A brief history of the Wii U’s most forgotten feature
Today, we’re talking about an incredibly niche feature that some of you may have never even heard about. It’s the Wii U’s most forgotten feature – and it isn’t Miiverse. Whereas Miiverse had lots of charm and character, the feature we’re talking about isn’t one we think anybody particularly misses. It’s Nintendo TVii, a rather obscure service that you might have noticed on your Wii U menu before it was eventually removed in 2015.
The Wii U is obviously different from Switch in many ways, but one of those ways is that Nintendo was trying to make the Wii U useful as a “TV extension” as well as a game console. You could use the GamePad as a TV remote; not only to change the volume but to surf through channels and even navigate on demand services from back in the day. You also had plenty of streaming services available on Wii U, from Prime Video to Hulu and Crunchyroll, too. This is where Nintendo TVii fit in – it was a way to browse cable channels or streaming services directly on the console U. It first launched in 2012, not long after the console itself released. And while the icon for Nintendo TVii was present in all regions, the service never actually launched in Europe. The icon sat there for a few years, completely defunct, before being removed via a system update in 2015.
Basically, Nintendo TVii worked by connecting to your cable box. From there, you could see a big list of channels available to watch as well as what programs were airing at what time. You could then mark certain TV shows as your favorites, and then return to your favorites menu to receive notifications on when those programs were live. You could also use the Wii U GamePad to access additional information about TV programs, including reviews and even live diagrams that aligned with ongoing sports team matches. For whatever reason, Nintendo also included Miiverse functionality within Nintendo TVii, in which you could post about your favorite TV shows… on Miiverse. We’re not sure what TV shows have to do with Miiverse, really, but random functionality like this is probably part of what led to TVii’s eventual downfall.
Indeed, Nintendo TVii was discontinued by Nintendo in 2015. Surprisingly, it remained functional in Japan for another two years until Miiverse, Nintendo TVii, and Wii U Chat were all shut down in 2017 several months after Nintendo Switch had released. And like we mentioned before, Nintendo TVii never made it to European users in any capacity at all, and was delayed for years before eventually being cancelled outright. If you check your Wii U nowadays, you won’t even see the TVii icon, as it was removed from all consoles via a system update.
To be honest, it’s easy to see why Nintendo TVii is so forgettable – it’s barely a blip on Nintendo’s history. But it does bring up an interesting conversation about Nintendo’s home consoles. With Wii U, you saw lots of features that tried to draw more casual players to the console. Its functionality as a TV remote, Nintendo TVii and its ability to pull up information about TV shows, and even games like Wii Sports Club and Wii Fit U. The problem was, the casual player didn’t really care about Wii U. In fact, many didn’t even know that it was a completely new console – its infamously poor marketing led some to believe the GamePad was just an optional add-on for the existing Wii. Nintendo’s attempt to integrate the Wii U with normal TV definitely wasn’t a success, and it’s clear that they completely backpedaled with the Switch. The Switch is focused wholly on gaming, with little to nothing that doesn’t relate to its games. You can see this with its lack of internet browser and the like.
We’re not sure many of you have any particular thoughts on Nintendo TVii, but if for some reason you do, feel free to share them in the comments down below. More importantly, though, how do you feel about Nintendo’s new approach to its game consoles – being completely focused on gaming, with no extraneous features? Do you think Nintendo Switch 2 should continue this trend, or would you like to see extra features like an internet browser or even a Miiverse-esque system return? Let us know in the comments down below.
