RELATED: A History of Failed Nintendo Hardware
Released in 2012, the Wii U was meant to be the successor of the Wii, potential buyers were perplexed by it when it launched. Was it an add-on for the Wii? A portable console? Rather, it was a standalone console which integrated a controller with a 480p touchscreen into its interface. Little third-party support and a botched marketing campaign from Nintendo spelled the failure of the console, which was discontinued after four years. Because of its performance, and the obtuseness of the console, people like to poke fun at it in comparison to the Switch.
7 I Tip My Hat To You, One Legend To Another
The 2011 Nickelodeon film Rango was a bizarre, heartfelt tribute to the Spaghetti westerns of yesteryear, where a pet chameleon has to take on the role of a sheriff, and desert creatures filled in for cowboys and townspeople.
Here, Rattlesnake Jake, labeled Wii, is tipping his hat to Rango, the chameleon in the stetson, with the name Switch over himself, while Beans, to Rango’s right, takes on the role of the Wii U, and just looks at him. The Switch has exceeded the kind of success the Wii U only dreamed of, forever to live in the shadow of its predecessor and its successor. Needless to say, it won’t be getting the LEGO treatment any time soon.
6 Wii U Is The Squidward Of Nintendo Consoles
In some ways, the Wii U laid the groundwork for the Switch. It gave players the option to play games either on the television or on the game pad, so as long as the console was in range, players had some flexibility with where they played. Nintendo refined and enhanced the concept with the Switch, and the console practically sold itself.
The fact that Nintendo tried so hard and failed with the Wii U made it the Squidward of their consoles, as illustrated by this meme from Xate1031 on Reddit. The poor system never got a break. Meanwhile, the Wii U’s rich, successful foil is rolling in the dollars.
5 Wii U Wii U Wii U!!!
One way Nintendo went wrong with the Wii U was the name. Gamers scratched their heads, wondering what the point of the U was. The name itself sounds like the noise an ambulance makes.
This meme from Adam on knowyourmeme.com has fun with the pun. Two juxtaposed pictures of a Wii Remote and a Switch joy con each have a knife attached at their ends, with the wielders threatening to make the kid-friendly consoles M-rated. The resulting confrontation requires an ambulance wailing the console’s name: “Wii U Wii U Wii U!”
4 Wii U: The Poor Man’s Switch
Nintendo’s Switch console has a lot of advantages over the Wii U, including more games and greater portability. One thing that the Wii U does have over the Switch right now is that it is a cheaper option for some games.
RELATED: The Best Morbius Gaming Memes
This meme from zeden-725 on Reddit illustrates this dynamic perfectly. While the Switch has received updated ports of Wii U exclusives, some original Wii U releases go for fairly cheap right now. At least they are cheap for the moment, until the Wii U eShop shuts down. Then physical copies will be harder to come by. The asking prices of some Wii U games has gone up already.
3 I’m Making My Own Nintendo Switch
Nintendo Switch models are ubiquitous. One can buy the system anywhere, either new or used. They can get an original model, an OLED model, or a Switch Lite without the switching functionality that made its older sibling famous. Or, if one is desperate, they can make their own Switch.
This meme from detikinet depicts a Wii U game pad being dismembered by a pair of scissors. The Switch with the joy cons attached is essentially the game pad with the actual console components built in, so this is a humorous riff on the system.
2 Poor Xenoblade Chronicles X
Most of the major Wii U titles have been ported to the Switch, with a few big exceptions. These include the HD remasters of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
RELATED: Switch Wii-U Ports We Need After Super Mario 3D World + Bowser’s Fury
There is one other Wii U game that seems to have been forgotten by Nintendo: Xenoblade Chronicles X, a spinoff of the Xenoblade Chroniclesfranchise, which follows a migrant from future Earth on a distant alien world. The fact that this game is yet to be ported is perplexing, since the Xenoblade franchise is doing well on the Switch platform. Unfortunately, Xenoblade Chronicles X has been left alone in the empty Wii U house, wondering where everyone went.
1 After Smash Ultimate, It Was All Over
The Wii U had at least one major thing going for it: Super Smash Bros. It was the first entry in the Smash franchise to enable up to eight players at once and include custom Mii Fighters. Smash 4 also debuted some new characters, including Ryu from Street Fighter and Pac-Man.
Then, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate arrived with virtually every Smash character in existence, and then some. It became one of the big selling points of the Switch console. Surprisingly, some people are still playing Smash 4 on the Wii U today.
MORE: Ways The Wii Is Better Than The Switch (& Ways The Switch Is Best)
