The first year of the Wii U was better than the Switch 2 – Reader’s Feature

A reader is disappointed by the Metroid Prime 4 reviews, and the first year of the Switch 2 in general, and says he had more fun with the Wii U’s Nintendo Land.

I regret buying my Switch 2. It’s not the most amount of money I’ve ever wasted, and I imagine it’ll probably seem worthwhile in a year or two, but I have not enjoyed its first year at all. The first year of the Switch 1 was incredible, probably the best ever for any console, but despite the Switch 2 having lots of first party games none of them worked for me.

Mario Kart World is boring and nowhere near as good as the last one and I already know what Hyrule Warriors and Kirby Air Riders are like, from the previous games, so there’s no way I’m getting them. Donkey Kong Bananza is definitely the best of the bunch, but it just hasn’t excited me the way Super Mario Odyssey or any of the other 3D Marios have.

After reading the reviews I’m not even going to bother getting Metroid Prime 4, because it sounds like it’s made all the wrong decisions. It’s been such a disappointment, and I genuinely think I had more fun with the Wii U in its first year.

I’ll be honest, this is basically a stealth Nintendo Land appreciation letter, because to be honest the Wii U didn’t have that many great games in its first year either (or at all). It did definitely have better third party support though: Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2, Assassin’s Creed 3, Batman: Arkham City, FIFA Soccer 13, Mass Effect 3, Skylanders Giants, and Sonic and All-Stars Racing Transformed.

It all dried up almost instantly but despite all Nintendo’s talk it’s much more convincing than the Switch 2’s line-up. You also got Ubisoft exclusive ZombiU, which I thought was a really clever roguelike zombie game, and New Super Mario Bros. U which… okay, it’s not the best 2D Mario but it does have a cool co-op mode.

I also got Sonic And All-Stars Racing Transformed and I can honestly say I had a lot more fun with that than I have with Mario Kart World (or CrossWorlds, for that matter).

But the real reason I say the Wii U was better is that Nintendo Land was a great game and it made great use of the Wii U’s unique features. Not only that but the Wii U actually had unique features. One of my big problems with the Switch 2 is that it doesn’t really do anything new, it’s just the same console with better graphics and slightly better Joy-Cons.

The Wii U may have been a flop but at least it was filled with classic Nintendo big ideas. This time round they didn’t work but even things like Miiverse was a neat idea that I really miss. It certainly beats the Switch 2’s big new idea of a… webcam.

If you don’t know Nintendo Land, it’s a mini-game collection. Some of them are duds but the really good ones are the best party games I’ve ever played.

There’s a cool Zelda co-op adventure, some neat single-player games like a sequel to The Mysterious Murasame Castle and a sort-of F-Zero game, but the best ones by far are the three competitive games: Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, Luigi’s Ghost Mansion, and Mario Chase.

Sweet Day has you competing to collect sweets as a team, while the person with the GamePad controls the guards trying to stop them. Ghost Mansion is a similar idea but where the person with the GamePad controls a ghost and you have to shout out locations and advice to the other players.

The absolute best one though is Mario Chase, which is basically just video game tag, where the person with the GamePad is being chased by the other players. It’s a simple as that but I played it with friends and family for hours and hours.

Sure, it’s only one game but when it’s that good it doesn’t matter, especially when it comes out at launch and justifies the whole console and its new gimmicks. Mario Kart World didn’t justify anything (certainly not its expensive price) and I don’t think even Donkey Kong did either, when it eventually came out.

The Switch 2 is fine but my first year with it is a disappointment and will be quickly forgotten. My first year with the Wii U is filled with great memories and while the console was a flop at least it was trying to do something different.

By reader Taylor Moon

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