No Wii U game has benefited from this revival more than New Super Mario Bros. Over the past two years, Switch ports and sequels have introduced most of the Wii U catalog to the audience it had always deserved. In 2017, the Nintendo Switch made good on the potential of its predecessor, becoming the first truly portable hybrid console.

In the end, an abundance of great games couldn’t overcome the agony of playing on what feels like a screen ripped off the seat back of a cheap domestic flight.Īll the while, Nintendo quietly fashioned a lifeboat for all these precious creations. Nintendo bound the catalog to its ill-fated Wii U, an on-the-go tablet console that counterintuitively couldn’t be used on the go. Fantastic entries in iconic franchises like The Legend of Zelda, new franchises like Splatoon, and three new Mario games, emphasizing the series’ 2D platforming roots. In 2012, Nintendo followed its mainstream motion-control phenomenon, the Wii, with a new strategy refocused around its old fan base. For a moment, it seemed inevitable that a half-dozen or so excellent games from arguably the most influential video game publisher ever would be relegated to the status of historical footnote.

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