Digital Foundry: Pikmin 4

[curl-6]

JackHandy said:

Salnax said:

Technical merits affect gameplay, at least to an extent. A high and constant framerate is valuable in action and platformer games where precision is key, high resolution helps in games like Pikmin where being able to zoom out and make out details helps inform players, lighting and shadow effects help shape the environments in games like Metroid and Zelda, etc.

Yes, it definitely does (affect gameplay). But none of it seems to matter with Nintendo games. Thirty frames, sixty, 720P... Nintendo games these days sell regardless. So I just don't see the point, other than just analyzing for analyzation's sake... which is fine. But Nintendo seems to live within their own bubble, and their games likewise sell within their own bubble. They've created their own world, and their fans seem to be happy there. 

Technology and performance still matters even when it's not the top priority.

Pikmin 4's use of physically based rendering makes its world more believable. Its consistent framerate improves playability. The franchise itself owes its existence to the progress of technology; having a hundred little Pikmin running around at once was made possible by the increased power of the Gamecube.

Nintendo may not utilise high end hardware, but they do a remarkably impressive job of squeezing great results from their systems, and that's something worth appreciating.