gaming A String of Monthly Nintendo Games

[Will Guide 21,372]

OMG! There's a nice string of Nintendo games, each one coming every month.

Nintendo Labo (Switch): April 16

Hyrule Warriors Definitive Edition  (Switch): May 18

Mario Tennis Aces (Switch): June 22

Captain Toad Treasure Trackers (Switch/3DS): July 13

WarioWare Gold (3DS): August 3 (right after my birthday)

Plus this year is Super Smash Bros. for Switch! 

And if you like Remakes: the original Luigi's Mansion from Gamecube is coming to 3DS this year and Bowser's Inside Story from Original DS is also coming to 3DS next year!

What are your thoughts/ hopes for the Nintendo Gaming future?

[smk.png 181]

Yay! More stuff from Nintendo

[Envy 6,407]

Eh. Nintendo hasn't shown much reason to be excited for the Switch until hopefully post-E3.

Labo? Sorry, but that's only exciting for a limited audience, lets be honest.

Hyrule Warriors? While I understand it is a definitive edition that combines the features of both the 3DS and Wii U versions, it's still a game we have all either bought before or at least had the chance to buy before.

Captain Toad? It's another Wii U port.

So that leaves just a few original games currently confirmed on the horizon: Super Smash Bros (unless it is another flipping Wii U port, in which case Nintendo will probably never recover in my mind for advertising it as a new game instead), Mario Tennis Aces, and Wario Ware Gold. I'm not big on WarioWare, so personally, that's not really exciting for me, personally... So...

Mario Tennis Aces. I haven't played a Mario Tennis game since the GCN version. It's a fun series and all, but I've just never seen a reason to really go out and purchase any of them in recent years. Mario Tennis Aces seems to be trying harder than the Wii U version at least. They have confirmed that there is a story mode, but they have yet to actually talk about it at all. People are probably expecting RPG elements like the early Mario Tennis games, but I can tell you from what we've seen that isn't happening. They've already shown that the 'overworld' is a board-game like feature and you don't even appear to have your own original character, but instead play as Mario characters.

Mario Tennis Aces could be fun, but probably doesn't justify the $60 price tag.

Super Smash Bros, IF and only if it is a new game and not at all related to the Wii U/3DS versions is quite a bombshell for Nintendo to drop. SSB for the Wii U/3DS was a bit of a stagnant title, though. Like it was technically great, but it just felt like it was missing something. Even though some of the added characters were certainly neat. I feel like this franchise needs a bit of a jolt to shock it back to life, much like Odyssey and Breath of the Wild. I know, people will disagree with me, but that's my opinion. I have no problem with people competitively playing, but I feel like this franchise was originally designed just to be a silly fighter between Nintendo characters. Just look at the character of the original Super Smash Bros. It was so cartoony. I loved it. I want something to make the idea of Nintendo characters fighting each other feel as fun as it originally did. Perhaps it just is stale and there's nothing that can be done, but I honestly felt the same way about Zelda until Breath of the Wild showed up and I felt like a kid playing that game again.

With that said, I won't hate Nintendo if SSB5 is another safe title. Obviously, not much time has been had to develop it, but I just hope they do something that add the spark back.

(And to clarify I'm really not meaning to say that the competitive community should be slighted, I'm just saying that the series should not stay super conservative to pander to their needs, it should be allowed to evolve. The old Super Smash Bros games exist and will continue to exist).

Aside from SSB, there are two franchises that I suspect might pop up before the end of the year - Pokemon and Animal Crossing.

We know a Switch mainline Pokemon is in development. We got that info last year at E3. Given the timeframe they said it would be released and listings of job positions as of late, evidence points toward it potentially coming out this year. It would be another really exciting bombshell for Nintendo. But for me personally? I'm not going to get too excited because Sun/Moon were just not that great. In fact, they're my least favorite titles in the whole franchise. I have never stopped playing a Pokemon game so fast as I did Sun. And I had zero interest in US/UM. GameFreak is now developing for a console, and an HD one at that, will they finally move the series forward? Somehow I doubt it. I just hope the games are better than Generation VII.

A new Animal Crossing is overdue. There was a four year gap between City Folk and New Leaf (as far as JP goes, they got NL in late 2012). There is now nearly a six year gap in between New Leaf and now. We know that Animal Crossing has become a pretty big deal for Nintendo. Since New Leaf's release, they have expanded the series out into spin-offs, they gave New Leaf a pretty big update a couple of years ago, and they chose the series as one of their mobile outputs. The series is obviously doing pretty well. They have got to have a new Animal Crossing mainline game coming out soon. I just hope they realize that they can't, after all of these years, just make a lazy Animal Crossing for the Switch. People are expecting more.

So, for me, post-E3 is where all of the action is. SSB5, Pokemon, and a new Animal Crossing (which evidence is also beginning to point toward that I didn't talk about). Even still, these titles could fall flat on their face. In worst case scenario, Super Smash Bros could just be an enhanced port, Pokemon could be an HD 3DS game with all of the same flaws of Generation VII, and Animal Crossing could not be real or be the City Folk of New Leaf.

...I'll have some cautious optimism. At least for Animal Crossing and Super Smash Bros. I don't have much for Pokemon, but I could be wrong. Animal Crossing has to be big. Super Smash Bros? The way they advertised it is just really bad if it is a port and not a new game. You just don't advertise ports that way, and Nintendo never has.

Edited April 10, 2018 by Envy