Would you say that Nintendos deep dive into DLC this gen has been "Classy"?

[Asriel]

Starting from the top, best to worst, in my opinion and based on my experiences.

Mario Kart 8 & Hyrule Warriors both had great value DLC, a mixture of free and reasonably priced. The season passes for both those games were excellent in terms of pricing. I don't expect Nintendo to make free DLC only (Splatoon) standard, so that's why these games go at the top. It's the approach I'd like Nintendo to take going forward.

Everything for Splatoon has been free, and that's not including the locked on-disc content. Since then Nintendo have actually added to the game for free, which is great. Given this week's update, it looks like Mario Maker will be getting free DLC, too. I haven't bought Mario Maker yet, but the promises of free updates, and particularly more content, mean it's a must-have sometime soon. Splatoon still gets played a few hours a month. I'd love to see some more single-player content, though, and to see some of the mechanics/level features from single player find their way into multiplayer.

Smash Brothers had a mixture of free and priced DLC. I'm not a fan of the costume DLC for Smash, and I think some of the paid content has been expensive, particularly when it comes to those who want to buy for both versions of the game. A sure sign Nintendo know their audience, though. The new IP gets free DLC, the broader appeal franchise (Kart) gets free/good value, and Smash gets the combination of free, more expensive and microtransaction DLC because it's for the most dedicated.

Fire Emblem: Awakening had a handful of free missions which allow you to recruit more characters, which was great, as well as a bunch of free smaller downloads (the challenge teams). The paid content was largely over-priced and many packs were hardly essential, though I thought the Future Past pack in particular was fantastic. I would happily have paid £10-15 for a mini-campaign based on the Future Past premise, and, at some point, Nintendo should have combined the DLC as a single, discounted pack. I think Awakening's paid DLC was a real foot-finding exercise for Nintendo this generation.

Over all a mixed bag from Nintendo, with obvious triumphs (Splatoon, Kart, Hyrule Warriors) and at least one game were their approach was very hamfisted (FE: Awakening). As of yet, I've not seen much amiibo content that stands as 'true' DLC, though I do agree any signs of that trend are concerning and would reflect badly on Nintendo.