The E3 debut of the Switch will be very interesting.
There is no question the Switch has got off to a tremendous start. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild has raised the open world genre to another level, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe has sold the fastest of any in the series and we still have ARMS, Splatoon 2, and Super Mario: Odyssey to look forward to in 2017, just to name a few.
The question is, however, can Nintendo continue this momentum? There are so many unknowns still with the Switch, such as how will the online functionality work and what will it cost? Will the virtual console be tied only to that online system? Will Nintendo finally announce a Metroid game?
We hope all these questions actually get answered during E3, but knowing Nintendo, they most likely will not. I personally think it’s time for Nintendo to take a different approach to one of the biggest gaming events of the year. They need to start showing off games now, even if they are not coming out until next year or beyond. I know they have recently been bad on game delays, but that is easy to overcome: just don’t announce a date, or even a year. Show a trailer, add an awesome logo or graphic and say it’s coming to Switch.
Sony has done this and it only makes the PlayStation 4 look more enticing. I don’t think there was one person who did not go nuts when they saw the first trailer of The Last of Us: Part 2. Yes, it won’t come out until year 20xx, but who cares? The fact that it is real is what matters. Plus, it was probably going to leak at some point anyway, so why not beat the leakers to the punch? The Switch is selling now, yes, but it needs to continue to sell. I don’t think anybody would have a problem If Nintendo came out and said, “Hey, we have Metroid, Animal Crossing, F-Zero, (a mainline) Pokemon, Star Fox, Punchout, and a new Bayou Billy (really stretching on that one) all in the works for Switch.” I know that those won’t be playable for a while, but at least I know that my $300 purchase was worth it.
This is one of the biggest E3’s for Nintendo; it is, after all, the first E3 post Switch launch. With the hybrid console riding high, the 3DS still living life and the disappointment of the Wii U fading away, let’s hope they take advantage of this while keeping us smiling for the future.
I'm fairly certain Nintendo isn't planning to have VC at all for Switch. They've mentioned "classic games" being part of the subscription service, but to my knowledge they've never used the term "Virtual Console" and I'm pretty sure there's a specific reason for that. Nintendo's definition of "Virtual Console games" are ones that use emulation. I'm pretty confident any legacy games that appear will be specialized online-enabled Switch versions. That'll be their way of avoiding having to accommodate people who wouldn't want to pay again for VC games they already own on Wii, 3DS, and/or Wii U, as well the real reason for introducing the "Mini Classic" systems.
I think this is a very plausible outcome. Either this, or they get rid of the "virtual console" moniker and go the Neo Geo route of just releasing each piecemeal. That way, when they someday optimize their horrible e-shop, they can categorize all of these as "retro" or "classic console" titles.
I'm fairly certain Nintendo isn't planning to have VC at all for Switch. They've mentioned "classic games" being part of the subscription service, but to my knowledge they've never used the term "Virtual Console" and I'm pretty sure there's a specific reason for that. Nintendo's definition of "Virtual Console games" are ones that use emulation. I'm pretty confident any legacy games that appear will be specialized online-enabled Switch versions. That'll be their way of avoiding having to accommodate people who wouldn't want to pay again for VC games they already own on Wii, 3DS, and/or Wii U, as well the real reason for introducing the "Mini Classic" systems.
I don't know how you can be "fairly certain" of something like that. You're reading way too much into Nintendo not talking about it, which is weird because that's how Nintendo acts most of the time. I think it's extremely unlikely that they're going to stop selling emulated classic games. They may do what lolmonade said and call them something else, but I'd be absolutely shocked if those games don't come to the system.
I don't know how you can be "fairly certain" of something like that. You're reading way too much into Nintendo not talking about it, which is weird because that's how Nintendo acts most of the time. I think it's extremely unlikely that they're going to stop selling emulated classic games. They may do what lolmonade said and call them something else, but I'd be absolutely shocked if those games don't come to the system.
I can be fairly certain by using logic with observation-- all their recent behavior points to that conclusion (and it's not as if I claimed I was 100% certain). Plus, I've got a pretty good track record when it comes to knowing how they think and operate (I correctly predicted when and how they'd released the standard size New 3DS in the US -- Fall 2015 in special bundles-- dead on the money-- I was wrong about the charger being included though... I also correctly guessed very early on that NX would be a stand alone portable that could play on a TV). And you're right, they're not going to stop selling emulated classics-- they'll continue selling them on 3DS and via classic mini systems, just not Switch (but we'll still get updated ports of them).
If not for them, I wouldn't have been remotely interested in ARMS, and to be honest, I still won't be picking up the game when it launches.
If not for them, I wouldn't have been remotely interested in ARMS, and to be honest, I still won't be picking up the game when it launches.
I'm suing Evan_B for this statement. It made me do such a big double-take that I got whiplash. What happened to ARMS biggest promoter on this forum?
Wait, didn't they already announce what the online service's would cost? I could have sworn I remember headlines awhile back about it being crazy low like $20/year.
If their plan for selling classic games was based on mini systems they wouldn't have discontinued the NES Mini. I really don't understand how you can come to such a radical conclusion based on so little information.
