Super Mario Odyssey, Breath of the Wild and Splatoon 2 Lead Switch Reveal Trailer Views

3 KA for Switch and that i'll surely grab. Hype!

That's pretty impressive numbers. When will we hear how well the Superbowl commercial did? Has it aired yet?

Anyway hope these stats and actual marketing leads to good sales throughout the year and beyond.

Game in the UK have new stock of Switches for pre-order if anyone is struggling to get one

To the surprise of absolutely no one.

I'm really not surprised at all. I think these three are going to be the best games for the Switch in 2017, no doubt.

@FragRed the Super Bowl LI commercial is great, isn't it? Can't wait to hear what people thought.

I really hope Odyssey is like 64 & Sunshine. My 2 absolute favourite 3d Mario games.

And this is why I say it should have been a launch day game and ideally packed-in with the system at no extra cost (a digital copy)—just like it would have been in principle if this were the SNES era. That would have a long way toward making the Switch launch genuinely a magical thing imo.

Odyssey looks amazing. I've always wanted an open-world "big city" style Mario game and Nintendo have not disappointed. I really hope that it incorporates multiplayer in the same fashion as Super Mario 3D World. That was just so well done.

Guys, I want to know what you think: Who is this mysterious cap with eyes?

@impurekind : I think that's an unrealistic expectation considering how much more it now costs to produce a AAA game. Back in the day, a game with the scope of the original Super Mario Bros. or Super Mario World can be put together by a small team of people (teams were comprised of less than 10 people in the 80s and early 90s). Now you need in excess of hundreds of people with budgets that rival some feature films to produce a AAA game in this day and age.

Now, if Nintendo had packed in a port of an existing title, say, Super Mario 3D World, then sure, I can see a reality in which that could have been a pack-in title, but packing a contemporary AAA blockbuster simply isn't a realistic expectation, particularly if Nintendo expects to turn a profit on every unit sold whilst selling the Switch at a reasonable price.

It's going to be weird seeing how splatoon does on a system people actually own.

Ridiculously fun game:

@XxYoshiGamerxX I'm going to say it's a character similar in vein to those rabbit-looking bosses (on the airship). The eyes look very similar.

@Emperor-Palpsy Funny, I never noticed the similarity in eyes before. Interesting theory!

Great to see ppl switching onto Nintendo. I haven't seen any TV advertising here in Britain yet or any advertising apart from online

Mario has about the same number of views as the number of WiiU consoles sold. Maybe this is the extent of the Nintendo fandom??

Hehe... Just being provocative.

Do you see Mario throwing the hat at the screen?

That mimicks the same way we throw money at the screen every time we watch the trailer. And the way the hat returns at him is the same way our money does the same because the game is not out yet.

So far, only Super Mario Odyssey really impressed me a lot. Day 1 purchase for Super Mario Odyssey on December 2017.

@AlexSora89 lolllllll

@impurekind Nintendo should have sent a free Switch in the mail to every Wii U owner with their entire library of Wii U games preinstalled, too. Just saying. Also Metroid Prime 4 on day one for $5 US. I mean, you know, while we are living in imagination land I think you show too much restraint.

@AlexSora89
Mario is throwing his hat.
Bowser is throwing his hat too.
What's going on ?
Mad Hatter from Alice in the Wonderland ? (Hint from Rabbit like enemies)

Only reason for me to buy a switch so far is that 3D Mario. I know a lot of people that would buy a switch but holding back for more games especially the Wii u owners like myself. Hopefully we get a price cut and a good bundle with this.

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"Nintendo of America's YouTube channel, which is easily the most viewed and popular of Nintendo's official channels on the video platform."
No wonder, seeing as they arrogantly called it just 'Nintendo', instead of 'Nintendo of America'.

@UK-Nintendo That's cool because it's coming this year. I think a lot of people (not necessarily you) get hung up on the early launch window and the library on day one but I don't think Nintendo is going to judge success by day one. This is about a year of build up in excitement until Holiday 2017. The growth rate of most consoles works in a similar way, big spike and then growth. Yes, there's a big sales spike at the beginning and Switch will get one a bit smaller, but I think the goal here is for a nice steady growth with a big spike at the end of the year. The nature of the console that will literally get put in the hands of potential buyers where they are lends itself well to that plan.

I don't see Mario launching at the end of a year as any kind of weakness in the launch but an important boost at just the right time. (Wouldn't make sense, for instance, to trade places with Zelda or Splatoon 2.)

No one should buy the Switch right now if they aren't interested in the few launch games. I mean, you know, give those games an honest chance if you get your hands on them, but buying it later is almost always the best value, especially within the first year or so.

Half of these views are by gamexplain trying to analyze the trailers for secrets.

@RainbowGazelle arrogance? Or the company-wide plan because it has been Nintendo's biggest market? I mean, I don't know for sure, but it seems plausible.

Everybody talking about the new 3d mario game but no talk of Youka Layer which will probably be a big hit

@AlexSora89 Very nice.

*laylee

@aaronsullivan true. I just fear it will be sold out end of 2017 so I might have to pick it up earlier. By then it's library will be better and will be spoilt for choice

For anybody interested GAME UK are taking pretty orders for switch again while stocks last

Switch is gearing up for a much more successful launch than Wii U. Great!

@UK-Nintendo
Thankfully they didn't go the Robot Chicken route.

@HappyMaskedGuy
You mean a more successful launch year.

@aaronsullivan
What's so nice, the comparison perhaps?

@Anti-Matter
Probably, considering Alice in the original book ate mushrooms to shift in size. It even gets a shout-out throughout the Kingdom Hearts series' various visit to Wonderland, where Sora and co. can get smaller whenever they need to go through the small door and explore the rest of the world.

That very room can also become a battlefield.

@AlexSora89 haha. You are legend.

@NintySnesMan I think the potential sales of that game on Nintendo consoles has somewhat been dampened by the way they've handled the PR around everything, the fact it's likely to be a later release than other consoles and the fact there's no physical release.

@UK-Nintendo
Let's just not bow to each other too much, shall we?

I might buy a Switch for Mario at the end of the year if the system doesn't bomb.

64 and Sunshine are among my favorite games of all time.

Not a surprise. Mario Odyssey is by far the most interesting and appealing game on the Switch in my opinion.

It's a great move to have Mario appear in the Winter. I can see it being bundled in some way, which should go a long way towards shifting some units.

I'm really looking forward to E3 this year, we should see a hell of a lot of goodness for this year and 2018.

I'm waiting for those special edition switches- Splatoon 2 and Mario Odyssey joy cons please!

@Yasume Hell yeah.
I'll wait until the end of the year when I'll have more than 3 games to buy and the money to buy them.
I'll even resist not playing zelda Botw until the end of the year and try to avoid spoilers.
though task lol.

I just want to see if there is another part of Donk City build over another rooftop.

Off topic...but how has FGPackers gotten away with that name for so long a kid friendly site? Hahaha

Splatoon 2 will be my system seller. I must have put in over 100 hours into that game on my Wii U (which is quite rare for me) and loved it from day 1. The E3 trailer for it in 2014 got me so hyped and this version looks like more goodness! I would love for it to be a pack in bundle in the summer but who knows. I'll probably buy Splatoon 2 and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe digitally so I always have them on my system. =)

@aaronsullivan See, stuff like this makes me want to smack some stranger in the face. What I said is entirely reasonable—it's not like it's never happened before with a Nintendo console (see the Super Nintendo launch. . . .), or like it's not happening right f'n now on the competitions consoles (see multiple Xbox One and PS4 skus, sometimes with multiple bundled games, and that are probably all cheaper than Switch too). What you said, however, is just idiotic, pointless, worthless, and not funny—it's defensive and excusive Nintendo fanboy crap at its worst.

@sillygostly Oh, yeah, like how both Microsoft and Sony aren't selling Xbox One and PS4 sku with a bundled game, sometimes multiple, and likely for even less than the Switch too.

God, I'm getting so f'n sick and tired of fanboys always defending and excusing ever single decision Nintendo ever makes that isn't actually in their own best interests!

I'm not saying you're the worst of the bunch, or even particularly bad, but at this point you're all just blending into one imo.

And, rather than having the stupid frikin' two skus simply with different coloured Joy-Cons, Nintendo could have actually released two skus with different bundled digital games, like a Breath of the Wild one and a Super Mario Odyssey one, and that would serve the dual purpose of providing every Switch owner with a genuine system-selling game packed-in for free as well as allowing each of those games to still sell plenty of units in their own right to everyone that got the opposite bundle.

Also, let's not forget that I'm talking about digital copies, so since the development has already been paid for and completed at this point, the additional cost of including a digital copy of the game in the launch sku is basically zero at this point.

It's a simple concept: Give your [potential] customers a truly compelling value proposition while still leaving the opportunity for you to profit from separate non-bundled sales of the individual games too—and there would be absolutely plenty of those over the life of the system (enough to pay for the dev cost of both of those games). It's not rocket science.

Man, why does it often seem like I'm one of the few reasonably sensible people in here.

@aaronsullivan they should throw in a 4tb thunderbolt drive and maybe a holiday in tuscany while they're at it. Oh and a pension plan.

U guys should watch the reaction videos on zelda and mario some people actually cried lol!

I'm still waiting to see what MS reveals at E3, but if I'm not impressed, I'll be buying the Switch and Super Mario Odyssey the day that game drops. Obviously Zelda would be a purchase that day as well.

@FragRed
LOL. I know you're from the UK, so there's no expectation that you would know, but your questions just make me laugh.

"When will we hear how well the Superbowl commercial did? Has it aired yet?"
The Superbowl is tomorrow. Starts at 5:30 PM CST. We will know shortly after the commercial airs how popular it ends up being. That stuff goes viral fast (if it does at all, that is).

@Roam85 "It's going to be weird seeing how splatoon does on a system people actually own"

Well you are going to be waiting a while for that. As poorly as Wii U sold over 4 years, it had about 11 million when Splatoon released. Based on Nintendos 2 million at launch comment, and how ridiculously slow they are at producing more stock - NES Mini is still impossible to find and it's now February - it will be at least a year before Switch hits 11 million install base. And by then people may be playing other games.

So your "people actually own" comment is kind of a moot point for Splatoon 2 as people will be moving on from that game to others by the time the Switch has a noticeably larger install base than the Wii U. So expect similar wait times and a preponderance of Japanese players.

Mario looks quite good and I won't be at all surprised if Zelda is the game of the generation, on any platform. Splatoon's cool but, not really my cup of tea. I'll give a go on the Switch though. Didn't like the WiiU controls maybe switch will be different.

Metroid Prime Switch will be the biggest game this year..... Once they announce it that is...

@impurekind I think I can safely say that Odyssey cost hundreds of thousands of times as much as Super Mario World did to develop.

Also, it not being a launch game doesn't mean Nintendo's being lazy or stupid. Maybe the game just isn't done yet.

@impurekind : Yes, the development of Odyssey may have been paid for, but they certainly didn't pay for it to just give it away for free (and the competition didn't launch with pack-in games that were yet to turn a profit, if memory serves). I was merely speaking from a rational business perspective. I'm not happy with a lot of things concerning Nintendo's handling of the Switch, but I can't be expected to make a difference. I don't run the show. Perhaps you should consider keeping your emotions in check before getting riled up, insulting people and resorting to masked profanities over something so trivial in the grand scheme of things, Mr. Sensible.

@impurekind Do you know what would be an even better proposition? Super Mario Odyssey being polished and launching in the winter when its actually ready with minimal bugs and better performance.

People are excited over Super Mario Odyssey because the level of trust built in that a Mario game is a complete, quality experience that is launched in an extremely good state. What sense would there be in sacrificing that goodwill and rushing out Oddyssey so that the Switch launch can look better?

source(http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2017-01-04-super-mario-runs-missed-opportunity):

Rushing it out to launch would be exploitation of that goodwill and in a way risking sabotaging the Mario series long term reputation for an early sales boost...it goes in exact opposition of why the series has a good reputation in the first place.

@impurekind 299.99 for Xbox 299.99 for ps4 399.99 for ps4 pro

I think BOTW is going to be a contender for GOTY, that's from a guy that is hyped to play it, same guy who watched my roomie play wind waker for 5 minutes and left bored. I'm so not into Zelda, and I think his game looks really fun. Like link got brought into the skyrim era.

But it's going to be tough for it to get people as excited as Mario, because, it's Mario. I thought Super Mario 3 was great, and I liked watching my nephew play Sunshine because of the music and visuals. I've never bought a Mario game, but I anticipate buying that over he holidays.

The drip drop method of releasing games i think is the perfect strategy for the big N. All they need is to get some third party support to throw in between the big hitters and I smell a winner.

@Rumncoke25 Dunnno what part of the world you come from but in the UK the PS4 is basically the same price or cheaper than the Switch and it comes with bundled games and the likes of a 500GB-1TB hard drive (and sometimes other stuff too).

http://www.game.co.uk/en/hardware/playstation-4-ps4-consoles/

https://www.console-deals.com/ps4/

And the same goes for Xbox One as well:

http://www.game.co.uk/en/hardware/xbox-one-consoles/

https://www.console-deals.com/xboxone/

PS. Comparing the Switch to the PS4 Pro rather than the PS4 Slim, which is already more powerful and includes much bigger storage, is just silly imo. Those consoles wipe the floor with Switch in terms of specs for the most part; a few gimmicks doesn't change that fact. And, I know the Switch includes lots of random tech that allows for its various configurations and uses and whatever else, but that's besides my point: Average punter goes into game shop and sees Switch, Xbox One, and PS4 for roughly the same price, and the other two come with at least one bundled game and often an extra controller an online season pass too . . .

It's Nintendo's job to work as hard as it possibly can to convince those people to pick the Switch—and I'm simply asking it to do a better job.

@Dr_Lugae Well, maybe Nintendo should have thought about that and planned things better when it started working on the frikin' system and game years ago, such that it would have been both ready and finely polished for the Switch's launch—now that would have been something I could cheer about.

@sillygostly "Trivial" is relative. If your dog died you'd think it was very important; I wouldn't give a flying ****. See how what's "trivial" to you is relative to how you see it personally. Well, I'm telling you that videogames, and indeed Nintendo, aren't trivial to me, so my attitude about the launch of the Switch is perfectly in line with how important this stuff is to me on a personal level. And I want Nintendo to get it right—the exactly polar opposite to how it got pretty much everything to do with the Wii U, despite the fanboy defences and excuses for basically everything it did.

@impurekind First of all, making a game takes time and planning. It's not like you can predict exactly when your system and a game will be ready and hold one back or rush one of them to package the game with the system. Second, not everyone likes 3D Mario. Many do, but not everyone, and they may feel alienated having to pay more for a game they do not want. Speaking of that, the price could not stay at $300 if packaged with the game. It would go up to at least $350, which would make people cry "It's too expensive!"

So don't rant about this. You should be thankful we're getting an open-world Mario at all. We could've had 3D World 2.

Thats interesting because if I watch a youtube video I normally get Zelda BoTW trailer that comes up, I am guilty of watching Super Mario Odyssey trailers. I can't believe it's gonna be a Mario game it looks amazing.... Good on Nintendo for doing it too.

Oh yeah does Nintendo make any money from their trailers? I know they've been spending the cash recently and it's a good sign.

What, no mention of Galaxy? Sunshine was the weaker entry in the 3D Mario adventure series, for many. (And of course, Galaxy has the highest sales in the series!)

It's great to see the excitement for these eventual blockbusters (probably), but there's a catch: Super Mario Oddysey (nice reference to Sonic Adventure ) and Spla2n are going to miss the launch date! Spla2n will barely make the launch window, while Oddysey will miss it... Well, suddenly it's feeling a little flaccid in March...

Nowhere near all of those viewers are actually going to be able to own an NS, even if they wanted to, until around holiday 2017 or later. So the real question is not "How many of these views represent interest of purchase?", but rather, "How many prospective buyers among these viewers are willing to wait until the woefully limited stock is replenished?"

@AlexSora89 I bet your a Kingdom Hearts fan like myself, playing through 0.2 Birth By Sleep at the moment.

Thats the game i'm mostly waiting for also Super Mario Odyssey, by then the Switch will have quite a few games and we'll know about more new coming games also.

@UK-Nintendo same here... I'm not going to buy a dying system again. I hope it sells very well. I think we will know within the first 12 months if we are looking at the Nintendo Dreamcast. I sure hope it takes off and sells software.

@Dr_Lugae yes. They rushed Mario kart 8 and then they ditch Wii u and drop deluxe on the new console. Deluxe is what the Wii u version should have been.

@impurekind Give it up, the Yamauchi era is long gone. Nintendo barely saved the NS launch from becoming the soggiest of noodles by artificially lengthening the development time and release date for BotW. If they hadn't done that, it would have been bar none the worst Nintendo console launch in history. (Even the failed VB at least launched with the excellent Wario Land VB, if one grasps for straws...) There hasn't been a 3D Mario adventure title ready by launch day since the N64, so I wouldn't expect that trend to change any time soon. Nintendo just ain't what they used to be.

Hopefully, though, the situation will improve by next year... The NS should have a very nice library building up by then! If they blunder too much during the 2nd and 3rd quarters of 2017, we may even see a 3DS 2011 type of price drop by 4th quarter!

Never have I been more ready for a new year to end so I can play some mario come Holiday time.

I hope they will use a higher Anti-alising option.... it's just ugly and visible.... kinda distracting

@Alucard83 That's probably the Alpha or Beta being shown off. The anti-aliasing should improve quite a bit by release, especially in 1080p mode.

@PlywoodStick I totally hear ya.

Still, I don't wanna give up.

@Nintendoer They already delayed the Switch to put Breath of the Wild on it, as far as I'm aware, and I personally wouldn't really have cared if Switched had launched closer to Xmas alongside Odyssey. Consoles usually launch then anyway.

I don't think they price would need to go up in the slightest in order to include a digital copy of the game. That's just people looking at this all wrong and finding ways to make defences and excuses for Nintendo not giving them a pack-in at launch.

Rather than the almost completely pointless second Switch bundle with different controllers, which they could just sell separately like this kind of thing normally is, they could have had two Switch skus where one included a digital copy of Breath of the Wild and the other a digital copy of Super Mario Odyssey (imagining for a second it was ready for launch).

Can you see how easy it is to address all these kinds of points people raise?

@FragRed SuperBowl is tomorrow. Nintendo sent out a teaser of that commercial in an official email yesterday but tradition would keep it under wraps until its official airing during the super bowl broadcast. Shouldn't take long for ratings report from the game but usually it is the most watched broadast of the year in america.

@FragRed Actually I'm apparently full of poop, I just went to their youtube page and it's already up. Well I'll be.

@Ryu_Niiyama haha. It's only started but totally understand.

@SupahM3tr0yd Thanks. Yeah I know last year the Pokemon advert was revealed officially prior to the Superbowl event, and I guess the only people who would know it exists are people who visit gaming sites. So there's still millions whom will see it for first time tomorrow.

@impurekind
That's fair enough. I'm from America, Miami Florida to be exact. I have a pal in brentford england, I go to London every couple years, and it is firm Sony country from what I saw. I'm a Sony guy, I have been since the PS2. I haven't bought a ninty system EXCEPT the 3ds, for the portability and the rpg love.

I think you get an unfair rap from some posters. I actually think you want Nintendo to succeed. I don't think they have done a great job with the Switch so far. I do think the releasing 1st party games over time is a good tactic. I think having STRONG 3rd party support is a better tactic.

I'm not a typical Ninty fan. I often looked at the games when others played and said not for me. I know he average John Q. Public is going to compare the Switch price to what's in the stores now, not to the launch prices years ago. That does concern me, but I think the best way to battle that is to release bundles, say a Mario bundle with the game downloaded for 299 over the holidays. Then maybe throw out a "switch master" edition with another color, plus Mario and Zelda for 400.

I just don't see where the big N would realistically cut prices to compete with pricing now. Must have games wil capture the public, and special editions and/or options will get some of the true believers to double dip.

Everytime I see Mario throwing his hat I think of Michael Jackson's MoonWalker video game!

@impurekind Really? Sorry it struck you so hard, not my intention. Just jabbing you a bit to suss out whether you were totally serious or not. I mean, from my point of view, your "should have" statement is pure fantasy. It was never going to happen that fast. So what's the point? I mean you had to qualify it by saying "if this were the SNES era". I could have gone about it in a more mature way. It's salty around here.

The reality is that in your scenario, the Mario game wouldn't have looked as good if it was rushed to make launch or the Switch wouldn't be launching until Holiday 2017. How would that be better? Or at least maybe you could tell me what else you would have changed to make it happen.

Zelda BOTW had a TON of hype (...first shown off at E3 2014, followed by a tiring 2 year wait, and then had an entire E3 dedicated to it...), and yet Mario Odyssey was able to usurp the first Zelda trailer's view count in less than a month.

That's pretty darn impressive. The game should easily bring in far more consumers to the Switch than Mario 3D World ever did back in 2013.

Man... this game...in a portable system...that's insane.

@banacheck
"As if" the Sora in my username wasn't already a dead giveaway!
But... no-ish. I own a PS2 with KH 1 and 2, Chain Of Memories on my GBA, the DS ones, Dream Drop Distance, and Birth By Sleep. That's it. Everything else requires hardware that's just out of my economical reach at the moment. Thankfully KH3 will come out on Xbox One as well, because there's no way I'm buying a PS4 just for KH for the time being... especially given I haven't bought a Vita yet, and especially especially with the Switch around the corner.
Sorry for the azure orbs I just gave your KH-fan-ness.

I'm hyped

Almost nobody cares about the heavily motion control based games, what a shocker.

*Sarcasm

I wish Xenoblade Chronicles 2 would get as much publicity as Final Fantasy 15! Playing the first one as I speak, and it's not perfect, but easily in my top 10 favourite games.That game alone could get me excited for the Nintendo Switch. But only if it's story-driven like the first game. Xenoblade Chronicles X isn't interesting to me and too long of a game. The trailer still got currently over 1,300,000 views and although that's pretty good, it can do much better.

@impurekind Nintendo don't want to make a loss on console sales, and giving away a $50 game would mean changing that. Digital items still have value.

@DarkKirby unless it could make VR actually a success.

@AlexSora89 My wife has 1.5 and 2.5 on PS3 and 2.8 on PS4. She will get 3 on PS4 even though it is also coming out on Switch.
She also has 1 and 2 on PS2 and a bunch of the other games (DS, PSP and 3DS).

I would recommend getting 3 on Switch and I also recommend owning a PS4 over an Xbox One.
PS does anyone want to buy an Australian Xbox One?

@aaronsullivan For the reveal trailer they couldn't show the game in portable mode. It's still so in dream there isn't a date set for Mario Odyssey.
Of course, it also makes me think of Homer 3D episode of The Simpsons (I forget which Treehouse of Horror) where Homer also just doesn't fit with real life looking humans. Would be great if Mario could also join in with Homer's Odyssey...

@MadAdam81 It's only a "$50 game" because it's being sold separately and physically. It doesn't have to be a loss of $50 when it's included with the console; it's just not a specific profit on each copy that's bundled, but it doesn't actually cost/lose Nintendo that $50 or whatever to include it for free. Nintendo could also still sell different bundles which means any copies of the game sold outside of the specific Mario bundle would make money; and I expect there would be enough copies of the game sold separately that it would ultimately still make Nintendo a profit on the development cost of the game.

@MadAdam81
Xbox One might have less outstanding exclusives (Rare pretty much doesn't count given Microsoft's usage of the studio) but if you want to save money on gaming, the incredible discounts they have on X1 makes said console the way to go.

@sillygostly No, that would bet terrible!
This is a true 3D Mario with an open world, like Mario 64, Sunshine and Galaxy 1 & 2.
You just can't play these with multiple characters (only 1,5 player multiplayer like in Galaxy 2 works) because of the camera and open world setting. That's why they had to basically turn 3D World into a 2D game (even if the game world is still 3D) with confined spaces.
It's the whole point of the game to have an open world (and camera). That's why it is a singleplayer game.

@westman98 I think a big part of that was the fact that Mario Odyssey was newly announced and the community has seen plenty of Breath of the Wild up to this point. People scrolling through the videos on YouTube are naturally going to gravitate to the Mario trailer (something new), possibly even assuming that the new Zelda trailer is the same one they watched a few months ago.

@remag Wii U - Nope!
Switch -Yup!

@impurekind According to the information available they appear to have went from Super Mario 3D World releasing at the end of 2013 to being already working on Super Mario Odyssey in 2014. So it has been in development for about 3 years so far.

http://uk.ign.com/articles/2014/04/08/next-3d-mario-game-in-development

Additionally Super Mario Odyssey releasing in November 2017 would be a 4 year gap between it and 3D World which makes it one of the shortest gaps between 3D Mario games. Comparatively Super Mario Sunshine released 6 years after Super Mario 64 and Super Mario Galaxy released 5 years after Sunshine.

If you have unrealistic expectations you're invetibly going to end up disappointed...Super Mario Odyssey releasing complete and polished as early as 3 years and a couple months after Super Mario 3D World seems more like wishful thinking.

"Gaming greats such as Super Mario Sunshine" and yet Nintendo has rereleased both Galaxys and 64 numerous times and SMS zero.

@Dr_Lugae Then I say maybe Nintendo should have delayed the machine until Odyssey was properly ready at least (and more third party games, and the online, and the eShop/Virtual Console, and maybe even some of the digital services like Netflix too). Since Zelda really is just a last-gen port when all is said and done, and games like Super Mario Kart 8 (last-gen port), Splatoon 2 (still not a true flaghip franchise for Nintendo imo) also don't feel quite applicable, and Arms and Snipperclips certainly ain't big enough names to carry a system, Super Mario Odyssey is really the only truly brand new, AAA, system-selling, main franchise, flagship game Nintendo has for the Switch in 2017—so that should have been the [digital] game that came with the system on day one, packed-in, for free imo. I mean, even a fanboy like you can't argue about my timing for the game now, seeing as it's already confirmed for holiday 2017, so I'm not asking them to rush it forward for the console's launch or whatever other defences and excuses you want to throw out regarding this pretty lame launch lineup and launch window effort, as many people see it. But hey, maybe pushing the console out slightly before everything is ideally ready, both games and services, is a super smart move on Nintendo's part—I just know it doesn't feel quite right to me.

Well, I know that I watched the Odyssey and BotW trailers multiple times. Those are 2 very promising games and must buys for me. As for Splatoon 2, I'm not really all that interested. I can't imagine they developed a full sequel in such a short amount of time. Also, while the gameplay was freaking fantastic and innovative in Splatoon, everything else was handled in a terrible way. I'm waiting for more information before I get excited on that one

@rjejr
I play splatoon daily and yes there is lots of Japanese players but im never left waiting for a match, its allways instant. then again im in Australia so there is not much time difference to japan so maybe just more people on when I play.

@impurekind SMO is releasing at Holiday because SMO has to release at Holiday. I don't think there was any debating at Nintendo whether or not a new 3D Mario would release in the Holiday season - that's when most console buyers buy consoles and games, and is timed to put a big spotlight on their biggest brand during the biggest buying season. It's probably fairer to say that not launching Switch this past November as originally planned with Zelda this year and Mario next year is probably the bigger problem, though it's better they release a complete console than an incomplete one (see also: WiiU.)

Zelda is a last gen port from a tech perspective, but since it's launching on both platforms simultaneously, like with TP on Wii, it will easily be seen as a Switch game that's also on the old console rather than a WiiU game also going to Switch. The codebase (and performance) is a port, but the game isn't if it's launching on the new hardware. MK8 certainly is a port, but since that's far and away their #1 franchise by sales, commercially, that'll help a lot more than hurt. That's a huge casual seller. Splatoon 2 isn't going to be a selling point in the West, but it is in Japan. I mean Aori & Hotaru (Callie & Marie) get actual pop concerts there....there's Splatoon snack foods....it's seriously "a thing" in Japan. Considering the console industry there is in tatters with Nintendo the sole realistic competitor, shoring up the home market seems smart.

Also, SNES didn't actually launch with a bundled game. It did in the US and UK, but remember it launched in Japan, it's biggest market, 9 months before the US, at which point it got a bundle, and that's the version we got. It didn't launch in the UK for another 8 months after THAT, so by the time it landed in UK, it was a year and a half old console. I'm sure if the Switch were released in Japan in 4 weeks, but not until November in the US, Nintendo would be a lot more likely to give us a bundled game. And in the UK, there would almost certainly be a bundle considering it would be launching July 2018, if we're following the SNES timetable. I'm pretty sure Switch will have some bundle for Holiday 2017, which would keep it right in line with the SNES getting a bundle after 9 months without one.

It's just a different world where everything happens worldwide simultaneously and we can read about it. Back in 1991 we had no idea what had been going on in Japan for the past year unless we went far out of our way to find out.

@NEStalgia Yeah, when I talk about the SNES I don't talk about the Japanese market; I talk about the market(s) that virtually all of us in here are from. So, to me, it doesn't really matter about what excuses people can make regarding the system launching in Japan first and then this happening here and there and . . . This is 2017, systems basically launch worldwide, and that doesn't exclude them from including launch games (regardless of it sadly becoming the widely accepted norm not to include a launch game), particularly where I think it would make perfect sense coming off the back of system that was a total and utter flop, and hugely disappointing and frustrating for a large segment of the gaming population, and where it would go a long way toward basically making amends for that disappointment and also just making the value proposition a lot more attractive overall for a whole bunch of people.

I think some of your points are def valid though; although I still don't think they truly defend or excuse some of the issues I'm raising, at least the ones where there's still a chance for Nintendo to actually do things just a little bit better.

@impurekind Yeah, I think most of us talk in perspective to the western markets, but with SNES, from a Nintendo company perspective, they'd be looking from a "from launch date to bundle set" delay rather than per-market. We just got a good value back then because we were late to the party. Now we get in the door on day 1 and can get robbed blind alongside the Japanese

The irony is PS4 went the other way around. We got it first and Japan had to wait until the bundles started showing up. Sales are still terrible though. That WiiU isn't even far behind it is telling. Being #1 in home consoles in Japan at this point is pretty much like winning an "ugly contest." It's not about who made the most money, it's about who lost the least!

I really do think the 1st party library will fill out much better on Switch than the past two gens. They're not split between platforms anymore, and they have their HD engines built out. A lot of people overlook the emergency repair work on 3DS faltering and suddenly putting ALL resources into cranking out 3DS games at the cost of WiiU, and a lot of people overlook Nintendo's disastrous unpreparedness for HD development where they appeared to allocate 1 year timetables to turn around WiiU games only to discover that wasn't possible, long after it was too late.

This time they have all the engines ready to go, and aren't floating a dying handheld. Even if they don't put all the required effort in, the default situation will inevitably be better.

The only real risk from a gamer perspective is if 1-2-S takes off early and they draw the wrong conclusion that casual party games are back and dominant....that will fizzle in 2 years like with the Wii and they'll be caught flat footed if unprepared. I

@NEStalgia See, I sincerely hope for all this stuff from Nintendo too, but my main line of thinking and argument is that Nintendo should be doing so much more to make this more than just something we have to blindly trust this time around—especially after the Wii U proved very much indeed that this blind trust and loyalty has not been earned by Nintendo at all in recent times, at least from where I'm sitting, and will actually probably not be rewarded (if recent history has taught us anything, and we actually have the capacity to learn from the past). So, as per usual, I think the onus is on Nintendo showing us without any doubt that things are better this time around (with concrete and undebatable examples), and sooner rather than later, instead of us fighting its battles for it when it absolutely has not earned that privilege imo. Right now the fans are fighting a great fight—as always—but really Nintendo isn't fulling its end of the bargain as far as I'm concerned (not anywhere near the level I think it's capable of).

@impurekind Yeah, that's a sticking point for Nintendo. After the NES they had tons of blind trust from consumers (and loathing, seething hatred from publishers and partners alike. They were seriously not a nice company to deal with back then. They were hated through and through, thus a big part of the current 3rd party climate and their need to distance themselves from it.) But they'd spent that good will on the N64, and by GCN lost most of that good will (fans love the GCN, but everyone forgets GCN and WiiU are near identical failures, the only success they've had since the SNES has really been the Wii. N64 was a moderate success, but not as much as they expected.

But the Wii really did spend the last of the blind trust they had. They signaled, foolishly, they'll abandon the loyal customers in favor of a larger audience if they can. If their new audience stuck with them, that would have worked for them. Their new audience didn't work out and the WiiU rested squarely on the remaining loyal customers. I still believe WiiU failed, primarily, because of Wii. For 7 years they essentially encouraged their former customers to move to their competitors, then with WiiU tried (badly) to convince them to come back when the new audience fell away.

OTOH, they certainly couldn't have released a GCN2. The first was a failure. Trying to out-Playstation Sony was certainly a losing strategy too.

So now at Switch, we have the old Nintendo (NES, SNES), the old Nintendo that was losing traction (N64, GCN), Wii Nintendo that abandoned everyone they had in favor of a huge new market that came and went in 3 years, and WiiU Nintendo that tried to eat their cake and have it too (cater to the Wii crowd and bring back the core after abandoning them.)

Which Nintendo will they be for Switch? My hope is that they're 3DS Nintendo, that's their current lone success, and a good model to follow. Switch would end as a fan-favorite no matter what under that model. Their marketing signals they want to be Wii Nintendo (well, of course they do, what company wouldn't? But that's short term thinking (again.) They need to grow customer loyalty, not move from fad to fad. Investors like the latter, but it's a short term gain that leads to long term problems. )

It's got to be unpleasant to be stuck between trying to make a big commercial success (that their investors now demand of them and expect of them following the Wii) and trying to please the loyal customers. Not an easy tightrope to walk.

Then again doing better than WiiU should be easy. They want to keep the games coming at a steady clip. A big game every 4-8 weeks would really do that. Helps with marketing too. 4-8 months with not a single retail release of any kind sets the bar pretty low for doing "4 times better"

@ollyander "im never left waiting for a match,"

That was my point to the other guy. Yes, Wii U is a failure and Switch will probably sell better, but Splatoon on Wii U almost always had people playing, and Switch isn't going to instantly have a huge install base we're it's noticeably faster online matchmaking.

@impurekind I think you're really underplaying LoZ BoTW here, its not unlike Twilight Princess in that its not really a port and to be honest of all home console and handheld systems released between all of the consoles released as of the 8th generation(3DS,PSVITA,WiiU,X1,PS4,Switch), LoZ: Botw seems to be the strongest launch title.

Plus current information available states the 1st 2 million shipment production was increased due to demand. So we know its going to sell out at $300 with no pack-in and its current launch line up. No doubt it would be more attractive if every game revealed as available, but I think its a bit short sighted. A launch with 3D Mario, Legend of Zelda and Mario Kart(even if it is a port) is most certainly going to detract from the new IP and might even cripple ARMS, Splatoon 2. and Xenoblade Chronicles 2 People don't buy 4+ games at once(Hell some of the systems like the N64 have the average owner buying ~6 games across the systems lifespan) and might just skip some of them co spaced out more they'd provide more momentum for the system.

Additionally if the switch is going to 2 million+ at launch in March with no pack-in, why even include Super Mario Odyssey for free if it was going to launch in the 2017 holiday season(where the launch sales would be even higher)? Even with WiiU-like system sales the game could very well sell over 5 million by itself. 2 million for a $60 game is near $120 million in gross revenue they'd just be needlessly giving away to people who were buying the system anyway and most likely would have bought Super Mario Odyssey separately.

@Dr_Lugae All I got from that was bizarrely that you genuinely seem to come at this from a point of view of what's good for Nintendo over what's good for people like you and me as actual gamers and consumers. Who the hell cares if people were buying the system anyway as is—a bunch of early adopters to be sure (just like the Wii U had also)—when you should really be thinking about it from the point of view of what would be best for us, both in the short term and long term. You sound like a f'n Nintendo financial accountant or shareholder or something like: "Nintendo will easily sell a few million units early on, so why even bother including a pack-in game?". I mean, just stop and think about your words for a second and what that says to companies like Nintendo and what that means to people who actually want and expect just a little more than the bare minimum a company can get away with in this day and age. . . .

@impurekind
i think I'm with @Dr_Lugae on this one. nintendo need to make money to stay alive. i don't want to see them become just a software dev like so many people have predicted for a very long time now.

@ollyander Nintendo's going to make a profit if it does what I say too, of that I have no doubt—maybe even more so in the long run—so that's not a valid counter to the issues I'm raising as a gamer and consumer or my suggestions on how some of those issues could be addressed to my general satisfaction.

I just think its funny that the Super Mario Odyssey trailer has more views than the Wii u has sold.

@impurekind
All good bro. Don't take what I said personally, I think it is great we can discuss the different views on this stuff, if I ever suggest a counter point it's done with respect. The way I see it we are all friends here.