Random Gaming Thoughts

[RCBH928]

I'd say I'm with eSauced in that I tend to enjoy good games, new IP or not. They don't have to be Nintendo ones, but Nintendo very regularly and reliably release very high quality games even if they're connected to an established IP. They don't need to be reinventing the wheel with a new IP every few months for me to keep faith in them as a software developer and a platform holder.


I'm genuinely interested for what your qualifier is for how Nintendo's games are a genre. I see Mario Kart as part of the racing genre, Legend of Zelda as part of the Action Adventure genre, Smash Bros as part of the fighting genre. Other than the IP's within, I really don't see a connecting mechanical set between them that makes them a genre the way you could call TellTale games a genre (of fairly on-rails point-and-click adventure games). I guess they're colorful and generally family-oriented, but that's a connection so vague as to be fairly unhelpful as to telling whether someone would like them or not. I have plenty of friends who only like one or a couple Nintendo franchises because the traditional genres their games cover are generally quite dissimilar (e.g. the gameplay loop of playing Mario Odyssey is very different from that of Breath of the Wild). I'm afraid I just really don't follow your line of logic.

I swear I wrote a reply to you but I don't see it, maybe it was deleted?

What I basically said was the following:

-If they keep releasing same games (jumping Mario for every console) it feels like a repetitive experience or playing the same game again. I only feel an IP should have a sequel or series if it uses new game mechanics like Super Metroid->Metroid Prime or could benefit of huge graphics jumps SNES->64-Wii. For example, Mario Kart to me feels the same game from NGC all the way to the switch.
I don't mind sequels of new IPs in the same generation, for example 3 Uncharted games on PS3 but I will be upset if they keep making them all the way to PS8.

-When I said Nintendo is a genre I meant its something your either into or not, like Anime I guess. Best example I think of is people who enjoy Black&White movies, it can be horror, noir, romance, or drama but as long as it is B&W they will watch it and enjoy it. And so, if its Nintendo some people will buy it and enjoy it... or not.

[marurun]

Typing on my phone, I simply haven’t the time to go into full detail about how wrong you are and why. Nintendo software is, where game design is concerned, the definition of accessible. Not liking Nintendo-developed mainstream titles is kinda like not liking pizza: there may be a good reason for it, but it isn’t common or normal. Maybe it is a textural issue or you’re severely lactose intolerant, but everyone else who can eat pizza wants to.

Nintendo titles do develop dramatically, especially the Mario and Zelda titles. Mario Kart and Smash Bros. may be more incremental, but so are most racing and fighting sequels. Mario 64 is not like Mario Sunshine is not like Mario Galaxy is not like Mario Odyssey. Each of those title/generational shift brought lots of new mechanics and environments. And look at Zelda. Those games vary in art style and play focus dramatically, with the latest, Breath of the Wild, being quite a shift indeed.

It sounds to me like you have an idea stuck in your head, and you’ll stick to it no matter what arguments we offer. But it also means you’re digging yourself in.

[pierrot]

To play devil's advocate a little, the New Super Mario Bros games have been pretty white-bread from release to release.

I don't think it's any huge secret that I don't typically enjoy most of Nintendo's offerings at any point in their history. So, personally, I don't think it's crazy to say that Nintendo isn't for everyone. I don't know if I entirely agree with the "genre" statement, but I don't think it was really meant as a statement of accessibility, and I can understand the argument to an extent, when looking at how "mainstream gamers" perceived/shunned the Nintendo brand back in the Wii/U days. (Not sure how true that still is, but I imagine some residual effects of it remain.) I feel like it was not uncommon, a handful of years ago, to see plenty of mainstream gaming boards with people railing on Nintendo, for very little reason, or without any real provocation.

I'm just wondering if this is perhaps too much ado about an unpopular opinion.

[RCBH928]

Typing on my phone, I simply haven’t the time to go into full detail about how wrong you are and why. Nintendo software is, where game design is concerned, the definition of accessible. Not liking Nintendo-developed mainstream titles is kinda like not liking pizza: there may be a good reason for it, but it isn’t common or normal. Maybe it is a textural issue or you’re severely lactose intolerant, but everyone else who can eat pizza wants to.

Nintendo titles do develop dramatically, especially the Mario and Zelda titles. Mario Kart and Smash Bros. may be more incremental, but so are most racing and fighting sequels. Mario 64 is not like Mario Sunshine is not like Mario Galaxy is not like Mario Odyssey. Each of those title/generational shift brought lots of new mechanics and environments. And look at Zelda. Those games vary in art style and play focus dramatically, with the latest, Breath of the Wild, being quite a shift indeed.

It sounds to me like you have an idea stuck in your head, and you’ll stick to it no matter what arguments we offer. But it also means you’re digging yourself in.

There seems to be a misunderstanding, as I am not sure why your rebuttal about Nintendo titles being "accessible" mean . All I am saying is Nintendo seems to have their own dedicated fan base and I am not a fan of-as you worded it better than i did-incremental releases. I do have the same opinion of other non-Nintendo series that have similar approach like COD and sport games that get updated on yearly basis. I also recognize that some Nintendo releases give a very different experience like Zelda Four Swords Adventures and Twilight Princess.

I remember other forum members were discussing, by the end of the Wii U life-cycle, how Nintendo is becoming a niche in the videogames world but opinions might have changed once The Switch sales exceeded expectations.

[marurun]

Even during the WiiU era, it wasn’t that people didn’t want to play Nintendo titles, they just didn’t want a WiiU. The WiiU didn’t give them enough other good things to play (or so they perceived) outside of those first-party titles to make it worth the expense. The thing about a >= $300 console is the need to feel you’re going to play enough games on it to justify that initial expense, and Nintendo was unable to orchestrate what many console buyers thought was a good enough case. But the DS and 3DS were huge and sole gangbusters, so it’s not like Nintendo wasn’t still in the game. The handheld market, which Nintendo utterly dominates, is still large, and when dominated by a single player, probably still insanely profitable. If the Switch had been a TV-only console and flopped, Nintendo could still have remained a massive force in gaming as long as they continued to hold the handheld market. So I think Nintendo’s relegation to niche status was always a bit apocryphal, determined by people who weren’t paying attention to the fistfuls of money coming in from handhelds. The 3DS isn’t DS big (150+ million units), but 73 million units is nothing to sneeze at.

[Forlorn Drifter]

Heads up- there's something screwy with the Spyro Collection coming out. Don't know exactly what's going on, but there's some kind of download to even have part of the game play able. The info seems to suggest the second and third game can't be played without said update.

[Nemoide]

I had a really good day at the arcade for all the games I mainly play!

Dance Dance Revolution A - I was able to do MULTIPLE attempts at Max 300 and continually got better high scores. I still can't clear it, but I've faced this wall enough and know that it's CLOSE. That song represents my skill level high-water mark and my goal has been to clear it by the end of the summer; I still feel like I can do it. Plus I unlocked several songs by playing with someone who reached heat level 3 (allowing unlocks of songs you fail) just as I got there!
Beatmania IIDX 25: Cannon Ballers -managed to level up to 5th Dan! I was stuck on 3rd Dan for MONTHS but then I realized increasing Sudden+ (which I had already been using) can allow the notes to be more easily readible. I only reached 4th Dan about 2 weeks ago, so to be 5th Dan already is really exciting!
Wangan Midnight: Maximum Tune 5 - I guess some kids were playing around on the machine before I wandered over to it because it had a bunch of unused credits on it! I played 4 rounds of story mode for free, helping me upgrade my second car!

[Retrogameresource]

I'm somewhat odd at video game pronunciations. .

The name Ryu I always pronounce as "rye-oo" not "ree-oo"
I pronounce Ocarina of Time with the "ahhh" sound, not the "oh" sound, so it sounds like "ahh-carina of time".
I USED to pronounce Majora's Mask with a silent j (because I assumed the j was silent), but sounded stupid after a while, so now I use the hard j like everybody else.
Ys............yeah. I said it as "Wise". I say it correctly now, but I'll say it incorrectly to mess with people sometimes.

I literally said all of these as well as gayden and rayden instead of raiden and gaiden lol.

Except the Majora one haha that is awesome. I like to picture it with a soft J now that you mention it like Mayoras mask like yogging.

[noiseredux]

I still say "Hearthstone" as if it rhymes with Earth-Stone. I know it's wrong, but eh, I'm set in my ways.

[dunpeal2064]

I still say "Hearthstone" as if it rhymes with Earth-Stone. I know it's wrong, but eh, I'm set in my ways.

You're not alone, in fact I got made fun of at a Fireside gathering for pronouncing it correctly! So pretty much everyone, at least in our area, pronounces it like you do.

I guess on the train of weird personal pronounciations, for some reason as a kid I always pronounced Chocobo as "Coco-Bo". No idea why. I've shaped up since.