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Switch has seen a year of drought despite the unified development team. Why?
- Thread starter Sammy Samusu
- Start date
This isn't a bad take either. I know Nintendo needed a release for that slot last year, but it probably would have been better for all parties if Xeno got pushed.
It got overshadowed while also needed a bunch of patches to try and smooth the game out. Probably would have been better if it had an extra 6 months or so in the oven.
Of you only play Nintendo games yes there is a drought otherwise many 3rd party titles took the spotlight for me.
Regardless I want more Adventure games and RPGS.
Regardless I want more Adventure games and RPGS.
2017 was biblical, so anything would look like a drought next to it.
That said, this year while not a drought definitely didn't have that gigaton exclusive first-party or third-party retail release thusfar. 2019 should have more of that type of release in it than 2018 did.
That said, this year while not a drought definitely didn't have that gigaton exclusive first-party or third-party retail release thusfar. 2019 should have more of that type of release in it than 2018 did.
If you're referring to Metroid Prime 4 not coming out this year, I'd probably argue that when it was revealed it was in really early development (still 2/3 years away), unlike the normal announcement schedule for Nintendo (only announce games that are one year or less away). The only reason they announced it was - let's be real - to shut the vocal Metroid fans up. I wouldn't argue that Nintendo aren't focusing on it. Of course, we still don't know who's developing it, so I can't say for certain either way.
I know there are exceptions - Yoshi's Crafted World isn't coming out until Spring; but I'd wager that was delayed due to development issues (it looked rough at E3 2017 - it doesn't now).
This really puts it into perspective on how awful Nintendo's 2018 was.
If this year is consideeed a drought for Nintendo Sony and Microsoft must be dead in the water with their first party outputs.
Aye, but people will insist they should put their resources into Metroid (or F-Zero, Golden Sun, etc) instead of making games that...sell a lot better, actually.
I wouldn't say there was a drought this year at all. They released a good amount of content. If none of it appealed to you, that doesn't make it a drought.
Last year Nintendo released:
-1-2 Switch
-Zelda: Breath of The Wild
-Snipperclips
-Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
-Arms
-Breath of The Wild: Master Trials
-Splatoon 2
-Pokken DX
-Fire Emblem Warriors
-Mario Odyssey
-Xenoblade 2
-Breath of The Wild: Champions Ballad
This year they released:
-Bayonetta
-Bayonetta 2
-Kirby Star Allies
-Nintendo Labo
-Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
-Hyrule Warriors
-Sushi Strikers
-Splatoon 2: Octoexpansion
-Mario Tennis Aces
-Captain Toad
-Octopath Traveler
-Xenoblade 2: Torna
-Super Mario Party
-The World Ends With You
Then there's Pokemon releasing next week
And then Smash a few weeks after that
Third party support has also been pretty decent this year. Indie support has been excellent.
I mean 2018 has been a bit more port heavy, but to be totally honest, of those Nintendo ports I had only previously played Hyrule Warriors on Wii U.
Last year Nintendo released:
-1-2 Switch
-Zelda: Breath of The Wild
-Snipperclips
-Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
-Arms
-Breath of The Wild: Master Trials
-Splatoon 2
-Pokken DX
-Fire Emblem Warriors
-Mario Odyssey
-Xenoblade 2
-Breath of The Wild: Champions Ballad
This year they released:
-Bayonetta
-Bayonetta 2
-Kirby Star Allies
-Nintendo Labo
-Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze
-Hyrule Warriors
-Sushi Strikers
-Splatoon 2: Octoexpansion
-Mario Tennis Aces
-Captain Toad
-Octopath Traveler
-Xenoblade 2: Torna
-Super Mario Party
-The World Ends With You
Then there's Pokemon releasing next week
And then Smash a few weeks after that
Third party support has also been pretty decent this year. Indie support has been excellent.
I mean 2018 has been a bit more port heavy, but to be totally honest, of those Nintendo ports I had only previously played Hyrule Warriors on Wii U.
ITT: We define "drought" as " things that don't appeal to me".
I'd say the second year has stayed pretty true to what Emily said way back in January: that 2018 was to be filled mainly by Wii U ports and B-tier series.
When looked at the overall quantity of releases, Nintendo's managed the Switch pretty well so far. Going much further to secure content then they ever did for either 3DS or Wii U.
Plenty of games to choose from wether we're talking about older Wii U titles, DLC campaigns for earlier titles, B-Tier franchises making their way to platform or 3rd Party content that would have never released on any other Nintendo platform. Pretty good.
I'd say the second year has stayed pretty true to what Emily said way back in January: that 2018 was to be filled mainly by Wii U ports and B-tier series.
When looked at the overall quantity of releases, Nintendo's managed the Switch pretty well so far. Going much further to secure content then they ever did for either 3DS or Wii U.
Plenty of games to choose from wether we're talking about older Wii U titles, DLC campaigns for earlier titles, B-Tier franchises making their way to platform or 3rd Party content that would have never released on any other Nintendo platform. Pretty good.
What kind of thinking is that? Those are all big releases for their months and those sold like big releases that they are. Pokémon Let's Go and Smash will do even bigger numbers than those three.
No, it means that in 10 months there was Bayonetta 1+2, Kirby Star Allies, Labo 1+2, Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Hyrule Warriors, Mario Tennis Aces, Sushi Striker, Octopath Traveler (regional pub), Labo Kit 3 and SMP. Not counting remasters when they're releases is just plain stupidity. If you want to count original titles is one thing, but those are titles that should be counted overall.
That's a lie. Nintendo released Twilight Princess HD, Star Fox Zero, Tokyo Mirage Sessions and Paper Mario Color Splash in that year for Wii U. Not even counting 3DS. Even in the Wii U days their number of releases were already high, even if many of those came from 3DS, which is the contrary now with the Switch.
Actually, we have
Pokemon
Smash
Mario u
Fire emblem
Yoshi
Animal crossing
Metroid
X machina
All in 2019... i think they delayed a lot of stuff
Actually... smashs ism2018... sorry, but i feel smash is the begining of a spetacular period for nintendo fans.
Pokemon
Smash
Mario u
Fire emblem
Yoshi
Animal crossing
Metroid
X machina
All in 2019... i think they delayed a lot of stuff
Actually... smashs ism2018... sorry, but i feel smash is the begining of a spetacular period for nintendo fans.
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I can't believe diablo 3 is still #1 on eshop since release. PoE devs should take note and bring that game to switch if it's even possible technically.
F-Zero and Golden Sun are both dead franchises. I doubt there is much commercial demand for / internal willingness to develop titles in those franchises. Nintendo is a business at the end of the day, so I completely understand their choice of games this year. Eventually, I'm sure they'll get revived, but at the onset of a new console generation, Nintendo is right to focus on bigger series (so... anything else really) to try and build their install base first, before spending money on their more niche series.
none of the games you mentioned were made in house(zelda -> tantalus, star fox ->platinum, TMS -> atlus). except paper mario that was finished on the start of that year.
But in 2017, almost all games were made in house. Funny how this works, ritgh?
It certainly is. The good part here is that it basically can't get any worse. Compared to 2018 all the upcoming Switch years will look good.
This is an indefensibly awful lineup by almost every standard, not counting people who never owned a different platform.
- Bayonetta - Nintendo Switch
- Bayonetta 2 - Nintendo Switch
- Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker - Nintendo Switch
- Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze - Nintendo Switch
- Dragon Quest Builders - Nintendo Switch
- Fitness Boxing - Nintendo Switch
- Go Vacation - Nintendo Switch
- Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition - Nintendo Switch
- Kirby: Star Allies - Nintendo Switch
- Mario Tennis Aces - Nintendo Switch
- Nintendo Labo - Nintendo Switch
- Variety Kit
- Robot Kit
- Vehicle Kit
- Octopath Traveler - Nintendo Switch
- Pokémon Let's Go, Pikachu! and Let's Go, Eevee! - Nintendo Switch
- Pokémon Quest - Nintendo Switch eShop
- Super Mario Party - Nintendo Switch
- Super Smash Bros. Ultimate - Nintendo Switch
- Sushi Striker: The Way of Sushido Nintendo Switch
- The World Ends With You: Final Remix - Nintendo Switch
- Xenoblade Chronicles 2 - Torna The Golden Country - Nintendo Switch
The only drought this year was early on. January through March were pretty empty, but since then we've been back on our 1-2 exclusive per month schedule like last year.
I don't know how people keep pushing for this "drought" narrative when we have way more first party releases this year than last year and I recall far fewer drought complaints last year.
Great post to illustrate what I mean:
I don't know how people keep pushing for this "drought" narrative when we have way more first party releases this year than last year and I recall far fewer drought complaints last year.
Great post to illustrate what I mean:
this so much. I'm almost at 100 games on my Switch, with a large portion of that being from this year.
Who knew that a late port of a loot-driven multiplayer ARPG experience with local and online multiplayer options could do well with a Nintendo system?
...oh right, they've been starved for that kind of game for over a decade now. And on an off-topic note: SEGA AGES PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ
Anyway, I haven't found much issue with Nintendo's output this year, but I'm not crazy enough to think that they were going to pull off anything like their 1-2 punch with the first year since they NEEDED that to happen. Year 2 doesn't and it's still getting big titles along with smaller-scale efforts and some valuable ports that rescue games from their icy Wii U prison.
This is an indefensibly awful lineup by almost every standard, not counting people who never owned a different platform.
haven't seen your hyperbole in a while. how've ya been?
What drought? It's been a fine year, even if your tastes didn't align with what was released.
Putting out facts, as usual.
Putting out facts, as usual.
True but what I meant was the game is so old and full price and still the top seller since it came out.Who knew that a late port of a loot-driven multiplayer ARPG experience with local and online multiplayer options could do well with a Nintendo system?
...oh right, they've been starved for that kind of game for over a decade now. And on an off-topic note: SEGA AGES PLZ PLZ PLZ PLZ
Anyway, I haven't found much issue with Nintendo's output this year, but I'm not crazy enough to think that they were going to pull off anything like their 1-2 punch with the first year since they NEEDED that to happen. Year 2 doesn't and it's still getting big titles along with smaller-scale efforts and some valuable ports that rescue games from their icy Wii U prison.
The 3DS support are largely farmed out to outside or supporting studios, so at worst it removes those studios from putting out Switch content.
Nintendo had Mario and Zelda in the same year, so it's hard to top it, but in terms of droughts I don't see it. I suppose if you're specifically a narrow type of gamer who wants a Mario/Zelda or Nintendo IP every few months you can consider it a drought, but from the perspective of variety and quantity of games, this year is substantially better.
I speak as someone who isn't interested in Pokemon Let's Go or Smash, arguably Nintendo's biggest releases in all of 2018, and I still managed to find stuff to play all year, most from 3rd parties, or co-developments with Nintendo.
I feel like the arbitrary use of the word 'drought' to describe personal feelings about a library is highly damaging and not helpful to discourse.
Nintendo had Mario and Zelda in the same year, so it's hard to top it, but in terms of droughts I don't see it. I suppose if you're specifically a narrow type of gamer who wants a Mario/Zelda or Nintendo IP every few months you can consider it a drought, but from the perspective of variety and quantity of games, this year is substantially better.
I speak as someone who isn't interested in Pokemon Let's Go or Smash, arguably Nintendo's biggest releases in all of 2018, and I still managed to find stuff to play all year, most from 3rd parties, or co-developments with Nintendo.
I feel like the arbitrary use of the word 'drought' to describe personal feelings about a library is highly damaging and not helpful to discourse.
Pretty much went all of 2018 without even touching my switch, Smash is the only game i plan on even getting since beating BoTW and SMO late last year and dropping XBC2 after being bored to death after 5hours.
Before Pokémon and Smash? That's a bit insane.
Seriously, though, I would describe it as the Switch having a slower year as Nintendo reloads its lineup. I would expect the next couple of years be faster in terms of first and third party support.
BotW, SMO and MK8DX are never going to stop selling well. They are the no-brainer day 1 purchases for anyone buying the system for the first time, just like GTA5 has been on PS4 and XB1.
Agreed.
Although if we are talking specifically 1st party Nintendo development, it has been rather low (is Octo expansion, Mario Party and Kirby the only new 1st party games?)
I think the current first party lineup is pretty poor for a while. I've played Mario kart for two gens now. Let's hurry up with the DLC. Other than smash, I've got nothing to be excited for. Tried to get hyped for Pokémon, but it's too dumbed down. Even my ten year old didn't seem interested with the catch mechanic. Then we've got the Mario coming out and I've always felt it was just the blandest art style. Thankfully, there's a good amount of other stuff to play on the system.
Wario Ware Gold is an amazing game and would not have worked as it is on the SW. Sometimes it's like people don't even know what they're begging for.
Yeah I don't understand why this standard exists for Nintendo and no one else. This year has been more than fine
The weird part is that the Switch is totally going to get a Wario Ware at some point that will likely take advantage of all the stuff that's unique to the Switch. What's one greatest hits package on the 3DS on the face that eventuality?
Honestly, all you people calling Wario Ware Gold that or anything remotely similar really need to play the game.
I mean you could say the same about any console really, it's up to your tastes in the end. Heck for playstation 4 I have only truly played Lego games, Last of Us, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Last Guardian, Spider-Man, God of War and now Red Dead. That's over me owning the console for 4 years nearly.
Compare that to my Switch where in the now since release I have bought and played Zelda, Mario, Xenoblade, Morphies Law, Splatoon 2, Mario Party, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Mario Rabbids and at least 10+ indie games I'd never otherwise play. For me that's where my tastes lay and a blanket statement of a drought being supposed is ignoring everything just for your shared reality of gaming interests.
I think Nintendo has been releasing games, just only not that big. Yet .
The problem with switch is that cannot fill these lower intensity cicles with the AAA third party games unlike PS/XB, so it stands out more imo.
The situation is better than with previous consoles though.
The problem with switch is that cannot fill these lower intensity cicles with the AAA third party games unlike PS/XB, so it stands out more imo.
The situation is better than with previous consoles though.
The Switch had a drought this year only if you limit yourself to a certain subset of games genres.
This is an indefensibly awful lineup by almost every standard, not counting people who never owned a different platform.
Basically. Only times my Switch was turned on this year were Octopath and Into the Breach.
I'm sure lots of people did enjoy a ton of Switch stuff. For me, it was startlingly bad.
I know it's reductive, but in effect, it's bringing a lot of classic microgames together for the first time from all of the major installments. And that's not even a bad thing when you have hardware like the 3DS that makes it all possible in the first place.
Have you actually seen the games that PS4 got this year? It's been completely insane. As for Microsoft, they've gotten a lot of heat for that issue and rightly so.
2017 is a exception of the rule since for most of the years the external titles are much more, even more because you're just counting Switch... and the distinction between internal and external is ridiculous when those are all titles released by Nintendo, otherwise you can't count Smash Bros and Pokémon. And Star Fox was made internally by Nintendo EPD along Platinum.
Funny how that works for you, making those rules for the sake of it.
This is an indefensibly awful lineup by almost every standard, not counting people who never owned a different platform.
Which isn't a drought by any means, which is the entire argument of the thread. Drought has nothing to do with quality of the released product but quantity of released titles.
I mean, I think the amount of content was fine, but I can't disagree with the notion that if you're looking for newly released games it's been a lot thinner. Just eyeballing pixelpatron's list up above, ten of the 21 games were ports you may have played elsewhere (I know I'd played them all) and very little of the new stuff has big appeal to core fans (because honestly, if you're not into stuff like Super Mario Party, Fitness Boxing or Pokemon Quest I really can't blame you). Numerically it's a nice list, and people who never owned a Wii U definitely have a great selection of new arrivals, but for those of us who did trundle through the Wii U era I do agree that it's much thinner.
Bear in mind this is coming from someone who has played literally every game on that list that is currently released with the exception of Mario Tennis Aces because you really can't make me go back to that one, haha. I've enjoyed what I've played and I particularly dug the Labo kits, but I think it's very naive to believe this is a list for everyone considering the huge amount of ports and less core-oriented software. It's annoying to see people downplay this just because the number is high. People are allowed to be unhappy with it and to call them wrong is patronizing.
Bear in mind this is coming from someone who has played literally every game on that list that is currently released with the exception of Mario Tennis Aces because you really can't make me go back to that one, haha. I've enjoyed what I've played and I particularly dug the Labo kits, but I think it's very naive to believe this is a list for everyone considering the huge amount of ports and less core-oriented software. It's annoying to see people downplay this just because the number is high. People are allowed to be unhappy with it and to call them wrong is patronizing.
Yeah, with certain posters, it goes like this
>There's a drought
>Person A: List games that year
>Person B: it's all shit (OP's point stands)
>Person C: another lister
>Person B: it's still shit
Which is why i mentioned the subjective 'drought' opinion based on someone's opinion is baseless and quite damaging to discourse.
1. 3DS has received games during this year and will receive more next year.
2. Only 2 months didn't see Nintendo releases and 2 games were delayed from 2018 to next year, yoshi and fire emblem.
3. What drought?