The Reason The Wii U Is Trending On Twitter

The Wii U was, in short, far from Nintendo's most successful console. Confusion over whether it was a new system or just an expansion for the original Wii spurred confusion from the get go, and its popularity never quite recovered from that slow start. Of course, the Wii U is nevertheless a Nintendo product with its own fair share of worthwhile games, even if its library overall pales in comparison to most other home Nintendo consoles. However, on the evening of Dec. 29, the Wii U was trending on Twitter for a reason entirely unrelated to its popularity or lack thereof. Supposedly, Nintendo 64 classics Banjo-Kazooie and Blast Corps were going to be released on the Wii U Virtual Console in Japan.

This was seemingly first shared by wight90297332, a relatively small Japanese Twitter account, before being reposted and translated by Gematsu. The webpage indicating that both of these games were headed to the Wii U was a release schedule for upcoming Nintendo titles in Japan. However, as pointed out in Gematsu's initial post, links for both titles led to error pages rather than listings for either game.

Sure enough, their announcement was a mistake. Gematsu updated its original post with a link to an official clarification from Nintendo's Japanese website, along with a translation of their brief statement. It simply explained that both titles, while accidentally listed as coming to the Wii U Virtual Console, would not ultimately be released.

In the hours between the supposed news and Nintendo's clarification, however, the Wii U became a trending topic on Twitter due to excitement over both the prospect of playing Banjo-Kazooie on a modern-ish system, and the fact that Nintendo seemed to be reviving a dead console. Of course, this was accompanied by a fair share of accounts just trying to get their jokes off amidst the commotion. And while Blast Corps fans do exist, they didn't show up to quite the same extent as these other groups.

Following Nintendo's clarification, the conversation surrounding the Wii U didn't end, it merely shifted focus. Users started sharing their appreciation for the Wii U and some favorite titles from among its games library while the console was still trending.

This wasn't the first time Banjo-Kazooie was rumored to be releasing on a recent Nintendo console. Most recently, in June 2019, some people theorized it was on its way to the Switch. Since Microsoft owns Rare and thus Banjo-Kazooie, a release on a new Nintendo console could be complicated, but isn't impossible. Whether its listing for the Wii U was purely an accident or a premonition of a upcoming Switch re-release ultimately remains up to Microsoft.