Polygon: 2014 sucked for everyone but Nintendo

If had to throw my stones on one side of the pond, I'd be inclined to agree with some of my colleagues: 2014 was a real armpit of a year.

But we're not here to dwell on game failures, or studio closures, or toxic culture, or any of the other negatives — no, none of that, not again. Instead, I'd like to earnestly clasp my fingers together, tilt my head and pleasantly inquire, "Have you heard the good news about Nintendo?"

Nintendo, to its credit, was aware of its biggest problem: a lack of compelling titles. "Software sells hardware," Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Polygon at E3 2014. "It is the truism of this industry."

In May, Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 for Wii U. It was noted for pulling in the "strongest review scores in the franchise's history" and became the console's fastest-selling game, topping 1.2 million units worldwide following its release. As of October, Wii U sales topped 7 million units; half of those who owned a Wii U were also said to have Mario Kart 8.

When Super Smash Bros. for Wii U launched in November, it dethroned Mario Kart 8 as the console's fastest-selling game. Smash Bros. on Nintendo 3DS was nothing to shake a finger at, either; the game sold more than 2.8 million copies globally.

What really nails this collection for Nintendo is that these titles — some of the best available this year — are only available on Wii U or 3DS. Compare this to the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, where games are widely shared between the two. It's an offer neither system can match in terms of exclusive content, ultimately making it easy to shelve one or the other.

SOURCE

They really are right. A lot of people on here complain about how lacking 2014 was, but that's because they were unwilling to actually play the good games for whatever reason- 2014 was awesome, especially so if you owned Nintendo. Between Wii U and 3DS (but mostly just Wii U), Nintendo put out so much compelling software, it was great.

EDIT: Before you remind me (or Polygon) that the PC also had an amazing year, yes, yes it did; my assumption is that this is covering the console/handheld market only.

Is this one of those websites we don't take seriously?

Yep. We're in for a show.

Nintendo continues to deliver the goods. Meanwhile, Xbone and PS4 have few exclusives and broken games.

What websites does SW take seriously?

The Gamespot Off Topic board.

That just won't do.

Hooray, no third party support is an amazing year.

Loved what I got from my Wii U but I found various ways to use my Vita, PS4, PS3, and even 3DS. It was a good year.

Hmm, that is a puzzling question. Because even Gamespot, despite relying on it for what makes a flop, is apparently used "for the lulz."

Still, too many people here call out Polygon for not being legit, especially after they called out a reviewer for being a hypocrite over Bayo 2.

Isn't Polygon that site we're all supposed to make fun of whenever they're brought up or something?

Oh, that was Polygon.

Yeah, lolpolygonandallthat

Don't care if they are right or not. Polygon still sucks.

This is probably the only time I'll agree with Polygon.

I definitely agree, though I got plenty of play out of my PS4 in terms of 3rd party games.

Yep... I thought we were going to be in for a wild ride because of that. Then again, I've been majorly wrong before.

@charizard1605: Polygon sucked for 2014 with all their corruption...

Lol polygon

Sheep are really scraping the bottom of the barrel if they're using a site that gave Bayo 2 a low score as some kind of ownage

Cows got nothing to call their own this year.

Sure, this year was great if you only count exclusive titles. If you count multiplatform games, then the Wii U is the worst console of the year.

Ah, Polygon. It is pretty true that Nintendo was the only one of the 'big three' to have much in the way of worthwhile titles this year. None of them stand out to me though since even as fun as MK8 and Smash are they add nothing to their respective franchises aside from FINALLY getting online play. Personally I think this was the year Blizzard returned to form. Hearthstone, the most successful WoW expansion since Wrath of the Lich King, and fixing Diablo 3 with the expansion. All pretty great accomplishments and excellent games.

Even though most of the multiplats worth noting have been an absolute joke. Destiny and AC: Unity (at launch) have been a couple of them.

Shadow of Mordor, Ground Zeroes, Dragon Age, Far Cry 4, Alien Isolation, Dark Souls 2, Wolfenstein, Transistor, South Park, Ethan Carter, etc

Yup, sure was a shitty year for everyone else.

Sorry Polygon, the real winner this year was the PC. And it wasn't even close...

Yes. I won't even click on the link because it's polygon. Damn.

Wii U had some great games this past year but...

lolpolygon.

It was a great year if you had a Wii-U, PS4 and PC.

No regrets besides Destiny and Watch Dogs, both are solid 7 games for me but for them being hyped so much it did a lot of dmg once you got to the "meat and bones" of the two, and by "meat and bones" I mean "where is the meat and bones"

lolygon

I still see 2014 as a bust, but PC + Nintendo made it manageable.

Nintendo is king. Games, games, more games, and amiibo!

So I figure this is as good a place to ask as any.

I'm a lazy bastard. I just don't keep up with this stuff the way I used to.

Do we have a WiiU Nintendrought coming for 2015? I know Zelda and Starfox are slated for release. Outside of that, I'm clueless.

PC and Wii U meant I had a fantastic 2014. Its kinda funny that Lolygon tries to say the truth about something when they have been among the most anti nintendo people in the business. Don't get me wrong Gamespot is very anti Nintendo too. They will report on xbox/PS deals but won't mention the eshop sales that have been going on since before christmas.

Games confirmed for Wii U in 2015 are:

• Star Fox
• The Legend of Zelda
• Kirby and the Rainbow Curse
• Yoshi's Wooly World
• Splatoon
• Devil's Third
• Xenoblade Chronicles X
• Mario Party 10
• Project Guard/Project Robot (... whatever these are)
• Mario Maker (how in the world did I forget this)

In addition, personally, I'm holding out hope on a Fatal Frame V localization, while also curious to see when Metroid, SMTxFE (lol), and the Wii U version of Pokken will be out, though I highly doubt those are next year.

Once again, a console gamer talks about how ignorant they are and says 2014 wasn't good EXCEPT FOR LE NINTENUH HUEHUE.

NO. PC gaming was good this year. PC gaming is not Nintendo.

You wouldn't need to... What's important is already in the OP, no need to click at all (which is a good thing, please continue to do this when making a thread with Polygon articles).

@charizard1605:

Thanks broizard.

That's one must have (Zelda), a couple of definite buys (Xenoblade, Splatoon), and a bunch of maybe territory stuff.

Fatal Frame V and Metroid would also be must haves if they come through.

Good enough for me. Next year is going to be so beastly with the multiplats, WiiU exclusives will serve as the topping.

Was this- was this directed at me? Did you actually see the last sentence in the OP, if so?

Mario Maker and Mario vs Donkey Kong are coming next year too.

Oh, I forgot Mario Maker as well.

But yeah, next year looks great for all systems. Surprising Nintendo can prop up the Wii U all by itself when the other consoles will have the might of the full industry behind them, honestly.

You're right, I'll add them, thanks!

@93BlackHawk93 said:

Literally Nintendo's The Last Guardian.

No lol. Just the article.

I just find it annoying that they're marginalizing the PC market when it has almost all of the same multiplat games and a very competitive collection of exclusives this year (particularly CRPGS).

They're saying "everyone but Nintendo".

k

Due to my powerful moral code, I can't even read trust this thread because Polygon's stink is all up in it...damn Polygon. Due to my moral code, I now have to go eat a breakfast burrito from this morning. No food going to waste. Sorry, for that, lol.

No seriously, I feel like I've said my piece on 2014 so many times it would be redundant to argue my opinion vs. this polygon writers opinion on 2014. I said this before, but every year we see good games released, so what does a bad gaming year mean? If there were good games that one could list for every gaming year, does that mean there is no such thing as a bad gaming year? It's rhetorical as I'm hoping to conjure some reflection from lurkers .The answer is subjective, but I feel a large majority agree 2014 didn't shape up well. I could be alone in the idea and I'm okay with that as well. I know a lot of critics agree, for every polygon, there is an Escapist, etc. I didn't formulate my 2014 opinions on their opinions, but I would use them in the way to validate my opinion if I really cared, but I don't.

I also know that in all my time in SW with good and poor gaming years, there has never been a consensus during that year on what kind of year it was. Some of us need perspective, others need time to digest all the games. Considering this is the last day of the year, I bid 2014 a fond adieu and I look forward to looking back at 2014 a few years from now and seeing how people felt about this year. Next year, 2015, looks amazing...but we'll see what delays and shoddy releases we deal with then. I'm sure Ubisoft isn't done spraying perfume on their shit and selling it to us, but I hope they are. Personally, not a fan of 2014, although I did find some exceptions for sure like Super Smash Bros, Dark Souls, Towerfall, Shovel Knight, etc. As I said before, those games and more didn't save the year, but they are nice highlights. Someone else may have thought the world of those titles and feel 2014 is the bestest gaming year ever. More power to them.

Happy New Year. :P

lolPolygon

They sucked during all of 2014.

--

As far as exclusives go, they are correct but it's too obvious for anyone to get it wrong really.

Also, needs more pie charts >.>

I'm sure there will be other games that will catch us off guard. No one expected Captain Toad at this point last year (I did) and there will be other games as well. Hopefully now that Nintendo got their game development teams lined up the games should be coming out at a more considerable clip.

Been here since 2005. People have bitched about every year sucking since I've been here.

It was a pretty good year for PC gaming though.

Pretty much

Giant Bomb, Eurogamer, many seem to like Angry Joe too. But Polygon... Rating Bayo 2 with a 7.5/10 because of women objectification due to the "male gaze" screams social justice warrior hipster shit.

Game journalism is a huge bad joke. I mean, Jeff getting fired from gamespot because Kane & Lynch? And then the sudden departure of Carolyn and MCshea? What about Patrick from Destructoid getting black listed by the Game Journo Pros... Seriously, if you care about game reviews then you're an idiot.

If fire emblem awakening is one of the games released then it had at least something I cared about.