Wii U has twice as many top-rated exclusive games as PS4 and Xbox One combined

Geekwire Article.

http://www.geekwire.com/2016/wii-u-has-almost-twice-as-many-highly-acclaimed-exclusive-games-as-playstation-4-and-xbox-one-combined/

It is clear that Sony has run away with the “win” in the current video game console generation in terms of raw console sales numbers, but as it turns out, selling the most systems doesn’t equate to having the most — or the best — exclusive games.

With that in mind, we looked at the library of games released for this generation’s gaming consoles to find out which one has the mostexclusive titles — Sony’s Playstation 4, Microsoft’s Xbox One, or Nintendo’s Wii U — and which console has the best exclusive games.

For this analysis, we are defining “exclusive” as those games that are only available to play on a single console, and nowhere else. In other words, we are not counting “console exclusives” (i.e. games that are available on only one of the three consoles, but also on PC or a handheld platform) or “timed exclusives” (games that are available only on one console for a limited time but then come out for other systems).

So which system wins the exclusive games contest? Wii U by a landslide. The following table tallies the number of exclusive games for each console, and breaks the stats down based on Metacritic scores to provide a sense for the quality of the exclusive titles, as well — with 90 to 100 qualifying as “Amazing,” 75 to 89 as “Good,” 50 to 74 as “Meh,” and below 50 as “Awful.”

The Exclusive Games Race

With 40 exclusive games so far, Wii U is crushing the competition in the exclusives race. PS4 has seventeen exclusive titles, and Xbox One has just nine.

The Wii U wins the quality competition, as well. Twenty-two of the games exclusive to the Wii U have a Metacritic score of 75 or better, which is true of just seven Playstation 4 exclusives and a mere four exclusives on Xbox One.

Although Sony has sold nearly three times as many systems as Nintendo in this generation, Nintendo’s continued dedication to developing and publishing great games has cemented the Wii U’s position as the home for the best unique games.

There is no doubt that Nintendo relies heavily on its signature characters. Eight of its twenty-two top exclusive titles are Mario or Mario-spinoff games. But unlike series such as “Assassin’s Creed” or “Battlefield,” whose recent entries typically earn review scores in the 70s to mid-80s, it’s not uncommon for the most recent flagship Mario platforming title to score better than 90, and they rarely pull down scores below 80.

Sony and Microsoft do have a few more exclusives in the pipeline for 2016, such as “The Last Guardian” and “Ratchet & Clank” for the Playstation 4 and “Crackdown 3” and “Gears of War 4” for the Xbox One, but with “Star Fox Zero” and a new “Legend of Zelda” also on the horizon for Wii U, Nintendo is unlikely to give up its lead in the exclusives race this generation.

Here’s the full list of every exclusive game with a Metacritic score of 75 or better for each system as of March 2016.

Best Exclusives by Console, March 2016

Wii U
#	Game Title
93	Super Mario 3D World
92	Super Smash Bros. for Wii U
91	Bayonetta 2
88	Mario Kart 8
88	Super Mario Maker
87	Pikmin 3
84	New Super Mario Bros. U
84	Xenoblade Chronicles X
83	Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
82	Fast Racing Neo
82	Runbow
81	Affordable Space Adventures
81	Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
81	Splatoon
80	Lego City Undercover
80	Pushmo World
78	The Wonderful 101
78	Yoshi’s Woolly World
77	New Super Luigi U
77	Nintendo Land
76	Hyrule Warriors
75	Swords & Soldiers II

Playstation 4
#	Game Title
92	Bloodborne
82	N++*
81	Tearaway Unfolded
80	Disgaea 5
80	Infamous Second Son
79	Until Dawn
78	Everybody’s Gone to the Rapture

Xbox One
#	Game Title
87	Forza Motorsport 6
84	Halo 5: Guardians
81	Sunset Overdrive
79	Forza Motorsport 5

*N++ is coming to the PC via Steam eventually, but since it is a PS4 exclusive as of this writing, it was included in the analysis. If the analysis were done post-release of N++ on Steam, it would not have counted.

This information doesn't surprise me in the slightest. But after seeing the comparison.....Wow.

I'll be glad when Sony and Microsoft realize that Good graphics and "realism" doesn't make a game good. Seriously. Sony and Microsoft had so much creativity and imagination back in the day. So many great franchises were created from those two companies. The PS1, PS2 and OG Xbox are reflections of that.

This is just sad.

Yes but they're kiddie games ya know?! I want blood and guns on mah games not clay kirby or a cute yarn yoshi or neko mario. All joking aside, I love the games on Wii U.

Neko Mario....You sir made my day.

Dang, thats pretty crazy. Then you go look at the 3DS and fall out.

Not surprised by this. Playstation 4 in over 2 years still has only one exclusive worth playing.

Xbox One has none.

Can't wait to see the NX.

Will wii u doesn't have pc gamers begging and creating patents to get their exclusives probably that's one of the reasons :0

What will Sony and MS do if Nintendo ever get's strong 3rd party support?

If they have "decent" exclusives, what else do they have to fall on? This is serious.

The question is does anybody care?

Hell yeah. The Wii U is tops.

Not something we didn't already know, but the entire discussion hinges on how you want to define exclusive. Games not present on Wii U but on other platforms completely alters the conversation.

The reasons for market success, as well, go beyond the critical reception of games. Cost, user experience, portfolio variety, quantity of available games, and player/customer community: factor them in, you get a far more accurate depiction of why the Wii U has bombed as much as it has.

• Klaus is 75 metacritic on PS4. I don't see any other platforms listed.
• Driveclub Bikes is 79 on Metacritic. It's a standalone game.

Why does Smash Bros on Wii U get a pass , but not other games like Digimon Story Cyber Sleuth?

Guys, games don't matter this gen. This gen it's all about sales! I know that we didn't count sales last gen because Wii would have won, so we said games determined the winner in order to make Sony the winner. But this gen that doesn't really work for us so we are switching back to sales.

They should rename System Wars to "Sony Wins"

When all your console has is exclusives.

But that's like all it has, which is kind of the issue

^ this guy knows what's up. Hypocrites. Hypocrites everywhere.

WiiU may have the most exclusives, but sadly that doesn't mean a thing in comparison to the PS4.

The PS4 has the graphical power gamers wanted from this generation. It also has the games that gamers want from this generation.

In comparison, WiiU may have Splatoon, Mario Maker, Pokken Tournament, Smash Bros, Mario Kart 8, Xenoblade X, Fatal Frame, and Bayonetta 2, which are all considered to be excellent games in their own right, but the PS4 has Bloodborne, Mortal Kombat X, Street Fighter V, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, Fallout, Destiny, Killzone, God of War, Resident Evil, Batman Arkham, The Witcher, Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Saints Row, Farcry, Call of Duty, Dark Souls, Grand Theft Auto, etc, etc.........

The WiiU may be a great system for this generation, but to say it outta beat the PS4 because of it's exclusives means NOTHING to the consumer if half of those exclusives don't meet their expectations.

its problem is it has literally nothing else

I have had one since day one

Missing a bunch of Xbox One exclusives on that list as well. Horrible article.

It has the best library this gen imho. Such strong, long lasting games.

If exclusives were all the mattered everyone would be playing on PC. They might even forget about consoles altogether.

All this proves is that out in the real world, only thing that matters is the games a system can play. People don't give a shit if it's exclusive or multi-plat. And WiiU looses big time in that department.

It's that year head start, I tell ya.

Clearly. That's why we're ignoring the other 205 good games on the PS4 and it doesn't matter that there are more than twice as many good PS4 games as Wii U games (212 vs 89) and twice as many "amazing" games (14 to 7).

Only fools care about what system beats another. Gamers worth their salt should own both systems. That's the problem here, from what I've read, most so-called gamers here don't own a Wii U. If they don't love games, what are they doing?

It's also been out a year longer to accumulate more games.

As well as ZERO multi-plats that people want to play are not on the Wii-U.

All it has is exclusives which you have to wait months to release with nothing filling the time between.

@darklight4: Most Nintendo games have high replayability, So you just play Mario Kart, Splatoon, Super Mario Maker and Smash Bros etc while you wait.

Plus most Nintendo fans game on other devices also, like tablets, phones, 3DS, and PC. So it kinda helps regulate the content and keep from oversaturation.

Haha. Pretty much.

It's no secret that Wii U + PC is the way to go this gen, that way you only miss out on one game(Bloodborne)

Wii U accumulated thought a whole generation of games. NX is will be out this year so it's not surprising.

@iandizion713: Even games with replayability get boring after a while. I usually have a rotation of games going so I don't get bored but even then I still get the urge to play something new.

@darklight4: Yeah, i dont have that problem, im backed up on games and i only game on 3DS, Wii U, and PC. And i dont even game on PC that much, i only bought like 4-5 games last year for it.

Overall it's library is pathetic compared to either.

Yup and thus PS4 wins.

@Liquid_: Yes it's been out a year longer.

It also is doubling 2 consoles.

Just shows how irrelevant exclusives have become or how little people care about Nintendo exclusives regardless of quality.

Shows how importantly 3rd party are to the overall library.

And nobody cares because WiiU misses out on all the multiplats which despite what Sheep say are what the majority of gamers care about.

It doesn't have Witcher 3, MGS V or GTA V which are better than any WiiU exclusive.

@NathanDrakeSwag: Yeah right. Splatoon beats all 3 together. You listed a game with weak combat which Nintendo fans love the most. Then a game that was left unfinished which Nintendo fans cant stand, and then you listed a game that people play for a week and get bored cause its basically the same stuff. You could have atleast listed Nintendo fans favorite, Rise of the Tomb Raider. Now thats a game to make a Nintendo fan jealous.

Yup, the lack of 3rd party is a glaring omission to the console.

TW3 and MGS V all scored 10 which is > Splatoon and GTAV=Splatoon so...lolno

@Heil68: I dont go by scores, i go by fun factor. Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze is better then all 3 them games also in my opinion. So is Pikmin 3 and like 15 other games.

39>9

3rd Party games win again.

@Heil68: You can keep them. Take Watchdogs back with yall while yall at it. Not sure what yall see in that game.

Well we cant go by our own opinions that would be bias, so we need GS to decide.

Third Party games win again.

@Heil68: Just let us keep Deus Ex, and give us Rise of the Tomb Raider and Dark Souls 3, yall can keep the rest of the third party.

too bad a console doesnt live only on exclusive games. They're important, thats fosho, but far from the main reason to buy a console, especially if you dont have a benchmark pc. I chose my console (only one for gen for me, more than that is a waste of money) based on multiplat availability and exclusives that are more up my alley and with that in mind, the PS4 was the clear winner

Maybe if you're 5.

The WiiU is not an all round gaming experience and because of that the general gaming populace don't care. Splatoon is the only new thing on a Nintendo console while everything else is a rehash of a previous games. While the other systems have their share of rehashes they offer far more options in gaming than the WiiU ever will. The NX is not going to change that and it will be interesting to see how their console gaming division sinks or floats in the coming years.