Topic: Do you think it's our fault that Nintendo has gone lifeless and bland with the Switch?

In terms of UI I guess for performance sake. But at the same time I guess to seem appealing to the mainstream too. I mean how many bland menus do we see in games whether OS level of game level, streaming services, phones and more.

Even then their casual games have hit and miss execution of content and updates either so hmmmm not sure. The personality depends.

I won't deny critics or fan feedback can but not sure. More so games then the console I think. That and I think less side stuff on the console is interesting and more dev time elsewhere.

The designs of phones are so pathetic I can't tell the difference or care to even own one then for music/emu and that's it their so boring (besides the 'you have to have one to talk to people' barely use it for that or want to use it for that anyway).

while yes the wii u doesn't have music its still a really good console without and its a improvement form the wii u so lets say you don't like the switch because of the loading screen being black instead of a game artwork well its goes a lot faster so lets not get to fiesty

@squisan But the DSi menu was also pretty bland. The music was pretty calming, ngl

Honestly the Switch era was pretty bland. Nearly every series toned down on it's personality.

However, ever since Mario Wonder, we've been seeing some more personality. The weird wackiness of SMB Wonder, bringing back niche IP like Another Code and Endless Ocean, the uniqueness of Super Mario RPG, Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door, and Mario & Luigi: Brothership, Princess Peach Showtime giving a character a well-deserved spotlight, Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom bringing back 2D Zelda and giving Zelda a spotlight, Super Mario Party Jamboree being a very ambitious game compared to the past several Mario Parties, and probably more I'm forgetting.

Nintendo may not have as much personality as it used to, but I see some of the blandness disappearing. The best indicator in my opinion is that we've had New Super Mario Bros. ever since 2006. They've been using pretty much the same branding/engine/art style until 2023 with Mario Wonder.

The Switch's UI is still pretty bland but hopefully the next console is better with that! Hopefully we get some music next time!

Nope, I’d never say that it’s the consumers fault the Switch is bland in terms of stuff like the UI. I don’t particularly mind a console being minimalistic or “boring,” but I do think I miss how Nintendo was during the 3DS and WiiU era from a decade ago. While some of their adverts for the WiiU did come off as cringy sometimes, I think it had more charm and memorability, and really showed off their silly side. I can recall a few notable videos and moments from that decade; I can still remember that silly short video with Reggie, Miyamoto and Iwata as puppets and them turning into Star Fox characters, the cheesy delivery of the line “It’s a double Yoshi exploshi!” from an ad for Yoshi’s Wooly World, and that Robot Chicken sketch they included in their 2014 Digital Event where Reggie uses a fire flower and sets a guy on fire for asking for Mother 3.

It just seemed to me that Nintendo was more open and had some kind of charm back ten years ago that also fit their family friendly image. They did show with some of their consoles and not just their ads, like the jovial music that played as you browsed the WiiU and 3DS eShops that I believe changed every month, and whenever you landed on a game on the 3DS, some charming little sound or jingle would play. Miiverse I’d say was interesting and fun too, but given that it was pretty much the WiiU’s answer to social media, I can imagine that some of the posts there got out of hand or were downright questionable. UIs for some past consoles did look boring sometimes, but I think they were less bland than the one we got for the Switch.

I wouldn’t say it’s an obligation they have to inject charm or some type of personality into the console since Nintendo is, of course, a billion dollar corporation that isn’t anyone’s friend and doesn’t have to promise anything, but I find old Nintendo more memorable than the newer one we got when the Switch released.

I has experienced ever of Nintendo's consoles from the "beginning" in 1987, when NES got release din home country.

This is a HUGE BS.
I do respect that everyone has its own tastes.

But Wii and Wii U is a lot more bland than Switch, especially Wii U. Switch is the most diverse (either about first/second/third party games) Nintendo console ever. It has everything compared with other Nintendo console.

Be serious now.
How many non Virtual Console FPS, third-person, puzzle, fighting, beat 'em up, shoot 'em up, visual novel, anime/manga based or inspired, JRPG, western RPG, dungeon crawler, simulator, strategy, farm, racing, and much more games does Wii U (Wii too) honestly has? Almost nothing, or nothing, nada, zero on many genres. While Switch has an insane abundance of games from every of those genres I mentioned up above.

Wii U failed hard because it were heavily focused on family friendly games and felt overly childish which scared away many. Wii were a bit better with it, but it's nothing compared with Switch which attracted everyone.

The UI of Wii U feels extremely sterile and lifeless , same with Wii. Too much white which hurts my eyes. While Switch got big and colorful icons for games on its UI, plus you can choose either white or black as background color.

Nostalgia is a hell of drug, I get it. I still misses the days of NES/SNES. But sadly it is 2024 now, we can NEVER return to the past anymore, now is now.

I gets stunned when people claims that they misses to the awful days of Wii U which "almost" killed Nintendo. They were in an absolute state of slump for some years and released many of their worst reviewed games ever on 3DS and Wii U.

The Wii & Wii U eras are undisputed the worst years ever of Nintendo, of course they released some good games there and there.
But that they focused almost entirely on casual and family friendly games almost ruined for them.

I dunno. I think the Switch UI is sort of bland, no themes or anything like that. I mean, really? But I don't really have an opinion when it comes to the game library or Nintendo themselves being boring. I know during the Wii U era, many people really missed stuff like Miiverse and the UI for that console, but I only had a 3ds during that time and I didn't really use any of those other apps like Streetpass and Swapnote.

I think I used Miiverse maybe once the entirety of the 3ds' lifespan? . Call me boring, but the main thing I would do is play the games that would come out for that console. I never really thought about charm or anything really like that. I know I'm mainly in the minority though.

The Switch's lack of charm or personality is a critique I hear very often. I don't personally value it as highly as other people do, but maybe I would if I had a Wii U during that era. I skipped it due to how underwhelming it seemed to be comparatively to previous consoles.

The main problem with the Wii U user interface is that everything is very slow. Just swapping between games takes several minutes, and even longer if it's a Wii game that requires a reboot, let alone changing settings, switching profiles, etc.

The minimal interface of the Switch is, in contrast, very snappy. You get to spend a lot more of your time playing the games that you want, and that's a good thing.

The only place where it's even close is the eShop experience, but only because that's the slowest part of the Switch UI by far, and there's about twenty times as much software on it. That's a good problem for the Switch to have.