2018 for Switch is one of the worst years in any succesful console i remember

Nah this year was fuckin insane on Switch, just got Mario party and Pokemon/Smash are right around the corner

I din't even buy 1/3rd of the games i wanted on Switch and i barely have the time to finish what i have

Why do some people here have the idea that every single game must appeal to them in some way or: it either doesn't count as a good game in the lineup, or it sucks no matter what.

Op, have you thought about becoming a video game youtuber?

This thread would fit perfectly on Cleanprincegamings video list with a thumbnail of a bloody switch.

But I would say that 2018 for the switch has been alright, not amazing but no worse than 2014 for Ps4 was.

Disagree about it being a bad year. Granted it had few great exclusives but the multiplat or console exclusives have been good.

Ys Viii, the Messenger, Hollow Knight, Celeste, Octopath (I dont like it but most do), Iconoclasts, Valkyria Chronicles 4, etc...

The console is having a terrible year so far for true exclusives but a decent year for 3rd parties and excellent for indies.

AlexFlame116 said:

Why do some people here have the idea that every single game must appeal to them in some way or: it either doesn't count as a good game in the lineup, or it sucks no matter what.

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gamer entitlement folks
OP's a notorious nintendo hater anyway it's not like people came in expecting good arguments

I was definitely disappointed by this year relative to 2017, which is probably the greatest year I've had as a gamer since the N64 (and my standards were a hell of a lot lower then).

But, that said, here are all the 2018 games that I bought on Switch:

Bayonetta 1 & 2
Kirby Star Allies
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
No Thing
Detention
Hollow Knight
Octopath Traveler
Mario Tennis Aces

And, on top of those, I've already preordered Dark Souls Remastered, Pokemon Let's Go! Evee, and, of course, Smash Brothers Ultimate.

So, even though this has been kind of a ho hum year, I've still managed to find a dozen games that interested me. And that's not counting a bunch of indies that are sitting on my wish list or the fifteen hours I've already spent playing NES games with friends online.

Now none of the games listed above have come close to being the kind of transcendent masterpieces Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey are (with the possible exception of Hollow Knight), but there have been plenty of truly solid releases this year.

Chris Walken said:

2019 is looking good with Luigi's Mansion 3, Fire Emblem and Yoshi atm, but starting the year with ANOTHER port of a 2012 game doesnt give big expectations.

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January is typically a dead month. The fact that Nintendo is slotting a fairly big Wii U port there when they skipped it altogether this year (and saved the Bayonetta ports for February) gives me more, not less, confidence in 2019.

Acquiescence said:

The one exclusive I was interested in playing this year was Octopath Traveler, and that was £25 more expensive than it should've been.

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I understand you're talking about your own personal tastes and expectations here, but, given that Octopath quickly sold over a million copies at its current price point, it would probably have been a poor business decision to sell it as a budget title.

Haven't had a shortage of great games to play. Octopath I'm 30 hours in bought on launch it's still great and not nearly finished. Put 50 hours into Hollow Knight. Got a lot of fun out of other games I bought this year. OP either plays too many games or has narrow tastes. I've got a backlog a mile deep myself and it's only getting worse.

This will probably set off some people's fanboy alarms but Xbox one has been out like 4-5 years now and it's still only got a handful of exclusives I wanna play... and only really two I can think of without going to check a list of games. Namely cuphead and ori ... I mean, I've got no interest in shooters and racers so, for s successful console Xbox one sure has had a pathetic half decade. See how easy and dumb that is OP?

The thread crumbles further the moment someone says smash ultimate is a port of 4.

Whats next, we gonna get a thread saying brawl is better than ultimate?

LordKano said:

gamer entitlement folks
OP's a notorious nintendo hater anyway it's not like people came in expecting good arguments

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Sadly this is true.

I understand fully with the first post, I just think it could've been worded better.

For me I'm disappointed because most games are super casual or ports. I bought the Wii U and rebuying the same games at full price isn't for me. I bought all of Wii U games at launch and Nintendo doesn't seem to respect my dollar.

My system this year has been turned on 3 times total because I've been gaming on the PS4 mainly. I do want to buy more games but we needed one big title to hold us over.

The more I read and watch Pokémon the more I don't want it. The ports I haven't bought. I think Nintendo needed to put out Zelda last year and MARIO this year. We need a big direct with a huge game announced.

I'm in the minority but I'm not excited for Smash because I invested in the entire Amiibo line and bought the GameCube adapter. Smash, to me, just looks like more of the same.

Especially when Zelda and MARIO last year did a lot of the same but felt new, with broader ideas. I love my switch and I hope nintendo can not forget its hardcore audience.

Yet I can't seem to find a way to play all of these games out on Switch..

Antony said:

What Nintendo published in 2018 for the curious:

Bayonetta 1 + 2 [PORT]
Kirby: Star Allies
Nintendo LABO: Variety | Robot | Vehicle
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze [PORT]
Hyrule Warriors [PORT]
Pokemon Quest
Sushi Striker
Mario Tennis Aces
Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker [PORT]
Go Vacation [PORT]
Super Mario Party
Pokemon Let's Go!
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate

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You forgot to list DLC:

Splatoon 2 Octo Expansion
Xenoblade Chronicles 2 Torna

Color Code
Red: automatic disqualification
Orange: meh
Green: this is more like it

I'm not a fan of this Switch year, but this is a terrible hot take and OP should be ashamed of his words and deeds.

It's not like 2014 PS4 and 2011 Wii were decades ago or anything. Unless (s)he is 12, there's no excuse.

Alcibiades said:

Lol at the Astrobot shout-out, as if that game has any relevance. It won't sell anywhere near Super Mario Party or Mario Tennis Aces. Let alone Super Smash Bros. Ultimate and Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu / Evee.

If we check Metacritic, the Switch currently has 71 titles released this year with a score of at least 80%. No other console this year comes even close. How on earth can it be the worst year of any succesful console then? What even qualifies as a successful console according to your definition? Do we also look at the Gameboy, Genesis, PSP, etc?

Games I bought this year:

- Celeste
- Hollow Knight
- Octopath Traveller
- The Messenger
- Okami HD
- Inside
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker
- Dragon Ball FighterZ
- Valkyria Chronicles 4
- Mega Man X: Legacy Collection

Games I will still buy this year:

- Pokémon Let's Go Pikachu
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
- Undertale

I've also put over 30 hours already in the NES app on the Switch.

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Not sure how a game sells has any relevance to the discussion. OP is probably talking about the quality of titles released this year from a first party perspective.

Also yeah, most of the titles you listed as bought I've played before or bought on other platforms. So...

OP tell me did the PS4 line up this year suck because I was only interested in Spider-Man?

Some people should really stop with this "system x has no games" bullshit just because it doesnt have the games they are interested in.

If I put someone on ignore, will that also put also any threads they make on ignore? (real question)

I honestly couldn't care less about God of War or Spiderman, I guess PS4 had a horrible year (sure there was MHW, but that can be played elsewhere and at a better performance).

HellofaMouse said:

2014 was terrible for ps4 and xb1 too, happens to every console

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2014 was amazing for Xbox One, one of the best years this generation. Xbox One had problems with some of its later years, but not with 2014.

2017 had more heavy hitters. 2018 has a more consistent flow of games keeping me glued to the system.

Nothing will top The one-two Zelda-Mario punch, but Nintendo has done a great job in managing the release flow of games this year. There was always something big to talk about every week or two the moment Kirby hit in March.

Mmm. Bought Bayo 2 and MK8 this year. Other than that there hasn't been anything for me so far (waiting for Smash). That's not to say it's a bad year though, it's just been a year with nothing Switch-exclusive that tickled my fancy (multiplats I get on PS4 anyway).

And still 2018 is the best year for gaming IMO.
Not a good feet for Nintendo sure, but for others are so good.

Chauzu said:

- Brings back every playable character ever in the series as well as introducing what looks like a dozen or so
- Multiple old characters have got major moveset changes; even the characters with minor changes so far have extensive changelogs
- Changes to the engine makes it a lot faster than Smash 4 and the game will no doubt be a lot higher paced
- Several new stages, items and assist trophies, as well as bringing back a lot of old classics
- New modes like Squad Assault and Smashdown
- Several QoL upgrades, like how you can save settings and a dashboard existing, letting you not go around menus as much

And this is without having touched at all about single player, online, or any other non-Smash mode.

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That's one of the issues; it's more of the same. Smash I think has an issue of just adding and not trying legit new things. Doesn't help either that to me none have reached Melee's heights, as cliche of a phrase that is.

How do you reinvent Smash? Who knows, but I think fresh blood is vital, and getting HAL back in charge would go a long way as well. Their soul went with them when they were replaced by Game Arts for Brawl.

Maybe an epic single-player mode will be the game changer I (and likely many others) have been waiting for, we'll see.

janusff said:

Not sure how a game sells has any relevance to the discussion. OP is probably talking about the quality of titles released this year from a first party perspective.

Also yeah, most of the titles you listed as bought I've played before or bought on other platforms. So...

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Good for you, but I haven't, and if sales numbers are anything to go by, a lot of people haven't either.

Why would you judge a console's line-up solely by its first party output anyway? And Playstation and Xbox have had far worse years if we only look at first party titles.

Yeah, I'll agree. I don't have the encyclopedic knowledge of past console's 'years' to validate whether it's one of the worst. And I'm sure there's a large list of AA games and indies to fill out the schedule. However, it's on Nintendo as the platform holder without robust third-party support to put out the showstoppers, and they haven't done that this year. Smash Bros. squeaks in at the last minute in December only because Nintendo limited its scope and very likely gave the directive early on that the game can't be delayed into 2019 under any circumstances, because their holiday season would be bust without it.

The recency bias is strong here

I finally got to play Tropical Freeze this year!

Switch had a successful 2018 for me!

pld said:

OP tell me did the PS4 line up this year suck because I was only interested in Spider-Man?

Some people should really stop with this "system x has no games" bullshit just because it doesnt have the games they are interested in.

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I'm with you as well.

Ni No Kuni 2 and SotC remaster were aight too.

But yeah 3 games only for me.

Thread worthy I wonder lol.

Have to agree. Octopath was fantastic, but that's it for me. Smash in 2 months has to be mentioned as well obviously because it will be a high quality game.
The year would be much better if at least the real Pokemon games would've been released this year instead of those Go versions. But well, they should take their time to make them right.

Hero of Legend said:

That's one of the issues; it's more of the same. Smash I think has an issue of just adding and not trying legit new things. Doesn't help either that to me none have reached Melee's heights, as cliche of a phrase that is.

How do you reinvent Smash? Who knows, but I think fresh blood is vital, and getting HAL back in charge would go a long way as well. Their soul went with them when they were replaced by Game Arts for Brawl.

Maybe an epic single-player mode will be the game changer I (and likely many others) have been waiting for, we'll see.

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That's a fair point, but it's still very much Smash 5 and not a glorified port. That's the only point I wanted to make.

All depends on taste really. 2018 was a weak Switch year for me too, but that's because most of the franchises I really care about got their big entry in '17 (Mario, Zelda) and others will be '19 (Metroid, LM). This year is less appearling because I don't care about Pokémon or Smash and I've already played (and thoroughly enjoyed) Tropical Freeze, Toad and the Bayonettas on WiiU. For people excited for both Pokémon and Smash, this year will be just as good as '17.

You want to look back at PS4 first few years and then you will know the switch is actually having a great couple of years

There are still a ton of Switch games I want to buy. Granted, a lot of these are indie titles or ports, but the Switch already has an excellent library. If you are the hardest of the hardcore that plays everything when it comes out, I can see not being enamored with the Switch, but for most people it has an overwhelming library.

Mario Party and Baby's First Pokemon are definitely not jaw-droppers, but they appeal to a ton of people and will sell. And like you said, Smash is going to rock all kinds of socks in December.

I dunno. I've been staying pretty busy on my Switch. It's become my de facto console of choice. I owned a Wii U, own a powerful gaming PC and PS4, but just find myself gravitating to the Switch due to its immense versatility and my crazy schedule. While the early start of the year was pretty weak, Xenoblade took me well into this year, and by the time I finished I had plenty of stuff to play.

Off the top of my head, I've bought or plan to buy:
Bayonetta 1+ 2 (triple/double dip)
DKC: TF (double dip)
Mario Tennis Aces
Megaman Legacy 1 + 2
Megaman X Legacy 1
Hollow Knight
Night in the Woods (technically I think last year release, but bought this year)
Oxenfree (same as NiTW)
Enter the Gungeon (bought last year but majority played this year)
Sexy Brutale (uh... this port sucked)
Xenoblade: Torna
Octopath Traveler
Celeste
Wolfenstein
Cities Skyline
Megaman 11
Super Mario Party
Civ 6 (last one I played was 5, but this gives me incentive to play it)
Diablo 3 (double dip, but didn't play expansions)
Pokemon LGP (mainly a pickup for the fam)
Smash

That's a pretty healthy list for me. I get that some aren't interested/played on other consoles, and I myself could play many of these games on a PC but like I said, the hybrid nature of the Switch makes it ideal for my situation.

A game doesn't stop being good just because it came out the previous year.

incredible hot take, OP isnt even partipating on his own "discussion"

and what about with that early 2000 smartphone graphics?????

Pooroomoo said:

If I put someone on ignore, will that also put also any threads they make on ignore? (real question)

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Yes.

I personally think its a weak year relying mostly on ports and indies, but the thing is still selling well and lots of people are enjoying it.

Im hoping more new third party output, because ive been pretty underwhelmed the past two years.

Alcibiades said:

Good for you, but I haven't, and if sales numbers are anything to go by, a lot of people haven't either.

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After this fall, Switch sales will have trippled and and be on it's way of quadrupling the sales of Wii U. The Wii U ports to Switch is just a smart and extremely logical thing to do the more and more time goes on.

Yeah it sucks we all bought Wii U's and are seeing ports; however, if this is what Nintendo has to do to build up the platform for a much better future, then I'm okay with it. The Wii U ports are finite. It won't last forever.

Let them do their thing and build of their brand again. Good times will come.

maybe it's just me but I've bought way too many switch games. This is just the last few months.

In to the breach
Hollow knight
Bomb chicken
The messenger
Dead cells
Undertale
Minit

Getting octo, smash, and maybe hyper light drifter next.

Sounds like op really meant to say that there weren't many Nintendo made games he liked.

Ex-Psych said:

Yes.

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Thanks! (done)

Alcibiades said:

Good for you, but I haven't, and if sales numbers are anything to go by, a lot of people haven't either.

Why would you judge a console's line-up solely by its first party output anyway? And Playstation and Xbox have had far worse years if we only look at first party titles.

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There is absolutely nothing wrong the the sales of the Switch and it's momentum. Nintendo's high goal of 20m this FY is still very much possible.

What? Considerably more than twice the total number of games have released this year vs. last year, and Nintendo published more brand-new titles than last year, in addition to more ports. On the whole I'd say there are many more good games coming out this year even if Nintendo hasn't put out any huge benchmark single player titles.

Nintendo doesn't annualize most of their big IP, so we didn't get repeats of the stuff that came out last year, but if that's the barometer for success then we can at least all agree that 2008 was a much shittier year for Wii than 2018 is for Switch.

Psamtik said:

It's a little unfair to compare its second year to the PS4's fifth. Remember 2014, when it seemed like the PS4 library was 80% HD remasters and 15% indies? Remember when The Last of Us got remastered one year after its PS3 release? That's where we're at in the Switch life cycle.

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Not really.
With the Wii U tanking and not getting any major games anymore, Nintendo has had plenty, plenty of time to come up with a decent roadmap and tons of AAA Nintendo games.
Sony, even while the PS3 was second on the market behind the Wii, still was releasing major games on the console, so of course they couldn't totally focus on both the PS3 and PS4.

It's almost as if one just came out a year ago.

Acquiescence said:

More effort than you put into this thread-whining post.

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Well that's cute. It's a troll thread and it's painfully obvious to anyone.
But sure, let me put some substance in to this thread.

in 2018 first 9 months 127 games has been rated in the green on Metacritic (75+) and 7 of them has 90+
There's been plenty of good to great to fantastic games released this year.

To put that in to perspective. Here's the other current gen consoles numbers of 75+ rated games and 90+ rated games

Year - 75+ - 90+
PS4:
2013: 14 - 1
2014: 75 - 5
2015: 104 - 7
2016: 138 - 4
2017: 152 - 2
2018: 92 - 4

Xbox 1
2013: 8 - 0
2014: 41 - 1
2015: 67 - 2
2016: 90 - 4
2017: 75 - 1
2018: 64 - 6

And yes, I know Metacritic is by no means a perfect measuring tool, but it should at the very least show that Switch in 2018 is by no means any contender to the worst ever year.
But but poooorts? Do you remember 2014? Every single 90+ game was a port for both PS4 and Xbox and a lot of the other highly regarded games were as well.

Depends a bit on who you are. If you're primarily a PC/PS4 gamer who also owned a Wii U and dislike portability then you probably won't find much to play.

If the Switch is your only console or you need the hybrid/handheld functions then you can find an absolute insane amount of great games released this year.

So, it really depends on whether or not the Switch is your console of choice since the exclusives haven't been many or really delivered.

Yikes - this is an eye-opening take.

I mean, it may well be one of the best Year 2s of a console lifecyle for a couple of decades, for all the reasons already posted.

Whilst I'll never say someone is wrong with their own opinion, I certainly find this thought slightly shocking.


OP do you have a switch? What did you pick up this year?

As a Wii U owner, this year has been terrible for my Switch. I think Ive only picked up Xenoblade 2 expansion pass, Hyrule Warriors and will pick up Smash, nothing else.

As someone who actually buys Switch games made by studios other than Nintendo I can't say I agree. I definitely bought more stuff this year. Heck there's still games from last year I'm interested in but never got to play, like the Mario Rabbids thing which I hear was good.

Weird, I've used my Switch far more than my PS4 or Xbox One this year. Thanks for letting me know what a bad year it was