Well what do you define to be a heavy-hitting release? Are you critiquing my prestige or sales? If the latter, then bringing up the sales of Pokopia is perfectly valid— that’d be the equivalent to dismissing Animal Crossing New Horizons. If the former, then… well… i guess Pokopia also fits that bill.

So esteemed IP that are known to sell well? That feels a little restrictive, no? Pokopia is certainly a game that should be considered such if we’re going by the metric of sales figures. Or if going by acclaim, then DK.

I don't think so, esteemed IP that are huge sellers being their megatons feels fair since that's such a big deal that it's inherently restrictive. Pokopia is big but unless is legs are super impressive I wouldn't put it on that level. To be clear Nintendo's 2026 is absolutely solid first party wise cause there's at least three 10m sellers, a big part of it that the segment of Nintendo fans that aren't that into the more "casual" games while loving stuff like 3D Mario and Smash aren't being served well lately so are getting impatient.

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??"

Guess we will discover in September 

Yeah, Star Fox cannot muster numbers as it did on N64 for a long time now. Fire Emblem was the strongest ever on Switch. So yeah, I don't think it is a fair fight. We can look out for Rhythm Heaven vs. Star Fox, that should be fair.

I dont see why any of us should care how much pokopia sells when discussing this

Why not? Many like this game as sales numbers indicate. Certainly more than dead franchises like Star Fox. Sales is what matters. Going after your personal outdated tastes would ruin Nintendo. The sales indicate many people like this game, and why not. What brings fun to gamers and sells is what matters. So yeah, we should care about Pokopia, it has proven to be a decent seller. We should care about Sports resort. Obviously we can care about weaker selling games that are our personal favorites - but considering if Switch 2 has a good library is looking at the great sellers. Zippy has pointed it out, these are what matters.

For Switch: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/switch.html

For Switch 2: https://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/finance/software/index.html

Because we are talking about heavy hitters for (im going to use a late 2000s term that used to be lame, so bear with me while i try to make a point) hardcore gamers. Just because something sells massively to a widespread audience doesnt mean WE should care. It would be like saying who needs twilight princess when we have wii sports, wii play, and wii fit. I love those games and glad they sold but that doesnt mean theyre more important TO US than twilight princess, mario galaxy, or metroid prime 3. The latter games were the "heavy hitters" for the wii early on, even if they didnt sell as well as some other games. Just because a game sold more, im not going to consider a year good because of that. Its such a simplistic way of looking at things. If nintendo sold nothing but puzzle games like tetris or candy crush that sold 60 million copies every time because moms and grandmas were buying them, and then nintendo decided that the majority of their business was going to be this now, i dont think youd be too happy even if the games were selling well. Youd probably ask, where are the heavy hitters?

my tastes are outdated yet everyone is trying to tell me how nintendo remaking 30 year old games is a good thing lol