Topic: Unpopular Gaming Opinions

Huh, it was only 1st announced in 2019, @AstralRedStar705 .... Although the basic ideas might come from while working on the original game, it doesn't mean the whole team started working full-time on the sequel as soon as the 1st was out, even

@Pizzamorg Nintendo Switch is roughly 1/3 to 1/2 as capable as the base Xbox One, which itself was noticeably less capable than base PS4, so saying it's weaker than the base PS4 is putting it lightly.

There's probably a fairly hard limit atm in terms of how capable they can even make a hybrid platform in terms of viable on-paper specs. Just look at the battery life woes of the Steam Deck when running AAA games at 60fps.

I hope Nintendo is looking hard at various upscaling techniques and potentially other creative solutions to overcome the hard gap in specs they'll be looking at with their next-gen hardware.

Wow! I knew the Switch was weaker hardware, but I didn't realise it was that weak. It is funny, because like you say, in terms of a true Hybrid which can deliver home console worthy titles on the go, the Switch is probably the first console to try and truly do that properly, which makes it probably the strongest step forward we've taken in that regard. So it manages to be in some ways cutting edge while also running on decade old hardware at this point.

I do agree that DLSS and other similar technology really is the future of gaming, in general. At least on PC, the fidelity loss is usually so minor it would take the most anal of us to notice a difference, but you can go from struggling to run a game at a solid 60 fps, to running it in the hundreds just by flipping on DLSS. The day of having to turn all your settings down are over.

You really have to assume that this kind of technology will be vital to the future of the Nintendo's console offerings if they really want to stick it out for the long haul. A native 1080p handheld display targeting 60 fps with the capabilities of being upscaled to 4K when docked, while still running in the native resolution of the handheld mode.

@Losermagnet - This will be an experiment for science. We have no idea what will happen, but someone has to be the first to do it. We just need a bite of his head/the thing sitting on his head, so it would be great if the little fella could just cooperate and make it easy. We don’t know what will happen. Will he be as delicious as he looks? Will we need our stomachs pumped? Will we be transported to the Rainbow Road? Who knows, but somebody once looked at a crab and decided to eat it, so we should be as brave.

Super Mario Bros 2 is my favorite 8bit SMB game. I know NL has done polls on this and a few people agree with me, but for the most part; this is probably fairly unpopular. It has my favorite music, unique gameplay for the series, I love picking the right character for the job, and I love some of the characters it sort of accidentally introduced, like Birdo; one of my favorite SMB villains. I understand it’s not a Mario game, but it is, and I love it.

@Pizzamorg Yeah, you have to admire how some companies are able to "optimize" the hell out of certain games in order to get them running well on Switch. This is a big reason why so many Switch ports happen months after-the-fact.

Even with the limitations of mobile gaming tech, I think the future still looks pretty good for Nintendo. The generational gap in games keeps shrinking with every successive set of machines, meaning the console makers will increasingly be looking at sideways evolutionary steps to distinguish newer devices from older ones. And, yeah, a lot of technologies exist now to help bridge the divide in raw pixel output in weaker platforms.

This is assuming Nintendo doesn't do something stupid that nukes their own momentum with a largely uncontested hardware model, which is always possible.

Mario 64 is the worst 3D Mario game. It is purely nostalgia based.

The Wii versions of Call of Duty are pretty impressive. I know many like to say how bad they are because the Wii doesn't look as good as the Xbox 360, PS3, or even PC. However, I always found it impressive that the games were actually ported and worked on lower end hardware, while other developers made "special" versions of games on Wii. For example, Need for Speed Hot Pursuit on Wii is different than on Xbox 360, PS3, and PC.

I'll also mentioned, I enjoyed Hot Pursuit Wii, just really enjoyed its arcade-style of gameplay, even if it's not like the other versions. Did finally play the other version on Switch however, and I like both.

Hundred percent. While there are plenty of games on Switch which seem like severely compromised versions of games, there are a bunch of other titles which honestly feel like miracles that they can run at all, let alone well. It is a big reason why the Nintendo first party stuff is usually the best stuff on the console, it is their console so they have to take the time to make sure it works properly on their device.

It is also true the divide between even PC and consoles is closing, too, with things like raytracing really being like the new frontier that PCs will try and chase and get the leg up on over the course of this generation. While I am sure transformative in the right hands, it is very much - like you say - a sideways move, with less apparent benefits as say jumping from a rough 30 fps to a rock steady 60fps or higher. Or the jump from say gaming in 720p, to 1440p or higher.

In that regard, Nintendo have done quite well for themselves, their weak hardware doesn't slow them down and they've allowed the competition to test, optimise and streamline the latest tech, so when they do eventually swoop in and make a successor, it will be the most cost effective and efficient version of that tech, good for them and gamers alike.

@BruceCM yea I guess you might be right I didn't think about it. Plus there was the dlc which came out like a year after so I guess it's more like 4 years?

Yeah, so they were still working on the original game until around that time, at least, @AstralRedStar705 .... If Monolith is helping, they've been busy with other stuff as well! Perhaps they shouldn't have said anything about BotW 2 as 'early' as they did, as that's probably the main 'problem' here! It's not that games that manage to only get announced a year or so before release haven't taken 5 or more years to actually make & we don't really know yet how much might be new yet

So true!

I’m personally hoping new hardware is a long ways off, given I can’t really afford it at the moment, and I don’t want to fight scalpers just for the chance to get ahold of a more powerful console. I get this is probably a very unpopular take, given tons of people are clamoring for the next big console, but eh.

I agree but mainly because I just don't see the need for a new Nintendo console at the moment. The Switch is still going strong and still doesn't feel like it's been around for that long, even though it's now somehow older than the Wii U was when it was discontinued. I certainly wouldn't expect a new console generation any time soon given the comments Nintendo has made on the topic.

No, they need to make a Switch 2 (the most creative of names). I can't wait to see its marginally better graphics and pay 90$ for deluxe versions of Breath of the Wild, Mario Odyssey, Metroid Dread, Splatoon 2, and of course Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. In fact, they should release a new console every year with brand new games and no backward compatibility.

@Euler The factory workers hearing the news:

Like, I personally would enjoy a more powerful console, but at the same time I'm just hoping that it won't come soon, given how the industry is at the moment.

XBOX 360 Kinect games was the Best attempt from Microsoft to please casual gamers.

Yeah, the Switch exists in a really weird space. It is cheaper than it's competition, but not really by much (especially with things like the Series S) but the hardware is lagging almost absurdly far behind at this point. The games are also often more expensive on the Switch too, at least when it comes to your first party offerings, which almost never go into a meaningful sale (at least not if bought directly). This is less true on consoles (although Xbox has gamepass) but almost every PC game goes into a deep discount fairly quickly, which we can argue about the more abstract merits of until we are blue in the face, but if you say only have fifty quid to buy games with, that will probably go way further on PC, or through something like Gamepass. Although we can argue the value proposition forever about a quality first party Nintendo title versus your triple AAA offerings elsewhere.

But while all of this is true, it doesn't matter, either. Nintendo defies narratives. While I am sure the chip shortage plays a role in it, the Switch often outsells it's competition and significantly, too. And whereas games on other platforms may be rightly scrutinised, even when that say scrutiny is applied to a Nintendo title, it doesn't stop it selling absolute gangbusters anyway.

So while I would love a Switch model that runs on hardware from at least this decade, you have to wonder why Nintendo would see any point in doing that at all. All of the upfront cost for Nintendo, to what gain on the other side? You have to assume that eventually the Switch will slow down, but it doesn't look like it's coming any time soon. I have to figure Nintendo have some sort of plans ready to pull the trigger on in the background, but they plan to ride their existing train until they can actually see the track running out.

Do I think future titles will suffer because of this and fail to meet their full potential? I mean 100 percent, I think we are already seeing that with existing releases on the Switch. But again, why should Nintendo care? All of the technical performance breakdowns showing something is objectively ***** from a technical standpoint in the world, doesn't stop titles selling millions upon millions of units anyway.

I think we're with the Switch, perhaps with mild tweaks or refreshes here and there, for a good number of years yet.

A more powerful Nintendo console would be amazing! But do I need one? No, no I don’t.

If Nintendo's next console was just 'the Switch, but more powerful' I'd find it very hard to get excited about it. Inevitably I'd begrudgingly buy one for the exclusive Marios and Zeldas but I'm not sure many casual gamers would care enough to upgrade. It would definitely make sense to stick with the hybrid format and not reinvent the wheel, but I'd want it to have some clever new hardware feature that's unintrusive but adds new possibilities for games.

As others have said though, there's plenty of life in the Switch yet and I wouldn't expect a successor for a couple of years at the very least.