Topic: Is the Wii U worth it? in 2017

Even if that does turn out to be the case the Wii U certainly isn't getting any more games. With Switch doing relatively well and the Wii U discontinued it won't be long before the Switch has a more compelling library. Metroid Prime 4 is just one of those games that may tip the scales. There's also Super Mario Odyssey, Pokemon and whatever else they announce between now end the end of next year.

I'm pretty sure that the JoyCon issues were just in the first batch. Anyways, it does kinda depend on what the end user is after. I'm just saying that in general the Wii U is far from the best option for someone wanting to play some Nintendo games now the Switch is out. Sure maybe there are some users who really want to dive into the Wii/Wii U catalogue. I just reckon there are far more that will be interested in a system that has a future and just happens to also be semi-portable.

I'm not sure if you're looking at some odd prices or if you're just bad at maths. What you're saying does not add up at all. Doing a quick search right now I can find a couple of Wii Us used with a bunch of games for ~$200-250AU. The cheapest PS4 I can find is for ~$320AU used with a couple of games. Hell, taking into account the games you get in those Wii U bundles people are trying to offload a used 2DS is almost the same price as a used Wii U at this point.

When I said that the Wii U is a bad option it had nothing to do with the upfront costs. It's more a case of you get what you pay for. The prices reflect the value of the platforms. Which is why I said that the most expensive pair of platforms (i.e. PC + Switch) is the best. Because it gives you the most options and has the best future. Now if you want to pair a Switch with a PS4? Sure, it's not much different to having a Switch and a PC when push comes to shove. But a 2DS? Yeah, no. It's not 2012 anymore.

@skywake @Mahe
These type of questions are nearly impossible to answer. Because everyone will have a different priority.
I will guarantee that there are people who never buy current generation consoles and always wait for the next system to come out and buy people's used unwanted last gen consoles with loads of games and accessories for a fraction of the cost of new. The only time they lose is when the rare game goes up in value shortly after release. For some reason Wii Sports Club is one of them. But even that game's price has started to fall.
So to this person buying a Wii U in 2017 is a must.

But then there are probably more people who must have the latest and greatest of everything and are willing to pay full retail price, and sometimes pay even more, for every new game and console. For this person buying a Wii U in 2017 would be a disappointment

But for the PC+Switch vs PS4+2DS conversation. Once again, different people are going to have different priorities. The biggest question anyone needs to ask themselves is are they a fan of Nintendo. If that is the case than whatever Nintendo puts out is primary and anything else is filler for what Nintendo does not support. Also, ease of use. Even though PC gaming needs much less skill then before, the reason consoles are so popular despite being less capable is because of ease of use and developer familiarity.
But if sheer volume to access of games is a priority then no doubt the PC is the way to go. If ease of use is priority then consoles are the way to go.

The Switch will blur the traditional line between console and handheld and I think that is great. So a Switch+PC seems like a smart way to go. But if you have no desire to play any Nintendo console games and only want the handheld experience for access to Pokemon and similar games and whatever retro the DS and 3DS can offer (and that is a lot!) then something in the 3DS family+PS4 might be a good idea.

But lets say your main reason is to simply upgrade a Wii, then I would say it is a no brainer to buy a Wii U. And when you buy one make sure to buy one from someone that is unloading a ton of game with it too. In this scenario the games that the Wii U brings to the table are just a bonus.

I don't know, that is my two cents. But I stand by my first comment in the post it is nearly an impossible to answer this question satisfactory for everyone. As long as you understand that the Wii U is not getting any new games and the Switch is the future, Then buy one or the other or both with confidence!

Here's an idea: maybe you're just stupid. You're talking about Australian prices, but you seem to have no understanding that most people don't live in Australia, and the prices there are typically different than in the rest of the world. That would also explain your Switch fanaticism.

Here's the general idea: a Wii U still costs $299 or the equivalent, new. Meanwhile, you can easily get a 2DS for $69. That leaves you $230 for a PS4, which is the biggest reason to "shop around" in this equation.

As for used systems and game bundles and whatnot, those exist for 2DS and PS4 too. No reason to get a Wii U bundle when you can get both 2DS and PS4 in many different configurations and with many different games for the same price.

In the U.S. I see most used Wii U's going for $180-225, most often being $200. I think the price will go to and stay around $200 for a long time, unless all the big games get ported to Switch, then there's little reason besides the gamepad to get one.

If you convert the AU prices I mentioned before:
Wii U: $200-250AU -> $160-200US
PS4: $320AU -> $255US

And this is what Gamestop is charging in the US:
Wii U: $180-250US
PS4: $260-450US

So I don't know why you're saying my pricing is out of whack because it's not. What you're saying may have been true if you made an effort to cherry pick your numbers a year or so ago. It's not true anymore. The Wii U isn't a great option for gaming, I agree. But cost isn't the reason why. If anything the cost of the Wii U in 2017 being so low is one of the only arguments people have for getting a Wii U.

I wasn't arguing that there are not reasons why you might get something else. I was arguing that in the terms of having the "widest selection of games" and being the "best" experience PC + Switch wins hands down. Those were the specific words being used.

I get that some people want a system for revisiting older games. I understand that some people want a home theatre box and that some people want specific releases. That's all well and good. But in terms of getting two machines that fit these specific requirements that @Mahe set down?

Machine A: The best machine with the widest selection of games
Machine B: The best Nintendo and Handheld games

I don't think there's any argument to be had. Having a Switch and a PC fits those two roles way better than a PS4 and 2DS does. Sure you can argue that sacrificing some of the library for price/convenience/exclusives would be worth it. You can argue that sacrificing some of the quality for price/portability/library is also worth it. But purely on those merits above it's a very, very one sided contest.

I said "home console" with the best and widest game selection. That's the PS4, which is by far the best home console available right now. With a home console, you don't have to deal with all the hassle of a PC, which is precisely the point of getting a PS4. And of course, you will also get all the PS4 exclusives.

As for 2DS being the best system for Nintendo games and handheld games, it's indeed a very one-sided contest. The game selection available on 2DS is massive. Switch is a total joke, and it isn't even a real handheld. If you get a Switch, you're passing all the games you could be playing on 2DS, just to play Wii U ports.

@Mahe
Then you're just making arbitrary benchmarks that just happen to fit what you specifically want to heap praise on. In terms of machines with the widest selection of games? If you have a PC you have a far greater selection of games than you have on the PS4. If you want to sacrifice some of that for convenience/simplicity/exclusives? Then that's cool. But by definition if you're sacrificing some of it you no-longer have the "widest selection of games".

On the 2DS vs the Switch? Read again what you said. You said that the 2DS has the best Nintendo and handheld games. That's just simply not true. It's not even the best console to play 3DS games on. The games on the Switch are technically superior and way deeper than anything you'll find on 3DS. Is the library as broad at this stage? Well no. But if that was the only measure we were judging Nintendo consoles by I'd be praising up the Wii U with its full Wii BC, deeper indie catalogue and larger VC.....

@subpopz
Something wrong with the computer? Replace the faulty part instead of the whole console.
Online services are free.
GoG.
Cheap bundles and free games from places like Humble Bundle.
People are making their own, completely legal to download, ROMS for the NES and other retro consoles.
This site frowns upon the use of emulators for piracy, so I will not mention that you can also do that on a PC.
Definitely a wider variety of exclusives than consoles.

Absolutely buy the Wii U. The graphics are near enough the same, the Wii U has a much better catalogue of games, better controls, better apps, Virtual Console, backwards compatibility, online is free, Miiverse, is cheaper, etc, etc, etc.

Right now, the Switch isn't worth buying. Maybe in time when Nintendo sort out all the issues and it gets a proper upgrade(which we all know will happen). Its 2 best games, BOTW and MK8D are Wii U ports. It's too expensive as well. If you care for portability then it might be a plus. I couldn't care less about that. So essentially you're paying more money for weaker specs than the competition, over 3 years after they came out. That's terrible. Nintendo made such a monumental blunder with Wii U and treated us like dirt, that's partly why I didn't buy the Switch at launch(the first time I might add, that I didn't buy a Nintendo console on day 1). It clearly wasn't ready, isn't ready, it feels like a beta handheld. And the initial buyers are Guinea Pigs.

@skywake I totally agree about PC having the widest selection of games. Did you read my entire post? Or just that one line you quoted?

But as Nintendo goes, it depends on what you consider the "Best" Nintendo experience. Nintendo has two distinct very different markets. They have the home console and handheld.
There is a good chance that there is a large group of people who may have only played one or the other. There are people who never have owned a Nintendo home console yet may have used a Nintendo Handheld everyday. And there are plenty of people who have never touched a Game Boy or 3DS, yet may have bought every single home console ever released.

Every argument can be one sided to some extent.

I would argue that as an end user and from a pure value point of view the Switch is not yet worth buying. I have bought so many consoles "day one" per se over my life and I would say I have learned to never buy a console day one, ever. You are typically risking a lot on the future of that device. And if it ends up being a stinker, then you may have invested unwisely. But with a PC and a little skill and knowledge you are guaranteed a massive library, if that is what you want. But a PC is much less portable. With the 3DS family, you are also guaranteed a large library a great games if that type of gaming experience is what you are looking for.

@subpopz
Are you giving the average person far too much credit. I would agree that a PC is far easier to use today than ever in the past. And everything you said is 100% true. No question about that. But there is still a barrier of entry that your average gaming person does not care to learn to overcome. If what you said is true, gaming PC's would be selling on par with consoles. For example if you sit my mom down in front of a computer and tell her to install Steam and get a game up and running, or sit her in front of a modern console and give her a disc, she would have a better chance of getting a game up and running with a console.
But in reality she will take her phone and play Sudoku because that game was included on her phone and there is a button on her home screen.

For example my brother was only a Nintendo console gamer for his entire life. Watching him use a Sony console was painful. But for some reason he wanted VR, so after giving him a lot of instruction, he learned only what he needed to learn to get VR games up and running. Yet even today he does not care to understand what Humble is and Steam is still a big enigma. If anything breaks, or does not work as expected, he gives me a call. Most people literally only want plug and play. Everything else is an annoyance.

In the future what I said will be very different.

@SLIGEACH_EIRE As of July 2017 you are correct. If your goal is to update the Wii, then no question the Wii U is the obvious best choice.
There is no question from a value point of view and if all you want is the deepest official way to access the Nintendo library, the Wii U is the way to go. It is not the future, but in 2017 it is the best. The Switch is off to a great start but there is no guarantee where the Switch will be a few years from now. Maybe in the future Nintendo will offer every game they ever made, but that is yet to be seen. Right now the Switch might have some limited fun games and it is the future for sure, but in 2017 it is far from the "best" way to play Nintendo games.

@Hikingguy
Just because I quoted a section to give context doesn't mean I didn't read the rest. In any case I think "best experience" is far less subjective than you're making it out to be. Yes the libraries are different but the 3DS is clearly lesser in terms of hardware than Switch. By a couple of orders of magnitude. The games are therefore going to be better. That's just how it goes.

If you want to get all on the fence about it go ahead. But outside of the sheer volume of games the 3DS has nothing on Switch.

Better hardware does not necessarily = better game. Also a game being 'good' is, to a certain extent at least, subjective and depends on what the player is looking for. I have had more fun playing an older RPG, for example, than Skyrim, despite the disparity in hardware capabilities.

@skywake I would hope that you read more than what you quoted, but your answer implied that you either ignored or did not read what I wrote after that line.
Give me a break. To say or even honestly believe that the power of a system equates to a better game is just plan adolescent. The power of a system may give new tools to developers but that absolutely does not equate to a better game. Laughable.
That is just not how it goes.

@subpopz I agree about Steam, but he has no interest. And the Idea of buying a game from a different website (Humble for example) that they would need to take a "code" to Steam and input to access the game is not intuitive for most people.
But I would not agree about as simple as Netflix. There is so much more going on with Steam than Netflix. There is News, and communities and updates and DLC and the same game with multiple versions and Early Access games and Greenlight and will this game work with my current system and oopps the developer just updated a game and now it is broke because I use a Nvidia card and not and ATI and I cannot play the game anymore until the next update unless I getting it working on Windows 10 instead of Windows 8 and my controller no longer works after the update, Why does Capcom not allow me to use my old arcade stick with there new game and how do I change the settings so the game runs smoother on my system and on and on. And what about SteamOS! I think you get what I am getting at, the list of things that can go wrong seems almost endless on the PC. Even if something is working today there is no guarantee it won't work tomorrow. Most people can get it working quickly, but it take effort that the masses do not want to do. Most people do not want to take the time to learn, they have other priorities in life.

With a game console as long as you buy a disc with the correct name on it or download it from the online store it will work with your console and most likely auto update too! I cannot help someone who buys a Switch game for a PS4.

I very much miss the days of inserting a game cart into the console and pushing power and instant game. When my son was alive I remember showing him how I could put a NES or Genesis game into the console and we were playing mere seconds later.
I did appreciate what the Wii U did with the quick select option when I turned it on. I thought that was a nice feature.
But you have to remember most people are afraid of the inside of a computer. There is a reason that computer repair places even exist.
To me and you working on a PC and tinkering with it is no big deal. But for others it is like fixing a semi-truck.
You really cannot compare direct sales. I would say for both hardware and software. With humble I might buy 20+ games for $10. That is not a fair comparison.

@SMEXIZELDAMAN agree 100%! Contra for the NES is a blast to play. I can think of many, many modern games I would pass on to play Contra or any number of NES games. I would pick NHL 94 over many modern sports games. I would pick the Lunar series on the Sega CD before the PS version. The new Zelda is one of the best games I have ever played and that game is playable on the Wii U. Hardware prowess has little to nothing to do with how "good" a game is.
You are 100% correct!

Funnily enough, I find myself asking if the Switch is worth it yet given that I continue to play Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon from time to time, and I still have Breath of the Wild patiently sitting on the shelf ready for the long dark winter months. Thus, the trio of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Splatoon 2 and Breath of the Wild on the Switch simply doesn’t feel compelling enough for me to drop my Wii U (yet).

I played the Arms testfire thingummy a while ago, and whilst it was visually impressive, it didn’t do anything for me, especially at a time when Tekken 7 was available. I am more of a 2D fighter fan than a 3D one though.

I’m quite aware that the portability factor is a big deal to most Switch owners however, I have never been one to play games on my daily commute. I only play my 3DS in the comfort of my own home.

Still, when the likes of Mario Odyssey, Metroid Prime 4 and whatever Retro Studios are up to are available, I am pretty sure I shall buy one there and then!

In regards to the OP, however, the answer is a resounding ‘no’. The Wii U isn’t worth it nowaday; even Nintendo have distanced themselves from it.

@nintendofan23453

Buy a Switch.

I'm a Wii U owner and a big fan of the system. I don't think I'll be upgrading to Switch until sometime mid- to late- next year, since I have a pretty big backlog of excellent games on it.

That being said, if you're a new buyer right now? Switch is best for you. Wii U is still a viable choice for sure, but it's currently only a good option for people specifically wanting to play Wii U games (in particular, games that are unlikely to make the jump to Switch). You seem like a gamer that just wants to play some good Nintendo games, so I think a Switch is best. If you buy a Wii U, in a year you'll probably wish you bought a Switch instead once support for Switch picks up.

Most Wii U games will be ported over to Switch or get a sequel. There will probably be a few that won't; but IMHO if you haven't purchased a Wii U after all this time I don't think you would be itching to buy one now just to play those couple of games. And anyway, since your friend has a Wii U, you could play those games that are unlikely to make the jump at his/her house or even borrow the Wii U itself.

TL:DR; Wii U is a great system. But I personally recommend buying a Switch.

@skywake

At this point you're just going around in circles. When I say I want the home console with the best and widest range of games, that's what I want. You can argue all you want for PC games, but I don't want them. I don't want to play games on a PC, and I don't want many of the games that are available on PC.

If I mention to you that I like Just Dance 2017 on PS4, you'll probably be saying that I should get it on PC or Switch because it's also available on those systems. But there are a wide variety of reasons why the PS4 version is the best version of JD2017, not the least of them the PS Move controllers. That's an example of the kind of thing that PS4 offers and the other systems do not. It's not the same experience if you lose that, and that's why PS4 version is the best. The platform, system and controller that you play games on matter a lot, as do the user interface, general system design and other aspects.

And then there's the fact that PS4 has more games in this series and many others. If I want to play Just Dance 2014 on PS4 and you try to suggest Duke Nukem Forever because JD2014 isn't available on PC, having a completely different game than I want doesn't help at all.

@subpopz The person wanted to know if a Wii U is worth it in 2017, and I still say this is an unanswerable question. That person needs to ask themselves what their priories are and buy accordingly.
If they have a PC that is capable of playing games and they know what they are doing that would play into their decision. I still say if the person's only reason is to upgrade their Wii, then the answer if yes. If they want a system for the future, then no.

I still think you are giving people way way way too much credit. Most people do not want to take the 10 minutes to get anything to work. And it is not laziness, but other priorities. I use to think the same way as you do, but my mind has changed over the years as life takes unwanted turns.

My mom owned a PS3 and it stopped working. I told her I would look at it and she just went and bought a new one. She could not wait a few days. She gave me the PS3 and it was a simple fix, so I gave it to my brother and he still uses it with the original harddrive and he has no idea how to change that. He even has to ask me every single time how to delete games to make room. And from my experience this is the norm not the exception. If the consoles did not make updates automatic and downloading DLC ridiculously simple most people would never do it.
I play PC games plenty enough and even though they are closer than ever, console companies still take so much of the work off the end user it is crazy. There is sometimes even I do not want to put the effort into getting a game to work.
I never said that anyone "needs" Humble. Not sure where you got that.
Strange things will confuse people and they will just give up. The vast majority of people never touched the harddrive for consoles. They just buy a new console if the HD filled up. Most people who own a PS4 will never own a PSVR.
You must only associate with others who know computers as well as you do because if you put yourself in the average gamers shoes, they will have no idea how to do even half of what is necessary for most computer games. People ask me to build them even the most basic video game PC's and I tell them it is so simple, but they are willing to give me money for what I think is the easiest thing in the world. They just want something that works with no work on their part.

I didn't once say you were stupid for getting a PS4. Infact I said a couple of times that a PS4 is a decent option. All I said was that you were wrong when you said that:
1. The PS4 has the biggest library of games (it doesn't, PC does)
2. The 2DS is the best portable and has the best Nintendo games (it isn't, Switch is)

In any case, I like how you've stopped saying getting a 2DS and a PS4 is cheaper than getting a Wii U. It does show you can be reasoned with even if you are too proud to ever admit you were wrong

Sure more horsepower does not automatically make a game better. I agree 100%. However we're not talking about picking the best 3DS game and comparing it to the worst Switch game. And on the Switch it's not like Nintendo have thrown in the towel, they're still developing fantastic games on it.

Sure art is to a degree subjective and you could say pretty much anything is just a matter of taste. But I think it's fair to say that if you had a choice between a list of games that have releases on both 3DS and Switch? You'd pick the Switch. A Link to the Past is on a different level to Breath of the Wild. Same deal with Mario Kart, Splatoon 2 and Arms. The 3DS has a decent library but the best of the Switch's library even at this early stage is a class above.