Metroid Prime 4

[TedEH]

I wouldn't say always. The N64 did things the PlayStation couldn't do when it first came out. The Gamecube was more impressive than a PS2 for a short window before it was overtaken by the XBox. It's only really from the Wii forward that Nintendo has been dramatically behind the times.

 

[StevenC]

I wouldn't say always. The N64 did things the PlayStation couldn't do when it first came out. The Gamecube was more impressive than a PS2 for a short window before it was overtaken by the XBox. It's only really from the Wii forward that Nintendo has been dramatically behind the times.

Nintendo realised with the Gamecube that fighting to have the most powerful system was not going to result in success anymore.

PS5 discourse is around which of the 4 games on the console has the best skin textures. Meanwhile the Switch has had the best game of the PS4 era and the PS5 era.

 

[StevenC]

Nintendo's model has always been to take old hardware and push it to the limits of it's life as long as there is a dime to be made. I don't think they have an interest in making anything that will be close to keeping up with Sony/Microsoft on cutting edge. I imagine that the Switch2 will be underwhelming compared to most platforms that are coming out along side it or soon after. I wish they would lose the gimmick aspects of thier model and make a console with a good controller like the snes. I wish Sony had the property rights to Metroid.

The gimmick aspect that has made the Switch the best selling console since the PS2, and soon to be ever, in less than half the time? The gimmick of putting effort into games over gigaflops?

 

[Cannibalcricket]

The gimmick aspect that has made the Switch the best selling console since the PS2, and soon to be ever, in less than half the time? The gimmick of putting effort into games over gigaflops?

Nope. Motion controls and handheld/console mash-up gimmicks. 3D screens that make you go blind. Hey the power glove. Having a mouse for an snes game. It goes on and on. Donkey Konga. That kind of stuff.

 

[Cannibalcricket]

If you like that stuff more nintendo power to ya. Hey I liked the Virtual Boy. That thing was terrible but I played it til my eyes vibrated!

 

[wankerness]

I was thinking I’d read specs for the switch 2 were allegedly on the level of a ps4, which is pathetic, but oh well. Nintendo usually stylize and polish things to a ridiculous degree so it doesn’t end up bugging me. That said, it is sad that two of their biggest flagship titles run better on emulator than the switch (BOTW/TOTK). I hope they’ll run better on switch 2, but knowing Nintendo, you’d have to pay another 60 bucks for the privilege.

I think if you’re a video game fan the switch is necessary for first party titles cause Nintendo is still the best dev in the business. But man, what little still gets ported is invariably the worst way to play it, by increasingly large margins. Even some indie games chug on it. Even frickin Dark Souls 1 runs at 30 FPS. Even when the switch was new I remember ports being severely compromised, like Doom2016.

 

[StevenC]

I was thinking I’d read specs for the switch 2 were allegedly on the level of a ps4, which is pathetic, but oh well. Nintendo usually stylize and polish things to a ridiculous degree so it doesn’t end up bugging me. That said, it is sad that two of their biggest flagship titles run better on emulator than the switch (BOTW/TOTK). I hope they’ll run better on switch 2, but knowing Nintendo, you’d have to pay another 60 bucks for the privilege.

I think if you’re a video game fan the switch is necessary for first party titles cause Nintendo is still the best dev in the business. But man, what little still gets ported is invariably the worst way to play it, by increasingly large margins. Even some indie games chug on it. Even frickin Dark Souls 1 runs at 30 FPS. Even when the switch was new I remember ports being severely compromised, like Doom2016.

All signs and leaks are pointing to backwards compatibility of games and hardware for the Switch 2. I could see some performance patches for the likes of TotK and BotW happening, but I really don't expect them to rerelease them with performance bumps. Nintendo hasn't really ever done that. Prime, Pikmin, Mario Tennis etc only got ports to update the controls for the Wii, and that was a market where patching a last gen game wasn't really possible either. TP and WW got HD remakes with a lot of quality of life changes, and WWHD was a project in the development of BotW which couldn't previously only released in a format the Wii U couldn't read.

If they get an update it'll be free, but there's just no way they're going to release a new version. Heck, if the Switch 2 can play BotW and TotK at a solid 60 that'd sell people on it alone.

I'd rather play BotW struggling on the Switch hardware than literally anything released on the last two gens of the competition. Add to that the AAA arms race destroying the industry.

 

[StevenC]

Nope. Motion controls and handheld/console mash-up gimmicks. 3D screens that make you go blind. Hey the power glove. Having a mouse for an snes game. It goes on and on. Donkey Konga. That kind of stuff.

The handheld/console mashup that everyone is copying? The motion controls that everyone copied? Where Nintendo goes others follow. No one else innovates in this industry.

 

[Cannibalcricket]

The handheld/console mashup that everyone is copying? The motion controls that everyone copied? Where Nintendo goes others follow. No one else innovates in this industry.

I take it you're a fan. Have fun. I have a differing opinion. They are good at what they do. Better at creating enemies that dominate the field that they themselves are "innovating"

 

[StevenC]

I take it you're a fan. Have fun. I have a differing opinion. They are good at what they do. Better at creating enemies that dominate the field that they themselves are "innovating"

Best selling console of the last decade and 16 10+ million selling first party games. But it's someone else who's dominating?

 

[TedEH]

PS5 discourse is around which of the 4 games on the console has the best skin textures. Meanwhile the Switch has had the best game of the PS4 era and the PS5 era.

I don't understand what you're trying to say with this one. What PS5 discourse? By what measure does the Switch have "better games" than other platforms other than personal preference? I like Nintendo first-party games as much as the next person, but to imply that other platforms aren't also doing great things outside of the realm of graphics and tech is just not true. And I'm not just saying that because of who signs my paychecks - the biggest and best received titles tend to be big budget multiplatform titles, and Sony has the largest console market share at the moment, given that lots of PS4s are still active, and Xbox is... I don't understand what they're doing, honestly.

Maybe when the Gamecube came out, focusing on powerful hardware wasn't the right strategy for them, but that was 20 years ago. 20 years of lagging behind changes things. You can only ride on novelty and nostalgia for so long. There's a big risk of another Wii U situation here, where customers could say "yeah, I get that there's a new one, but it doesn't do anything this one doesn't do, and it's just a marginal spec update". Why would I want to spend another $400-500 or whatever to play yet another cell-phone looking slideshow of a Zelda game when I already have two of those, and Elden Ring is right there.

I mean, I'm a customer, and I want a better performing Nintendo platform. I'm certainly not the only one.

And yes, I know the Switch has a lot of units sold - but it's not competing singularly with each console, it's not about "Switch vs PS4 units", it's about Switch vs. the PS4 and PS5 and Xbone and PC and everything else that has installed user bases, on top of the fact that the Switch itself has a massive install base that they have to convince to upgrade - it's literally going to have to compete with itself. If everything is cross-gen, and the new Switch doesn't catch up enough, there's absolutely going to be a huge cohort of their 150 million units or whatever that are just going to stick with the switch they have at home. It's a prime candidate for the "yeah, I'm going to skip this generation" crowd, just like the Wii U was.

 

[Cannibalcricket]

I like Nintendo if there is any confusion there. I prefer all of the variety that Playstation offers and I don't feel lost in nonconventional controls. Nintendo I'm in it for Donkey Kong Country, Mario, Mario Kart, Super Ghouls n Ghosts, and mutha fuckin Metroid!! Everything else nintendo I don't care too much about. I love Nintendo for accidentally spawning Playstation. I really think that PC holds the keys to the kingdom in all of this though. You can play anything on PC. It's like rock, scissors, shotgun in my opinion.

 

[TedEH]

It's like rock, scissors, shotgun in my opinion.

I only just put together that this is probably where this name came from.

 

[StevenC]

I don't understand what you're trying to say with this one. What PS5 discourse? By what measure does the Switch have "better games" than other platforms other than personal preference? I like Nintendo first-party games as much as the next person, but to imply that other platforms aren't also doing great things outside of the realm of graphics and tech is just not true. And I'm not just saying that because of who signs my paychecks - the biggest and best received titles tend to be big budget multiplatform titles, and Sony has the largest console market share at the moment, given that lots of PS4s are still active, and Xbox is... I don't understand what they're doing, honestly.

Maybe when the Gamecube came out, focusing on powerful hardware wasn't the right strategy for them, but that was 20 years ago. 20 years of lagging behind changes things. You can only ride on novelty and nostalgia for so long. There's a big risk of another Wii U situation here, where customers could say "yeah, I get that there's a new one, but it doesn't do anything this one doesn't do, and it's just a marginal spec update". Why would I want to spend another $400-500 or whatever to play yet another cell-phone looking slideshow of a Zelda game when I already have two of those, and Elden Ring is right there.

I mean, I'm a customer, and I want a better performing Nintendo platform. I'm certainly not the only one.

And yes, I know the Switch has a lot of units sold - but it's not competing singularly with each console, it's not about "Switch vs PS4 units", it's about Switch vs. the PS4 and PS5 and Xbone and PC and everything else that has installed user bases, on top of the fact that the Switch itself has a massive install base that they have to convince to upgrade - it's literally going to have to compete with itself. If everything is cross-gen, and the new Switch doesn't catch up enough, there's absolutely going to be a huge cohort of their 150 million units or whatever that are just going to stick with the switch they have at home. It's a prime candidate for the "yeah, I'm going to skip this generation" crowd, just like the Wii U was.

Yes, we all want a better performing Switch. I didn't say the Switch is good for the rest of time. I'm saying that how powerful it "needs to be" is overblown. Trying to be the most powerful system doesn't work well as a strategy or else the Xbox would sell more.

I really don't care about multiplats, because the only winner there is PC. But if you want to talk about big numbers, MK8D has sold 61 million copies and still sells over a million most quarters.

I bought a PS4 for one game and then it got ported to PC like all of their exclusives do.

There isn't really a risk of a Wii U situation here because the Wii U failed due to marketing confusion. It was widely mistaken for a peripheral, not a new console. But also, Nintendo handhelds have never had that issue either. Calling it "Switch 2" for example eliminates this confusion, and Nintendo have gotten their shit together with branding and communication in recent years.

But most significantly, the Switch is doing well for two reasons: a novel idea and games. The Steam Deck, PS Portal and other similar products exist because of Nintendo. The Steam Deck is doing well because it's a more powerful switch without Nintendo games, so a more powerful Switch with Nintendo games will also do well. Nintendo have been on an incredible run since 2017 of releasing lots of excellent games. Furthermore, almost every franchise has had their best selling release on Switch, including the best selling fighting game ever and the best selling racing game ever.

The Wii and Switch demographics are nothing alike and drawing parallels is silly.

Also, the Switch 2 won't be as expensive as a PS5, don't be silly.

 

[Cannibalcricket]

I bought a PS4 for one game and then it got ported to PC like all of their exclusives do.

What game?

 

[Alberto7]

I think it just boils down to the fact that Nintendo is after your money, not your opinions, and the sales numbers show that. Their whole thing is to have people enjoy their products the way they think they should be enjoyed. Controversial, yes, but again, the numbers support the fact that they are nailing down the formula. The only console of theirs that truly flopped was the Wii U, and that was mostly, as Steven said, due to poor marketing and a confusing message about what the console even was. Not to mention that it was apparently a nightmare to develop software for.

With the Switch they've shown to have nailed down their marketing and image, and I really think the nostalgia train is slowly dissipating, as even younger generations are now being attracted to franchises like Mario and Zelda. They've become like a weird crossover between Disney and Apple in that regard, and they could give two shits about the "console war".

The portability "gimmick" is only a gimmick to the more traditional and/or hardcore gamers that like to play sat on their couch or cozied up in their Secretlab chairs (and even they own a Switch with more than one game), but it's made the indie game industry boom. Those are usually much more casual games. Tons of casual and core gamers take their Switch around and play on the go. I'm sorry but, as much as I love these games, most people would yawn their way out of ever touching Elden Ring (or even TotK) 15 minutes after grabbing it. Hell, my own MOTHER owns a Switch and has like 800 hours on Animal Crossing, even after yelling at me and my siblings over the last 3 decades to go play outside instead of videogames. And the motion controls aren't even THAT widely used or marketed. Outside of the couple of Zelda puzzles and Skyward Sword HD, their use of motion controls is usually pretty non-intrusive ime.

It is true, however, that Metroid is a bit of an oddball since they really have neglected that franchise. I just think they gave up on Metroid after Primer 3's lower sales and sealing the coffin with Other M, until someone convinced them to do Return of Samus and Dread, and those sold really well.

Nintendo's market is ridiculously broad, and still broadening. Only some of it relies on nostalgia. I too want a more powerful Switch, but I don't require it. I find that Nintendo is like a blue chip investment: you just gotta trust the process. I'm cautiously confident that they'll get the formula right for the Switch 2. I could be wrong (hoping I'm not!), but I think they've shown they got their shit together with the Switch. Still hoping they call the new one "Switch Advance".

 

[Cannibalcricket]

They need to make a Metroid movie and Ronda Rousey should play Samus. Then they can make a Smash Brothers movie and she can beat the brakes off everyone. Candy Kong vs Dark Samus!!