The Nintendo Wii U is a home console designed and produced by Nintendo, and the successor to the Wii. The Wii U is Nintendo's sixth home console and is capable of displaying high-resolution graphics similar to the Xbox 360 and the PlayStation 3.
The Wii U comes with a new type of controller, the Wii U GamePad. This new controller's main features are the embedded touchscreen and its ability to display games featuring Off-TV Play Support, after the television has turned off.
You are allowed to play the games with a Wii remote, or a new upgraded version of it that has the Wii Motion Plus built in. You can now have up to five players. The Wii U also came with features such as Nintendo TVii, Miiverse, and Internet Browser. Nintendo TVii and Miiverse were unfortunately discontinued with the former being discontinued in 2015 with the latter being discontinued in 2017 along with the latter also being discontinued on the 3DS as well.
One of the console's launch titles is Nintendo Land, which features the Pikmin Adventure minigame.
The Wii U, aside from its unique controller, also has a secondary controller (sold separately) called the Wii U Pro Controller. This controller features the same button layout as the gamepad, but on a more compact design with no touchscreen, for use by the more "core gamers."
Due to the Wii U's processing power and overall performance, the Wii U arguably held the place of the world's most powerful console when it launched, with capabilities surpassing that of the Xbox 360 and PS3 till the PS4 and Xbox One came out with the former being the second most powerful at the time and the latter being the most powerful at the time till their successors which are the Xbox Series X/S and PS5 now being the most powerful consoles with the latter being the second most powerful and the former being the most powerful.
Backwards compatibility[]
The Wii U has backwards compatibility with all Wii games. It is not, however, capable of playing Nintendo GameCube games or allowing the use of GameCube peripherals with the exception of the GameCube controller in Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.
However, many games from the Gamecube and earlier consoles will be available for purchase as virtual console titles.
Pikmin 3[]
In 2007, Miyamoto first hinted about the possibility of Pikmin 3. Finally, after 5 years of showing nothing, Pikmin 3's Wii U adaption (formerly a Wii title) was shown at E3 2012. It was the first official game ever announced for the Wii U. Pikmin 3 was showcased to be able to display the Wii U's primary functionalities, from displayed stunning HD graphics, from enhanced gameplay options and mechanics, even to the use of the GamePad's addition screen.
Pikmin 3 was eventually released on July 12th, 2013 in Japan, August 4th in America, 26th July in Europe, and July 27th in Australia.
Gallery[]
Trivia[]
- Not including the GameCube versions of Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2, the Wii U can play all of the Pikmin games except for Hey! Pikmin (Nintendo 3DS), Pikmin 3 Deluxe (Nintendo Switch port of the Wii U version of Pikmin 3), Pikmin Bloom (iOS and Android) and Pikmin 4 (Nintendo Switch) which were all released after the Wii U stopped having more first party games. The Wii U is Backwards compatible with the Wii, so the New Play Control! versions of Pikmin 1 and Pikmin 2, the only Pikmin game who has an fully-Wii U version is Pikmin 3
- A Wii U Transfer Tool animation can be seen with the Pikmin from Pikmin 2 transferring your content to an odd ship, then to the memory core.