Shall I get a Wii, or a WiiU?

Submitted by katorce t3_11jy7ee in consoles

Hello there,

I don't think there is a good answer to the question. Some people will think the Wii, others the WiiU. The problem is that I am very unfamiliar with both of them and I don't have enough knowledge to take this decision right now. Feel free to answer anything that comes to your mind, as what I am trying to do is gathering some knowledge. Apart of the Wii, WiiU, there is the option of getting a nintendo Switch instead, or just another Nintendo DS (I already got one), but I am less prone to those options.

What I want? I want a console to have next to my TV in which I can play casual games with my gal. The games I have in mind are Crash Team Racing alike. So Mario Kart, Sonic All Racing and perhaps F-ZERO. There might be other multiplayer games that I don't know (Mario?, fighting?). I am not thinking in wii sports, tennis, golf or other stuff. Here the WiiU has a Zelda which I am very interested in playing.

My concerns:

Price: I want it to keep the price down, as I foresee that my plan might not go as I have in mind. The Wii is much much cheaper than the WiiU. However, once you try to get controllers, I got lost with so many options, and they are no cheap tho. Sometimes even more expensive than the Wii itself. The extra price of the WiiU could be justified by the Zelda game, and that is a much better console for emulation.

Controllers: This is my main issue. I see the controller of the Wii, and it looks extremely uncomfortable. That means that the price of the controller has to be added a Wii pro? or any other 3rd controller (which will be a gamble on what is good/bad). Regarding the WiiU I literally have no idea what controllers use other than the screen-one. Does it have a normal shaped controller that can be used to play Mario Kart?

Retro-Emulation: I think with both consoles being able to play gamecube, and SNES I am happy here. I honestly don't think I will be playing any N64 games.

Console Problems: This is regarding mostly to the WiiU, which I can see that a second hand one might have a terrible battery life in the controller. So probably would mean I need to spend more money into this.

Modifications: I quite enjoy modding consoles, and the Wii can be eventually converted into the WiiBoy, so that if everything goes wrong, I could still use it that way.

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TL;DR: What will you get to play Mario Kart and alike, regarding the price of console+controllers.

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GAR51A8 t1_jb53uje wrote

get a wiiU since it also comes with wii software and can play wii games, i have the wii u btw

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katorce OP t1_jbbpwg7 wrote

As you have the WiiU, how easy is to play Mario Kart in multiplayer? Do you get split screen, or someone plays in the gamepad and another one with a controller?

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GAR51A8 t1_jbdry8b wrote

it can be both, i think you can play up to five players with it but it’s been a long while since five done it so don’t rely on that lol

Edit: forgot to mention that when you switch to Wii mode it behaves pretty much exactly like the Wii, meaning no game pad use sadly, but when using it normally as the wii u you can use whatever you choose

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[deleted] t1_jb81mal wrote

[deleted]

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katorce OP t1_jbbp55f wrote

Mario Kart mostly, I guess that F-Zero from GC will be a plus.

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StiiFox t1_jb4xmov wrote

Wii and wiiU use the exact same controller, So that technically is a non issue, you can still use the WiiU Gamepad for all controller related games.

In terms of price, there won't be a huge difference between a WiiU or a Wii.

Games, WiiU being able to play wii games also is a bonus. There's hella tons of chill games to play, MarioKart8 appeared on wiiU, you could still play MKwii, Zelda Breath of the wild started there too, so it's good.

Controllers: Don't overthink too much about that. Only a small 10% of the games on both make a real use of 3rd party controllers, the VAST majority of them use for the wii, Wiimote+(sometimes)Nunchuck, And for wiiU most of them are meant to be played with the bug Gamepad with the screen.

Battery concerns. WiiU and therefore Wii's Wiimote (the stick looking controller) use 2xAA batteries. Not rechargeable, so no issues in terms of battery life with usage.

On the WiiU's gamepad tho, there is a rechargeable Li-ion battery inside, that can indeed be really be used and don't last as long. Plus side, the battery is accessible from the back of the gamepad, 3-4 screws to remove, pop it out and drop a new one for around 10 bucks.

In terms of emulation and maybe hacking the console to not buy games. I would highly reccomend using the WiiU as it can play Wii games natively with the hdmi out port, so CLEAN AND BEAUTIFUL 720p display. Against the wii 480i composite cables Homebrewing the wiiu is really simple, almost as simple as the wii classic.

Downside. There is no Gamecube ports on the WiiU so you'd need a gamecube controller to plug in your Wiimote to play, or use the WiiUGamepad.

If you still wanna get a wii, and see a good deal on a wii mini. Don't. System can't be updated, bcause no Sdcard slot, no useable usb slot, no network connection. (And ofc no homebrew possible)

Tldr:All in all, i'd highly reccoment a WiiU if you are hesitating between Wii classic against WiiU Bcause: -can play both catalogue of games. -controllers are identical -clean 720p hdmi output -easy homebrew

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katorce OP t1_jbarug3 wrote

Thank you for your thorough message was really informative. The HDMI output is something I had not considered and a really fair point.

My point about controllers is that... the wiimote looks incredibly uncomfortable to play with. Like for playing Mario Tennis is ideal, but I was more thinking in Mario Kart, so that needs to add 2 pro controllers, and 2 wiimotes (because pro controllers connect to a wiimote as far as I know) and you don't always get all controllers when buying second hand.

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StiiFox t1_jbijlo3 wrote

to be honest, the wiimote isn't as uncomfortable as it looks, for a good mariokart experience i would reccomend you just buyng some Nunchucks. and everything should be alright.
you'll get a similar experience as Switch detached joycons. most games don't use as many inputs as what's avaliable on a pro controller. try playing with wiimote/nunchuck first, and then if you really feel it won't work, search for pro controllers. since they can get expensive, i'd put that as an after purchase.

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SicTim t1_jb5sooe wrote

The fact that the Wii U was backwards compatible with the Wii was a huge reason I bought it. Major upgrade, plus I could still play all the Wii games I'd bought. If it weren't for terrible marketing (a pretty rare thing for Nintendo) that alone should have made it a best-seller.

There is no reason I can think of to buy a Wii over a Wii U. Plus, with the Wii U, you get to play a bunch of games that also got ported to the Switch -- Mario Kart 8, Breath of the Wild, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, etc.

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katorce OP t1_jb6sz1j wrote

How is the Wii-U regarding to controllers? It is a console I got very little info, and I can see they connect to a wiimote?

The main point for the wii would be price, as a second hand wii with controllers I think it will be about 100, whilst the Wii U I think it can be around 200. And at that point, getting the switch is very tempting.

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SicTim t1_jb9vnr5 wrote

Yes, it uses the Wiimotes, Nunchuks, and Pro Controller -- I didn't upgrade my controllers at all. I can't remember if it came with a Wiimote, but you're going to want at least one if you plan on multiplayer.

If the Switch is in play, I'd honestly go for that. Like I said, a lot of the early releases were the best Wii U games (sometimes upgraded, like more tracks in Mario Kart 8), or sequels to the best Wii U games -- "Splatoon" was hands down my favorite Wii U title (best multiplayer shooter since Battlefield 1942, IMO), and I've thought about picking up a Switch just for Splatoon 2&3.

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katorce OP t1_jbatqhk wrote

The switch is in place yes. Those are the prices I got on my mind:

Wii U console: 70 pounds

Wiimote + nunchuck: 15 × 2 = 30 pounds

Wii U pro controller: 25 pounds

That makes about 130 pounds...

Thw switch oled can be obtained by 270 pounds... And the switch pro controller don't look that uncomfortable as the wiimote...

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Mccobsta t1_jb74520 wrote

Wii u hacked Is the ultimate Nintendo system

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JidgeyA t1_jbbb0oo wrote

Counter argument, the 3ds is easier, portable, and almost as useful. Granted, the Wii U allows more titles, like BoTW and Mario kart 8, but out of experience, I can say that the modded 3DS is very good. I have no experience with a modded Wii U, but I'm relatively sure it's not better than the 3ds, aside from storage capacity

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katorce OP t1_jbbprcz wrote

I have a DS and it is very nice. Probably a modded 3DS would have been a wiser decision to get, but I do enjoy my DS

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smuddge000 t1_jb7pu9o wrote

I vote WiiU. Does everything Wii does with more power and a nice little handheld display.

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katorce OP t1_jbbpldh wrote

Everyone seems to be supporting the WiiU must say. I thought it was a dead system!

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frazbo74 t1_jbasz0c wrote

Neither 🤣

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katorce OP t1_jbbpa3m wrote

What else would you propose?

A playstation 3 with crash team racing?

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JidgeyA t1_jbba1z5 wrote

I think wii, but make sure it's an alder model. It has a slightly higher chance to break, but allows you to also play gamecube games. If you prefer more backwards compatibility, get a Wii, but if you want more power, you should do Wii u

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katorce OP t1_jbbpfy7 wrote

I thought the Wii U also allows gamecube games using something called Nintendont?

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JidgeyA t1_jbbtx4h wrote

Don't really know about modded tbh, just know it can't play them officially

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