33,748 WiiUsers for 2 years!

Gather around, children, and listen to my tale of deprivation.

When I was young, all of my friends had a Megadrive or a Nintendo but I had none. My family didn't get a console until the Playstation came out and so I missed the joys of early Mario and Sonic, Donkey Kong and Zelda. Then, when the GameBoy started taking off, my 3 siblings all got various incarnations of it but poor Lurlur had nothing. When your brother lets you play Pokemon on the understanding that you can't save over his game, the game really loses its appeal.

Sure, I developed an enduring love of Crash Bandicoot and Spyro the Dragon but at what cost?

It wasn't until I met my husband that I ever really ventured into Nintendo gaming. We bought the Wii on the day it came out, it was also the first time I've ever seen him willingly out of bed before 9am. I figured there must be something pretty special about a console that could motivate him that much and, boy, was I ever right!

I've been a Nintendo convert ever since and, although not a hardcore fan, I've captured for myself a taste of that ingrained nostalgia that permeates my generation.

The WiiU is a maligned and mistreated console but I love ours. Off-TV play has prevented more power struggles than I can count! The community at /r/WiiU clearly feels the same way and it's a nice haven from all the forecasts of doom and ruin.

Really, there's never been a better time to be a WiiU owner. With some great games already out (Super Mario 3D World, Wonderful 101, Pikmin 3), excellent fresh releases (Mario Kart 8, Scramkitty, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze) and some very exciting prospects on the horizon (Super Smash Bros, Bayonetta 2, X), the WiiU is shrugging off its undeserved image as the casual console and proving it's got the goods to make it in the NextGen market.

/r/WiiU knows all this. They don't need to be told how great the WiiU is, this is just preaching to the choir! If you're looking forward to a new game, want to show off your limited edition haul or found a fun easter egg, /r/WiiU will welcome you with open arms. The playful whimsy of the console has spawned a largely happy and supportive community who really just wants to get down and play some Mario Kart.

/u/Sylverstone14 was able to tear himself away from his count down to Super Smash Bros for a few minutes to answer some questions, let's meet him now!

Tell me a little about yourself? Sylverstone14 I'm Sylverstone Khandr, a Creative media major at college and an aspiring (hobby) game developer who has his own "pseudo-studio" which I call Sylver's Edge. I haven't released a game (yet), but I am working on a few projects in order to make that a reality. Most of my free time has been sucked up by Reddit... you can always check in, but you can never leave. Might as well make the most of it! What about the WiiU makes it worthy of its own subreddit? Sylverstone14 It's pretty simple - the Wii U's reputation outside of /r/WiiU is practically non-existent in a way. No one seems to really enjoy the system for what it is, people just hate it in general, and there was never really a solid community where Wii U owners could come together and just have some fun with their "dead" systems. It's almost like a weird image problem because I rarely see any positive Wii U news anywhere (outside of people excited for games like Super Smash Bros. 4), so I took it upon myself to make light of the situation - not exactly trying to create a "safe space" away from the negativity, but just a good-natured community. I just get tired of the "Wii U sucks, Nintendo doomed!" comments, and I'm sure other people do too - hence, /r/WiiU! I wasn't around for the initial creation, but I became more active in the community after I posted my experience with Wii U in 2012 while Nintendo was doing their Wii U Experience tour around the country. The cool thing is that with my further attempts to foster a sense of community, it was what pushed the other mods to (unanimously?) bring me into the fold with super-awesome moderator powers. What's the community like at /r/WiiU? Sylverstone14 I'd say that we're an interesting bunch - some days we're happy about the games that we got, some days we get a little angry when a little negative news gets thrown our way. No console community is ever perfect, right? In a way, we're a bit swingy with our moods. So far, our 2014 has went well - we had a week-long speedrun contest for Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (which was a collab with a user, /u/TrainAss ) where the guy who won first place (shoutout to /u/Alrah !) actually managed to pull off the fastest time in the world for the level we chose, which was beyond amazing. And this May, we've been celebrating the upcoming release of Mario Kart 8 with the Month of Mario Kart - we got a cool new banner, and we've had a few tournaments with past Mario Kart games like Mario Kart 7 and Mario Kart Wii. So yeah, it's been getting better over time. Do you have any favourite posts from the subreddit? Sylverstone14 Oh man, you have no idea - there are a ton of great posts we have: the time where a user gave away an extra Wii U to dad looking to give his kid a Christmas gift when we was low on money

the Wind Waker HD selfies thread

Nintendo can't triforce

bit of a feels thread when some guy lost his Wii U in an apartment fire

a user's daring showoff post with Super Mario 3D World and some.... err, extra items

any time when indie developers popped up on the subreddit (Rain AS, Ludosity, Team Kakumei, KnapNok Games)

the time when a Wii U game (The Wonderful 101) got a shout-out from the /r/gaming crowd [some people were pissed that it wasn't GTA V] And I guess I should wrap up this little retrospective with a mention of our April Fool's Day joke this year where we swapped layouts with /r/PS4. I can't seem to find a screenshot, sadly. :( What are your hopes for the future of the subreddit, and the console as a whole? Sylverstone14 Hmm, the future... A lot of people have already assumed that there will be no Nintendo to mind in the future of the industry, but I remain hopeful for a better approach to a Nintendo gaming console later. What people don't realize is that Nintendo has mostly sobered up from two failed console launches, and plans to make things better: they have managed to fix their relationship with indie developers after they had a terrible time during the Wii/DS era, the Nintendo Network ID will be restructured into a proper account system, they've poured tons of money into research & development, and Nintendo is finally realizing that they can't keep being a video game company, so they're beginning to branch out a bit into more of an entertainment company. They do like to march to the beat of their own drum, and I admire that in a way. As for the subreddit, I feel that there are good times ahead. Nintendo has gone on record to commit that they don't plan to make a new console unless the current Wii U owners are satisfied, so what they can do now is continue to put out some great games for their fans to enjoy, and continue to flesh out the Wii U experience. We'll continue to be receptive of what they plan to give us, and while I sense that some users will remain unsatisfied and that the mood will continue to be as swingy as ever, there will be a few who will most likely enjoy the system for what it can realistically offer to them. It also doesn't hurt to be a multiplatform guy or have a PC around for the games that probably won't come to Wii U. Options are awesome. In the meantime, /r/WiiU will continue to be Reddit's central source for all things Wii U related! I hope that you guys can hang around and chill with us!

Are you still here? Why are you still reading? There are games to be playing!