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[Mr Reasonable]

Mr Reasonable you're up

I've got a switch and most of the best rated games on the platform... Never play it.

I like the idea of Nintendo games, but in practice, outside of BOTW and TOTK (which to be fair I loved) I haven't really played much on my Switch that I've actually felt much enthusiasm for.

Even hugely celebrated things like Mario Odyssey left me fairly cold.

I've bought so many games for Switch that I just haven't felt any enthusiasm for.

In terms of what might come next that I'd actually like to play, I'd be interested in a new Zelda, but I'm not actually sure what of their celebrated catalogue I'd like to play. I've never even put Metroid Dread in my Switch. I love the idea of playing Nintendo games, but in practice, I just don't love them.

That's why I didn't pick Nintendo. Sorry, Nintendo fans.

 

[StueyDuck]

by virtue of them being the oldest and having their IP stand the test of time through the generations how can it not be Nintendo.

 

[Shubh_C63]

The real question will be finding the people who don't say Nintendo and for what reason they said it.

Me personally? Have never really played a Nintendo game. No official console in India anyway.
except Minish Cap

 

[Putonahappyface]

Definitely not Nintendo.

I'm not a 12 year old.

 

[nial]

I guess Sony's marketing is to blame then, huh?

You're a gaming enthusiast, that's such a lame excuse. But no, both Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade were pretty well marketed.

Great, now show me the equivalent of Parappa the Rapper, Vic Ribbon, Arc the Lad, Alundra, Ico and Shadow of the Colossus, Freedom Wars, Gravity Rush etc etc.

The fact that you have to include games from across 18 years of history (most of them before Japan Studio even existed) is pretty telling. Why do we need to have a 'modern equivalent' of your specific examples? I can very well say that Rise of the Ronin is closer to their old JPRGs like Oreshika, Tenchi no Mon 2 or even Rezel Cross (imagine if you actually knew these, lmao), Astro Bot is in the same vein of Jumping Flash, Ape Escape, Poinie's Poin, LocoRoco, Puppeteer and Knack.

The number and the nature of games Sony create today is completely different than their output during the PS1/PS2/PS3 era and you'd have to be disingenuous to pretend otherwise.

And that also goes for the SCEA/SCEE stuff that isn't as frequent as it used to be on PS1/PS2 before they went for a more global approach, it doesn't mean that they stopped existing. Nice PS3 sneaking over there, though, anyone that was not clueless would know that their output was already pretty much different by that point.

 

[cormack12]

I don't think that gyro being the default control scheme for the most commercially successful game developer in the industry qualifies as "niche". Splatoon outsells the majority of Sony's IPs. Gyro also has been adopted by Sony's big first party games like TloU2. And the point isn't really about its ubiquity but whether or not it's making the media advance, which it undeniably does. It's not Nintendo's fault some platforms like Xbox stubbornly refuse to adopt an objectively better method of aiming.


I'm not interested in this sort of mindless "it's ok when Nintendo does it!!" drivel, the point is BotW is an influential highly critically acclaimed game that sold tens of millions of copies, which are objective standards making it an "industry leading" title.


Why would you? It's obvious Sony will never revisit the kind of games Japan Studio used to make. It's not their design philosophy anymore. In fact Sony barely make games nowadays, the entire PS5 exclusive library is anemic which is definitely another reason why their first party output is inferior to Nintendo's.


Plenty of people explained their reasoning but you just don't like the answer so you chose to ignore it.

Sales are pointless in this conversation, otherwise Fifa and Cod would be industry changing. No one has said anything of note other than 'je ne sais quoi'.

Happy to discuss the lack of enemy variants, the repetitive korok seeds, the barren open lands, the simplistic shrine puzzles, lack of sidequests, poor dungeons, lack of crafting, stamina gauge and much more. It's a collectathon of the worst mistakes of AAA games. All issues other games and developers get pilloried for.

But because you can set fire to the grass, cook buffs, and it has a sizeable footprint of physics it gets glossed over. Note, I'm not saying it's a bad game, I'm saying it is just well over rated for what it is - like most Nintendo IP.

They are very good at reacting to the market and reinventing their existing IPs. So there is a strong attachment to them. It's like Rockstar being known as the GTA developer. Or EA as the FIFA developer and so on.

We ain't never gonna agree either way. If we're not talking inactive portfolio, what new IPs have been released since 2018 for Nintendo that have 'graduated' into their flagpole portfolio and we're expecting sequels for?

 

[cireza]

More than 20 years have passed and it is still SEGA that have the best first party lineup.

 

[Punished Miku]

We ain't never gonna agree either way.

So you're saying there's a chance.

 

[InterMusketeer]

You're a gaming enthusiast, that's such a lame excuse. But no, both Rise of the Ronin and Stellar Blade were pretty well marketed.

I've other things to do than keep up with all game releases. I think you need a reality check.

 

[Little Mac]

Gotta be Nintendo. They have a magic design formula with their titles. Sony isn’t too shabby though and there were numerous times in the past (and present) that I craved playing something with a more darker or mature tone that Nintendo just doesn’t provide and Sony does very well. I also have to give a shout out to MS though. Back in the day, I was a huge fan because of the OG Halos and Gears of War.

 

[cormack12]

So you're saying there's a chance.

 

[SHA]

Well, they changed the equation, we're dealing now with a giant 3rd party publisher but the nature of the question hasn't changed.

 

[nial]

I've other things to do than keep up with all game releases. I think you need a reality check.

And that's perfectly fine, we all do! I just don't try to comment on topics that I have no knowledge of.

 

[Ristifer]

I was wondering when LakeOf9's weekly stroking-of-Nintendo thread would pop up.

 

[bitbydeath]

Sony, because God of War > All else.

 

[InterMusketeer]

I just don't try to comment on topics that I have no knowledge of.

And everyone's thankful for that.

 

[EruditeHobo]

The real question will be finding the people who don't say Nintendo and for what reason they said it.

Super simple, for me... I find most of Nintendo's first party games to be completely unappealing.

My favorites of what they make are admittedly really great games, but are very few and far between over the years. So, Sony has delivered much better for my gaming preferences over the last 15-20 years or so. That's even including the PS5 generation's 1st party lowpoint!

Horses for courses and whatnot.

 

[thicc_girls_are_teh_best]

Tough question to answer, really.

If we're talking in terms of industry-leading, standard-setting games in the technical/visual/fidelity/storytelling sense, as well as select genres like racing sims, the answer is Sony/SIE. Between Ico, Shadow of the Colossus, Uncharted, Killzone 2, TLOU, GT3, GT4 and more, I think they've been the most consistent. Specifically on grounds of technical showcases and pushing gaming forward that way, SEGA is a very close second IMO when you go from Outrun to Virtua Fighter, to Sonic (there was no other platformer looking that good in 1991) to VF3, to Shenmue.

If we're talking in terms of best IP retention regarding quality & selling power, massive brands, and being industry-leading & standard-setting in terms of game design, then the answer is Nintendo. They are hands-down the best as long-term IP retention in the industry, not just 1P-wise but in terms of ANY publisher, period. Brands like Mario and Zelda are bigger than ever and have retained a high standard of quality for decades. Meanwhile, stuff like Pokemon are still massive cultural sensations, and they really helped set the standard for various genres like 2D & 3D platformers, moody/thematic platformers (Super Metroid), kart racers, and more.

If we're talking in terms of sheer variety in 1P offerings, I think in time the answer could be Microsoft, but mainly down to all the studios and publishers they spent over $80 billion acquiring. Which, well, isn't helping their actual consoles a single lick. So in terms of just who I'd pick for now, that answer is SEGA. The sheer number and variety in games SEGA developed & published between their home consoles and arcade systems is legendary, quite a lot of them being very fun games with some being industry-leading and standard-setting in their own right like Sonic, Daytona USA, Virtua Fighter and Shenmue. I don't think SEGA gets enough credit for the influential games they contributed to the industry, even if Nintendo ultimately contributed more in that regard.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

PlayStation.

Their pursuit of GAAS shows they're on the cutting edge and not resting on laurels. They're the only one's who have a clear vision where gaming is headed.

 

[Banjo64]

Mario, Zelda, Zelda, Mario, Mario, pikmin Zelda, Mario, Mario, metroid.

Amazing diversity

Even something that I consider Z-tier like Xenoblade is infinitely better than anything Sony and Microsoft have produced in the past 5 years.

 

[Banjo64]

What do you think should have won GOTY in 2021?

Metroid Dread picks up Halo Infinite and uses it to wipe its arse.

^ crass I know. Punished Miku I actually put maybe 60+ hours in to Infinite’s online and it was a fine game however the content pipeline was abysmal and sadly throttled the life out of the player base. I would still say Infinite’s MP was a 9/10 game play wise, but yeah, Dread single player did much more for me and even though I’m not interested in sequence breaking - seeing all of that after I had completed the game made me appreciate it even more. 2021 wasn’t a vintage year by any stretch.

 

[IDKFA]

Mario, Zelda, Zelda, Mario, Mario, pikmin Zelda, Mario, Mario, metroid.

Amazing diversity

Pokémon, Splatoon, Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Animal Crossing, ARMS, Donkey Kong, Xenoblade........

Not to mention series that are on ice like F-Zero and Starfox.

The games might not all be my cup of tea, but you can't argue Nintendo doesn't have a diverse line up of games.

 

[Punished Miku]

Metroid Dread picks up Halo Infinite and uses it to wipe its arse.

^ crass I know. Punished Miku I actually put maybe 60+ hours in to Infinite’s online and it was a fine game however the content pipeline was abysmal and sadly throttled the life out of the player base. I would still say Infinite’s MP was a 9/10 game play wise, but yeah, Dread single player did much more for me and even though I’m not interested in sequence breaking - seeing all of that after I had completed the game made me appreciate it even more. 2021 wasn’t a vintage year by any stretch.

I wasnt disagreeing. If you keep reading down from that post it was my pick too. I can still see how Halo won though considering how few people played Dread.

 

[Banjo64]

I wasnt disagreeing. If you keep reading down from that post it was my pick too. I can still see how Halo won though considering how few people played Dread.

No I know, but my original comment was low effort so I wanted to expand on it.

I agree re the population tipping the scale for Halo and I’d also add that the atrocious BF2042 launching in the same window as Halo also did wonders for Halo’s reputation.

 

[Danjin44]

This gen Sony first party was super lacklustre and I never cared for Microsoft's first party games other than Lost Odyssey.

Nintendo wins by default especially the fact Xenoblade which is one of my favourite JRPG is exclusive to Nintendo.

 

[Musashipan]

Nintendo by far

 

[Buggy Loop]

Thanks to this thread

 

[Danjin44]

Thanks to this thread

 

[Azelover]

Sony and Microsoft are both really good, but Nintendo is a notch above. It just can't be argued. They single handedly carried the Switch to new heights. It can't be compared..

 

[Arsic]

The real question will be finding the people who don't say Nintendo and for what reason they said it.

Exactly.

I love Sony first party games but you’d have to be smoking rocks to not give it to Nintendo by a landslide.

 

[RJMacready73]

Nintendo - Games for children that don't like change
Xbox - used to be good
Playstation - Consistently put out AAA games from all genres for actual adults

 

[Danjin44]

Playstation - Consistently put out AAA games from all genres for actual adults

And yet they dont trust their "adult" audience to solve the puzzles by themselves.

 

[digoutyoursoul]

Would have to toss a coin between PlayStation and Nintendo

 

[RJMacready73]

And yet they dont trust their "adult" audience to solve the puzzles by themselves.

Dems difficult pussels

 

[Deputy Moonman]

Meh I ended up picking Nintendo. I think their 1st party output still can't be beat (for the moment anyway). If a person is not a fan of mario or zelda, however, I can see how they would have an entirely different view.

Gameplay is mighty fine, literally everything else goes from bad to straight up trash.

I guess it depends on what you were hoping to get out of the game. I feel like it was highly praised up until 343 announced no local couch coop. After that a lot of people changed their tune, which is fair. Couch coop was originally promised, so 343 took the rug right out from underneath everyone that was excited about it. Like you said, the gameplay was great and the open world offered multiple set encounters reminiscent of what made some of the original games so much fun. The story to be fair was weak but I did enjoy the boss encounters and thought the final boss was a step in the right direction for the next Halo installment to be really interesting from a lore perspective. Forge was substantially delayed (too little too late), which would have paid dividends with the lack of new matchmaking content.

GAAS could have been handled better too. 343 completely dropped the ball with their maddeningly anemic release of new matchmaking maps. To make matters worse, 343 regressed their armor customization system and locked something as simple as a specific colored armor piece behind a paywall, while not having armor pieces interchangeable with other sets. The final nail in the coffin was the hit detection, which even today I'm not sure if it has been completely resolved. The game is leaps and bounds better than when it first released, from a content perspective anyway. I need to boot it up again and play some more. It has been a while. It's another what could have been if everything in its current state had been available at release. People would have still been pissed because of no local coop.

 

[Buggy Loop]

And yet they dont trust their "adult" audience to solve the puzzles by themselves.

Reminder for God of War Ragnarok reviews :

Puzzling platforming – Navigating the realms requires clever use of Kratos’ implements. In one instance I needed to move a pillar blocking the path. This required me to first toss the Leviathan Axe to shatter a log bracing the pillar down, then brandish the Blades of Chaos to wrangle the pillar from the path.

Such clever puzzles

 

[Phase]

My exact reaction after reading the thread title:

I had to pick it, I'm sorry. It was the most accurate.

 

[Fahdis]

Sony.

 

[K' Dash]

There’s only one correct answer.

Nintendo.

 

[GymWolf]

Meh I ended up picking Nintendo. I think their 1st party output still can't be beat (for the moment anyway). If a person is not a fan of mario or zelda, however, I can see how they would have an entirely different view.


I guess it depends on what you were hoping to get out of the game. I feel like it was highly praised up until 343 announced no local couch coop. After that a lot of people changed their tune, which is fair. Couch coop was originally promised, so 343 took the rug right out from underneath everyone that was excited about it. Like you said, the gameplay was great and the open world offered multiple set encounters reminiscent of what made some of the original games so much fun. The story to be fair was weak but I did enjoy the boss encounters and thought the final boss was a step in the right direction for the next Halo installment to be really interesting from a lore perspective. Forge was substantially delayed (too little too late), which would have paid dividends with the lack of new matchmaking content.

GAAS could have been handled better too. 343 completely dropped the ball with their maddeningly anemic release of new matchmaking maps. To make matters worse, 343 regressed their armor customization system and locked something as simple as a specific colored armor piece behind a paywall, while not having armor pieces interchangeable with other sets. The final nail in the coffin was the hit detection, which even today I'm not sure if it has been completely resolved. The game is leaps and bounds better than when it first released, from a content perspective anyway. I need to boot it up again and play some more. It has been a while. It's another what could have been if everything in its current state had been available at release. People would have still been pissed because of no local coop.

I only played the campaign and very few matches of the multy so i don't know what problems the multy had other than missing some modes at launch (pretty annoying).

 

[PaintTinJr]

The real question will be finding the people who don't say Nintendo and for what reason they said it.

Unless we are treating re-releases like Switch Sports, Mario Kart or identikit sequels by number like Splatoon 2 and 3 to count, Nintendo's switch exclusive output has been sterile and soulless IMO.

BotW is still my least favourite Zelda, and even though I played and enjoyed TotK at the time, it felt like that after-feeling of a McDonalds or tube of Pringles, and if the switch never existed as a console I genuinely wouldn't feel like anything of value was lost - despite playing Sports' update today and yesterday with my youngest.

The new Mario games have been soulless on Switch with crappy recorded sound tracks - rather than synthesised - and lyrics and irritating voice acting IMO.

I wouldn't make a great argument for the other two consoles either this gen, but like Resogun, the time I spent with new IP Returnal felt fresh, skilful and had a lot of soul in its delivery and design choices IMO. And my 10 minutes with my friend's PSVR2 and Call of the Mountain was truly WOW, like first time playing Space Harrier sit down in the arcade back in the 80's WOW.

So based on current console new 1st party, Nintendo aren't delivering N64/Cube Miyamoto/Iwata level greatness, and certainly nothing I'd rate higher than either of those two PlayStation first party experiences.

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

Nintendo has a handful of exciting games each gen but largely disappointing in a year to year basis with some years of nothing to play

Lots of rehashes and overrated games to boot.

 

[RetroAV]

For a moment in time, it was Sega.

 

[64bitmodels]

Nintendo has a handful of exciting games each gen but largely disappointing in a year to year basis with some years of nothing to play

Lots of rehashes and overrated games to boot.

huh? one of the reason Nintendo gets the picks here is because of their release count

they can put out 2 dozen games in the span of 2 years for Switch only while it takes an entire gen for Microsoft and Sony to do the same (assuming that MS can even do one dozen)

They simply make games

 

[Jack Package]

Why is this even a question? It's Nintendo and no one comes close. The gulf between them and the rest is massive.

MS may have bought loads of devs, but they will just sit on those properties whilst farting out old iterations on Gamepass every few months.

Valve barely make any games.

Sony? They could have a solid little line up, but they continually forget their legacy IPs and the ones they have right now will probably have a similar shelf life to those old titles.
Tsushima is amazing, but in another 5 years we'll have had a sequel, a PS6 re-release, and then nothing. With the exception of God of War, they drop everything. Wipeout? Brilliant, best game of it's kind. Dead except for a "best of" game. Days Gone? Sold pretty well, abandoned.
Killzone? Resistance? Syphon Filter? Ape Escape?
Abandoned. I dunno why they refuse to build a legacy. They'll never rival Nintendo but it's just common sense to have a first party line up to fall back on.
Instead they pay 3rd parties for exclusivity, which is just really dumb. Sure, Spidey sells millions, but Marvel get a huge chunk of that. Sony chip in to Final Fantasy development, most of that profit goes to Squeenix.

So yeah, this is a pointless poll.

 

[64bitmodels]

Playstation - Consistently put out AAA games from all genres for actual adults

all genres? where's the puzzle games then? RTS games? survival? Rhythm games? Fighting games? Arcade racing games? Hell, even an FPS. Can we get a damn singleplayer FPS from Sony? No?

Microsoft's lineup has more diversity for crying out loud.

Also you can't beat Nintendo for consistency.

 

[ReBurn]

SNK. Neo Geo died too soon.

 

[64bitmodels]

GTA 3, 4, 5, 6…

Edit: Wait it’s 1st party? Nintendo is good, but they all suck currently.

does Rockstar own a console? No?

... Then again, If take two did make a console they'd probably end up selling well anyways purely because of the success of GTA alone

 

[James Sawyer Ford]

they can put out 2 dozen games in the span of 2 years for Switch only

Out of those 2 dozen games maybe 1 is worth playing to me

Most of it is just nostalgia rehashed unambitious schlock

 

[CLW]