It's a decent collect of minigames and tech demos but it doesn't really know what to do with any of it.

The best Mario Kart ever brought down by a bafflingly bad battle mode. We're talking days before shipping someone went "ah shoot we forgot battle mode" and made it in an afternoon. Grateful to MK8 Deluxe for righting that wrong.

I don't know where else to brag about this but I got all the gold items and it took a long time so I'm putting it here. Thank you in advance for your praise.

Wind Waker is part masterpiece, part open world slog. The open world is empty and getting around it sucks.
I know this is an unpopular opinion but boats in video games suck, guys. Moving slowly on a vessel with a massive turn radius that is constantly at the mercy of the wind just is not fun.
Everything else in this game rules, though.

Link Between Worlds is perfect and is quite possibly my favorite 2D Zelda. I know the item "rental" system is a bit contentious but I really liked the freedom it gave you to basically tackle the game in whatever way you pleased.
Hard to believe it's been over a decade since the last original 2D Zelda game and who knows if we ever get one of these again.

I do not think Smash is made for small screens but they made it work best they could.

Good in the sense that Smash is good, but probably the weakest game in the series. Yes I think Brawl is better than this.

Initially, 3D World feels like a step back from the extremely creative and fantastical Mario Galaxy. SM 3D World reigns it in with more contained, straightforward levels. However I'd argue that that constraint helps to focus the game into a truly perfect 3D platformer, beginning to end. (Even though the final challenge level is deranged)

Underrated gem of a puzzle game. Just absolutely delightful through and through. Would love a sequel to this.

A flawless game that balances difficulty with a satisfying challenge so perfectly. Just as I was on the verge of frustration, I would overcome the challenge and feel the satisfaction of victory every time.

Fun, inventive little puzzle game. Really enjoyed my time with it but never ended up checking out any of the sequels.

Nintendo launches its first new IP in years and it freaking rules. I dropped an unholy amount of hours into the OG Splatoon. Literally could not put this game down.

Remarkable game that was a perfect fit on the Wii U. The Gamepad was perfect for making custom courses. A lot of what this game lacked, they fixed in the Switch version. It's a shame that the Switch version didn't feel as fun or easy to make levels on and never really felt like it took off.

Going into this, I sort of thought it would be like an Animal Crossing skin on Mario Party, but it's actually just a pretty lame board game. It's cute, but it really isn't anything more than a board game for very young children.

Never played OG Ruby and Sapphire so this was my first time experiencing them. Pretty solid games overall with some neat quality-of-life features like the local Pokedex info so you could see if you've caught all the Pokemon within a route.
I don't know why but the game didn't really stick with me much. It felt less exciting after playing Pokemon X.

Truly spectacular use of the Wii U Gamepad. Fantastic couch co-op and maybe one of my favorite asymmetric multiplayer games of all time? I bought this on other platform later but it's a bummer to miss out on the Color Master mode.