The Wii U as the Switch's secret sauce

I did like the Wii U more than the Switch, and probably did use it more all things considered. I think like half of the reason the Switch was beloved was because it had Wii U games in its lineup.

There are still people that think about BotW and Mario Kart 8 when they think of games for Switch, and of course franchises like Splatoon and Mario Maker were better on their Wii U installments. 

Not to mention the sheer amount of features, BC and VC the Wii U had compared to Switch, which lost a lot. 

Although more people will remember the Switch fondly by its sheer scale of its user base, I think the Wii U was secretly/not so secretly powering it.