A reader offers a rebuttal to the idea that the is overrated and argues that it’s supposed faults are actually very minor.
I wanted to give my opinion about the points made by reader matc7884 in their feature .
I’ll preface by saying that this is not some fanboy’s defensive reaction or an argument that their points aren’t valid, just my perspective.
I’d also welcome any different opinions to mine, because this is one of the only places on the internet for polite, grown-up discourse about video games, isn’t it?
The lack of third party support
My main gripe is the glossing over of the indie releases on Switch, which has been huge for them. When a game like My Friend Pedro or Carrion releases across multiple formats, it is a no-brainer to get it on Switch, to have the option to play on the telly, on the bog or on the train. It’s the Switch’s unique selling point and absolutely one of the reasons it has been so successful. I imagine some indie games’ sales figures on Switch are reflective of that.
I’d also question when Nintendo has ever had good third party support, especially their home consoles; Capcom released two games on the N64, and they were both ports.
The lack of power/graphical capability
This was always going to be the sacrifice with an affordable hybrid Nintendo console, wasn’t it? Surely we couldn’t have expected everything from the ‘big’ consoles and PC – your Red Dead Redemptions, etc. – to run on the dinky Switch? Meanwhile, Nintendo’s in-house teams have churned out stunners like Metroid Dread and Luigi’s Mansion 3 (although I will concede that a bump in frame rate and/or resolution would be lovely).
The reader did mention the cloud versions of certain games, which isn’t ideal but at least it allows for these games to be played by some owners, and there have been some ‘miracle’ ports like The Witcher 3 and Alien Isolation.
A successor will presumably be about as powerful as last generation’s PlayStation/Xbox and they’ll still technically be playing catch-up, so I don’t see a solution if Nintendo wants to keep the price down, which they must.
I fought kicking and screaming against owning two consoles per generation for years, but it’s just too hard if you’re an enthusiast. Now I’ve got three of them. Sitting under my TV and judging me for my impulsive spending habits…
The lack of high-profile releases
I don’t really think it’s fair to call a good number of popular recent/upcoming releases a ‘lack of high-profile releases’ just because they don’t appeal to you. EA haven’t made a game I care about in years, but I wouldn’t say they don’t release stuff for their fans.
As far as re-releases of Zelda: The Wind Waker et al. goes, give it time. Nintendo love slapping a bit of cheap paint on old games and charging a premium as much as the rest of them. Go play Skyward Sword HD for a recent example, that game’s incredible.
The lack of sales/offers
Yeah, I don’t know squat about Nintendo’s sales. Are they worse than the other two? The only frustrating thing I can think of is their refusal to drop their prices, at least permanently, no matter how old a game gets. But would you discount Mario Kart 8 if you were fit to sell like 60 million copies at full price?
I will finish by reiterating that this is not some fanboy huff, and there’s plenty to get upset about with Nintendo and how they do business. It’s just I don’t think the Switch is particularly overrated. In fact, it might be their best console since the SNES, maybe even ever.
By reader ANON
The reader’s feature does not necessary represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.
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