Wii U is a Powerhouse Console, Says Retro Studios

Retro Studios president and CEO Michael Kelbaugh finds it unfortunate that developers are brushing the Wii U aside and labeling it as a lower-powered console. The team behind the Metroid Prime series and the recent Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze has found some success on the struggling platform, but Kelbaugh isn’t unaware of the machine’s negative perception.

"Unfortunately, the perception is that it's not a very powerful machine. That's just not true. It's a powerhouse. It's more than adequate to make great games on,” he told GameSpot in a recent interview. "It was really fun being able to crack that open for the first time and learning HD techniques; pixel shading, having a lot more horsepower and how that impacts the team.

“It was really fun to watch our artists just go crazy because now they didn't really have to worry about polygons anymore.’Make as many as you want!'"

With the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One now available for purchase, it’s tough to make a case for the Wii U. It has some technical proficiency, but just not enough to grab the attention of most third-party developers.