Reaction: What Did You Think Of The Nindies Spring Showcase 2018?

There was a nindies direct yesterday. Damn I missed it.

Only found Just Shapes and Beats interesting... I expected a longer and better presentation...

Not to mention the disappointing release windows given for the games...

Best summed up as "I expected nothing yet I am disappointed"

It was fine. I think this is a wait-and-see for me. The games looked decent, and I know The Banner Saga is a top-class SRPG, but nothing really got me excited. I'm just going to wait for the reviews to roll in; nothing looked like an instabuy. But I'm more than willing to have my mind changed.

Wasn't as good as the previous one imo. I did get a kick out of seeing a Nitrome game and the Messenger looks alright. Can't say anything else interested me that much.

Still perplexed as to why Hyper Light Drifter, Nidhogg 2, Grip, The Pinball Arcade, Spartan, Crashlands and Kitten Squad, which were announced the same day as the Showcase, didn't appear in the broadcast.

I suppose those developers wanted to announce their games separately or Nintendo themselves wanted say the first two to not overshadow the others, or Nintendo wanted to focus mainly on indies that were coming "first to Switch".

EDIT: Whoops, just realised the Showcase was for Spring and HL Drifter is coming in the summer.

The Messenger looks great, but apart from that I thought it wasn't as good as the last 'Nindie' showcase we had.

There wasn't a single game on that list I was interested in. For once. Gotta say that I was incredibly underwhelmed, considering how the last few Indie showcases we've had have always given something to look forward to. But I can't really say that Nintendo is to blame for that, or even those devs themselves. Nintendo are just showing us some indies that would likely have flown undder the radar for many. While indies just don't have the same resources major 3rd parties have and that's why they make small, simple games like this. So... guess its my expectations that are to blame for this one.

That said, I've been keeping my eyes on the few indie games I am looking forward to and was hoping to see something from Re:Legend or Streets of Red. Heck, I know that Wizard of Legend is going to drop at some point next month and the launch trailer isn't even finished yet, but I'd have been okay with some more information there.

So... yeah.

@Folkloner that was sort strange to me too. The could've added 10 more minutes and thrown those in and it would have been a much better showcase.

Overall I thought it was pretty lackluster. Not a single game stood out to me unfortunately. Not complaining but personally didn't find and game shown very exciting

Light Fall looked awesome. Still missing a lot of cool titles. But then again, there are sooo much Indy games... We definitely are getting a lot more then they showed us.

Wheres the option, None of the above games interest me at all

Seeing how they announced 2 better games 3 hours after the Showcase, says the quality of the event...

Only thing that grabbed my attention was "The Messenger". Definitely looking forward to that one!

@AlexOlney
Yeah it was ok, but was it worth all the buzz?
I mean, there are plenty of Switch announcements every day, even yesterday after the event.

@Damo Yey!

I loved it, at first I thought they should've announced the bigger name indie titles like Nidhogg 2, HLD etc, but these lesser known indie titles could've been overshadowed by said big name indies. So I'm glad these games got the spotlight.

As for my favorite? I'm actually interested in several of these games, but I'd have to say Light Fall gets my vote.

People expecting bigger names hasn’t watched one of these Directs before. Nintendo tends to focus on new announcements and timed exclusives. Some of the games look like they could be quite good.

Light Fall is the only one I can see myself buying without thinking too much about it.

@Folkloner Some of the showcase games are 'Summer' release

I'm honestly most excited for Pode as another "true couch co-op game" like Putty Pals.

Even though it was announced separately, Hyper Light Drifter is a definite purchase as well. Mild interest in that bomb chicken game, The Messenger looks solid, and I'll probably end up getting Mark of the Ninja eventually.

Load of sh**e. About time Nintendo showed something decent.

I was underwhelmed with what was featured. Which is weird as there are other great indie games coming.

Maybe they could have provided a bit of info on some of these games too even though we already know they are coming, rather than just reveals.

Good games, but they should have announced the duration of the direct to set a base for expectations.

It was very disappointing. I think everyone was expecting a longer broadcast. It's not very clever to gather everyone to watch your stuff and then come up with something that short and expeditive. There's tons of indy games coming so why not talk about them ?

Barring 2-3 games, well, it wasn't very good.

Seeing that in Japan we didn't get any Direct (as opposed to last year's Nindies Direct), it is quite safe to assume that none of those games will come to Japan, at least for the foreseeable future.
No surprises here. Indie developers don't care much about Japan.

It's not the fact that it didn't have anything that interested me, besides Light Fall, but its incredibly short length. Where any of these big or important enough to have a showcase? IMO, no.

With a showcase comes expectations, and I don't think they had anything/enough to meet any set of them.

@Folkloner With my experience on how these Directs and Showcases go, Nintendo requires new footage / trailers of the game in a fair bit of time in advance. It is quite likely those games just couldn't meet the deadline with those requirements.

Where were the triple A game announcements?

Sincerely, Sligeach.

Not my cup of tea!

None of them really stood out to me. Several looked like interesting games, but nothing screamed "BUY ME RIGHT NOW" and none of them had me bouncing in my seat like with some of the announcements during the direct a few weeks ago.

The game I most wanted to hear more about, Wargroove, was not featured. According to the developers blog they are shooting for a release in the latter part of this year... but the originally talked about it coming out last year so who knows...

I actually thought quite a few of the games shown looked intriguing and will def look out for them. Was surprised by its brevity though, although most the games shown seem to be spring to early summer releases. Guessing another nindies will follow later in the year

My poor poor wallet.

The pacing felt off, and I was super disappointed when it ended after 10 minutes. I was hoping for another 20 minute one, like the one we got in the summer. But looking back, the games they showed off were pretty good. I like rhythm games, so "Just shapes and beats" looks fun, and I'm excited to see more details about that. "Pool Panic" was a highlight for me, if only for the art style. I've almost bought "West of Loathing" on PC, but I'm really excited it's coming to Switch now.

there was a huge lack of big name Indies, which would have helped drive excitement about the newer or smaller ones.

The Messenger looked interesting, will wait for reviews. Everything else was very meh. Then it was over. Very abruptly. I feel like they could've spent more time on each game. It seemed like they didn't show more than 5 seconds of gameplay for some of them. If they want money for these, they really need to sell us on them better.

ZZZZZZ.... this was a snore fest.

We still don't know about the games announced last year. How can we expect any of these releases to even come true? Garage is the only game I trust will be out on time

There were some interesting games in there, but I felt that they weren’t exactly exciting enough to warrant a reveal in a special broadcast. That, and it was unbelievably short.

Why were those 2 guys from Ghostbusters doing the Nindies?

The Messenger looked great, and the Chicken game was ok, but everything else is of no interest to me.

The direct did seem light on content, but when added to the main direct there is still much to look forward to for the first half of this year.

I just wanted some updated release dates for games announced LAST YEAR....

@Yasaal "Best summed up as "I expected nothing yet I am disappointed"

Exactly!

Nothing of major interest for me. I don't play too many indie games. Only have about 2 on my Switch that I play regularly.

I didn't liked the presentation (too short, too rushed) but I really liked 60% of the games showed.

I'm excited for Bad North.

The games around the indie direct, like seeing that hyper light drifter is coming, has been more exciting then watching the presentation. Nothing really “wow’d”.

Lumines is one of my favorite games, ever. I only have the Xbox360 version. Lumines Remastered is a killer app for me, one which is almost enough on its own to make me buy a Switch sometime in the future, though I plan (and want to) sit out a gen or 2 to play and enjoy what I already.

Hard to ignore this one though.

I'm looking forward to both Fantasy Strike and Lumines (voted for Fantasy Strike).
Just Shapes and beats seems really intriguing too.

Dang, no love for Pode, which I found to be the most interesting-looking game out of the bunch. At least several other people are excited about West of Loathing, though.

So happy that Gamemaker and Nintendo finally signed a deal.

I’m in the minority in that Just Shapes and Beats as well as Bad North look very good (and I was expecting zero titles to peak my interest). Once HLD was confirmed after the direct, which immediately is the heavy hitter here, proves that Nintendo continues its double whammy of porting some of the best indies around while also producing new content.

Whatever happened to Kentucky Route zero, Wargroove or Pocket Fighters?

Short.
Too short.
Way too short.

I did like a few of the games though.

Pode.
Pool Panic.
Light Fall.
And the stick figure western looked like it could be interesting.
And all 3 Banner Sage games is nice.

But it didn't feel like a Direct. It felt like an opening of a 3 hour Treehouse Live. "Here are the games we will be playing live on today's Treehouse". Or they could have stuck it in the middle of the last 30 minute ND and made it 38 minutes, called it a "sizzle reel".

There was just no reason to set people's expectations high with 4 days notice for a 10 minute Nindie Direct. The previous Mini Direct just showed up without warning and that was a whole lot better than this one.

There really is little rhyme or reason to anything Ntinedo does. Just no consistency at all.

Even if you are a small indie dev who is happy to be featured in a Nindie Direct isn't doesn't help if so many people walk away feeling unsatisfied. Right now in the poll "Nothing" is leading with 16%. The Banner Saga trilogy is 2nd with 15%, and that's hardly a little known indie, that series has been around for years. So for everyone saying - they left the known indie games out to give the little guys some exposure - well that all went out the window apparently when they ended with The Banner Saga.

They were on a roll with the previous 2 Directs but they blew it with this one.

I feel its unfair to expect massive announcements in a Nindie Direct, but was kinda disappointed anyway. Nothing really exciting at all there, imo. Really, Hyper Light Drifter was what I was hoping to see which ironically got announced a few hours after the Direct.

I swear I thought that Kirk Scott guy was Reggie at first, when they showed him from that side angle...

Guess anyone hoping to have some indies to pad out the time until E3 will be disappointed like me. I'm starting to clear up my back log a bit and was hopeful something here would do it. Only thing I have planned to pick up between now and E3 is the Dark Souls remaster, however that itself is nearly 2 months away. Hopefully this week we'll get a Hollow Knight release date that is soonish and I can give that a whirl.

It was pretty terrible, if I'm being completely honest.

I might look into The Messenger if it turns out to be a good Ninja Gaiden clone, and if it goes on sale, I might pick up Mark of the Ninja, but otherwise...

I looooved it. Lots of interesting looking indies are coming soon.

Pool Panic, The Messenger, West of Loathing, Bomb Chicken, Just Shapes and Beats, Reigns, and Light Fall all have my attention.

Lumines too, but I feel like I’ve already had my fill of that on PSP and Vita.

Waste of my time.

Booooring

I was surprised at Pool Panic, incredibly unique idea for a game.

I will be keeping my eyes on it to see how it goes.

The Messenger gave me Ninja Gaiden vibes.

Where's the pool with "witch games are you willing to buy?"

@Not_Soos With those 2 guys combined they will look like Reggie.

The guy who presents the Nindies really needs to acquire a personality. He's so wooden and you can tell he just reads off a teleprompter. The odd time he tries to do something funny, it just feels awkward and forced. They need to find someone better who can breathe some energy in to these videos. Also, there are so many indie games coming to the Switch that we already know about but still have no firm release date for. Some more info on them would have been nice. Overall it was a really short presentation and frankly not worth the hype that was built up for it. Should have saved this as a tacked on segment to the main Direct last week.

This was the first time I didn't care all that much. Fantasy Strike was the only interesting part since I happened to hear about it last week and was hoping for a Switch version. The part of the video on it doesn't sell it well at all, so I would have been totally disinterested if I didn't already know what it is.

@maruse Actually, that Direct wasn't announced for europe either. Or at least I have not seen any announcements beside the american.

I found that quite strange.

It ended before I ate all my fried chicken... Though to be fair I had a lot of fried chicken on me that day.
My stomach must hate me.

Nothing I'm particularly waiting for, but Mark of the Ninja is an excellent game and I highly recommend it to anyone who has yet to play it.

They should have combined the highlights of this one with the last direct. This might sound cold, but most of these didn't really need a direct to announce anyway.

Bomb Chicken and The Messenger look interesting.
Especially Bomb Chicken. The more I watch the trailer, the more intrigued I get.

Bomb Chicken looks like a great pick up and go puzzle it was the only game there that peaked my interest. Messanger looks promising but been there done that type of game too many times. That being said it is a maybe. Banner Saga is another that might be up my alley.

Nintendo releases E3 2017 presentation that last under 30 minutes

Players react with: "Too short! Disappointing! Should been an hour! What about next year?!"

Nintendo releases a 20 minute MINI Direct for the first quarter

Players react with: "Too short! Nintendoom! Droughts! Nothing for this year!"

I can predict Nintendo releasing a 3 hour long E3 2018 and people will probably respond accordingly. Too short, not enough games, where's the revision and so forth.

I'll admit, I expected about 15 minutes. What I got was shorter and more compact than expected, but from what I got I am content.

The presentation was a bit cringy and too short. Did not need the 4 day hype and secrecy of how long it is. We would've been fine if you told us it was 10 mins before the direct started.
And take notes from tiny build, Nintendo, they showcased games that have already been released before the stream started, a good way to spotlight games and chew time.

Oh and the games were good, not too surprising.

@Reignmaker - This was probably intentional to encourage the indie scene relationship from Nintendo. Not one indie would like to be forgotten and overshadowed by a minute long Smash teaser.

The sheer fact people are talking about the Mind if Direct shows it has more impact on us than being forgotten in the midst of Nintendo headlines.

@AlexOlney That should have been a choice in the poll.

Ultimately, the games showed a wide variety and many were intriguing. I really think they got the pacing wrong. More exploration of each game would have worked wonders. Also, because GDC was running around the same time, it would have been cool to have a little shoutout, a simple interview with some of the devs, or even just an acknowledgment or heads-up to look for announcements from some developers by name. Right?

@giantenemycrab Every so often he disappears for a few weeks. Enjoy the quiet while it lasts.

Just not “event” worthy at all.... everything here is filled under - ok - nothing that’ll turn heads.... Nintendo need to be careful else people will start to ignore events like this...

Yes there is good content there but just all under whelming.

Not event worthy. But ooooh man The Messenger. I guess there's a lot not being talked about in that game too.

I think Nintendo are doing a great job with the Nindies. They know they play a big future in gaming and as such are giving them the same limelight as AAA titles.

The Switch is by far the best console for indies for me. Bought minecraft again the other day and playing it on switch it over pc is a superior experience.

I was pleased with the direct. With a recent direct and E3 coming up Nintendo are absolutely coming through with the Switch.

Not good. They are the best selling console in US in their first year. But they don’t act as one. Games are totally meh. No big suprise for me. I think if you buy a PS4 you get all these game with better qualities plus many other games that are not on Switch. Unless you want portability. And I don’t care about that.

Kirk is the new Reggie!

Fantasy Strike, The Messenger, Mark of the Ninja Remastered, Lumines, Light Fall, Garage and Pool Panic are all certain purchases for me. I'm open to all the games shown though and if they review well, which they likely will as most games that make into a Nindies showcase are of a certain quality then I will probably buy them eventually.

Then we have the games that were announced yesterday that didn't make it into the showcase such as Hyper Light Drifter, Crashlands, Squadron 51 and Grip. Those all look to be excellent and the latter 2 are exactly my kind of games.

Games look great, loved the swiftness, the brevity. Anyone complaining is forgetting this is to effectively advertise indie games, so it's well-meaning and necessary... Whether you get what you want from a Nindie Direct is irrelevant because these developers deserve the exposure.

Not what I was looking for. But the Switch is my Indie machine right now. And this will just help this status moving forward

The Switch doing great with Indies!

Lackluster and sad. A few of the games looked to be solid games but none worthy of being in a Direct. I say sad because it really makes you think about indies in a negative light. I don't even think we need a virtual counsel anymore with all the 8 & 16 bit games coming from indies. I really see Switch fans becoming somewhat divided in the near future. Retro gamers on one side & new generation on the other.

I thought the games were a nice eclectic mix of genres. Something for everyone. Bravo

I was underwhelmed. There were certainly a few I'll keep an eye on and will pick up at the right price more than likely. For me the whole thing felt kind of rushed and was over before it started.

Some games look ok. No mention of Warhammer? Is that even an Nindie?

I thought the presenters were lifeless. The new bloke trying to pitch hip phrases and even a thumbs up? Not to be mean but....Please.

Let’s get some younger folks in, someone with a bit of energy. A young woman would be a good counter balance as opposed to just two old Corp fellas wearing suit jackets with t shirts underneath....

Messenger, Garage and whatever the fighting game was called. messenger stole the show for me. I'm astonished it's taken someone this long to make a Ninja Gaiden styled game.

The Banner Saga Trilogy is the most notable one here, and is definitely worth consideration. However, if I wanted it, I'd get it on PC during a sale, instead of paying what will probably be full price on Nintendo's platform...

I felt like the direct was unnecessary. They could've managed people's hype by just shadow dropping trailers and tweeting about it. And then they announced the games that should've been in the direct (Hyper Light Drifter, Nidhogg 2) after the direct via Twitter anyway. Very weird decisions all around....

bomb chicken looks good

thats it

I don't usually say this but I was disappointed. I will probably get Lumines and Pode. Where was Flipping Death? Where was Pocket Rumble? Where was Wargroove? Where was Undertale? Where were the half a dozen titles that ALSO got mentioned as coming yesterday OUTSIDE the Showcase? This was probably Nintendo's poorest effort at a "Direct" style video in years. I'm not some crazy person that was expecting Smash at this event - but I was expecting some friggin' indies to show up that needed release dates and I was expecting a little more oomph. This level of quality should have just been a two minute sizzle reel in last week's Direct - make it 35 minutes long instead of 33, it's a more round number anyways.

@Rontanamo_Bay They could have dug up Iwata's corpse and he would have been a better presenter than those two buffoons. I'm sorry for the graphic nature of that statement and the possible disrespect to Iwata that may be inferred, but it's true. And I really do respect Iwata. He had more charisma in his pinky finger than those two numbskulls combined.

I think indies are fine but not sure those particular ones needed a broadcast or direct, could have just silently been added to the eShop

This is great and all, but where's my Wargroove? That game was announced so long ago.

Looking forward to Lumines. One of my most played on the PSP and the second one wasn't as good so looking forward to playing that again.

I really like the switch as first call for indies but for the first time I saw nothing that caught my interest in this showing. Still looking forward to getting my hands on Hollow knight and flipping death. Going forward it seems the switch will be first target for many indie studios so will be looking forward to finding those hidden jems

I was expecting them to hug and pat each other on the back.
Bad North seemed slightly interesting.

Just what I expected, the whiners complaining. At least Nintendo give us direct more often than other video game companies. There will always be game people like or dislike. That is business. You can't please everybody. I am looking forward to that strike fighting game.

Objectively it was a fine showing. I was hoping for some info on Shovel Knight: King of Cards or some new game announcement in the Shantae or Yooka-Laylee series, but going in expecting specifics is always a no-no. It was pretty meh to me but ignoring my biases, it was fine. Glad to see indies still getting recognition!

When exactly is fall?!? Here in the Southern hemisphere those times don’t mean anything... It would be good if Nindies could confirm MONTHS rather then Northern seasons.

I loved Mark of the Ninja when I first played it on PC when it released, I might go for it again on the Switch if the price is right.

Bad North, looked generally interesting, but will need to see more on that before I plunge money into it.

Banner Saga Trilogy, again - comes down to the price, I've always been interested in the series, but never enough interest to pull the trigger.

Nothing else peaked my interest.

Personally I think gaming is becoming pathetic ! We have been reduced to this shovelware these companies are ramming down are throats and people have come to accept it ! Once upon a time we used to get Great games (NES, Gamecube, Sega ect.) And didn't have to worry about getting nickel and dimed to death as in microtransactions . Now all we get is indy crap and ports !