A reader admits that while he’s satisfied with his Switch 2 so far, he’s frustrated at Nintendo’s secrecy about its upcoming games.
Like many other Nintendo fans, I have had the feeling that things are not quite right ever since they announced the Switch 2. It’s hard to put my finger on exactly what but, although I have the console, and Mario Kart World and Donkey Kong Bananza, I’m happy with it. But I’m also worried I don’t know what comes next and I’m concerned that there’s still no sign of an all-time classic yet.
Two great games in two months is an achievement, and I’m probably just being entitled, but there’s this weird feeling that Nintendo is doing the absolute minimum, without compromising on game quality. When I put it like that there seems like there’s not really anything to complain about, but while I am optimistic about the future of the Switch 2 it’s a much milder feeling than I was expecting.
Maybe I’m not making sense, I don’t know, but the obvious examples are the last two Nintendo Directs, which were awful. The Partner Showcase managed to make me less confident about their third party support and the Indie World was almost completely pointless. As a result, I’m very quickly beginning to prefer Nintendo when they were on the back foot.
The first Switch was an amazing console, but it had to be because after the failure of the Wii U Nintendo were in a very bad place. But with the Switch 2 they’re coming off the back of one of the most successful consoles ever and I think it’s very obvious they’re holding themselves back.
Maybe that’s the right idea, it probably is given how long games take to make now, but it’s not… exciting. I really don’t see why they didn’t announce the Switch 2 with teases of all the games they’ve got coming, rather than wasting so much time on that basketball game and Hyrule Warriors.
All they needed was a second or two of pre-rendered footage, but why not tease Zelda and Animal Crossing and Pokémon and 3D Mario and all the rest? If the argument is we all know they’re coming anyway then what’s the problem in admitting it? I get Nintendo don’t like to give away secrets but it’s not like they’d be revealing release dates or showing any real gameplay.
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It’s simple stuff like that which would’ve made so much difference, but they didn’t even try to do it. Don’t they see how annoyed people get with Sony and their boring State of Plays? Or do they look at the sales of the PlayStation 5 and think that’s actually a good idea of how to do it?
Or consider Metroid Prime 4, where we’ve still seen almost nothing of it and it has no release date, but they say it’s out this year. They’re clearly going to give it its own Nintendo Direct but why do we have to wait until then for a date? It just makes people think it’s been delayed.
They spent a year polishing Zelda: Tears Of The Kingdom, so there’s no way Metroid Prime 4 isn’t already finished and, at worse, just undergoing a bit of fine tuning. So why the secrecy? Do they think someone’s suddenly going to make a Metroid Prime clone in the four months before it’s out? Or that Activision is going to move Call Of Duty because of the date they pick?
We all know this is the way Nintendo always does things, but something feels different this time and none of their actions seem to make any sense when you analyse them. Like hiding the developer of Donkey Kong Bananza… why? Surely knowing it was by the Super Mario Odyssey team was a good thing that would’ve made more people want to buy it? And it was only a secret for two months anyway, so what was the point?
I guess other companies would figure that means they don’t have a new 3D Mario coming out soon, but so what? What did keeping that knowledge from them, for two months, gain them? Especially compared to the mild anger it caused for Nintendo’s fans.
Like I said, maybe it’s just me, but I’ve heard similar things from too many other people to think it is. In terms of end results Nintendo hasn’t really done anything wrong so far, but in terms of vibes… something just doesn’t feel right. There’s too much mystery and not enough excitement, and I really hope they do something about that soon.
By reader GlobalHen
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