Usually with Zelda games there is a cycle. It comes out and every reviewer tells us it is the greatest thing ever. Then the fans will make sure for a few years that you don't forget that it is the greatest thing ever. However when the next Zelda is announced, we still start hearing that while it is still the best thing ever, it is not a completely flawless greatest thing ever. Then the next games drops and the narrative changes to hate because the new game is the greatest thing ever. Let's take a look

I must say that I am utterly shocked that Skyward Sword got a measly low 80s MC. How could this be? When a single reviewer gave TP a 8.8 and SS a 7.5 at the time of their release, the entire internet knew of the noise that fans were making. I was just reading my monthly Retro Gamer mag and even they remembered Jeff's score. Could it be that critics no longer feel pressured to treat Nintendo games differently? Colin Moriarty even claimed that had Splatoon been a non-Nintendo game, it would been released as a DL game and forgotten within a few months of release.

I am worried because BotW 2 might not get a 90 MC.

tag

It's a mediocre port, calm your buns.

I never understood the whole "nintendo gets a free pass" or "nintendo gets treated differently" to other companies

Like, why can't people who like the games rate them high, why is it that just because some people don't like nintendo games that means everyone else "needs" to find them mediocre too?


Also wow, comparing splatoon to just a dlc game

The original got a 93 metascore, this is just a simple remaster.
Super Mario 3D All-Stars got an 82 metascore. Does that mean the next new 3D Mario game will get one like that too. No, it doesn't mean shit.

You can't seriously think people treat Nintendo games differently because they're Nintendo games. Like where do you even get this from? Because Zelda and Mario games get consistently high metascores? Did it ever occur to you that that is the case because people simply consider these games great?
Ocarina of Time isn't called the greatest game of all time for shits and giggles. It's because people genuinly consider it to be that.
And you being so respectless towards Splatoon, imo the most creative shooter I've ever played, is just a disgrace.

The idea that an absolutely fantastic game would be considered mediocre or bad if it wasn't a Nintendo game is so nonsensicall and illogical, it's beyond me how anyone would think that.
You can just turn it around and make up some nonsense about Sony games only getting high metascores because they're from Sony, or Rockstar games.
Why do GTA and RDR games always get these high metascores? Maybe the simple answer is: because they are that good.

Nobody is starting to consider not to give Nintendo games special treatment because that never happened in the first place.
You want to see a Zelda game with a metascore in the yellow area? Triforce Heroes is exactly that, 73 metascore. Did you then also think the franchise was doomed or are you one of those weirdos who think The Legend of Zelda: Triforce Heroes is a spinoff?

You seem on a roll about Nintendo being doomed.

This gonna be good.

Read some of the quotes of the most negative reviews of the remaster.

Siliconera: "Ultimately, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD is a decent enough entry point for those looking to get into the series. However, it is hindered by the inability to remap controls and the implementation of a poor secondary control scheme. That being said, it couldn’t exist any in any other form due to its original release relying so heavily on motion controls. Despite its flaws, it still offers the quintessential The Legend of Zelda experience". Blames controls.

GamingBolt: "Skyward Sword's HD remaster helps sand out some of the game's rough edges, but this is still probably the most flawed mainline Zelda game to date". The original game was never that great according to them.

GameSpot: "The various quality-of-life tweaks that Nintendo has implemented here, welcome as they are, don't fix Skyward Sword's biggest issues, and it remains the most uneven 3D entry in the Zelda series. Even so, the improvements in this Switch remaster make the overall experience more enjoyable, and the characteristic Zelda magic ultimately outshines the game's faults". Same as previous one, the first release was never outstanding.

So if you're shocked that the re-release ranked in the low 80s and dont' know why, it's because of either the awful controls or the dated design, both of which are funny in handsight because of the fantastic quotes reviewers loved to spread in 2011, like IGN's Richard George, who said: "Skyward Sword is not only hands-down the best game on Wii, it's the greatest Zelda game ever created". Popular opinion said no and nowadays you will hardly find any person who dares to claim such a thing. sundin13 says that the port is mediocre, but I beg to differ, people simply think the game is subpar for Zelda standards.

I'd vouch for a little of both. I got SSHD, and the ability to use the right stick does make it a lot more playable, not to mention toning down Fi.  I'm enjoying the re-release quite a bit playing with the Pro Controller. The base game still shows a lot of the design philosophies of Wii-era Nintendo, namely the excessive hand-holding and the truncated overworld (some great dungeons though.) The critical and commercial response to SS deeply informed Nintendo's design choices for BotW. It was definitely the weakest of the 3-D Zeldas from a design standpoint and almost from a sales standpoint, too. I think only the original release of Majora''s Mask, which came out for a waning system up against what would become the best-selling game console of all time, did worse in its initial release, though MM made up for it with the 3DS release. Considering that it was released on a system with a 100 million install base and Skyrim was setting sales records, Nintendo wasn't happy with it.

For a little of both you mean that the port is indeed mediocre and that people generally have mixed feelings on the game? 

Yes, that's a good way of summarizing it. I'm enjoying playing it on the Pro Controller, but the controls are somewhat clunky, especially the camera. Motion control was too baked into SS. Other than making it 60FPS, which is nice enough, it otherwise has the same graphics. Speaking of graphics, look at SS compared to Super Mario Galaxy, which was pretty dazzling for a Wii game. Xenoblade Chronicles got much more of a graphical upgrade on Switch.