Nintendo in 2017
I never got into Nintendo. My body was never ready.
2017 may be the year to change that.
I’ve always wanted to love Nintendo but I just never clicked with it. I sit in awkward silence when my friends talk about halcyon days playing Smash Bros, my girlfriend has Zelda tattoos and while I think they’re sexy I have no idea what the hell they mean. Nostalgia never got her hooks into me as a youth. I have never been drawn to the colourful world of Nintendo and gimmicks like nunchuck controllers and second screens have done nothing to change that. Nintendo had a pretty lousy 2016, due in part to the transition to the Switch meaning support for the Wii U was wound back, and will look to adapt to the changing market in the New Year.
Hardware.
When rumours first started circulating that Nintendo was to release a new console (known as the NX at the time) to stem the financial bleeding of the Wii U, I hoped beyond hope that they were going to take a competitive stance. The Wii U had been knocked from pillar to post with its lack of third party support and finicky controls which led to the system being a sales flop. With the Switch, though, it was sounding like all the criticisms of their past console iterations were being taken seriously. No more cheap tricks. Nintendo was beating their war drums and coming for Sony and Microsoft with a brand new shiny box. More power, better graphical fidelity and a bigger library of games. As time went on though and rumours were circulating without clarification my excitement waned. Were they really sticking with the cumbersome second screen experience that bogged down the Wii U? What’s the deal with the detachable side controllers? Will developers be able to easily port games over from Xbox One and PS4? Is the battery life going to make portable gaming impractical? I was starting to think Nintendo had drunk the Kool-Aid yet again.
It was something small that got me back onside. In October when Nintendo officially dropped the first look at the Switch, something caught my eye. Sure, the system looked like an iPad sitting in Kids, or to be more precise the lack of kids in the teaser. Rejoice! I always thought Nintendo aimed purely at kids and families but here was a video showing mid-twenties hipsters inexplicably playing the Switch at a rooftop party. You know who else is a mid-twenties hipster? Me! And while I may not attend many rooftop parties, I can see myself bringing the Switch to work and wasting away the day playing Breath of the Wild.
An official event later this week (unnervingly close to the console’s launch in March) will bring more information so I won’t go into the platform’s specs or rumoured VR aspect just yet, but I am hopeful that Nintendo delivers a quality product that is more than the sum of its gimmicks.
The Switch has buried the Wii U in a shallow grave (where it belongs) but it leaves the 3DS in a precarious position going into 2017. The 3DS has been extremely successful but with the Switch’s home/handheld capabilities, Nintendo may become its own competition in the portable console market. While they may exist side-by-side with no issue, there is a good chance the Switch will take a large portion of the portable pie and if Nintendo takes the logical step of having the Switch play 3DS games, it could spell trouble for the 3DS. One major concern for Nintendo’s previous consoles is a lack of games and to save the Switch from a similar fate, putting all eggs in one basket makes sense. Who else knows how to make sure the Switch’s portable aspects are up to par than the teams that nailed 3DS games for the last few years? It will be sad to see the 3DS go into that good night but the portable market may just be the notch in the Switch’s belt to bring Nintendo back out of the mire.
Software.
For a console coming out in March, the Switch doesn’t appear to have a very large list of confirmed launch titles. During the trailer, we got glimpses a range of new games but nothing confirming an official line up.
Despite dedicating an entire event to the title, rumours on Zelda: Breath Of The Wild being a launch title have gone back and forth since its announcement due to development problems with localisation and ‘issues’ with the Wii U port. I assume ‘issues’ means ‘Lel, it’s not coming out on Wii U, fuckers’. Fingers crossed game critic Laura Kate Dale’s (@LaurakBuzz) latest tweets alluding to a March release are correct cos this game looks amazing. I’ve never played a Zelda game in full but this is one of my most anticipated titles of the year. If a huge open world Nintendo title does well, here’s hoping it emboldens other developers to be more ambitious with future titles I just want to blow up those camping monster boys with some barrels!
A yet to be titled Super Mario game looks a likely starter for the Switch, which will have many excited. Personally, I think it’s time for the Mario series to take a well-earned break. How many times will he invite his girlfriend’s kidnapper to a friendly game of tennis before Peach dumps his stuff on the driveway? A small clip was shown as part of the Switch’s launch trailer and, cynicism aside, it looks pretty good. The Switch is able to make the environments seem vibrant and fun. The Day of the Dead style area is going to quite a time!. If Super Mario is indeed a launch day title it will be a huge boost for the Switch’s early fortunes.
A few other games have also been shown running on the Switch but they’ve mainly been ports of existing games like Splatoon, Mario Kart 8 and Skyrim (I’ll only believe this one when it’s in my hands).Rumours are pointing towards a new Pokemon game this year too. Pokemon Stars, a direct sequel to Moon and Sun, is said to feature 20 new Pokemon. Let’s hope none of them looks like Bruxish. I’ve wanted to play a proper Pokemon game on my TV since I was a kid, so they better not mess this one up! FromSoftware has put its hat into the ring too with a Dark Souls port reportedly in production. Artorias the Abysswalker in Smash Bros anyone?!
The worrying thing for me is the lack of new IPs being announced. A big reason I’ve never really gotten into Nintendo is their reliance on remakes, sequels, and ports. The upcoming Nintendo Switch press conference this week will shine some light on the company’s ambitions going forward and I hope that includes some new IPs to breathe life back into Nintendo.
And FFS, a proper Metroid game would be just great.
With the 3DS taking a back seat to the Switch this year, I’m not expecting all too much from Nintendo’s handheld. Despite Nintendo’s insistence they will continue both platforms going forward, I can see them focusing almost solely on the Switch going forward and the portable games normally made for the 3DS being absorbed by the new system. Most games coming out this year are just tweaked versions of Wii U games such as Super Mario Maker and Poochy & Yoshi’s Woolly World (Not *that* Poochie. He died on the way back to his home planet) scaled-back to work on the more modest hardware.
Other games of note releasing this year include Pikmin, Lady Layton, Ever Oasis and the awesomely named The Unlikely Legend of Rusty Pup. The fate of the 3Ds is an intriguing wrinkle in Nintendo’s year and if it’s to be its last, let’s hope the games released put the portable away with a bang
