Digital games even on Nintendo is fine, I dont think its shady at all - its like every other platform you would buy digital on. You buy it just on for that platform and can only hope the owner creates a successor platform that has b/c. Anyways I'm 100% digital now across all platforms I play - Nintendo, Playstation, Xbox, PC and iOS.

Anyways, I think the biggest scams in the gaming industry include the following

-Paid Online MP (and for Cloud saves)
-Microtransactions (Gacha games in general)
-Lack of b/c

100% (to both lol)

Which Mario bros (Mario) game are you talking about? Because there hasnt been any single Mario game that was released on every platform

Super Mario Bros 1 (NES, SNES via All Stars, Wii Super mario Anniversary, GameBoy "Deluxe", GBA Super Mario Advance, Wii and 3DS VC and NSO Online for NES)

Super Mario Bros 2 (NES, SNES via All Stars, Wii Super mario Anniversary, GBA Super Mario Advance, and NSO Online for NES)

Super Mario Bros 3 (NES, SNES via All Stars, Wii Super mario Anniversary, GBA Super Mario Advance, and NSO Online for NES)

Super Mario World (SNES, GBA Super Mario Advance and NSO Online for NES)

Super Mario 64 (N64, Wii VC and Switch)

Super Mario Sunshine (GCN and Switch)

Super Mario Galaxy (Wii and Switch)

Super Mario Galaxy 2 (Wii Only)

Super Mario Odyssey (Switch Only)

Super Mario Land (GB and NSO Online)

Super Mario Land 2 (GB and NSO Online)

Super Mario 3D Land (3DS only)

Super Mario 3D World (WiiU and Switch)

New Super Mario Bros (DS)

New Super Mario Bros Wii (Wii)

New Super Mario Bros 2 (3DS)

New Super Mario Bros U (WiiU and Switch)

Super Mario Bros Wonder (Switch)

I agree with your whole post.

I think that the complaints for digital games is landing wrong, the problem is no different than physical games. Physical games are generally less likely to be backward compatible because the only way it works if there is a media change is to have multiple slots (As with the DS) whereas digital doesn't require this.

And, I'm with you on digital, I've been 100% digital for over 10 years now (probably 12 years), since the early 3DS era. Even longer on PC/mobile.

But, either way, I think that the best practice is when companies maintain the previous generations as a part of the new generation, rather than discarding it. Or even as something independent - Steam doesn't have generations, but the hardware Steam is used on does, and those hardware generations don't necessarily make older software cease to function, and if they do, then they port it over to the new hardware - as is the case with the M-series SoCs for modern Macs. Ideally, Switch 2 will integrate everything on the Switch 1 EShop into the Switch 2 - everything you've bought will continue on just like iOS/Steam games do when you buy new generations of hardware.

This is why I say the lack of backwards compatibility feels like a big scam, and it always has to me, ever since the beginning of the 16-bit generation.

It's so tough to pick just one
-Paid online multiplayer
-Microtransactions
-Always online single-player games or campaigns.
-Physical games having insufficient data to install the game when most or all of the game could fit on a disc (Earlier prints of Spyro Reignited Trilogy, for one)
Those are the big ones off the top of my head

In a similar vein, the legendary Killzone 2 trailer from E3 2005; while epic, it was pre-rendered and not at all representative of how the game would actually look

People forget Red Steel bullshit trailer and screens for Wii. Trailers are too low rez but the screens Ubi posted were not in game or in engine. Just bullshit and this is in 2006. Bullshots are nothing new tho and they are one of the oldest scams in gaming. Devs were doing it in the 80s. Not all the time but it was known to happen on the back of a box.

The Phantom.

I rarely rewatch or replay anything, and I usually end up throwing away my old physical stuff, be it in 10 or 20 years, it'll happen eventually.

I don't have either the time nor interest to rewatch/replay anything and would rather use my limited leisure experiencing new things. So even as a traditionally "physical" guy, digital is winning me over.

The biggest scam to me remains "paid online". The 2nd biggest scam is the way Atlus handles the "ultimate versions" of their games.

My physical stuff ranging from 10-35 years old still works. Cave paintings fade but they last longer than verbal stories. Plus not hard to find more copies unless digitally delisted. That's a scam. Not delisting in a vacuum but doing so to entice buying the new thing. Short licenses. Dumb decision to put licenses in games that don't need it. After Burning Climax for example. Or when a company OWNS the license and IP but still delists it for no fucking reason. X-Men Arcade back in 2012.

Biggest scam is releasing unfinished games. But that's on gamers to keep falling for that. Day 1 patch should never have become a thing, yet now we're at the point it's better to wait a few weeks / months / port to another system before getting a new game.

Day 1 you're assured to be getting the worst version of the game, for the highest price.


Full price digital games. You don't own anything, the delivery cost is miniscule, why do they often cost more than the physical version in stores...

No being able to resell digital games, circumventing first sale doctrine.


As for physical, I also have not found any faulty disc yet. Especially blu-ray discs seem undestructable. My kid brought home a ps3 modern warfare disc from school that they were using in an art project. We cleaned it off, booted it up in the old ps3, works fine lol. (Disc looks like a mess)

I have lost lots of digital stuff over the past decades. Part due to HDD failures, part to losing track of it all. At least with physical I know where it is.

I did not think of that, but yes, fully agree! This has kind of happens for decades though. Kind of like a movie that feels rushed or they reached their budget. I cannot always say it's a scam, but most of the time certainly it is shady. If you know your game is not done, offer it as a discount or something. Then ask you get money fix it and charge full price. Especially these days when they can just go back in and change things.