Screenshot 2019 01 04 At 11.13.35

We may well have just entered 2019, a whole two years since Nintendo's Wii U was officially discontinued, but the console's value has slowly been creeping up in price ever since, now reaching near unfathomable numbers.

The story of the Wii U will be well known among the regular readers of Nintendo Life; what once looked like a promising new generation of hardware for the Japanese gaming giant soon turned a little sour, with a general lack of third-party support, less than ideal marketing, and then the arrival of the Nintendo Switch, all burying the poor machine before it really had the chance to shine.

With the console no longer being available at stores, getting your hands on a brand new, unopened Wii U is becoming increasingly tricky. As such, prices are starting to reflect its rarity, not too dissimilar from what you might expect for something like a pristine condition Nintendo 64 that's still sealed in its box. A quick search on Amazon reveals that sellers are flogging their last remaining stock for around $800 ($450 higher than the console's introductory price back in 2012).

At present, a Wii U Deluxe with Mario Kart 8 pre-installed costs $799.99, the standard deluxe set with Nintendo Land included costs $789.99, and the bundle which came with New Super Mario Bros. U + New Super Luigi U now costs a whopping $879. It's a similar story in the UK, too, although prices haven't reached quite the same heights; Amazon UK has the Mario Kart 8 pack listed for £424.99.

Mario Luigi U

Whether or not your very own Wii U sitting at home will one day be worth a considerable amount remains to be seen, but it certainly seems worth holding on to. Maybe Wii Us will eventually be highly sought after by collectors, sort of like that frustratingly elusive shiny you could never snag for your trading card collection?

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[source nintendosoup.com]