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« Last post by Evan_B on February 04, 2026, 08:46:19 AM »
On one hand, it’s nice that Nintendo is giving respect to those non-A-listers, and I can at least respect that approach a bit. On the other hand, I think it’s a decidedly unsafe way to approach a new hardware launch, and feels a bit overconfident about the selling power of some of their IP.
I think the critical reception towards Banaza and Z-A was completely warranted, as both felt like extremely polished but conceptually half-baked products. Hyrule Warriors is going to sell off of the IP cache and the “this is canon, guys, honest!” marketing that they’ve been pushing, but I’ve played enough Hyrule Warriors (original and AoC) to know that my body isn’t prepared for more Warriors-style gameplay, which is essentially unchanged. The same goes for Mario Kart, which I still feel has not justified its 80 dollar asking price and will need some sort of roadmap (pun not intended) to justify returning to it, even over MK8 Deluxe. For Air Riders, it kinda feels like Nintendo said “make something for the Switch launch?” to Sakurai, and because of his influence/independence he was like “okay, another Air Ride.” It’s another very polished product and has all the Sakurai-isms one might want from a Sakurai game, but outside of Smash Bros., do his games have universal appeal?
My favorite Switch 2 game so far has been Daemon Ex Machina: Titanic Scion if only because it really swung for the fences in terms of its structure and theming in a way that no other Switch 2 game has done, personally. I won’t deny that it also appeals to my preferences a bit more, but that does leave me asking “what was I supposed to be excited about with this system?” The answer was “many of my Switch games perform better,” which was a delightful surprise, but not what I would expect from a new hardware launch.
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