Wii U
It's from 2012, when you were 6.
- Maker
- Nintendo
- Type
- Home console with tablet controller
- Debuted
- 2012
- Note
- ~13.5M sold — Nintendo's worst-selling home console; the Switch that followed crossed 100M
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About
As of 2026, it's 14 years old.
The Wii U asked a simple question — "is this a new console or an accessory for the Wii?" — and then answered it so badly that shoppers genuinely couldn't tell. That confusing name may have cost it everything.
The big tablet controller was clever, the games (Mario Kart 8, Splatoon) were genuinely great, and almost nobody bought one. But Nintendo quietly took every lesson — the screen, the hybrid idea — and reloaded.
The flop that flopped its way into becoming the Switch: gaming's greatest do-over.
Wii U through the years
Launch
Debuts with a tablet controller and a name no one understood.
The good games arrive
Mario Kart 8 and Smash land — too late to move the needle.
Reborn as the Switch
Nintendo recycles every good idea into a 100M+ smash.
