Topic: Disappointed by the lack of new exclusives

The system gets plenty of high quality exclusives (moreso, for example, in 2021 than either of the competing platforms), but on a pure first-party front, I could see why someone would be disappointed with Switch coming off the Wii U and 3DS.

Of course, how much a given release appeals to someone is going to differ. Nothing Microsoft has released this year does anything for me, but a lot of Xbox owners seem happy at the moment. Meanwhile, I'm sure the influx of JRPGs, remasters, and arguably more niche releases like Astral Chain, Metroid, etc. doesn't do it for a lot of people, but I've been pretty happy with the overall output on the system, even if most of that isn't attributable to the efforts of first-party Nintendo developers.

@faint Thank you. If you want to look at a Nintendo platform that was a port machine, see the GBA. There were so many less original games (especially from the major, well known IPs, although to be fair the GBA had less IPs to choose from than the Switch) and tons of NES/SNES remakes. There wasn't even an original Mario game for crying out loud! There were remakes of 3 different Mario games (and a 4th "Mario game" that was called a Mario game but really a spinoff that began the Yoshi series), but no original, built from the ground up main series Mario game. 10 year old me enjoyed the GBA because I didn't know at the time that many of those games were remakes (I started with the N64, so I did not know the NES and SNES' lineups), but looking back at it now knowing that many of these games previously existed on older consoles, I have a less positive opinion of the GBA (still a good one, just less good).

@BlueOcean The Metacritic list? Yeah no, because it's not comprehensive and what ranks high or low is still an opinion, just an aggregated opinion. Also, you're putting a lot of weight on certain IPs being developed by non-Nintendo developers, which doesn't really matter all that much. Nintendo still owns the IPs so they're Nintendo games, they're just seeking outside help because their internal studios aren't big enough to work on all of their IPs. Which is something Microsoft and Sony do too, Nintendo is not unique there.

The list you really need to be looking at is this one:

I might've missed a few super niche titles here, but this is fairly comprehensive. Other than that, this is all, 100% fact, anything further than this is just opinions.

Are you okay? This is sure a lot of random talking points piled into one post that don't seem to be directed at anybody in particular.

Anyway, you're allowed to be disappointed with Nintendo. We're allowed not to be. And, if you post your grievances, we're allowed to respond.

You're going to get dialogue if you post in an open forum. Just like I would if I went onto PureXbox and posted about how much I think Microsoft's output still sucks.

Just to chip in (and apologies if this has already been brought up), but as much as I love all the games that have been released so far for the Switch (and I have a decent backlog growing!), I am genuinely curious what’s going on with the Mario and Zelda teams:

• BotW — a brand new Zelda game, the first open world game the team ever made and the first HD Zelda they ever made, took them 5.25 years judging by how Skyward Sword was released in 2011 (and it was arguably done by 5 years at least but was delayed for the Switch launch).

BotW 2, a game reusing assets already made in the first BotW, on a system they already developed for, is taking them … also 5.25 years, if not more.

Why is a game reusing assets from a previous title taking just as long, if not longer, than making a ground up open world game for the first time in HD?

• Another example: Mario Odyssey. It came out 4 years after Super Mario 3D World, and was a sandbox game on a brand new system. It’s been 4 years, and so far … no games from the team. Why is it taking longer than 4 years to make a new game when the team took four years to make a brand new sandbox game on a brand new system they didn’t have much experience with at the time?

Not complaining at all, I’m not familiar wirh game development so I understand these things take time and I’d rather they take their time and make a masterpiece than rush things. But comparing the previous games’ timelines to now, especially with the consolidation of teams, makes me scratch my head as to what’s going on.

@BlueOcean
You are and have always been the king of assumptions, my friend. And if you consider Odyssey a "small" game (again - what a ridiculous term in the first place), you are officially off your rocker in my book. But you seem to get your jollies from this, so follow your passion or whatever they say these days.

@NEStalgia
Again, what in the world is a "small" game according to you people?

You bring up indies. Guess what? Let's hypothetically say I consider Hades a "small" game because it didn't take me long to beat. But I have a feeling you'd disagree with me because of the unlockables and the true ending to achieve. But how many of these so-called "small" Nintendo games fit into exactly the same mold? Warioware, for instance, you can beat in under five hours easily. But it will take you scores of hours to actually unlock everything.

Furthermore, what gives you the ground to say a game like Warioware (or Dread, or whatever crazy stuff you're throwing out there) didn't have long dev times and incredible efforts from everyone on the dev team?

This is one big head scratcher to me.

@shadow-wolf It's important to remember that the pandemic has probably radically thrown off their schedule. They may have intended for BotW2 and Odyssey 2 to release in 2020/2021 but the pandemic added a year or two onto their development time. Odyssey 2 might also have been extended because of Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, they might have taken some time away to work on the Bowser's Fury mode.

For games like Luigi's Mansion 3, Metroid Dread, etc. why is it so hard to understand that top tier Nintendo directors are involved? It's not all that different than in-house development, just with a different staff of capable artists and coders. No discredit to Next Level Games or Mercury Steam but if Nintendo says yes it's yes and if Nintendo says no it's no. In-house or not doesn't matter in the slightest.
Should Nintendo invite a 100+ man team to Japan for 4 or 5 years for basically the same results, just so they're "in-house"?
I don't get it.

And furthermore, if in-house Metroid Dread isn't good enough it gets cancelled. And it gets restarted. Over and over again until acceptable results come in. That's exactly what happened in the 19 years of time since Metroid Fusion's release. Even Koei Tecmo's Other M was better than in-house Dread.
Why is in-house such a huge deal?
In-house always was reserved for just mainline Mario and Zelda games, and "innovations" for the mass market.

Do all those self-titled long-time fans have amnesia? I want to hear about one Nintendo console where things were actually different.
Thing is, you cannot name one single Nintendo console where this kind of stuff was significantly different.
If you do a side-by-side comparision, cherry-picking all in-house titles it would open your eyes that Switch's release ratio of in-house games is just the same as it's always been.

I find these discussions on Switch's lack of exclusives always boil down to excluding x game for arbitrary reason y. If the same amount of scrutiny was applied to previous consoles as is applied to the Switch, would we also not end up with pathetically small lists of games? What "big" games have Nintendo developed in-house that aren't just Mario, Mario Kart and Zelda in the past 20 years? (seeing as people are willing to exclude just about everything else at this point)

Good point, well made.

You know who should really be mad? The folks who sold their Gameboy Pocket to buy a Gameboy Color when it launched.

I think this thread just useless to complain about lack of specific 1st party exclusives on Nintendo Switch.
I mean you still disappointed by the current release 1st party games and what exactly are you looking for ?
Still feeling salty for not having a lot of 3D Mario and Zelda games and complaining their status (ported / originally on Switch) ?
Are they just the only games you want to play and deny the other 1st party games and 3rd party games ?
Dude, try to mix it up !
Play other games that you have never played before, expand your gaming horizon.
Don't just stuck on Mario or Zelda games only !

It's not really the same. Nintendo developed a lot of games for SNES, fewer for N64 for some reason, many for NGC, including the last Wave Race game we've seen, tons for Wii and even for Wii U, considering the short life Nintendo gave it. On Switch, the list consists of few (relevant) games developed by Nintendo and tons of Wii U/3DS ports. Does it matter? For the OP it does. For those that skipped Wii U/3DS, the selection is much more interesting, of course. The two important conclusions on topic are, first of all, the lack of exclusive games developed by Nintendo for Switch and the disappointment of some people like the OP and others that follow with the quality of them (Animal Crossing, etc.). Secondly, what have Nintendo been doing as a developer since Switch, or before, because Wii U didn't get games developed by Nintendo for one year before the Switch released? The conclusion is that Nintendo have done very little as a developer since 2016 and, the games that they have developed since then are divisive (for fans, not for the media): Breath of the Wild (lack of dungeons, changes in gameplay, lack of interesting quests, reused assets for shrines and enemies...), Super Mario Odyssey (level design), Animal Crossing New Horizons (lack of content), Splatoon 2 (Wii U expansion), Super Mario Maker 2 (Wii U expansion) and so on. Okay, they also made Arms, Snipperclips, WarioWare and Sushi Strike.

@BlueOcean But this is where "arbitrary reason y" comes in. Divisive? Maybe amongst some crowds online.

Breath of the Wild is divisive? So were Majora's Mask, Wind Waker, Twlight Princess, and Skyward Sword.

Super Mario Odyssey I've heard relatively less criticism about...but also not everyone loved 3D World, the two Galaxy games, or especially Sunshine. I wouldn't call it anymore divisive than any another game in the series.

I'll give you Animal Crossing - however as divisive as it may be amongst some die-hard fans, it was the first game in a while to truly shake up the formula, and it's also the farthest reaching in the series.

And where do we draw the lines between true sequels and "[insert console here] expansions"? I can understand reuse of assets being a bit factor here. But then I also saw someone earlier dismiss Luigi's Mansion 3 as an HD 3DS game. If that's the case how is Paper Mario TTYD not an updated N64 game? How is Super Mario World not a prettied up NES game?

@Buizel Super Mario World has an original flawless level design, it's not just prettier. I get what you mean now about arbitrary reasons but that's why I separated the conclusions into fewer in-house games, divisive games and what have been Nintendo doing as a developer. I only added the divisive argument because it was discussed from the beginning. Some people suggested that the Switch entries are the best in their respective franchises and some people chimed in to say they are not. They truly are not if you ask me. Super Mario Odyssey is not the best Mario 3D game, Breath of the Wild is not the best The Legend of Zelda game (and it's a Wii U game, anyway), New Horizons isn't better than New Leaf and so on. Splatoon 2 and Super Mario Maker 2, you can't deny they're basically Wii U expansions using the same assets and adding few things that could have been added to the Wii U entries via DLC. Even the battle mode (the only new thing) of Mario Kart 8 DX should have been added as DLC to the original game because that battle mode was better on SNES, N64, CG and Wii than on Wii U so something was missing right from the start, as noticed by reviewers and fans.

@BlueOcean
"New Horizons isn't better than New Leaf"

ACNH is waaaaaay....much better than ACNL.

@Anti-Matter That's what I said if you ask me. If I ask you, New Horizons is the best Animal Crossing game and I don't complain about that opinion of yours whenever you say it. Your main argument on this thread is that there are other games to enjoy but, firstly, that's not the topic and, secondly, you don't apply the same logic when talking about the Xbox library.

@BlueOcean Sorry, I clearly made the mistake of talking to you like you're a rational adult and not the sad internet troll you clearly are (or have become). We've interacted in the past, so I wanted to give you the benefit of the doubt, but obviously that was a mistake.

Sayonara.

Reflect upon what you said, how childish you are behaving and then ask yourself who's a troll. Certainly, I am not.