I Miss the Old Nintendo

[Music] can I be honest about something that I know is going to raise some eyebrows it's been over five years since Nintendo first released what is now one of their most financially successful pieces of video game Hardware subsequently redefining their short albeit substantially weakened hold over the global video game console Market within hours of its reveal I believe just about anyone could have predicted that the Nintendo switch had the potential to regain a chief piece of its market share that was lost in the prior generation if not completely overtake the competition shifting Focus from having to support two very different platforms one of which was flourishing while the other floundered to instead blend the best aspects of both into one hybrid console was genius it was a natural next step for Nintendo seeing that recent advancements and Hardware capability allowed the switch to remain both as powerful as their home consoles and as portable as their booming handhelds I remember sitting outside a Target store on a freezing cold early March morning five years ago waiting for the store to open just so I could get my hands on the switch as soon as I possibly could I often think about that moment when considering my time spent playing it over the last half decade because at the time my excitement for change of tides for Nintendo was immeasurable the possibilities seemed endless and so it is a bit hard to come to terms with the fact that I think the switch kinda sucks and that's not to say I think the switch wasn't a great idea what it offers adjacent to its competitors is still incredible and a textbook example of Nintendo's Limitless potential when they find themselves ahead of the curve on the right Trend the numbers simply don't lie however somewhere along the line the switch quietly shifted from my go-to gaming machine to something I spend more time wiping the dust off of than actually playing and I've been struggling to understand why this isn't the first console cycle this has happened with either and I'm sure it won't be the last as my level of Engagement with what Nintendo is currently offering Ebbs and flows but I still had to wonder is there something more to this feeling than personal disinterest is Nintendo failing in some other way that isn't reflected in the sales data am I the only person that feels this way after spending a lot of time thinking about what I find so disappointing about the switch's life cycle I realized that in order to really understand the core of the issue I would have to consider things from a wider perspective because disappointment most often comes from a place of unmet expectations I do believe there are plenty of surface level complaints to be made about the switch that are valid from its faulty controllers to its shoddy online infrastructure but my issues with the console go beyond that what bothers me most is seeing the many ways in which Nintendo has regressed compared to previous generations that's why I decided to take a deeper look at Nintendo's immediate past emerging from deep within the uncharted abyss of my Dusty closet with some answers I suppose now is as good a time as any to say that this isn't so much a video strictly about the Nintendo switch itself as it is about another piece of Hardware entirely when I say I don't like the switch I think what I really mean to say is that I miss the Wii U over at the very least what the Wii U stood for I know this sounds crazy but hear me out in spite of everything that caused the Wii U to become one of the worst performing pieces of video game Hardware Nintendo has ever produced when I look back on what it offered me I feel more satisfied than I ever have since the launch year of the switch perhaps more so than any other console generation Nintendo's failure to exceed or even so much as match my expectations feels particularly disappointing given their past experiences it's not even about just the console itself but also their new approach to communication and their shift in identity as a platform examining the current state of Nintendo as a whole reveals unmet expectations to be a common theme and in order for expectations to go unmet they need to become established in the first place thus taking a deeper look at what the Wii U offered is critical in understanding why I find the switch disappointing so without further Ado let's start the beginning running contrary to the unequivocally poor marketing that left the average consumer wondering whether this machine was its own console or yet another accessory for the long since outdated Wii the release of the Wii U was a bold statement Nintendo was not about to go back to primarily targeting core Gamers after their new blue ocean audience led the Wii and the DS to unprecedented levels of success they didn't quite double down but it was clear from the beginning that the Wii U's mission was to establish a solid Middle Ground within its user base by converting the Casual into the Enthusiast beginning with its feature set the Wii U made a considerable effort to become the centerpiece of the living room by supporting video streaming internet browsing video chat and TV control a full year before its competition but the main selling point was the GamePad with the motion control fad on its way out and touch-based smart devices settling in the Wii U gamepad was Nintendo's answer to what they believed was a growing problem with the burgeoning success of these devices and their dominance over countless families homes they had identified that while advancements in technology were making aspects of life more convenient and efficient they were also causing people to feel more divided than ever before even in the comfort of one's home the solution was to create a device that would help unite people rather than divide them and to do that it had to be adaptable the GamePad was thus designed to be the single most ambitious gaming peripheral ever conceived doubling as both a tablet device and a traditional gaming controller equipped with a camera microphone NFC Reader TV remote functionality and motion control through its gyroscopic sensor and accelerometer it was a Frankenstein mess of device but at the time the possibilities with which this controller could innovate made it unlike anything that come before it in a presentation just prior to E3 2012 the late president and CEO of Nintendo satoru Iwata laid this philosophy out in plain terms he quoted Shigeru Miyamoto stating that a great idea solved the multiple programs at the same time in conjunction with this a Japanese phrase Iwata described as Loosely translating to creating something unique these words exemplified not only the gamepad's functionality but everything else the Wii U stood for from its asynchronous game design to its online connectivity unfortunately for Nintendo the average consumer that had long since packed up their Wii wasn't biting and without a solid lineup of launch games meant to entice longtime fans and early adopters Nintendo was left lacking support from both audiences they wished to converge and it's from this position where things get really interesting by no means was I an early adopter of the Wii U in fact for upwards of six months following its release I didn't even know it existed I think that speaks to a wider issue regarding its initial marketing or lack thereof but regardless of that fact I wasn't really in the position to be paying proper attention having grown up with classic Nintendo consoles that each featured a diverse lineup of colorful characters and franchises the absence of new and exciting content drops among the Sea of shovelware throughout much of the Wii's life cycle felt fairly alienating but rather than feeling frustrated by a lack of new releases to look forward to I felt like I had simply aged out of my interest in Nintendo graduating to other platforms until I reached a point of complete disinterest in gaming as a whole I can't say for certain when exactly the Wii U landed on my radar but what I do know is that when it did I quickly grew attached to the idea of grabbing one for myself because I simply wanted reason to be excited about video games again the launch lineup was still a problem as I personally couldn't justify the cost just to play yet another side-scrolling Mario game but luckily for me the perfect excuse was just over the horizon Pikmin 3 may not have been as attractive to the average consumer as a new 3D Mario Zelda or Pokemon game would have been but it's the perfect case study to demonstrate why the early days of the Wii U's life were so exciting it was certainly enough to entice me into rejoining the Nintendo ecosystem and I loved it there simply wasn't another game that could better demonstrate why the graphical refresh from Wii to Wii U was so important while Nintendo was no stranger to pushing the limits of what was aesthetically possible with relatively underpowered Hardware through their use of Timeless art styles and graphical techniques the jump to HD showed just how much better their games could look and how valuable that is to the overall experience for better and For Worse Pikmin 3 pushed the limits of what was possible on Wii U not only through its visuals but through its slew of new features and adherence to the console's mission statement a great idea solves multiple problems at the same time it would be this disingenuous to suggest that the Pikmin series was predisposed to such problems but it's hard to deny that the implementation of the gamepad's second screen alongside its motion controls didn't Elevate the gameplay experience to an unprecedented level of Polish Pikmin 3 thrives as a time management simulator in a way previous entries in the series had yet to achieve adding an additional captain in the sequel lended well to more complex puzzle solving but adding a third plate poetically encouraged players to juggle multiple different tasks at once the gamepad's additional screen was poised to make that additional layer of complexity both intuitive and unobtrusive throughout the course of the Wii U's life Gamepad functionality was often criticized for being nothing more than supplemental more often than not the second screen wasn't the core focus of an experience and I think Pikmin 3 makes a strong case for why this could actually be a good thing during the main flow of play the touch screen displays several menus featuring additional information best sought during idle moments but what made a real difference was the interactive map feed that allowed the player to quickly manipulate the pathing of another Captain with a touch of the screen it was comprehensive showing Captain and Pikmin locations navigational waypoints and even the staging of the environment I can't imagine playing Pikmin 3 again without such a resource and I'm willing to argue that the gamepad screen was the best placement for it because it was available at a glance while still remaining unobtrusive could Nintendo have simply added a mini-map as well as map functionality to the pause menu like they did in the switch Port of course but because it was placed on the GamePad instead players could quickly take a glance at it without interrupting play or while waiting for a group of pikmin's action to complete the minimap was a serviceable solution but there's no world where it could be as comprehensive as the GamePad without blocking off a huge portion of the screen Pikmin 3 is an already great game made just a bit better by the fact that it was on Wii U an interesting promise of how previously existing features could be further refined with the GamePad regrettably it's also just one of only a handful of games that manage to strike the correct balance between leveraging the gamepad's capabilities or ignoring it entirely it also wasn't a particularly long or challenging game while I continued to spend some time chasing high scores in the challenge mode after completing the main story I had exhausted Pikmin 3's supply of content fairly quickly which left me in an interesting position waiting for new releases had this been as it often has with the switch the console would rest completely idle until the launch of the next critically timed first party release or the odd event that a group of friends wanted to get together to play the latest Mario Kart or Smash Brothers game the Wii U was different however due to its effort to be come the centerpiece of the living room this manifested in a user experience built off the wheeze Foundation that was fairly robust especially in comparison to the switches interface and for me the lead up to the following holiday season was the perfect excuse to spend some time getting a little more acquainted with what the rest of the Wii U had to offer compared to the switch's basic and straight to the point home screen the Wii U's Hub felt a little more I don't know Nintendo it was instantly intuitive and recognizable to Wii owners featuring full backwards compatibility with all Wii peripherals and software upscaled to high resolution perfect for the dry spells I personally loved just browsing the Wii U's eShop it seemed like every time the season changed or even just randomly new music that was oftentimes festive would accompany the Sea of tiles recommending different categories of games to take a deeper look at based on your interests and for a while I was excited to check out the new Virtual Console offerings every week even when what they were frustratingly drip feeding wasn't anything special it was all still simple just more like relatively simply another opportunity for Nintendo to innovate where the competition was lacking seriously I don't want to spend any second longer than I have to in this Bland laggy mess of a storefront Nintendo even sparingly released these strange applications like the Animal Crossing Plaza which wasn't really a game at all but more so means of facilitating the system's social features which finally brings me to the miivers the me's were still a Cornerstone of Nintendo's ecosystem and every time you powered on your Wii U a swarm of them presumably belonging to other players on the network would rush from the top of the screen echoing posts from their profiles on Miiverse the Nintendo social network that was engineered to keep Wii U owners connected to each other from around the world and I really enjoyed it like don't get me wrong Miiverse was a very weird place that is most commonly remembered for its romantic tragedies and cringe compilations it's a natural consequence of creating a social network predominantly used by children which could honestly be problematic in its own way but even so the early days of Miiverse were something special before the consoles launched in 2012 Satora Iwata stated that the papasok niverse is to add not only informations but also a new degree of empathy between players and for a time it absolutely achieved that I have this oddly specific memory from the time I played Super Metroid for the first time on Wii U naturally I'd reached a roadblock in which the solution was not readily apparent but instead of banging my head against the wall or looking up the solution online I decided to post a question paired with a screenshot on Mira I ended up having a friendly interaction with a guy that while not immediately knowing the solution himself was able to walk me through the steps to figure it out for myself I just as easily could have looked up the solution which would have taken even less time but there was something much more novel about that interaction for a brief moment it felt like the playground exchange of video game secrets and other information was being inserted back into my life with all of the convenience online services can provide and this was really only the tip of the iceberg regarding the potential of miivers let me introduce you to a user simply named Wii U news this guy was my nibelian back in 2013. RIP by the way constantly posting any and all Nintendo news and aggregate review scores for just about every new game release to Miiverse but best of all he ran these weekly high score tournaments just for fun that dramatically extended my play time with Pikmin 3 in other games though many of those posts are lost in the wind Miiverse also worked wonderfully with the GamePad a natural evolution of the DS's Picto chat with casual artists posting some fantastic pieces of their favorite Nintendo characters to the various boards dedicated to each game the games themselves even Incorporated Miiverse functionality though some games were certainly more creative with it than others posting snapshots from Pikmin 3 to Miiverse or snapping selfies to send off to complete strangers in the tingle bottle and Wind Waker HD was a fun little distraction sometimes Nintendo's developers would even post on Miiverse one of the coolest things was logging into Miiverse every day to see the latest screenshots coming out of Super Smash Brothers development posted by Masahiro Sakurai himself even as a marketing tool Miiverse was genius for all the really weird stuff that was constantly being posted and dealt with by moderation there was so much great content that I can't help but feel it's a bit of a shame it was outright shut down in response to the demands of moderating such a service while users were supposedly flocking to other forms of social media what miivers had that other platforms don't was kind of a shield from all the manipulative tactics used to keep users Doom scrolling instead nivers was about Joy scrolling it absolutely was an echo chamber by and four Nintendo fans and for the most part that was great a far cry from the toxicity of Twitter to baitlords and the outright brain rotting enabled by other platforms it was innocent until people ruined it something I can't really fault Nintendo for taking action on I understand why they canned it but for what it was Miiverse was a pretty cool experiment it certainly was an interesting way to keep players connected even when the games themselves did not even in a single player game even where players are not competing or cooperating at the same time even when the games are not designed for online interaction miivers can connect your living room with those of others regardless of space or time that was another interesting caveat to owning a Wii U beginning with Pikmin 3's release in August the back half of 2013 was probably the best time to pick up a Wii U as the release calendar finally began heating up I took chances on some great games I would normally be more hesitant on like the wonderful 101 in Rayman Legends hell for as much of a hot mess as it was I got a ton of enjoyment out of Sonic Lost World chasing leaderboard spots for the quickest times there were some solid first party offerings too like Super Mario 3D World in the Wind Waker HD when Zelda remasters were still a novel concept followed by Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze and Mario Kart 8 rolling into 2014 just how the console was originally intended multiplayer became a big focus of the Wii U's first party lineup with the additional screen and the GamePad and support for seemingly every controller released since the launch of the Wii it made a ton of sense but to the dismay of many players online play was either middling at best store in classic Nintendo fashion missing in action Mario Kart 8 was a standout favorite evident by the amount of hours I was putting in but games like Pikmin 3 Tropical Freeze and 3D World didn't really utilize the gamepad screen to enhance the multiplayer experience an online play wasn't an option at all at the time I didn't understand why Nintendo was making these frustrating decisions but I think I do now more on that later in any case the games continued to trickle in probably not as fast as they needed to but still trickling nonetheless Hyrule Warriors was such a cool proof of concept an interesting take on what Nintendo's collaborations could look like in the future this was followed up by the long-awaited Bayonetta 2 an interesting smaller side projects like Yoshi's woolly World Kirby and the Rainbow Curse and Captain Toad's treasure Tracker this game actually rips hell the release of Splatoon was huge Nintendo's first new IP in ages and Super Mario Maker became a global phenomenon for some time perhaps ironically so much of the framework for the switches lineup was established by the creativity and experimentation the Wii U fostered the absolute Pinnacle however was undoubtedly Super Smash Brothers for Wii U God that name is still awful topping the charts in all respects the release of Smash 4 was an event whether they were picking it up on Wii U or even 3DS due to its crazy dual release strategy I don't know another Nintendo fan that wasn't excited for it as the hype machine was insane and the game certainly delivered Smash 4 made an arguably larger leap for the series than even ultimate did course correcting after many of brawl's mistakes it looked great sounded fantastic and played just like I envisioned it would with a considerable increase in speed resting somewhere comfortably between brawl and melee the only thing really holding it back was the Doorly strategy as this entry featured a quantity of new stages that was frankly unheard of yet separated between versions it also would have been nice to play Smash run on Wii U but alas I still played the hell out of Smash 4 because the ever omniscient intended likely keeping a side glance at the overwhelming passion and specular regulation from fans across the internet and even on their own social media service knew exactly how to Market this game thanks to a genius new marketing strategy devised by Nintendo the hype for every single new character reveal was out of this world and it was a magical time to be along for the ride we're about to take a turn aren't we if there was ever a hot take that would bring my credibility into question It's gotta be this one oh well say with your chest wizzy I hate what Nintendo directs have become and here's why on February 17 2021 Nintendo returned to the world stage to present their first full-length Nintendo Direct presentation since the outbreak of the covid-19 pandemic a full year prior while multiple smaller presentations focused on Nintendo's third-party Partners or single properties alone filled the gaps in 2020 this presentation was different instead of being accompanied by qualifying tag lines like mini direct or partner showcase this presentation was merely branded as Nintendo Direct in other words the big one while Fane expectations began to erupt after months of dormancy regarding all manner of outlandish predictions there was one thing undoubtedly on everyone's mind what's happening with the sequel to The Legend of Zelda breath of the wild the presentation itself was middling at best it was long but not in a good way first party announcements were in short supply supplemented by by some standout RPGs and multi-platform games the switch has since become synonymous with among others as we enter the final stretch just in time for shinyatakahashi's trademark one more thing aegianuma the director for what is likely one of the most anticipated games in Nintendo history appeared over a black backdrop to reveal what I can only describe as one of the most puzzling PR moves I've ever witnessed Nintendo make the one more thing is a classic marketing tactic used by Nintendo since long before the Nintendo Direct presentation ever existed outside of the one or two things that directly appeal to any particular viewer's interest the average viewer only really remembers the opening enclosure for presentation by saving the biggest and most unanimously appreciated announcement for the very end the vast majority of viewers leave on a generally positive note and by Framing this fine final announcement as somewhat of a surprise bonus the expectations for such become exceptionally high in this particular moment as almost two whole years had passed since the last teaser trailer had been revealed AJ aunuma subverted those Expectations by announcing there would be no announcements for breath of the wild sequel until later that year softening the blow of immense disappointment by offering an enhanced switch Port of the Wii Skyward Sword in the meantime it was at this point I realized that in the time since the pandemic's outbreak Nintendo's ability to effectively communicate with fans had straight up regressed because they know how important the one more thing is to the reception of these presentations they had been relying on Smash and other big first party announcements to end these with for years it's one thing to end on a largely enhanced version of Skyward Sword I'll give it to them that's actually pretty hype it's another to give the viewer whiplash moving from excitement to disappointment to excitement all over again in a matter of 30 seconds this move was kind of the straw that broke the camel's back for me it got me wanting to figure out why such a minute detail would so easily infuriate me and why it feels like so many people leave a Nintendo Direct so frustrated and disappointed what I realized by doing some digging was that this moment was really just a culmination of a much more gradual shift in Nintendo's approach to communication and the reason I know this is because over the past month I watched every Nintendo Direct since the Wii U's launch to see how they've changed ah I'm becoming one of those channels now aren't I anyway the first Nintendo Direct was released as far back as 2011 meant to communicate Nintendo's plans for upcoming consoles and game releases directly to their fans largely off the back of the late Mr Iwata and before long this strategy would change how video game announcements would be delivered forever before the dry spells omniscient PR voice and reaction farming back to back to back trailer rotations Nintendo directs felt quite a bit different the format was similar yet much rougher around the edges there's no better installment to demonstrate this than the one I've already featured here a few times releasing just days before Nintendo's 2012 E3 presentation unless you're an absolute dork for Nintendo history like I am it's nothing special featuring nothing more than a static shot of Iwata in a company boardroom telling the audience what to expect from E3 well communicating some of the Wii U's features and mission statements pretty boring right it's certainly nothing flashy like the presentations we've come to expect but it captures an element that I feel has gone a bit missing from Modern Nintendo directs the quality of the communication and continue to be refined following the release of the Wii U incorporating the bombastic trailers for both first and third-party projects Nintendo fans have come to Rave over but even when Nintendo didn't have much to show Iwata and Nintendo's developers still communicated interesting details regarding upcoming games one of my favorite Nintendo directs aired on January 23rd 2013. for what it is this presentation could just as easily never happened had Nintendo been following their current approach to Nintendo directs the first half of it doesn't even feature any gameplay footage instead beginning with the water sharing post-launch update plans for Miiverse the Wii U and its Virtual Console the latter half however is where things get a little more interesting but not in the way one might expect a behind the scenes look at Bayonetta 2 is followed by a few small verbal updates regarding smash a new 3D Mario game and Mario Kart which were all still development and yet to be revealed this presentation even features an exceedingly rare for Nintendo behind the scenes look at what would eventually become Yoshi's woolly world and what is clearly some early Alpha footage Iwata showcases this transformation from a single strand of yarn to a fully crocheted Yoshi that was cut from the final game before it's all capped off with its own one more thing an awe-inspiring Xenoblade Chronicles X reveal trailer Aji aunuma appears and what I can only describe as a parallel universe version of our previous scenario sharing candid thoughts on his development philosophy regarding what would eventually become breath of the wild while offering consolation for its lengthy development With the Wind Waker HD reveal via screenshots the announcements are scarily similar the difference is the response to expectation and the quality of the communication while fans are always expecting a new Legend of Zelda game to be in development at this point no info had been released regarding Zelda on Wii U leaving Nintendo a few options with which they could handle the passing of information could have easily said nothing or Worse tell the audience what they couldn't show instead they decided to peel back the development curtain to talk openly about their considerations for the next game and how they have been unable to implement such philosophies in skyward's sword my big problem is that Nintendo has since taken the show don't tell Mantra far too literally to the point of considerable disappointment in some more extreme cases to be clear the Nintendo directs that followed the switch's release weren't particularly bad by a reasonable definition in fact they're pretty similar in format to the directs of old with significantly refined presentation and pacing they do however represent a shift in Nintendo's identity as a platform because the thing that has changed is the content of the announcements Nintendo directs during the Wii U era were simply dominated by first party properties demonstrated in the previous example because the system was such a headache to develop for or port to that it wasn't really receiving much third-party content in the first place the switch on the other hand is the most attractive platform for third-party publishing Nintendo has released probably ever at least since the SNES because it offers something that both the developer and the consumer can get behind something no other platform can at least until recently that is portable play for fully fledged Home console games as such modern Nintendo directs have grown to reflect this flooded with any and all manner of multi-platform games and I think this is why many longtime Nintendo fans like myself most often walk away from the latest Nintendo Direct with frustration and disappointment the truth is these presentations are carried by the Sea of multi-platform trailers because Nintendo doesn't release enough first party software to fill a 40 minute presentation using their show don't tell approach that's why so much of the directs of old were purely verbal explanations of games that would pop up in several presentations before launch each revealing a little bit more information than the last it's also why I think Nintendo's current approach straight up sucks like let's be completely honest with ourselves here when you watch a Nintendo Direct not a partner or Indie showcase a Nintendo Direct the big one what are you expecting to see I do believe that getting more eyes on Independent projects is a great thing but in all honesty I think stuffing so many of these multi-platform games into a Nintendo Direct actually does a massive disservice to many of them that are great because unless I'm taking notes I'm not or I'm already anticipating one of these games releasing on the switch I'm not but that's a whole other topic we'll get into soon I'm not going to remember any of them by the time they release I do remember Pikmin 4 being announced I don't remember 2016's factorio receiving a switchboard I'm sorry with trailer after trailer after trailer there's not enough time to establish why I should be interested in these games what time is allowed is only enough for a few blurbs of sanitized PR speak that's why I prefer Nintendo's old approach so much more where Modern Nintendo directs feel like an advertising spread in a magazine the presentations of the Wii U era feel more like a monthly newsletter a genuine attempt to communicate directly this Wii U Direct in January 2013 was not an outlier it was the standard followed up by nine more presentations within the year at a rate of almost one per month each taking the time to further develop a war chest of projects now I'm not saying Nintendo needs to have a direct every month that's obviously On The Other Extreme end of the spectrum but what should be noted is the effect following a semi-frequent and consistent schedule can have these presentations felt like a more casual and direct line of communication between developer and player they're frequency insured fans expectations would not grow wildly out of control and even if a game's initial reveal didn't leave a strong first impression there were several more opportunities to see it in action this is one of the key advantages online presentations have over in-person press conferences Nintendo had correctly identified that the convenience of online video streaming would allow them to communicate with their fans far more efficiently than a single E3 press conference per year ever could it made me feel more involved in Nintendo's ecosystem so much so that I ended up taking chances on several games games that may have missed my interest during their initial reveals like Captain Toad Xenoblade X and Splatoon and thus far I haven't even taken into account how entertaining some of these directs were on their own like even though the idea was an absolute flop who doesn't remember the Year of Luigi and holy who could possibly forget 2014 and 2015 Nintendo E3 it's actually frustrating to look back on these because to me it doesn't get any better than this and no I'm not talking about Robot Chicken animations or Star fox puppets although those are pretty sick what I'm talking about is this instead of putting developers on a brightly lit stage with hundreds of eyeballs staring them down trying to communicate with the audience while the real-time demonstration is malfunctioning Nintendo sat their developers down in a room sometimes in front of a green screen and maybe with the water behind the camera and told them to to talk about why they believe their game is compelling in their own words it's simply an interview format they're not awkwardly reading of a teleprompter they react naturally cracking jokes and laughing while communicating their passion for their work questions from previous directs are even answered like how that Yoshi transformation became the basis for woolly world's entire aesthetic with a fully 3D environment to work with good feel could add a ton more detail incorporating fully crocheted character models as opposed to the single strand of yarn Kirby was afforded I'm gonna be honest when I re-watched every Nintendo Direct most of it was on 1.5 speed and with a whole lot of scrubbing but when it came to these E3 presentations I was absolutely feasting on the content smiling the whole way through and I think it's absolutely criminal that Nintendo hasn't found a way to incorporate this style of content delivery into their regular Nintendo directs the only developer that doesn't feel like he's being held on an increasingly tight leash is Masahiro Sakurai and that's probably because he isn't actually a Nintendo employee it's painfully ironic because Sakurai absolutely carries many of these presentations just by being himself when Sakurai talks people listen the man is idolized by his community so much so that the launch of his personal YouTube channel dedicated to sharing exactly the type of information I'm advocating for here has been widely successful people want to hear this type of stuff what Nintendo seems to not realize on their own is that having yoshiaki koizumi conduct a train of video game trailers is not nearly as impactful as sitting him down to say what he thinks about his own games much like Mr Sakurai he's a legendary developer I want to learn more more about these behind the scenes looks have become increasingly rare for Nintendo and you can tell they enjoyed putting them together they got creative and weird to a degree we may not ever see again and I get it it's got to be hard to match that level of energy when the company's most forward-facing figures are exceedingly busy or even retired former president of Nintendo of America Reggie fisame describes himself as an industry disrupter he challenges industry conventions to deliver what he believes is the best product Reggie was not only an expert marketer but also a leader who broke down cultural barriers to get to the right decision and I think he understood that passion is infectious he's since got on record stating that when fans yearn for the days in which Nintendo's developers were more forward-facing they may be asking the wrong question further explaining that his own role as a spokesperson was a moment of time need that the world has since moved on from maybe he's right as the switch's sales data would certainly suggest but I still believe wholeheartedly that line of communication that reverence and Trust was what helped set Nintendo apart from their competition as they have strayed further and further from the direction Nintendo has begun to feel more and more like just a business than it ever has the ramification of such a shift may not be felt in the immediate present but it's all the while setting a concerning trend for the future above all it's Crystal Clear that the late great Satora Iwata was a driving force behind these strategies Iwata clearly approached communication with Nintendo fans carefully and creatively he championed the preservation of Industry history through his incredible Iwata asks interview series perfecting the format in these beautiful developer story segments he loved displaying the passion in video games I don't know man I just love passion I miss the passion before I get too far ahead of myself let's shut the door on Wii U when I look back at my time with the Wii U I find myself coming back to one particular game I never imagined would become one of my all-time favorites Nintendo land nintendoland is my favorite Wii U game because it captures every aspect of Nintendo I love it pays homage to many of Nintendo's enchanting properties through not just its wide selection of games but also its overall theming bringing the Nintendo theme park to the living room complete with various attractions and decorations showcasing the rich history I spent countless hours perfecting my skills in Donkey Kong crash course completing all of its boards before hopping over for a quick round of octopus dance or Captain Falcon's twister race even today revisiting Nintendo Land for this video instilled in me a new appreciation for the single player attractions and largely ignored back then like balloon trip Breeze and Yoshi's fruit cart geez when did Yoshi's fruit car become so fun the only reason I haven't played more of takamari's ninja Castle is because every time I do I get so into it that my wrist feels like it's about to fall off best of all though we're the multiplayer attractions due in a large part to their asynchronous design made possible only by the GamePad nobody ever gives Nintendo credit for solving the screen peaking issue because they're probably the only AAA developer that still believes in split screen Play Just Like Wii Sports before it it didn't matter whose hands I put the controller in I could invite my high school friends over who had absolutely no interest in Nintendo and we would spend hours hoofing it in Mario chase or our personal favorite Luigi's ghost mansion both such simple but fun games thanks to the GamePad I have this very specific memory of having to watch over this kid whose mother was a friend of my mom he must have been no older than seven or eight and he was so shy I was almost at a loss of of what to do I put a Wii remote in his hand and booted up Pikmin adventure and we had an absolute blast every time his family returned to visit after that this kid was practically pounding on my door begging to play Nintendo Land and even though the shitlord teen of me was so annoyed I couldn't help but crack a smile once we began playing because I loved this game just as much as he did the fact is the Wii U was a better social machine than the switch could ever hope to be even if it was tragically ignored by the exact audience it was meant to attract while the games that did Embrace online play without technical hiccups and quality of life issues were few and far between that didn't stop Nintendo from making so many of the Wii U's games accessible and fun for whole families and social Gatherings regardless of anyone's own proficiency with gaming because that's what it was supposed to do think about it it's Mario games were founded in Cooperative multiplayer and some even allowed an additional player to provide support in an unorthodox yet all the while intuitive way first few games the Wii U did receive it sure did receive a ton of party games hell the premier Smash Brothers game at the time included an unprecedented eight player mode that was actually feasible because the Wii U I reported nearly every damn Nintendo controller Under the Sun and if you had a Wii you didn't have to break the bank to even try it I actually played eight player smash with my 3DS as a controller and it was so uncomfortably goofy but I didn't care because it worked I was just happy to see everyone playing together and having fun with the Wii U I was able to share experiences with others that simply weren't possible with any other piece of hardware and that aspect was not even limited to my pre-existing relationships through Miiverse I was able to extend the life of my games and I could organically tap into the communal aspects of gaming that became so much less personal in the age of the internet in many ways the Wii U was a culmination of Nintendo's efforts to cultivate a community as Miiverse connected individuals who didn't have family or friends to enjoy their favorite hobby with I even put more hours into my Wii U than I do any of my current generation devices because has Nintendo's Earnest approach to communication inspired me to even if the Wii U's life was cut tragically short due to lack of interest and poor sales I didn't care because it provided me with immense value while succeeding in its mission to create something unique the switch on the other hand is just okay it is undoubtedly a unique console that provides value to countless players across the world in the midst of a global pandemic many of its decisions have certainly come in clutch I mean who wasn't playing Animal Crossing in 2020 however in many ways the switch feels like a huge initial Leap Forward followed by a series of much smaller agitating steps back its launch year was simply incredible releasing two of the most critically acclaimed games of the last decade from Nintendo's two most critically acclaimed franchises you just can't beat that but ever since then and with sparing exception Nintendo has taken their foot off the gas in favor of letting third parties make up the bulk of the user's experience I'm not here to argue that Nintendo isn't releasing the types of games I want but what I will argue is that the quantity and quality of what they are putting out is lacking in a way I didn't really expect one of the most common complaints echoed by countless fans throughout the Wii U era was that Nintendo's responsibility to support two different platforms prevented them from realizing the Wii U's full potential thus the pivot to a hybrid console was believed to be a huge win for both Nintendo and the consumer while Nintendo could continue to reap the rewards of their dominant ongoing handheld console line all of their resources could be focused on just one platform to create more new games both of larger and smaller scope than ever before for the first time ever the consumer would only have to invest in one platform to gain access to all of Nintendo's upcoming games there was a huge opportunity here to not only attract new users but to get them invested in Nintendo's future products by getting them in front of the characters and games enthusiasts love but they haven't done enough the switch does in fact have many first party games featuring a wide array of Nintendo properties but after a county for the amount of ports it has received courtesy of Wii U it's a library of new and original ideas becomes a hell of a lot smaller and even on par with the previous console I'm really conflicted about these ports because on one hand I'm glad that those that skip the Wii U can have the same experiences I did but without any sort of upgrade path I feel pretty disrespected for having supported them in the first place if I want to experience their enhancements and new features I have to Shell out for the full cost of a game I've already played and as such I've skipped out on almost all of them what remains is still a fairly large variety of Nintendo properties but much of what is being represented here is beginning to experience some serious franchise fatigue because the external development teams that produce them are having to make up for the lack of content coming out of Nintendo's own Development Centers by Fire Emblem Kirby Pokemon all these series are handled by external partners that for the most part don't have access to Nintendo's other IPS it's simply most profitable for them to continue pumping out these games so much so that many of them haven't exactly evolved the same way some of Nintendo's in-house franchises do what is coming out of Nintendo internally has been viewed as uncharacteristically unrefined by their own standards where some games are suffering from a lack of continent release presumably due to rush development others are seen as downgrades from fans who follow these series closely Nintendo's communication isn't really doing these games much Justice either because it's becoming increasingly difficult to discern what is a well-polished product and what is a cash grab in terms of first party software one could argue that not much has changed since the Wii U and that's exactly the problem because where the switch hasn't improved all that much it is also erased lot of what the Wii U did to stand out from its competitors the elimination of Miiverse is just the most straightforward example of a wider shift in identity Nintendo has adopted since the switch's arrival ever since the Nintendo 64 the defining feature of Nintendo's home consoles has been couch multiplayer whether it be casually knocking down pins with your dad or driving friendships to the brink in high stakes Mario Party games or smash lobbies this is what Nintendo's blue ocean audience sticks around for it's why Mario Kart has historically been Nintendo's best selling series pushing even more units than Pokemon and every console preceding the switch has been damn good at it the switch however just isn't as interested in evolving the multiplayer experience as what came before it it was marketed as such but in practice fails to do so because it's really not that fun to huddle around a tiny screen and if I'm lugging my console doc cables and controllers to a friend's house is really that much more portable than most other consoles I've certainly had some Unforgettable moments like the time I played puyo puyo Tetris propped up on a suitcase at the airport before having to say goodbye to a dear friend but moments like those are few and far between even those couch multiplayer moments that should be the sweetest are soured because for the first time since I can remember their controllers just don't work they're expensive as too that wasn't the case on Wii U in many small but noticeable ways this console feels like less of a Nintendo product than anything that came before it its storefront sucks its UI is Bland it's online infrastructure still sucks even after we began paying for it in the state of its Legacy content is even worse than the Wii U which was already seen as a downgrade from the Wii's Virtual Console the one thing it really is good at being the first go-to device for playing indie games on the go isn't all that interesting to me because these games most often perform way better on my PC and with valve making moves into the handheld space with the backing of steam I don't see Nintendo being the dominant player there for too much longer I should probably reiterate that I don't hate the switch at least I certainly don't want to hate it as there absolutely have been some flashes of Brilliance breath of the wild and Super Mario Odyssey have been two of my favorite games of the last decade in the release of Metroid dread has been a huge step in what I believe is the right direction for Nintendo Not only was the game fantastic and felt tailor made for the switch it was released in a state of transparency with long time series director and producer yoshio Sakamoto answering decade-old questions that played a pivotal role in ballooning my excitement for its release more of that please Pokemon is also finally beginning to shake things up and in spite of Tears of the Kingdom's delays Zelda fans have been feasting to a degree that has not been matched since the GameCube it's just that as the presumed end of the switch's life creeps ever closer after taking the time to compare my entire console libraries side by side after re-experiencing the Wii U's games and its features as they once were after re-watching far far too many Nintendo directs to see how things have changed think I just expected a bit more from the system that is by Design what the Wii U should have been when I have countless devices in my home vying for my attention I know this is going to sound crazy but stick with me here the game releases themselves are but a portion of what drives confidence and passion in a video game console an incredibly sizable portion but a portion nonetheless I cannot come up with any good reason for Nintendo abandoning their Charming features and UI other than to Pivot away from what failed as hard as possible without features like Miiverse I strangely feel like less of a part of the Nintendo Community than I once did I can't say that without laughing but it's true it's also true that most people probably only play a handful of games for each system they own and that is fine for them but at this point in my life I want to feel like the console itself is trying to to draw me back in I want my console to drag me away from my computer and frequent communication that drums up excitement without diluting the message is a great way to do that the worst part about all of this is that moving away from why I love Nintendo and what I know countless others love about Nintendo worked quite critically a lot of what the switch has erased is likely a response to copious amounts of feedback but as a power user that has played every single Nintendo console since birth I can't help but kind of feel forgotten there's a phrase I've been using to describe my perspective for far longer than the switch has been around a struggling Nintendo is a creative Nintendo I think what I've come to realize in an attempt to more deeply understand why Nintendo makes certain decisions is that in spite of the global recognition of their iconic characters and games Nintendo is a hardware manufacturer first and a software developer second they understand that software drives hardware sales but almost every decision they make is a response to how well their consoles are performing at the time while the GameCube lacked the type of Hardware Innovation Nintendo has become synonymous with its library was pumped with some of the strangest spins on Core Concepts we've ever seen up until it's unceremonious abandonment the wheeze pivot to a Blue Ocean strategy was a direct response to the gamecube's failure but with its cultural explosion came this pure rid of hubris and complacency in unenthusiastic Lull in software releases up until its successor failed to recapture the Market's attention due to that hubris the Wii U's attempt to course correct led to some of my favorite games being released in this two to three year period where the pressure was on to save it and as such Nintendo put their foot on the gas I can't believe I'm saying this but I think I love the Wii U because it was struggling the switch on the other hand feels comparable to the Wii in this way it's entirely possible that a global pandemic completely disrupted their plans to further capitalize on the switches immense install base maybe Nintendo is only now able to gear up their development capabilities for the Next Generation thanks to the Wii U's losses being recouped by the switch it's also possible that a void in leadership has thrown a wrench into their ability to effectively communicate with fans like me or maybe I really have begun to age out of Nintendo's offerings like I thought I did all those years ago whatever the case may be even though I can't predict the future I'm a little worried about what's coming next historically Nintendo's successes have been followed by complacency before complete and utter failure and I believe we're in that period of complacency as the switch has inherited many of the same issues the Wii U faced while seemingly erasing a lot of Nintendo's DNA that made me believe in it call me selfish if you want but even if I am the only person who feels this way with whatever is coming next I hope we can all feel satisfied and to do that Nintendo needs to recapture the fire to deliver on all fronts maybe a better phrase is that a Nintendo that is challenged is one that delivers [Music] foreign [Music] [Music]

Channel: wizawhat

Views: 445,369

Keywords: Nintendo, Switch, Wii U, Wii, Video Essay, wizawhat

Id: rvugUhaAXNw

Length: 58min 38sec (3518 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 15 2022