[CJ and Holmes Disagree is a series where Destructoid Features editor CJ Andriessen and washed-up Dtoid Show host Jonathan Holmes disagree about video games. Who will you agree or disagree with?]
Sheltering at home hasn't been too tough for me, but for my four-year-old son, it's been a huge adjustment. With no pre-school, parks, trips to the mall, or playdates with friends, we've had to get creative in order to stave off boredom and keep him learning. The Wii U has helped a lot with that, much more so than the Switch. Not only is the Wii U GamePad more resilient to accidental falls than its younger, more successful sibling, but the touch screen + TV interaction has done a ton to make games more interesting and fun for him.
That's true for me too. When the new update for Super Mario Maker 2 was announced last week, I was instantly excited. Then I remembered, "Wait, if I'm going to play this on the TV, that means no touch-screen user interface for building new levels," and my interest dropped like a stone down a warp pipe.
That's just the start of my "games that feel worse on Switch" list. Captain Toad was way more fun with the touch screen and Super Mario 3D World even uses the GamePad microphone. Splatoon 2 is better than the first in almost every way, but without the original's map screen squid jump and loading time mini-games on Splatoon 1, it will never have it all. Local matches of Pokkén Tournament feel a lot less cramped on Wii U thanks to the dual screens (one for each player). On Wii U, The Wonderful 101's many dual-screen specific puzzles are clunky, but they at least feel inspired (like me in this beauty contest). On Switch, they're smoother but way more tired (like me in this E3 video).
So if just about all of the Wii U's software is getting ported to Switch, why can't the Wii U's signature piece of hardware? It wouldn't be cheap, and tech-wise, it wouldn't be easy for Nintendo, but I think it would sell. Give Switch-only games like Animal Crossing: New Horizons optional second-screen functionality (Nook Phone and item selection on a touch screen) and you have a deluxe experience with a huge audience. A lot of people didn't buy a Wii U because they assumed it was just a peripheral. If Nintendo were to lean into that assumption instead of struggling against it, everybody wins.
