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| Slownenberg said: Curl, yes system-defining AAA games are important. Without them people are gonna ask whats going on with Nintendo (or any system). Switch ports/DLC, remakes of N64 games, and AA games only go so far. Fact is it's a no brainer that Nintendo launches their systems with their flagship Mario or Zelda. They've done it every console except GC, WiiU, and S2. Guess how well GC and WiiU did.... so yeah it very much feels like Nintendo was thinking they could live off the hype of the Switch successor for a while this gen and didn't have to get a competent library going to impress people with the Switch 2, or maybe they just really effed up their development schedules. With Zelda obviously years away from coming out, and the last Mario in 2017, it was a crazzzzzzyyyyy decision/screwup to not have Mario come out on launch day like literally every single gamer in the world expected, and now apparently it isn't even coming out until probably 24-30 months after the launch. That's a nuts decision. But it isn't just about Mario of course. MKW was a cool refit for the MK franchise, but it seems Nintendo stumbled on the execution as lots of people say Nintendo didn't design it will around the open world concept. DKB is so far the lone standout for well regarded big new AAA game a year after launch. What are the other games...a disgrace of a pokemon game that is the embodiment of zero effort, a niche warriors game that's kinda more of the same from the Switch/Zelda, a Metroid Prime game that for many seemed a little outside the mark and didn't live up to the long wait, a good but niche racing game. That was launch year, basically one standout game for the most hyped system in history. That's NOT a good launch year. I'd easily argue N64 had a better launch year than that, coming out in November, and releasing like half a dozen games in that year, and N64 is the most infamous mainstream system in history for not having many games. And then this year: casual pokemon spinoff, kinda niche yoshi kids game, Mario Tennis like okay that is mediocre AA, and this month Star Fox 64 remake. That's their whole first half of the second year. It's games obviously, it's not "no games", but it is no big games, no AAA games. So 12-13 months in, DKB is still the only well received next gen AAA game on the Switch 2. So it's not about people saying "i didn't get some specific game...", it's about there being a clear mismanagement by Nintendo of the start of this gen, no Mario at launch was a real wtf is going on with Nintendo moment, and now a year later the mismanagement has proven to be not just the launch period but extending on into the future. Not a single must-have game a year in, only one well received next gen AAA game a year in, and Nintendo mostly filling things out with just re-releasing Switch games you can literally already play on the system, some ports and remakes, and a few AA games. Now, obviously they'll eventually put big games on the system, OoT is the next one, despite being a remake, but it's just a bad extended start for Nintendo, and the thing that realllllllyyyyyyy makes it stand out is that this is the successor to the most popular system in history and they are absolutely awash in cash from the insanely profitable Switch, so you would have thought Nintendo would have gone all in to keep that success going and make the Switch 2 a must-have console from day 1, instead they pulled the sitting-on-their-hands card and it comes off as like "wtf has Nintendo been doing the last several years when they should have been preparing for this gen??" |
Pokemon Pokopia and Mario Kart World are big games that were well received both critically and commercially and were system sellers for a lot of people.
Nintendo's release schedule on Switch 2 is definitely more of a slow burn that say Switch 1, which was heavily front loaded to convince people to jump back on board after the Wii U's failure, but to say there's "not a single must have game a year in" is highly subjective; I'd say MK World, DK Bananza, and Pokemon Pokopia would qualify as must haves for many folks.
You specify "AAA" games, but which Nintendo games can we really call AAA? 3D Mario? Smash Bros? Mainline Zelda? Again it seems to come down to a very limited number of key franchises.
