Postby BanjoPickles » July 15th, 2017, 1:34 pm
There are so many things about modern-day Nintendo, and their diehard fans, that seriously grate on me!
1). The defense of everything. The rallying cry of "graphics aren't everything," or "fun is what counts." Though I agree, it's somewhat of a dishonest rationale. Fun is what counts, eh? Yeah, I had an absolute ball playing Dark Souls III, a gorgeous, atmospheric game that I would take over darn near anything that the Wii U had to offer. It was deep, immersive, challenging, rewarding. So many Nintendo fans seem to look at PS4/XBox 1 as nothing more than consoles that cater to the lowest common denominator.
The Switch has been a success since release, but Nintendo fans don't seem to understand that a console that is a success for the first four months means nothing in the long term! The Dreamcast sold extraordinarily well during the Fall/Winter of 1999, and then.....the bottom dropped out!
2). The insistence that Nintendo is the end all, be all of gaming! Do they make great games? It goes without saying! However, I can name so many companies, both old and new, that have released games that I would rather play than anything Nintendo has offered! Earthbound was great, but Chrono Trigger, Final Fantasy VI, and Dragon Quest V were better. Breath of the Wild is a wonderful game, but I prefer the Souls series. During the NES era, I preferred games like Bionic Commando, River City Ransom, Nightshade, Contra, Final Fantasy, Maniac Mansion, the MacAdventure games, Little Nemo, Castlevania III, and others to Mario 3, Zelda, Metroid, Kid Icarus.
3). The consequence of gimmicks is both real and obvious. The Wii was a massive success, yes, but at what cost? I have always found it strange that, post-snes, Nintendo's successes haven't trickled over into the following generation. The PS2, for instance, sold like gangbusters, in part, because of the huge success of the PS1. The PS3, even at $600, was NOT a failure, even at launch (even though it was the third best selling console of that generation for the longest time). The Wii U should have been a success, but it tanked!
Third parties have notoriously treated Nintendo's gimmicks as an invitation to shortcut their way through game design. For every third-party gem (Little King's Story, Trauma Team), there were countless "Birthday Party/Carnival" cash ins. Now, with the Switch, you're seeing a glut of iOS ports, or games that would have been more at home on the Ouya! That isn't to take away from the hard work of the indie community, but indie games are NOT what sell consoles! "Graphics don't matter." Yep, and that's why there are huge holes in the Switch's lineup. For the past three generations, Nintendo has allowed themselves to become the secondary console! Aside from the elderly, non-gamers, and diehard Nintendo fans, nobody I knew only owned a Wii! On the flip side, do you know who I knew who only owned a PS3 or 360? Friends who weren't diehard gamers who loved Call of Duty (I'm not one of them), diehard gamers, rpg fans, racing fans, fans of action, retro gamers, sports fans, and everybody in between.
Nintendo develops controllers based on their own ideas, and most third party developers don't want to dedicate their already stretched resources to cater to something that is so far removed from what the competition is doing. Sony and MS, per interviews with several developers, actually cater their controllers, and the flexibility of their hardware, to the third party community!
4). Shortages. I don't care what anybody says, when it comes to defending Nintendo; the proof is right in front of us. When is the last time that you went into a store and were not able to secure a PS4, or Xbox 1? Even when the consoles launched, they seemed to be readily available. In fact, I don't think that Sony has had mass shortages since the PS2. Nintendo, on the other hand (save for the Wii U and Gamecube), seems to constantly run into the same stupid shortages. It's beyond frustrating, and can you give me any reason why people should tolerate it? "It's Nintendo" is not a reason.
5). Their stubborn insistence on doing things their way. In some ways, this isn't such a bad thing....but there have been so many times, over the past twenty years, where their decisions have been absolutely ignorant! "We know that it's 2017, but we have finally figured out how to solve the headset dilemma! Use your cell phone!" Friend codes, limited amounts of flash memory instead of offering hard drives (charging me $300 for a 32GB console when I can buy a 500GB console from Sony seems insulting at best), the drip feed nature of the Virtual Console, allowing the eshop to be a dumping ground for junk games made by junk developers, the most pathetic deals in the industry (compare Sony's excellent flash sales to any Nintendo promotion), the treehouse event in lieu of an E3 conference, and the list goes on.
6). The Switch itself. Outside of Mario Odyssey (which does look absolutely fantastic), Xenoblade 2, and the promise of Metroid Prime 4, the library looks tired! It's disturbing that Nintendo fans are holding up Skyrim as a crowning achievement, or as some sort of proof that third party support exists! No, it's just further proof that third parties no longer take Nintendo seriously. Switch will get a port of a six year old game with some Zelda fan service thrown in, while PS4 and XBone will get Elder Scrolls VI, the next Fallout, and whatever else Bethesda is working on. I also think that it's strange that the "graphics aren't everything crowd," the same people who are whooping it up over Skyrim, are also the same people who once called Skyrim a bug-riddled mess of a game.
7). Nintendo likes to kill things. One of the biggest thorns in my side is their tendency to kill off services, or products, with no real rhyme or reason. Why did they completely kill off 3DS Virtual Console support while still pumping them out on the Wii U? What stopped them from releasing more titles from the NES/SNES libraries? What stopped them from releasing Startropics 1 and 2, Uniracers, Super Mario RPG, Kirby Superstar? They killed off the NES Classic before most people were even able to see them in the wild? They essentially lined the pockets of scalpers, and then killed it off.
I get so tired of Nintendo employing this "good enough" strategy to much of what they do.
Anyway, that's my rant. I'm sorry that it's salty. I'm in a bad mood today Haha!