10 Epic Fails That Ruined The Wii U

8. Lack Of First-Party AAA Titles People Actually Want

Mario, Mario Kart, Zelda, Super Smash Bros, Metroid. These games should all be launch titles, or failing that, release window titles that would have units flying off the shelves. It's not really as though Nintendo needed to launch the Wii U as early as they did, and it would have made sense to wait until at least one AAA title was ready before giving it the green light. The pitiful launch line-up made the console difficult to sell from the starting gun, and this hasn't really eased up over a year on, with only a handful of acclaimed titles rising to the top (such as Pikmin 3 and Super Mario 3D World). Then there was the Rayman debacle. The game was widely hyped and shown off at trade shows leading up to the Wii U's release, boasting the revolutionary capabilities of the Wii U's controller, but then disaster struck. Firstly, the game was delayed until February 2013, and then when Ubisoft decided that they wanted to release the game on the PS3 and Xbox 360 as well, the game was delayed until September 2013, a whopping 10 months after the initially planned release, at which point the damage had already been done in terms of sales for the console (or lack thereof), despite how excellent the final Rayman product was. Many Nintendo fans felt stung by such a turn of events, and it's clear that Ubisoft saw the writing on the wall (that the Wii U wasn't going to sell very well) and changed their plan accordingly. As for the future, Mario Kart 8 is due out in the Spring, and the only new Zelda title we know anything about is Hyrule Warriors, a depressingly desperate crossover between Zelda and the Dynasty Warriors franchise. Metroid meanwhile reportedly begins development in February, and Super Smash Bros has an undetermined 2014 release date. Not exactly an encouraging slate for 2014, then, though Mario Kart in particular will likely give sales something of a boost.