But critically in that first year when the games to play were titles RDR, GTA5, The Last of Us? The Wii U had.... Zombi U?
And to be clear, having played it since, I feel like ZombiU was a delightful little hidden gem. But I remember them marketing it like it was some big system seller at the time, which it just simply wasn’t.
Besides a few great but not-great-enough WiiU exclusives like ZombiU in the early days, third party support mostly consisted of downscaled releases of 2+ year old games. To be fair, Switch has had a lot of that too, but the novelty of Skyrim-But-Portable has had an enduring appeal that just wasn’t possible with the WiiU.
I'd think that the difference with the Switch is that the hybrid nature of the platform gives you new ways to play those old games where the Wii U doesn't, unless you're specifically looking for the ability to play games off the TV while still in line of sight of the console.
As such, the Wii U's software problem is really more of a hardware one in that most of the games worth playing on it got a heck of a lot more attractive to people once ported to the Switch.
@Matt_Barber
It was certainly a few things, and the Switch being properly portable did add value. But one of the fundamental problems with the Wii U was the lack of software early on. If it had launched with Mario Kart 8 and BotW maybe it doesn't become a smash hit like the Switch but I doubt it falls off a cliff as fast as it did
Fundamentally people buy consoles to play games. Whether that's via backwards compatibility, with enhanced versions or with ports. Whether it's an exclusive, times exclusive or a multiplatform title. What matters is that this hardware product opens up additional opportunities or an improved experience playing the games they want to play. The Switch offered that, the Wii U didn't. Switch 2 I expect will do fine in this regard
I'd think that the difference with the Switch is that the hybrid nature of the platform gives you new ways to play those old games where the Wii U doesn't, unless you're specifically looking for the ability to play games off the TV while still in line of sight of the console.
As such, the Wii U's software problem is really more of a hardware one in that most of the games worth playing on it got a heck of a lot more attractive to people once ported to the Switch.
Well, the Switch expands where and when you can play with only needing 1 platform. Back in the Wii or Wii U days, me and my kids could still play while we were out and about. We couldn't play our Wii or Wii U while traveling. But we could play our DS. So Nintendo still had us covered back then. Just in a different way.
Of course Switch is better. But we weren't left completely hanging in the Wii / Wii U days.
And the Gamepad came in really handy with my kids back then. We only had 1 TV. And neither had any ipod or phone yet. So if one of them wanted to watch a show and the other wanted to game, they could play a game on either our Wii or Wii U and the other could watch Netflex on the other system. I can't tell you how often that happened.
So not quite the setup / benefit of the Switch but for us a big step in the right direction.
@Matt_Barber
It was certainly a few things, and the Switch being properly portable did add value. But one of the fundamental problems with the Wii U was the lack of software early on. If it had launched with Mario Kart 8 and BotW maybe it doesn't become a smash hit like the Switch but I doubt it falls off a cliff as fast as it did
Fundamentally people buy consoles to play games. Whether that's via backwards compatibility, with enhanced versions or with ports. Whether it's an exclusive, times exclusive or a multiplatform title. What matters is that this hardware product opens up additional opportunities or an improved experience playing the games they want to play. The Switch offered that, the Wii U didn't. Switch 2 I expect will do fine in this regard
This lines up with how I saw the Wii U.
I held off getting the Wii U until I saw that Mario Kart and Super Smash were coming out for it.
So I didn't consider it until 2 years in.
I also waited for Super Smash to appear for Switch before getting one. I was happy that it only took 1 year for the Switch, not 2 like the Wii U.
I appreciate the Switches ability to be both a set-top and handheld gaming machine.
Set-top means we can play games as a family or group. Like the fighting games or co-op games. But then can play handheld by ourselves when we want.
And being a single platform, we have bought more games for it than we have for any of our other Nintendo platforms.
But for the Switch 2, if it doesn't have any games we want to play then no matter how good the hardware is I'm not going to want it.
It's like I was thinking of picking up an old PlayStation to play Gran Turismo on it. But when I looked through the games on PS, GT was the only game that I would want to get, so no matter how good the PS hardware was, there wasn't games there for me to personally want to get a PS.
I didn't find a good racing game on Wii U, so I would actually fire up our old Game Cube for that. But the Switch has a bunch of nice racing games. I've picked up quite a few along the way.
I feel that era was a case of whatever systems were able to take advantage of Don Mattrick crippling the Xbox brand in May/June 2013, got a huge boost. The 3DS library in 2013 was extremely strong. PS3 got TLoU which turned out to be a huge hit and PS4's marketing focused on making it very clear Sony weren't making the same mistakes as Xbox. For example this ad about how to share games on PS4:
Nintendo E3 2013 sold me on Wii U though I do get that MK8 needed to be a 1st half of 2013 game for the console to be more successful.
Nintendo Forecast is often good, they just did a video covering what we happened to be discussing over the last several pages
Some bullet points from it:
1. Switch 2, and Nintendo in general, have an incumbency advantage. Could've been an even bigger advantage had the Switch 2 come out earlier but still, it's an advantage regardless
2. Diminishing returns in improving specs, especially in portables, negates the key advantage competitors might have over Nintendo in the portable space. And that's only going to be more true as the years progress
3. Nintendo's exclusive IP is another major advantage Nintendo has, which won't go away
4. Any Sony portable would be a few years away and there's nothing stopping Nintendo from making the Switch 2 cycle shorter than Switch and throwing something more experimental to the market should Sony look to be threatening in 2028 or so
Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions
@Grumblevolcano E3 2013's lineup for the Wii U was really endemic of my issues with the Wii U's entire lineup, and I think I may not be alone in feeling this way considering the sales of the related games and consoles. What really got me was that Iwata teased ahead of time that we would be getting a 3D Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Bros., and "a beloved series by Retro Studios". That kind of created a false sense of expectations that weren't really met by what we actually got, particularly for the 1st and 4th on that list.
For the 3D Mario, console 3D Mario games up until that point felt like grand affairs, with large sweeping environments that are usually fairly open, explorable affairs with exotic locations with unusual environments and inhabitants and bold gameplay experiments. 3D World... was pretty much the antithesis of what we'd come to expect from games like 64, Sunshine, and Galaxy. It was linear and enclosed (yeah Galaxy had some linearity too, but it still had some explorable levels). It was very generic feeling, even though it was technically a new location being the Sprixie Kingdom, it looked and felt very much like a generic Mushroom Kingdom game. It did little to build on or change things up from previous games, just the same old Mario gameplay we'd seen for the last 10ish years (yes it had a few unique gimmicks, but gimmicks only spice things up for the duration of the level, and most of the gimmicks were just lifted from Galaxy 2 anyway). They definitely seemed to have lost sight of what people liked from 3D Mario with that game. Now yes, we did have 3D Land on the 3DS that set the tone for 3D World. Thing is though, 3D Land felt more like a side project than the main event for 3D Mario. It was on a handheld, which had never gotten an original 3D Mario before. So without any kind of precedent for what a handheld 3D Mario would be like, it felt reasonable to have a more constrained and simplistic affair on a handheld like the 3DS. It didn't feel reasonable to extend that to console, and in fact 3D World did little to build on 3D Land anyway and the 3D games were starting to feel like NSMB: 3D Edition. So 3D World felt like the exact wrong direction for 3D Mario, and it was a tremendous letdown for that to be the flagship (and by the end, only) 3D Mario game for Wii U rather than something like Odyssey or even Galaxy.
Then as far as Retro, I think it was a mistake to hint towards Tropical Freeze "a beloved series by Retro". Because there was another beloved series by Retro, one that felt due for a new entry around that time (and still hasn't gotten one thanks to development hell). That series was Metroid Prime. Because to Westerners, Metroid Prime seems to be a much bigger deal than DK. I've even seen some fans say they consider Metroid Prime to be part of the "Big 3" for Nintendo alongside 3D Mario and 3D Zelda (in some ways this is perhaps erroneous because that's DEFINITELY not true sales wise, but in terms of these being the big, explorable, AAA experiences that Western gamers typically gravitate to, I could see why they would think that). I don't think Nintendo was very cognizant of this sort of difference in perception between Japanese fans and Western fans, from what I've seen the story of Metroid's sales seems to come down to Japanese fans not liking Metroid but Westerners loving it. So in the eyes of Westerners teasing a "beloved Retro series" that isn't Metroid Prime feels like a troll move.
But even beyond what Tropical Freeze wasn't, what it was wasn't very impressive either and I honestly find it to be overrated. Like with 3D World, it has that sort of NSMB stink on it of not really doing much to build upon its predecessors. Gameplay wise it's largely just DKCR with co-op and the return of some mechanics that were cut in DKCR (and they STILL haven't caught up with what's in the original trilogy because they still didn't bring back the combo moves from DKC2 and 3 or any Animal Buddies not named Rambi). It doesn't really have the feeling of a new, original entry in the series. It feels more like DKCR 1.5 rather than a full 2. So even putting aside my disappointment that it wasn't the IP I was waiting for, it wasn't even the direction I wanted for DK.
These two games in particular showcase my one big complaint with the Wii U's lineup in general and another issue with the software that I don't think gets discussed enough. The Wii U's single player adventure games trended more towards rehashy, NSMB-esque linear platformers that mainly just recycled what they did in previous entries on the Wii/3DS and a lack of open, 3D adventure games that emphasize exploration. The 2D platformers all felt more like NSMB when I was looking more for a Mario Wonder type of experience. And there was next to nothing original for people like me who grew up with experiences like Mario 64/Sunshine, OoT, Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie, or Metroid Prime. Nintendo largely gave that kind of fanbase the middle finger during the Wii U era. And I think that actually hurt sales of the Wii U, many of the more open/explorable types of games tend to be among the highest sellers (this is why we've seen so many open world games lately). By ignoring them they fed into the narrative that the Wii U was a "kiddie" console that couldn't handle those types of experiences. So they were definitely leaving money on the table by neglecting those sorts of genres/gameplay styles.
At first glance they look like they’re just regular white Switch Joy-Cons, but they look different here (they look more rounded by the sides, bigger SL/SR buttons and an extra button on the R Joy-Con). Not sure if this is anything to go by for how they’ll actually look, but this could be how Switch 2 Joy-Cons look.
@MrCarlos46
I think the video they ripped those photos from is accurate but only because this information has already leaked and they're copying it. I'm not convinced this "new" leak is anything more than someone repackaging stuff that is already out there
Some playlists: Top All Time Songs, Top Last Year
An opinion is only respectable if it can be defended. Respect people, not opinions
Everyone has their take on the Race to the top and that is fine as Nintendo doesn't need to do that. BC is one word that has yet to set in stone or Nintendo even saying the next console is BC with past cart games. Not everyone can go and rebuy the same game.
Front and Rear Camera and Mic to use in-game chats or headsets/mic options without having to use a phone to do that. I think other then GPU upgrade would make this different experiences. I made my views on what it needs but a Camera FR/BK/Mic would improve it features.
Forums
Topic: "Nintendo Switch 2" what improvement's should the next Console have?
Nintendo Switch 2 is finally here, check out our guide: Nintendo Switch 2 Guide: Ultimate Resource.
Posts 281 to 297 of 297
Please login or sign up to reply to this topic