It's no secret that the Wii U had a rough ride during the early part of its console lifecycle - for a while there it seemed like we were treated to bad news about poor sales figures and Nintendo slashing its profit forecasts on an almost daily basis. More recently things have thankfully taken an upturn, with first party games like Mario Kart 8 and Super Mario 3D World steadying the good ship N.

As the holiday season is coming up, a lot of fresh new gamers will be buying consoles and I'd like to make the case for Nintendo Wii U being a good choice. These are just three of the great games you'll be able to play on your shiny Wii U.

Bayonetta 2

When Bayonetta 2 was announced as a Wii U exclusive, the news was greeted with anger from Microsoft and Sony fans. As the story developed, it turned out there would not have been a sequel at all had Nintendo not stepped in.

Bayonetta 2 released on October 24th and is now a critical hit, scoring 10/10 on GameSpot.com - only the eighth game to do so.

Super Smash Bros.

Nintendo's wildly popular fighting game gets better with every new iteration. Super Smash Bros. features more playable characters than ever before, over 50 of them, with more additions possible by DLC.

New into the fray are: Mega Man, Pac-Man, Bowser Jr., Little Mac, Rosalina & Luma, Robin, Greninja, Lucina, Dark Pit, Palutena, Shulk, Villager (Animal Crossing) and the Wii Fit Trainer. You can even take yourself into battle, in the form of a mii!

Mario Kart 8

Who doesn't love Mario Kart? Surely the most fun racing game series of all time. Wii U's Mario Kart 8 takes the tried and tested formula, brings it into HD and then adds in zero gravity sections of track.

So what are you waiting for? Check out the deals at Walmart and make sure there's a Wii U under your tree on December 25th. You know it makes sense.