Editorial: The Top 10 Wii U Games

The Top 10 Wii U Games

          It’s a big week for Nintendo. Their next console, the Nintendo Switch, is due for arrival on Friday, alongside the hotly anticipated Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. It’s do or die time for a company that’s definitely had their fair share of struggles the last few years as they swept up the mess the Wii U left behind.

          Everywhere I go on the internet lately I’ve been seeing people calling the Wii U a complete and utter failure. But honestly, I couldn’t disagree more. Yes, the system was marketed awfully and sold extremely poorly, but that doesn’t mean it was a bad system overall.

          So, as we prepare to bid adieu to the Wii U, I’ve compiled a list of my Top 10 Favourite Wii U Games. Keep in mind that this list is entirely subjective, and I haven’t played every single Wii U game out there. I’m also not counting any remakes or ports on this list, although I will be giving honourable mention to both Shovel Knight and The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess HD. Those games are honestly at their best on the Wii U, and if you haven’t checked them out yet I’d highly recommend them both.

10. Wii Party U

          We’re starting off with a game I’m pretty sure nobody else played. Wii Party U is the successor to the original Wii Party on the Wii, and it has one of the most stellar minigame compilations on the entire system. This game has become the go-to game at family parties for me, and for good reason. It’s just that fun.

          The main draw of Wii Party U is the various minigames it offers, featuring enough fantastic ones that it’s always fun to pop in and play every once in a while. My personal favourites include a zoo animal race, a game involving rolling barrels down a rushing river, a pole vault challenge, and possibly the most hilarious RC car race in gaming.

          The game also offers twists on the minigames as well, the best of these being “Spot the Sneak”. Every game one player is given “Sneak power”, giving them a distinct advantage over the others. The trick is that the sneak has to hide their power to earn as many points as possible. If they’re found out, they won’t earn any points at all. It’s an interesting challenge where you must pay as much attention to other players as you do yourself, and try to work together to figure out who the Sneak is. It’s a great game overall that I love to play with friends and family.

9. Pikmin 3

          The long awaited third installment in the Pikmin series came to us nearly a decade after the release of Pikmin 2 back in 2004. Thankfully, it was well worth the wait, as Pikmin 3 proved itself to be the quintessential Pikmin experience.

          With three playable characters, several new maps to explore, monsters to fight and Pikmin types to collect, the main campaign of 3 felt like a combination of the best parts of the original and 2, removing both Pikmin’s constrictive time limit and Pikmin 2’s dreadful reliance on cave spelunking. Add in a charming story about a group of intrepid explorers searching for fruit to restore life to their dying home planet and a mystery subplot about the whereabouts of Captain Olimar, and you’ve got a very fun and very Nintendo storyline.

          The true standout of this game was actually none of these. Also included in Pikmin 3 was Bingo Battle, an awesome 1 v 1 multiplayer showdown where two players battle it out to see who can collect the proper items to make a bingo on their personal bingo sheet. It’s fun and chaotic, especially when throwing items into the mix. A usual game of Bingo Battle often involves players launching meteor strikes, giant monster battles and Pikmin feud over who gets to take that apple back to home base. It was easily the best PvP multiplayer game on the system before Mario Kart 8 and Smash Bros came along, and if you haven’t checked it out I highly recommend you do so.

8. Nintendo Land

          Coming straight out of the Wii U’s launch library, Nintendo Land proved that lightning can strike twice when it comes with console pack-in tech demos. Wii Sports was universally beloved for the quick and simple way it was able to convey the Wii’s controls to even grandparents, and while Nintendo Land was a bit more complicated than that, it boasted several entertaining minigames that are just as fun to pick up and play today as they were back in November 2012.

          Easily the best one in the whole collection is “Mario Chase”, where one player is Mario and the rest play as his adoring fans, unrelentingly pursuing him around a map until either they capture him or Mario manages to evade them until the time runs out. It’s a lot of fun to play both roles, as the team of four Toads needs to work together to corner Mario, and Mario can use their strategy against them to try and lead them on a wild goose chase.

          Other highlights include a surprisingly difficult Luigi’s Mansion game where four players work to take down a ghost, a nigh impossible game based on the original Donkey Kong involving rolling an egg to the end of an enormous maze, and the closest thing we’ll ever get to Metroid on the Wii U. If you haven’t checked it out in a while, pick it up again. You’ll be surprised how stellar it is.

7. Yoshi’s Woolly World

          Remember Kirby’s Epic Yarn? That Wii platformer where you literally couldn’t die and it was kind of only made as an excuse to show off some fancy yarn graphics? That game’s obsolete now, as Yoshi’s Woolly World arrived to show how a game can be made of yarn and still be a challenging experience.

          I’d honestly argue that Woolly World is the best Yoshi game to date, trumping even the original Yoshi’s Island. The true star of the game is undeniably the graphics. Woolly World takes the foundations set by Epic Yarn and perfects them, creating one of the most creatively designed games in years. I love all the neat little touches the art team snuck into the games, like Yoshi’s legs turning into little wheels when he runs fast or how they become propeller blades when he double jumps. Its attention to detail like that that truly shows when someone cares about a game. Add in fantastic platforming and a true marathon of things to collect, and you’ve got an excellent game worth any Yoshi fan’s while.

6. Hyrule Warriors

                The Wii U never really got a true Zelda game to call its own. Yes, Breath of the Wild is coming to the system, but they’re sharing it with the Switch. There’s no Zelda game exclusive to this console.

          The closest we got was with Hyrule Warriors, a marriage between the Zelda franchise and Dynasty Warriors gameplay. The game felt like a true celebration of all things Zelda, bringing in characters from past games as they go on a mission to destroy as many bokoblins as possible…or something. I don’t know, the story to this game wasn’t that great.

          What was great was the awesome action-packed gameplay, fantastic remixed soundtrack and varied characters, each one playing differently and more uniquely than the last. The game also boasted huge replayability apart from the main campaign through an Adventure mode where you explored the map from the original Legend of Zelda, completing character specific tasks to unlock new goodies and find secrets. Some of the challenges can be especially difficult, making this game a true challenge for anyone up to the task. It was ported to the 3DS as Hyrule Warriors Legends recently, so if you haven’t played the game now’s a good time to check it out.

5. Mario Kart 8

          For years I told anyone who’d listen that Double Dash on the GameCube was the best Mario Kart ever. It was partially out of nostalgia, but I’d always felt that Mario Kart Wii and the handheld installments couldn’t quite match up to the two-dudes-one-kart frenzy that Double Dash brought to the table. If something were to top my childhood favourite, it’d need to really pull out all the stops and create a new spin on the tried and true series.

          Along comes Mario Kart 8, touting new zero-gravity tracks, the best looking graphics the Wii U has ever seen (or will ever see, as I still consider this game to be the system’s peak graphically) and the inclusion of characters from other Nintendo franchises, leaving Double Dash in the dust in the race for best Mario Kart.

          Yes, the Battle mode sucked on the Wii U version (a fixed version more alongside the classic Battle modes is coming in the Switch version of the game) and whoever decided to fill a quarter of the character slots with the Koopalings should never make a roster again, but those are honestly the only gripes I have with the game. It’s truly Mario Kart at its best, and the frequent updates and DLC served to make this a game I was happy to come back to many times.

4. Super Mario Maker

          We all have that one game. That one special game that only exists in our minds but we’d love to see made reality someday. For many years, that game for me was one where you could create your own Super Mario Bros levels.

          In celebration of the thirtieth anniversary of everyone’s favourite plumber in red, Nintendo pulled out all the stops in creating the game we’d always dreamed of seeing. A spiritual successor to Mario Paint, Super Mario Maker was the only game on the Wii U that truly used the GamePad to its full potential. Whereas most games used it as a map screen, inventory management or ignored it altogether, Mario Maker took one look at the screen and made it an integral part of building levels. Dragging and dropping pipes and platforms into the terrain felt pitch-perfect, all thanks to the peripheral most scoffed at as another gimmick.

          The fan community that sprung up thanks to Mario Maker was equally as fantastic as making levels yourself. While there were an overflow of automatic levels and impossible levels towards the end of the game’s lifespan, those who took the tools given to them and used them to create a level up to par with one actually made by Nintendo made Mario Maker a truly special game.

3. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze

          Sometimes to make a great game all you have to do is take a previous installment and polish it until it shines like gold. Coming off the ho-hum Donkey Kong Country Returns for Wii, I was admittedly nervous about what Retro Studios would do next with the legendary franchise. Imagine my surprise when playing Tropical Freeze, finding that Retro took the foundation Returns built to create not only the greatest Donkey Kong Country game ever, but also one of the greatest sidescrolling platformers ever made.

          The beauty in Tropical Freeze is in the level design, as the developers truly made each and every one feel unique and stand out. Whereas many platformers are content to make a bunch of similar levels that all sort of mesh together, I remember several of Tropical Freeze’s defining moments, such as swinging on giraffe and zebra shaped poles in a savannah environment or chasing down a robot through the jungles while on a flying barrel, Tropical Freeze ensured that no two levels were alike.

          Plus, while the game was very difficult, it never felt too hard. One of Returns’ biggest problem was the forced reliance on motion controls as you made DK jump, roll, climb and hand slap his way through the levels. This resulted in many unfair deaths, as the Wiimote couldn’t quite support a character with this range of movement and oftentimes one poorly timed shake would result in you losing a life. Tropical Freeze, on the other hand, is perfectly balanced, creating a game not too challenging for kids but not too easy for adults. In my eyes it’s as perfect as a platformer can get.

2. Super Smash Bros. for Wii U

          Every console since the N64 is expected to get a Smash at some point or another, and the Wii U was no different. With Brawl’s popularity on the wane since the rising popularity of Melee and the competitive scene, Nintendo was caught between a rock and a hard place. Do they make the game cater more to casuals or the competitive crowd?

          Their answer? Find the perfect marriage between Melee and Brawl. While Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (or Smash 4 as it’s more commonly known) won’t be replacing Melee as the dominant competitive Smash game anytime soon, it’s much faster and balanced than Brawl ever was. Boasting several new characters and stages as well as more options to matchmake to your liking, there really is something for everyone in Smash 4.

          The beauty of this game is that everyone, regardless of skill level, can pick it up and have a great time. I speak from experience when I say that it’s not as fun as one might think to be absolutely destroyed at Melee by some guy pulling off ridiculous moves that you can’t possibly keep up with. By keeping all characters on a level playing field but still having ways for high level players to figure out some tricks to give them an upper hand, Smash 4 earns its title as the most accessible fighting game on the market right now.

1. Splatoon

          And here it is: Nintendo’s latest IP and the crown jewel of the Wii U library.

          Over the years, Nintendo has dabbled in nearly every game genre known to man. Platformers, adventure games, puzzle, strategy, life sims, you name it, they’ve done it. The only one they’ve never really touched was the shooter, and for understandable reasons. Your typical shooter game is more or less about blood and killing and all sorts of things Nintendo isn’t overly fond of. So, when it came time to finally try their hand at the concept, Nintendo turned it on its head and made it their own.

          The result was Splatoon, a third-person shooter with a delightful world, iconic characters and a concept that seemed unusual at first glance, but in practice it turned out to be absolutely brilliant.

          Instead of focusing on kills and killstreaks, Splatoon is all about one thing and one thing only: covering everything in sight with your team’s colour. The other team is more of an obstacle than anything, as they paint over your colours with their own. Whoever has the most area covered at the end is crowned winner.

          But what I loved even more than the gameplay or universe of Splatoon was the method of release Nintendo took with it. After launch Nintendo continued to update the game weekly with new weapons, gear, maps and events for the low price of absolutely nothing. You could keep coming back to the game over and over to check out the new stuff and never pay a cent. And it worked! For a full year after launch Splatoon stayed in relevancy as fans continued to return to the game over and over to see what was new. And with Splatoon 2 on the horizon, I can’t wait to experience that feeling all over again.

          So that’s my list of my favourite Wii U games! While the system did perform less than spectacularly, I still have a major soft spot for it and I hope what it did for gaming becomes more appreciated later down the line.

          Goodnight, sweet prince. It’s time to see if your next of kin can measure up.

Song of the Week

          The Smash 4 theme. To me, this song personifies the Wii U well. While it’s not as iconic as the Smash themes from the GameCube or Wii, it’s just as big and grand as those, and invites players for a fun time playing some video games.