Topic: The Nintendo Switch Thread

@Heavyarms55 I never said WiiU failed because of that. (It failed because of poor marketing and popularity mindset. Combined with dev abandonment or outright rejection.)

I quoted a line that references that the best vc system Nintendo made was the Wiiu. Which is true. And nobody bought it (as in that didn’t make it popular and people complained during the wiiu era about the VC anyway). Which is also true.

The point is VC is not a system seller. It didn’t save the WiiU and it won’t make the switch fare too much better by its inclusion. Many of the people that the VC systems cater to have bought those games a few times already. Or there are game collections that do the same thing for cheaper and less red tape for Nintendo. VC is a system feature but it doesn’t have nearly the weight that Nintendo diehards think it does. In part because legal logistics make perfect VC impossible. For every person that wants super mario world someone else may want some random hidden gem that can’t be offered instead or was locked to region. Either way too much weight is placed on VC by people too close to the hobby to look at the bigger picture.

The current methods are more viable as a revenue stream. The mini systems were good nostalgia hits for the masses and the NSO route is an added feature that is updated at Nintendo’s pace and is tacked on to an annual revenue stream.

@link3710
Pokémon Directs are always presented week or two before or after a Nintendo Direct. Why would it be any different this time?

@Ryu_Niiyama Okay it's fair to argue that, you didn't say it failed because of it. I would not however agree that it is not a system seller. I would argue that it, alone, is not a system seller. The Wii U was marketed poorly to begin with. The average consumer didn't even know it was its own system, let alone that VC was a major part of it. You cannot count on a feature to save a system when the majority of people don't even know that feature is there!

Building viable emulators for the system and then releasing games that run on those emulators is a valid strategy, people can and will buy those games. They just can't be the only ones. You can't rely on retro content to keep a new device afloat.

Anyone saying people wouldn't be buying NES/SNES/N64/GC/GB/GBC/GBA/DS games on Switch priced between 5 and 20 dollars is just wrong.

I'm leaning towards mid February for the general Direct now with DLC 5 also being then given the Pokemon Direct and that Smash got an update which adds support for the Dark Samus and Richter amiibo. Was thinking if Direct was next week then Smash DLC would be shadow dropped and the amiibo compatibility happening at the same time as 7.0.0.

Animal Crossing dedicated Direct could be January though.

@Ryu_Niiyama
Flat out buying a game on VC is in the long run far better for the consumer than renting yearly. As the current model is you may be able to play the games you want but you'd also have to sacrifice precious memory space for games you'd never touch since to get all of the games with NSO. It's all about choices for the consumer. If you only want to play retro games on switch go ahead! A mix? That's good too! Options for people who wouldn't play online? Yep!

If the setup was like other games on the shop you could just go through the app and purchase individual games (or rent through nso) or transfer previously purchased content.

@rallydefault The hardware is probably obsolete, so they'd have to create a separate factory line for old hardware alone. Probably. Otherwise someone would've done it, right?

Though, now that I think about it. Die-hard collectors will still hunt after the original models and not the repros. And fans of retro games probably already own one of those 5-in-1 emulator boxes for convenience. I think the market is just too small to afford doing it.

@Heavyarms55 which means it isn't a system seller. Perhaps you are using "system seller" differently than I am and that seems to be the sticking point, here. I am a very literal and practical woman, I also rarely make speculative statements based on what I wish for Nintendo to do from a fan perspective (I may spit out one liners in the comments sections of articles but its usually not speculation). I look at things as a consumer of products (not brand loyalty, as that has no bearing on discussion as it is highly subjective. It's also not imo productive to beat a dead horse or cathartic.) and what I think Nintendo might do from a business perspective. I don't care about what the "fans" want and don't take that into account when I make a statement, because fandom is horribly fractured and cannibalistic and as an outsider without insider knowledge to Nintendo's profit margins or projects it is useless to account for that.

"System Seller" to me means a feature that will compel a significant number of users to buy a system. Full stop. If it doesn't do that (which again VC didn't and at best was only a system seller during the wii era when the premise seemed limitless rather than hobbled by licensing/ownership issues) then it is not a system seller. It is a feature. Just because some people want it to be a system seller or mistakenly think its a system seller because it is for them... that doesn't match up at all with sales figures.That doesn't mean there is not money to be made on that feature but perhaps they need to look at how to better leverage that for profit margins (which I feel Nintendo has already made that adjustment with NSO). Even during the Wii heyday it wasn't pivotal enough to warrant most of the investment/licensing. If you look at most of the download charts it is the same games all the time, so rather than pushing a service and courting outside companies, Nintendo is better off doing what they are doing now from a profit perspective; release what they have a license to or can get access to cheaply as a add on to NSO (which users need to buy anyway for its primary feature...to play on line...just like live or PSN) and let the other companies decide if collections are worth their time to release. So far it has worked out. Capcom, Konami. Sega and Namco are dumping their back catalog with what I would assume to be a smaller overhead since they aren't paying eshop and whatever is involved with VC licensing. Many of those games are games that we didn't even get with VC, so collections can also open up the interest to port titles that may not sell as a stand alone (and be a poor ROI) but might be easier to tack on to a collection and still return some profit as consumers often look at quantity first (listening to mainstream consumers whine about fighting game roster size is a good example of that) anyway.

I'm also not arguing a point here. I made an observation using a quote that is in line with that observation, clarified when you seemed to misinterpret what I said. This is my final response on this, which is merely me expounding upon the statement I already made. I have no intention of derailing the thread more than needed over this. Have a good day.

Edit: Not going to make this any longer than it needs to be, but my tone to the above is neutral. I've clearly stated my position twice and have been misunderstood each time. However, I won't allow my words to be shaded with a tone that is not present.

@Toy_Link Eh? That doesn't sound right. I know they're usually a couple weeks before E3, but I swore the Sword and Shield reveal in February last year took place long before the next general direct.

@link3710
It took place two weeks after a general Nintendo Direct. There's never been a Pokemon Direct, months away from a normal Nintendo Direct, always about one or two weeks before or after a general Direct.

Ooh, so a normal direct should be in a week or 2, @Toy_Link ... ? That's hopeful!

@link3710 @Toy_Link These are the previous Pokemon Directs and the Directs surrounding them:

Nintendo Direct - December 5th 2012
Pokemon Direct - January 8th 2013
Wii U Direct - January 23rd 2013

Nintendo Direct - August 7th 2013
Wonderful 101 Direct - August 9th 2013
Pokemon Direct - September 4th 2013
Wii Fit U Direct - September 18th 2013
Nintendo Direct - October 1st 2013

Pokemon Direct - February 26th 2016
Nintendo Direct - March 3rd 2016

Pokemon Direct - June 6th 2017
Nintendo Spotlight E3 2017 - June 13th 2017

Nintendo Direct - February 13th 2019
Pokemon Direct - February 27th 2019

Pokemon Direct - June 5th 2019
Nintendo Direct E3 2019 - June 11th 2019

So it would suggest 1 of 2 possibilities:

• Normal Direct within the next 2 weeks
• Animal Crossing Direct in January followed by normal Direct in February

@Toy_Link Ah okay, that makes more sense then.

I'm still gut feeling nothing until April, but that's mostly because we've had an unusual run of competence from Nintendo lately in handling things.

@Grumblevolcano Yeah I think that makes sense. I'm thinking that there would be a regular Direct in a couple weeks at most, then a New Horizons Direct in February or March. Mario Kart 8's Direct came out a whole month before the game released on Wii U, so New Horizons might have a similar situation to MK8.

@Heavyarms55
I won't buy old games on modern consoles, generally, even if they're like a few bucks. I just think it's dumb. I bought my new console to play new games, not old games on legacy systems.

@Octane
That hardware is definitely obsolete. I don't know if that would make production ridiculously cheap or ridiculously difficult. I feel like common sense substitutions could be made to make it easier/possible.

I don't know. Seems like a gold mine just waiting to be tapped.

Funny is the complete opposite for me. I don't really like most of the newest games that have released this gen so Switch constantly getting ports from the PS3/Xbox 360 era is a dream come true and i hope they keep coming. Hell, the ports will only increase the moment the PS5 and Xbox X come out because no way in hell studios will be able to port those games to the Switch

@rallydefault
It does save plugin space, controllers, no need for older TVs, cart/disc storage etc. If they only realized the potential gold mine they are just sitting on. Sure beats illegal emulation, if they aren't doing anything about it then they shouldn't really complain when we do.

@rallydefault That's perfectly fine for you, but you are not representative of everyone else.

@Ryu_Niiyama My goodness you are cross! Well whatever then. Good day to you too!

@Heavyarms55 I don’t know if your trolling or you don’t know what it means.
@rallydefault wasn’t representing everyone, he said ‘I’ as in his/her opinion and @ryu_niiyama also gave a lengthy reply to you because you just didn’t understand.

@Heavyarms55
Same to you, my friend. You do understand that duality, right? Your viewpoint is also not the be-all.

Well I gotta finish my sword and shield games now. Ugh 😩