1: Super Mario Maker
Released: 2015
Fun fact: Shigeru Miyamoto has yet to release his own Mario Maker level.
Nintendo has tried to recapture the magic of Super Mario Bros. 3 and Super Mario World a number of times. But no matter how fun those attempts ended up being, they never quite succeeded in matching Mario’s finest 8-bit and 16-bit efforts. But Super Mario Maker has finally achieved just that. By allowing players to create their own Mario levels – with Mario 3 and World being two of the four available play styles – Nintendo has finally recreated that magic.
It’s true, you’ll come across a lot of lame levels and troll stages, but those are the faults of players, not Mario Maker itself. But when you play one of the truly inspired stages that Mario Maker has to offer, it makes suffering through the cumbersome stages well worth it.
Super Mario Maker perfectly justifies the Wii U Gamepad, as the controller makes level-creation a far more streamlined process than it has ever been in any game. Creating a great level is as simple as drawing and placing objects and enemies strategically. Mario Maker simply wouldn’t be Mario Maker without the Gamepad.
You’ll find easy levels, hard levels, insanely hard levels, and unforgivingly hard levels. You’ll play levels modeled after Mario classics, recreations of other games, original concepts, and stages that break all of Mario’s rules. There’s never a shortage of things to do and stages to play.
It’s simple and accessible, yet retains a strong sense of depth. There are always new levels at the ready, and the experience will never be the same twice. Super Mario Maker is a Nintendo fan’s dream come true, and the best Wii U game out there.
Wizard Dojo 
You’d be hard pressed to find a better list than this. I’ll probably make a list of my own one day, but it would probably include most, if not all, of the games you’ve listed, probably in a different order however. I have yet to play Tropical Freeze, but I shall rectify that sooner than later as I see you speak highly of it. Absolutely love the fun facts btw! They’re brilliant 🙂 Awesome list 😀
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like to think these are the essential games for the console, so I wouldn’t be surprised to see you list many of the same games. You really need to get to Tropical Freeze. You won’t regret it.
LikeLike
This is a really good top 10, I would have arranged some of the games differently but they are pretty much all there. Though I think Assassin’s Creed IV should be on the list unless this is first party games only 😉 Anyhow Great Article.
LikeLiked by 2 people
Believe me, thinking of the order of the games was the hardest part. Especially the top four, which I feel are on equal footing in a lot of ways. I basically had to nitpick between them. Sadly, I have yet to play Assassin’s Creed IV, which explains its absence here. Thanks for the comment!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think it’s fair to say the WiiU’s problems with its library are barely any different from what we saw with Nintendo consoles from the N64 onwards, good 1st party support, not so much with 3rd parties. I don’t own one at the moment, as the games I want for it are rather limited to justify buying an expensive console, but I’ll say it’s the closest thing I want to a current gen system (excluding the 3DS as I already own one).
I have already played Shovel Knight on PC, but the amiibo unlocking coop might impulse me to double dip and get one of those figurines I never cared for before, and I’m sure my GF is curious to try out Wooly World sometime down the road. My personal interests are Bayonetta 2 and Smash Bros, but I also want to give Rainbow Curse a shot, despite reading some disappointing aspects about it in comparison to Canvas Curse, and Zelda will hopefully be out by next year to see how it handles the whole open world thing.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nintendo has had troubles with third-parties for a long time now (except Capcom), and it now doubt has an affect on many people’s outlook of their consoles.
If you do decide to buy a Wii U, all the games I listed would justify the purchase I think. I’d say Mario Kart 8 alone would justify it. Definitely a lot of great games.
LikeLike
Yeah. I agree with you on your opinion on the Wii U. My personal favorite games are Splatoon and Super Smash Bros for Wii U. Splatoon is exactly what I want a multiplayer shooter to be like. (Also, the style reminds me of 90’s Nick, y’know, before it got dethroned to bad live-action comedies? There’s a reason I mistook it to be a Nick game at first.) And Smash 4 is just endless fun. It’s one of those games that I just cannot explain why I love. (The wait was worth it.) Zelda Wii U would probably be at the top of my list now… if it was out… *Sad Violin*
LikeLiked by 1 person
Part of me wanted to put Splatoon in the top 5, but in the end I had to nitpick which ones were better. But Splatoon is an amazing game nonetheless, and so original. And I’m not sure I should admit how many hours I’ve put into Smash in less than a year’s time…
Definitely looking forward to Zelda, hopefully it can live up to The Wind Waker, which I still feel is the best 3D entry in the series.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It better dang live up to Wind Waker!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Great list! I am not surprised to see Tropical Freeze ranked so high (and I fully agree with all the reasons given to support its position) and I was shocked to see Super Mario Maker top all games (some of which I was sure it would be trailing). As an endless source of Super Mario goodness, though, it has certainly earned its place!
I am also glad to see positive comments towards Super Mario 3D World and New Super Mario Bros. U. It seems that just a few years after their respective releases some fans are forgetting how absolutely awesome those games were.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Tropical Freeze deserves every bit of praise it gets (which should honestly be more than it’s received). It’s a masterful platformer. The only reason it didn’t top this list is because of the lack of Gamepad features, which prevents it from being the “definitive” Wii U game. It’s a better singular experience than Mario Maker, but as Mario Maker is an endless treasure box of Mario that allows me to make my own Mario levels, and it uses the Gamepad better than any other game, it just had to claim top honors.
Super Mario 3D World definitely deserves more acclaim than it gets. It was beloved at launch but now seems to be talked about like a “lesser” Mario game, which it certainly isn’t. NSMBU is also better than it gets credit for, but I simply think people were New Super Mario Bros’ed out by that point.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Nintendo did overuse the New Super Mario Bros brand. I wasn’t very excited about the game when I got it due to that but what I found was a treasure.
LikeLiked by 1 person