Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

@LzWinky The way I see it, yeah. Duck Hunt is a representative of a Nintendo Classic. I have more trouble with Wii Fit Trainer and R.O.B but even them represent something important of Nintendo in certain ways. Waluigi is a character that doesn't have any kind of actual representation of anything, at least until now. Piranha Plant has no excuse though. I hate seeing him there. He may be an iconic obstacle/generic henchmen, but Smash was just using representative characters and he feels out of place for me. No other character that I can think is just a generic enemy. Waluigi would fit way better once he's more relevant in a game since as of now he has just being used as Mario's Wario for Luigi with no actual plot. He doesn't even have to have his own game, just a notable participation in a game outside of being aplayable character in a sports game. That's just my opinion though.

@LzWinky Well, yes. Duck Hunt and Piranha Plant are both really unique. Isn’t that the point? If you’d said “as opposed to [insert Fire Emblem character here]”, then that would be a counterargument!

I’m inclined to agree that Waluigi isn’t necessarily that interesting as a Smash character - but that team does an incredible job at balancing characters and making all of them interesting, I’m happy to just let them do what they want. Although they should definitely do Dizzy...

A nitpick on a great game, but I wish the russian characters actually spoke russian in MGS3. I know Kojima went for "you are listening to them in english but they are actually speaking russian" but I kinda wish it was actually russian for even better immersion (But yeah, I understand his decision).

Here are a few of my unpopular gaming opinions that I can think of off the top of my head. Keep in mind that I'm a relatively young gamer (I'm a proud Wii kid).

• Super Paper Mario is incredibly underrated. It has an amazing story, incredibly engaging worlds and characters, tricky puzzles, memorable gameplay... Taken on its own, I think it would have been acclaimed as one of the greatest Nintendo games and possibly the best Paper Mario game. I think that many people were blinded by the fact that it wasn't similar to what preceded it (I first played it as a kid and with no knowledge of the earlier Paper Mario games).
• Similarly, I think Kirby's Epic Yarn is underrated. Again, it was one of my favorite games growing up, even though other Kirby games never really interested me. Although it's often compared to Woolly World, I felt like Epic Yarn's levels had a lot more variety and feel to them. I hear a lot of people cite the fact that you "can't die" as proof that it's too easy, but I think they're kind of missing the point. Taking damage makes you lose beads, which results in a lower score on the level. When you consider the fact that you lose beads every time you take a hit, you could say it's one of the hardest Kirby games.
• Super Mario 64 isn't "timeless." Obviously I understand the historical importance of the game and the impact it had on the greater gaming landscape, but here I'm saying that I don't get why some people consider it to still be a great game to play (or that it's better than the subsequent 3D Marios!). After playing it to completion, I can say that I find it to be archaic at best and miserable at worst. I thought that the level design felt uninspired, the missions were repetitive, and most of my experience was a struggle against the controls and camera. In my opinion, it's frankly abysmal by modern standards. Maybe I'm just spoiled because my first 3D Mario was Galaxy though.

That's all I can think of for now, but maybe I'll add more later.

Fair enough. For my actual counterpoint, fans want Waluigi in Smash because he’s never given a chance to shine. He’s the butt monkey of the Mario characters and only appears as a companion to Wario in the sports games.

For a better example, why are the Ice Climbers in Smash? They were only in one game (not including cameos) and that game was very forgettable. Nana and Popo are only memorable because they’re in Smash.

This might be one of the most unpopular opinions in this forum, but The Legend Of Zelda: Spirit Tracks is better than Ocarina of Time. I haven’t played Breath of a The Wild yet, but Spirit Tracks is super underrated. I’ve heard it has the best soundtrack of the series and it’s my favourite game on the DS. Ocarina of Time is just okay. It’s a good game, but not as good. It could be because Spirit Tracks was my first game in the series.

Ocarina of Time is too generic for me. It’s stuck between two of my favorite and unique Zelda games: Link’s Awakening and Majora’s Mask.

@Vogagamitch Super Paper Mario is pretty great. It was my first Paper Mario. Lots of charm. I do personally prefer TTYD but I get what you mean about it possibly getting a bad rap. Guess I was fortunate enough to have played Super Paper Mario first so I had a more open mind.

Regarding Super Mario 64, you are right; the levels and missions are far from the greatest but I always found it fun to return to purely for the fact that it felt very free in how you approched the game, such as collecting stars out of order, and pulling off nifty tricks to the stars faster and with more style. It also plays exactly how I remember despite being years between playthroughs for me. In that sense, for me it truly is "timeless". Mentioning Galaxy has reminded me that I have not played that since early Wii U days and should probably play again.

@BabyYoshi65 That is a very brave opinion which I can't judge unfortunately as I have not played Spirit Tracks. I need to get around to that and Phantom Hourglass. To be fair, I am biased towards OOT and Link to the Past as my favourites. Heck, Majora's Mask is pretty darn close to being my favourite. Too many Zelda games to pick from!

Unpopular opinion: the next generation of game consoles looks extremely underwhelming so far. From everything I have seen and read both PS5 and XboxX look very boring with no real improvements beyond graphical capabilities. There's lots of talk about what these machines are supposedly capable of but I've seen nothing to actually support the assertion that they will be anything but visually nicer. PS5 sounds like a PS4 Pro+ and XboxX sounds like just a stronger Xbox and neither have anything new about them.

I consider improved graphics in a new console a given, not a feature. So far both Sony and Microsoft have completely failed to impress me with their new offerings.

@MS7000 Those are all really good points. I guess it all comes down to how you define "timeless."

I love OOT, but its really easy to see it as one of those games that's considered an all time great more for what it was at the time rather than being especially amazing among Zelda games. It is the most basic Zelda game, with the possible exception of LTTP.

Like OOT was probably the best 3d game ever made when it came out. But then every 3D Zelda was a more interesting OOT (until BOTW, which is its own thing), and other games are also a more interesting OOT.

@Heavyarms55 The primary promoted advantage of next-gen hardware is how much faster they are. So: the virtual elimination of load times, the elimination of disguised loading times, which should improve game design, and having the ability to create more complex environments without tanking performance.

PS5 is also supposed to have really cool 3D audio support. You might not care, but it can be incredibly immersive when done right.

XSeX and PS5 will also supposedly support games that run up to 120fps. Although I'm guessing developers will still find a way to make it where games run at 30fps by loading their software down with needlessly expensive visual effects.

If anything, the early promotional material for next-gen software has been delightfully light on talk about resolution and visual fidelity overall. Probably because there isn't really a ton of room for improvement in that department anymore.

@Heavyarms55 I’ve never played on XBox’s or PS3 or PS4, but I saw a side-by-side comparison of what Minecraft looks like on PS5 and it kind of ruins the entire game in my opinion.

@Vogagamitch Ehh, it is all subjective at the end of the day what "timeless" is. I still enjoy it for the reasons I have stated, but as I said, I do agree with your points about the level design and gameplay. There is no denying the game has aged so in another way, yes, the game isn't "timeless".

@Heavyarms55 I couldn't agree more. The next gen so far has not given me any compelling reason to upgrade. Not to mention the rumours about the launch prices make me feel that even if they show something good, I probably won't get either for a few years anyway.

Another unpopular opinion- Animal Crossing: Amiibo Festival is a great game, but Pocket Camp is horrible.

@Ralizah I've heard all of that before and that's my point. None of that is impressive to me. All I hear is talk of specs and power and none of that impresses me. Those aren't features. That's just the natural progression of technology. Things look nicer and load faster? Of course they do, it's a newer machine. I don't see that as a new feature or selling point. And I get that that's an unpopular opinion, that's the point of this thread. Fact is neither Sony nor MS have shown anything that makes me excited for their new machines. All I see is more of the same from them.

@MS7000 The price isn't a huge deal for me - new tech is almost always pricey and compared to smartphones, and PCs video games are a cheap hobby. Not that 500 dollars isn't a lot of money, but next to a 1500 dollar gaming PC and/or a 1200 dollar smartphone that will be obsolete in 3 weeks...?

@BabyYoshi65 If you're talking about the same video I saw, I imagine that will just be one texture pack you can choose from. I wouldn't bother with Minecraft on anything other than PC or Switch. PC for mods and textures and Switch for playing on the Go. Of course I don't play MC much these days - but I used to play it like crazy about 5 years ago.

@Heavyarms55 This is an example: https://www.techspot.com/images2/news/bigimage/2019/04/2019-0...
It’s fine if you want a super-realistic video game, but it basically gets rid of all the blockiness from the original game. And yes, you can turn it off.

@Heavyarms55 Here’s multiple more examples: https://assets.rockpapershotgun.com/images/2019/10/Minecraft-...
https://i.ytimg.com/vi/CLxrDCP9zSM/hqdefault.jpg
https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/ULHRV35FgxLe2kPXUSAvvm.jpg
https://gamespot1.cbsistatic.com/uploads/original/1585/158535...

@BabyYoshi65 It's a style choice then. Frankly I don't see why they are acting like this needs ray tracing. Texture packs like this have been on PC via modding going back at least 5 or 6 years. Probably longer. Not my taste either.

@Heavyarms55 It's fine to "not be impressed by it," I was just responding to the rhetoric that 'next gen is all about the grafix,' when, in reality, it's anything but.

I'm not really sure what you could want from new consoles if stuff like super fast loading, 3D audio, having the ability to load multiple games into memory at the same time and switch between them on the fly, improved haptic feedback via the controller, whatever VR improvements happen next gen, etc. doesn't interest you. Sony and Microsoft aren't going to try and re-invent the wheel every generation like Nintendo does, after all.

Right now, it's impossible to know how much of this is marketing fluff and how much of it will actually be transformative for AAA game design, but it's encouraging to see Sony and, to a lesser extent, Microsoft focus on improvements that can't be reduced to how much more horsepower their new boxes have.

Personally, I'm not sure if I'll be grabbing either of the next-gen systems atm, because even with a powerful PC, I find myself being drawn increasingly toward the Switch and its versatile hardware. I'm playing The Witcher 3 primarily on an underpowered handheld when a fully-decked out PC version is literally feet away from me. And also because, with only a few exceptions, I've become incredibly disenchanted with AAA gaming in general.