Of the many consoles Nintendo has made, it is rare for there to be a failure as catastrophic as the Wii U. It was a genuinely unique and inventive console, but some bizarre marketing, poor branding, and an overall lack of games that really took advantage of the hardware, it was doomed to fail and be replaced in record time.
![The NES overlaid on a blurred background of its games.](https://esportvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/02/What-Was-The-Last-Game-Released-For-The-Wii-U.jpg)
Related
How Many Games Were Made For The NES?
Nintendo first stepped into the home console market with the NES, but how successful was it?
That said, there are still some stellar games on the Wii U, though very few of them remain exclusive to the console. With the console being one of Nintendo’s more high-profile failures, did it end up getting that many games at all? Let’s find out.
How Many Games Were Made For The Wii U?
With the Switch as its successor with over 5,000 games, you might hope even a little bit of that came from the Wii U. The console was not backwards compatible with anything from the Wii U however, so the vast majority of its games are brand-new, aside from a bevy of ports. The Wii U pales in comparison, totaling in at somewhere around 800 games with a generous estimation.
What makes this number even smaller is that a very small number of those games were ever released physically. In total, around 200 of those 800 games had a physical release, with the rest lost with the closure of the Wii U’s eShop. That means around 75% of the Wii U’s entire library was lost with the shutdown of the eShop. Legally, anyway.
When Was The Last Game Released For The Wii U?
After the Wii U’s launch in 2012, it was quickly discontinued in 2017 and quickly succeeded by the Switch. Yet despite the console’s discontinuation after only five years, a handful of games still found their way to the console. In fact, the Wii U’s final game launched over ten years after its initial launch.
The very final game released on the Wii U was a duo of games, Silver Falls: Undertakers and Silver Falls: White Inside Its Umbra. Both of these games were exclusive to North America and released on February 16th, 2023. The Wii U eShop closed just a month later, meaning you had very little time to snatch this piece of Wii U history.
The last game to get a physical release on the console was Shakedown Hawaii on August 20th, 2020.
What Were The Launch Titles For The Wii U?
The Wii U, despite a rather lackluster library in the grand scheme of things, did launch with quite a hefty number of games. It launched in North America first, though thankfully had less than a month between every major regional release.
- North America – November 18th, 2012
- Europe – November 30th, 2012
- Japan – December 8th, 2012
The console also had a hefty number of games available at release in Europe and North America, though was somewhat lacking in Japan. Despite a stellar line-up of games though, very few were first-party, and even fewer were system-sellers. Many were ports with some extra bells and whistles rather than brand-new games, either.
Launch Titles In North America |
Launch Titles In Europe |
Launch Titles In Japan |
---|---|---|
Assassin’s Creed 3 |
Assassin’s Creed 3 |
Assassin’s Creed 3 |
Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition |
Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition |
Batman: Arkham City – Armored Edition |
FIFA 13 |
FIFA 13 |
FIFA 13 |
Mass Effect 3: Special Edition |
Mass Effect 3: Special Edition |
Mass Effect 3: Special Edition |
New Super Mario Bros. U |
New Super Mario Bros. U |
New Super Mario Bros. U |
Nintendo Land |
Nintendo Land |
Nintendo Land |
Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition |
Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition |
Tekken Tag Tournament 2: Wii U Edition |
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper |
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper |
Warriors Orochi 3 Hyper |
ZombiU |
ZombiU |
ZombiU |
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge |
Fake Colours |
Ninja Gaiden 3: Razor’s Edge |
Ben 10: Omniverse |
Ben 10: Omniverse |
Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate |
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 |
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 |
|
Chasing Aurora |
Chasing Aurora |
|
Darksiders 2 |
Darksiders 2 |
|
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two |
Epic Mickey 2: The Power of Two |
|
ESPN Sports Connection |
Sports Connection |
|
Funky Barn |
Funky Barn |
|
Game Party Champions |
Game Party Champions |
|
Just Dance 4 |
Just Dance 4 |
|
Little Inferno |
Little Inferno |
|
Nano Assault Neo |
Nano Assault Neo |
|
Rabbids Land |
Rabbids Land |
|
Skylanders: Giants |
Skylanders: Giants |
|
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed |
Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed |
|
Tank! Tank! Tank! |
Tank! Tank! Tank! |
|
Transformers Prime – The Game |
Transformers Prime – The Game |
|
Trine 2: Director’s Cut |
Trine 2: Director’s Cut |
|
Wipeout 3 |
Wipeout 3 |
|
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 |
Your Shape: Fitness Evolved 2013 |
|
Madden NFL |
Family Party: 30 Great Games Obstacle Arcade |
|
Mighty Switch Force! Hyper Drive Edition |
Puddle |
|
NBA 2K13 |
||
Scribblenauts Unlimited |
||
Sing Party |
The Wii U came with a massive 34 games at launch in North America, followed closely by Europe with 32. Japan falls quite a bit behind despite launching after the previous two regions with only 11 games, and only one of them, Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate, new to the region. The overall number of games is quite respectable, though. It’s far from the weakest launch for a console even on the low end, though lacked a star game to push units.
![Dreamcast console overlaid on a blurred background of its games.](https://esportvoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/What-Was-The-Last-Game-Released-On-The-Dreamcast.jpg)
Related
How Many Games Were Made For The Dreamcast?
The Dreamcast marked Sega’s final console before going multi-platform, but how many games did it get before being discontinued?
Leave a Reply