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Why I’m Tempted To Ditch The Vita And Grab A Wii U

I've had the PlayStation Vita since launch. I haven't owned a Nintendo console since the SNES. Yeah, you read that right.

There are a variety of reasons why I haven't owned a Nintendo system for a long time (there was my long-time RPG fascination, for instance) and to be quite frank, I've outgrown the brand. People can try to keep saying Nintendo caters to everyone but we all know that isn't true. They have a particular demographic in mind, and it ain't me.

That being said, I'm actually intrigued by certain Wii U titles that are currently available; I'm certain I'd have a lot of fun with Mario Kart 8 , for instance, and I wouldn't mind trying Hyrule Warriors . That may not sound like much, but it's better than my current Vita playlist…which is nonexistent right now. That wouldn't be a deal-breaker if I thought Sony would eventually deliver the AAA titles I fully expected to see. Unfortunately, they keep saying they won't be pursuing such projects in the future, so all I can expect is niche Japanese titles, downloadable games, and games I can play on other consoles.

Remote Play isn't even the smallest attraction for me, either. At the end of the day, while I doubt the Wii U would get a huge amount of play time, it'd certainly get more than zero . I haven't touched the Vita outside of reviews in 2014 and that's just wrong.

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SaiyanSenpai
SaiyanSenpai
10 years ago

Man, I'm on my Vita almost every day! But then, I enjoy those niche Japanese titles and downloadable games.

But I hear you on those compelling Wii U titles. I want to play the new Fatal Frame and Bayonetta. But I feel like if I finally go and get a Wii U at this point, no sooner will they announce a price drop…


Last edited by SaiyanSenpai on 10/1/2014 10:27:59 PM

Bonampak
Bonampak
10 years ago

You could also buy a refurbished Wii U from The Nintendo Store.

Nintendo sells them for $200 bucks with a full 1 year warranty. That's $100 less than what you pay at most retail stores.

DIsmael85
DIsmael85
10 years ago

Own a Wii U, and yes the games mentioned are indeed fun, they don't hold the fun for a super long time. Hyrule Warriors gets repetitive like any Dynasty Warriors and Mario Kart 8 you'll really need more than 2 players to fully enjoy it. Though the decision to buy a Wii U isn't bad, there are some awesome games coming out like Bayonetta 2 and Smash Bros. My Vita sits next to my 3DS and they get along well. 🙂

Darklurkr23
Darklurkr23
10 years ago

There is NOTHING Nintendo could do to get me to buy another one of their "consoles"

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

I have a hard time recommending a Wii U without the appeal of family gaming as a major backbone for it.
And if Super Mario Galaxy's couldn't hold you don't expect any of the Mario games on the Wii U to either.

I'd say you're better off with an Xbox One Ben.
Seeing that you aren't a PC gamer there are a number of Xbox exclusives over the next few years that'll assuredly be more appealing to you. If Quantum Break isn't on your list it needs to be. There's also the wacky fun of Sunset Overdrive. Forza Horizon 2 seems to come highly recommended to open world racing fans as well. And who wouldn't want all of the best Halo's remastered in one set? And sure Bayonetta 2 looks good, but the same dev is making a similar game exclusive on Xbox One's more powerful hardware, Scalebound.

EDIT: Personally, I want a Wii U but the only way that happens is because I have a family who would want to play the games with each other, myself included.


Last edited by Temjin001 on 10/1/2014 10:43:48 PM

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

and while we should expect something Titanfall on PS4 in the coming years, it still comes highly rated as of this year on Xbox One.

And we're not even through one year of Xbox One and the list of what's out and what's coming is already decent. Wii U has been around for about twice as long and it's list doesn't seem so long with most of it's biggest franchises already launched (yea I know there's still the real zelda and the Xeno-game).
Not trying to come off as an Xbox fanboy, I'm just looking at the facts concerning the competition with all biases aside.


Last edited by Temjin001 on 10/1/2014 10:51:24 PM

DIsmael85
DIsmael85
10 years ago

Well most of the games dropping on X1 can be purchased on a PC or will eventually come to the PC. I'm sure he has a computer capable of playing those. It would be a waste of money to run out and buy a system that has inferior specs to a console he already owns, PS4. Not saying he shouldn't buy one, but I would highly recommend a Wii U because of the differing games. Most of what's out on X1 is also on PS4 and plays better on it anyway.

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
10 years ago

Nothing on Xbox One besides Sunset Overdrive has me interested right now and besides, Wii U is just markedly different from PS4 in terms of tone and style.

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

Dismael, I know that about PC. Ben doesn't do PC. I said that 😉

Beamboom
Beamboom
10 years ago

If I had to buy a second console – and it's totally out of the question to do such a thing, but if I *had* to – I'd buy as WiiU for the same reason Ben mention here:
It's something else, a very different console. A different experience.

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

it just seems to me Ben would be jumping from one unliked system to another.
He doesn't care to play platformers. The best platformer in years, Rayman Legends, has gone unplayed/unreviewed by him. And he lost interest in Super Mario Galaxies 2 (considered one of the best 3D platformers in history) He's never once mentioned liking to play Dynasty Warriors or Warriors Orochi which is what Hyrule Warriors is, just re-skinned with Nintendo. He hasn't finished an RPG in like 10 years so the Xeno-game is out of the question, not to mention it's an ACTION-rpg. (high profile turn-based RPG's have been absent for about that 10 year length of time)
So for as different as Nintendo culture may seem, it doesn't seem to me there's hardly anything on there he would play. Mario Kart is fun and all but couldn't that itch be scratched with Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed? (saving hundreds of dollars in the process, and a sequel is sure to come to PS4 soon)


Last edited by Temjin001 on 10/2/2014 11:04:59 AM

Ben Dutka PSXE
Ben Dutka PSXE
10 years ago

I know what Rayman Legends is and I like Rayman. In fact, Rayman Origins remains the highest-rated Vita game here at PSXE.

As for Hyrule Warriors, it has a very different style when compared to Dynasty Warriors and I've seen gameplay.

I've also always wanted to play Xenoblade Chronicles; the idea that I only play turn-based RPGs is just wrong, as the Dragon Age and Elder Scrolls titles have received some of the most praise of any franchise on this site. I don't necessarily have time to complete them because they're so huge and there's usually a massive demand on my time, but that doesn't mean I don't play them.

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

heh, that's fine and all that Origins got rated but that doesn't change the fact you personally haven't had interest to play one of the highest rated platformer sequels on PS 😉

I only mentioned Rayman Legends as instance why you don't personally play platformers. Something that is a Nintendo-staple. Where if you aren't coming for platformers then you're missing a huge chunk of what it does best.

I know you still like action-RPG's but everyone who's been here knows that if any higher profile turn-based RPG hit the scene within the past 3 years you would be saying how you finished an RPG before the last decade of time. Xeno just isn't going to be that game, like it or not.

I personally don't accept the idea that the Wii U is so much more unique than other consoles. It's unique only because it's so esoteric.
When I think of the Wii U without the multiplay aspect concerning my family the console just falls flat.
By way of comparison the PS brand is far more dynamic. It can be just as Nintendo'like if you allow it to be.
I can't think of a single genre that the PS platform doesn't offer that meets Nintendo at it's level and in near comparable quality.
LBP is a mass joy for my children and I to play and it's easier to get into than core 2D Mario titles for them. My kids love the customization aspect of LBP. It's not just about linear progression through levels. Mario is relatively hard right from the start by way of comparison. The Ratchet games feel like something that could belong to Nintendo too, yet they're on PS.
We've already talked about Rayman Legends so I wont go there again.
There's plenty of Kart style racers to enjoy too: Modnation, Sonic All-Stars, LBP Karting, and even Cars 2 (isn't all that bad).
It has it's SSMB brawler with PS All-Stars Battle Royale. (we don't play this but it's there if we want)
It does all of that AND it can be a system that produces games that adults like to play.
Okay, so there's no direct Zelda counter.
We could start talking Metroid but nothing is even announced yet and every Wii U Nintendo game seems to take forever to release.

DarthNemesis
DarthNemesis
10 years ago

The problem I have with the X1 other than not liking MS is that all of the games you named are not original and the PS4 has something similar or better.I would rather play infamous or Ratchet and Clank than Sunset.Quantum Break does not look as good as Uncharted and The Order will do just well. drive Club and The Crew will deliver the same experience as Forza and Halo has never been appealing and now Destiny is on PS4 so I could play that which is fresher.MS really needs more original games and something that has better characters and story.

SASSYGIRL82
SASSYGIRL82
10 years ago

Basically Vita's remote play is similar to the wii U tablet lol

DemonNeno
DemonNeno
10 years ago

I bought my son a wii-u for Xmas. They've enjoyed it quite a bit. As for me? I'm not really digging anything it offers.

I'll say this, though, about Nintendo – it has more that borderline intrigues me than Xbox. Calm down, calm down! My point is there are more of the genres that intrigue me, but that's not to say the titles are up my alley.

Either way you slice it, it's a god damn shame that the Vita fell short of carrying on the PSP's crown. I was fond of a lot of the offerings in comparison. Sony needs to realize that their poor support for it is just flat out insulting to everyone who supported the product by purchasing it.

It's decisions like that which mind me that Sony isn't any better than MS in ways. Business doesn't end at the sale of its hardware. That should've only been the beginning.

DemonNeno
DemonNeno
10 years ago

I feel like an old man when I realize that I've probably stated that I bought my son a wii-u about a dozen times on here. My bad. I'm losing it!

Corvo
Corvo
10 years ago

The only thing I look forward too on the Wii U is the new Fatal Frame (because for once the stupid wii pad actually has a use that isnt stupid) and Zelda. The new Metroid Prime is evidently only on the 3DS so g f-ing g.

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

the Metroid series doesn't bring in a whole lot sales on Nintendo anymore.

LaasYaNir
LaasYaNir
10 years ago

I have both, and enjoy both for VASTLY different reasons. Sony and Nintendo will always be gaming staples in my own. Each of their respective ecosystems just works for me, because I love gaming and different gaming experiences.

trumpetmon65
trumpetmon65
10 years ago

I think it's a good idea. I think the Wii U is starting to get some sort of stride going.

Vivi_Gamer
Vivi_Gamer
10 years ago

I actually sold my Wii-U recently. I bought it in prep for Xenoblade Chronicles X in hope for an experience as spellbinding as the first game. But a single creative decision ruined the entire game – Having the main character created and a mute. This breaks the immersion completely and after seeing the 40 minute gameplay trailer at E3 I was crushed. None of the Nintendo Family games were doing it for me. I really enjoyed Zelda Wind Waker, but I can get that on Gamecube. So what I have done is gone back to my original Wii, the Wii games look no better through HDMI on the Wii-U so I can play games like Xenoblade, The Last Story & Pandora's Tower just as well. I was intending for the console to be the secondary console under my PS4 but in truth I just never played it after beating Wind Waker and after being crushed by the new Xenoblade it just had nothing to offer me.

So now I have bought a new HDTV instead in prep for buying a PS4 in March for when Final Fantasy Type-0 and I hope The Phantom Pain will be arriving then.

Temjin001
Temjin001
10 years ago

didn't realize that about the Wii U Xeno game. So it's basically a sci-fi/mecha Elder Scrolls then as far as lead characters go?

___________
___________
10 years ago

ditch for the wiiu is silly, 2 completely different devices.
more like ditch the ditch ps4 for the wiiu, or ditch the vita for the 3DS.
real shame $ony has not put any support behind the vita.
it really could of been a true successor to the psp and just as successful, but as usual they put as much support behind that as they did move!
exactly why im so worried about project Morpheus.
i can see them doing the same thing with that, only this time spending a metric sh*t tone more money on it, and in a company already in serious financial trouble posting FY MASSIVE losses for the past 6 years now, this is something that can really cause problems for them.
im worried $ONYS putting all their eggs in the playstation now and morpheus baskets, and im not so sure there going to succeed. and if they dont, well its bye bye $ony!

ethird1
ethird1
10 years ago

There are so many rpgs you can go back and play. Get it and enjoy. 🙂

souljah92
souljah92
10 years ago

Man I thought the fps shooters for vita were gunna be endless, I'd love to go online on an amazing fps for the vita

telly
telly
10 years ago

I'm a big Wii U fan. It's just like Ben says — it's such a fundamentally DIFFERENT console from PS4 (or Xbox One) that it serves as a really pleasant change of pace. Nintendo rightly gets tons of credits for creating the classics — Link to the Past, Super Metroid, Super Mario Bros, countless others. They are due more credit for the excellent games they've made in recent years, in my opinion.

Mario Kart's fun, though once I unlocked all the tracks I didn't feel much need to keep on competing.

Ben, if you do pick one up, don't miss Super Mario 3D World. That game is packed with fresh ideas — almost every level feels unique and of itself, and it's never repetitive.

RICHIECOQUI
RICHIECOQUI
10 years ago

OT, a lot of people didn't realize that wii U was a new console when I went to the store when it first came I heard people say oh that's a new controller for the WII and that was what I thought until I look it up! That is a real bad job by Nintendo marketing wise!!

telly
telly
10 years ago

It's mind-blowing how badly they fumbled the ball on branding/marketing. I still can't wrap my head around it. If they'd just called it Wii 2, how many more units would they have sold out of the gate? And how much more would that momentum have helped their position now?

Many reasons for the poor sales, but the system name is one they could have avoided so, so easily.

Axe99
Axe99
10 years ago

It's an odd choice – it's like ditching a car for a couch, so to speak – the Vita is a portable, and the Wii U somewhat less so. If you're not doing any portable gaming and none of the exclusives draw you in, then there's zero reason to own a Vita, and retiring it is a good idea.

If, on the other hand, you do game portably, it's highly unlikely the Wii U will fill that gap – but it sounds like a good 2nd/3rd device. Personally, I had a Gamecube and a Wii, I've been burned to badly to pick up a Wii U (I've spent more than five times the amount of time gaming on Vita than on the Cube and Wii combined, and enjoyed it a good deal more to boot) – but if the games appeal, then that's the reason to grab any platform :).

Rachet_JC_FTW
Rachet_JC_FTW
10 years ago

i know y you would want to and i can understand that but i can't give mine up and i still have plenty to do on the ps3 so i don't need another console thats for sure anyways

happy gaming

Bandit King
Bandit King
10 years ago

I bought a Wii U just the other day Ben, for those same games you mentioned. Got Mario 3D world in the bundle too. Best Buy is running a sales this week which makes either of the two bundles $275. Personally if your going to get one of the other consoles at least the Wii U's games are different where as the X1's are mostly just whats on PS4.


Last edited by Bandit King on 10/3/2014 1:45:21 PM

DarthNemesis
DarthNemesis
10 years ago

I am in the same boat.Also owned a Vita since launch and barely touch it.That's why I bought a 3DS a year ago. The truth is, I only own Zelda and had not touched the 3DS much either.Once the PS4 starts getting games on the regular I will not need another console.