Topic: Wii U or 3DS

If you only care about Nintendo first party games then Wii U, if you want to play games from Japanese developers other than Nintendo then 3DS,

I'd recommend the 3DS. It has more high quality games and at cheaper prices. Plus, it has a much more consistent release schedule, with games in pretty much every genre.

If you want to get the most out of a Wii U, you'd also have to buy a regular Wii Remote + and a nunchuck. So there's that. It'd cost more than the initial dump. And that's without going into other control inputs like pro controllers and the like that you'd need for Smash Bros.

Thing is, you're developing stuff for the Wii U. I don't know if you'd need to own one to understand its nuances; you can read about how its online things work from other people's impressions, and as for the system itself, there's always the local gamestop.

I used to play more 3DS at home and abroad until the Wii U got games. Now I play more Wii U at home and just 3DS when I'm out. Like it should be

3DS also has a game named "Lego City: Undercover", but it's the same game in the way that SSB 3DS would be the same game as SSB U.

Wii Remote+Nunchuck would IMO only be needed for Pikmin 3 and Wii games.

I'd go for the Wii U, but both are worth a purchase. 3DS obviously has more games, but the games that the Wii U has are quality titles. Personally, I prefer playing on a home console. I only have seven 3DS games and they're great, but I have almost 30 Wii U games and they're all fantastic. So, when people say the Wii U doesn't have games, which a lot do, I just can't fathom that. I admit that new releases have been pretty scarce recently, but the Wii U has a ton of great new content coming out, while the 3DS releases are slowing down. Six of one, a half dozen of the other.

Also, the games that are offered for both systems are superior on the U. Lego City Undercover is better on the U. Monster Hunter; U. 3D World trumps 3D Land. MK8 looks to be a much stronger experience than MK7. SSB on Wii U will be superior to the 3DS version.

And, Link Between Worlds is an amazing game. I truly love it. But, let's face it, Zelda U will probably blow it out of the water.

Then again, I don't know how I'd live without Kid Icarus Uprising and Fire Emblem Awakening.

Anyway, the choice is yours. Do your research. In forums like this, the response is gonna be pretty much 50/50. I would, however, definitely reccomend getting both at some point, even if you can't do that right now.

EDIT: Forgot to mention that Wii U really makes sense for you if you're attempting to develop a game for it.

wii u.

Normally when people ask for a recommendation between 3DS and Wii U, my first instinct is to say 3DS. It's cheaper, has better third party support, and is just more popular in general.

But there may be some compelling arguments for owning a Wii U in your case.
1. If you are developing a game for the console then it would be nice to own one and have first-hand experience using it.
2. Wii U is fully backwards compatible with Wii games, which are easy to find and very cheap. If you've really never tried a Japanese console then this opens a huge, often underrated, library of games for you to try. Caveats are that the games would be SD and include "waggle" control more often than they should. (Note that 3DS is fully backwards compatible with DS games too... but I feel that there are more "must play" Wii games than DS ones.)
3. Although Wii U is more expensive than 3DS, the difference isn't that big if you hunt for sales. Wii U consoles - sometimes with a game included - seem to go on sale every second month for around $200, or you could buy a refurbished one directly from Nintendo for that price. If you are willing to buy used then you might find the console for even less than that.
4. It sounds like you already own another console, which is the ideal situation. For most "serious" gamers, Wii U is best suited as a second console because it lacks quantity but offers high-quality exclusives that aren't available anywhere else. Nintendo makes some of the absolute best games for every console generation and Wii U seems to be no different in that regard. (Just finished Super Mario 3D World, and it was fantastic!)

Best of luck with whatever you choose.

Thanks for all the replies!

I'm gonna buy a 3DS today, simply because price really is a factor. Then at the end of the month, I should be able to stretch to afford getting a Wii U as well.

For my game, I've already had a few ideas about how to use the gamepad / second screen, but I was thinking of throwing it open to the community to see what they made of the ideas / if they had any better ones. That won't be for a couple of weeks though, as I'm still perfecting the core mechanic, which is using wiimotes to select different colours. I then have a number of ideas for games I could build around that mechanic. So it'll be a Wii U exclusive and very much a game build/designed for the Wii U.

Also, that'll give me some time to do proper research into which games use the gamepad, and how integral it is to those games.

The debate over whether you can build a game for a console you don't own; owning the console, you know what works and what doesn't. You can avoid the obvious mistakes other games have made and/or copy their solutions to common problems, rather than having to try and solve everything yourself.

Conversely, you tend to get stuck in certain modes of thinking. Subconsciously, you're copying what other games have done before. Soon as you say "I going to make an RPG or FPS", instantly, 95% of the game design decisions have been made for you.

Also, if I wait on the Wii U, I can get the Mario Kart 8 bundle!

Best choice you've made. Buy 3DS now, get Wii U later. Best of both world.

I'd say 3DS...
but my word is worth nothing since I never played a WiiU....

Regarding Wii U and GamePad-specific software development, you might want to read the interview with Dakko Dakko's Rhodri Broadbent in ONM. Dakko Dakko has (what it seems) taken a very unique approach to the Wii U with Scram Kitty (appearing in the eShop next week), with same-but-different content appearing on the TV compared to the GamePad.
http://www.officialnintendomagazine.co.uk/56794/scram-kitty-d...

The launch trailer for that game specific game is here:

Please note that all Wii U users will not have Wiimotes.

Interesting. I must admit, I had to read a few different articles on the game before I was entirely sure how they were using the gamepad / second screen together with the TV. It's really not obvious at all from the trailer.

Second screen stuff is hard. Most of the ideas I've had myself or in conversations with other developers seemed great at the time. Then I've gone back and calculate how much time and effort it'd be to implement them, and it comes out as being way beyond what any indie outfit or small team could hope to achieve. They're all way too complex. The real art will be in trying to find some simple yet elegant solutions.

I actually originally applied to Nintendo to make a different game, which was very much built around second screen. It was based on a board game that required players to keep their hand of cards secret. The idea being, each player would view their hand of cards on a second screen so as to keep it hidden from other players. The catch was, each player needs their own second screen, and it was a game for 3+ players, whereas the Wii U only has 1 second screen. It's possible to do with 3DS. So each player connects their 3DS to the Wii U and the 3DS acts as their secret second screen. But I'd have had to write my own engine for 3DS, which is not really feasible for a studio of my size. (Or hope they one day bring Unity3D support).

As for not all Wii U's coming with Wiimotes, then I guess people without a wiimote won't be able to play. It's a shame, but I designed the game to work with old-style wiimotes as well to try and maximise the potential audience. Moreover, I'd rather try to be innovative (and maybe fail) than make a slightly different 2D platformer. It's like what the Dakko Dakko guy said in the interview. Nintendo have laid out all these toys like wiimotes and the gamepad, for us developers to play with and see if we can't make some interesting / new games with them.

Good choice on the 3ds. Not to mention games are $20+ cheaper than wii u games, and you get the same amount of play time out of most 3ds games as to wii u.

Actually, some Wii U games are like $5-10 cheaper than 3DS games, but that's only if you're buying from the eShop. Ubisoft's games are all $30-40, and W101 is $30, IIRC.

No sale.....

Should I get an Apple or an Orange?
Seriously though, it's down to personal preference.

Actually, it probably will have off-tv play, but only in certain modes / where it makes sense.

FWIW, it's rumored that Nintendo is heading for support of multiple GamePads on the Wii U. I don't know if that would be a feature that lots of people will use, since the prices I've seen for that upcoming separate GamePad are high. Getting a separate Wiimote would be very cheap in comparison, and anyone upgrading from Wii would have Wiimotes. And there are also games using both the GamePad and the Wiimote as a combo (such as Wii U Sports Golf) you might want to study.

The Wii U port of "Stick it to the Man" had a simple but nicely implemented GamePad feature, where the gaming mode switched when the GamePad was held horizontally compared to vertically. That was just an extension of the "old" button interface of the game, where the other game mode is accessed by holding down the L key. It wouldn't make sense in all games, but perhaps that could be an idea to build on for your own games?

Both "Pikmin 3" and "Lego City: Undercover" use similar user interfaces for the GamePad ("LC:Undercover" goes further in its implementation than "Pikmin 3"), where they use it as a communication device, map, inventory list and so on. When the GamePad is used as a communication or scanning device, the sound going to the GamePad is difference to the sound in the game on the TV. This might be overkill for a small studio, but the important thing here is that even when the GamePad functions quite different from the TV it's never required to keep track of both the GamePad and the TV at the same time in any of those 2 games. That's part of why their GamePad playing experience becomes so great.

I think the main reason why devs are reluctant to make full use of the game pad is it can cause note Dev time and stop portability to other platforms.