Topic: Wii U Made me Realise the Passion I Lost

You know, the Wii U may be considered a failure and, yeah, it lost to the other consoles but, if I never decided to sell my Xbox One, buy a Wii U, popped in Mario Kart and revisited Zelda again I don't think I would be gaming much today.

I noticed when playing my Xbox I never felt the excitement or passion for playing like i once did, I thought it was just me getting old (I'm 32). Well, it wasn't me getting older I discovered, it was me getting bored with Call of Duty, getting bored of big open lifeless worlds full of bugs that needed massive day-one patching, getting bored of sequel after sequel which barely changed the formula. I knew I needed something different, I knew I needed Nintendo back in my life again. And it's the best decision I ever made.

You see now, I actually smile when playing the games Nintendo brings. I smile when playing Mario Kart online, I laugh at the craziness of Splatoon, I love the weirdness of Kirby, love the little Pikmin dudes and those little under-the-radar games like Yoshi's Wooly World and Toad Tracker. I never smiled or felt any excitement the whole time I had My Xbox, a few hours on the Wii U and that all changed.

So, I've given up on Xbox, don't care about PlayStation, as long as there's Nintendo games I don't think my passion for gaming will ever die. Oh, and PC gaming, can't beat a bit of Total War fun.

Pretty much how I feel. Nintendo let's me escape from the world for 20 minutes to an hour every day. I still like my Vita. And occasionally get some fun out of my Xbone. But my Wii U and 3ds are the only systems that I'm passionate about.

I'm glad when I read these sorts of things. I've been closer to the opposite these last couple of years, enjoying playing fantastic 'AAA' games like The Witcher 3, Bloodborne and Overwatch that I couldn't have imagined enjoying 5-6 years ago when I only played on my Wii and DS. Sometimes we just need a break or to get out of our comfort zone in order to enjoy our hobby, despite all the BS that surrounds games in this day and age, I still enjoy the hobby immensely, no small part thanks to Nintendo's (albeit limited) games this gen. As much as I personally have enjoyed playing on my PS4 and Xbox One, I couldn't imagine having the same enjoyment if I didn't have Splatoon or Fire Emblem Fates to complement the more 'mature' games on those systems.

So TL;DR good for you!

Exactly what happened to me. No consoles since the SNES. Bought Wii U on a whim in April 2013. then, I decided to get 3ds in late August 2013. then in late August 2014 got an Xbone- and while think it's cool, I just haven't played it that much. And finally, last July got a Vita.

I think at least part of the reason I don't care for the Xbone is that I really like handhelds. the gamepad is a dream for me. The Vita is a nice diversion from Nintendo....

I think the main problem with the other consoles is not just sequels and remakes but the fact that they're so serious. You never see games like Mario Kart or even Pikmin. They play it too safe. Sounds like I'm really hating on them but there are decent games there, The Witcher 3 being the last one I truly enjoyed.

I am the exact opposite. I was pretty much a Nintendo gamer from the NES era and starting with the SNES had a "second" consol (Genesis, PS, Xbox 360) for those exclusives. However with getting my PS4 this gen I am enjoying alot of games I though I wouldn't, like Black Ops 3 for example. Now I hardly touch my Wii U heck I even thought about selling it. I really tried to give the Wii U a chance too but the games just didn't grab me like games like Black Ops 3, Rocket League and Diablo have.

Not sure why that is but at least I am still gaming.

Great post OP, I agree. Nintendo might not have the flashiest graphics or the games with big explosions or any of that, but Nintendo consistently makes the best games imo. I love Nintendo's old school approach of just making fun games, most of them having multiplayer(which a lot of games today lack). It's actually refreshing in today's gaming world where a lot of people proritize graphics and framerate over gameplay and love hyping games more than they like to play them.

Was primarily a Sega/Sony guy until the Dreamcast tanked and Sega ducked out of the console biz. I owned most of the Big N's consoles, but never bought much for them (aside from the NES, which I loved and continue to love to this day), and most of my gaming time was dominated by my PS1 and PS2 and their enormous fleet of high-quality horror games and JRPGs. When I was young I spent a ton of time with my game boy playing Pokemon, but I missed out on the entire GBA gen and after buying a Nintendo DS to play Contra 4 discovered that I wasn't terribly enamored with the gimmicky games people were putting on it.

I did have some great DS experiences that gen, what with discovering and falling in love with the Ace Attorney, Professor Layton, and Etrian Odyssey series (the first EO, a little over a year old then, was my third or fourth game on the system, and I vividly remember my first time playing it was when I was bedridden and nearly delirious from some sort of high fever; as my consciousness waxed and waned, I gradually made my way through the first floor of the dungeon, and my experience was magnified by the fever to the point where the game itself took on a vivid sensation of realism), and I was also able to use the GBA port on my lite to play some AMAZING GBA games like FFIV/FFVI Advance, Metroid: Zero Mission and Fusion, Astro Boy: Omega Factor, etc., but I still wouldn't have called myself a Nintendo fan. Aside from the magical experience that was the original Super Mario Galaxy, I also felt totally unengaged with the even more gimmicky Wii console.

What really brought me back to the Nintendo fold was the release of the Nintendo 3DS. I got mine mid-to-late 2011 and so had games like Star Fox 64 3D and Ocarina of Time 3D to keep me busy until Super Mario 3D Land released. I relished every minute I had with SM3DL, as it had been such a long time since I'd really engaged with a Nintendo platformer (my last time being SMG back in late 2007), and I was enthralled with the release of great games like Etrian Odyssey IV and Resident Evil: Revelations. It reignited any dormant feelings I had for Nintendo and led to the Big N and Atlus' games dominating my free time for several years thereafter.

Since the 90s ive been a PC gamer, bought a WiiU last year, enjoyed it but found it lackluster (maybe because i have absolutely no nostalgia for nintendo).

I think it just depends on what games you like. The better games tend to show up later in the generation, then there are always staples like Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, etc. Then there is VC, Indies, and niche titles like No More Heroes.
It just depends on how much time you are willing to put into gaming, because otherwise you'll get caught up in other media. Video games being interactive is the entire reason why it is my is my sole focus of media.

I got a Wii U at launch, followed by an Xbox One in August 2014, and finally a PS4 in August 2015. Even though I have literally zero time to play games due to work and family, I like to have the variety and knowledge of knowing they're there when I want them to be so to speak.

PS4 is my least favourite this gen, followed by Xbox One in 2nd place and Wii U in first place, simply because Nintendo always have been and always will be my go to brand.

I have said to my wife many a time, that I could easily (not happily, but easily) sell my Xbox One and PS4 if I wanted to, but not my Wii U. I could not bring myself to sell a Nintendo console anymore, after realising moreso than ever this gen, that they are the guys who make 90-95% of the games that I want to play.

As much as I LOVED Sunset Overdrive, Ryse and Forza 2 for Xbox One for example, and The Last Of Us Remastered, The Order 1886 and The Nathan Drake collection for PS4, as wonderful as these game look, feel, play and are; IMO, they cannot touch the beauty and simplicity and escapism of Mario Kart 8, Splatoon, Super Smash Bros, Bayonetta, The Wonderful 101 etc etc etc, the list is endless for me. With my own family lifestyle now, these games are also a lot more approachable, as they tend to be just pop the disc in and play, even if it's just a few quick races on Mario Kart 8, as opposed to sitting there for hours and trying to figure something out or complete something in one of the huge open world games that consume a lot of the market.

Nintendo's offerings always give me something different to the norm, plus, even through the evolution of each IP series they offer, they all still seem to maintain that feel good, nostalgic feeling of old, whilst still remaining fresh. Just my opinion of course.

Would you like to tell me about how you made $3,000 a week working from home?

I'm pretty much of the view I need both. Nintendo consoles bring something that the others don't provide and vice versa. That said, I have a huge Wii U backlog so I'll be set on the Nintendo front for the inevitable poor first year of the NX (maybe buy holiday 2017 if it comes out in March 2017).

@Bsham There's nothing really like Nintendo.

Even though I get frustrated with Nintendo sometimes, I can never fully abandon them. I got my first Nintendo console back in 95 (SNES) and been buying their consoles ever since!

Glad you found that passion again:)

@GuruOfGreatness That's how I am now as well. I just don't have time for long drawn out games like Metal Gear Solid or an RPG or even a game like NSMBU. With my erratic play times sometimes I don't get back to a game I start for weeks or months and when I do I tend to forget what I was doing, what the story was etc. However jumping on for a quick game of Black Ops 3, Mario Kart 8 or even Overwatch is just perfect. I can get on play for an hour or so and feel like I have accomplished something and I don't have to worry about getting back to the game at a certain time.

The ps4 has some great games. And I really like to play some of them. Sometimes they just get the better stuff. And none of it is as fun as nintendo's offerings, in breadth and variety as well as depth and quality and originality.

I like both systems, and prefer nintendo leagues above the rest because they're too similar, too same-y, too chunky. They play it too safely.

Hey, I'm a nintendo fan I hope they'll get a stronger foothold next round

Wii U has been enough for me and I have not picked up a PS4 or XBONE. Partially because I am not interested in any games on those systems and partially because I have less disposable income at this time.

I just turned 40 and was introduced to gaming on Atari 2600. Was a huge gamer during NES and SNES on Nintendo and was an avid Nintendo Power subscriber. After that I was really impressed by PS1 sports games and got in to tomb raider and many other Playstation games that I never felt the need to get a Ninteno64 and I was an avid reader of PSM magazine. Got in to PS2 intially but started to have no time for gaming with work school and starting a family and as it started to go online I lost inerest. I was a huge Metal Gear fan but the time part 3 came out I just couldn't get in to it and still have not beaten it to this day. I tried MMORPG but that didn't last long (I played Starwars Galaxies).

It wasn't until my wife got a DS lite on a whim and I started playing New Super Mario Bros. that the gaming bug got reignited. We also got a Wii and had a blast with the motion controls and then I loved the more serious games like Metroid and Zelda too. Playing games together as a family was a big bonus too. I started to use backward compatibility to check out what I had missed on Nintendo but N64 VC was rough. Eventually I was gaming enough that with the Kinect and christmas I got a 360 for the family but I was a Playstation guy so I eventually got a PS3 too. I still didn't play the PS3 that much and prefer Nintendo...I played most of the uncharted trilogy and really am not that impressed, part 2 is supposedly the best but thats where I am losing interest. I enjoyed the Tomb Raider reboot.

Nintendo is dropping the ball though as I am losing interest again as they seem to have lost interest in Wii U. I am not excited for NX and may not even get it at all. I have more free time now getting divorced but I don't find myself wanting to game with that time very much.

Nothing will ever come close to Dokapon Kingdom on the Wii. It's all downhill from here... Unless something else just as good or better comes along, of course...

Different strokes for different folks I guess. The Wii U kinda had the opposite effect for me. Playing Mario 3D World made me realise how stale Nintendo gaming had got. No creativity or originality where it really counted. Just going through the motions. Same with games like Pikmin 3. Fun games, but just out of touch and without much character.

Having said that, I haven't jumped on board the PS4 or XB1 either. I think all three 1st party devs have run out of steam. It's down to 3rd party developers nowadays. Here's hoping Nintendo's next console has their support, or else it's curtains.

Wii U gave me off-tv play, and that's made the biggest difference to my gaming. In the space of 6 months I went from an occasional PC gamer with a forgotten few Wii and GameCube games in the loft, to putting over one hundred hours into FIFA 2013, similar amounts into Mario Kart 8 and Wind Waker HD, and getting pretty much addicted to buying games. My Wii collection exploded in size, my GameCube collection has grown, and I own nearly all the substantial Wii U games.

Not only that, off-tv play made me realise how much I like handheld gaming, so I bought a N3DS too.

I've gone from someone very much on the periphery of gaming to a virtual addict (though sadly my actual gameplay hours don't really reflect that... yet) and a Mod on a gaming dedicated website.

Spending a lot of time at home due to having children has been a big factor, but the Wii U has exploited that opportunity like nothing else would have done, plus I hope the library of games I now have can be enjoyed by the whole family in the coming years (already played about 60 hours multiplayer on SM3DW with my daughter).

Wii U also gave me my favourite game of all-time: Mario Kart 8.

Wii U had had a poetry significant impact on my life. I own 2 of them now, I like it so much.