Topic: Am i wrong for thinking that Nintendo is in one of its best eras right now?

I think that while nintendo of today is making more money than it was during the wii/ds era, the way that they've gotten there is by kinda doing what everyone else is doing instead of being themselves.

They've started to bank more and more on nalstalgia and FOMO to increase software and hardware sales. Not to say that they haven't done it before (wii shortages in the u.s, some past game re-releases getting limited physical/ digital runs) but they have been using it more to hopefully convince consumers that they're getting a "good deal /fair price" for their products. Not only that but they've loosened quality control and have allowed games to come out with a lack of content on release or poor performance/ quality (i.e. pokemon) just because they know that people will pay for it nevertheless.

(Seriously though, 100$ for what's essentially a plastic shell of the VB is still crazy to me..)

To me it feels like nintendo is slowly trying to convince its consumers that anything below 70$ is a steal, like 60$ dosent mean you'll get the same quality as you would a few years ago. Either that or nintendo's decided to focus on marketing to people with more disposable income, like young adults, instead of in general families (the problem now is that most people don't have as much disposable income due to a multitude of reasons).

Nintendo might still be putting out great games, but they aren't pricing them with the average cost-burdended consumer in mind.

@WaveBoy Yeah I remember hearing a Streets of Rage 4 was in the works during the DC era, that's where that game Fighting Force came from.

Even the commercials then got you hyped for a game or system and they even didnt have to show you much. Who can ever forget the Mario Bros 3 commercial where all the did was chant Mario's name? Alot more personality then commercials nowadays.

I remember when the Dreamcast Launched, yeah it looked cool but like so many others I was done with Sega at the time having invest so much in Sega CD only to have that done in the amount of time that it was and then the lifespan of the Saturn, I figured that the Dreamcast could be dead before it got started and Sega would move on to something else.

I did eventually get a Dreamcast from a local used game store years ago and still have it to this day. Its become one of my favorite consoles of all time. In fact I have two of them, the original one and the black Sports edition one.

@Hapless Right is there ks ever a game that would benefit from a remake it would be Shenmue. Even back during the DC era I remember my friends going gaga over that game and hearing about it all over the place especially in gaming magazines. But again I was done with Sega at that time and I dont think anything would have got me to come back.

I did play it for the first time about 10 years ago when I finally got a copy at a good price at the Portland Retro Gaming Expo and again it didnt wow me. I could definitely see the contributions it made to the world of gaming and why its an icon but its just not for me.

Meh, I have tepid indifference. As exciting as a soggy taco.

I spend my days waiting for Switch 2 OLED.

I think the Switch generation was one of the best eras for Nintendo. Outstanding sales, appealed to a super wide demographic, and best library of games of all time by far to me.

Jury's still out on the Switch 2. Still too early to give a judgement either way. It's looking promising with how many PS4-equivalent games are getting ported (that the switch missed out on), but I'm skeptical that a follow up will do better than the original. Especially since the landscape is different now than at the switch's launch - we have the steam deck, and the novelty of playing full console titles portably has been lost a bit.

Backwards compatibility with the Switch is a huge bonus, but at the same time I'm worried how that will affect the library. I bought a PS5 in 2021 and still to this day, 90% of the games I've played on it are either PS4 games or were also released on PS4. That made it hard to recommend a PS5 to anyone. But this is different - the Switch 2's performance capabilities are a huge jump over the Switch 1, while the most obvious change in performance of the PS5 over PS4 was loading times.

It's definitely going to be a better console generation for Nintendo than the Wii U was, and it'll probably be the best selling console of this generation, but I don't see how we can call it "the best era" yet.

How do we define Best Eras? For sales, 100% we are in one of, if not the best era in Nintendo's history. What about games? I saw a post (here, I think) that showed how the Switch (and by virtue SW2) has access to the most games that are on Metacritic's top 100 list. I honestly don't know how one could say that we are not in one of the best eras of all time... or what other measurement we would use...

I was a child of the 80s, grew up with the console wars. As a NES/SNES fanboy during that time, it was not the perception that the SNES was the best available console. Or that the SNES had the best games. I thought that it did...but Sega, TG16, Neogeo, 32/64 bit machines were constantly being claimed as taking the step to dethrone Nintendo's reign (from the NES days). I think now, it's easy to look back and recognize how amazing the game library of the NES/SNES days were - but during that time, it was not generally agreed upon. Take a look at old Gamepro or EGM magazines.

I think that it's rare to be present in a time where we can recognize how great we have it, even if you are not all-in on the SW2. For me, I absolutely love it - it's everything and more than what I expected. I know that we are eating good right now, and I choose to enjoy it for as long as it lasts.

In terms of game quality you could definitely make the argument that this is one of Nintendo's best eras, though personally I think Nintendo is consistent enough that you can't really point to any one era as the best. But (as has been discussed ad nauseam on this forum) from a business perspective the Nintendo of today is more cynical than they have been for as long as I can remember.

@OmnitronVariant @FishyS
Apparently ignoring the fact that:

• there's no fee for backwards compatibility
• a lot of these updates are free
• in previous generations these would have been full releases
• it's up to the publisher to decide what they charge
• Sony literally does the same on PS4/5
• even on PC there's no shortage of enhanced editions, remasters, deluxe editions not to mention sometimes questionable early access versions and frankly many releases that clearly show PC QC was low on their list

Sounding like a broken record here but the existence of options you don't want is not a negative. You lose nothing from them existing. If you think playing Prime 4 on Switch 2 is not worth the additional cost of the better hardware and S2 upgrade? Don't get it. Problem solved

edit: also, again with the whine about having to pay for the Switch 2 hardware itself. If you can show me a platform where zero cost physical hardware upgrades are a thing I'm all ears. But last I checked that's not a thing. And it's certainly not a thing on PC.... at least not outside of sifting through e-waste and even that costs your time....

This is an interesting metric. Let's look for right now. I'll count announced games, NSO games and semi--arbitrarily decide if a port is similar enough to count as the version which got a high metacritic score since some games have a lot of versions:

1. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (1)
2. SoulCalibur
3. Grand Theft Auto IV
4. Super Mario Galaxy (2)
5. Super Mario Galaxy 2 (3)
6. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild (4)
7. Perfect Dark (5)
8. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 3 (6)
9. Red Dead Redemption 2
10. Grand Theft Auto V
11. Metroid Prime
12. Grand Theft Auto III
13. Super Mario Odyssey (7)
14. Halo: Combat Evolved
15. NFL 2K1
16. Half-Life 2
17. BioShock
18. GoldenEye 007 (8)
19. Uncharted 2: Among Thieves
20. Resident Evil 4 (9)
21. Baldur's Gate III
22. The Orange Box
23. Tekken 3
24. Mass Effect 2
25. The House in Fata Morgana (10)
26. Elden Ring (11)
27. The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim (12)
28. Half-Life
29. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom (13)
30. The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker (14)
31. Gran Turismo
32. Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty (15)
33. Grand Theft Auto Double Pack
34. Portal: Companion Collection (16)
35. Baldur's Gate II: Shadows of (17)
36. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
37. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City
38. LittleBigPlanet
39. The Legend of Zelda Collector's Edition
40. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (18)
41. Gran Turismo 3: A-Spec
42. Halo 2
43. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask (19)
44. The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past / Four Swords (20)
45. The Last of Us
46. The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - Nintendo Switch 2 Edition (21)
47. The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
48. Madden NFL 2003
49. Persona 5 Royal (22)
50. The Last of Us Remastered
51. Red Dead Redemption (23)
52. Portal 2 (24)
53. Astro Bot
54. Final Fantasy IX (25)
55. God of War
56. Tony Hawk's Pro Skater 4
57. Elden Ring: Shadow of the Erdtree (26)
58. Devil May Cry (27)
59. Madden NFL 2002
60. Batman: Arkham City (28)
61. Metroid Prime Remastered (29)
62. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D
63. Chrono Cross
64. Madden NFL 2004
65. Gears of War
66. The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion
67. Sid Meier's Civilization II
68. Quake (30)
69. Metaphor: ReFantazio
70. Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
71. BioShock Infinite (31)
72. Halo 3
73. Ninja Gaiden Black
74. Grim Fandango
75. Super Mario Advance 4: Super Mario Bros. 3 (32)
76. Jet Set Radio (2000)
77. Metal Gear Solid (33)
78. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory
79. God of War Ragnarök
80. Resident Evil Code: Veronica
81. Burnout 3: Takedown
82. Diablo
83. Metal Gear Solid 3: Subsistence (34)
84. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
85. Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots
86. God of War (2005)
87. Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic (35)
88. Sid Meier's Civilization IV
89. Virtua Fighter 4
90. Super Smash Bros. Brawl
91. Company of Heroes (36)
92. Gran Turismo 2
93. The Last of Us Part II
94. Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell: Pandora Tomorrow
95. Grand Theft Auto: Chinatown Wars
96. Pac-Man Championship Edition DX
97. Dwarf Fortress
98. Half-Life Alyx
99. Divinity: Original Sin II
100. Unreal Tournament 2004

My count was 36, though you can argue about quite a few of the count versus don't count decisions ( e.g
when Switch only has the definitive edition but that version is lower ranked on metacritic). If you ignore versions and count everything which is approximately the same game as something on Switch, the count is around 46. A few of the unmarked games will almost certainly come to Switch 2 or NSO at some point, so we could definitely get to a point where half the top 100 metacritic games are at least sort of on Switch 2.

Random stats: Zelda is on that list 11 times which is kind of crazy. And 7 GTAs. 4 metal gear solids, 4 Marios... 3 Gran Turismo, 3 half-lifes, 3 Madden, 3 Last of Us, 3 god of war.

@FishyS you are right, the Switch/Sw2 have access to almost 50% of the top rated games. I just struggle how anyone cannot say that we’re in An Golden Era. And if you think we are not, what metric can you point to (this is not directed at you fishys, it’s rhetorical 🤣)?

Only vaguely related, but considering how few games will ever get the overwhelming praise certain older games got (probably for the best tbh), I am really happy Pacman Championship Edition DX is on that list.

If that was ported to Switch, I would've bought it immediately (I think it has every Pacman Championship game EXCEPT that one). I played it for a few hours when it had a free weekend on Steam like...a decade ago, and it was one of the most inspired gaming experiences I've maybe ever had. Only thing that's come remotely close since has been the NSO battle royal games, and even then only sometimes.

If we are talking about "objectively best" then I think it's too early to say for sure. If we mean subjectively then.... Yeah! I would only put the Wii above it for nostalgia's sake, and I'm sure most of my faves will be ported or get a sequel eventually! The first party lineup is amazing, and the S2Es are (usually) REALLY good upgrades, especially if you have the original game.

@JaxonH Agree. Nuff said

@FishyS

When you look at that top 100 you realise a PC can play just about all of them either directly as they are PC games or through emulation. In fact many games you can play enhanced on PC. Even a Steamdeck can play most of those games through the same criteria. I would say that list makes better reading for PC gaming than Nintendo. Yes the PC can't play the Switch 2 versions of Zelda TOTK and BOTW but in fact can play the Switch games at 4K 60fps with enhanced textures, more stable frame rates and a large amount of community mods to enhance those games. You get a better choice of controllers etc. I have to admit though that the list includes a lot of games I simply don't like and excludes a huge amount of my favourite games so I personally don't view it as a definitive list of great games. Lots of those games aren't that great today. I loved Quake in the day but don't find it that playable by today's standards as the gameplay is quite basic and repetitive and that is true of a lot of games there. I never liked Burnout Takedown (but love the first 2 Burnout games). I personally quickly bore of beat em ups like Virtual Fighter 4, Tekken 3 etc. The highest rated games of their time but not necessarily the best games of today. I'm getting to be quite the old fussy git though nowadays and more selective what I play. I love re-visiting my favourite games of the past than playing many new gaming experiences that don't gel with me. There is a nostalgia factor to my gaming which means emulation is important to me.

OP, you're going to get push back for being positive. It's the in thing atm to be down on Nintendo.

I use my Switch 2 every day - love it. There's interesting games releasing every month from Nintendo, third parties, indies etc.

@FishyS you missed a bunch:

GTA 3
GTA San Andreas
GTA Vice City
Chrono Cross
Grim Fandango
Bioshock
Divinity Original Sin II

I'm not the OP, but I feel that's exactly why much of this (often performative) negativity feels so jarring and cognitively dissonant. Not that every criticism is completely unfounded and tastes and experiences differ, but some people just keep hammering it while I just keep having so much fun with it.

I'm sure you could find a skilled enough person to emulate most of those on Switch 2 also. But yeah, even ignoring emulation, PC has always been great for back compatibility so I am sure it can play basically all but the exclusives. However, I believe the person I was replying to was talking about traditional consoles with games existing in their normal game stores. I didn't actually count the games for ps5 or xbox; the absurd amount of zelda on the list may or may not put Switch 2 on top.

Not sure what you mean; those are all on the list. I didn't say which ones I counted for Switch because I wasn't sure whether to count things like bad ports, but feel free to count which ones you want; it's kind of a tricky question. The top 100 was accurate the day I posted; it may have changed slightly since then.

@bixente
Agree. Dont understand why there is so much negative buzz. Ive had almost all consoles and plattforms in my near 40 years. Switch 2 is awesome and deserves more positive feedback. I combine it with a gaming laptop. Great duo.