Oh, that Wii U. You’re not the best console in the world, but I don’t think you deserve this fate. Last year, following the closure of e-stores for the 3DS and Wii U, Nintendo subsequently announced that the console’s online services would soon be shut down as well. In fact, that day is today, and at the time of writing, there are only a few hours left until you can play games on any console forever online. I know the Wii U isn’t a perfect console, but you know what? I’m still saddened by its death.
This may be an odd way to start this argument, but I’m going to say this: I admit I haven’t played through the countless Wii U libraries. I did play a few rounds of Mario Kart 8 and Splatoon, and had a lot of fun with Super Mario Maker, but aside from playing The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess and The Wind in crisp HD Outside of the Wand, it primarily serves as a way to play OG Wii games and enjoy HDMI-quality visuals.
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So why am I sad that today’s console is dying if it’s not the Nintendo console I spend the most time with? Well, that’s because it represents a huge change for Nintendo, one that is more obviously moving further into becoming just another video game company.
Nintendo has always been a company with a personality. Reggie Fils-Aimé, the former boss of Nintendo of America, often enjoyed poking fun at himself alongside company veterans like Satoru Iwata and Shigeru Miyamoto. But in recent years, this part of Nintendo seems to have been left behind.
The Wii U has a really clunky way of playing video games. You have to use this giant pad and sometimes you have to look at it, just to play video games? Does this mean that third-party developers have to jump through hoops to make the screen work, resulting in not as many major third-party games being released on the console? Okay, yes, you can probably see why the 3DS was Nintendo’s king until the Switch launched.
However, user experience is still a personal experience. You can see all your Miis and friends on your TV screen or gamepad, it has classic Nintendo elevator-style music, and everything feels a bit Y2K, even though the millennium has already happened a lot more than it did a decade ago. It’s not as charming as the original Wii, with its beautiful game launch screens and TV channel-like atmosphere, but it’s certainly better than the feature-rich but boring home screens of the PS4 and Xbox One.
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However, when you look at the Switch, all that personality is gone. No doubt this is likely because Nintendo knows most people will be spending their time in games rather than on the home screen, and the sleep function can get you right back into the game, but it’s still so… simple. There isn’t even any music when you visit the eShop, which was one of the influential elements of the original Wii. Many certainly hoped that like the 3DS, themes would be introduced later since there were options, but this wish never came to fruition.
It feels like the experience of launching a game and the excitement that comes with it is gone; the Switch’s home screen is just an annoying stopgap before the game itself, so why bother putting any kind of identity there? It also ties into Nintendo’s obvious brand awareness and expansion efforts, launching theme parks and movie adaptations, all of which attempt to create a classic that’s easy to explain and digest, without any flaws or personality.
No wonder I often see Gen Zers playing TikTok on their customized 3DSs, decked out with stickers and keychains – almost reminiscent of the days of flip phones. Of course, you won’t see anything like TikTok on the Wii U, probably because no one will miss it, as I wouldn’t say it has the strongest vibe of any Nintendo console (again, barring switch). But it’s the last remnant of Nintendo, and now with the demise of online services, there’s even less reason to play it.
Why would you do that when you can get your Splatoon fix in the second or third entry, and Super Mario Maker 2 has more levels to smash your controller to? I doubt I myself would ever return to any of the original titles in their respective series mentioned above, but their death knell remains solemn.
Don’t get me wrong, I know Nintendo is just another company, and an occasionally annoying one, but I still feel bad that games are making intellectual property the most important thing in the world. Forget about your identity and jump into the latest round of Fortnite as soon as possible—your Wii U will be gathering dust until the heat death of the universe.