Nintendo Gamecube Release: 2001
Nintendo Wii Annoucement: 2005
Nintendo Wii Release: 2006
Nintendo WiiU Annoucement: 2011
Nintendo WiiU Release: 2012
Nintendo Successor Announcement: March 2015
Abandon ship gamers. Leave the WiiU right now. Nintendo couldn’t even wait three full years to announce that they have a successor to the rapidly-decaying Nintendo WiiU. And yes it’s just a codename, and yes we all knew this day would come. However, you make these major announcements only when your momentum with the current console starts running out. And after a bit north of two years, the Big N has pretty much unveiled their lack of hope and faith in their third-place system by not announcing a successor, but then even mentioning how its entering the smartphone business after years of denial and refusing to accept the technology.
Run, run away fast Nintendo fans. There is nothing to see here. Yes we have a great Smash Brothers and superb sort-of 3-D Mario game in the console, but besides Zelda (and maybe Star Fox? Where are the details?) what is there to look forward to? I don’t hear of another console Pokemon game, another Donkey Kong game, no Fire Emblem, no F-Zero, no Kid Icarus, no Wario, nothing. It looks like even the first-party lineup has been severely scaled back. The 3DS got an astonishing 3 major Zelda titles. The WiiU couldn’t get 3 of anything. There is a chance that the WiiU by the end of its run won’t even outsell the Nintendo Gamecube; which is a ridiculous shame because the XBox One and the PS4 are selling at record pace and the gaming industry is bigger than ever.
And if you think I might be slightly looking too much into this; this comes after Miyamoto admits that there won’t be a 3-D Mario game. What Nintendo system doesn’t get the big Mario game? One that is being abandoned, that’s what.
Of course Nintendo is going to not reveal any specific details until at the earliest E3 2016, so they can nab whoever might be left in considering to purchase one thanks to Skyrim Zelda looming on the horizon. Not only does the WiiU get consistently outsold by the PS3, but even the Vita is performing better. Third-party companies have already left, and not even a good Wind Waker bundle and a price cut could remedy a positive solution. Unlike what happened with the N64 and Gamecube, Nintendo has decided to quietly pull the plug early before any further damage is done.
Whatever the Nintendo NX becomes, the company needs to learn from the mistakes made in the past five years with the Wii’s final years and the WiiU disaster. If you don’t own a WiiU yet, really think about it before purchasing one. There are good games to be played here, that part is true. However do you really want to now make an investment on a console that slowly but surely being abandoned by pretty much everybody?
The white flag has been raised. The eighth generation has pretty much become a two-console race.
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