/ Zelda: Twilight Princess which was a great game. Sure it was a Gamecube port but it was still a Wii title for early adopters who wanted the Wii's motion controls.

I think the Wii U is a great system w/ some great games, finally it took them long enough, and should be selling much better compared to X1 and PS4 w/ it's current games and announced - but as of yet undated - line-up. But compared to Wii it is lacking in some areas, I don't see how anyone could deny that.