I couldn't think of a better first thread to start the new "era" of my internet life.
This year we're witnessing a renaissance of Nintendo: the Switch is selling very well and has gained mainstream traction, after a rough start the games just keep on coming and the future of the system appears incredibly bright, with many other big hitters already on the horizon. The change from having to support two systems to a single one is already beginning to show its pros, as devs are shifting games that would previously be on 3DS over to the Switch (Pokémon, Octopath, SMT), meaning less resources spent and a potentially bigger game library when all is said and done. The SNES classic is also selling gangbusters.
BotW and Odyssey are not only this year's most prominent GOTY contenders, but some of the finest, most critically acclaimed games of all times, marking a shift back from Nintendo's safer approach of the recent past (New Super Mario Bros. series comes to mind) and towards new genre defining, very ambitious games.
Their mobile initiatives are coming along well, Heroes has netted the company quite some money, and they seem to want to keep investing in the field. The way they use their mobile games as "bridges" to the mainline ones and not as substitutes or spinoffs as other companies do, is also refreshing and doesn't make you feel as if you're missing something if you decide not to partake in mobile gaming.
What saddens me is that the man who helmed for a long time the company, the one who was "a gamer at heart", a dev before a CEO, and what seemed to be first and foremost a wonderful person, isn't here to witness the success he helped Nintendo achieve. Instead, he left us in what were arguably Nintendo's darkest years ever since they entered the gaming business, and he did so amidst the negativity for their poor E3 2015 showing, after he apologized for it.
I still miss the man and what humanity and transparency he brought to the company.
This year we're witnessing a renaissance of Nintendo: the Switch is selling very well and has gained mainstream traction, after a rough start the games just keep on coming and the future of the system appears incredibly bright, with many other big hitters already on the horizon. The change from having to support two systems to a single one is already beginning to show its pros, as devs are shifting games that would previously be on 3DS over to the Switch (Pokémon, Octopath, SMT), meaning less resources spent and a potentially bigger game library when all is said and done. The SNES classic is also selling gangbusters.
BotW and Odyssey are not only this year's most prominent GOTY contenders, but some of the finest, most critically acclaimed games of all times, marking a shift back from Nintendo's safer approach of the recent past (New Super Mario Bros. series comes to mind) and towards new genre defining, very ambitious games.
Their mobile initiatives are coming along well, Heroes has netted the company quite some money, and they seem to want to keep investing in the field. The way they use their mobile games as "bridges" to the mainline ones and not as substitutes or spinoffs as other companies do, is also refreshing and doesn't make you feel as if you're missing something if you decide not to partake in mobile gaming.
What saddens me is that the man who helmed for a long time the company, the one who was "a gamer at heart", a dev before a CEO, and what seemed to be first and foremost a wonderful person, isn't here to witness the success he helped Nintendo achieve. Instead, he left us in what were arguably Nintendo's darkest years ever since they entered the gaming business, and he did so amidst the negativity for their poor E3 2015 showing, after he apologized for it.
I still miss the man and what humanity and transparency he brought to the company.
I'm aware that Nintendo does many things wrong, and isn't perfect. The whole voice chat business has been a shitshow. I just wanted this thread to highlight the turnaround the company has made in such little time. They aren't immune to criticism and they shouldn't be. Also I don't want to foster any console wars, this isn't supposed to be a "Nintendo is better than Sony/Microsoft" thread.
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