Club Nintendo

[Nuvendil]

Also, with Odyssey out, I think we can recap this year for Nintendo and how crazy it has been.

In ten months - because this first year isn't a full year, it's just ten months - the Switch has had from first party, second party, and third party partnerships (so no moneyhatted exclusives or incidental exclusives, just stuff coming from Nintendo in some capacity and/or involving their IP) the following positively received retail releases with the following Metacritic aggregates:

The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 97
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 92
ARMS - 77
Splatoon 2 - 83
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - 85
Pokken Tournament DX - 79
Fire Emblem Warriors - 75
Super Mario Odyssey - 97
Snipper Clips is getting a physical release and has a score of 80
Xenoblade Chronicles 2, even if some of the concerns voiced hold water, seems destined for 80+ at least

That. Is. NUTS.
The only poorly received effort was 1, 2, Switch

Not only are multiple games in here of such a quality that I have heard people declare them system sellers - including TotalBiscuit of all people who felt Mario + Rabbids was one - but also the scope of these games. Zelda AND Mario AND Xenoblade in one year. Plus a new entry in Splatoon. Plus a new IP with significant effort in it as well as a smaller new IP.

A lot of people are worried they can't keep this up in 2018 but honestly, they don't need to keep THIS up. A strong lineup yeah, but THIS is just bonkers. Have there been stronger over all years where 3rd parties happened to bring big guns to the table? Perhaps, but I've never seen a *platform holder* bring this many weapons to bear this fast.

Honestly, Nintendo can start using sizzle reel ads to promote off the *backlog* this coming January. PS4 and Xbone weren't doing that in earnest until two years after launch, instead focusing on the future until they had enough big guns in the backlog to entice buyers with it.

Nintendo is being cagey with the Switch and it's distant future and 2018's lineup only has relatively small number of titles targeting it (a very high quality set though), but if it can just come close to this year, the Switch is going to kill it like nothing else.