Nintendo Switch, I should have known better. Nintendo consoles are great for kids who are new to playing games, not so much for people who have been gaming for generations.
The Switch was a slow burn for me. Initially I bought it and hated it. I bought BOTW (had it on Wii U as well) and I felt underwhelmed. Fast forward to end of year and games like Mario Odyssey came out. Not to mention I had a lot of travel and the system just felt perfect for me. Loving the Switch 2 now.
Ironically I bought a Wii U and loved it at first. Only to look back now and see it’s a system I never bought more the 3 games for …
I’ve got more than a thousand hours on my Switch, easily among the best consoles I’ve ever played on since my start on the Game Boy and Genesis. What do you feel brings it down for adults?
Nintendo titles are, essentially, very good introductory video games. If you’ve played, well, pretty much any RPG, there’s no point playing Zelda or Pokemon. Same for fighting games and Smash Brothers or racing games and Mario Kart.
Everyone has to get started gaming somewhere, but beyond nostalgia? The rest of gaming has moved in from Nintendo.
Weird. Smash, Mario kart, and even Splatoon are very unique games within their respective genres and not really “beginner,” because there are some people who are really, insanely good.
If you’ve played, well, pretty much any RPG, there’s no point playing Zelda or Pokemon.
Oh, there’s a point, and it’s a pretty big one that people tend to forget:
Games like Zelda and Pokemon are fun. They might not have the best graphics, but they’re fun. They may not have the best story, but they are fun. The hardware may not be powerful, the gameplay might be repetitive, the scenery might be bland, the NPC’s might not be engaging, it may not be particularly challenging, it may have questionable design choices; but the games are fun to play.
I feel that as gamers get older they forget that, at its core, games are supposed to be fun. They look at Nintendo and then at other big companies and go “what the hell? Nintendo looks like CRAP! Every other AAA company has WAY more impressive games!” without realizing that Nintendo isn’t really trying to make impressive games. They make fun games that are fun to play. Games anyone can start having fun with less than a minute after picking up the controller.
They were fun, the first time. But how many iterations does someone need of the same game?
People complain about the latest game in a series like Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Creed going “OMG, IT’S JUST THE SAME THING AGAIN!” It’s literally a joke with Madden or Call of Duty, but for some reason Nintendo gets a pass.
It’s cool if you’re a kid and Breath of the Wild is the first Zelda game you ever played… For anyone else? Unless you have on the nostalgia goggles, there are better things out there.
Same with Switch. I got it for MHGenU so it was still worth it—I put hundreds of hours into GenU, it’s one of my favorite MH games ever.
Every other game though, I’ve just played on my computer. My friend lent me BotW to try and as soon as I stepped outside and the framerate dropped, I shut it down and looked into how to play it on my computer. A little while later, I had it running at 1440p/120+ FPS with shaders and mods and stuff. Since then, I’ve just been playing everything on my computer.
Nintendo Switch, I should have known better. Nintendo consoles are great for kids who are new to playing games, not so much for people who have been gaming for generations.
I loved my Switch. My WiiU…not so much.
The Switch was a slow burn for me. Initially I bought it and hated it. I bought BOTW (had it on Wii U as well) and I felt underwhelmed. Fast forward to end of year and games like Mario Odyssey came out. Not to mention I had a lot of travel and the system just felt perfect for me. Loving the Switch 2 now.
Ironically I bought a Wii U and loved it at first. Only to look back now and see it’s a system I never bought more the 3 games for …
I’ve got more than a thousand hours on my Switch, easily among the best consoles I’ve ever played on since my start on the Game Boy and Genesis. What do you feel brings it down for adults?
Nintendo titles are, essentially, very good introductory video games. If you’ve played, well, pretty much any RPG, there’s no point playing Zelda or Pokemon. Same for fighting games and Smash Brothers or racing games and Mario Kart.
Everyone has to get started gaming somewhere, but beyond nostalgia? The rest of gaming has moved in from Nintendo.
Weird. Smash, Mario kart, and even Splatoon are very unique games within their respective genres and not really “beginner,” because there are some people who are really, insanely good.
Oh, there’s a point, and it’s a pretty big one that people tend to forget:
Games like Zelda and Pokemon are fun. They might not have the best graphics, but they’re fun. They may not have the best story, but they are fun. The hardware may not be powerful, the gameplay might be repetitive, the scenery might be bland, the NPC’s might not be engaging, it may not be particularly challenging, it may have questionable design choices; but the games are fun to play.
I feel that as gamers get older they forget that, at its core, games are supposed to be fun. They look at Nintendo and then at other big companies and go “what the hell? Nintendo looks like CRAP! Every other AAA company has WAY more impressive games!” without realizing that Nintendo isn’t really trying to make impressive games. They make fun games that are fun to play. Games anyone can start having fun with less than a minute after picking up the controller.
They were fun, the first time. But how many iterations does someone need of the same game?
People complain about the latest game in a series like Tomb Raider or Assassin’s Creed going “OMG, IT’S JUST THE SAME THING AGAIN!” It’s literally a joke with Madden or Call of Duty, but for some reason Nintendo gets a pass.
It’s cool if you’re a kid and Breath of the Wild is the first Zelda game you ever played… For anyone else? Unless you have on the nostalgia goggles, there are better things out there.
That is an interesting opinion, thank you for sharing.
I feel ya. I was a diehard Nintendo Power subscriber for probably longer than appropriate (thanks, parents) but they didn’t keep up with me.
Same with Switch. I got it for MHGenU so it was still worth it—I put hundreds of hours into GenU, it’s one of my favorite MH games ever.
Every other game though, I’ve just played on my computer. My friend lent me BotW to try and as soon as I stepped outside and the framerate dropped, I shut it down and looked into how to play it on my computer. A little while later, I had it running at 1440p/120+ FPS with shaders and mods and stuff. Since then, I’ve just been playing everything on my computer.