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Nintendo Gaming / Re: Boredom and Nintendo
« Last post by Khushrenada on Today at 06:44:27 AM »Still, a lot of Indie stuff can be rather short and fleeting and third party stuff can lack that Nintendo polish and magic that keeps you wanting more. Nothing hits quite like the hype for a new entry in a Nintendo series you love that looks like it could be blast to play.
Only that's not true, there's a lot of indie and third party stuff on Switch that's just as good as the types of games Nintendo releases. This is N64 Yamauchi era propaganda that too many still have in their heads.
https://www.metacritic.com/browse/game/nintendo-switch/all/all-time/metascore/?releaseYearMin=2017&releaseYearMax=2024&platform=nintendo-switch&page=1
Just go down the list. Yes, Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey and Tear of the Kingdom are at the very top but after them you have lots of third party titles right around what Nintendo's releasing. Yes every gen the very top Nintendo games like Ocarina of Time, Metroid Prime, Mario Galaxy, Breath of the Wild get the best reviews, but those titles are very rare even by Nintendo standards. Outside of the very top 1-3 Nintendo games each gen, the best third party games are easily competing with everything else.
Only it can be true. I mean, first that's just, like, my opinion, man. And second, it depends on what you play. I agree there are a lot of great indie and third party titles. That's why I mentioned:
For me, Nintendo's only had a small number of original games for Switch that were really great. Most others have been sort of average. Surprisingly, it has been the third party stuff that's been more unique to me. Having stuck in the Nintendo ecosphere for decades, having ports of all sorts of things like Katamari Damacy, Lumines, Grim Fandango, and Batman: Arkham Asylum that I've always wanted to try out has been great. It's those games that have been getting me to keep playing my Switch more these days. Indie stuff like Hollow Knight, Untitled Goose Game and even Suika Game have provided me with new engaging experiences to keep me invested in my Switch.
There's a lot more stuff that could be mentioned as worth seeking out. However, when I said "Still, a lot of Indie stuff can be rather short and fleeting and third party stuff can lack that Nintendo polish and magic that keeps you wanting more. Nothing hits quite like the hype for a new entry in a Nintendo series you love that looks like it could be blast to play.", I'm thinking of titles in my head like Cruis'n Blast, A Case of Distrust, Murder by Numbers, Figment, Yono and the Celestial Elephants, or Yooka-Laylee. Heck, I'll throw Gris and Untitled Goose Game in that pile. I really liked Goose Game but wished it had been longer and it could be a bit rough in getting things to work as you wanted.
Linking the top rated games on Metacritic is just cherry picking the best and ignoring all the other third party and indie games below that aren't as well rated. Hence my comment that a lot (not ALL) indie and third party games can seem short or unpolished. I'm not just playing the cherry picked best stuff only. I'd also add that many of the games at the top of the Metacritic list are from games ported from early systems and not Switch console or current Switch-era titles. Like if Ocarina of Time 3DS were to get a $15 port on Switch (and OoT wasn't available on the N64 app) then it would probably get 9/10s just on the basis of it being OoT and having slightly better graphics than the N64 while reasonably priced. UnderTale, Portal, Persona 5, Ori and the Blind Forest, Bastion, and Nier: Automata. These are all games that have had a large reputation as top games in the industry or significant in someway but a lot of them have been available for years and on plenty of other consoles before Switch.
It's like pointing to Mass Effect 3 with the Wii U launch and saying the Wii U has good third party games for its launch because Mass Effect 3 is well reviewed on MetaCritic while ignoring that it had been out for some time on XBOX 360 and PS3. (And further ignoring that those systems were getting the Mass Effect Trilogy of all three games being released for them around that time while Nintendo was only getting the third game yet had never had the first two ever released on their consoles before.) Sure, it's great to have the option if you've never played these games before or like the portability aspect but as someone already complaining about Nintendo's habit of porting I'm gonna stick with my conviction and also complain about old third party ports having to carry the Switch too.
For me, stuff like Celeste, Hades, Sea of Stars, Dragon Quest XI, or Unicorn Overlord are bigger contributors to making the Switch library more unique or helping mold the system's identity. Even with the games going to the other consoles, they've usually sold better on Switch or were released first and then later ported to the others after sometime making them more associated with Switch in gamer's minds. These are games that aren't just going by reputation but broke through while being new and against more competition. It could also be argued that it proves the point that Nintendo's output has seemed more average this gen and all this Wii U porting has made them seem less creative when compared to what some of these top third party games are delivering.
I will also provide the caveat that having third party games put out software that is as good, better or worth playing over a lot of Nintendo's software isn't a bad thing. I'm certainly not hurting when it comes to finding a game to play on Switch. Such strong third party support is absolutely a good thing for seeing a console succeed and, as a Nintendo fan, it's great to see how high a Nintendo system can climb with such support. It means Nintendo will still be around for sometime doing consoles their way. It's fantastic to see support that isn't low-effort copycat attempts like the Wii years. Yet, if the Switch had been like that with third parties or like the Wii U support level then I do question just how much any of us would have liked this system based on Nintendo's output. You might be feeling the same way Dinar87 feels.
It will probably always be hard to hit that balance but I feel the DS came close to that ideal of having both great Nintendo software and strong and unique third party titles. Switch has been unusual with the third party side seemingly a bigger draw yet Nintendo's posting all kinds of huge software profits despite this. Oddly, the system I have most fondness for besides the GameCube at this point is the 3DS and it is the rare system in which I have more Nintendo developed titles than third party. Even with GameCube, I have a bit more third party titles than Nintendo in my collection. That's why Nintendo's output is a big deal to me and why Switch has felt lackluster at times. Their software is what has kept me playing games for three decades now. It's why I still get hyped for a Nintendo Direct. I'm hoping to be wowed and excited by them all over again. They can keep kindling my gaming enthusiasm and keep me involved with this entertainment. They've been consistent and able to survive this long. I've been burned by third parties running franchises into the ground (Guitar Hero) or not releasing their sequels on Nintendo systems or getting shutdown. So, yeah, I'm always going to be more interested in Nintendo's output on their systems over third parties and perhaps judge their systems based on their software despite there being strong titles from third parties worth playing. Right or wrong, fair or not, Nintendo is my main focus in this industry and my judgement on whether it was a good year or not for a console is largely based on what they released for it because it's likely a large chunk of what I'll actually be buying and playing (at some point).