Topic: Should I keep my Wii U?

So what is it then?

I wonder what makes my story seem so unrealistic to you? I bought the system because a child was really excited to play the games on it. Shortly afterward, I was told the child would no longer be in my life. Ergo, I am not as excited to play the games on the system that I had been looking forward to playing with the child.
And I'm not trying to be a Nintendo-hater. I do like a lot of the classic Nintendo games (hello - $200 on the Virtual Console - lol). I'm just overly concerned that after a little over a month that the Gamepad is having issues. These same issues are coming up on several message boards, so I'm not alone. And I may add that the system was working perfectly before the latest system update. But if this is indicative of the quality of the system, to have the controller inexplicably stop mid-game (something that I've never had happen in the 30 years I've been gaming.)
And yes, it would be a huge loss of money to sell it now. But it may be better to cut my losses than to continue to load up Virtual Console titles and purchasing new titles that do not play accurately. I can't get Nintendo to return my emails about getting the Gamepad repaired, and their official website keeps giving me the runaround. Perhaps it would be better to just return to my Wii and try Monster Hunter.

Um, if you're not interested in Zelda, SSB, MK8, and Yoshi, why did you get it?

The OP just stated to play games with a child that is no longer in his/hers life.

Just sell your Wii U. Seriously just sell it.

On a more serious note, you should at least try out Monster Hunter 3 ultimate before selling it. At least you will enjoy something out of the money you will lose for selling it. That game can easily eat up hundreds of hours of you life EASILY.

Nintendo has a 1 year warranty. I don't see how they won't fix it for you....

I think he meant the fiance dumping story...could be wrong tho.

I did not see that you had tried Monster Hunter, Lego City Undercover, Pikmin 3 or the Wonderful 101.

And regarding having the Wii versions of Smash Bros and Mario Kart, those will lose their online connections in 3 months.

Sell it and buy a SNES. I have had my SNES for nearly 23 years and haven't had a controller fail me once!

Ha don't we all miss the reliability of older consoles? More complex they are just means more to break.

Aint that the truth. Even if you did have a problem all you had to do is blow into it. Funny thing is I still use my SNES controllers on my PC to this day and they still work as well as the day I got them.

I don't play online, regardless of the system, and I have a PS3 and Xbox 360. I'm guessing this is part of the reason games like Smash Bros or Mario Kart are not as appealing to me. Video gaming to me is not a social experience, and I have no interest in gaming with strangers online. I prefer a great single player experience, which is one of the reasons I went WiiU over PS4 and Xbox1.
I haven't tried the games listed above - Lego City due to its Gamepad requirement (remember, my Gamepad is screwy) - though it was one of the reasons I wanted a WiiU originally. Pikmin- I don't even know what that is. I did not follow Nintendo during the N64/Game Cube years (hence my original excitement for Wind Waker). I take it that Pikmin (and Wonderful 101) are some sort of RTS like Lemmings from the early 1990s or World of Goo from the WiiWare. I'm just nervous about trying something new that could be a bad game, and you're out $50. (I got burned with Wind Waker and ended up trading it in for $20 store credit.)
Monster Hunter, from what I can tell, is a Wii port. I could just pick up the Wii version and save some dough, right?
I do have an SNES (and NES). I was playing Mario 3 recently, and noted that it's every bit as enjoyable (if not more) than Mario WiiU. Many of the WiiU titles I've played just seem so ... unambitious and uninspired.

@DrWaites - I keep reading your name as DrWaifu. Just thought I'd let you know.

Just my 2cents, but if I were you I would keep trying to get Nintendo to fix your Wii U, if for no other reason than to be able to sell it at a higher price since it should still be under warrenty. You could also play Wii games on it if you don't have a wii anymore so maybe check out that section for some missed treasures, sounds like you would like xenoblade, and I really liked The Last Story. As for Wii U games, personally I am very much looking forward to mario kart, i know you said you had no interest, but there will be a new zelda at some point (I wasn't sure if you weren't impressed with zelda in general or just the Wind Waker) but I am also very intrigued with Watch Dogs, but that may also be very gamepad centric so again first thing's first, I would try to get your console fixed. Good luck with whatever you decide.

Thanks. I did finally hear back from Nintendo's customer service, and I'll see if they can come up with a suitable arrangement that doesn't involve moving the console to another part of the house where it is inconvenient to use it or to hamper access to the system. It should work the way I want or I'm getting rid of it. (The only trouble I've had was my XBox 360's disc drive breaking, but that was after years of use.)
Strangely, I'm not a massive Zelda fan, even of the old school NES games. Not having an N64 I missed out completely on Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask. I tried Twilight Princess on the Wii and didn't like the motion controls. I never tried Skyward Sword (not having a Motion Plus Controller).
My main beef with Wind Waker was that it felt very dated...not old school or retro, but "dated." Not even graphically, because I love even Atari 2600 games. It's the lack of save features, the back tracking when you die, the absence of journal, quest, or helpful map functions to keep players on track. But the worst offense to me was the lack of direction, the obtuse puzzles that I couldn't solve without constant Internet guides. In the first dungeon I got stuck and had to commit suicide because I couldn't backtrack and get the Big Key. This put me at the start of the dungeon, so I lost hours of time. As a busy adult, that just can't happen anymore. You should be able to save and be forgiven for your mistakes (which are more design failures within the game anyway). Also the game is terribly linear. You can't progress until you do A, B, and C - in that order. Western-style RPGs such as Fallout 3 let you explore, follow your interests, interact with the game in the way you choose. If you get frustrated with something or stumped on a puzzle, there's a wealth of other things for you to do. Wind Waker isn't like that. It's a very shallow game with a limited experience.

And I don't mean this to sound snarky, but it's a legitimate question: what are the big improvements for Mario Kart and Smash Bros? Sure, there's a tad more graphical polish, and there are a handful of new racers and courses (or fighters and arenas), but is there a true compelling reason? To me, it's about like getting excited to see the new rosters on the next Madden game or something.

From my past experiences doing this, I almost always regret it. It's a long shot, but it's possible as soon as you decide to move on, an exclusive will get announced that you feel like you must play. But it is your money and nobody knows your gaming likes and dislikes better than you do. If you really don't like the system and don't see anything on the horizon you'd be interested in and don't mind the fact you won't get back as much as you paid, maybe it is best to get rid of the system. I'd recommend really taking some time to think about though before pulling the trigger.

It seems you've complained about every game on the system. So don't sell it. Throw it away. You already have a PS3 and 360? Then you likely don't need any future systems considering the catalog of games may last your life.

I'm not going to rant about how stupid the idea of selling it is, it's clear you're convinced it's a useless piece of kit for whatever reason. I don't agree but that's cool I guess. However selling it broken to Game Stop with "$200+" of VC games seems ridiculous.

If I was you and was in that spot well firstly I wouldn't sell it but anywho. If I was to sell it I'd first see if I could get it repaired by Nintendo or at least try and troubleshoot the problem. Then once that was resolved I'd again reassess whether or not to sell it. If I was still convinced to sell it I'd go to an online buy/swap/sell site and ask for a lot more than $117 for it. Take pictures of all of the content you've brought on it and make a point of saying that's all on there. Sell it for at least $250. Someone will bite, guaranteed.

Online play that'll still be usable. 😤 Until a couple years after the launch of the next console, of course. Not that any of that matters to you, as you've stated.

Super Smash Bros. will have some tweaked mechanics or something and will lack a story mode, while Mario Kart 8 will be a home console version of Mario Kart 7, with some Mario Kart Wii thrown in. I can't think of a true compelling reason at the moment.

My advice is to do what @skywake says here:

If I was to sell it I'd first see if I could get it repaired by Nintendo or at least try and troubleshoot the problem. Then once that was resolved I'd again reassess whether or not to sell it. If I was still convinced to sell it I'd go to an online buy/swap/sell site and ask for a lot more than $117 for it. Take pictures of all of the content you've brought on it and make a point of saying that's all on there. Sell it for at least $250. Someone will bite, guaranteed.