Topic: Are Nintendo slacking on the graphics front?

I realize people don't primarily go to Nintendo for graphics, and I'm glad they don't try to just directly compete with Playstation like they used to in the Gamecube days, but I still like attractive games that wow me with visuals (either in terms of advanced graphical effects, impressive amounts of detail in 3D environments, or just with interesting art style and design), and I think Nintendo do have some incredible talent in this department.

But I can't help feeling that they're not quite reaching the heights they're capable of at the moment. I noticed this the other day when a family member asked me to show them how advanced the graphics were on the Switch, and all of the games I instinctively reached for were released in 2017 (they were BotW, Odyssey, Splatoon 2 and Xenoblade 2).

This got me thinking, have they released anything post 2017 that seems on the cutting edge graphics wise? The only example I could think of was Luigi's Mansion 3. I'm not including second or third party stuff here, even if it's exclusive like Astral Chain. I'm talking primarily about Nintendo-owned developers.

@Dezzy I'm trying to think of games they've released which aren't ports of Wii U games. I think the trouble is, the developers that usually push the limits graphics wise are monolithsoft and retro studios. They've not had a great deal of 'new' games recently.

@Wargoose

Yeah I expect quite a few future releases will impress. Metroid Prime 4 will probably be quite impressive, the Breath of the Wild sequel will probably look similar to the original but with some new additions (and therefore quite good), the action RPG Monolithsoft are working on will probably look pretty good.

I seriously hope that the next Fire Emblem and the next Pokemon (which are both almost guaranteed to be Switch games), show some major improvements on the visual front too. Those 2 really disappointed me.

@Dezzy Gameplay is king, graphics are window dressing... But you’re right that a lot of the prettiest games came in the first year or so. BotW, Odyssey, XC2, Splatoon 2, even Kirby SA...

Luigi’s Mansion 3 is certainly the standout since then - but how many top-tier first-party titles have been released since early 2018?

Smash is a good-looking game, and runs beautifully. Xenoblade Chronicles DE looks good - especially compared with the original. Pokemon Mystery Dungeon has a delightful art style - but it’s not impressive, just pretty.

Then there’s Yoshi’s Crafted World, or whatever it’s called - one of the forgotten first-party games. Great graphics, but so-so gameplay - hence everyone forgets about it. I refer you to my opening comment!

I can't see Game Freak doing anything that is graphically impressive to be honest at least without simplifying other areas of the games.

Link's Awakening and Paper Mario were lovely looking even if they were simple.

Bahahah!

Have you played Origami King? Seriously beautiful stuff going on there.

@Dezzy I think nintendo's underpowered console approach bites them in the butt in game market. Game library is a big factor when deciding which console buy. Sure, nintendo brand games can get away with less power, but it hurts their game library when the latest games outside of nintendo brand cannot run on the their console. I think nintendo's underpowered approach is more problematic now, three years into the console life, and will be exacerbated as third party game companies design new games for next gen consoles that arrive this year, widening the console technology gap.

I don't know why everyone's so stunned by this claim.

The graphical improvement from Pokemon X&Y to Pokemon Sun&Moon was pretty large imo. There's clearly room for an equally large improvement from Sword&Shield to the next game.

Yes, the 2 other games that have been mentioned are Paper Mario and Yoshi's Crafted World. I accept both of those are impressive graphically, although both rely heavily on style more than anything else. Very different kind of appeal to games like Breath of the Wild or Xenoblade 2 (which are the kinds of things I'm primarily interested in: big detailed open 3D worlds)

Super Smash Bros Ultimate, New Super Mario Bros U Deluxe, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe, Arms I believe are all of Nintendo's first party 1080p 60fps games. Yes most of those are either launch titles and or Wii u ports.

Then we have the 1080p games with constant frame rates like ACNH, Luigi and Kirby but Links Awakening suffered inconsistent frame rates.

Then we have the games that lowered the resolution to keep 60fps. Splatoon 2 (900p) Odyssey (900p) Paper Mario (900p) Mario Tennis Aces (900p) Yoshi (675p)
I love frame rate but the worse a resolution gets the worse it looks on my 4k tv. In fact I gave up playing Nintendo games on my 4k tv and bought 1080p monitors.

Finally there is BOTW which runs at 900p resolution and a frame rate all over the place. Thank god the game is so good that people generally don't bring those things up. But that basically means you need to make a near perfect game to make up for Nintendo's hardware limitations.

The hardware is a problem. But I'd prefer simpler graphics if that's what's needed to make sure games run at 1080p 60fps.

@sixrings It’s not called “Super Smash Bros. Deluxe”.
It’s called Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.

@sixrings yeah, switch resolution is exacerbated on 4k tv. I agree. I can tolerate it, but it's not desirable.

"Are Nintendo slacking on the graphics front?"

No, they aren't.

@crashcontrol thank you for the correction while adding nothing useful to the conversation. Well maybe if your attempts were to derail the thread.

Nintendo actually proves that most gamers do not put graphics in first place.

Yes, Nintendo games do not look like TLOU2, Spider-Man and God of War but still they own in their exclusives department.

@Zuljaras maybe. But I'd prefer to imagine all Nintendo games in the same art style running at 1080p 60fps. One day. One day.

@sixrings Probably with Switch 3 Pro it could happen

@ThanosReXXX this whole thread reminds me of your forum signature

@Apportal Good, that's exactly the reason why I came up with it in the first place...

@Dezzy I don't know how graphically advanced they are (the thing is basically a handheld, remember), but Link's Awakening, Paper Mario, and Yoshi's Crafted World (despite the insanely low res it runs at) are pleasing to the eye.