There was a recent thread about the % drop of third-party games in Nintendo consoles, especially accused on WiiU, where it was pointed out that only 118 third-party games exist on the console, which might look like a low number compared to other consoles (even among Nintendo's hardware offering themselves). This got me thinking, though, about the games themselves. I might have the unpopular opinion that third-party offerings in WiiU are marginally better than the first-party games (on a quantity/quality base with the added fact of being new IPs; yeah, I know, random ass math equation of mine, feel free to disagree with it!), but here I would like to know about VGC's opinion of these games.

Were the released third-party games on WiiU worth it? Were they trash? Could a purchase be justified with third-party games alone? Did you enjoy playing these? Did you enjoy bashing them instead?

In case you don't know about them, here's a small list that relatively covers the most important ones. Bear in mind that there's a mini-review within each one that's my personal take on it, not the general view:

· ZombiU

1.01 million units sold.

An interesting take of the zombie-survival with the WiiU gamepad as a gimmick for your inventory. While it didn't really break any new foundation in the genre, it was good enough to be worth playing.

· Devil's Third

0.06 million units sold.

A universally panned game, one that tried to be hectic and fun and combine fast-paced first-person/third-person gameplay on the fly while also having that classic nonsensical Itakagi's storytelling touch. I personally liked it a lot.

· Affordable Space Adventures

Unknown sales data.

A relatively low-budged game that truly shined if you played with more people. It could also get creepy as heck at some points.

· Lego City Undercovered

1.06 million units sold (3DS version sold 1.46)

A nice original addition to the Lego games, while also keeping the charm and fun gameplay. Terrible loading times, though.

· Fatal Frame 5: The Maiden of Black Water

0.11 million units sold.

A powerful-on-atmosphere horror game with a nice use of the WiiU gamepad. A lot of backtracking and dragged a bit on certain areas, though. Sadly, the sexy lingerie were censored in the oversaes version, which has a huge blow, but at least Ninty was decent enough to include the awesome Zero Suit outfit in it, which really compensated:

· The Wonderful 101

0.40 million units sold.

A charming Platinum Games' game (duh). I struggled so much with the controls in certain points, though. But otherwise very fun!

· Lost Reavers

Unknown sales data.

Sadly, I haven't been able to play this one yet. But it's f2p, so no harm in trying it out. It certainly looks like an enjoyable game, particulary if played with friends.

· Bayonetta 2

1.00 units sold.

A fantastic hack n' slash game, with tons of replay value and a lot of extras. Also featuring a main character that rivalizes with Samus Aran in terms of pure beauty.

· Tokyo Mirage Sessions #FE

0.14 million units sold.

Haven't played this one either, but I've only heard good things about it. While I'm still salty this doesn't look like an actual Fire Emblem characters with SMT characters (which is what I thought it would be at first), it oozes charm everywhere.

· Rayman Legends

0.68 million units sold.

An outstanding platformer, albeit much easier than Origins. WiiU had a different way to play it than other consoles, considering you took direct control of Murph in certain sequences.

And there's many others I haven't mentioned, like Little Inferno, Tank!Tank!Tank!, Tekken Tag Tournament 2, or ports from previously released games like Batman Arkham City, Mass Effect, Ninja Gaiden, and so on. While the quality of most of these ports and third-party games could be questioned if analized with a magnifying glass, I don think there's enough variety here to say that WiiU didn't fare all that horrible when it came to third-party games.

I've certainly enjoyed most of them and value those like Wonderful 101, Fatal Frame, Bayonetta and Devil's Third over the likes of Mario Kart, Nintendo Land, Splatoon, New Super Mario and Super Mario 3D World and basicaly most of their first-party offerings (My favourite game of the console is still Super Smash Bros U, though).

Not counting Indies or games Nintendo themselves published like Bayonetta 2, Lego City or TMS, no they aren't worth it. There are some sold to really good games, but a lot of them are neutered via being late ports or excluded from DLC content other systems got.

I wouldn't say the console's worth buying for its third party lineup alone, but games like Bayonetta 2 and Rayman Legends are definitely worth getting if you already have the system or plan to get one for its overall library.

Speaking for myself as a Wii U owner, I bought and enjoyed Fatal Frame, Sonic All Stars Racing Transformed, Need for Speed Most Wanted, Bayonetta 1 + 2, COD Black Ops II and Ghosts, ZombiU, Rayman Legends, Splinter Cell Blacklist, Deus Ex Human Revolution, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, Batman Arkham City, Mass Effect 3, FAST Racing Neo, Art of Balance, Nano Asault Neo, The Swapper, Trine Enchanted Edition, and LEGO City Undercover.

I had a few 3rd parties games on Wii U but getting a Wii U for third parties would be a mistake.

Rayman Legends was totally worth it on the Wii U. Same with Bayonetta 1 and 2.

All the games you mentioned are worth a buy.... perphaps except devils third.

There was never a third party game that interested me. I only have ZombiU from the launch bundle, and I found that incredibly mediocre. So I'd say no, certainly not worth it.

Oh wait, I also have Child of Light, which was actually fun. Still, that's just one game.

Well, The Wonderful 101 and Tokyo Mirage Sessions are in my top 5 Wii U games, while others like Bayonetta 2, Rayman Legends, Devil Third and ZombiU I'd say helped to mitigate the poor effort that Nintendo put in some of its own games, so I think it got the third party support it deserved. Nowhere near enough to justify purchasing the console for it, but on par with its first party lineup.

Aren't W101,FF5 and TMS all Nintendo owned IPs? If so then they don't count as 3rd party games since thay are 1st party IPs made by an outside studio, games like Pokken and SSB were also made by a 3rd party company and they didn't make it to the list

Project zero and Bayonetta 2 were worth a purchase for me