Has Nintendo lost its mojo?

LakeOf9

LakeOf9

Member
The thing that Nintendo is supposed to consistently deliver on, which makes all the rest of their bullshit worth putting up with, is their games. But we're seeing a concerning trend emerge on that front this year
  • Pokemon Legends ZA: 78 Metacritic
  • Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment: 78 Metacritic
  • Kirby Air Riders: 78 Metacritic
  • Metroid Prime 4 Beyond: 80 Metacritic
This is in addition to releases like Drag X Drive (Metacritic 60) and Nintendo Switch 2 Welcome Tour (Metacritic 54). Mario Kart World was also viewed as somewhat underwhelming. The only win on the games front Nintendo has had this year with no caveats is DK Bananza. In fact, that's the only win with no caveats they've had since 2023.

Has Nintendo lost its mojo?
 
I can't honestly judge unless I actually played these products.

I don't think any of these titles outside of MP4 are meant to showcase the Switch 2 either.
 
hug.gif
 
No, it's just they don't have their actually good games ready for Switch 2 launch year.

If 3D Mario/Zelda comes out and only gets low 80's then we'll have something to think about.
 
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Even if we take account all the drama Neogaf likes... this is the worst list possible to use as a baseline, because or it's a game for a specific niche (Kirby and Hyrule Warriors) or it's a game that gives zero fucks for Metacritic (Pokemon).

That being said, let's remind ourselves that Metroid NEVER WAS a commercial success (as bizarre as this may sounds...), so at least Ninendo is trying something... new?
 
Artistic said:
Not really.
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Ok. :lollipop_crying:

I just think that opening a thread under the pretense of that some videogame journos say is about some games makes for a weak argument.

OP could have instead make a critique of it's own on those games, telling us why they suck or something.
 
I guess this is prompted by the reviews of Metroid Prime 4? If you look at reviews of all the Metroid games, then a lot of them scored in the same range as Metroid Prime 4. So this is not a new occurence for that IP. And Kirby Air Ride for the Gamecube also scored in the 70s, and for some reason, people now love that Gamecube game. And Dynasty Warriors games have never scored above 8/10, afaik. Pokemon Z-A stands out. But it's good that Game Freak gets called out, they do deserve it (and need it). But it is still selling well, is it not?

To be fair, there's nothing out of the ordinary happening here.
 
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I'm more worried about the shift in their game design philosophy than Metacritic scores. I love Nintendo games for their tightly designed gameplay mechanics and levels than the open ended bullshit they are going for today.

Feels like Kirby is the only game not contaminated by that (god bless Sakurai).
 
LakeOf9 said:
I'm not asking about their ability to sell consoles, I'm asking about their ability to make good games. You know, the thing that we're supposed to give a damn about as gamers.
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Games sell consoles. I think they make some great games. MKW while not as good as MK8 is still excellent. DK is brilliant. There should be a new Mario soon and I am sure it will be incredible.
 
A little bit, yeah. They didn't really innovate on the hardware side this time at all, and instead went for a very predictable upgrade. They didn't launch a noteworthy new IP with Switch 2 in the first year.

It's possible we don't see a 3D Mario for literally years with Donkey Kong out. We know Zelda will likely be the 3rd open world game similar to Breath of the Wild. More Breath of the Wild coming with the movie. More Breath of the Wild with the 2nd or 3rd Musou, I've lost count.

Mario Kart World squandered one of the surest home runs in gaming history. They literally skipped a whole generation on Switch 1 for MK and the game is still seemingly unfinished and the price on it is literally insulting. The first $80 game we have, and it sucks.

They're still the best developers, but they're not hitting nonstop homeruns. And last year was pretty weak as well with a lot of overpriced remakes. Paying $60 for Super Mario RPG is one of my greatest gaming regrets in recent memory. A SNES game. And their pricing with games and upgrades is also shit. And all their BC games are sub exclusives which sucks.

Pretty much just waiting for Tomodachi Life and Splatoon Extraction at this point, and I don't expect either to be more than an 8/10, which is fine. Tomodachi Life will be overpriced I'm sure. They are sorely missing that mid-tier pricepoint they used to have on handhelds where weird games like that used to be $30. Now it will almost surely be $60, which is doubling the price for very small quirky AA stuff I used to really enjoy.

Couldn't even try demos for Kirby Air Riders or Drag x Drive because they're online only demos, and I'm not subbing for demos.

Metroid seems good, but with how long ago it was announced it shouldn't be $70 for anyone.

And my guess is they've permanently lost 3rd party exclusives they used to have with SQEX. They'll all be on PC at the very least, if not everything.
 
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AJUMP23 said:
10 million consoles in 5 months = No MOJO!


Sometimes you guys are perplexing.
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By this logic, Monster Hunter Wilds is also one of the best MH games of all time and no one has any reason to suspect it won't be the greatest MH game ever, far into the future, since its opening sales surpass any other.

No, Wilds sold really well in the beginning because its predecessors were really good. Wilds is literally standing on the shoulders of giants.

The Switch was a sales monster, so of course, its successor is going to sell well in the beginning. Now can they carry that momentum with a stream of high quality releases..?

Book Club Cat GIF

  • Pokemon Legends ZA: 78 Metacritic
  • Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment: 78 Metacritic
  • Kirby Air Riders: 78 Metacritic
  • Metroid Prime 4 Beyond: 80 Metacritic
That remains to be seen.
 
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LakeOf9 said:
I'm not asking about their ability to sell consoles, I'm asking about their ability to make good games. You know, the thing that we're supposed to give a damn about as gamers.
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Your concern trolling is adorable.

Had this game gotten a higher MC people shout "Well it's Nintendo they always get great scores"
When they don't: Wow. Nintendo is Doomed.

This is also ignoring the 86 for Mario Kart World
91 Bananza

TLDR: calm down lol
 
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Comandr said:
By this logic, Monster Hunter Wilds is also one of the best MH games of all time and no one has any reason to suspect it won't be the greatest MH game ever, far into the future, since its opening sales surpass any other.

No, Wilds sold really well in the beginning because its predecessors were really good. Wilds is literally standing on the shoulders of giants.

The Switch was a sales monster, so of course, its successor is going to sell well in the beginning. Now can they carry that momentum with a stream of high quality releases..?

Book Club Cat GIF

  • Pokemon Legends ZA: 78 Metacritic
  • Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment: 78 Metacritic
  • Kirby Air Riders: 78 Metacritic
  • Metroid Prime 4 Beyond: 80 Metacritic
Click to expand...

Comandr said:
That remains to be seen.
Click to expand...


Did Capcom make a console for MH Wilds?

By your logic the WiiU should have been a sales monster, it was not, it was the worst selling Nintendo console ever. The Wii was a sales monster.
 
El Hee-Ho said:
Ok. :lollipop_crying:

I just think that opening a thread under the pretense of that some videogame journos say is about some games makes for a weak argument.

OP could have instead make a critique of it's own on those games, telling us why they suck or something.
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I would understand if we held Nintendo to this standard consistently as we do with Sony/Microsoft.
 
I'd say "yes", but not because Metacritic scores are dropping. I think starting with the Switch, Nintendo began latching on to some really undesirable modern design trends. Their games got super bloated, whether that's through just having too much content that hues towards mediocre (Super Mario Odyssey) or way too many needless mechanics (Fire Emblem: The Three Houses and it's completely unnecessary school stuff). As time's gone on, they've doubled down on those things with games like TOTK taking bloat to its logical extreme. Plenty of people like it, of course, but personally, I'd consider it "subtraction by addition". The focus and immediacy that made their games great has largely been lost. When we do get a more focused game, Nintendo is adamant about stripping out almost all of the challenge so as to not impede the casuals. Mario Wonder is a slog as a result, and even when they get it right - like with Mario Kart World - they actually went back and made the game easier. Obviously, there are exceptions to the rule, but I think the trend for their output has become pretty clear over the last however many years.

And I get it - commercially, they've been super successful and from that standpoint, they're obviously making the right choices. But I don't think it makes for better games, and at the end of the day, that's all I care about.
 
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The kids that were frothing their greatest hits aren't special games and despite the media industry hating Nintendo for sidestepping it (Directs) only get high marks because they overrate their games, grew up and got game reviewer jobs which are dime a dozen now it's all low stakes online crap 🤷‍♂️

You had to pad your very short list with titles like a freaking Tecmo Koei musou game and omit two of the barely a handful of recent internally developed games you could have been discussing in your topic because they don't quite fit your proposed narrative mate, lol, get a grip.

They really don't have to bring their A-game yet anyway, which is why we get DK instead of Mario, Metroid instead of Zelda, a 2nd Kart-esque racer already etc., as they build the Switch 2's production rates and install base to land the big hitters on.
 
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This is normal for nintendo

They only had a few 90+ each year tops. Most mid budget titles were about 8/10

DK was their big title this year and Prime 4 was their other that could have hit big scores. Prime 4 is a bit below expected but not by THAT much really

Lets see when the next bif Zelda o Mario drops…
 
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The only slight misstep was Mario Kart. And it wasnt awful, it was just very different and not as good as MK8 but can still be recovered via dlc.

Early Gamecube mainline releases all had their issues at the time but were still enjoyable and looked on fondly now. I don't think we can judge until mainline Mario and Zelda are out. Most on that list are second tier filler.
 
I would say the only disappointing or unusual score on there is Metroid Prime 4. For a long in development single player title from one of their premier studios, it's low.

Legends actually reviewed a lot better than the last mainline Pokemon game and only slightly below Arceus.

Age of Imprisonment has the exact same Metacritic as Age of Calamity. Kirby Air Ride original had a bad 61 MC, so the sequel is vastly improved (not sure how anyone could've expected any better).

So no, one middling score (which is still a decent score for a game none of us normies have even played yet to see for ourselves) doesn't mean they've suddenly lost 'it'. And when their next first party game Mario Tennis lands in February and had high 70 Metacritic, they won't have lost it then either. That's what these games always score at.
 
DK was meh. MK was meh. MP4 is yet to be seen for me personally. I see what you are saying.

If there isn't a 10 out of 10 banger from them by this time next year, I think you could say that.
 
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