More Thoughts From Me #11: Thank you Nindies!

I’ve reviewed a lot of Indie games in my short time as a reviewer so far. Some are great, some good, just ok, and some are really awful. But the Wii U needs every single Indie it can get! Why are Indies important to the Wii U? Let me tell you about it.

When the Wii U first came out, there were not a lot of games for it, but there were some third party developers supporting the system. Then, quickly, most of the third party developers dropped out. This didn’t surprise me. Third party developers never supported the Wii much. Most of the third party games on the Wii were shovelware, with very few good games coming to the system. So, the Wii U got a little support but when it was obvious the Wii U was not selling very well, the third parties ran back to the other systems. I lost a lot of respect for third party developers then. Thankfully, there was another group of developers waiting to fill in the gap.

A lot of Indie game developers came to the Wii U eshop and more of them arrive all the time. Why is the Wii U such a draw for these developers? I think its comes down to a couple of different reasons. First of all, with barely any third party developers in sight, the Wii U offers a place where Indie developers get more attention. This attention comes from Nintendo and from Wii U owners. Nintendo loves the Indies and treats them well. As for Nintendo fans, they are hungry for games, Nintendo and otherwise, and Indies give them all kinds of unique experiences. Though, I don’t think is the only reason that Indies come to the Wii U.

For some developers, not all, the Wii U offers a place to experiment and challenge themselves. The Wii U has many tools that the others systems lack: a second screen, a touch screen, Miiverse, image sharing, and more. Some Indie developers have really tried to make use of these tools, others have not. The Wii U is a platform that is very different from the other two major platforms out there now. Not all Indies want to be a part of the Wii U experience, but there are a lot of Indies that do. The Wii U needs all the Indies it can get.

Indies are willing to take more chances than the bigger developers. The Wii U needs those developers that are willing to tackle some, if not all, of its features. Even those developers who don’t make use of many of the Wii U’s features are still needed on the Wii U. The amount of variety that you’ll find on the Wii U eshop is pretty amazing in my opinion.

Thank you Nindies! I hope you’ll continue to support Nintendo systems in the future! I have to be honest: I don’t place much faith in the bigger developers coming back to Nintendo in the future. Though, honestly, I’m not 100% sure we need them. We have you guys and you guys are doing a better job overall than the major third parties. Would it be great to have both Indies and third party developers? Yeah, sure, but if I had to choose between playing an indie game or a major third party game, I’d pick an Indie game any day of the week!

What do you guys think of Indies on the Wii U? Do you have a favorite Nindie game? Please share your thoughts in the comments!

I’ll be back next week with my thoughts on Earthbound. I’ve played it on the SNES, Wii U, and soon the New 3DS. Why do I keep coming back to this game?