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I choose...

Wii U 32 28.83%
 
N64 79 71.17%
 
Total:111

Yeah, I doubt many folks in 2035 are gonna be talking about the Wii U, except on lists of "top ten failed consoles."

On the other hand, the N64 is very much still talked about as hosting some of the most beloved and groundbreaking games of all time.

Last edited by curl-6 - on 12 November 2019

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I think Wii U will be on plenty of lists of 'most underrated consoles of all time' along with the Dreamcast and Gamecube. But N64 will always have a place on 'best consoles of all time' lists because of how revolutionary it was. Like I said before, I prefer Wii U in a vacuum but in historical context it can't come close to the N64.

In 2014 there seemed to be a general consensus that the Wii U had the better lineup compared the the PS4 and XB1 since so many games were massive disappointments on those systems then while Wii U got Mario Kart 8, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2, and Smash 4. But that was coming off a 2013 which was defined by one of the worst droughts in gaming history and the other consoles finally picked up the slack in 2015.



N64 easily. Best local multiplayer console with a plethora of solid games that supported 4 player split screen. Despite its dated graphics, its games are timeless - my sister/cousin/friends and I still rock games like Mario Kart, Smash Bros, Goldeneye, Mario Party, Diddy Kong Racing, etc today (or at least in recent months). 

Wii U I just never quite got into. A few neat little novelties there and there like Mario Maker and parts of Nintendoland but not much to show for it in the long run, especially now with Switch poaching most of its great games for its own library. Was never really into the Miiverse thing or the big clunky plastic touchscreen controlled, just felt cheap and awkward.



 

"We hold these truths to be self-evident - all men and women created by the, go-you know.. you know the thing!" - Joe Biden

Oh, and while I’m here... Welcome to system wars 2019! Where instead of beating on fans of other consoles, Nintendo fans beat on each other =)



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.

Interesting arguments, seems like we have a lot of “n64 revolutionary” vs “N64 aged badly” (both are true).
I could definitely see RPG fans picking Wii U. I could definitely see local multi fans picking N64.
I would like to see a lot more HD remakes of games from n64 era - not to mention nes. I think a lot of 64 games are just a dozen FPS short of glory ( plus a lick of HD paint would help).
One thing that mars Wii u games is all the cancelled miiverse integration. I hate being constantly asked to post with the default set to “yes”.



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couchmonkey said:
Interesting arguments, seems like we have a lot of “n64 revolutionary” vs “N64 aged badly” (both are true).
I could definitely see RPG fans picking Wii U. I could definitely see local multi fans picking N64.
I would like to see a lot more HD remakes of games from n64 era - not to mention nes. I think a lot of 64 games are just a dozen FPS short of glory ( plus a lick of HD paint would help).
One thing that mars Wii u games is all the cancelled miiverse integration. I hate being constantly asked to post with the default set to “yes”.

Agreed that we could us some HD remakes of N64 games.  Playing through some of the Rare Replay games in HD was quite satisfying on Xbox One



I think a remixed Mario Kart 64 + classic design would be a highly interesting remaster or Mario Kart 8 DX expansion.



I describe myself as a little dose of toxic masculinity.

RolStoppable said:
The Nintendo 64 had only ~400 games released for it, but that's still more retail games than the Wii U had. I have 22 boxed games for the Wii U compared to ~35 for the Nintendo 64 despite the latter happening during my teenager years when I had less money to spend.

Putting the advantage of "the Nintendo 64 had the 3D revolution going for it" aside, it had a bigger selection of great games than the Wii U. Of course the Wii U can boast with a better 3D Mario and especially Mario Kart, but the Nintendo 64 had Rare at its peak to complement Nintendo's own output. I'll compare the game offerings by genre.

Platformers - N64 still manages a tie despite the glaring absence of a 2D Mario. Super Mario 64, Banjo-Kazooie and Tooie, Donkey Kong 64, Yoshi's Story, Kirby 64, Rayman 2 vs. Super Mario 3D World, New Super Mario Bros. U and Luigi expansion. Feels kinda similar to how the N64 was vs. the PS1 as a whole: the N64 had the higher highs, but a smaller selection of games. Here the Wii U is like the N64 in the aforementioned comparison while the N64 is like the PS1.

FPS - Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Turok 1+2... the Wii U could have had every Call of Duty and other big FPS of its time and it would have still been beaten handedly. Self-regenerating health is the worst thing that has happened to the FPS genre.

Racing - The Wii U's Mario Kart 8 has it very easy against the worst home console outing of Mario Kart that happened on the N64. But the N64 had more Nintendo racers than that: Wave Race 64, F-Zero X, Excite Bike 64 and Ridge Racer 64. Take your pick from a variety of third party racers and not even Cruis'n USA can tarnish the N64 enough to give this point to Nintendo's 64-bit console.

RPG - A slight edge for the Wii U with Xenoblade Chronicles X and Tokyo Mirage Sessions compared to Paper Mario and Hybrid Heaven. Neither was an RPG console.

Sports - Not only did the N64 have more Mario sports games, but it also had the better football games in International Superstar Soccer 64, 98 and 2000. The Wii U had FIFA, embarrassing.

Action-Adventure - Two original Zeldas on the N64, only one on the Wii U. I suppose this is the category where the Wii U's indie lineup has some weight, because it's just about the only one where indies pulled off something of real value. Then again, it remains close because the Wii U had Batman games; those games sucked so much ass that the Wii U must get minus points for having them.

Others - The N64 had more games, so whatever. Special mention to Blast Corps because it has to be said.

In any case, the Wii U isn't good enough to pull off a decisive victory in any genre, but it gets commonly soundly beaten. Add that the Wii U has an OS while the N64 does not and it's easy to recognize what the game machine was and what was the sorry excuse for a console. You press the power button to play a video game; the Wii U didn't consider that important and instead wanted to be a PlayStation. I keep my Wii U around to spit on it every now and then. What a piece of trash on so many levels, too many to list them all in a post that already got too long as it is.

That's highly debatable. No Wii U Mario game trumps Mario 64.



RolStoppable said:
SammyGiireal said:

That's highly debatable. No Wii U Mario game trumps Mario 64.

Your opinion is wrong.

Not really The highest ranked Wii U Mario is Super Mario 3D world. I played and finished that game and it doesn't compare to the awe inspiring experience that Mario 64 was in 1996. But it is not just my opinion.... metacritic also has Mario 64 above it. So it seems that I am not wrong.



RolStoppable said:
SammyGiireal said:

Not really The highest ranked Wii U Mario is Super Mario 3D world. I played and finished that game and it doesn't compare to the awe inspiring experience that Mario 64 was in 1996. But it is not just my opinion.... metacritic also has Mario 64 above it. So it seems that I am not wrong.

You should read my post again. The same paragraph starts off by stating that the 3D revolution will be put aside, so the awe-inspiring angle because games are in 3D is irrelevant to my comparisons.

But I played both. I still find Mario 64 the superior Mario, so much in fact that an HD remaster of that game would probably nab it a 95 Metacritc rating. The Wii U does not have the greater 3-D Mario in my view.