Dringo

I bet this game was only announced to offset complaints about the Bayonetta 2 port. It was just a commission at that point. 3 years isn’t a long development period for a modern AAA game

@COVIDberry I do get why Nintendo fans are so demanding, it's because they buy Nintendo machines for Nintendo games.

I have a PS5, it's super good. And I've loved Spider-Man and Astrobot. But when I look at the year ahead, the games I am looking forward to... Resident Evil Village, Far Cry 6, Hogwards Legacy, Back 4 Blood, Gotham Knights... sure, Ratchet & Clank and Ghostwire: Tokyo, too. But a number of games from different companies.

Whereas Nintendo consoles... it's all about Nintendo. So if Nintendo is having a quieter few years, which is inevitable when a year like 2017 happens... people get frustrated. I've been watching the market for enough years to know this happens every time. And then, once the dust settles and we look back over the course of the generation, we realise that actually it was pretty bloody great. And it has been. And I expect, continue to be.

The value question around ports is a bit weird, in my view. A few people are commenting on the fact that these games are ports so should cost less... which suggests the games should be cheaper because they didn’t cost much to make....

But that’s a bit odd. Because I don’t pay less to see an indie movie at the cinema than I would when I go see a Marvel movie.

For me, value is about enjoyment + time. By that metric, Super Mario 3D All Stars is a bloody bargain.

But different strokes for different folks

@TheFrenchiestFry I am not saying if people request something it makes it happen automatically. I am a senior business journalist. I know how these things work. A handful of people wanting F-Zero is not going to make Nintendo create a sequel.

But if enough people say they want one, then it becomes a consideration.

Your initial message was about the pointlessness of people requesting ports or remakes. But it’s not pointless, because sometimes it works.

@TheFrenchiestFry Publishers do react to fan interest in products all the time. Whether it’s a sequel or a remake is largely irrelevant. If a series they’ve moved on from gathers strong nostalgic support, they revisit it. Sometimes that’s in the form of, say, the Final Fantasy or Resident Evil remakes. Sometimes that’s with a Shenmue or Mirror’s Edge. Fan interest can result in publishing decisions, and frequently does.

I also don’t get this idea that Nintendo doesn’t do new games. Like last year there was 6... more, if you want to count those smaller games... completely original Nintendo games released. And that was a quiet year. I think that’s the most of any publisher

@TheFrenchiestFry Expressing interest in sequels or remakes is why things like Shenmue 3 happens

Wii U ports allow Nintendo to maintain momentum for the platform and engagement while they take their time on the next big sequels. If you’ve played them before, there is obviously not much appeal to buying them again. But they have really helped keep the Switch relevant.

Nintendo has a real challenge in that people only really play their games on their consoles (whereas third parties dominate Xbox and PlayStation), and games today take so much longer to make. The Wii U ports have really helped them. And as I don’t get much TV time, I’m excited to play these games on a portable device.

It’s worth noting that Naka is the director of this... how long has it been since he directed a game?

@invictus4000 People said that about the Mario collection before they revealed it... when it turned out that Nintendo wasn’t charging for each game, everyone instead criticised it for other things

I got these back in September when they first went up

Another genuine Mario classic this one. It was pretty simple before you complete the game, but the post-game (Which my memory remembers it being the same length as the main game) was bonkers brilliant

@michellelynn0976 No it’s not. The story is about 8 hours, easily. But there’s no way you’re doing just the plot. The character development in the side stories are essential. I love Nintendo but spreading lies about another platform’s (really excellent) game is just fanboyism at its worst.

I think someone said it already, but a strong start to the year for Switch

@Isaix They do sometimes do it that way. Pikmin 3’s extra content was added into the story experience

@michellelynn0976 Spider-Man Miles Morales is not 3 hours long. Took me 25 hours to do the game 100%. Much shorter than the previous one, but I had a hell of a time with it. Genuinely excellent.

@Jakiboy So what you’re saying is that Nintendo and it’s partners are not updating Smash Bros, Splatoon, Tetris 99, Animal Crossing, Pokemon and more. And have been, in certain cases, for several years?

You’re saying that Nintendo Switch games, like Mario Odyssey and Breath of the Wild, Luigi’s Mansion, and Fire Emblem, are not bigger, more visually impressive and, in my view, broadly better (at least as good) as the games that came before it?

I mean, outside of the opinion on quality, these things are just factual.

Nintendo released more titles than Sony, Take-Two, EA, Ubisoft, Microsoft, Activision Blizzard, Sega... you name it... last year.

Yes, its big AAA teams — the Zelda team, the Mario team — have only done one game so far. But then they did on the previous console.

@Jakiboy I’m not talking about hard times. I’m talking about the fact modern games take 4/5 years to build, teams of hundreds, and then a team to maintain it post-launch.

All the kids crying their eyes out over the fact they are fewer Nintendo games coming out are missing that this is true of every publisher and every developer. Nintendo’s games are now longer, better, supported over time with updates and DLC, and last for years.

That’s why there’s only been one Halo game this last generation. Why Naughty Dog made less than half the games on PS4 it made on PS3. Why Rockstar have only made 1 new game.

That’s the reality. During COVID, Nintendo and its allies have shipped more games and DLC than any other games maker. They’ve said COVID has slowed them down a bit, but not massively.

This is just what modern games development is like. Games take longer, more people and will be updated post-launch. There will be moments of a lack of full new games, but with Smash and AC updates to keep things ticking over. That’s true whether you’re a fan of Nintendo or Blizzard.

The industry has changed.

@Jakiboy You really don't get game development

@COVIDberry Indeed. They’ve been plugging their release schedule with partner studios, third party deals and, of course, remakes and re-releases.

But this isn’t hugely new either. A lot of Nintendo studios are partners rather than owned (Intelligent Systems, Hal etc), while there was always folk like Factor 5, Argonaut, Silicon Knights...

I guess the only point I’m making is that all the big studios make fewer games today. But they compensate by games that live for longer. Back then Smash Bros came out and we were done. We are now into year 3 of the latest Smash game

Looks bright and fun. Ideal for fans of Mario, I’d say

I never played much of 3D World when it came out. No reason outside of my life doesn’t afford me much TV time. So excited to do it on Switch.

And this trailer is bloody awesome. Excited to play a mini-Odyssey-style expansion with 3D World mechanics. This game should do really well for Nintendo.

This and Monster Hunter... big games to kick off the year

@COVIDberry To be fair, back in the days when games weren’t HD, could be made with much smaller teams and when ‘3 year’ dev cycles were considered lengthy. And in an era where DLC, expansions and in-game events didn’t happen.

Naughty Dog made 4 completely original games during PS3 era. 2.5 during PS4. Rockstar has made 1 completely original game this generation. No new Elder Scrolls last gen. One Halo.

You get my point. Games cost more, take longer and require more upkeep today. And they last you longer as a result.

I get people being impatient for new content. I am, too. But it’s just the nature of game development today.

Nintendo has also been busy updating its existing popular games. It’s not all about new releases.

With Mario, Bravely Default and Monster Hunter over the next 3 months, there’s plenty to get on with in the meantime.

COD, FIFA and GTA are big everywhere

I suspect they will have some things to show us soon. Even with the pandemic slowing things down. Last year was understandably light in terms of communication, and there's nothing post-Monster Hunter

@Arkay I wasn’t saying Nintendo made bad decisions with Retro. Just that they didn’t leave them to it

@link3710 Nintendo was the main shareholder of Retro. They canned the projects.

The rest of what you said is correct, mind

@link3710 Nintendo gutted Retro at the beginning

With Xbox, Tencent, THQ Nordic, Sumo etc... buying up studios, this was an essential purchase to ensure the talent doesn’t end up in the hands of someone else

Real answer:

It was out of scope

When Nintendo set the budget, release target and ambition, they worked out that in order to deliver the product within the scope that they could only fully deliver 3 ports.

@erikharrison There are as many mainline 3D Zelda games as 3D Mario games.

For the 25th anniversary, we got

• Skyward Sword
• Ocarina of Time 3D
• Four Swords Anniversary
• Link's Awakening DX port
• Plus a whole bunch of merchandise and concerts

I expect similar things

Bad week for Immortals

@JohnnyC To be clear Johnny, the Xbox figures combine S and X as one

@Wolfgabe They’ve not lost any revenue to the pandemic. In fact... quite the opposite

Switch Pro launch

You know if Nintendo allows piracy, it makes it harder for them to argue in court against it, right?

What a bad console. Built on the premise of second screen gaming because that was the trend. Focused on solo play over multiplayer... poor launch line-up (and first 10 months generally). It was like the anti-Nintendo console.

Good games that have helped maintain engagement on the Switch. Failure is just success-work-in-progress and if it wasn’t for the Wii U, there wouldn’t have been Switch.

Or Amiibo

Or Splatoon

Or Mario Maker

They didn’t ‘want to make players wait’, it just required standalone dev time, they wanted to get it out on XO and PS4 before it got replaced, so that’s where they prioritised. Not everything is a cunning conspiracy designed to rob gamers of money.

Crash is one of the most successful third-party games on Switch. I was surprised Activision hasn’t confirmed it already

Michael Pachter is paid by games companies to advise them. Nintendo isn’t one of them. Thus he slags off Nintendo. They’re not the only one he does it to.

He is a smart man. Even if only 20% of Switch owners use the TV, by generation’s end, that might be around 20 million people. Which is about the entire install base of the GameCube

I like the fact the story is being told extensively in a non-Zelda adventure game. I always felt Zelda was more powerful the fewer cutscenes there are

This is probably the most significant Smash addition of them all

@Ventilator And Mario Kart

@Grumblevolcano Nah, Crash and Star Wars will take it

@doctorhino Well. You have to worry about buying it before March. Not now

@kaiofelipe This is generally, but not always, true globally

The games aren’t sub-par. They’re not lazy. It’s a basic job, yes. And they charge a lot for it. But it’s up to consumers to judge whether it’s worth the money... and I suspect because it’s 3 of the greatest games ever, people will pay for it.

I find the quality control idea mad. The quality of Nintendo’s games this generation has been amazing. The Wii U ports haven’t replaced anything, all they’ve done is plug the gaps in the schedule. If there wasn’t Pikmin 3 in October, it isn’t that you’d have got Pikmin 4 instead... you would have just got nothing.

For a console as consistently good as the Switch, I find some of the aggressive comments baffling. I guess it highlights just how people are passionate about their Switch

In a perfectly normal way, I am happy to spend £50 on 3 old games I know I’ll play to death, than £50 on a game I hope I’ll play to death.

I think we are the only entertainment business that judges the value of the product based on how much they spent making it, rather than how much enjoyment we get out of it. I don’t refuse to pay the full cinema price for an art house movie just because it didn’t have as many people making it as an Avengers

Nintendo fans are mad when Nintendo put too much resource on ports rather than new games. Nintendo fans are mad when Nintendo doesn’t put enough resources on the ports.

Of course they took the easiest route to getting these games running on the console. It’d be a poor business decision if they didn’t.

It may be too expensive for what it is... but it’s only too expensive if people don’t buy it. I guess we will see in the charts

@kingbk I do have strong nostalgia for it. More so than any other machine. And I find the games still really playable.

I recently bought Beetle Adventure Racing. It really holds up.