Top 5 reasons why the Wii U is underrated

I'm going to be controversial and say it... I prefer the Wii U to the Switch! Now don't get me wrong this isn't a Switch bashing article, I think it's a great console and when the new Animal Crossing/Luigi's Mansion/Link's Awakening comes out the boyfriend won't be able to get near the Switch...

BUT at the moment I am playing the Wii U again and below are some of the reasons I love it

1) The Games

The Wii U had some amazing games, Mario Kart 8 is probably the best Mario Kart ever made (although I still love Double Dash), then you have Smash Bros, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Hyrule Warriors and the New IP Splatoon (I played this non stop when it came out!) to name a few.

Sure you have all these on the Switch now as well, but in most cases they are just ports with more content added like Mario Kart. If you're anything like me I played the Wii U version of these games and although I loved them I don't want to replay them on the Switch so soon after.

I have re bought some of the games for the Switch like Captain Toad and Hyrule Warriors, but just haven't played them, also Nintendo why do you have to charge full price for a game that was out on a previous generation of consoles!?

2) All the Zelda's

The Wii U has the most Zelda games out of all the Nintendo consoles and I love the Legend of Zelda series! Out of the 3 main Zelda games on the Wii U my favourite game is Windwaker, I played it on the Gamecube so I was super excited to replay it on the Wii U. They made some slight changes to make the game less grindy, such as the faster sail and cutting down on the Triforce shard collecting, but overall the game was the same as I remembered and I enjoyed replaying it.

(I have a Windwaker half sleeve)

I was also excited to play Twilight Princess as I had never played it previously and although the complete opposite of Windwaker I really liked it.

The 3rd main Zelda was of course Breath of the Wild, it was the last first party game published on the console. We have it on both consoles and you know what it still looks great on the Wii U!

The other Zelda games are on the Virtual Console, which brings me to my next point...

3) The Virtual Console

So as much as I loved the Wii U I hated the Wii, the motion controls just really put me off and it just wasn't a serious gaming console in my eyes, but it did give us the Virtual Console which meant that the Wii U's gaming library expanded even more as you could play NES, Nintendo 64, Gameboy Advance and even TurboGrafx-16 games on the Wii U. I never took full advantage of this as I only downloaded a few of the old Zelda games such as Link's Awakening and Minish Cap, but they had nearly 300 games available!

Sadly there are no plans to bring anything similar to the Switch (booo!), the only retro games you can play on the Switch are available through the online subscription and then there are only a few NES games to choose from.

4) No Online Fee

Why Nintendo!? Why did you bring in a subscription to play online (sigh). This really annoyed me when it was announced, as I've said previously I played Splatoon A LOT when it came out on the Wii U, the Switch version I've barely played and one of the reasons is because I had to buy an online subscription to play it.

Now I know it doesn't cost a lot but why should I pay a subscription when I can play the same games on the Wii U online for free, it's quicker to get an online game on Mario Kart Wii U than it is on Switch sometimes! I have now bought the online for Switch, but honestly I just haven't used it so I don't know if I will be renewing it.

5) Battery Life

The battery life on the Switch is not great, I prefer playing it in handheld but the battery just doesn't hold up for long periods of gaming and a couple of hours in I'll have to dock it to continue playing. Nintendo stated that it can last from 3 hours up to 6 depending on the graphics in the game you are paying, to make it last 6 hours I think you'd have to be playing Snake though...

Now the Wii U battery wasn't the best when it first came out either, but we bought the new battery pack for it which nearly doubles the battery life (also made it heavier but never mind you can't win them all). Hopefully the battery will be improved in the new version of the Switch that is rumoured, because if it is I will be buying a new Switch for all the hours I will be playing Animal Crossing.

Also not technically a point but...

How pretty are the game cases!