Nintendo General Discussion

[Goro]

Hey, folks.

With Nintendo having a Direct Mini since... well, since their last Direct several months back, I thought I'd make a Nintendo thread for general discussion of Nintendo, if there isn't one already. I hope that we can all discuss in good faith and just all-around have fun with each other discussing all things Nintendo. Let's make sure to keep things civil. A Direct Mini isn't what we all wanted, especially after so little news from Nintendo, but it's what we've got, for the time being anyways.

[RumHam]

I hope they announce the Mario remasters that have been rumored. I never played Galaxy or its sequel for some reason. Never finished the gamecube "spray water at things" one either. 

[Caligula_K3]

It was a pretty minor direct just to announce a couple third party games. I'd also heard the rumours about the Mario remasters; fingers crossed it's true, but probably best to temper expectations in case they're just rumours. It would be fun to replay the Galaxies; I never liked Sunshine much. Speaking of ports, I'd also love if they just brought every 3D Zelda to the Switch in some form.

The big new games I'm excited for at this point are Breath of the Wild 2 and Metroid Prime 4, but who knows when those will be done, especially with COVID. Has there been anything else announced to look forward to? I know Paper Mario came out recently and got good reviews, so I might pick that up at some point if it goes on sale.

[polishgenius]

Nintendo have got a bit of a problem since Metroid was obviously gonna be the next big thing on their schedule but the restart of it has left them with a gap in the schedule. And Covid won't have helped in terms of getting smaller, gap-filling projects out, Origami King aside which doesn't look great, so they're having a bad year, at least in terms of fan relations.

I'm starting to get sceptical of the Mario ports coz you'd have thought they'd have announced something by now if they want them out for the actual anniversary, but then I'd also be flabberghasted if they did nothing at all for Mario's 25th so...

[Goro]

13 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Nintendo have got a bit of a problem since Metroid was obviously gonna be the next big thing on their schedule but the restart of it has left them with a gap in the schedule. And Covid won't have helped in terms of getting smaller, gap-filling projects out, Origami King aside which doesn't look great, so they're having a bad year, at least in terms of fan relations.

I'm starting to get sceptical of the Mario ports coz you'd have thought they'd have announced something by now if they want them out for the actual anniversary, but then I'd also be flabberghasted if they did nothing at all for Mario's 25th so...

Well, according to the people at ResetEra, where news often leaks and where there are genuine representatives of the gaming industry over there, there should be a Mario "All-Stars" collection of some sort (or by whatever name it'll be under) coming our way, though whether it'll come this year is another question entirely. I must say, it's still pretty annoying having to deal with this "information blackout" from Nintendo, or at least, this near-blackout in terms of information. This is the first Direct that they've done so far since the one back in March and we haven't had much news since then until now. I wish Nintendo would be able to give us more when it comes to info because, quite honestly, while Microsoft and Sony have to both be equally affected by Covid-19, both of them are still giving us a steady stream of information.

[Caligula_K3]

On the other hand... If they don't have games ready, do we need information now? I'm glad they announced BOTW 2 and Metroid Prime 4 (and that they told us that Metroid Prime 4 was having development issues and had to be rebooted), so that we know they're coming one day, but if all they can say in an update is "BOTW 2 will hopefully be out sometime in 2021, COVID willing!," why give us news at all? It'll just make people more angry in the long run if they miss a deadline. I'd rather them just give news on these games when they know for sure that the game will be coming out in a few months. Sony and Microsoft are also in a different space than Nintendo now; they're coming out with new consoles, and they need to give consumers justifications for why you should buy a PS5/new XBox  RIGHT WHEN THEY COME OUT.

As for the Mario All Stars rumours, sure, they seem credible- but there are tons of seemingly credible rumours out there in the video game world that have turned out to be false (just look at what happens every time a Smash character is going to be released), and then the internet freaks out because video game company broke a promise... which they never made. Let's not fall into the trap.

Anyway, I'm sure Nintendo has some release planned for the holiday season. Even if they don't, though, it just means my Switch won't see much use for a few months; that's not the end of the world. Or, more likely, I'll replay Breath of the Wild for the 5th time...

 

[polishgenius]

27 minutes ago, Goro said:

I wish Nintendo would be able to give us more when it comes to info because, quite honestly, while Microsoft and Sony have to both be equally affected by Covid-19, both of them are still giving us a steady stream of information.

Yeah like Caligula said- if they've got no info, what are they gonna do? They're on an entirely different part of the console cycle to Sony and Microsoft, they were gonna be a little light anyway pretty clearly, and then they ran into this directly on the end of the Animal Crossing hype run which threw any potentially set dates out of whack. They did give us Paper Mario, it just isn't very well recieved.


The Mario rumours seem credible but then we saw credible rumours about a Metroid Prime collection for ages and that never happened, and you have to bear in mind that the chances of Nintendo releasing five games together for fifty quid if they thing they can release them all separately and charge twenty or thirty quid each is low. I mean I really hope so, I've never played Sunshine or either Galaxy, I'd jump of the chance, I'm just not getting my hopes up.

 

But also there was a very short turnaround between Origami King's announcement and release, and while they won't do the same with a full Mario or Zelda or Metroid Prime, they might if they have, say, an F-Zero (lol) or Kirby or a Metroid 2D game hidden away.

[Soylent Brown]

I personally couldn't give a shit about them re-releasing all of their old games. I don't need to play them again. If anything, they should just make their old library available as-is rather than polishing them up and selling them for full price again.

Make some fucking new games.

[Goro]

47 minutes ago, polishgenius said:

Yeah like Caligula said- if they've got no info, what are they gonna do? They're on an entirely different part of the console cycle to Sony and Microsoft, they were gonna be a little light anyway pretty clearly, and then they ran into this directly on the end of the Animal Crossing hype run which threw any potentially set dates out of whack. They did give us Paper Mario, it just isn't very well recieved.


The Mario rumours seem credible but then we saw credible rumours about a Metroid Prime collection for ages and that never happened, and you have to bear in mind that the chances of Nintendo releasing five games together for fifty quid if they thing they can release them all separately and charge twenty or thirty quid each is low. I mean I really hope so, I've never played Sunshine or either Galaxy, I'd jump of the chance, I'm just not getting my hopes up.

 

But also there was a very short turnaround between Origami King's announcement and release, and while they won't do the same with a full Mario or Zelda or Metroid Prime, they might if they have, say, an F-Zero (lol) or Kirby or a Metroid 2D game hidden away.

I still feel like Nintendo should be able to give us a steady stream of information like Sony and Microsoft given that they are supposed to be quite well-to-do in terms of finances and resources. But I'm not interested in pursuing this topic for now. As for the Mario rumors? I think that there's something to them but then again Nintendo has passed through anniversaries before that seemed like they were set to reveal something regarding that certain anniversary's franchise... only for them to give us nothing.

But yes, I agree with your last part.

[Caligula_K3]

But it's all just marketing, eh? Sony and Microsoft are giving updates now because they're trying to convince us to buy something soon. Nintendo's marketing department, however well the company's doing, doesn't feel they have stuff to market to us, or is waiting for what they view as a more opportune moment. As long as the games come eventually, I don't know if it makes much of a difference whether I get an update and a trailer now or in three months or six months.

Aside from being in a different stage in the console cycle than Sony/Microsoft, Nintendo's also in a different position since the AAA third party developers generally don't develop new games for the Switch (of course, there are exceptions; Ubisoft's Mario tactical game which is supposed to be fun, and the occasional newer multiplatform game like The Outer Worlds or the Doom series). So, Microsoft can pitch their new console based on footage from Assassin's Creed Valhalla,  even though you can also get that game in 5 other places. Nintendo, for better or for worse, is mainly first party/second party with indies, occasional third party new games, and a lot of older ports. So when there's a lull in their schedule, whether because of production delays or COVID or whatever, they can't as easily fill the gap with whatever Ubisoft/EA/Activision are coming out with.

@Soylent Brown Definitely agreed that a new game is better than any port. Still, as someone who didn't buy the Wii U, I don't mind if they fill in the gaps with ports too, like Mario Kart 8; and I'm happy to rebuy older games I don't have access to anymore if they're at a reasonable price.

 

[polishgenius]

The Switch rides very hard on indies (and there are a few due this summer that looked good, though details have gone dry on several that were announced for 'summer' in the March indie-direct so they may be covid-postponed) but they can't market the console on indies which is part of Ninty's problem right now...

But yeah I am looking forward to several of the ones announced or featured there: The Last Campfire, Blue Fire, Baldo.

[Soylent Brown]

53 minutes ago, Caligula_K3 said:

@Soylent Brown Definitely agreed that a new game is better than any port. Still, as someone who didn't buy the Wii U, I don't mind if they fill in the gaps with ports too, like Mario Kart 8; and I'm happy to rebuy older games I don't have access to anymore if they're at a reasonable price.

 

Absolutely, there are plenty of classic games that people haven't yet played - so put them on the Virtual Console.

The first-party game output is already low enough without Nintendo getting lost in cannibalising their back catalogue.

[Goro]

1 hour ago, Caligula_K3 said:

But it's all just marketing, eh? Sony and Microsoft are giving updates now because they're trying to convince us to buy something soon. Nintendo's marketing department, however well the company's doing, doesn't feel they have stuff to market to us, or is waiting for what they view as a more opportune moment. As long as the games come eventually, I don't know if it makes much of a difference whether I get an update and a trailer now or in three months or six months.

Aside from being in a different stage in the console cycle than Sony/Microsoft, Nintendo's also in a different position since the AAA third party developers generally don't develop new games for the Switch (of course, there are exceptions; Ubisoft's Mario tactical game which is supposed to be fun, and the occasional newer multiplatform game like The Outer Worlds or the Doom series). So, Microsoft can pitch their new console based on footage from Assassin's Creed Valhalla,  even though you can also get that game in 5 other places. Nintendo, for better or for worse, is mainly first party/second party with indies, occasional third party new games, and a lot of older ports. So when there's a lull in their schedule, whether because of production delays or COVID or whatever, they can't as easily fill the gap with whatever Ubisoft/EA/Activision are coming out with.

@Soylent Brown Definitely agreed that a new game is better than any port. Still, as someone who didn't buy the Wii U, I don't mind if they fill in the gaps with ports too, like Mario Kart 8; and I'm happy to rebuy older games I don't have access to anymore if they're at a reasonable price.

 

You make some fair points. And you're right that it doesn't matter how or when they announce a new game so long as it comes out eventually. Even so, I do want Nintendo to succeed and I feel that there needs to be more driving the marketing, even if there isn't much to show. As it stands, Nintendo only gives updates at the last minute, like a month before a game comes out.

[RumHam]

They should definitely continue to port games that were either Wii U exclusives or not previously available on a handheld system. Their pricing is terrible. Probably because they don't really have any competition in the portable market besides phones. 

Edit: still waiting for a port of Pikmin 3. I love that series but not enough to buy a Wii U. 

[Week]

3 minutes ago, RumHam said:

They should definitely continue to port games that were either Wii U exclusives or not previously available on a handheld system. Their pricing is terrible. Probably because they don't really have any competition in the portable market besides phones. 

I would pay full board for the Zelda games. Would love to fill in the gap between Majora's Mask and BOTW (N64 to Switch).

[RumHam]

2 minutes ago, Week said:

I would pay full board for the Zelda games. Would love to fill in the gap between Majora's Mask and BOTW (N64 to Switch).

It's so frustrating because they ported the Gamecube and Wii games to the Wii U with resolution upgrades and other improvements. I have to believe they're going to re-port those versions to the switch at some point. 

[Rubicante]

On 7/20/2020 at 1:47 PM, Soylent Brown said:

Absolutely, there are plenty of classic games that people haven't yet played - so put them on the Virtual Console.

The first-party game output is already low enough without Nintendo getting lost in cannibalising their back catalogue.

The "virtual console", or whatever you want to call it on the Switch, is horse shit.

This past week, Donkey Kong Country was added to the SNES library.  The same Donkey Kong Country that was released on the Wii and Wii U Virtual Console, and as part of the SNES Classic.  Add something new!  Where is Chrono Trigger?  How about releasing Hagane so you don't have to spend $900 at a used video game store to get a physical copy.

I found it funny that Nintendo came down hard on a website within the last two years that had ROMS of a bunch of old SNES games.  Don't get me wrong, I have a lot of issues with ROMS, especially when people make reproduction carts of games and sell them for money.  But how else can you play these games?  I shouldn't have to pay $130 to buy Run Saber for the SNES.  Release more games!  I will gladly buy them for $8-10 per game.

But yeah, I would prefer new games, not re-masters of old games.  Link's Awakening for the Switch was as boring as watching a legion of flies circle around a giant pile of horse shit.

[Soylent Brown]

But there's no reason why they couldn't do the virtual console thing properly, and not hold back all of their Gamecube and Wii games to instead give them a fresh coat of paint and fleece consumers. Well, other than money of course.

And it craps on those who have been buying Nintendo consoles over the years too. Plenty of people don't want to just play the same game over and over, and where does it stop? Because if it's working now then we'll probably see the same thing happening on Switch 2 and 3.

This kind of thing is as shitty as microtransactions and loot boxes, really.

[polishgenius]

I really don't think the re-released are taking up that much space in the schedule in terms of displacing new games, so I don't think old gamers are losing much. Meanwhile people who didn't get the chance to play those games then get to play them now so yeah I'm all for. Charging full prices is a bit of a liberty but just releasing them? You don't have to buy them and play the same game over and over.

[Soylent Brown]

Sure, but I can't imagine they'll release any remasters at a reasonable price.

And some of the old stuff I wouldn't mind playing again if it went onto the virtual console, I just don't want to pay full whack for ~20 year old games.

In reality though, they probably won't remaster much and they won't release anything other the NES and SNES games on the VC.