Nintendo left with scraps again

Not the proper console treatment

The Wii U was off to a great looking start when it was a new concept. It looked fun, had a potential concept that could benefit games (especially with inventory systems), and had enough 3rd party power to get people saying "Yes, Nintendo is back and for the hardcore". Now you're so used to knowing it as a failure that you probably lie to yourself about saying you knew it was coming the whole time (though I'm sure some people really did).  However, looking back I see a few things wrong. Namely, it's among the same thing happening yet again; 3rd party that wasn't obscure or Ubisoft gave the Wii U their scraps. The Wii U saw such titles as a re-released Mass Effect 3, a month late copy of one of the most disliked Assassins Creeds (though Unity tried competing with it later), a new Tekken as if that was somehow a big seller, an open world batman game from the last year, and then Fifa 13. Among newer titles, many dropped, Rayman lost it's exclusivity, and others like the next Batman game and COD were minimally supported once they did get out. By the time people were talking about how disappointed they were with Watch Dogs, Wii U (the system that had beat PS4/xbox one by a year) got it nearly a year late with no bonuses. Even Nintendo themselves were late to the party, expecting Nintendo Land and a 2D Mario game to sell you while they made a 3D Mario game that played like a 2D mario game, and that Pikmin game 20 people were waiting for.


 I remember when the PS4 launched, despite people going "No games, wah!" it actually had a solid enough lineup to start. Black Flag, COD, it had Battlefield, people were talking about Resogun like a quiet gem you got FREE with PSplus, and more on the way. It took a while for a good library to truly build up like any new console, but it had actual new stuff there from the start or within arm's reach, as well as 1st party support, indies, and your upcoming easy ports. Those new games held people's interests enough to hold them over until the next wave, whereas Nintendo is starting out with scraps that the initial sales were already done for. Some of the near titles were disappointing, like Watch Dogs or Destiny, and the many bugs of BF4 and Unity, but they got people through to see MGSV, Doom, Uncharted 4, Overwatch, Witcher 3, and the very games that we're hyped about now. Meanwhile the Wii U couldn't even carry itself to see those disappointments. I'm looking at the same thing again now when I try to look at the Switch's 3rd party line-up, and videos like this one, are already calling the publisher's approach as a wait and see with test scraps. Bomberman, Sports games that nobody buys a new console for, and old hits people have already played 10 times like Minecraft and Skyrim. I'm reading these off the "featured games" Nintendo is trying to be proud of!

PS4/Xbone's launch held new adventures, not old scraps

The big stinging truth lies in, ironically, the one that's getting the most attention: Bethesda putting Skryim on the Switch. Look at Bethesda's library. In the recent years they as a publisher have Evil Within, Wolfenstein, Doom, Dishonored 1 and 2, Elder Scrolls Online, Fallout 4, and the upcoming new Prey. What debuts on the Switch? A 5 year old RPG they have already resold people twice (Legendary & Special Edition) on every competing home console, and it's even been speculated that it's the pre-SE version the Switch is getting. Now don't get me wrong, Skyrim is awesome and I think some people will love trying it on the Switch's portable idea, but for that to be Bethesda's one and only debut game is disturbing. If it were the PS5 or Xbox Two (...yeah, I'm sure it won't be called that) they'd be telling you about how special Prey was going to look on it compared to last-gen efforts, and shoving it in the press's faces. Oh yeah, and that's another effect of this. The new games on new consoles are getting extra press. It's like double attention and advertising on the consoles, whereas an old game is... well, old news. This is a game that's so old news, that the same publisher published a new franchise a year after it, gave the team a secondary studio all the way in texas, and we've got it's sequel out with essentially free DLC patches in that time. ...but we don't get either of those games, or Doom, their latest RPG Fallout 4. The Switch gets the inferior port of the game that every gamer interested has already bought at least twice. You can't even seem to choose the most fresh old thing to recycle for a "test". Then you wonder why you're not selling as well as you do on the other consoles? You wonder why your experiment isn't so positive? Really guys!?

Look, the Vita got better attention than this. At least people tried to put out some new games for it, and is still even getting some fairly unique games. I understand the concerns of the publishers, and their desire to make games where it will sell, but if you don't give it a chance there's no way you'll get that in return. By giving it a chance, I mean you actually have to make some games people will run in and buy. Stuff that's fresh off the presses, has news worth discussing, and is something new to play and discover in, and has the lasting depth for core gamers to return. Skyrim is a big step forward as far as depth goes, and it's also great that the Switch is getting some cool niche stuff like Dragon Quest Heroes 2, Street Fighter 2 (I guess like the Wii U's tekken), and Bomberman. However we need more.

We need something on the scale of Rockstar announcing Red Dead 2 on the Switch, Bethesda saying Prey will come to it, and EA's next Battlefield or Battlefront being made with it in mind. Even some of the older games that are not being done could do better, like Witcher 3's complete edition, Dark Souls 3 or Doom with its DLC, stuff people will be shocked is on a Nintendo console and will almost have to support just to see. Heck, I'd love to see Far Cry 4 myself for some reason. That sort of thing hasn't happened on their field since the Nintendo 64 with stuff like Turok and GoldenEye. Heck, the joke is already that Nintendo's stupid paid service will stop being free once online stuff actually comes out for it, because there's next to nothing for the massive multiplayer gaming community on it aside from Splatoon 2. If you want gamers to give you a chance, actually try giving us games to play on it first guys. Nintendo is doing some goofy stuff with their new system, but among the things that aren't their real fault, this is one of them. This is something the publishers need to fix. Stop giving Nintendo scraps.

Good, but you can do better than this...