UnemployedVillain
Member
"Dismal unless you like squids and Italian plumbers" would be a great summary, in my opinion.
Not really unless you choose to ignore Xenoblade for no reason
Edit: Are you summarizing the article or the year?
"Dismal unless you like squids and Italian plumbers" would be a great summary, in my opinion.
The article. I think the Wii U had tons to offer, and Xenoblade is GOTY-tier, but the articles odd slighting of it was bizzare since they chose to inflate Splatoon and MM so much.Not really unless you choose to ignore Xenoblade for no reason
Edit: Are you summarizing the article or the year?
I feel very confident that no answer I give will satisfy you, so let's just settle on "opinions".
Reading through these comments I feel like Woolly World was really overlooked. It really is a very good game!
2016 still has a few hidden gems that could come out of the woodwork, if Pokken and SMTxFE can deliver. But it does seem obvious at this point that Nintendo is primarily focused on NX at this point, and if it really is coming out at the end of 2016, I fully expect a stellar launch the likes of which a Nintendo console has never seen. And this isn't just fanwankery, the timing lines up for a new 3D Mario, a new Retro Studios game, and Zelda U(/NX) to all be ready at or near launch.
You can't beat that launch. You just can't.
Weird statement to make when the big games of the year on other platforms were all reiterative sequels (W3/F4 etc...) and the big WiiU games were Splatoon (new franchise, new genre), Mario Maker (old franchise yes, new experience) and XCX (expanded experience of open world)
To be fair XCX was controversially divergent from XC. It wasn't simply expansion and iteration, it was really a whole different direction.You even make excuses for XCX without acknowledging the leapfrog from Witcher 2 to Witcher 3?
The bias is obvious and offputting.
It's weird because I feel there are two nintendo fan camps (often with overlap).
Group #1 - became fans pre gamecube, so a good year for them is a big EAD Mario, Metroid, or Zelda. Anything else is gravy, but one of these is required for it to be a big year.
Group #2 - became fans during GBA/GCN era, were young during Pokemon's pop cultural height. Their first big console was GCN, so all the main EAD games were experimental to some degree (Prime/First person, Sunshine/Fludd, Wind Waker/Cel Shading), so they've also been used to "Weird Nintendo" instead of "AAA Nintendo"
All of this is to say that 2015 was a great year for weird nintendo. We got a Yarn Yoshi game, a clay, non-traditional kirby game, a new third person online shooter, a huge open world game (from a dev that never made one before) and the ultimate remix of 2D Mario.
Next year will be standard Nintendo. Everyone will be glad about Zelda (and maybe an EAD NX Mario), which I probably won't even buy because the core Zelda franchise, while great, does nothing for me. #FE and Pokken are much more exciting for me in part because the concepts are so weird and interesting.
Not one word in the article about the boost of nindies, while Virtual Console is worth mentioning...?
2015 was still a year where the Wii U got much more good cross-platform indies than before, and some fantastic exclusives, such as Affordable Space Adventures, Runbow and FAST Racing NEO.
Me too.I'm part of a hypothetical third group--I've been with Nintendo since 1989 and I love the big games as much as I love the "Weird Games".
Super Mario 3D World was amazing but so was Box Boy, and I wouldn't want to have to choose between either.
I'm part of a hypothetical third group--I've been with Nintendo since 1989 and I love the big games as much as I love the "Weird Games".
Super Mario 3D World was amazing but so was Box Boy, and I wouldn't want to have to choose between either.
I think that Splatoon was the only game worth a damn this year for Wii U.
Of course, like I said, there is often overlap between the two. I began gaming on NES, but was always more of a Sega fan until the Dreamcast died. Even on N64, I never owned OoT, MM, or Mario 64. Nintendo to me was Smash, Mario Kart, and Pokemon.
But I do like both Nintendos. For instance, I do like Metroid, but Federation Force didn't send me into a tizzy like most folks because I'm interested in how they could expand that universe.
I just hope that lots of those quality titles will make it to the next system.
This post seems spot on, at least far as I really identify with how you described group 2 and I've been really considering getting a Wii U this year even though I don't have a current gen console (and have spent large amounts of my gaming time on my Gamecube recently)It's weird because I feel there are two nintendo fan camps (often with overlap).
Group #1 - became fans pre gamecube, so a good year for them is a big EAD Mario, Metroid, or Zelda. Anything else is gravy, but one of these is required for it to be a big year.
Group #2 - became fans during GBA/GCN era, were young during Pokemon's pop cultural height. Their first big console was GCN, so all the main EAD games were experimental to some degree (Prime/First person, Sunshine/Fludd, Wind Waker/Cel Shading), so they've also been used to "Weird Nintendo" instead of "AAA Nintendo"
All of this is to say that 2015 was a great year for weird nintendo. We got a Yarn Yoshi game, a clay, non-traditional kirby game, a new third person online shooter, a huge open world game (from a dev that never made one before) and the ultimate remix of 2D Mario.
Next year will be standard Nintendo. Everyone will be glad about Zelda (and maybe an EAD NX Mario), which I probably won't even buy because the core Zelda franchise, while great, does nothing for me. #FE and Pokken are much more exciting for me in part because the concepts are so weird and interesting.
"Dismal unless you like squids and Italian plumbers" would be a great summary, in my opinion.
It's nice. If you played Kirby's Epic Yarn on Wii, you kind of know what to expect from it. Replace the Kirby mechanics with Yoshi's Island type of gameplay and you have a good picture of the full game.I decided to wait on Woolly World, gaf. Tell me I've made a horrible mistake and I won't be disappointed D-:
Fixed for accuracy.
Xenoblade, Mario Maker and Yoshi's Wooly World are excellent titles.
Surely you could say "dismal unless you like open worlds and Bloodborne" for PS4? Like why do people love to discount such things =/
I'm kind of disappointed that whenever I get the next Nintendo Console (praying for BC...) that the older games are will still be $50...
It's weird because I feel there are two nintendo fan camps (often with overlap).
Group #1 - became fans pre gamecube, so a good year for them is a big EAD Mario, Metroid, or Zelda. Anything else is gravy, but one of these is required for it to be a big year.
Group #2 - became fans during GBA/GCN era, were young during Pokemon's pop cultural height. Their first big console was GCN, so all the main EAD games were experimental to some degree (Prime/First person, Sunshine/Fludd, Wind Waker/Cel Shading), so they've also been used to "Weird Nintendo" instead of "AAA Nintendo"
All of this is to say that 2015 was a great year for weird nintendo. We got a Yarn Yoshi game, a clay, non-traditional kirby game, a new third person online shooter, a huge open world game (from a dev that never made one before) and the ultimate remix of 2D Mario.
Next year will be standard Nintendo. Everyone will be glad about Zelda (and maybe an EAD NX Mario), which I probably won't even buy because the core Zelda franchise, while great, does nothing for me. #FE and Pokken are much more exciting for me in part because the concepts are so weird and interesting.
Surely you could say "dismal unless you like open worlds and Bloodborne" for PS4? Like why do people love to discount such things =/
PS4 has a bunch of 3rd party and indie support to back it up. Nintendo...doesn't.
your quote sucks (I mean I know it was from the article)...
"Wii U sucks as a console. I mean they had the best exclusives out this year, but it still sucks as a console"
I know that was a way harsher paraphrase than the quote.. but really, Kotaku's Year in Reviews seem to all be along this line EXCEPT the XBONE review. "Such and such console had this great stuff this year, but really we shouldn't be too excited because after all things still aren't great for the console"
Yet XBONE was "things aren't great for the console, yet it's undeniable that MS has really had an amazing year for it."
Comparing that to the PS4 article was... well whatever. But Wii U... I mean this was THE MOST SUCCESSFUL year the Wii U has had for software, no exception. Not only that, but among ALL THREE consoles, arguably Wii U had THE strongest releases this year (Super Mario Maker, Splatoon, Xenoblade, and tons of Smash content). This deserves to be celebrated. Did sales still end up rough? No more rough than the system has always been. Is NX on the horizon? Of course.. but no one bitched about PS3 or 360 in 2013 because of those new systems. No one bitched about DS in 2011. New systems are a thing.. and it shouldn't be held against the prior system because of it, ESPECIALLY when you have the quality that Nintendo has put out as a publisher this year.
These Kotaku articles... ugh..