# Nintendo Wii U

7 Hacker News commenters recommended Nintendo Wii U and 11 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 6 of 13 months.

**Verdict:** Plays Wii and Wii U games and supports four-player family play; critics say its library lacked a killer app and the gamepad was limited.

## Why people recommend it

- Plays Wii and Wii U games (2 comments): "For Wii it’s better to use a Wii U, because they support HDMI." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47528117)) "Wii U is even better since it can play all the Wii games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50309669))

## What people warn about

- Few compelling games or killer app (3 comments): "No one was particularly bothered by what the Wii U offered, even though it wasn't really compelling." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49503875)) "once you're past setup you don't really need it except for a handful of games" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47528505)) "it never really had a "killer app"" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48536872))
- Gamepad limited, TV-first design (3 comments): "the Wii U failed by being TV first and handheld second, instead of handheld first and TV second" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49503707)) "the Wii U Gamepad was highly limited in its capabilities" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49503734)) "it didn't really feel good to use on a larger scale" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49503551))
- Gamepad and console hardware failures (2 comments): "But the gamepad screen was broken and I couldn't sync the gamepad to the screen until I fixed it." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46408388)) "I forgot that my Wii U existed until I remembered, hooked it up, and the NAND had gone bad." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47420940))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Valve Steam Machine](https://hackerapproved.com/p/steam-machine.md): 326 recommend
- [PlayStation 5](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-5.md): 121 recommend
- [Xbox console](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xbox.md): 62 recommend
- [Xbox 360](https://hackerapproved.com/p/xbox-360.md): 41 recommend
- [PlayStation 2](https://hackerapproved.com/p/playstation-2.md): 40 recommend

## Where to get it

- [See price on Amazon](https://www.amazon.com/s?k=Nintendo+Wii+U+console&tag=hackerapprove-20) (affiliate link)

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Nintendo Wii U", https://hackerapproved.com/p/nintendo-wii-u/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).