I think so too. I have resisted double dipping on most Wii U ports to Switch so far and will probably only pick them up if they’re a particularly reduced price or have compelling exclusive content or performance upgrades.
I did pick up Bayonetta 1and 2 and MK8D so far, but have resisted the others to this point. That said, I’m constantly eying Captain Toad due to the resolution bump and exclusive content, but I feel like the controls on the big screen are likely too inferior to the original release. I imagine it will feel similarly for W101 as well.
Having a consistent frame rate and 4K visuals trumps the Gamepad stuff IMO, as much as I love it.
I think that once Pikmin 3 and 3D World get ported that my Wii U will finally get put back in its box. I won’t get rid of it but with all those ports and Wii U CFW not really panning out as hoped (fixing Nintendo’s mistakes to make it a great HDMI Gamecube/Wii) it’s on borrowed time for me, as much as it pains me to admit it.
I was hoping (for first party at least) that Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would set the gold standard for Switch ports from Wii U, with its generous additions and remixed gameplay, but alas it has not.
Because the Wii U really that long ago I can’t really justify picking up Switch ports again unless they are ‘forever games’ that I’ll always want to play (e.g. Mario Kart, Bayonetta 1).
For games with major components specifically built around the GamePad, like Pikmin 3 and its interactive map (the game was made to be played with Wiimote and Nunchuk in hand, Gamepad on stand nearby), or Xenoblade X’s FrontierNav, I remain sceptical of potential Switch ports.
And I thought Nintendo rewriting the ending to Captain Toad, which was originally a prequel to Mario 3D World, replacing the 3D World levels with Odyssey levels (presumably to market Odyssey instead) rather naff.
I haven’t done much of the Switch version, my wife wanted that one. But in spite of being worse than the Wii U one I really find the 3DS version charming. It plays really well as a handheld game and has a demake quality about it.
I ended up boxing up my (launch) Wii instead of my Wii U because I couldn’t get a good picture out of the former even with the OSSC. I agree that Pikmin 3 is a great example of a game that even when ported, will still probably be preferable to play on the Wii U.
And yeah, Captain Toad on the Switch in TV mode is almost unplayable. I quickly gave up on that and just played it in handheld mode.
This week I have played through Splatoon’s single player and Star Fox Zero. One of these games has a really great final boss, the other one doesn’t. No prizes for guessing which.
I’ve decided to really lean into the Wii U for all things Wii and start making VC injects so all my Wii games show up on the Wii U home screen and I won’t need to use the vWii. Changing to 480p seems to remove the sharpness filter (!) and that’s probably as good as it’s going to get on my 4K TV, certainly a lot better than my launch Wii through the OSSC. I am kind of glad in a way because I have always loved the Wii U and some of these Switch ports have been really underwhelming and not worth rebuying. I’ll do some testing on Gamecube games and see how it shapes up compared to a real Gamecube + Carby.
I was thinking about this last week. My favourite games (that I own, I never did try stuff like Devil’s Third) which haven’t been ported yet are Pikmin 3, Xenoblade X and Paper Mario Color Splash, and I’m not convinced they’d be better without the GamePad. Or, in Pikmin 3’s case, Miyamoto’s suggested setup of pointer controls plus having your GamePad sitting on its stand for direct unit and map manipulation.
I don’t see Xenoblade X as a 6/10 for port probability, it seems like too much work for too little gain. They’d be porting over the bespoke engine just for one game (even Xenoblade 1 was ported to the Xenoblade 2 engine, which is less capable for the things Xenoblade X does), and the networking features alone would be a lot of work to recreate on the Switch. That game had a bunch of programmers put on it, and Nintendo would probably rather they work on bigger things.
Yeah, Pikmin 3 is my favourite Wii U game of them all. I recently fired it on for old times sake (after my boys finished playing Warioware and basically laugh for a good hour or so).
Amazing game that really complements the console. It could work well on Switch as well, but I believe the Wii U version will always be the best one to play.
Hopefully it does find a wider audience, I too really enjoyed it. I remember the final level in particular being a superb test of everything you’ve learned so far, clearing that made me feel like I truly mastered the game. Tense stuff.
Time management mechanics seem to be unpopular nowadays, with the complaints I see being that they cause frustration or stress. I’ve seen them ripped out of series that used to be all about the time management, hopefully Pikmin’s approach can win people over again.
On a related note, I’m disappointed Nintendo (at least in North America) has pulled the game from the Wii U eShop, which they apparently also did with DKC: Tropical Freeze, but not with Captain Toad. Not sure what the reasoning is but when there’s no explanation you can only assume the worst - that they want to avoid unfavourable comparisons with the price of the Nintendo Selects game on Wii U: $20.
The New Play Control reissues on Wii were more honestly priced at $30, though you could argue significantly less porting work went into them since the Wii architecture was a close derivative of GameCube’s.
I was hoping Mario Kart 8 Deluxe would set the standard for these ports.
You raise a good point about the GamePad, presumably you won’t be able to play it as the game was optimally designed any more, which was Wiimote and Nunchuk with GamePad on a stand in front of you as an interactive map and strategy planner. But iirc a later update did add stylus controls in, which I presume will make it to Switch.
