I liked the Wii-U. I think it was a good Nintendo console (can’t honestly name a bad one) that suffered from bad marketing. The console barely received any fanfare at launch and Nintendo never fully understood the identity crisis the console suffered. Too many thought it was simply an add-on or some kinda peripheral/updated Wii.
The saddest part was that the Wii-U had some great games. Fortunately, some of these modern classics are going to be re-booted as Nintendo attempts to create content for its Switch console.
We reported a few days ago what has apparently become to the tip of the iceberg. No one knew just how deep the rabbit hole would go!
Why re-release Wii-U games on the switch?
Well, releasing actually (most the time) makes a lot of sense. If a game is being considered for a remastered release, it must have either A) Sold well in the first place or B) Have a massive fan following.
The recent re-release of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe for the Switch saw it immediately jump to the consoles number 1 seller.
Re-releasing games, therefore, makes sense. There is, however, a more cynical view one could take regarding this. It is ironically a criticism that was also levelled at the Wii-U.
There simply isn’t enough content!
We wrote a few days ago how Metroid Prime and Pokemon were coming as re-releases to the Switch. It seems this was the beginning of a much larger swathe of re-releases as the console appears to be losing a lot of its initial momentum.
Is the Switch in danger of failing?
Since it’s launch on the 3rd of March 2017, the Nintendo Switch has been met with critical and financial success. With nearly 3 million units sold in 3 months, it’s pretty clear Nintendo have finally succeeded on a console release here. However, after the initial buzz, people are starting to release there is actually, even after 3 months, very little content out there.
I should clarify, by this, I mean physical content, not downloadable shovel-ware.
A cursory glance of a gaming website will generally show about 30-40 Switch games available to buy. Not a lot.
Here is a quick list of the games I would consider owning if I bought a Switch.
- Mario Odyssey (when it’s released)
- Mario Kart Deluxe
- Zelda Breath of the Wild
- Ultra Street Fighter 2
That is it! Not many really.
What can we expect in the re-release?
Reggie Fils-Aime, president of Nintendo of America has confirmed via TechPowerUp the addition of new re-releases from the Wii-U library.
“Given the install base of Wii U, there was some fantastic content that consumers did not get to play. So that creates certainly a business opportunity. On the other hand, one of the things that we’ve discussed internally is, there really needs to be an additional element to that game to make it fresh, and to further compel the consumer to buy in.”
So what games do you think we could expect from this?
Here’s a brief list of what I would like to see;
- Zombi-U
- Bayonetta 2 (probably throw 1 in as well)
- Super Mario Maker
- Pikmin 3
- Donkey Kong Country
These were great games for the Wii-U and unfortunately, due to the poor sales of the console, not enough people got to play these. Therefore, as much as you might call re-releases lazy, this might, at the very least, represent a high standard of additional content for the Switch. Something the console sorely needs.
