Wii U Basic

Overview

The Basic set is the entry Wii U, a white console with 8 GB of storage and a white GamePad, launched in North America on 18 November 2012.

It plays Wii U and Wii games, but 8 GB fills up quickly with updates and downloads, so most owners add a USB hard drive. It came with no stands or charging dock, and Nintendo dropped it in favour of 32 GB sets.

Specifications

Manufacturer

Nintendo

Type

Home video game console

Generation

Eighth

Model numbers

WUP-001 (console), WUP-010 (GamePad)

Released

North America 18 November 2012; Europe 30 November 2012; Japan 8 December 2012

Launch price

US$299.99

Media

Wii U disc, Wii disc

Storage

8 GB built in, USB storage, SD card

In the box

White console, white GamePad, stylus, HDMI cable, AC adaptors

Backward compatibility

Wii games

Colours

White

More from Nintendo

• Game & Watch 1980
• Family Computer 1983
• Nintendo Entertainment System 1983
• Family Computer Disk System 1986
• Game Boy 1989
• Super Famicom 1990
• Super Nintendo Entertainment System 1990
• AV Famicom 1993
• NES-101 (top loader) 1993
• Virtual Boy 1995
• Game Boy Pocket 1996
• Nintendo 64 1996
• New-Style Super NES (SNS-101) 1997
• Game Boy Color 1998
• Game Boy Light 1998
• 64DD 1999
• Game Boy Advance 2001
• Nintendo GameCube 2001
• Panasonic Q 2001
• Game Boy Advance SP 2003
• Nintendo DS 2004
• Game Boy Micro 2005
• Nintendo DS Lite 2006
• Wii 2006
• Nintendo DSi 2008
• Nintendo DSi XL 2009
• Nintendo 3DS 2010
• Wii Family Edition 2011
• Nintendo 3DS XL 2012
• Wii Mini 2012
• Wii U 2012
• Wii U Deluxe 2012
• Nintendo 2DS 2013
• New Nintendo 3DS 2014
• New Nintendo 3DS XL 2014
• NES Classic Edition 2016
• New Nintendo 2DS XL 2017
• Nintendo Switch 2017
• Super NES Classic Edition 2017
• Nintendo Switch Lite 2019
• Game & Watch: Super Mario Bros. 2020
• Nintendo Switch OLED Model 2021
• Nintendo Switch 2 2025

Sources

• Wikipedia overview and specifications
• Wii U Console and Gamepad.jpg Takimata CC BY-SA 3.0

The overview is adapted from Wikipedia and shared under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 licence.

Checked October 2026.