P.S: I'm a new member. Just joined today. Sorry for breaking your 69 user mark. That was honestly pretty nice.
This post pertains specifically to the console lineup of systems. I love the GBA & DS, but am not as knowledgeable about theirhandhelds as I am their consoles.
When it comes to Nintendo, I personally feel like they really hit their stride in the GameCube era. The N64 was pretty strong, too with many classics such as the respective Zelda, Mario, and Rare titles. I really like Mario Golf, Tennis, Party, Smash, etc. on this gen, but I feel like the GameCube era really gave them the power and ecosystem they needed to really unleash their full potential. Finally, they could do HD graphics with high polygon counts and smooth animations, be cinematic, expressive, and generally improve on everything the previous gen did so well. All the new games on this gen are just as good (if not better than) the N64 predecessors. Plus, it has by far the largest representation of unique Nintendo IPs including, but not limited to, Zelda, Mario, Smash, F-Zero, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Metroid, and so, so many more.
The classic classic consoles like NES and esp. SNES are AMAZING for experiencing many games, but for as much as I adore Super Mario and Donkey Kong and the other loads of games I'm too lazy to mention, what interests me most is their 3D lineup of games.
I feel like with the Wii, they started out firing on all cylinders at first with Mario Galaxy (a personal favorite of mine) and with their really high quality motion games. However, I think there's a pretty evident lack of... games near the end of the console's life, a super half-assed lineup of GC ports, a lot of lazy, low-effort games, etc. Mario Party really dropped off here right after 8 with the new developer taking over the franchise. NSMBW is a good example of the uninspired and somewhat generic tone some games started to get. Just a general disregard for originality. Like, don't get me wrong, I love NSMBW, but it's not super challenging, it doesn't have a lot of interesting enemies or levels, and it's just... modern 2D mario. No gimmics, no originality. At least there were new enemies in each classic Mario game, new gameplay mechanics. NSMBW doesn't get a lot of that. Mostly just some motion control jargin and co-op. They had so many options but ended up making "Easy Mario World HD & Friends." Also, with the fact that the Wii had improvements over the GameCube in terms of hardware, I can't shake the feeling that some games such as Mario Kart could have stood to have looked a lot better. I think Double Dash aged MUCH better than Wii, especially at 4K in emulation. Games started being over-simplified here, and I don't like it. I think they kind of took the console's success for granted here, and failed to really insert effort where it was badly needed at times.
The Wii U really unlocked a TON of artistic potential for Nintendo. They could REALLY do HD at this point, and they did it well. They fully utilized the system and made some truly magnificent titles. MK8 looks stunning, Wooly World, etc. But they continued to compromise on gameplay a lot this gen and many core games feel incomplete. I didn't like Mario Tennis as much here, MK8 doesn't have a good battle mode, why does Smash 4 look like a Wii game? Star Fox... yikes! Where's Metroid? Corners were cut and gameplay seemed to suffer for graphical fidelity to make it.
Now with the Switch, Nintendo has doubled down on being the asshole who won't let anyone have any fun while they're around. They seem to think they own the internet and can throw away whatever content they want and shut down any fan projects they want. It's nothing new, but doubled down on no less. I see a lot of Wii U re-releases, games like Zelda take on a completely different tone and feel and gameplay. Why not make a new IP instead? In fact, why not make a new IP at all? Granted, there are some new ones but they obviously aren't as important to Nintendo as making more Mario games, Zelda games, Smash DLC, etc. Don't get me wrong, they need to make money and do what sells, but it seems like they are just stuck in a loop of making the same games over and over Like Paper Mario. When will we have enough Paper Mario? Luigi's Mansion? Zelda... IDK. Seems like they need to spice things up and make some new original gameslike how the GameCube famously did so many times. Geist, Chibi Robo, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion... the unique, exclusive games are what people REMEMBER about a console, the Marios and such are the money makers that they can milk forever. But I've already played these games before. They need to make something new and stop changing the formula for the already established franchises imo.
Anyways, I figure that's enough hot hot oppinions for the internet today. TLDR: I think the GameCube was Nintendo's peak console generation, and I got some oppinions on the others. Let me know what your oppinions are! I'd love to hear some new perspectives.
I should also mention, outside of 1st party games, the N64 is the one console I can never put down. Games like Hydro Thunder, Monopoly, Pro Skater,Top Gear, Rare games, and so on are so amazing, there is really no understating how awesome that system is. Always a crowd pleaser bringing out the N64 classics with friends in an all-out party. SO many fond memories of N64. Felt like I should get that out there. I have a lot of respect for the graphics and gameplay decisions that were made to make games like those possible. Like, 3D was so novel back then, and the industry was hot off the heels of making epic 2D games for two generations so there were some crazy tallented developers working in the scene and it showed. The console's power couldn't be used as a crutch to compensate for a lack of gameplay, the games HAD to be good, and good they were! And some of them did some crazy things with the graphics if they really knew what they were doing. Such a magical yet awkward era for games.
This post pertains specifically to the console lineup of systems. I love the GBA & DS, but am not as knowledgeable about theirhandhelds as I am their consoles.
When it comes to Nintendo, I personally feel like they really hit their stride in the GameCube era. The N64 was pretty strong, too with many classics such as the respective Zelda, Mario, and Rare titles. I really like Mario Golf, Tennis, Party, Smash, etc. on this gen, but I feel like the GameCube era really gave them the power and ecosystem they needed to really unleash their full potential. Finally, they could do HD graphics with high polygon counts and smooth animations, be cinematic, expressive, and generally improve on everything the previous gen did so well. All the new games on this gen are just as good (if not better than) the N64 predecessors. Plus, it has by far the largest representation of unique Nintendo IPs including, but not limited to, Zelda, Mario, Smash, F-Zero, Pikmin, Animal Crossing, Metroid, and so, so many more.
The classic classic consoles like NES and esp. SNES are AMAZING for experiencing many games, but for as much as I adore Super Mario and Donkey Kong and the other loads of games I'm too lazy to mention, what interests me most is their 3D lineup of games.
I feel like with the Wii, they started out firing on all cylinders at first with Mario Galaxy (a personal favorite of mine) and with their really high quality motion games. However, I think there's a pretty evident lack of... games near the end of the console's life, a super half-assed lineup of GC ports, a lot of lazy, low-effort games, etc. Mario Party really dropped off here right after 8 with the new developer taking over the franchise. NSMBW is a good example of the uninspired and somewhat generic tone some games started to get. Just a general disregard for originality. Like, don't get me wrong, I love NSMBW, but it's not super challenging, it doesn't have a lot of interesting enemies or levels, and it's just... modern 2D mario. No gimmics, no originality. At least there were new enemies in each classic Mario game, new gameplay mechanics. NSMBW doesn't get a lot of that. Mostly just some motion control jargin and co-op. They had so many options but ended up making "Easy Mario World HD & Friends." Also, with the fact that the Wii had improvements over the GameCube in terms of hardware, I can't shake the feeling that some games such as Mario Kart could have stood to have looked a lot better. I think Double Dash aged MUCH better than Wii, especially at 4K in emulation. Games started being over-simplified here, and I don't like it. I think they kind of took the console's success for granted here, and failed to really insert effort where it was badly needed at times.
The Wii U really unlocked a TON of artistic potential for Nintendo. They could REALLY do HD at this point, and they did it well. They fully utilized the system and made some truly magnificent titles. MK8 looks stunning, Wooly World, etc. But they continued to compromise on gameplay a lot this gen and many core games feel incomplete. I didn't like Mario Tennis as much here, MK8 doesn't have a good battle mode, why does Smash 4 look like a Wii game? Star Fox... yikes! Where's Metroid? Corners were cut and gameplay seemed to suffer for graphical fidelity to make it.
Now with the Switch, Nintendo has doubled down on being the asshole who won't let anyone have any fun while they're around. They seem to think they own the internet and can throw away whatever content they want and shut down any fan projects they want. It's nothing new, but doubled down on no less. I see a lot of Wii U re-releases, games like Zelda take on a completely different tone and feel and gameplay. Why not make a new IP instead? In fact, why not make a new IP at all? Granted, there are some new ones but they obviously aren't as important to Nintendo as making more Mario games, Zelda games, Smash DLC, etc. Don't get me wrong, they need to make money and do what sells, but it seems like they are just stuck in a loop of making the same games over and over Like Paper Mario. When will we have enough Paper Mario? Luigi's Mansion? Zelda... IDK. Seems like they need to spice things up and make some new original gameslike how the GameCube famously did so many times. Geist, Chibi Robo, Pikmin, Luigi's Mansion... the unique, exclusive games are what people REMEMBER about a console, the Marios and such are the money makers that they can milk forever. But I've already played these games before. They need to make something new and stop changing the formula for the already established franchises imo.
Anyways, I figure that's enough hot hot oppinions for the internet today. TLDR: I think the GameCube was Nintendo's peak console generation, and I got some oppinions on the others. Let me know what your oppinions are! I'd love to hear some new perspectives.
I should also mention, outside of 1st party games, the N64 is the one console I can never put down. Games like Hydro Thunder, Monopoly, Pro Skater,Top Gear, Rare games, and so on are so amazing, there is really no understating how awesome that system is. Always a crowd pleaser bringing out the N64 classics with friends in an all-out party. SO many fond memories of N64. Felt like I should get that out there. I have a lot of respect for the graphics and gameplay decisions that were made to make games like those possible. Like, 3D was so novel back then, and the industry was hot off the heels of making epic 2D games for two generations so there were some crazy tallented developers working in the scene and it showed. The console's power couldn't be used as a crutch to compensate for a lack of gameplay, the games HAD to be good, and good they were! And some of them did some crazy things with the graphics if they really knew what they were doing. Such a magical yet awkward era for games.
