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Polygon - "2014 in review: the year that sucked for everyone but Nintendo"

R

ryushe

Member
If had to throw my stones on one side of the pond, I'd be inclined to agree with some of my colleagues: 2014 was a real armpit of a year.

But we're not here to dwell on game failures, or studio closures, or toxic culture, or any of the other negatives — no, none of that, not again. Instead, I'd like to earnestly clasp my fingers together, tilt my head and pleasantly inquire, "Have you heard the good news about Nintendo?"
Click to expand...

Nintendo, to its credit, was aware of its biggest problem: a lack of compelling titles. "Software sells hardware," Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime told Polygon at E3 2014. "It is the truism of this industry."

In May, Nintendo released Mario Kart 8 for Wii U. It was noted for pulling in the "strongest review scores in the franchise's history" and became the console's fastest-selling game, topping 1.2 million units worldwide following its release. As of October, Wii U sales topped 7 million units; half of those who owned a Wii U were also said to have Mario Kart 8.

When Super Smash Bros. for Wii U launched in November, it dethroned Mario Kart 8 as the console's fastest-selling game. Smash Bros. on Nintendo 3DS was nothing to shake a finger at, either; the game sold more than 2.8 million copies globally.
Click to expand...

What really nails this collection for Nintendo is that these titles — some of the best available this year — are only available on Wii U or 3DS. Compare this to the PlayStation 4 or Xbox One, where games are widely shared between the two. It's an offer neither system can match in terms of exclusive content, ultimately making it easy to shelve one or the other.
Click to expand...

http://www.polygon.com/2014/12/31/7463827/nintendo-2014-year-in-review

Yes, yet another thread about how much Nintendo rocked it in 2014 but you know what, they really did and everyone should know it.

Here's to 2015.
 
B

brandonh83

Banned
It's true. Nintendo games dominated my gaming year and for good reason. They were amazing.

Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze is one of the best 2D platformers ever made.
Mario Kart 8 is the most fun I've ever had playing a racing game.
Smash Bros. despite not being a huge fan of the series before, has kept me very entertained.
Captain Toad is loads of fun with tremendously great game design and visuals.
Hyrule Warriors turned out to be a lot of fun and great for Zelda fans.

None of these games were broken and worked as advertised.
 
B

Broken Joystick

At least you can talk. Who are you?
They pumped out some real gems this year, both Wii U and 3DS. 2015 is shaping up nicely already and we don't know what they have planned for most of it.

Nintendo need to step up in a few areas for sure, but games-wise, it's undeniable they had a fantastic year.
 
O

Orbis Tabula

Member
As a person with only Nintendo consoles from this gen, I'm inclined to agree. Although I'll probably jump on one of the other consoles when I have the money.
 
J

James Scott

Banned
It was a pretty fun year, nintendo-wise. A brand new Smash Bros, Mario Kart, Donkey Kong, a weird Zelda spin off, Captain toad, all great fun.
Also, I got to play Bayonetta 2 and that's all that matters, really.
2015 looks to be even better too with an honestly insane line up for Nintendo and everyone else looks to have a great year too!
 
J

James Scott

Banned
darkside31337 said:
Charts wouldn't be in Nintendo's favor. Sales destroy the narrative.
Click to expand...
iM9PGP4WgdVAm.jpg
 
I

IAmRandom31

Banned
Man I almost feel sorry for some people out there where their gaming tastes are so narrow that they were unable to enjoy the massive amount of great games in 2014.

Racing fans, fighting game fans, platformers fans, roguelike fans, action adventure fans, RPG fans, shooter fans, etc etc got great games through the year.

Must suck to have a gaming palette that consists of only being able to enjoy ..... Hmmm .... What exactly? Who knows
 
G

GrotesqueBeauty

Banned
2014 wasn't the best ever (in 4 decades of gaming- shocking), but it hardly sucked. Also, it was a great, great year for indie games in general. For some reason those never seem to count in these articles.
 
Oppo

Oppo

Member
Say what you will about the games, but 2014 was the year in which Nintendo posted its second-ever (or at least in recent memory) annual loss. It was not good for them as a company. The Wii U has sold less than almost everything that wasn't called an Ouya or Virtual Boy.
 
J

Jigorath

Banned
Meh, the WiiU has great 1st party titles but 3rd party support really is killing it for me. Shadow of Mordor was one of my favorite games of the year and it wasn't even on WiiU. I can't imagine owning a WiiU without another console or gaming-capable PC.

My two cents.
 
H

hoos30

Member
Nintendo's winning strategy: Starve fans for three straight years and release the next iteration of popular series all at once.
 
Schnozberry

Schnozberry

Member
If you care purely about user satisfaction, the Wii U seems to have had the best year out of the three. I don't think any particular platform had a bad year, unless you're the type of gamer that lives and dies based on the quality of iterative AAA titles.

There was lots to fun to be had everywhere, unless you were inside the industry hoping to ride the AAA gravy train of sales growth forever and ever amen.
 
P

Phediuk

Member
Yeah, this year really sucked for the industry, except for the fastest selling console of all time.

What an idiotic article.
 
M

Molemitts

Member
2014 was alright, the only problem being games getting delayed to 2015 and Ubisoft. Wii U was great this year, though 3DS was really lacking. Also a great year for kickstarted games.
 
D

DizzyCrow

Member
She's talking about the Wii U and 3DS, but everybody is just going to read Wii U and say "if you only like Nintendo games" and "still no third party support".
 
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