Half Of All Switch Owners In The US Have Bought Zelda, Mario And Mario Kart

Smash will be 1:1. Swing for the fences!

This is quite honestly fantastic to see.

Back in the Wii days the majority of Wii owners tended to get Wii Sports, Mario Kart, and maybe Galaxy, with a lot of third party shovelware-type games to go with it (or at the very least this was the case with everyone I knew who had a Wii).

The Switch though has seemed to have successfully captivated its target audience with Nintendo’s first party titles, with the third party games being more of an “icing on the cake” compared to the Wii where that was a whole piece of it.

Keep it up Nintendo.

I got BOTW, Mario Odyssey, Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon 2. Oh, that also includes Kirby Star Allies. All of them are excellent Switch games.

I’ve gotten every major Nintendo release except Kirby.

That’s impressive, though I imagine the attach rate will lower as time goes on and the catalog continues to grow - people will buy Switches for other games and won’t dip into those 3. Still impressive nonetheless, good job Nintendo!

I do remember shortly after launch BotW had at least close to a 100% attach rate but to be fair at that point it was the reason to own a Switch.

Insert "what else is there to play on Switch lol" comment here.

Bought all 3 on day 1

I have not, so I'm in the minority. But even with my particular tastes, I have over 80 games digital/physical. So, still a good system for me.

What we can say is Sony can't even come close to that attach rate

Bought them. Still got mario kart. Sold the rest..

That’s what happens when you make quality games 👌🏽

@TheWorkingDead it was a terrible Kirby game anyway (unless you 5yo or younger)

is "STEAM" supposed to be "STEM"? or is there a new word in that acronym? or is he talking about something else?

Between the 4 switch owners I know:(including me)
2 copies Zelda
3 copies Mario Kart
3 copies Super Mario Odyssey
3 copies Pokemon Lets Go

@JamesToaster STEAM and STEM are pretty much the same thing, but the A in STEAM stands for Arts.

@ShadJV Actually, at the end of March 2017, Breath of the Wild has an attach rate of 101%. So, more people bought Zelda for the Switch than people bought the Switch itself. That’s how high the demand was.

Of those three I only have Zelda, which is surprising because I'm like Nintendo's #1 fan in America. I had Mario Kart 8 on Wii U so it's not a priority

@ShadJV : I believe it was something like over 100% for BotW IIRC. It was easier to get than the Switch in the beginning!

Edit: Ninja'd.

Is it only from US citizen? Or account that created from US Region? (which is have a chance that also include citizen outside US)

I'm an American... who lives in Japan and has bought his Switch and all 3 of those games here in Japan.

I'm Indonesian, I have those three games above, but i still haven't touched my BOTW. since almost one year.
Meanwhile, i have finished the storyline of Super Mario Odyssey since January 2018 and still haven't continue to get more Coins.

Yes to those games (I don't have odyssey yet, but it's just a matter of time), big no to labo.

@Anti-Matter Whaaaaaat? Dude you've gotta get in there. Best Zelda to date- and I've played the big Z since the original on NES was new.

I have Mario Odyssey but didn't buy BOTW or Mario Kart on Switch. Got them both on Wii U before I bought my Switch.

I wonder what the ratio is for Splatoon 2 and Pokémon Let's Go?

With all due respect, you need to be a whacko to own a Switch and not buy those 3 great games.

@Liam_Doolan I think the title on this article is rather misleading, it implies that half of all the Switch owners in the US own all three of these games, rather than each of the games having been bought by half of the US Switch owners.

Well, what would you expect if two of the best games released in the past 5 years were exclusive to a console?

I don't have Kart......I'm such a disappointment to the Switch community.

I did own all three games at one point. Can’t say that I’m surprised at this tidbit

I guess that makes me a common American. To be fair, I do have something like 13 physical games and 160 or so gigs worth of digital games so the chances of me having them were prety good.

BTW, every Switch owner should have those games plus Smash.

@Gerbwmu Honestly, if I had to choose one game out of those three that I could never own, it would be Mario Kart 8 by a huge margin. I loved Mario Kart Wii (the first kart game I've ever played), but I got bored quickly with Mario Kart 8.

Not surprised, all three are outstanding games and the pinnacle(or at least close to it)of their respective genres imo.

Only bought Mario Kart

All 3 plus about 60 others. I love my Switch.

@ShadJV
I don't know, even 3 to 5 years from now those 3 titles will still be some of the best available on the console. Heck, those 3 games are some of the best ever made period. So why not dipping in them even in the next decade?
My personal experience: recently got a PS4 and am playing The Witcher 3 and BloodBorne, newer is not synonym of better.

@Blitzenexx @Yoshi thought I remembered that but I was afraid of saying it and being wrong then sounding silly! 😅 thanks for letting me know my memory isn’t crazy though, it’s rather insane how high that demand was!

@berga89 because as time goes on and systems become cheaper, many casual gamers purchase a console with only a game or two. I could see nongamers (the same people who got into Wii Sports) getting a Switch in a couple years when the price lowers, but many of them would have no interest in games like Odyssey or BotW (Mario Kart maybe). If you look at consoles in general, a 50% attach rate for a game 4-5 years after the system releases is practically nonexistent (unless it’s a free pack-in like Wii Sports). Doesn’t matter if it’s the best game on the system, it just doesn’t really happen. Plus the more copies of a game sell, the more used copies cycle around, and there will always be a market for used games. Attach rate doesn’t take that into account because it’s simply copies of a game sold vs copies of a system sold. And it only tracks new sales.

@JamesToaster A for Arts

@ShadJV
You are right, I never took into consideration the second-hand market because I was never able to get rid of any of my games
About casuls, Idk honestly it seems for now the user base for Switch is pretty hard-core gamer based, indeed it will become more and more casuals oriented in case they eventually release a cheaper version of the console, but Switch has the poorest version of FIFA, no COD no GTA which is what most casuals wanna play. For super casuals, like my uncle who's 45 and never touched a game when he was younger, the other day he was complaining with me about not being able to find any new Nintendo Wii game in the store lol, I just don't see super casuals jumping on the Switch train when you have cheaper and better choices for a pure home console and smartphones for gaming on the go.
I guess we will see what happens if Nintendo releases the much discussed Switch mini + Pokemon 2019, that'd draw in a lot of people who'll likely buy the system just to play the game and nothing else.

I don't have Odyssey yet, nor Smash.

I've got most of the other major titles though. Still working through several of them so I'm not that eager to jump on Odyssey yet. I've asked for Smash for Xmas.

I’m just popping by cos I like the accents

@berga89 you also might be overestimating overall attach rates. If you look up console attach rates (how many games overall are sold per console) it’s fairly surprising. Only two consoles in history currently have double digits in attach rates, and they’re both Sega consoles (Genesis and Mega Drive). Every other console in history has had an average of less than 10 games per person. The reason for this is a LOT of people buy a console and only one game or two, which brings the numbers down. Heck, I know a couple dozen people with Switches and maybe 3 of them have these three games (of course, anecdotal evidence is poor and obviously the overall is still over 50%). Mario Kart alone I wouldn’t necessarily recommend to other serious Nintendo fans as anyone with a Wii U had access to the same game (in fact, that’s the title I’m most surprised at here, despite it likely having the broadest appeal). A lot of gamers don’t like Zelda or Mario, a lot of people get Nintendo systems just for Smash Bros, Pokémon, etc. Then take into account BotW was on the Wii U and some Wii U owners haven’t upgraded yet and will later in its life... those owners likely already played BotW on the Wii U and have no reason to purchase the Switch one. But I mean, the biggest thing is still the fact that nearly every console in history has had less than 10 games sold (new, not used) per console. Attach rate isn’t a good indicator of success because if the average owner has 9 games and 50% of those owners have 3 specific games, it’s not very profitable for third parties... the longer a console is available, the lower individual game attach rates are, simply because there’s a larger catalog and when someone is buying only 8-9 games for a system with a ton of games on it, everyone gravitates to different ones (and if they don’t, well any game that isn’t the few everyone picks suddenly has a rough time).

As for the casuals... well once again, anecdotal evidence is poor but just like you know someone who had a Wii and isn’t aware of Switch, I know a number of people who have a Switch and it’s the first console since SNES or older. All of them I’d consider casual as they turn their gaming system on maybe once a week tops, usually just at social events. The types of games they get? Mostly party games and digital board games. Mario Kart is the only one of those three I see that crowd getting. And that’s the one game that almost all my serious gaming friends don’t get, I literally only know 2 serious gamers other than me with Mario Kart 8. And I 100% wouldn’t have gotten it if it came out now, I only bought it because there wasn’t many interesting games out yet when it released.

Tl;dr console owners on average buy way less games than you’d expect and taste is pretty broad. I’ve no doubt these will remain top selling Switch games but it definitely will dip below 50% before long. Just like BotW went from over 100% down to 50%. It’d be more worrisome if it didn’t because that means Nintendo isn’t doing well at reaching other gaming demographics.

@ShadJV Yeah... though people will continue to buy Zelda and Mario Odyssey ... I imagine people will quit buying Mario Kart 8DX once Mario Kart 9 comes out (I'd guess in 2020).

@roboshort I can only hope. Would be a shame if the only Mario Kart game Switch gets is a port.

@Painay
You sold Zelda and Mario? You, sir, are a monster.

2 games on 3 are from the "so bad system" that was the Wii U...

Considering those games are wildly different from each other and gamers especially the “ hardcore “ crowd often have tastes that don’t align with all three this is fantastic. Not to mention two existed in some form on wiiu.

100 games in I certainly have all 3.

@Chayshirin I felt they were over rated. Dont shoot me!

Yes Reggie, now we just need the surprises....
F-Zero, Pilotwings, 1080, Wave Race and, after playing Starlink, a new Star Fox...
Perhaps a Diddy Kong Racer and Cruis'n wouldn't be bad either!

Mario Kart will keep selling whilst the other two may slow down.

That goes without saying. People don't buy a switch because of it's raw power. Nintendo hardware has always been about it's IPs. No one really gave a damn about switch until BoTW, and those that didn't care about BoTW didn't even bother to get a switch until Odyssey. if they didn't care about that either, they still didn't get a switch until mario kart, or pokemon lets go, or smash.

I'm in the UK, but I bought Mario Kart from the US shop... how valid is his statement?

I bought Zelda and Mario. I already owned Mario Kart 8 on Wii U, so I didn't see the point in buying it again.

I am surprised we haven't had dlc for MK yet and the Switch is young enough to have sequels to Mario Odyssey and Zelda! Woot!

@ShadJV Yeah it would be unfortunate.. Mario Kart is pretty much Nintendo's top franchise, though, so I just have a hard time imagining we won't see the next iteration on the Switch

Will be interesting to see how Super mario bros U Deluxe does when it comes to attachment rates

Out of all the "new" series of Mario bros games it's by far the best in my opinion but I really have no intention of double dipping. Especially when my Wii U is still hooked up to the same TV

I have Zelda and Mario Kart on the Wii U. So I’ve only got one of those games. I think Smash is going to be another game with an insane attach rate.

I am one of these Americans, except I'm not American and I live in Europe.

I have all these but I’m in the Uk would be interesting to see the attach rate for Uk I also have Mario kart 8 on the Wii u but liked it so much I just had to get it for switch

@Cobalt that's right. It clearly explains that good games do not save a bad console lol

Yah, I kind of bought all 3 day one.. my bad

@MysticalOS well I was the guy that had a console when kid (mega drive) but played a bunch of SNES and 64 from friends, never saw any type of Xbox, never saw a GameCube or Dreamcast, played just a bit of Wii (like half of the world), never even heard o Wii u until 2016 (meanwhile I was a very casual PC gamer with quite some focus on Nintendo emulation) but the day the switch reveal showed on my Facebook I literally said " shut up and take my money!!!" And now I am here with a library of almost 70 games...

I have em all. Great games for all switch owners

Well, they are great games, so it makes sense. Although, I still haven't finished any of them 100% (have beaten them though).

@Balta666

To be fair to the Wii U, yes it was a bad Console. Bad idea, bad hardware etc. But it was also badly supported. It only got Mario Kart after 18 months on the market, and BOTW same day as it launched on the Switch, playing better on better hardware. It never stood a chance 😉

Fantastic games all. I’ve also contributed a couple of these despite being from the U.K. as my digital copies of BOTW and MK8D are from the US Eshop.

@Cobalt,

The Wii U was not a bad console.it just did not sell as many units as Nintendo was expecting.

@Cobalt "That's right. It clearly explains that players of today are, for a majority of them, no brainers enslaved by the dominant doxa... "
Are we really talking about Wii u and switch here? Last time I saw the dominant doxa as you call it was the PS4....
The reality is that switch is a compelling system to a lot of people and the Wii u never was
Ps: I have nothing against the Wii u per se and was justing joking on your comment

A new 'original' Mario Kart 9 won't hurt sales either.

@electrolite77 said "To be fair to the Wii U, yes it was a bad Console. Bad idea, bad hardware etc. But it was also badly supported. It only got Mario Kart after 18 months on the market"

At least after these 18 months, the Wii U got its OWN MARIOKART not a port of the previous generation !

@Cobalt

And nobody cared. Not even that could sell such a tragic system.

@electrolite77

8 Million copies on a park of 14 Million machines, yeah like you say "nobody cared"...

MK8...check
Zelda...check
Odyssey...check

I'm very happy with the quality of first party games on Switch. Reggie is right to admit they lost momentum (early to mid 2018 wasn't great for me, software release wise) but we've had so many quality 1st and 3rd party titles to tide us over in between (Mario+Rabbids, ARMS, Rocket League, Doom, Splatoon2) that it hasn't really hurt too much. I'm really looking forward to 2019 and all the confirmed and unconfirmed games which are on the way. Metroid has me foaming at the mouth with anticipation. 😃

Hopefully SSB gets added to that lsit

@Cobalt

14 million? See, that is Tragic. Even MK8 couldn’t sell the Wii U. Now set free on superior hardware with its potential realised MK8D passed that 8 million in a year. Much better than being lost in obscurity as the biggest seller on a disastrous Console.

I wonder what games they ARE playing. How can you not but these games as a Switch owner?

@electrolite77

Gamers of today : " A good system is a system that sells well"... :/

Pro tip :

Dreamcast : 9 Millions
Saturn : 9 Millions
PC engine : 10 Millions

Yes I did...and 42 more.

I have Smash and Mario Kart and will buy BOTW next week.

@Cobalt

Irrelevant goalpost shifting. Wii U was an awful Console that couldn’t be saved by its meagre library that took way too long to be good. Other factors at play in your pointless citing of other systems.

In my family/extended family, we own 5 Switches. The general games we own:

-5 copies of Splatoon
-5 copies of Smash
-2 copies of Zelda
-3 copies of Kart
-2 copies of Mario

@electrolite77 said : "Wii U was an awful Console that couldn’t be saved by its meagre library that took way too long to be good."

Sure the Wii U never had 1300 GAMES like the Switch... the librairy was about real AAA exclusives not shovelwares and other IOS/Android ports... you're right on that !

These games are essential.

@Cobalt

You’re just flapping around making noise now. If the Wii U had such a great library* it must have been a terrible Console to not sell.

*It didn’t of course, it was bad hardware with a mere trickle of worthwhile releases but flat earthers like yourself seem to think it did.

I only have Mario Odyssey, but I did already have MK8 and BOTW on the Wii U.

@electrolite77
The Wii U was a great console with some of the best games of the gen. Poor marketing and poor release timing caused it to fail; but one day it will be looked back as one of the best systems that just didnt sell.

@electrolite77

Flat earthers ! You make me laught... it's like you're grasping at straws...

I like you electrolite. ^^

EDIT : @CaPPa I'm 100% agree with you ! Your words are holy words...

@electrolite77 There's a reason why you got an ignore button. Don't bother talking to Cobalt. If he bothers u so much with his Wii U fanboyism, why don't you use the ignore option on him? Or use the report button?

I was wondering when Cobalt would show his ugly mug. Topics like this attracts him like a fly is attracted to... yeah, you know what. Well, at least no mass murderer gif this ti... oh wait...

On topic: Three great games, all of them included in my ever growing Switch library.

I bet Smash will be the fourth one pretty soon.

@Cobalt " the librairy was about real AAA exclusives"
You mean like Sonic Boom?
"not shovelwares"
You mean like Meme Run, the first Skunk Bundle, or The letter?

I have all 3, amongst others but like a few here am from the U .K. to be fair tho, I refused to buy Mario kart new as I already played it to death on Wii u. Yes I guess all 3 are great games but my enjoyment of Mario kart was somewhat diluted thanks to it being already very familiar to me. Hence its had shorter playtime than the other 2. That and the fact that there's little incentive to play the single player game as all except gold Mario is already unlocked .

Lol @Cobalt he is just a blind ignorant fanboy who lives in denial and has to resort to gifs as he lacks the intelligence to actually have a conversation. He's the kind of guy who probably struggles to read a book without nice big pictures to amuse him.

I've got Kart and Odyssey. I didn't do Zelda because by the time I could find a Switch, Splatoon 2 was out, and I'm about that life. I'd like to see the attach rate of Splatoon 2. I know in Japan it's probably highest (until Smash SMASHES it.... womp womp)

BotW, Odyssey and MK8D were all day-one purchases for me. In addition, Splatoon 2 was also a day-one purchase, though I never played the series before. Smash Ultimate was also day one.

And when Animal Crossing's release date is finally announced, I'm so pre-ordering the living daylights out of that one. lol

Just to add to the debate about the Wii U: I had really wanted to get it myself but I was waiting for a proper Animal Crossing game...and waiting...and waiting...so I just skipped over it. I actually had some trepidation when I bought my Switch because no Animal Crossing game was properly announced at the time but I wanted to play the other games anyway. It was simply Nintendo's time to shine after languishing for a bit.

@Cobalt Could you please tone down the number of GIFs a bit? Remember that people are watching this on their phones as well, and you're posting a lot of them...

@Octane

No problem, I understand.

@Alantor28

Eh? I find him hilarious. And I’ll talk to whoever I want thanks.

@CaPPa

It was an awful Console with a library overrated by its cheerleaders. What good games were out for it were so scarce and so slow to appear most people understandably stopped caring. It wasn’t well marketed but it wouldn’t have sold even if it was.

@Octane What kind of content is OK within these gifs? I understand that scenes from movies are allowed, but clips of mass murderers and dictators?

@Cobalt
Maybe you shouldn't post gifs of literal despots and genocidal dictators while you defend the Wii U. It makes your arguments slightly better.

I have Mario Kart because I like the series, have Odyssey because my kid wanted it( don't like Mario platformers but I do like spinoffs like Paper Mario or the Mario and Luigi rpg games) and don't have BOTW because I have it on WIIU and hated the weapons breaking mechanic hated that so much I didn't finish the game so it wasn't for me.But I agree NS is doing so good even with all its flaws hope there is a revision next year like the rumoured NS Pro that fixes all NS problems.

@masterLEON I'm more surprised about the 50% that hasn't bought these games yet. Why buy a Nintendo console if not to play Mario/Zelda/Smash/Pokémon/Metroid/etc.? Regarding Sony... I think they have a wider range of excellent exclusive games, but not as many well-known, exclusive franchises (maybe Uncharted, God of War, Ratchet & Clank, Gran Turismo, Ico/SotC/Last Guardian) and fewer charming iconic characters. I'm sad to see Sony's portable consoles end as they brought us LocoRoco, Patapon, Tearaway and Gravity Rush.

@westman98 @Quarth In that case, please report them and specify in the description. I'm not too familiar with all the political figures in the world.

@Octane I’ve reported the gif of Anders Behring Breivik, Norwegian nazi terrorist and mass murderer of children, twice and it’s still there.

And in this thread you have the Ugandan psycho dictator Idi Amin. But I don’t know if it’s worth bothering reporting anymore.

Edit: OK, Breivik is gone now.

Edit 2: This is why I would like a PM function, at least with the mods regarding the reports. Otherwise it’s hard to know if the reports have any effect. Even a dismissed report is good to know about, so one don’t bother to make similar reports in the future, if there’s no ground for them.

I know you guys do this as volunteers, so I understand it’s not always easy. But I think some kind of response system would benefit both mods and users.

@Quarth I've deleted them. Agreed on the PM function, but that's also what the reports are for. On face value it would be incredibly useful to communicate with the reporter if needed, but seeing how there are many people just reporting comments because they don't agree with them, I can see my inbox being flooded with spam rather quickly. The end result is the same in that case. Anyway, again, thanks for letting me know.

@Octane As if he wasn't annoying enough, the gifs made him even more grating than usual. Thanks.

@Octane Yeah, I saw that. Thanks!

Well, it mustn’t be a full fledged PM function. Maybe when you receive the report, there could be room for you to just send an automatic message back saying either ”the message you’ve reported has been taken care of as it didn’t follow our community rules” or ”the message you’ve reported is not breaking our community rules and action is not taken”.

@blecch To me, it's not about having a Nintendo console (even though I have almost all of them), it's about having the equipment to play the games I want to play right here and now. Right now, almost everything "I" want to play right now is available for the Switch. Before that it was 3DS, then 360, Wii, DS, PS2, and etc. down the line. It has nothing to do with brand loyalty. I don't have a XBoX One or PS4 yet, but I do intend to get and XBox One X and a PS4 Pro as I have growing lists of games I want to play on both. I also need to upgrade my PC so I can get back to World of Warships.

And this may be shocking but, I'm not actually a fan of modern Mario games. I don't know what it is. Ever since 64, Mario games stopped being appealing to me. I used to say it was just the 3D games, but I realized I had no interest in the New SMB series, either. I can't really explain it further. However, I can still play SMB 1, Vs. SMB, SMB 3, and Lost Levels. I'm definitely a retrogamer.

I've already played my fill of Mario Kart 8 on WiiU (I know there's new stuff in Deluxe). I'd still buy it on Switch, and since my friends have recently got their Switches I'd be more inclined to double dip. But right this second, MK8DX is not a priority.

BotW I have on WiiU. I got that version because I was waiting so long for it, and there didn't seem to be enough of a performance difference between the Switch and WiiU. And it's truly a technical achievement to get a game like that running on the WiiU (and personally, I sometimes buy versions of a game that are purely technical curiosities; Dragon's Lair on GBC, for example).

I'm also not really into Smash, DK, Kirby, Yoshi, or Animal Crossing (I'll let that sink in). So what's left that's still Nintendo? I am waiting for the new Metroid (it doesn't have to be a Prime, it just needs to be good, and not an Other M), and I'd like to see a new F-Zero and a REAL new Star Fox, if anything. Also, I'd like to see more new properties that haven't been revealed yet.

On that note about original properties, I originally intended to buy the Switch only for Splatoon 2. Loved the 1st game, and I was all but burnt out on shooters by the time S1 came out. It was such a breath of fresh air with all these gameplay mechanics that have never been done before, and done so well. I was hooked! I got to try 2 at the Switch event in January 2017 and it was so good (and yeah, I hate to admit, I was a dualie main until the end of the Global Testfire). So, even if the Switch would flop, I knew the Japanese Splatoon players would still be playing because it's a hot property. Thankfully, it's doing even better than Splatoon 1.

Then, after the Switch event and before launch, HAMSTER announced it would be bringing NEOGEO games to the Switch. On top of that, KoF 98' and Metal Slug 3 would be in the initial batch! I'm a longtime SNK fan, I played in the arcades, I have a NEOGEO home cart system and NEOGEO Pocket Color, I had King of Fighters '98 on 5 different platforms at one point, etc. So if I could get arcade perfect KoF '98 and other NEOGEO games on the go, it would be a done deal. The Switch was already looking like it would be my favorite system after the 360 and Dreamcast. Even if the Switch would flop, at least there would be Splatoon 2 and my NEOGEO games.

But wait, there's more! Titles on my Steam wish list and owned were crossing over to the Switch (Darkest Dungeon, Enter the Gungeon, the Pinball Arcade...sort of). Shmups galore! From Psikyo (Strikers series, Zero Gunner, Tengai series, Gunbird), Treasure (Ikaruga), and even original properties (Danmaku Unlimited 3, Shikhondo, Touhou series). From Capcom, all the Mega Man games, most of the Street Fighter games, a good chunk of the beat-em-ups. And Nintendo arcade games that have never seen proper home ports (Punch-Out!!, Donkey Kong, Vs. SMB). Now we have SEGA AGES getting in on the Switch. And so on, it just keeps getting better (for me)!

And since my job has me traveling sometimes for a week or two at a time, my Switch is the most convenient system to have with me to be able to play roughly 95% of the types of games I want to play at any given time, right now.

Sorry for the short novel, but my position as a Switch owner is rather unique, the way I see it.

Oh, and yeah Sony has a good number of recognizable characters and series that can do better. But Sony is horrible at marketing. We forget about a character as soon as a few weeks after the game's out. They're also not pushed into other media, leaving them confined to just games. There's so much untapped potential here, if only they made a better effort. Sony also has a habit of moving on to the next thing too quickly or cutting off support at the slightest sign of trouble, like the Vita (beyond the launch year, it ended up being solely a 3rd party supported system). And VitaTV could have been nice, too. If it was allowed to stay for a little longer until Playstation Vue started to pick up, it would have been a competitive micro console/streaming device that was a gateway to their mainline product. I mean, I don't have a Vita, but even I can see it could have done better with a little more support (and of course, less expensive, proprietary memory cards).

Not me, but I plan on buying Mario Kart on Switch today at Meijer so I will have purchased all 3 games.

@electrolite77
NSMBU, DKCTF, SM3DW, Mario Kart 8, Bayonetta 2, Splatoon, Lego City Undercover, BOTW. Thats some of the best games of the past couple of generations imo.

The GamePad was a game changing controller. Most games could benefit from it, be it for an easier inventory system or for a world map.

Had the Wii U not had a big software gap after release (looking at you Rayman Legends), if Nintendo could have better promoted the system, if had better 3rd party support and had it released earlier instead of having the 9th gen consoles looming over it then I think that it would have been better received. It certaInly wasn't all that it could have been but I loved my Wii U because of the backwards compatibility (I literally have hundreds of Nintendo greats on the Wii/U), a great form factor (with low power consumption), some of the best exclusive games and a focus on familly fun (the kids still play the Wii U more than they do the PS4/XBO).

That doesn't mean that I don't love my Switch (I do its fantastic) or my One X, but the stock PS4 and Xbox One were more disappointing to me than the Wii U ever was.

@Deku-Scrub Wii was the only Nintendo system I didn’t embrace. I wasn’t a fan of motion control and the graphics were dull. I did enjoy Skyward Sword, in spite of the motion controls which added unnecessary difficulty to certain parts of the game. I have yet to play either Mario Galaxy, although I do have them both and intend to get to them eventually. As for the Switch titles in this article, I consider all 3 to be must-have games for any Nintendo fan, especially Breath of the Wild. I’m very happy to see Switch doing so well and I hope we eventually get a more powerful Switch sometime down the road.

@CaPPa

It’s all opinions of course but for me personally it’s one of my biggest gaming disappointments. It’s unusual for me to not buy a Nintendo system at launch but Wii U didn’t appeal to me until around the time of Mario 3D Worlds launch.

And I just see a confused mess. The Gamepad added nothing beyond Off TV Play that some games didn’t offer as they mandated other gimmickry instead to try and justify the ‘innovation’ of the system. The system itself was underpowered and slow to navigate. The Gamepad has a low res screen, poor range and poor battery life. Even after a poor first year, the good games it did get were months apart.

If what you say had happened it would have done better but I don’t believe it ever would have been a roaring success. The basic design of the system wasn’t appealing enough.

@electrolite77 said : "And I just see a confused mess. The Gamepad added nothing beyond Off TV Play that some games didn’t offer as they mandated other gimmickry instead to try and justify the ‘innovation’ of the system. The system itself was underpowered and slow to navigate. The Gamepad has a low res screen, poor range and poor battery life. Even after a poor first year, the good games it did get were months apart."

And what the Switch add beyond handheld mode ?
Underpowered compare to what ? SONY and MS ? Guess what... it still the same with the Switch... ^^
The "low res" screen is a 480p screen and ALL the games could be played with that resolution... Do I have to remember you that Xenoblade chronicles 2 drop to 368p ? LOL what's the point to have a 720p screen then ?
The battery life was already better than the one on the Switch and you even could extend the battery life to 8 hours with the 2550mAh one... Again something that you can't do with a Switch...

@Cobalt

It added handheld mode. It doesn’t need much beyond that.

But as a bonus it runs everything better than Wii U despite being actually portable.

In fact the more you think about it the crazier it sounds. They tried to sell a system with Off TV Play....thats not actually portable beyond a few feet from the TV but can still only play at a lower res than 2012 phone....oh and not all games. Just some.

Really, What were they thinking? No wonder most people laughed and walked away.

These three games are really good so it's not too surprising. And of course they were the really big games in the Switch's first year which was rather barren when it came to really big games. No, I'm not arguing that the Wii U was somehow better, but it's pretty easy to see why it didn't have a Zelda game hit the 50% mark, it's only new Zelda came out after it was already dead and people were moving onto the Switch.

@TheWorkingDead No shame in that. The Kirby series are beautiful polished works of art, but really only for small children.

@Illusion The 4 owners I know (including me):
4x mario kart
4x odessey
3x zelda botw
4x pokemon lets go