Topic: Do you prefer 3rd party over 1st party Nintendo games?

@FishyS
I'm glad today's gaming didn't really force you to play everyday.
That antics was already outdated and not fun anymore.

On one hand, obviously I bought the Nintendo system for Nintendo games, because unlike the competition, the company responsible for the console actually wants to make video games. And so many of my favorite games are first party Nintendo games, and I feel deservedly so. It's best summed up by the Game Awards (admittedly far from a perfect representation of quality gaming if you have remotely interesting tastes, but work with me here), who have nominated Nintendo for Game of the Year I believe 6 out of 7 times during this generation. And while Sony has comparable numbers for that, again they are not putting out remotely the output of Nintendo. Honestly the only big game company I could confidently say does is Square Enix, and they've had...a lot more issues in terms of quality control (and marketing), let's say. My top 3 favorite game series are Nintendo, so many of their games are genuinely fantastic and of interest to me specifically (even if usually that's based on fondness for similar past games).

However, even with all that, its really silly to try to compare one game company to the entire rest of gaming. If you really look for games, 3rd parties trump 1st party by default, especially with Switch actually being good for 3rd party games, just through sheer quantity. Nowadays, it is so easy to find a relatively new game for exactly your tastes, no matter what it is. As a 2d platformer guy, I could just play indies forever if I wanted to for that genre alone, and not be disappointed. Even in terms of non-indie games I've not played that interest me, I could probably find a ton just on this one console. Perfect example, I've never played Danganronpa, so that'd be 3 new games right there, let alone the new game from the same creator or that...less well received game made with the Zero Escape creator (whose AI series I've also not played, another two games). And there are times where 3rd party games do what Nintendo does but better (Rayman Legends, Little King's Story, arguably Okami, insert Metroidvania made before Metroid Dredd here), let alone doing what Nintendon't (like every fighting game with decent online). And by focusing on Nintendo games that I want to play and doing things other than video games at all, I am losing out on playing so many quality games other than Nintendo. I'm not gonna say I regret it necessarily (except for trying to play as much percentage of Xenoblade 2's content as I did 1), but the limited time is always a shame.

That's my answer, I don't have a further thing to add to it.

I gotta be honest, I don't know any good third-party games that are right for me. Most of what I find or are popular tend to be super-hard for casual players like me.

Hmmm... my feelings on this have likely evolved over time. But as of today, if I were to answer this question, I'd say it's 50/50

Many of Nintendo's games don't land with me. Their more casual stuff like Mario Party and Princess Peach Showtime, Tomocachi Life, etc. Not my thing. But their stuff that does land with me, really lands with me. DKC Tropical Freeze, Metroid Prime, Metroid Dread, Super Mario Bros Wonder, Super Mario 3D World, Super Mario Odyssey, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Fire Emblem Engage, Xenoblade Chronicles Trilogy, Splatoon 2 and 3, Zelda series, Luigi's Mansion 2 and 3, Mario Rabbids games (these might count as 3rd party, Idk), Pikmin quadrilogy, Pokemon Legends Arceus, etc etc.

Third party, the majority doesn't land with me. Online focused games, games as a service, big budget AAA Hollywood style cinematic games... some of them are "aiiight" but nothing that really gets me excited. Most PS exclusives fit that bill. They're "aiiight". Horizon, God of War, Uncharted... I make exception for the original Last of Us- that game was and still is superb, as I make exception for Infamous Second Son, another game that lands in my top 50 of all time. And there's a few others too, so I guess I shouldn't use PS as an example- Xbox fits the bill more so than PS. With Xbox I love Halo MCC and Infinite campaigns, and I love Gears of War (especially Gears 5, just excellent). And Gears Tactics. Maybe Forza Horizon series. But aside from that, their games don't land for me.

But then there are those 3rd party games I adore. Portal and Portal 2, Prince of Persia Lost Crown, Ys series and Legend of Heroes series, Unicorn Overlord and 13 Sentinels, Baldur's Gate 3 and Divinity Original Sin 2, Bayonetta Trilogy, Astral Chain, Bioshock Trilogy, Final Fantasy X, XII, Crisis Core and 7 Remake, speaking of "Crisis", Crysis Trilogy, Darksiders series, Diablo 3, DOOM and DOOM Eternal, Wolfenstein New Order and Wolfenstein II, Dragon Quest XI S, Dragon Quest Builders 1/2, Dragon Quest Monsters series, Expeditions "A Mudrunner Game" (surprised me to say the least- this game rocks!), Hogwarts Legacy, Ghostrunner 1 and 2, Mass Effect series, Hot Wheels Unleashed 1/2, Monster Hunter Rise + Sunbreak, Monster Hunter World + Iceborn, Monster Hunter Stories 1/2, Ni No Kuni 1/2, Octopath Traveler 2, Triangle Strategy, Trials Rising, Ori Blind Forest and Will of Wisps, Persona 4/5, Persona 4 Dancing and Persona 5 Tactics, Resident Evil 4 Remake, Resident Evil 5, Resident Evil Revelations 1/2, Shin Megami Tensei series, Sniper Elite 3/4/5, Zombie Army 4, South Park Stick of Truth and Fractured But Whole, Tales series, The Witcher 2 and 3, Valkyria Chronicles 1 and 4...

And there's plenty more I'm not thinking of right now cause I don't have my Steamdeck OLED on me to remember all the games I own.

But it seems maybe it's not 50/50. It's weighted way heavier on the side of 3rd party.

That being said, the 1st party games I love, I really love. So much so, I'd almost trade that entire swath of 3rd party gems in exchange for my beloved Nintendo titles... almost 😉

Howdy, guys.
Long time I didn't post on this thread.
Well, I still have more interest with 3rd party games than 1st party Nintendo games as I keep getting more diversity from the gameplay, character design, the franchise, etc and it enriched my gaming experience with different things.
My biggest supporter of 3rd party kids games is Outright Games.

I'm glad there is a publisher who really dedicate their work to provide a lot of kids games for modern console started from PS4 era with kids franchise like Paw Patrol, Barbie, My Little Pony, Bluey, etc.
Their gameplay can be better as I felt the gameplay of those games are really decent but it still acceptable for me.

My top 5 of all time consists of entries from Sega, Nintendo, Konami, and Squaresoft (at the time).
This said, Nintendo games have a magic or fun factor that I just can't quite but my finger on, but just feels more fun and absorbing for me. I will always be more excited for a Nintendo game these days above a 3rd party multiplatform game.

Have to admit that I do have a big preference for Nintendo games. I do like the variety of series and genres they publish and try to play a lot of them tho. From the most popular Mario and Zelda to Xenoblade, Fire Emblem or weird one offs.

Although I do have a liking to RPGs so I also play plenty of Square Enix games (which, btw, had a quite good library on Switch). And more recently I started playing more games on my quite recent gaming PC but those are still quite close to what a Nintendo game would be (for example, recently I played Psyconauts 2). I did play Elden Ring tho, which is quite the outlier here.

Well, I like both 3rd party games and 1st party games, but on the Switch I really prefer to play 1st party games on there. I think there is variety with genres of 1st party games, and my two most played games on there are 1st party games, being Splatoon 2 and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate (on my backup Switch account). I find them super fun and they have a lot of polish with them.

However, there are 3rd party games I have played on Switch with my siblings and enjoyed, like Moving Out, and on the 3DS, I also liked Yo-kai Watch, though I kind of don’t know if that could be considered a 3rd party game since it isn’t multiplatform, though the developer isn’t owned by Nintendo. Even though I do have a preference for Nintendo’s 1st party games, I still play 3rd party games and I liked them a lot too.

Talking about 3rd party games vs 1st party Nintendo games, my gaming forte are mostly from 3rd party games since there are so many different gaming genre from 3rd party games and my gaming forte are Rhythm games, Life Sim games and RPG games.
I still found lack of different genre from 1st party Nintendo games and it doesn't make me get engaged more with a lot of 1st party Nintendo games.
The only 1st party Nintendo games that I get engaged the most are the Mii games, ACNH, ARMS, 1-2-Switch games because those games are the closest to my gaming forte.
I like quirky games from Mii games, cartoonish Boxing games from ARMS, quirky party games from 1-2-Switch games, ACNH for being more like The Sims.
Mario games are fine for me but I have very low hype with them. I still like to get some of Mario games but I rarely bought them on day one and played the game infrequently.