Just a couple of years ago, the very thought of any major Bethesda title appearing on a Nintendo platform was practically impossible, with all of the studio's hugely popular hits releasing exclusively on more powerful, rival consoles. With the Switch, however, times have changed, and the relationship between Bethesda and Nintendo is blooming.
We've already seen The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim appear on the console, as well as DOOM and Wolfenstein II with a little help from Panic Button, and even the Fallout series has seen some Switch love recently with Fallout Shelter, so what does this mean for the future? Well, Bethesda's vice president of PR and marketing, Pete Hines, has been chatting to Metro about this very topic.
"Well, here’s the thing. We’ve always gotten on well with Nintendo, it’s just a question of do the games that we make… technically are they a fit for the platforms that they’re making? In the past the simple answer has been no. Like, Skyrim did not run on anything that Nintendo was making. Could we have changed a bunch of stuff to make it work? Maybe. But that’s not our approach.
But in the case of the Switch the game as we made it, does it run on this? Yeah, it does! It runs well. And so Skryim, Wolf, Doom 2016, Doom Eternal, Shelter, Legends – all of those things are things we’ve said, ‘Look, this either can or will run well on a Switch’. And we continue to look at every game that we make, because we want as many people to play it as possible. I have my Switch with me here in Germany, I think it’s great to be able to take games you love with you."
Having these ports of older games appear on the system is fantastic, and finally gives Nintendo fans the chance to try out these franchises for, potentially, the first time, but what about new stuff? Hines was asked whether or not Bethesda would ever consider making an exclusive Nintendo title, and the answer is pleasingly open to the possibility.
"It’s possible, but that’s up to the devs in terms of what game is it that they’d be talking about... We’re always having conversations with them, but again those conversations wouldn’t necessarily take place with me, they’d take place with a dev to say, ‘We have an idea for a this or a that and we wanna do a game that is a crossover with the Switch’."
As a final, last-minute question, Hines was then asked about Super Smash Bros., and particularly whether or not Bethesda has spoken to Nintendo about the franchise. His response?
"Oh yeah."
We'll leave it up to you lovely readers to decide what that "oh yeah" means in the comments below. Are we going to get Doomguy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate? Will there be a Bethesda related Smash reveal in the Direct later today? Probably not, but just imagine...
[source metro.co.uk]
Comments 80
I so need the doomguy in smash
''Like, Skyrim did not run on anything that Nintendo was making.''
Wii U? I mean, it is a PS3/360 game...
Ah yes, the proverbial, "Do you want your guys in Smash?" question. The hard-hitting journalism, there.
Look, we all know the answer to that question. But I wanna know what's the explanation from the one guy who'll eventually say no.
Did i miss something did he say legends coming to switch lol
Okay so I predict we gonna get both Corvo Attano and Morgan Yu in Smash and Dishonored and Prey announced for switch today !
Doom guy would be ok, but I think I’d prefer Vault Boy.
I've been saying this needs to happen. If they did a short reveal of it during today's direct I would lose it.
Doomguy decapitating princess peach with a shotgun. Hmmmm
C'mon, Sakurai-san needs a decent night's sleep. We have enough characters already, save something for future generations!
I still REALLY want Fallout 3 / Fallout New Vegas on Switch. Make it happen Bethesda!
Dovakhiin would be a better smash character
@tonyp1987 Yeah, their card game is coming to switch. I tried it on my phone, it is quite fun actually.
@Octane I think if Wii U could run Mass Effect 3 then it could run Skyrim. I personally find ME3 more taxing on PC than Skyrim but it depends if Bethesda could be bothered optimising it for Wii U. I think not.
Guys Doomguy is already in Smash. He wields that Master Sword thingy.
@nessisonett @Octane Wasn't the Wii U technically more capable than PS3 and 360? Just it was a pain in the bootay to develop for. Plus that commercial failure thing.
Though Skyrim was broken on PS3 for the longest time due to Memory limitations.
Doom Guy, even as an assist trophy would be hilarious and amazing.
Say what??
@Yorumi I want an alternate pokemon trainer. Maybe the rival?
@Smigit That's what I've been thinking! Can you imagine the moves and weapons for him(or her, as echo), considering all the animations and shorts from the games?
I think my bobble-head Vault Boy agrees. That, or my office fan is blowing his head around
Lol, I see it now.
Doomguy makes it in, but he uses the chainsaw.
Because of this he plays almost like every sword character in the gamce. ;]
@XenoShaun @nessisonett The Wii U was definitely more capable than the PS3 and 360. Sort of in between those two and the PS4/Xbox One. And very close to the Switch, in between portable and docked Switch, if you will. So it's definitely possible.
It wasn't difficult to develop for, it's just that the PowerPC architecture was kinda outdated at the time, and most devs didn't want to port to PowerPC or didn't have the expertise. Though that's kinda a moot point since the PS3 and 360 also utilised PowerPC. So a straight forward port from those versions was definitely possible, possibly with better textures, etc.
The Switch is in a similar boat, being ARM-based. But that's the entire point, it doesn't really matter. Devs will follow the money. It's not an issue of whether a system can run it or not, like Bethesda pretends to be, they simply didn't want to put effort into the Wii U since it was a sales disaster. Not because it couldn't run the game. Ergo, a bunch of PR talk.
@Vepra That would be awesome! It was the first thing I thought when I saw his "Oh yeah" response. Doom guy should be there with his own Amiibo. Cheers!
Doomslayer / Dragonborn echo combo would be amaaaaaazing
They already have snake and bayo so “guns” are not off the table
Imagine the Dragonborn alt costumes too - swapping between and elf, Khajiit, Breton, etc
Would be soooo sick
Doomguy in smash would be awesome! Rip and tear!!! 🙌🎮
I personally don’t want any more 3rd party characters - especially one from Doom. Rayman deserves a spot, but I’d be happier with an actual Nintendo character.
@Smigit @Dezzy I dunno, we already have Simon Belmont going after Peach with a whip, and Shulk going after her with the freaking Monado.... Shotgun seems almost tame.
It would have to be Vault Boy. That would fit so well. And it would be a meme machine. Nintendo could drop the whole marketing budget right there.
@Octane In all honesty, the WiiU hardware specs were garbage compared to the PS3/XB360.
I played Skyrim on the XB360 and it barely run... it was ok, but not fantastic. So I played it mainly on the PC at that time.
The Switch has the NVidia SoC, while not extremely powerful, it's very easy to port existing games to it and that is the key.
Since in the end it's about cost vs risk. If the costs to port are too high, especially on a Nintendo console where the userbase has always been particularly picky towards 3rd party titles, studios just don't bother.
That was the main problem with the WiiU. Weak hardware, difficult to port to and weak console sales. The end.
Confirmed: Bethesda is working on the New Star Tropics Reboot!
@Octane If I recall correctly, back in the Wii U days they said something in line with Nintendo not taking steps towards devs meant they wouldn't take any towards Nintendo either.
Anyway, after having played Alone in the Dark the New Nightmare on GBC, Rogue Spear, Kill.Switch, and Max Payne on GBA, and so many other incredible ports or at least undeniable technical achievements... I definitely don't believe in any "this system can't run our game". I Always read such lines as "we don't see profit in adapting it". And in some cases, that is sadly true and understandable, Wii U being an obvious example despite being a very enjoyable system.
@Octane I was thinking something similar as it's not like their games ran brilliantly on PS3/360, particularly on PS3 with it's RAM limitations. Having said that the Wii U did have a poor CPU in comparison to the competition and most open world games struggled on the system. Then again given how easily the Switch runs an updated version of Skyrim with it's own CPU weakness and BOTW having comparable performance on both systems I suspect it would have worked well and probably better than PS3
I have no objection if Doomguy make it in Smash
I really don't give a crap about "exclusives". Just give me some good games to play on the hardware of my choice, and I'm happy.
Samus Aran on Quake Champions!
@XenoShaun And so is Sans. I don't remember him using a baseball bat, though.
Doomguy, Rayman and Travis are the three "essential" third party choices left to me. Would definitely love Heihachi and Leon Kennedy as well though.
@Octane you do realize the Wii U had 2 GB of Ram right? One of which was use for the OS. I don’t think it could run an open world game like Skyrim with 1 GB of ram. It also was a super hard system to optimize for due to it’s archaic CPU.
Omg Doomguy in smash 😃
@SimplyCinnamon53 The 360 had 512MB of RAM, the PS3 only had 256MB of RAM. And the Wii U had the same archaic CPU architecture as the PS3 and 360.
@Octane Sadly the WiiU was dead on arrival so there was no point.
Now if only they'd bring an actual Fallout game to Switch. None of that Fallout Shelter crap, which got old real fast.
There you have it, Smash fans want Bethesda goodies. Next you'll see some DLC for Fallout Boy, DoomGuy, and BJ Blazokwitz.
@Octane I’m not talking about the architecture, the CPU was supper old and held the system back. It’s GPU actually wasn’t too shabby.
Hmm... they managed to to dumb down both Bayo and Snake enough from their more vicious attacks and moves, so I guess there's a chance for Doomguy-- But hell, that was what makes him such a badass lol!
@sikthvash I think F:3 and F: NV are great fits for the switch too, and if those other fallout developers who still want to make fallout games want to make new games then bethesda should let them have it but on the switch for Nintendo so that bethesda themselves who also want to continue making fallout games themselves can do so on ps4,xbox one, and pc and beyond.
@SimplyCinnamon53 It was, but it wasn't worse than the 360's CPU. Not sure how it compares to the Cell, but that thing was complicated in its own weird ways.
@tonyp1987 https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2018/06/bethesda_brings_the_elder_scrolls_legends_to_switch
Seems like a bunch of PR BS. The whole perspective is out of whack, Skyrim should have been on the Wii U.
We like your support, but don't act like you were team Nintendo all along.
The Smash Bros. part is just them liking the game, it doesn't really mean anything in terms of them putting something for the game or not.
Why not Bethesda make the next METROID PRIME?
@Scirocco7 That...would actually be awesome.
Doom guy should be a trophy.
I think we will get a true fallout game ported over. Doom and wolf make me think that fallout 4 or even 76 are possible, and more likely then maybe 3 or newvegas, but one of those j think will be coming after dark souls, doom 2, diablo, war frame etc...dust settles. Then I think we get a fallout game. Why give us shelter and not a true mainline game? Because there are already 6 months of awesome games coming(with a year and a half behind us), and that’s just not how Nintendo does things now. We get barely 3 months on diablo 3 port being official to release, fallout ___ is coming. I’m just going to keep enjoying the endless awesome games my switch has today.
@Smigit That’s a far, far better idea! All the perk animations could be different moves.
@Saints Yeah, Pete is just doing his job. Spinning the BS
@justin233 Shantae deserves it more than Rayman (who btw is terrible visual character design. Just awful). Shantae’s aesthetic fits perfectly and she’s has been with Nintendo systems for a long time. Her multiple animal formations would make up the perfect move set for a third party character
@Mayor_Haggar Doom was fantastic on GBA. Still one of the most impressive ports of that game. And they ported Doom 2
@Antraxx777 I’d call her an indie character but ok. Rayman deserves it too whether you think he’s ugly or not.
We can't have Doomguy or his great grandfather B.J. Blazkowicz join Smash Bros. as their games deal with religious themes and Nazism.
Although, I do agree that it would be hilarious to an extent.
I wouldn't mind seeing Doomguy in Smash Ultimate. Thing is, Sakurai already said Dracula's Castle is the "darkest" stage in the game, so I doubt that leaves much room for a DOOM-specific stage.
As somebody who's never played a Doom nor a Smash, I still think that'd be pretty awesome. I'm also wondering, with Nintendo and Microsoft being all friendly where cross-play and Minecraft are concerned, I wonder if Microsoft would be open to trying to get Master Chief into Smash.
Doomguy won't be playable in Smash.
Probably just a Trophy like Rayman in Smash U, but being referenced will still be cool.
@Dezzy Well, it's not like Nintendo hasn't shown Bowser's huge guts before. They're even coming to the 3DS soon.
Seeing all those Marios, Inklings, Kirbys and other cutesy characters in a stage that's literally Hell would entertain me to no end.
Bethesda for a Nintendo exclusive? That will be fun, between Nintendo's very high quality standard (with a few hiccups like mario tennis) and Bethesda's very low quality standard leaving wildly known bugs from vanilla on the 20th remaster and re-release (looking at you Skyrim)
Doom guy is already in smash.....I've said it before and I'll say it again the doom slayer and Link are one and the same but in different time/place. Think about it, you know it makes sense. All we need now is for the crossover game to confirm it
@Smigit vault boi isn't an actual character
Doom Guy for Smash plus amiibo. Come on!!! Make it happen.
@justin233 What would be his moves?
@BIGMANHOT1 How is he not a character? Yes you don’t play him in game but he stars in all of their promotional and tutorial footage. His design is very appealing and fits with Smash, and they could have a lot of fun interpreting the perks animations into moves. Imo it makes a lot more sense then forcing Doomguy or Power Armor knight, or even the Dovhakin
@Antraxx777 Have you played Rayman? He’s quite good at kicking / punching and his hands aren’t attached to him giving him a long range attack. He has a spin attack and he can hover so that can be up-special. I’m sure they could figure it out if they can give all the generic sword fighters moves. There are several Rayman games for them to pull inspiration from.
@Smigit Doomguy is waaay more deserving, Doom is hugely important to the history of gaming and has had way more games on Nintendo systems. A SNES port, GBA port, N64 exclusive, and Switch port of the most recent title.
I'm not against Vault Boy, he would be fun, but in no way does he trump Doomguy.
@Antraxx777 Doomguy would not need to be forced one bit, Doom is ridiculously colorful and doesn't take itself that seriously. Doomguy would fit much better than you think.
@Elvie Doom deals with religion even less than Kid Icarus. You can have a "Hell" without actually going into any real religious territory, Doom itself sure does. That and its not like Nintendo is afraid to say "Hell".
@geassguy I think Nintendo is more comfortable dealing with Greek mythology because it is a religion with very few, if any, followers but the main point is that Doom contains imagery that can be deemed satanic and also extremely violent, something that is more likely to offend people, especially in Western markets.
It isn't because it mentions or even contains a Hell but it's the depiction of it that Nintendo would make them uncomfortable.
Yes, please! Please put DOOM Slayer in Smash Bros!
@Elvie They don't have to include pentagrams to properly represent Doom in Smash, they would obviously leave that stuff out just like they would the gore.
The plain fact is, Sakurai considers Doom to be an important series. Nothing else Bethesda has comes even close. What else would they be talking about in relation to Smash?
There are always like 2 third party games on Nintendo systems and they all have to be in Smash Bros.
Now it's Doom guy. gtfo
@geassguy I not entirely sure if that's possible, considering the violence is more or less integral to the series.
For example, if they brought Sub-Zero for Smash Bros. and his Final Smash wasn't his fatality (the Predator style one is what I have in mind), I think that would disappoint a lot of people.
Although, since Snake and Bayonetta made it in, it's not entirely impossible but I feel confident that he won't join the roster.
@justin233 Ive played the third game, and it’s pretty awful. I’ve also played some of Origins but found it rather overrated; fun but with uninspired level design. The characters in that series are just annoying and their design is sloppy too. The background art of the newer games is good, but nothing special.
I still don’t think Rayman has enough interesting moves, and I still don’t think his series is interesting enough either.
@Antraxx777 I’m tired of getting notifications about your opinion of Rayman. Your opinion of him is not what qualifies or disqualifies him from joining the game.
It is if people share a similar opinion. I could say your defense of him doesn’t warrant his inclusion either.
As far as Ubisoft goes, I’d rather see an Assassin
Show Comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...