I think it's fair to say that the Switch already has a better first party support in 3 years than the Wii U had in 4

[laziboi]

At this point, I think I can say that the Switch already has much better first party support 3 years than the Wii U did in its entire 4 year lifespan.

BotW
Mario Odyssey
Splatoon 2
1-2 Switch
ARMS
Snipperclips
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
MK8 Deluxe
Kirby Star Allies
Nintendo Labo
Sushi Striker
Mario Tennis Aces
Super Mario Party
Pokemon Let's Go!
Smash Bros. Ultimate
Tetris 99
Yoshi's Crafted World
BoxBoy + BoxGirl
Super Mario Maker 2
Marvel UA3
Fire Emblem Three Houses
Astral Chain
Link's Awakening 2019
Ring Fit Adventure
Luigi's Mansion 3
The Stretchers
Pokemon Sword & Shield
Brain Age
Good Job!
Pokemon Mystery Dungeon Rescue Team DX
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Xenoblade Chronicles DE
Clubhouse Games

And Coming Soon:
Metroid Prime 4
Bayonetta 3
BotW 2
Paper Mario: The Origami King

A much larger, more varied, and robust lineup than what the Wii U got stuck with, and I didn't even list most of the Wii U ports. The Wii U had great games, but they were often too few and far between, and most of the console's best titles were released its first 2 years anyway. Meanwhile the Switch even at its lowest, still gets a steady stream of decent games, with little to no gaps. Console's is barely 3, and already has more games than the Wii U did at this point in time. In the end, I think the Switch will go down as one of Nintendo's best showings from a first party stand point.

 

[Theswweet]

Well, that's just fact. Even discounting the numerous Wii U ports, Switch has a much larger and more varied 1st party library than the Wii U ever got.

 

[Deleted member 10737]

yes, you could say that.
i think it's obvious that at some point they saw the writing on the wall with wii u and had to cut their losses. even tho they released some cool games until the final years i assume a lot of stuff was moved to switch.

 

[Uncle Sensei]

I'd argue it had a stronger first party output by the end of its first year, but yeah, totally

 

[laziboi]

Well, that's just fact. Even discounting the numerous Wii U ports, Switch has a much larger and more varied 1st party library than the Wii U ever got.

Click to shrink...

Many Switch games are also straight up better than their Wii U equivalents IMO. Splatoon 2 is more polished and fleshed out compared to the somewhat low-budget original. Super Mario Party while not perfect, is a much needed improvement over that Car Bullshit from Mario Party 10. Smash Ultimate is way more refined and ambitious than Smash for Wii U. It even has series that skipped over the Wii U completely like Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem.

 

[Uncle Squingis]

Well to be fair, when the Wii U was out, Nintendo was supporting 2 systems. You should probably be comparing switch's library with that of the Wii U and 3DS combined.

 

[Deleted member 32135]

WiiU problem anyway was never the first party support. It had an amazing collection of first party games with more variety than other systems' first party studios this generation had.

 

[laziboi]

WiiU problem anyway was never the first party support. It had an amazing collection of first party games with more variety than other systems' first party studios this generation had.

Click to shrink...

Ehh... Not to me sadly. The Wii U had great games, but this was the era where Nintendo was at its most creatively bankrupt IMO. Heavily relying on what worked on previous Nintendo systems, and not really moving forward with new ideas or experiences. Super Mario 3D World's a great game, but it really doesn't have the innovation or ambitious scope you'd expect from a 3D Mario, being just a prettier, slightly larger version of 3D Land with co-op. Not to mention all the sequels to Wii games that went nowhere. The Wonderful 101 and Splatoon were really the only noteworthy new IPs they put out on the system, and even then, the former bombed hard, while the latter didn't really take off until its Sequel. Plus, Nintendo was also heavily reliant on platformers and kid-friendly games on that system, and just like the GameCube, only had a few first party games for older audiences on it.

With the Switch, I feel Nintendo has refined how they make games, while also taking some ques from Sony and Microsoft's approach to first party, thus the Switch's first party games have much broader appeal and cover more bases, while the Wii U was mostly just a system for hardcore Nintendo fans, and little else.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

The combination of not having to also support a handheld console, while also not having a confusing core concept that developers never really managed to figure out how to justify, really helps. They were able to have all teams go all in and not have to worry about kooky-ass ways to use a shitty tablet that either stretched the specs or the player's ability to coordinate.

 

[Linde]

i think the general quality of their switch titles is way higher too
wii u had so much garbage first party games and spinoffs that just felt like padding for barren lineup.
i really wont miss the nintendo of the wii u/late 3ds era

 

[Deleted member 59109]

I still like DKTF more than any Switch exclusive so I can't really agree.

 

[WhiteRabbitEXE]

I still like DKTF more than any Switch exclusive so I can't really agree.

Click to shrink...

We haven't seen Retro's Switch output to compare yet.

 

[Zaimokuza]

Well, Switch benefits a lot from Nintendo's WiiU experience with HD programming (please, understand) and the fact that's Nintendo only platform

 

[Kazooie]

On the contrary, Wii U had the three best games of the generation (Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World, DKCTF) already at this point of time, and on top of that NSMB+NSLU, Mario Kart 8, Yoshi, XCX, Bayonetta 2, Splatoon, Smash, Mario Maker, Captain Toad, NES Remixes, Wii Fit U. If you remove the ports for Switch (and note I did not mention the ports on Wii U either), you end up with a weaker line up than the Wii U and that is on top of not having to make any 3DS games. The obscure port / remaster / remake fetish of many just has helped Nintendo to get away with that.

 

[Rockets]

 

[Deleted member 59109]

We haven't seen Retro's Switch output to compare yet.

Click to shrink...

Well it looks like it will be an MP game, and while that could be good I can't see it being better than DKTF for me.

 

[Squid Icarus]

Switch had a great Nintendo game output in 2017 and then second half of 2019, everything else has been underwhelming, really. I thought 2020 was supposed to start off better with Nintendo games, guess what, it didn't.

"Creatively bankrupt" is something you could also say about current Nintendo. All we have anymore is sequels, no bigger re-inventions or new IP - with Ring Fit being the single exception. We don't even get smaller IPs like WarioWare, Wario in general, Endless Ocean, Pushmo etc, no Donkey Kong, no Metroid, no Pikmin, no nothing. The games are superb in quality, don't get me wrong. But creative? We had that in 2017 with BotW, Arms and Odyssey, and then again with Fire Emblem in some way if you want. Astral Chain was cool, but also not a great game.

All we have now is the big Nintendo brands, lots of Remasters or ports and little else. I'm not happy with the current Nintendo at all. It feels like the end of a generation and it's far too early for that.

 

[Roytheone]

Definitely more than the wiiu output, but slightly lagging behind the wiiu+3DS output. I expect that is partly because of the 3ds studios having to switch to HD development, while the wiiu studios have more experience and thus transitioned much easier.

Also the 2 games I am most interested in (Metroid and Bayonetta) where announced way to soon and are Mia and that sucks, fix that Nintendo !

 

[laziboi]

On the contrary, Wii U had the three best games of the generation (Pikmin 3, Super Mario 3D World, DKCTF) already at this point of time, and on top of that NSMB+NSLU, Mario Kart 8, Yoshi, XCX, Bayonetta 2, Splatoon, Smash, Mario Maker, Captain Toad, NES Remixes, Wii Fit U. If you remove the ports for Switch (and note I did not mention the ports on Wii U either), you end up with a weaker line up than the Wii U and that is on top of not having to make any 3DS games. The obscure port / remaster / remake fetish of many just has helped Nintendo to get away with that.

Click to shrink...

I didn't list most of the Wii U ports in the OP, and already the Switch is way more appealing than what you listed. Main thing is, Switch games are generally more ambitious and creative than their counterparts on Wii U. Splatoon 1 is very simple and unrefined compared to Splatoon 2, especially when you add Octo Expansion to the Mix. Mario Odyssey is a much bigger, more expansive game than 3D World. Ultimate is much more polished and has way more content than Smash 4 did, and their digital titles are generally more original than the Wii U ones. NES Remix 1+2 are good, but I'll take Snipperclips and Good Job! over them any day. Then there's titles that didn't even show up on Wii U like Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing, two of which are considered the best in their respective series yet with the Switch games.

 

[Dark Cloud]

Well to be fair, when the Wii U was out, Nintendo was supporting 2 systems. You should probably be comparing switch's library with that of the Wii U and 3DS combined.

Click to shrink...

No you shouldn't. 3DS development is easier and cheaper compared to a HD system.

 

[Deleted member 32135]

I didn't list most of the Wii U ports in the OP, and already the Switch is way more appealing than what you listed. Main thing is, Switch games are generally more ambitious and creative than their counterparts on Wii U. Splatoon 1 is very simple and unrefined compared to Splatoon 2, especially when you add Octo Expansion to the Mix. Mario Odyssey is a much bigger, more expansive game than 3D World. Ultimate is much more polished and has way more content than Smash 4 did, and their digital titles are generally more original than the Wii U ones. NES Remix 1+2 are good, but I'll take Snipperclips and Good Job! over them any day. Then there's titles that didn't even show up on Wii U like Fire Emblem and Animal Crossing, two of which are considered the best in their respective series yet with the Switch games.

Click to shrink...

Odyssey is not bigger than 3D World...

 

[Gay Bowser]

"Creatively bankrupt" is something you could also say about current Nintendo. All we have anymore is sequels, no bigger re-inventions or new IP - with Ring Fit being the single exception.

Click to shrink...

Well, that and Arms. And 1-2-Switch. And Labo. And Snipperclips. And Sushi Striker. And Good Job! and The Stretchers, which Nintendo also published.

Nintendo publishes a lot more new IP than people give them credit for; it just isn't always the "Metroid and Zelda but not" gamer IP that gamers "count."

And even then, they published Astral Chain just last year.

 

[Lampa]

WiiU problem anyway was never the first party support. It had an amazing collection of first party games with more variety than other systems' first party studios this generation had.

Click to shrink...

Not really, at least not for me. Unlike Switch, Wii U never had any first party game that would be a system seller for me. It has good games, but not good enough.

 

[pbayne]

Isnt it a tiny bit unfair comparison as ninty had to split focus between the wii u and 3ds.

 

[Dark Cloud]

We haven't seen Retro's Switch output to compare yet.

Click to shrink...

No reason to doubt how great MP4 will be with Retro's pedigree and they could still have another game come before it.

 

[laziboi]

Switch had a great Nintendo game output in 2017 and then second half of 2019, everything else has been underwhelming, really. I thought 2020 was supposed to start off better with Nintendo games, guess what, it didn't.

Click to shrink...

Blame COVID for that. Even still, it's way better than a typical Wii U drought.

"Creatively bankrupt" is something you could also say about current Nintendo. All we have anymore is sequels, no bigger re-inventions or new IP - with Ring Fit being the single exception.

Click to shrink...

BOTW
Mario Odyssey
Octo Expansion
ARMS
Labo
Astral Chain
Animal Crossing New Horizons
Fire Emblem Three Houses
Sushi Striker

We don't even get smaller IPs like WarioWare, Wario in general, Endless Ocean, Pushmo etc, no Donkey Kong, no Metroid, no Pikmin, no nothing.

Click to shrink...

BoxBoy
Snipperclips
The Stretchers
Good Job!
Kirby

We had that in 2017 with BotW, Arms and Odyssey, and then again with Fire Emblem in some way if you want. Astral Chain was cool, but also not a great game.

Click to shrink...

Get out of here with that shit

All we have now is the big Nintendo brands, lots of Remasters or ports and little else. I'm not happy with the current Nintendo at all. It feels like the end of a generation and it's far too early for that.

Click to shrink...

So even when plenty of examples exist, you still deny them.

 

[Famassu]

Kind of "duh", considering all of Nintendo is focusing on a single platform. Even taking into account longer dev cycles, it's not that surprising that a united Nintendo can push out more content on a single platform vs. dividing their attention on two, especially when even the 3DS was getting to the point where it's powerful enough hardware that any kind of half-decent sized games taking advantage of the hardware could easily be fairly expensive projects that weren't being done with teams of 20 people in 1,5-2 years anymore or anything.

 

[Raccoon]

Switch has Animal Crossing, Wii U didn't
Switch has Luigi's Mansion, Wii U didn't
Switch has exploratory 3D Mario, Wii U didn't

we could go on

sure, from a production standpoint this isn't the fairest comparison as all of these projects are either confirmed or likely to have started on Wii U, and the Wii U was alongside the 3DS as noted in a post above, but from the simple perspective of what's playable I think history will be kind to Switch, especially if the Metroid stuff we've been hearing about for ages pans out

 

[JigglesBunny]

Was anyone doubting this?

 

[Ramsay]

In regards to quantity, that's undisputable.

The issue, though, is the average quality of Nintendo's lineup. The Switch's first-party lineup, especially if you don't count all of the Wii U ports, has been wildly inconsistent. It's had some really good games, but it's also had some of the most underwhelming Nintendo games ever released.

 

[Lampa]

All we have now is the big Nintendo brands, lots of Remasters or ports and little else. I'm not happy with the current Nintendo at all. It feels like the end of a generation and it's far too early for that.

Click to shrink...

Hmm, I dunno about this. On one hand, it's true Switch has a lot of ports and remasters, but on the other, I wouldn't say they ever put them above new games and we still have plenty of those, and they are good.

 

[Squid Icarus]

Well, that and Arms. And 1-2-Switch. And Labo. And Snipperclips. And Sushi Striker. And Good Job! and The Stretchers, which Nintendo also published.

Nintendo publishes a lot more new IP than people give them credit for; it just isn't always the "Metroid and Zelda but not" gamer IP that gamers "count."

And even then, they published Astral Chain just last year.

Click to shrink...

Well, that's why I said "current Nintendo". 2017 and Labo were amazing, but after that, it went downhill with creativity imo. Only Ring Fit, Stretchers and Good Job left even from your list. That's not really a lot.

EDIT: Come on guys, listing Animal Crossing as a smaller IP thing? That has to be a joke, even without the success of New Horizons. You do know what I'm talking about. I'm not shitting on Nintendo here, I love their games. Like I said, the quality of almost all the Switch outings is outstanding (if you exclude Pokémon). But there's little we haven't seen yet in some way, and Nintendo has been much more creative and inventive with their games in the past.

 

[laziboi]

Odyssey is not bigger than 3D World...

Click to shrink...

It's bigger in scope and production values. People forget, but 3D Mario games are generally supposed to big epic adventures with lots of new ideas. 3D World was a great game, but it too much like vanilla Mario to get people excited IMO. Odyssey feels like a bigger adventure is what I'm trying to say.

 

[Deleted member 59109]

Hmm, I dunno about this. On one hand, it's true Switch has a lot of ports and remasters, but on the other, I wouldn't say they ever put them above new games and we still have plenty of those, and they are good.

Click to shrink...

Well we got a DKTF and Mario Kart port over new DK and Mario Kart games.

 

[Deleted member 32135]

Not really, at least not for me. Unlike Switch, Wii U never had any first party game that would be a system seller for me. It has good games, but not good enough.

Click to shrink...

Well, as you said, that's for you.

If I compare the WiiU first party output to that of Sony's and Microsoft, WiiU has more variety in its first.four years that PS4 or One had in their first four.

Also, saying things like Tropical Freeze, a best ever platformer contender, is "not good enough" is just ridiculous imo. Or Mario Kart. Or Smash. Or 3D World. Or Breath of the Wild. Or Bayonetta 2. Or Pikmin 3...

If a "good enough game" means you need to be the classic third person story driven adventure that Sony pulls off every time for PS4... Yeah, WiiU was lacking in that aspect. But as you don't care about the games I listed before I don't care either about those type of games.

 

[Kerotan]

The switch had some of the best wii u games ported to it and the full focus of Nintendo developers from both handheld and home console side so I'm not surprised in the slightest.

 

[Gay Bowser]

Well, that's why I said "current Nintendo". 2017 and Labo were amazing, but after that, it went downhill with creativity imo. Only Ring Fit, Stretchers and Good Job left even from your list. That's not really a lot.

Click to shrink...

Dude, four new IPs in the last twelve months is a heck of a lot more than most publishers.

 

[Deleted member 33120]

Switch had a great Nintendo game output in 2017 and then second half of 2019, everything else has been underwhelming, really. I thought 2020 was supposed to start off better with Nintendo games, guess what, it didn't.

"Creatively bankrupt" is something you could also say about current Nintendo. All we have anymore is sequels, no bigger re-inventions or new IP - with Ring Fit being the single exception. We don't even get smaller IPs like WarioWare, Wario in general, Endless Ocean, Pushmo etc, no Donkey Kong, no Metroid, no Pikmin, no nothing. The games are superb in quality, don't get me wrong. But creative? We had that in 2017 with BotW, Arms and Odyssey, and then again with Fire Emblem in some way if you want. Astral Chain was cool, but also not a great game.

All we have now is the big Nintendo brands, lots of Remasters or ports and little else. I'm not happy with the current Nintendo at all. It feels like the end of a generation and it's far too early for that.

Click to shrink...

This.

 

[laziboi]

Well, that's why I said "current Nintendo". 2017 and Labo were amazing, but after that, it went downhill with creativity imo. Only Ring Fit, Stretchers and Good Job left even from your list. That's not really a lot.

Click to shrink...

Astral Chain came out last year too. Sushi Striker was 2018. Trying to argue that Nintendo has no more creativity when its staring at you in the face is just dumb.

 

[Raccoon]

Well, that's why I said "current Nintendo". 2017 and Labo were amazing, but after that, it went downhill with creativity imo. Only Ring Fit, Stretchers and Good Job left even from your list. That's not really a lot.

Click to shrink...

I mean, Animal Crossing is revolutionary, in some ways to a fault, just like Odyssey and BOTW were. Sure, less popular IP seem to be overlooked right now, but allegedly a 2D Metroid 5 is coming out, if true that'll be sick. And who knows, maybe the Mario Kart team is doing another new experimental thing like ARMS. Y'know, hopefully. Sure, they're probably doing Nintendogs but maybe.

Also, the developer of the Endless Ocean games made Tetris 99. Not sure how that fits into the discussion but it's there

 

[laziboi]

I mean, Animal Crossing is revolutionary, in some ways to a fault, just like Odyssey and BOTW were. Sure, less popular IP seem to be overlooked right now, but allegedly a 2D Metroid 5 is coming out, if true that'll be sick. And who knows, maybe the Mario Kart team is doing another new experimental thing like ARMS. Y'know, hopefully. Sure, they're probably doing Nintendogs but maybe.

Click to shrink...

Plus, the Switch is only apparently halfway through its life. You'll still have plenty of time to get the IPs you want.

 

[Forkball]

No GBA games on the Switch.

WII U: 1 SWITCH: 0

 

[laziboi]

But there's little we haven't seen yet in some way, and Nintendo has been much more creative and inventive with their games in the past.

Click to shrink...

They still are. You're just deliberately being blind for some reason.

 

[Bigjig]

Yes but the Switch is sorely missing a big new Nintendo IP. Even the Wii U had Splatoon and Mario Maker. The Switch has had ... Arms? 12 Switch? It's a sequel box, which is fine because the new entries in each series have been good, but there has been a long drought if you're looking for new ideas

 

[laziboi]

Yes but the Switch is sorely missing a big new Nintendo IP. Even the Wii U had Splatoon and Mario Maker. The Switch has had ... Arms? 12 Switch? It's a sequel box, which is fine because the new entries in each series have been good, but there has been a long drought if you're looking for new ideas

Click to shrink...

ARMS
Astral Chain
Ring Fit Adventure
Nintendo Labo

All these are pretty "Big".

There are clearly two different approaches for a 3D Mario game and no one is supossed to be the better one. Mario 3D World is a game with 93 levels with pure concentrated platforming. Odyssey has like 14 worlds, which obviously are bigger but also way more sparce in their offering.

I don't think you can call Odyssey "much bigger" than 3D world, the level of content there is in 3D world is the biggest of any Mario ever.

Click to shrink...

This is the point I was trying to make. 3D World has a ton of courses, but they all feel pretty short and small. That's fine for the game's structure. But people usually expect something bigger out of a 3D Mario game. Odyssey has less areas, but the ones it has are massive in scope. That combined with its visuals and production values makes it the most ambitious Mainline Mario in years. That's ultimately the point I was making.

 

[Deleted member 32135]

It's bigger in scope and production values. People forget, but 3D Mario games are generally supposed to big epic adventures with lots of new ideas. 3D World was a great game, but it too much like vanilla Mario to get people excited IMO. Odyssey feels like a bigger adventure is what I'm trying to say.

Click to shrink...

There are clearly two different approaches for a 3D Mario game and no one is supossed to be the better one. Mario 3D World is a game with 93 levels with pure concentrated platforming. Odyssey has like 14 worlds, which obviously are bigger but also way more sparce in their offering.

I don't think you can call Odyssey "much bigger" than 3D world, the level of content there is in 3D world is the biggest of any Mario ever.

This is the point I was trying to make. 3D World has a ton of courses, but they all feel pretty short and small. That's fine for the game's structure. But people usually expect something bigger out of a 3D Mario game. Odyssey has less areas, but the ones it has are massive in scope. That combined with its visuals and production values makes it the most ambitious Mainline Mario in years. That's ultimately the point I was making.

Click to shrink...

I think your opinion is shaded by some visual novelty and a adventure approach typical from this 3D Mario style of games.

However, 3D World is objectively the bigger game of the two. Not all of those 14 worlds are massive or even big: you have the cloud world and the dragon world which are smaller than any 3D World level in fact. Other worlds like the lake one, the moon one, the snow one or the hat one are fairly small. At the end you only have 3-4 big worlds, some medium sized ones and other 3-4 small ones. Compare.thst to 93 levels and... Yeah, no way Odyssey is bigger than 3D World.

 

[out_of_touch]

The Wii U Classic will never compare to the real thing.

 

[sir_crocodile]

It would be hard for it not to. It's most feted game, Breath of the Wild is a Wii U game. The best selling game, Mario Kart 8 DX, is an enhanced Wii U port. Nintendo also doesn't have to support an additional handheld system anymore.

 

[NabiscoFelt]

You'll get a lot of people on this forum really defending the Wii Us library.

Or, more appropriately, people who just really love Tropical Freeze, because that's really the only leg they have to stand on.

 

[Deleted member 1839]

For someone that didn't have an interest in the Wii U's output outside of 3-4 games with one of them now being multiplat, the Switch is the first time I've generally enjoy a good amount of Nintendo's output.