Completely agree.
Their business decisions are endlessly baffling. And it’s not just standard corporate greed, also incompetence. Their online infrastructure, eShop setup, neglect of certain IPs. The list goes on.
But, in terms of video game mechanics, the actual nuts and bolts of designing an enjoyable gaming loop; they’re untouchable . I think vintage Blizzard came closest, but they’ve dissolved away.
There was a fascinating article on how Splatoon was pitched. Whereas a Western AAA title would have hundreds of pages of graphical images and lore, setting out the story and ‘world’, Splatoon was pitched on half a side of A4. A few blocks were drawn out, you move a character through the blocks to reload. The idea was to find a way to make every moment of shooter gameplay matter, rather than just the combat. It was approved and they went and made a game around that basic idea.
They’re brilliant at what they do.