Topic: The Wii U release drip VS Older Nintendo consoles

So, I often find myself extremely frustrated at the slow pace at which "important" or "big" games are released for the U. It's been discussed to death, so there's no point in bringing up specific examples, but a thought occurred to me today... I sold my Wii U a while ago, and I've been thinking of repurchasing one, so I started a mental list of games to buy, and to my surprise, I felt like there was a lot I missed out on and have to catch up on.

I previously thought that N64 and Gamecube had MUCH better release pacing than the Wii U, but when I started lining up how many good games the U had vs the 64 and Cube, to my surprise, there didn't seem to be such a big difference numbers. So, which of the following is true:

1.) The Wii U's releases aren't any slower than Cube/64 generations. It just seems that way maybe because I'm getting older/impatient/some other reason?

2.) The releases ARE slower, and I'm just not realizing how many classics/great games there are In those older libraries.

This one has me pretty perplexed, especially considering that the Wii U still has another year+ of releases, including Pokken Tourney, SMTxFE, maybe Zelda, etc...

Releases seem slower because 3rd party support is almost non existent.

So essentially they ARE slowe, and maybe I'm not realizing it because my primary reason for owning Nintendo consoles are first party releases so I'm looking in the wrong area.

Spot on. Nintendo has lost some amazing 3rd party players for their consoles. The weight is on Nintendo to produce the AAA titles now.

I wouldn't say the releases are slower than on any previous Nintendo console, I usually got about 5 or 6 games a year on other Nintendo consoles, I definitely got more games per year on the Wii U, 6 to 7 on average I think. But like @Darth_Vader said, it probably seems a lot slower because apart from their first party games, there aren't much games coming out for the system.

The Nintendo output is actually pretty high for the WiiU which is impressive with the balancing act they have to do for the 3ds. If you like all Nintendo franchises you have almost 10 games a year for the system. No other single dev matches that. The lack of 3rd party makes it look worse than it is.

Thanks to third party support we'll get more retail releases this year(based on current EU retail releases released and scheduled for 2015 at this point), than last year. Still not more than 30 games though.

I think you also need to bear in mind the longer development cycle working in HD requires simply because the art assets need to be more detailed to look good. Even though they don't need to build a new engine, the DLC for Mario Kart 8 must be significant in terms of the effort required - I mean it looks as good as the stuff in the core game and includes new music as well. I've got such a backlog of VC content that I don't mind there's nothing grabbing me between now and Star Fox Zero (though there will be eshop titles no doubt), but I do sympathise with people who aren't finding their kind of games coming as quickly as they'd like. I'd say if you're going to be a Wii U owner then it's time to broaden your horizons - there's a lot of good stuff there!

I think we're just bred to rip through content faster these days. The internet is...well, everywhere, so working your way through difficult sections and whatnot is about as hard as searching for a tip video on YouTube (I did this to get all the stars in NSMBU...heh). So, really, a part in a game that would have stumped me 15-20 years ago would likely take me a LONG time to get through - searching magazines, asking friends/family for help, etc. Nowadays, 10 seconds later - BAM - here's how to get all the stuff, just follow this video exactly, etc.

In all honesty, as a 12 year-old "me" playing something like Pikmin 3 or even 3D World - I could see myself spending an entire year on just one of those games, trying to find everything, truly mastering it, etc. But as the current-time "me" (age specifically left out...I'm old lol), Pikmin 3 took me all of...uhm... 2 weeks? Maybe? And then I was back "in line," waiting for Nintendo's next game... so it feels like a long time.

I think it's been pretty weak compared to N64 and Gamecube but it's partly down to the fact that Wii U hasn't got many 'wow' games (in gameplay or graphics) but pretty much every N64 and GC game had top end graphics to go with top gameplay. I don't think this generation will have many contenders for my favourite games of all time but had all the best Wii U games come out in 2006-2010, we'd have been blown away. My main complaint is that Nintendo normally manage to match or better all their rivals in a variety of genres but they pretty much stuck to Platformers this gen. Platformers, Smash, Kart, Minigames and a couple of Platinum gems.

A lot of it has to do with your money. Many people wouldn't be able to afford every VC purchase they're interested in, period, unless maybe they were upgrading the Wii VC games for $1.50-$2 a piece. That applies, as well as keeping you interested in newer and more varied stuff. Everything on VC has already existed on past consoles(obviously), so a "drip" release schedule could also be pushing you to software THAT IS available.

A lot of the software Wii U has had, has been ignored by some people. I bought a Wii U, with the intent of buying the multiplatform games that it was sharing with Xbox 360 and PS3, because those were the new games out for ANY platform. That's why even the port launch games still held a bit of value. I had an Xbox 360, but something like Tekken Tag 2(which is still the newset entry, after almost 3 years) most likely wouldn't have grabbed my attention on Xbox 360, because Wii U was/is one of the newest consoles, and Namco is one of the bigger 3rd parties.

From my perspective, the 3rd parties pushed their games hard enough for a launch owner to pay attention to said games. Every platform has a preview video of some sort by now, so people are going to buy what is there, and that applies to anything from 3rd parties have released, to VC abd indie. That's why some indie games that were exclusive on Xbox One, Wii U, or PS4, are making their way to other platforms, because anything from money, timing, to gamer interest is relevant.

yep good post. kids have so many options these days, they just disrespect them all and keep whining "next". i didn't have a Wii U until last month because there were just too many good games i wanted to play NOW. despite the fact that i have SO many games on the backlog, so many absolutely brilliant games that i've never even started, brilliant games i'm half way through. i cannot believe the audacity of these kids to be whining about how often a 'AAA' title comes out when they haven't even scratched the surface on AAA titles from the past 5, 10, 20 years. also when they whine about a game they want coming out on Virtual Console, then you never hear from them again - where are the updates? you always get kids whining and whining until they get what they want and then you never hear of it again. where's all the Earthbound discussion now that it's on the eShop? where are all the people that were whining about that for months and months? are they too busy actually playing it now? of course not, they're just whining about something else.

@martinskrtel37: because people want new? its the same with movies, people want new movies. you cant tell and expect people to go and watch backlogs of great movies since the 1940's and stop expecting new movies from their favorite franchises. it just people wanting new stuff. and there is nothing wrong with that.

The Wii was actually similar to the Wii U late in its lifespan, it had a lot of platformers late in its life and not a lot of variety. The difference between Wii and Wii U is that the Wii had some gems earlier on that the Wii U is lacking. They've been playing things extremely safe this gen, mainly going for surefire hits, avoiding large scale games, and doing virtually nothing to change up the experience. Not a very exciting lineup.

It’s never been as good as today, ever, if you ask me. We’ve been internet biased a lot though - if the internets are against you, your market splash is limited. I know the wii U had exactly that against it, causing slowdown in momentum and subsequently generating a niche platform.

In the n64 days, I knew jet force gemini was coming 1,5 years ahead. I had to be patient. Perfect dark was the same thing. And I bought those games at prices you wouldn’t believe, as games and their retail price have not risen along with inflation. So corrected to those days, imagine youngsters saving money and buying a single game for 140 bucks today, or 180 even. Are you still on board?

There’s more content now than there ever was. Seriously. Even on nintendo platforms. The wii was crazy popular, so its increase in volume should mean something to statistics, but we all know we’re not waiting for the return of petz: horsez with makeupz and its twelve iterations. Meanwhile, development effort has increased, scaled to insane proportions even, while prices remained flat.

Content, content and more content is what we have. This generation has me stumped in my inability to play all the great games on all the platforms due to the volume of great content everywhere. We are like kids in a candy store on a sugar rush and with that, increasingly less satisfied as the belly bulges, the craving grows, but the appreciation has long gone.

But playing the best games out there, like pikmin 3, or bayonetta, or mario kart, or black flag or splinter cell, or many others - I can play these games for months, and do. Buying them is buying art, playing them is enjoying art, and experiencing those quality games makes for a life enriching experience. Just don’t throw them out like the pop song that’s on top this week and the “star” that’s out the next.

Don’t let the bite sized, numbing and voluminous internets fool you.

Yeah, I think it's definitely a case of us being spoilt for choice. I mean it's hard to make comparisons given that other things have changed since but when I was a kid I was lucky to get two games a year. And it was often stuff that would now pass as an indie title you'd play around with for a weekend. When Pokemon Red came out I don't think I played anything else until Yellow came out. And yet on the Wii U I'll probably get four games between now and the end of the year and... apparently that's "not a lot"

I know my collection isn't reflective of what the actual library is like. But when I look at my Wii U library and compare it to my Wii collection? The Wii U hasn't done too bad at all.

I think it's the lack of third party support that really makes it seem worse.
Nintendo have really been putting out a lot of software all things considered, and god bless us as fans we'll always want more than what we have

Thankfully there's heaps of indie gems on the eShop that I would heartily recommend to anyone who's a little salty about no third party software. Really helps fill in the gaps.

I don't think that Nintendo's output is really all that different when compared with past generations (particularly when we consider the added costs and time required for creating games in HD or in the case of the 3DS, in 3D), however, the lack of third party support makes the library as a whole feel really barren (particularly outside of the lucrative holiday period), but when I look ahead, between now and the end of the year, there are plenty of games (most of them "must have") coming to Wii U… and that's not including all of the amiibo releases, 3DS games, VC releases (however few they may be) and indie games that will also be released in the coming months...

Devil's Third
Super Mario Maker
Project Zero: Maiden of the Black Water
Rodea and the Sky Warrior
Star Fox Zero
Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash
Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival
Guitar Hero Live
Xenoblade Chronicles X

All in all, not a bad list of upcoming releases, however, I didn't particularly enjoy Mario Tennis Open on 3DS, and considering the jerky animations in the trailer (which were identical to the 3DS version), I'm not sure if I'll enjoy Ultra Smash. I'm hoping for a more traditional Tennis mode akin to that in Wii Sports Club. Amiibo Festival also looks like a ridiculous waste of time and money, but… amiibo. I can't rationalise this or try to justify myself with sense or reason… I'm just doped out on amiibo. At least it's not drugs (though I imagine it's costing me as much =P).