I'm still wondering what working with DeNA has done for Nintendo. Obviously, they help with the cellphone games, but they were also meant to help with the NX (now Switch). Is the voice app really the best they could do? It feels like Nintendo said, "We need online. We need online! Oh no, scary!!" and backed away awkwardly.
They've had online success in the past. But when it comes to online, it seems they have little to no institutional memory and have to start at square one every time a console/handheld launches. Sometimes they go backward and can't even do it as well as the previous system. At least ,not until after years of updates, just to get back to where they were.
If people are skeptical, it's because of numerous examples in Nintendo's past. Nintendo's current attitude does nothing to help matters. So little communication makes it seem like they don't have a real plan, or at least, not a good one. Especially when they delays things for months and still have little to nothing to say and don't address the problems people have with their current service.
There is no defending the current voice app. Is it Splatoon 2 only, or will other games come use it? Not even a hint of an answer. There are so many things wrong with the app from a design and functionality point of view, it feels like they threw it together in a couple of months. And yet, they had as long as Splatoon 2's dev cycle to come up with a quality product and failed.
To James: A Jet Force Gemini RetroActive shouldn't make you sick. It should be the cure for your ills. Sunshine on a cloudy day! I think a JFG RetroActive in January to start off 2018 right, is the way to go. I'm sure many people would agree with me!