Ranking EVERY Nintendo Console From Worst To Best

Nintendo brought themselves back as a major force thanks to the Wii’s which became the 6th best-selling console of all time. Despite these sales, it was seen as a separate class of console, lacking HD capabilities and online infrastructure that gamers had come to expect. Seeking to build upon this, the Wii U released back in 2012 as Nintendo’s first HD console to match the Xbox 360/PS3.

Featuring full backwards compatibility with the Wii, Nintendo struggled to establish the Wii U as its own, independent console. Few argued about its base capabilities but critics took issue with the Gamepad's controller gimmicky nature, containing an inbuilt screen which acted similarly to the DS' touchscreen. It also fell victim to poor marketing as many consumers were unaware of what made the Wii U different and arrived too late in the generation, as Sony and Microsoft prepared to release the PS4 and Xbox One, leaving the Wii U significantly under-powered by comparison.

Third-party support quickly dwindled and its library became reliant on first party exclusives. Not to say these were bad games, quite the opposite, but this did little to convince potential adopters outside the hardcore fanbase. Considering most exclusives have now been ported to Nintendo Switch, there’s little reason to look back.