The best version of Wind Waker can be found on the Wii U, though. On the GameCube, The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker established itself as a radical departure from the norm and an all-time classic that has been fondly remembered as time kept moving forward. The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD The Legend of Zelda Wind Waker HD Read our Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze review. The enhanced Nintendo Switch made this wonderful platformer even better, too.
That despair came from bungling a run through one of the many superbly-designed levels on offer, fumbling that one crucial jump and ruining an otherwise sublime experience of speed and agility.Ī handsome beast of a game, brilliantly scored in the audio department, and versatile thanks to the three Kongs that you can play as, Tropical Freeze is a tough but one-more-turn addictive platformer that does the franchise proud. To its credit, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze may have been responsible for record Wii U Gamepad sales in the year that it was released, but those shattered hunks of plastic never came from the game being unfair. Both Bayonetta games eventually made their way to the Nintendo Switch and Bayonetta 3 lands on Nintendo Switch in 2022.ĭonkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freezeĭonkey Kong games at their best are B-A-nanas to play-wild and tricky platformers where a single misstep can end a successful run and leave a controller-shaped hole in your wall.
If your TV was occupied and you were desperate for a combat fix that only Bayonetta 2 could provide, then Platinum Games' technical wizardry was a showstopper reason to invest in a Wii U.
Not just a fun game to play, Bayonetta 2 also does a remarkable job at fleshing out the story, bringing the series full circle with tying up loose ends from the first game.Įven better, Bayonetta 2 worked surprisingly well on the Wii U Gamepad, never dropping a frame during even the most taxing of action sequences. Building on the action-packed foundation established by the 2009 game, Bayonetta 2 dialed up the intensity to 11 and was unrelenting with battles that went from downtown brawls to cosmic throwdowns with all of existence at stake. The sequel that almost never was, Nintendo's fortuitously deep pockets gave developer Platinum Games a chance to continue the story of the studio's iconic witch. Along with a sonar mode, the full game being playable on the Gamepad, and bat-stacks of DLC to play through, the Wii U version of Arkham City was a completely different experience on Nintendo's home console at the time. It was the Gamepad functionality though where the game really added extra value, as gadgets were used through the controller and you were given a more immersive system for flexing Batman's detective skills while investigating crime scenes. Battle Armored Tech Mode gave both Catwoman and Batman additional power-ups by building up kinetic energy during combat, and once unleashed, they could deliver brutal amounts of punishment on enemies. The Armored Edition wasn't content to play it safe though, as this version of the award-winning game added a few Wii U-exclusive features to the package. A decent number of these games are easily attainable on Nintendo Switch nowadays, so we've included links to the Switch version (if available) below each entry.īatman: Arkham City Armored Edition Batman: Arkham City Armored Editionīusting out of the asylum and into a larger section of Gotham City that had been transformed into a hellish prison, a straight port of Batman: Arkham City was still worth having on the Wii U. Here are our picks for the 15 best Wii U games, in alphabetical order. But the Wii U at its best is a console that's still worth celebrating. In that respect, we can thank the Wii U for walking so the Switch could run. That said, the handheld tablet approach probably influenced the Nintendo Switch's hybrid design. The console itself resembled an ugly brick that was devoid of Nintendo flair, the Gamepad was a bulky controller that didn't translate well to regular gaming experiences, and third-party developers were quick to jump ship in an era dominated by the Xbox one and PlayStation 4. Nintendo's Wii U console may be remembered for being the most disappointing hardware that the company put out since the headache-inducing VirtualBoy 3D, but during the five years that it was up for sale, it was also home to some of the best games ever produced on any Nintendo console.