The Wii U may be flagging, but it's slowly accumulated a decent roster of first party exclusives.

Unique gameplay; Fun; Accessible

Needs more variety

Ah, Splatoon. With this one game Nintendo has done the unthinkable, at least for them. They've gone full steam ahead with a competitive online multiplayer shooter, something we haven't seen them do since the underrated Metroid Prime Hunters on the DS, and it's the first time we've seen them do it on...

Splatoon should be the Wii U's best game. It's one of the most inventive, joyful, and vibrant shooters in years, bursting with energy a...

One of the most refreshing takes on the shooter in years; Its all (in Splatoon's own words) 'totes adorbs

There's just not enough game here; Discards genre convention with varying degrees of success; Gating content behind amiibo is gross

Splatoon was conceptualised by Shintaro Sato who created a generic 4-v-4 paint-based territory control game. The barebones idea was quickly expanded and turned into Splatoon. The game quickly became one of the most original IPs in recent Nintendo history.

Incredibly Fun; Art Design; Campaign Is Solid

Weird Map Rotation

Nintendo has never really been known for their online efforts. Usually associated with family-friendly offline affairs, Nintendo has always seemed to be hesitant to embrace the internet battlefield. Sure, recent games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros.

Turf War; Multiplayer is more than just generic deathmatch; Always contributing; even when not engaged in combat; Fun campaign bosses

Limited offline modes; Repetitive campaign; Multiplayer needs loadouts; voice chat; and offline play with bots

Splatoon is coming! Splatoon is coming! If you own a Nintendo Wii U or 3DS, and you haven't seen anything about Splatoon , well, you probably haven't turned it on in the past month.

Art and music kicks; and creates an energetic atmosphere of rowdy fun; Battle maps are well crafted for action-packed battles; Plenty of fun content beyond the multiplayer; from customizing your Inkling to a fun single-player campaign; A promising start to a great new IP

Matchmaking is questionable; though that may have been due to amount of players available pre-launch; Plenty of fun content beyond the multiplayer; from customizing your Inkling to a fun single-player campaign

Have just got this but irritate me that you can not play alone with the pro player in single player! Now I'm bothering Nintendo to make sure that all games can be played with the Wii U Pro Controller!

Nintendo does a nice job of painting outside the lines with its own third-person shooter, but then muddles the final product with meager content, frustrating online design, and an unremarkable single-player offering. In some ways, Splatoon seems like it would be an ideal free-to-play game – especially with the rotating map selection and limited, straightforward matches – or perhaps a low-cost, multiplayer-only digital game. But by positioning it as a full boxed game instead (albeit a comparatively affordable one, at £29 from Amazon), Nintendo has made Splatoon's frustrations sting a little more than they otherwise might.

Fast-paced fun; Colourful aesthetic; Squid navigation;

Limited content; Irritating menus; So-so solo mode;