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2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 13th, 2017, 11:58 am
by scotland
I think we can say it's been At least an okay year for Nintendo. The Switch is at what, 10 million unit sold? Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey seemed to be highly praised. The mini classics talked about.

Yet it's also like a winning hand in poker - the idea is not just to win a small pot, but play the cards to win a big pot. Winning $25 when you could win $50 is only a so-so win.

What do you think? Great year, good year or okay year for Nintendo?

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 13th, 2017, 12:54 pm
by DrLitch
Considering the WiiU struggled to gain traction in the market, this year has been great for Nintendo. A lot of buzz generated around the Switch, time will tell if the console hits the original Wii stratosphere. Game wise - Zelda and Mario are both shoe in's for game of the year, both selling well, so 2017 has been excellent for Nintendo. Next year see's some highly anticipated 3rd and 1st party titles for PS4/Xbox, none of which will be available for Switch. I do not see Yoshi/Kirby generating the same excitement but Pokemon could be a big release for them should it arrive in 2018. Initial results 2017, very impressive for Nintendo.

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 14th, 2017, 4:22 am
by LoganRuckman
2017 has been incredible for Nintendo. The Switch has already sold 10 million units, Amiibos are still very successful, their stock has done great with their move into the mobile space, and they're even branching out with things like theme parks and movies. Their E3 was incredible. And then there's the games they've released in 2017:

The Legend Of Zelda: Breath Of The Wild
Super Mario Odyssey
Snipperclips
Arms
Splatoon 2
Mario+Rabbids: Kingdom Battle
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
Xenoblade Chronicles 2
Ever Oasis
Pokemon Ultra Sun and Ultra Moon
Mario Party: The Top 100
Metroid: Samus Returns
Pokken Tournament DX
Fire Emblem Warriors
Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows Of Valentia

I'm really hoping for a strong 2018. With Kirby and Yoshi on the Horizon, I'm pretty excited. Hopefully Pokemon comes out next year too, but I doubt it.

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 14th, 2017, 6:56 am
by scotland
Recall we had this thread earlier this year about 'Does Nintendo Hate Money'
http://videogamecritic.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=5084&t=16189

While selling 10 million Switch units is wonderful, Nintendo still gets criticism for the many features the Switch is missing. People sometimes say that Nintendo now has 10 million beta testers while they continue to develop the Switch on the fly (although really we can say that about all technology)

While it got 2 games that will be talked about for some time, one of them was also on the WiiU. Remember all the talk on shortages of the mini classics and how Nintendo seems to love scalpers? There is also the criticism that Nintendo and handhelds have gone together like cookies and milk for decades, but now that's in jeopardy. Is the 3DS on the way out, without a successor other than the Switch? That sets up a liability going forward.

So, to spin it a different way, given a view back now on 2017, if you were Nintendo, would you have done anything differently?

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 14th, 2017, 7:33 am
by newmodelarmy
I am one of Nintendo's harshest critics. However, I think they have had a great 2017. I am not sure if the Switch's momentum will continue, as far as i can tell they don't have that "big" game on the horizon for 2018. That being said they have to be pretty happy with selling 10 million units. I think that is just about the entire amount of Wii U's they sold over the span of 4 or 5 years. I love the Switch and really hope it gets more games. The indie games are nice but that doesn't really set the world on fire for me. Plus, navigating through all the trash on the Eshop is difficult.

I picked up a SNES classic and really enjoy it. Thus far I have played a few games, like Super Metroid that I missed out on back in the day.

Personally I would give Nintendo a solid "A" or "A-" on the year. I am not sure if they can keep it up but we shall see!

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 14th, 2017, 3:59 pm
by Retro STrife
I agree that 2017 has been an excellent year for Nintendo, for both the Switch and 3DS. But I'll focus on the Switch. In less than one year, they've released two system-selling must-have games that are exclusive to their systems, with Super Mario Odyssey and LoZ: Breath of the Wild. I can't remember that ever happening in the first year of a system's life. Some systems spend their entire lifespan searching for that killer app (games like Goldeneye, the first Halo, Grand Theft Auto III, Wii Sports -- games that made you have to buy the system...). It's tough to find... the Wii U never got one, the Xbox One still hasn't... in fact, I don't think the PS4 has either -- it's a better system than the Switch, but it's doing it by volume of great games, rather than any one game making everyone want to buy the system. So I give lots of credit to Nintendo for pulling that off. I can't say the same for the hardware side though, as I still think the release of underpowered systems every generation is preventing them from ever gaining the 3rd party developer support they need to go head-to-head with Sony and Microsoft.

My concern with the Switch is more long term. This year was great, but what does Nintendo have lined up for the next couple years? They've already played their two biggest hands, so I feel like there will be a bit of a lull for awhile, especially with few big 3rd party titles filling the gaps between 1st party releases.

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 15th, 2017, 12:51 am
by BanjoPickles
This year has been one of Nintendo's absolute best, and that is coming from a very vocal critic of Switch! I mean, in less than one year, we have received:

-one of the best Zeldas
-one of the best Marios
-a very fun Mario crossover.
-the successful return of Metroid
-Xenoblade 2
-the definitive edition of one of the best Mario Karts
-Splatoon 2
-Skyrim AND Doom on the go (who would have thought that Doom would have turned out so well)
-45 Neo Geo games
-some really fun indie games
-the snes Classic
-the announcement that NES Classic was coming back.

2018 will be an interesting year. There is no way they'll maintain that incredible momentum, but I think they'll do everything possible. I think we'll see the following:

-The reveal of the online/Virtual Console substitute (I doubt it will be anything like what it was)
-Metroid Prime 4
-the reveal of Super Smash Bros
-the reveal of Pokémon Switch
-major, and minor, third party surprises (they're one Dark Souls announcement away from making Switch one of my top five favorite consoles! Namco Bandai is supposedly going to announce Dark a Souls Remaster for all consoles tomorrow. PleSe, please, please!!).
-GameCube joycons with analog triggers.
-a few more Wii U remasters (Mario 3D World, Pikmin 3).
-the reveal of Pikmin 4.
-the revival of the Wii Sports line (Switch Sports? It has potential).

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 17th, 2017, 3:12 am
by JWK
A buddy of mine got an extra SNES Classic months ago and sold it to me for MSRP. I’m giving it to my kids for Christmas and while I was excited to have it, it just made me realize the absolute canyon between the quality that was expected from Nintendo 25 years ago and their output over last decade (and perhaps longer). It doesn’t mean Nintendo doesn’t have the occasional brilliant moment, but they are few and far between.

I’ve made no secret of my disappointment with the Big N. The bright flame of the Wii burning so quickly, the early death of the Wii U and the barren wasteland that represented its third party support, the NES friggin Classic and Nintendo’s apathy that the reigns of distribution had been handed to price-gouging scalpers, Switch shortages (legit or a business tactic; I don’t really care which), and finally the SNES Classic having the same shortage issues after Nintendo promised a different outcome. That was the situation earlier this year and I decided I had had enough of Nintendo.

But I think Nintendo has somewhat turned it around. Id even say they’ve had a great year. Great. Certainly not the “best” year of all console makers; the PS4 has been great for years, but 2017’s releases and exclusives created a drink-from-a-fire-hose situation for those of us foolish enough to try to keep up. But for Nintendo: The Switch is back in stores, Nintendo has plans for getting more Nes and SNES Classics to consumers (do we trust them, though?), continued support for the aging but still brilliant 3DS, strong sales for the Switch, the most innovative Mario and Zelda games in decades, 3rd party ports done right in the forms of Skyrim and Doom. There’s a lot to be excited about. I still don’t own a Switch, but I’ve created a wishlist of games and I’ll own one sometime next year... probably.

Despite my reputation here for many years as a militant Nintendrone (I’m actually a much bigger Sony fan), it’s never going to be like it was. Not for me, anyway. Still a fan of Nintendo, yes, but less “in the club” and more from the outside looking in. But it was a great year for Nintendo. Most of that greatness is potential, though, and we have to see if Nintendo has the endurance to run this race with the Switch. Are third parties really going to come around? Can they ignore the Switch’s success? Capcom’s expressed desire to port games... great! How about original content? But 2018 looks promising and I hope they can have a second year in a row that’s a win. They need it so badly.

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 17th, 2017, 9:22 am
by GTS
Nintendo continues to attack the gaming community on Youtube by demonetizing videos covering Nintendo games. This has happened to me. Although it's not a big loss for me, it is still feels like a slap to the face. It makes them seem behind the times; they don't realize the free advertising potential of Youtube. I do not have the same experiences when covering non-Nintendo games.

The quick discontinuation of the NES was a gift to scalpers and bots, and a heartbreak for us older, NES-raised gamers.

That being said, the Switch is successful. I think it might be heading for Wii territory (for better or worse) in terms of popularity. I'm hearing non-gaming people at work talk about it. Those same people have probably never heard of the WiiU. The internal memory of the Switch is going to be an issue until they release a higher capacity model.

Then there was the rebirth of the Metroid franchise and the fantastic Mario Odyssey. Fantastic! Overall, I'll give them a C+ for the year.

Re: 2017 for Nintendo - Good, Great or just okay

Posted: December 17th, 2017, 3:45 pm
by Retro STrife
@JWK - I agree nearly 100% with that assessment. Sounds like we're thinking on the same wavelength when it comes to Nintendo.