We can all agree that the Nintendo Switch live conference was a less than stellar presentation. Awkward translations, sluggish pacing, weak third party presence and hefty price tags bogged it down quite a bit. That being said, I think people are complaining for the wrong reasons.
When the Switch was first unveiled, many people were hoping it would return Nintendo to being a hardcore gamer company that focused on hardcore, mature games with no gimmick or filthy casual garbage. Just a controller, handheld, and classic Nintendo franchises and AAA 3rd party games. Then Nintendo comes out in January and basically says "LOL, I don't think so!" and proceeds to double down on their Wii/DS era mindset. Unsurprisingly, gamers were salty. After all, this was supposed to be Nintendo's return to the glory days of the **GameCube** where they were hardcore and for "gamerz!".
What people fail to realize, is that this is how Nintendo ALWAYS was. Anyone with any amount of common sense and knowledge of how Nintendo approaches video games really should've seen this coming. Yes, with Nintendo Switch, Nintendo is going back to it's roots. However, it's not the Hardcore, mature gaming, nostalgia filed, adult male Nintendo that people seem to fantasize about. It's the pick-up-and-play, fun for everyone, local multiplayer, mobile first Nintendo that defined their success with the Famicom and GameBoy, and strengthened it with the Wii and DS. And that's what the Switch is, Nintendo is doubling down on their strengths, not conforming to their weaknesses.
That isn't to say the company hasn't learned a thing or two. The launch line up may be barren, but if you look at the Switch's first year as a whole, it looks a lot rosier. Nintendo seems to be avoiding front loading the Switch launch with too many titles to avoid Wii U esque software droughts, and instead prepping a major first-party release for nearly each month, with more potentially on the way at E3. As much as I hate pay-walled online play with a passion, the fact that Nintendo's service is subscription based might mean it's a lot more feature packed and modern that it probably won't matter in the long run. That NES rental nonsense is complete BS though.
The Switch as a whole, also looks to have a lot more thought put into it's design and gimmicks than the Wii U ever did. The IR motion capture thingy on the Right Joy-Con may look silly, but it at least has a functional gameplay purpose, unlike the camera and TV remote nonsense on the Wii U Gamepad. And the fact that each Joy-Con can be used as a separate controller is the kind of smart ingenuity that hasn't been seen from the company since the Wii and DS era.
Going back to the reveal trailer for Nintendo Switch in October, it's easy to see this was never going to be the Hardcore gamer box that fans were clamoring for. No amount of hip 20-somethings, Skyrim, or Red branding, was ever going to change that. Nintendo might be done with the Wii and DS brands, but the philosophy and technology they introduced will always remain within the company, and if you think they're going away anytime soon just to gain some street cred, think again.
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