The Exclusive Games Race
Scores Wii U Playstation 4 Xbox One
Amazing 3 1 0
Good 19 6 4
Meh 14 8 4
Awful 4 2 1
Total 40 17 9
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.
Exclusive Games by Console & Score – Wii U / Playstation 4 / 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.
Alex, 9, & Robbie, 10, playing Mario Maker for the first time with Shigeru Miyamoto. (Photo by Bob Riha, Jr./Nintendo)
Much of Nintendo’s success in these popular franchises can likely be attributed to legendary game designer
Shigeru Miyamoto’s continued involvement in creating the company’s top games. The 63-year-old grandfather of gaming has been creating games for Nintendo for nearly 40 years, continually drawing from a well of creativity that seems to never run dry.
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
exclusives:
Mario maker
Mario 3d world
Mario kart 8
toad
Yoshi wolly world
xenoblade
kirby
bayonetta 2
donkey kong tropical freeze
legend of Zelda wind waker
legend of Zelda twilight princess
new super Mario bros
luigi Mario bros U
Pikmin 3
Pokken
splatoon
paper mario
star fox
zombie U
rayman legends (wii u version different)