iLikeUrAttitude

I couldn't agree more with this article, people that say this was a bad year for Switch need to learn that not everything has to personally cater to them and you can have a good year without Mario, Zelda or Pokemon.

As someone who will probably never touch Pokemon again I can still acknowledge they add to this year because I recognize that they are still "big" games loved by many, same with Kirby, I don't like that series either but the game was still well received by those who did and gave this year more variety.

There were many releases this year and while not all of them will cater to me obviously I can still recognize that this year was mostly filled with quality games.

Smash, Dead by Daylight, Mario Kart, Among us and Thems Fightin Herds with friends, by myself Monster Hunter Rise Sunbreak.

It's always been this way, the majority of indies are shovelware.

@Pigeon

>Is one of the best selling games of all time in Japan
>Isn't popular

What?

I think a large part is due to the aesthetic, it's probably the most distinct thing about the whole franchise to the point where even people not familiar with it will have an idea of where that origin of it's art direction is from.
That and it's accessibility.

This was easily one of the best years for the Switch in my opinion.
Nonstop game after game with much variety.
It's probably the Switch's best year behind 2017 and debatably 2021.

@Joeynator3000 Yeah sadly thats a major reason why I still put off on buying it

@Serpenterror Well that's a baseless assumption on your part due to your heavy bias towards turn base games showing, there are obviously multiple factors to why this game didn't sell as well.
Lack of advertisements and release timing easily could've played a party in this.
Well the monsters series is more popular and less niche than the musou genre so naturally it will sell well.

This seemed less about you trying to be objective on why the game sold less desirably and moreso you personally not liking the direction it turned out in and it heavily shows that.

This is the most melodramatic post I ever seen in a while.
My guy spinoffs are called spinoffs for a reason, they're supposed to differentiate themselves from their respective mainline series. If you want to play turn based games so bad the mainline games are right there, heck spinoffs like DQ Monsters have turn based comeback too.
Tell me did you have this same reaction when DQ Heroes and DQ Builders were revealed?

The concept of spinoffs don't damage or influence the main series in anyway the main series in anyway, DQ is still going to be turn based, what you just did was basically throw a temper tantrum over something existing and was extremely childish of you.

@Savage_Joe Sure I could give you the other two I mentioned but Power Rangers probably not, not to mention MK11 was already mentioned by you and that has rollback netcode as well.

Smash style games require a lot of guesswork from the server to make a successful prediction or “rollback” to the actual input if it predicted wrong.

Yeah... that's how rollback works in general...

That takes resources, and it has to be done frame by frame. That effort multiplies when more players are involved. Will the switch really handle that when it can barely do it on a 1v1 in MK11?

Yes if fans on a much smaller scale can implement rollback from passion then a dev team working under the resources of a billion dollar company can certainly do the same.
Everything requires resources, simply pointing that out especially in the context of a company that has plenty adds nothing to the discussion and is a statement with no substance. It's basically the equivalent of saying: "tHAtS gOinG tO TAkE a LoT oF woRk", well no duh.

Or how about this, have you wondered why doesn’t Smash Ultimate has it, even after people asked Sakurai about it multiple times?

Well for starters Nintendo or Sakurai don't really care what the fans are complaining about and don't really listen to feedback so that's a moot point from the get go.
Second of all just because it hasn't been implemented doesn't mean it shouldn't.
Third you can't just jump to a conclusion to a question that has multiple variables behind it, thats a disingenuous assumption that can't be backed up for sure at the most all we can do is make educated assumptions and speculate.

From what I see here are probably the reasons on why smash doesn't have rollback:

• Rollback wasn't becoming the standard for fighting games as it is today now
• Delay based saves a lot more money and regardless of whether they implemented rollback or not the game was going to sell well regardless
• Nintendo isn't good with online and thats been proven time and time again with all of their 1st party multiplayer games so they didn't bother

For the record I'm not saying Smash Ultimate needs to have it's online reworked now, thats obviously going to take a lot more work than it's worth especially when it's already a huge success from a financial standpoint.
But when the next iteration of the Switch is released and we inevitably get Smash 6, and there is still no rollback netcode? Nintendo has no excuses by then.

@Savage_Joe It's not "theoretically" it's been seen in practice through multiple examples on the Switch.
In what world is rollback demanding on the hardware on the switch let alone any system that isn't a potato?
You have fan games running rollback with melee on even weaker hardware on the Switch.
There are multiple modern fighting games that run well that also have rollback - Thems Fightin Herds, Skullgirls, Power Rangers just to name a few.
That MK11 and Capcom Fighting Collection example you gave didn't make much sense seeing as how they require reflexes attune to any other game in it's genre and it's way more demanding than Multiversus, if a game like MK11 can run on the switch with rollback then multiversus has no excuse, the devs just didn't feel like putting it on the switch.

Just because one dev team struggled to put it on Switch doesn't mean it's hard to put it on switch in general.
There are many variations of rollback - Capcom's rollback for example is notoriously bad - whether it runs competently or not is the fault of the developers, not the console itself.

@Savage_Joe So basically they kept out the Switch version because they didn't feel like bothering as usual.
For the record rollback isn't demanding by any means multiple games have rollback and crossplay on the Switch it's just a matter of whether or not the developers feel like implementing it.

@Savage_Joe Well that makes even less sense because the majority of fighting games on Switch do not have rollback netcode. That was never the standard if that's what you're trying to imply.

At first I was glad to see Dragon Quest on their and then I remembered that it was the garbage mobile remakes that were up there.
The HD 2D remake can't come soon enough.

Didn't get that many games that released this year but from what I did here is how I would rank them:

1. Xenoblade 3
2. Them's Fightin Herds
3. Monster Hunter Sunbreak
4. Splatoon 3

Despite Xenoblade 3 being the least played out of the 4 it's experience in it's "little" time left more of an impact on me in the last few years. I truly haven't gotten that emotional over a video game since XC2.
Them's Fightin Herds is just an amazing fighting overall for entry level players and fans of the genre, it has interesting lore, characters, a unique cast, an underrated soundtrack, an amazing lobby system, roll back netcode AND crossplay.
Sunbreak is a great expansion to the point where it could be it's own game but unfortunately I haven't finished it yet, when I do it'll probably rank higher though since I loved rise as well.
Splatoon 3 is at the bottom because of it's garbage online.

Honorable Mention for games that I got this year but didn't release this year:

• Dead By Daylight - Really fun survival game especially with friends, with a noticeable skill ceiling.

It's probably never going to happen at this point but I still hope that Xenoblade X somehow gets ported.

As for more realistic ports on my wishlist:

• Multiversus - Doesn't seem to be that demanding and it looks entirely feasible to port to Switch.
• Divine Knockout - Hi Rez's new game which is a 3D Platform fighter - first of it's kind, I watched my friends play it and it looks really fun.
• The Remaining Disgaea games, they already ported 5, 4 & 1 as well as giving us Disgaea 6 and upcoming Disgaea 7, I don't see why they shouldn't port the last games being 2 and 3.
  It would be nice to be able to play all the Disgaea games on a single platform.

@Smug43 You're overcomplicating things very much, if every company had this much paranoia for releasing new hardware then we would still be stuck in the NES days.
Every console successor is basically just a more powerful version of their predecessor if you think about it, especially the traditional consoles like Xbox and Playstation.
The only company exempt from this is Nintendo but even then they still follow this rule to a degree.

• NES from SNES was a simple step forward, just a more powerful successor
• N64 to Gamecube same concept
• Almost every Nintendo handheld did this as well, sometimes giving you even less of a reason to 'upgrade' like with the gameboy color.

I imagine this'll be a DS to 3DS scenario, as in the previous console will set up the foundation for future iterations to come like how the DS set up the clamshell design for a decade even following through with the 3ds line up.
The "Switch 2" will probably just be a significantly more powerful switch with backwards compatibility and just adding more onto the foundation that has already been set like with the 3ds to the ds.

@jaybird0922 At that point it won't even be a switch pro, it'll be a successor.

It was never real people just built false expectations for themselves and inevitably got disappointed when the 'Switch Pro' was nowhere to be seen.
At this point I'm surprised people are surprised.

Joycons are still a drifting pile of garbage, still need to send them to be repaired.
My Switch itself has a broken cooling fan and need to get that replaced and the kickstand is basically useless now.

Thems Fightin Herds and MH Rise by myself.

Smash and Dead by Daylight with friends.

Glad to see Xenoblade 3 in the top 2 spot, but in my personal opinion I think it deserves the top spot over Persona 5, being the pinnacle of it's masterpiece series and an actually new game.

EDIT: XC3 is currently at the top spot, but we'll clearly be seeing a back and forth.

Playing it right now funny enough, gonna focus on finishing the main quest for Sunbreak.

Well considering SE gave us Octopath, Live a Live, Triangle Strategy and upcoming Octopath II, I think it's safe to assume that SE knows theres an audience for niche games such as these.

Well deserved.
Glad to see that the charm of HD 2D games isn't wearing off anytime soon.

Pretty generous to be giving all of this for free.
Nowadays multiplayer and single player games are getting expansions/season passes, even from Nintendo.

This was a really good year for the Switch, Xenoblade 3 was by far to me the best release of the year followed by Them's Fightin Herds and then Splatoon 3 with a small gap.
I would be surprised if Xenoblade 3 isn't in the top 3 for this years list.

Doing more postgame in MH Stories 2, as well as smash and Thems Fightin Herds with friends.

If would be cool if this means we'll get to aee a grown up ash later on the series.

While I obviously put more hours into Splatoon 3 and enjoyed it, the garbage multiplayer SEVERELY holds it back, beating Xenoblade 3 made me feel a certain type of way.
It goes to the latter by far.
Runner up goes to Them's Fightin Herds - amazing entry level fighting game with a unique cast, good OST, interesting lore, crossplay AND rollback!

You say this like a 76 is a low or even bad score.

Playing a bit of Big Run with friends in Splatoon 3, occasionally smash, and by myself Monster Hunters Stories 2, I should be finishing it soon.

Thank god I haven't run into most if not any of these bugs but it's crazy how this game has so many especially compared to 2.

@__jamiie Hope you enjoy it!

Because it doesn't? There aren't roblox textures plastered over every area the art direction is actually good and not off putting like SV and lastly it doesn't seem to run like complete garbage like the latter.
For the record DQ Treasures visuals definitely leave more to desire but nothing will look as bad as pokemon SV.

I own a Switch only currently but I also want a Steam Deck, it just makes sense to have another console to play all the games your Switch can't (which is a lot) and if you factor in emulation the deck is a must have for me.

The artstyle and presentation for this is gorgeous, I might actually check this out.

Had my hopes up and thought I would see a 1st party game on sale, why did I even bother?

Hows the performance on this game?
That was one of my first concerns looking at the trailers.

@Specialstreamcannon

@Axecon My guy it's pokemon, the biggest media franchise period, even if DQ Treasures most likely turns out to be the better game (even then they're not that comparable) pokemon is still going to heavily outsell it.

Ok but why tho?

I can't wait, I been keeping my eye on this for a while, and I'll buy it in a heartbeat if it has the extra content from previous versions.

Not surprised in the slightest.

Based for doing this, but I'm worrying for any non Panda tournaments being shut down in the future.

@Fizza I know right, it's liked the devs are too scared to give the new weapons good kits now or overtune them like in previous games.

After playing all of them I only like the Snipewriter because I play chargers primarily and you can imagine my reaction whe nI saw the Snipewriters kit....
The main weapon is actually great it's just that for some reason they gave it the worst possible kit.
Sprinkler and Tacticooler on a backliner charger are you serious? Chargers almost always need bombs and if you're going to give it a "utility" sub at least make it so it isn't the worst one that doesn't benefit it at all, it would make a world of a difference if it had beakons, splash or even mines.
In the very least if the sub weapon was good I feel like I could make it work and there would be a ton more use but no both are bad and ironically it's still the best out of the 3 weapons.

With the Big Swig and Nova it's both the weapons and their kits being bad.
The Nova is a **5 shot kill** weapon with the same firerate as the base splattershot and not nearly enough range to compensate seeing how it's slightly below a pro for goodness sake. It kills slowly than an Aerospray! It's goal is obviously supposed to be a support weapon but it's already invalidated by other weapons with the same special (.52 gal which can actually fight and give support with its speical, inkbrush which is a much bettter skirmisher, tri stringer which has far better range and can give support at the same time) or the same sub (explosher which also has far more range can arguably turf better with it's special and zone out players, Nautilus which will use its sub often but can paint AND kill better).
So already off the bat we get one of the worst shooters to release thats already invalidated.
What they need to do to make this weapon actually usable is to either buff it's firerate, range, kill time or a combination of the three, but I have little faith in the devs at this point.

Then you have the Big Swig which is by far the worst roller out of the bunch, it doesn't kill anything except with it's vertical flick, it's horizontal flick doesn't kill even at point blank range and you can't run people over either.
But unlike the Nova I can say at least this has a niche since it's pretty good at painting and it's kit while pretty bad at least can make some use for your team a bit more in my opinion compared to the Nova.

The new weapons are really disappointing but at least we got other weapon kits and most of them are good.

Pretty good update overall but I don't like how they basically gave some of the worst possible kits for the new weapons, it heavily reduces their usage and makes it so most if not all of them will be irrelevant a week after this update. A lot of other weapons received bad kits too but it's especially bad when the new weapons are affected by this.
And some of them are just plain garbage like the Nova and Big Swig, meanwhile the Snipewriter has a lot of potential but it has a garbage kit so I find myself having a hard time using it.

Monster Hunter Stories 2
Smash, Splatoon 3, and Thems Fightin Herds with friends.

Great, more people will get to play this amazing game and it's expansion, however something that doesn't make sense is that Capcom after all this is still not allowing crossplay nor crossaves.
So people will have less of a reason to double dip and activity won't reach it's potential in the long run.

Granted this won't kill the game in the slightest (MHW still consistently gets 24k players daily 4 years after release on steam alone) but if Capcom is trying to reach to as many platforms as possible it doesn't make any sense to not include any of these features.

Is Gamefreak gonna take any accountability for the state of the game though?

Pretty big spike in sales for all platforms which is impressive.