I've recently been playing plenty of Wii U and Switch over the holidays, and I keep coming back to the same feeling - I prefer the Wii U in a lot of ways. Or... I preferred the Wii U at the time, if that makes sense. As in, for its time it was a better product - for me - than the Switch. This is such a strange feeling for me, because I can fully recognise that the Wii U was a disastrous product in so many ways and the Switch is a blatant home run - and I do like it. Yet for me - in the way that I personally have used both consoles - I can't deny that the Wii U was a better piece of hardware, and certainly better value. So I was wondering if I'm way out on my own with this one or whether anyone else agrees.
My reasons:
I get nothing from the Hybrid feature of the Switch that I didn't get from Wii U
This one really surprised me. I almost never play in handheld mode despite loving playing Vita and 3DS and putting a thousand hours into each. So I assumed I'd use handheld mode a ton. But after more than half a year with the Switch, I realise that since I can play on the big screen - since I know it's an option - I always want to. I always want that bigger screen real estate, that better resolution. So the handheld mode gets very little use, unless the TV is in use. And in that case I could just use the Wii U gamepad in the same way for most games.
I've never taken my Switch outside. I've taken it on two trips only for it to be ignored due to being busy / social. That's par for the course for handhelds for me - I always just used them in the living room anyway. When I do use the Switch in handheld mode, I'm impressed with the screen and the visuals but I'm also looking forward to docking it again. So, despite the thing being the best handheld ever made, I really only use it as a home console. So that's what it is to me. And yes, this part is totally subjective and based on my own usage. But it means it functions the same as the Wii U did - I'm getting fundamentally the same experience from both.
The Switch is underpowered home console
Look, the Wii U was a little bit underpowered for its time, but it was a huge leap into the HD era for Nintendo and as such I loved it. Just seeing all the classic Nintendo franchises with an HD lick of paint was a real treat, a pleasure that didn't wear off for a solid year or two. And for a year Nintendo was back on par with the other consoles I owned, which was nice. More importantly, the games just looked great.
With the Switch, I really feel like I've paid money just to end up playing a marginally more powerful Wii U most of the time. I was shocked how little difference there was in Zelda when I got it for Switch. I just played XC2 and went back to XCX to compare - as far as I'm concerned XCX looks better both on the big screen and on the gamepad / portable screen. And as a PS4 Pro / 4k TV owner, It's tough going from the likes of Horizon back down to this level of visual quality again and knowing that's it for the next couple of years. Since I only use the thing as a home console, I find myself wishing that my money had gone towards a bit more computing power rather than the hybrid nature of the device. I can't lie - disappointment with the graphics was a recurring thought I had while playing both Zelda and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Many won't care about that stuff. I found I noticed it.
The Switch is an overpriced home console (with poor pack-in controllers)
Carrying on from that previous point, given that to me it's just an underpowered home console, it was tremendously overpriced. It was 300 euros with no game. I disliked the joycons and grip controller so much (a serious rarity for a Nintendo console) that I felt obliged to buy the Pro Controller for 70 euros. That's 370 (euros!) altogether to get the full console experience with a decent controller.
On the other hand, I got a white Wii U a year after launch (new) with two games for 200 US dollars. It was a ridiculous bargain and a bit of an unfair comparison as it was after a year and steep price cuts, but even if I had paid 300 dollars standalone (no game) I would have been getting a reasonably powerful console with a good controller (I love the gamepad's ergonomics) for much, much less than I paid for the underpowered Switch.
Again, to be clear, I feel like I spent 370 euros and I'm really just playing a very similar standard of games to what I was playing on Wii U for the last 4 years and that's what feels so weird.
The Wii U has "Nintendo Charm" that the Switch lacks and I prefer the OS
This will be controversial but I prefer everything about the Wii U's OS bar the speed. I found the home screen and bubbles attractive and the Miiverse implementation endlessly charming from moment one. There was an instant emotional connection there. With Switch's OS you might as well be using a nondescript budget tablet - it's the same old flat, minimalist design every modern device uses, with no 'Nintendo twist' to it at all. Even the store is dull and boring compared to the Wii U's musical and inviting store front. I'll always remember migrating my Wii data to the Wii U and seeing all the little pikmin that obviously live inside there doing their best to move my stuff around. It was a gorgeous little touch in a console stuffed full of them. The Wii U constantly made me smile, just using it.
Sure, the Wii U had a pretty shite online infrastructure... but so does the Switch right now. At least the Wii U had apps and VC games by this point in its life. While on the other hand the Switch has nothing... but it's planned to put online multiplayer behind a paywall. That's gross. Ultimately there's just so much missing from the Switch right now to make it feel like a true Nintendo device.
Backwards Compatibility
Ignoring the VC, the Wii U plays all my Wii games. Using Nintendon't it plays all of my Gamecube games as well. That means feels like two decades of Nintendo history in a little white box. The Switch, for obvious reasons, has no backwards compatibility at all. Add the VC and the thing feels like a wonderbox, even if the emulation is disappointing.
Conclusion
I'm not going to make arguments that I don't believe in to score points - for example the Wii U has dual screen / asymmetric / second screen gameplay and the Switch doesn't, but I found asymmetric gameplay to be pretty much a total failure so I don't really care about that. I'm not going to argue about the games, as this is purely about the hardware (and games is a fight the Wii U can't win).
And I know that the Switch is a brilliant handheld - anyone who uses it as such primarily is getting the biggest step up in a generation (3DS -> Switch) we've seen in ages. Anyone who uses it as a hybrid a lot basically gets the utility of two consoles for the price of one. Add an insane first year of games and gorgeous industrial design and it's no wonder its been such a massive success - it's totally warranted.
But for this particular Nintendo fan I can't escape my true feelings... I preferred the Wii U.
My reasons:
I get nothing from the Hybrid feature of the Switch that I didn't get from Wii U
This one really surprised me. I almost never play in handheld mode despite loving playing Vita and 3DS and putting a thousand hours into each. So I assumed I'd use handheld mode a ton. But after more than half a year with the Switch, I realise that since I can play on the big screen - since I know it's an option - I always want to. I always want that bigger screen real estate, that better resolution. So the handheld mode gets very little use, unless the TV is in use. And in that case I could just use the Wii U gamepad in the same way for most games.
I've never taken my Switch outside. I've taken it on two trips only for it to be ignored due to being busy / social. That's par for the course for handhelds for me - I always just used them in the living room anyway. When I do use the Switch in handheld mode, I'm impressed with the screen and the visuals but I'm also looking forward to docking it again. So, despite the thing being the best handheld ever made, I really only use it as a home console. So that's what it is to me. And yes, this part is totally subjective and based on my own usage. But it means it functions the same as the Wii U did - I'm getting fundamentally the same experience from both.
The Switch is underpowered home console
Look, the Wii U was a little bit underpowered for its time, but it was a huge leap into the HD era for Nintendo and as such I loved it. Just seeing all the classic Nintendo franchises with an HD lick of paint was a real treat, a pleasure that didn't wear off for a solid year or two. And for a year Nintendo was back on par with the other consoles I owned, which was nice. More importantly, the games just looked great.
With the Switch, I really feel like I've paid money just to end up playing a marginally more powerful Wii U most of the time. I was shocked how little difference there was in Zelda when I got it for Switch. I just played XC2 and went back to XCX to compare - as far as I'm concerned XCX looks better both on the big screen and on the gamepad / portable screen. And as a PS4 Pro / 4k TV owner, It's tough going from the likes of Horizon back down to this level of visual quality again and knowing that's it for the next couple of years. Since I only use the thing as a home console, I find myself wishing that my money had gone towards a bit more computing power rather than the hybrid nature of the device. I can't lie - disappointment with the graphics was a recurring thought I had while playing both Zelda and Xenoblade Chronicles 2. Many won't care about that stuff. I found I noticed it.
The Switch is an overpriced home console (with poor pack-in controllers)
Carrying on from that previous point, given that to me it's just an underpowered home console, it was tremendously overpriced. It was 300 euros with no game. I disliked the joycons and grip controller so much (a serious rarity for a Nintendo console) that I felt obliged to buy the Pro Controller for 70 euros. That's 370 (euros!) altogether to get the full console experience with a decent controller.
On the other hand, I got a white Wii U a year after launch (new) with two games for 200 US dollars. It was a ridiculous bargain and a bit of an unfair comparison as it was after a year and steep price cuts, but even if I had paid 300 dollars standalone (no game) I would have been getting a reasonably powerful console with a good controller (I love the gamepad's ergonomics) for much, much less than I paid for the underpowered Switch.
Again, to be clear, I feel like I spent 370 euros and I'm really just playing a very similar standard of games to what I was playing on Wii U for the last 4 years and that's what feels so weird.
The Wii U has "Nintendo Charm" that the Switch lacks and I prefer the OS
This will be controversial but I prefer everything about the Wii U's OS bar the speed. I found the home screen and bubbles attractive and the Miiverse implementation endlessly charming from moment one. There was an instant emotional connection there. With Switch's OS you might as well be using a nondescript budget tablet - it's the same old flat, minimalist design every modern device uses, with no 'Nintendo twist' to it at all. Even the store is dull and boring compared to the Wii U's musical and inviting store front. I'll always remember migrating my Wii data to the Wii U and seeing all the little pikmin that obviously live inside there doing their best to move my stuff around. It was a gorgeous little touch in a console stuffed full of them. The Wii U constantly made me smile, just using it.
Sure, the Wii U had a pretty shite online infrastructure... but so does the Switch right now. At least the Wii U had apps and VC games by this point in its life. While on the other hand the Switch has nothing... but it's planned to put online multiplayer behind a paywall. That's gross. Ultimately there's just so much missing from the Switch right now to make it feel like a true Nintendo device.
Backwards Compatibility
Ignoring the VC, the Wii U plays all my Wii games. Using Nintendon't it plays all of my Gamecube games as well. That means feels like two decades of Nintendo history in a little white box. The Switch, for obvious reasons, has no backwards compatibility at all. Add the VC and the thing feels like a wonderbox, even if the emulation is disappointing.
Conclusion
I'm not going to make arguments that I don't believe in to score points - for example the Wii U has dual screen / asymmetric / second screen gameplay and the Switch doesn't, but I found asymmetric gameplay to be pretty much a total failure so I don't really care about that. I'm not going to argue about the games, as this is purely about the hardware (and games is a fight the Wii U can't win).
And I know that the Switch is a brilliant handheld - anyone who uses it as such primarily is getting the biggest step up in a generation (3DS -> Switch) we've seen in ages. Anyone who uses it as a hybrid a lot basically gets the utility of two consoles for the price of one. Add an insane first year of games and gorgeous industrial design and it's no wonder its been such a massive success - it's totally warranted.
But for this particular Nintendo fan I can't escape my true feelings... I preferred the Wii U.
