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    In which I tell Nintendo fans to calm down(!)

    By Matthew Martin
    | June 27, 2018
    Video Game Blogs

    Every year brings another E3 and every year Nintendo fans freak out about what Nintendo showed (usually what they didn’t show). Sony had a solid E3 and their fans golf-clapped appropriately. Microsoft had a good E3 and their fans nodded and raised a glass in approval. Nintendo had a good E3…

    NINTENDO HAD A GOOD E3

    and Nintendo fans went absolutely bananas, claiming the company that is on the highest high they’ve had since Peak-Wii days is somehow signing their own death warrant thanks to what they perceived as a mediocre E3 showing.

    Nintendo Poster 2

    Why do Nintendo fans do this? More than any other video game fanbase, Nintendo fans are the most defensive, protective and prone to hand-wringing of the bunch. I suppose it’s because we see Nintendo as the little engine that could. They’re not tethered to some big multimedia conglomerate like Sony or Microsoft; they’re a pure video game company. Microsoft makes software and video games. Sony makes electronics and video games. What does Nintendo make? Games. What else? No else, just games. Because of that and because they have a very Japanocentric charm, it’s easy to root for them. It’s easy to see them as the little guy (despite the fact that they have more money to burn than Sony by a country mile).

    As the video game industry becomes more soulless, corporate-minded and “mainstream,” a lot of the old video game masters have fallen by the wayside. Sega is a shell of its former self, as are Konami and Capcom. The era of simple arcade-like video games that you can switch on and play (offline) for a few hours are fading fast, replaced by “games” that value aesthetics over fun, online chaos over the simple joys of you and a controller on a Saturday morning. Video Games used to be Bump-N-Jump. Now they’re…whatever half-baked trash EA is pumping out.

    With Nintendo we have the stubborn relic of that past generation, who refuse to compromise. They keep pushing against the tide, making the games for gamers at heart, not what suits in a boardroom and focus group results say to make. But as Sega’s star fades and old hands like Konami and Capcom slip into irrelevance, Nintendo is seen as the standard bearer for old farts like me who remember playing the NES till my thumbs bled.

    So every E3, when all the big hitters whip out their big guns, Nintendo fans want their home team to drop a megaton and (almost) every year they just shrug and do what they want, much to the chagrin of their fans.

    The Nintendo Switch Is The Compa

    What about this year?

    Was there a big F-Zero announcement? Was Metroid Prime 4 revealed? Did we get a new Star Fox announced? Was the successor to Virtual Console finally shown off?

    sigh

    Smash Bros, Pokemon Let’s Go, Mario Tennis, Mario Party, a handful of third-party titles (for games that have already been announced) and a slew of expansion packs to existing games. Other than Smash, there’s not a lot of wow there. Other than Smash it’s a lot of steak but not a lot of sizzle.

    And the fans flipped.

    Every year it’s the same thing. It doesn’t matter if Nintendo is riding high on a hot streak of big-selling titles and sold-out merch or if they are stumbling along, barely able to string together two months of positive momentum; whatever state the Big N is in you can be sure that E3 will see them have some kind of a presence and that it will be preceded by Nintendo’s biggest fans assuming way more than they ought.

    If the company is struggling the fans expect the moon and then some: “They have to bring out the big guns, A REAL Home Console Pokemon, Metroid, Star Fox, F-Zero! They gotta; they’re struggling! They need a home run!” And then what does Nintendo offer: Animal Crossing, Mario Party and six hours of some Kirby-themed puzzle game no one asked for.

    If the company is soaring with success, the fans will expect the moon and then some: “They’ve got to keep the momentum going! All the big big name-games are already out. It’s too soon for another Zelda or 3D Mario, we need A REAL Home Console Pokemon, Metroid, Star Fox, F-Zero!” And then what does Nintendo offer: Mario Tennis, some third-party games that have already been released on other consoles, and a Pokemon casual game.

    And to that you say, “But Matthew, you’re not being fair: What about Smash?”

    Fair point: Smash is one of the big big marquee titles Nintendo has left, having already given us Mario, Zelda and Mario Kart (albeit two of those three are glorified WiiU ports). Smash is their second wave Ace in the hole and by all accounts it looks stellar. You don’t have to convince me. I’m not talking about me; I’m talking about the fans who expect too much. To them, Smash was already a known quantity; they wanted to see something else, something new.

    Instead the new was small potatoes.

    Nintendo E3 2018

    Let’s have a little perspective here. Nintendo has always done things differently from their two major competitors. In fact, that right there is a big difference: Nintendo doesn’t see anyone but their own ambitions and imagination as their competition. They do their own thing no matter what anyone else does. Nevertheless, fans see Sony and M$ as their competition so there you go. Sony and Microsoft basically store up all their eggs until E3. Nintendo doles out news and reveals all year long.

    Sony and M$ announce titles and drop new info about those titles years before the game is released. Nintendo doesn’t do that. They show off the games that are out, almost out, or maybe coming out this year. If they give you anything it’s “_____ game is coming, but not this year.” That’s what we got regarding Metroid Prime. They showed nothing because they wanted to keep the focus on the here and now.

    So what about Smash? Everything is about Smash! That’s the big game coming so that’s the game that got the spotlight. Fans want a proper Pokemon game; it’s coming, but not till next year. This year it’s a Let’s Go game to tide us over. That’s just how Nintendo does it. There’s no need to freak out.

    But that’s just how Nintendo fans do it, I suppose.

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    Rob Duggat
    Rob Duggat
    3 years ago

    There’s a bit of a “secret sauce” element when it comes to fandom. You see the same trend with companies like Apple and Razer. This trend is specifically what defines a following as a cult following. Nintendo has earned a lot of praise for pushing the envelope forward in game design, but I agree with you that the fanaticism associated with it seems to be over the top.

    0
    Reply
    Roeli
    Roeli
    3 years ago

    Sega and Konami were on another level back when I was a kid. I probably enjoyed gaming more in those glory days more than I do nowadays.

    0
    Reply
    JJFletcher
    JJFletcher
    3 years ago

    I guess with everything it all comes down to nostalgia. The most hard-core Nintendo fans are the ones who have been playing since it first came out decades ago. For me, the same holds true for movies, music, gaming consoles, nothing beats nostalgia, no matter how good something is.

    0
    Reply
    surfari
    surfari
    4 years ago

    You want Nintendo fans to calm down? It looks like they’re not the only ones asking for too much, haha. While Nintendo’s E3 might have been lackluster, these guys are definitely overreacting because, like you said, it’s not like they stockpile all of their games just for this.

    0
    Reply
    callmeishmael
    callmeishmael
    4 years ago

    Ha, I never really thought about Nintendo fans in this light but you’re absolutely right. They want the moon – and if they get the moon, they want the sun. I think the best part about Nintendo is that they’re so unlike their competitors. Xbox and Playstation can almost seem interchangeable at times. Nintendo is in a league of their own. I love how excited you are about Smash but, uh, am I the only one who loves that there’s another Mario Party? Probably. I only know a few people who are as enthusiastic about Mario Party as I am… Read more »

    0
    Reply
    surfari
    surfari
    3 years ago
    Reply to  callmeishmael

    I’m not going to lie to you, I think you might be the only one who loves that there’s going to be another Mario Party. That being said, I’m glad that someone out there is excited about it. I used to love MP but I haven’t played since the first one they released for the GameCube. I can’t remember what number that was.

    0
    Reply
    MidNight
    MidNight
    4 years ago

    It surprises me that Nintendo is richer than Sony because I thought Nintendo had a smaller market. They already have their own niche and unique products to enjoy all year long. It isn’t a problem if they don’t bring anything special in game conventions as long as they keep up the good trend.

    0
    Reply
    Eversleigh
    Eversleigh
    4 years ago
    Reply to  MidNight

    I’m surprised by that too, mate. Could Switch really be that successful? I’d love to play Smash, but it feels like Nintendo is always falling behind.

    0
    Reply
    MidNight
    MidNight
    4 years ago
    Reply to  Eversleigh

    Switch can’t compete with Xbox or PS, but that’s fine because they already have different goals in mind. It’s been a while since we had a decent portable console. Switch gave us that and ran away with more, highlighting various indie games along the way.

    Nintendo may not always do things right, but I honestly feel that Switch deserves this success.

    0
    Reply
    Micah
    Micah
    4 years ago

    I’m not a Nintendo fan, but I love Mario so I’m contented with Smash. Different companies will have their own kind of strategy of marketing their products and this is how Nintendo does it. I’m defending the company as I am only trying to understand the whole picture.

    0
    Reply

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