Any video game fan knows that nothing beats a party game for gathering even non-gaming members of the family around the console, and Nintendo Land is just that. Nintendo Land, which is packed with memorable, asymmetrical minigames like Mario Chase, Luigi's Ghost Mansion, and Animal Crossing: Sweet Day, never stopped being a delightful carnival to revisit throughout the Wii U's lifecycle and makes unique use of the separate GamePad screen.

Its solo attractions are fascinating in their own way, hinting at Nintendo-y experiments that never manifested. It's a shame Nintendo whiffed the same ideas that made Nintendo Land a lasting console staple with its Switch follow-up, 1-2-Switch. Nintendo Land deserved better. Nintendo Land received positive reviews from critics and sold 5.20 million copies as of March 2020, making it the fifth highest-selling Wii U game.

Detailed information:
Platform: Nintendo Wii U
Link to buy: https://amzn.to/3LYZxZS

Though playable on the 3DS as well, the biggest tragedy of Yoshi’s Woolly World never getting ported to Switch is the loss of its supremely soft look and feel. Woolly World is a superb Nintendo platformer in the same tradition as games like Yoshi's Story and the newer Crafted World but painted over with a strikingly comfy fabric filter. That squishiness lends itself to all sorts of cute takes on traditional Yoshi puzzles. And its co-op mode and difficulty settings are extremely welcoming to Nintendo fans playing with those who are less experienced with platforming games. Woolly World is arguably a better platformer than its Crafted World successor, and it certainly has a much more aesthetically pleasing Poochy.

Yoshi can collect beads throughout each level, which he can then spend on Power Badges. These can help the player during a level by giving them stronger attacks or the ability to recover after falling into bottomless pits. Each level has five Flowers, five Wonder Wool, and twenty Stamp Patches hidden behind different beads. Flowers increase your chances of entering a bonus game at the end of the level, and collecting all Flowers in a world unlocks a secret level. Finding all of the Yarn Bundles within a level unlocks a new Yoshi pattern that players can use while on the overworld map. Obtaining a sufficient number of Stamp Patches unlocks special stamps that can be used in Miiverse posts. At any point in the game, players can toggle between Classic Mode and Mellow Mode, the latter of which gives Yoshi a pair of wings, allowing less skilled players to fly indefinitely through a stage.

Detailed information:
Platform: Nintendo Wii U
Link to buy: https://amzn.to/3wTQPXr

NES Remix 1+2 provides a glimpse into a future in which Nintendo values its history far more. NES Remix and its sequel include nearly 400 retro challenges in addition to a collection of 28 vintage NES games. Apart from being visually appealing, they provide players with the opportunity to learn about the various 8-bit games in Nintendo's back catalog, ranging from well-known titles like Punch-Out!! to more obscure titles like Wario's Woods and Clu Clu Land.

NES Remix patiently educates players through a series of rapid-fire challenges, which provide a fun and digestible way to appreciate the broad sweep of Nintendo's history. Even more fun is the way that these challenges will be remixed by cramming properties like Mario and Zelda together into one game, which is hilarious as it is challenging. The majority of the challenges are simply re-enactments of classic games, involving timed tasks such as speedrunning, clearing an area without dying, or defeating a certain number of enemies while using a specific power-up. The remix categories are also based on fundamental game reshaping or combination, sometimes by incorporating more modern graphical features of the Wii U, for a new experience that may even be technologically impossible on the vintage NES.

Detailed information:
Platform: Nintendo Wii U
Link to buy: https://amzn.to/3GznyG4

No one would have predicted that a tentpole Nintendo franchise would be an online multiplayer-focused, team-based third-person shooter prior to 2015. But then Splatoon arrived and splattered paint buckets on the idea that Nintendo couldn't compete in the competitive multiplayer shooter space. Splatoon is a Nintendo-developed and owned third-person shooter video game franchise created by Hisashi Nogami. The series is set in an alternate Earth populated by anthropomorphic marine animals and features fictional anthropomorphic cephalopod characters known as Inklings and Octolings, which are based on squid and octopuses, respectively, and can transform between humanoid and cephalopod forms at will. Splatoon pits two teams of up to four players against each other in a race to see who can paint more of the stage in the color of their team by any means necessary.

Killing isn't always the goal, but it does serve the important function of taking an opposing player out of the action for a few precious seconds, allowing you to paint over their territory. It's a simple premise, but there's a surprising amount of depth to it. On top of that, there's an unforgettably strange yet infectiously catchy soundtrack, stellar art direction, and superb controls. It's easy to see why Nintendo saw Splatoon as the start of something special.

Detailed information:
Platform: Nintendo Wii U
Link to buy: https://amzn.to/3lTc1Yz

Affordable Space Adventures uses the Wii U GamePad (and Miiverse) better than Nintendo ever did. Wonderfully, this oft-forgotten sidescrolling action-puzzler, which places you inside the worst-performing spacecraft you've ever seen, would be a delight even without those hardware innovations. The game's main gameplay feature is its unique use of the Wii U Gamepad to control a spaceship by using the controls shown on the touch-screen including two different engines and other controls.

The player assumes the role of a customer who has purchased an "Affordable Space Adventure" from the company UExplore in Affordable Space Adventures. The game begins with a video that describes a newly discovered planet that is ready for the company's customers to explore, even promising to allow them to take ownership of and colonize their own individual piece of the planet. It introduces the customer to the Small Craft, their personal vehicle with which they will explore the planet's surface, and describes the procedure for placing and retrieving the customer from the planet. The genius at the heart of it all is that you don't just need to act as a pilot for your ship, but also as an engineer, using your GamePad cockpit controls to micromanage which engines you're using, how much sound you're emitting, and capturing the energy of those Star Trek scenes where the Captain screams down to the engine room for more power. When you combine that with a brilliant, dark ending, you have a true hidden gem.

Detailed information:
Platform: Wii U
Link to buy: https://bit.ly/3NGNRw1