Splatoon and Mario Maker were the only games where having the additional gamepad screen actually seemed wortwhile. It seems Nintendo may have finally been figuring out how to really utilize the gamepad in conjuction with the TV for their software. Unfortunately it happened far too late in the system's life to save it.

I'll get back to you on this, but looks like you already have a lot of good reasons.

Nintendo did a horrible job at both marketing the system, and on designing it. The hardware itself was fine, but the dual screen concept was handled very poorly from the beginning. And pretty much everything that's already been mentioned here. Apart from bringing a decent number of very good 1st party titles to the console, Nintendo just made bad decisions with the system from the very beginning.

Terrible core concept, ridiculously alienating controller used purely for cheap gimmicks, poor support even from Nintendo themselves due to extended development cycles for HD games, poor functionality and tiny storage paired with archaic online solutions and account system, price too high both for console and accessories, poor marketing and much too late, using the Wii name at all after the Wii faded from memory, attempting forced market convergence with a device that was supposed to appeal to two or more very different demographics.

So many reasons. The main reasons were the core design and concept and the ill-conceived Gamepad and its use (or lack thereof) paired with way too much time between big software releases. It was doomed from the start.

They tried too hard to 'invent' an innovative gimmick and on this occasion came up with something redundant.

They should've realeased the Wii U without the touchscreen and just stuck with the motion controls for another gen and called it wii 2 (or something more obvious than Wii U)

Lol, I was about to say that.

I love the game pad. I seriously hope it's made backwards compatible with the Switch.

I love the Wii U, btw, it just was handled terribly in terms of marketing and the software rollout. It's worth mentioning that it's gotta have the best internet browser of any gaming console of all time, by a mile. Absolutely fantastic browser, was honestly better than using my laptop or desktop a lot of times. And using the gamepad to pause a game and quickly check out some online guide or video, then jump right back into the game was far and away one of the best features it had to offer for a gamer. That should have been heavily advertised and promoted.

I quite agree with it. I believe Nintendo already wanted to integrate home and portable systems but they couldn't so they made a "transition" console hoping the Wii brand was strong enough to sustain it for a few years.

As for why WiiU sales have been abysmal, I'd say the main reasoin was the complete dissonance between the console's core design/proposition, the branding and the game library.

If we assume the Wii key characteristics were intuitive controls, multiplayer and accessibility a Wii successor should have doubled down on those aspects. Instead, the WiiU offered an overcomplicated controller that could be used only by a single person and it was sold for an "exclusive" price. It's basically the opposite. On one hand the Wii was a console targeted to everyone, while the WiiU (despite the Wii brand) had the characteristics of a console targeted to experienced players. Lastly, the games were mostly Wii sequels targeted to everyone (NSMBU, Mario 3D World, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, Wholly World) while very little was dedicated to experienced players.

So, on one hand for the former Wii audience the game library may have been potentially attractive but the game console was totally unattractive, on the other hand for experienced players the game library wasn't particulary attractive in the first place.

Add to that hardware limitations and too many overlaps with 3DS games.

1. Lack of effective third party

2. Many droughts

3. Lack of personal identity. Too many people (including hardcore gamers) thought it was a Wii upgrade

4. Very expensive

5. Not enough bundles

6. Horrific advertising

7. Unappealing look to it

8. PowerPC held back potential

9. Confusing name

10. Terrible social network

I denied it for a long time, but it's obvious that the Wii U is a terrible console. It was a wakeup call to Nintendo. No one wants the garbage they forced- at least the 3DS didn't require 3d to always be on.

The switch is the Wii-era Nintendo that we always cherished. The wii U deserved to die