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Nintendo finally shedding its kiddie shovel wear image?

cryptoadam

Banned
So with the Nintendo Direct I think Nintendo has finally shed its kiddie shovel wear image it got shackled with during the Wii and Wii U era.

I remember back during the Wii era some FPS by no name High Voltage was hyped as some huge game because there were so few "mature/core" games.

Now look at the switch, getting games like Witcher 3, Dead by Daylight, Hellblade, Doom and Eternal, both Wolfensteins and even Nintendo is publishing games like Ultimate Alliance, Astral Chain and DxM.

So does it feel like 3rd parties and even Nintendo themselves are more comfortable to bring over those hardcore style games finally?
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
I feel like they already shed this image during the Wii U and 3DS era, the only problem being that both systems suffered a sharp decline compared to their predecessors. Switch is reaping the rewards of that turnaround.

(secretly, Nintendo shed the kiddie image on the Wii and DS, but people won't acknowledge that because it means the grannies who played Animal Crossing also get to be included as "gamers")
 

Bolivar687

Banned
It was obvious from the first Switch trailer, where they used the same promotion company as Sony did for the PS4, and had all young adults as the actors.

They gave up on trying to recapture that Wii lightning in anither bottle.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
How many times am I going to see a topic/headline title like this in my life? Holy shit, been seeing that sense the N64 days.
Anecdotally, I remember adults really enjoying the sports games and puzzle games on NES and Game Boy. For instance, Tetris was really popular with the older crowd. My dad and I loved playing Jordan vs Bird: One on One, and hockey, and golf. He rarely touched any of the other games.

Maybe Nintendo was never kiddie and we've been lied to this whole time! Who could have done such a thing from the late 80s throughout the 90s for the sake of pushing their own competing brand? :pie_thinking:
 

tanooki27

Member
the eShop is *stacked* with shovelware, but as always, N’s first party efforts shine through. the fact that the console is successful means that more third parties are on the bus - still, I’ve never seen a more diverse collection of absolute bullshit than what’s currently filling the eShop.

it’s not really a problem; you just have to buy wisely.
 
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NahaNago

Member
Until Nintendo starts regularly making nonfamily friendly games I don't really see this happening. I've felt that they should have made their own version of gaming toonami brand for their console. That way they can still keep that family friendly Nintendo brand while at the time catering to the older audience with the nintendo toonami.
 
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Heimdall_Xtreme

Jim Ryan Fanclub's #1 Member
im not gonna lie... i was angry with nintendo in the wii era because they focus in child´s games.

Now my has been change my opinion ... i praise such much Nintendo for the Excellent exclusives and more with the Mature and Survival Horror Games that are in the library of Nintendo Switch.

Now i using my Nintendo Switch for Survival Horror Games.
 
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cryptoadam

Banned
Until Nintendo starts regularly making nonfamily friendly games I don't really see this happening. I've felt that they should have made their own version of gaming toonami brand for their console. That way they can still keep that family friendly Nintendo brand while at the time catering to the older audience with the nintendo toonami.

They aren't "making" MUA, DxM, and Astral Chain, but they are publishing them as exclusives to their system.

Which is my point that in the Switch era Nintendo is trying to expand its horizons and audience. Even if they aren't developing these core games, they are bringing them to their system by publishing them.

They won't give up their bread and butter of games for all ages, but it seems with the switch they have made a big effort to get these core games onto their system, either through 3rd parties or just publishing the games themselves.
 

UltimaKilo

Gold Member
Yeah, it just means the Switch is moving units and developers are making money developing for the system. It’s such a huge hit that they cannot ignore it.
 

DunDunDunpachi

Patient MembeR
They won't give up their bread and butter of games for all ages, but it seems with the switch they have made a big effort to get these core games onto their system, either through 3rd parties or just publishing the games themselves.
Real talk: Bandai Namco has been instrumental in Nintendo's success over the past 10 years and have been silently growing into a third-party juggernaut. Nintendo gets flack for not having enough third-party games, but they never get praise when they have a ton of them like the Switch does.

When gamers think "Japanese devs", their mind is usually drawn to Squeenix or Nintendo or Konami or CAPCOM or even Atlus, but Bandai Namco? Nah.

After all, Bandai Namco is the "shitty anime game company", right?
 
maxresdefault.jpg

Old Nintendo.

(It's a "shovel wear image")
 
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It's not just about the color palette.
It's about the non or dumb stories that is insulting the player (What saving a princess again... girls need to be save really ?).
It's about the worst and stupid music ever (the reason i've refused to play more than 1 hour in New super mario bros U).
As lonsg as their products are looking like fisher-price toys, no. You really want to be seen playing a switch on public? I don't!
And it's just a very little part of the problem.

Cool for Nintendo is people answer yes, it's tragic for the media as a whole but good for Nintendo.

They have this image since the 80's are over. It's got even worse since the NDS. Don't expect to change this in one E3. Is Nintendo aware of this? Do they care? I don't think so.
 
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Psydonk

Member
Nintendo views itself as a toy company, I don't think they will ever really shit that far beyond games "for everybody" beyond Metroid and F-Zero.
 
How many times am I going to see a topic/headline title like this in my life? Holy shit, been seeing that sense the N64 days.
No no no. Do you remember? The N64 didn't have any m rated adult games.

Except resident evil 2

And DooM 64

And Quake

And Quake 2

In Duke Nukem

And Duke Nukem Zero
 

tkscz

Member
No no no. Do you remember? The N64 didn't have any m rated adult games.

Except resident evil 2

And DooM 64

And Quake

And Quake 2

In Duke Nukem

And Duke Nukem Zero

And Perfect Dark

And MK4

And Conker's Bad Fur Day (I see what you did here)

I remember Magazine articles and early web articles saying the same thing back then. Then after the Gamecube came out and Nintendo published Eternal Darkness, they started saying it again.
 

StormCell

Member
I feel like there's only two third parties currently missing on Nintendo's platform.

One is the "new Konami", EA.

The other I actually give a damn about. It's Rockstar.

Even Konami has a game I'm actually sort of interested in for Switch, while EA hasn't done jack shit for me in a decade. I want them to crumble and free all those franchises we love.
 
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Animagic

Banned
What happy about is Nintendo getting damn exclusives Japanese third party games like Daemon X Machina and Astral Chain and my god they look so fucking good....






Astral Chain seems like a game concept created in the mid PS2 era that had to wait for game tech to evolve or something. I don’t know how to describe what I mean; classic aesthetic but a modern game design. Like burning rangers, jojo, megami tensei, and project horned owl were pinned to their vision board.

Gah, I just want to play it right now...
 

Punished Miku

Gold Member
This happened a whole gen ago. Wii U launched with Zombi U and it was one of the more hardcore consoles I've owned. Lots of great titles that still are able to sell millions when ported to Switch today. Wii U also had Bayonetta 2, Fatal Frame, Xenoblade X, Devil's Third and much more.

As far as censorship goes, its all Nintendo of America. Nintendo of Japan makes Xenoblade with boob sliders and tells Platinum Games to make Bayonetta more risque, not less. Nintendo of Europe localizes Xenoblade 2 with zero censorship. Nintendo of America localizations are the only part of Nintendo that censors. And even they censor far less than Sony now, the "adult console for grown ups."
 
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Fbh

Member
Honestly they have been countering that "kiddie" image from day 1 with the Switch. Look back at the reveal trailer, it's mostly people in their 20's playing a variety of games from Skyrim to NBA and Mario Kart
 

Enjay

Banned
How many times am I going to see a topic/headline title like this in my life? Holy shit, been seeing that sense the N64 days.
And on top of it all Nintendo has not and never will shed its kiddie shovelwear image as their latest direct will show
 

wzy

Member
The only people who have this perception of Nintendo are actual kids, i.e., teenagers. When you're young, everything is about appearing old, so you go for games with maximum pretension and zero substance. When you're old you stop pretending not to care and start actually not caring and then you can just play whatever is actually good.
 

Lilseb93

Member
The only people who still have this perception are people who have an agenda against Nintendo. They have plenty of more adult, serious games. Plus I don't think Nintendo's main franchises like Mario, Zelda, or Pokemon gain anything from being more adult.

There is a lot of shovelware though, but nobody seems to have a filter on their stores right now lol.
 
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Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Astral Chain seems like a game concept created in the mid PS2 era that had to wait for game tech to evolve or something. I don’t know how to describe what I mean; classic aesthetic but a modern game design. Like burning rangers, jojo, megami tensei, and project horned owl were pinned to their vision board.

Gah, I just want to play it right now...
Thats what attracted me in to this in the game in the first place, it has that 90s anime cop show/movies similar to Patlabor that I really like.

The only people who still have this perception are people who have an agenda against Nintendo. They have plenty of more adult, serious games. Plus I don't think Nintendo's main franchises like Mario, Zelda, or Pokemon gain anything from being more adult.

There is a lot of shovelware though, but nobody seems to have a filter on their stores right now lol.
I would say Playstation store has lot of that too but they do a better job at hiding it.
 
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Lilseb93

Member
Thats what attracted me to this in the game in the first place, it has that 90s anime cop show/movies similar to Patlabor that I really like.


I would Playstation store has lot of that too but they do a better job at hiding it.

Sony does a better job after the criticism they got over Life of Black Tiger and 1000 Top Rated.
 

Vawn

Banned
A kiddie image and shovelware image are two different things.

They may be shedding the former, but anytime on the eShop proved the latter is as bad as ever.
 
Shovelware? Maybe on the Wii, but that's because that console was hugely successful. The PS2 also had a ridiculous amount of shit games. About being kiddie, yeah, they're still pretty family oriented. When it comes to first-party title, they have been on an insane quality run since the Wii U era and considering the Switch has sold way more than its predecessor, they amped up that quality.

Thing is, you should never have a Nintendo console as your sole option for gaming. The fact that you have so many big games coming out to the Switch is a bonus. What is important with Nintendo, as it always is the case, is what they can offer you that everyone else can't. When it comes to "offering something that everyone else can't/won't", I honestly think this is the best job Nintendo has done since the NES days. They have been killing it with the Switch.
 

NahaNago

Member
They aren't "making" MUA, DxM, and Astral Chain, but they are publishing them as exclusives to their system.

Which is my point that in the Switch era Nintendo is trying to expand its horizons and audience. Even if they aren't developing these core games, they are bringing them to their system by publishing them.

They won't give up their bread and butter of games for all ages, but it seems with the switch they have made a big effort to get these core games onto their system, either through 3rd parties or just publishing the games themselves.

The thing is anime type games have been showing up on their platform quite a bit since the wii days(the last story, pandora's tower) so these games aren't much of a stretch for it to be even published by Nintendo now. and Marvel is the hottest thing right now. Now I would be more shocked if Nintendo were actually making these games. I don't want them to give up their bread and butter , just simply set aside a group to make nonfamily friendly Nintendo games.
 

Ozrimandias

Member
Dont think so, and its not a "bad" image..... ive owned a Sony console the last 4 generations. But i grew up with Nintendo...... i will never forget the first time that i played Ocarina of Time, or the first time i played Metroid, or when i recieved A link to the past for Christmas. unforgettable.

Nintendo is necessary.
 

#Phonepunk#

Banned
Hope not entirely. Main reason I bought a Switch is to get colorful looking games like Yoshis Crafted World and Super Mario Odyssey.
 

Danjin44

The nicest person on this forum
Dont think so, and its not a "bad" image..... ive owned a Sony console the last 4 generations. But i grew up with Nintendo...... i will never forget the first time that i played Ocarina of Time, or the first time i played Metroid, or when i recieved A link to the past for Christmas. unforgettable.

Nintendo is necessary.
I don't know why people have this stupid mind set, if you like cartoony art style that makes you "immature" and funny thing is usually people who think like are the ones desperately trying make themselves look "mature".
 

Dirk Benedict

Gold Member
And Perfect Dark

And MK4

And Conker's Bad Fur Day (I see what you did here)

I remember Magazine articles and early web articles saying the same thing back then. Then after the Gamecube came out and Nintendo published Eternal Darkness, they started saying it again.

God. MK4 was fucking terrible. I don't care what anyone here tells me. That game looked and played awful. I think half my bias also comes from the fact that they went fully 3D and ditched actual people playing the characters.

On topic: Nintendo is doing amazingly right now. They have so much 3rd party support, they're putting out a lot of games I am interested in and it feels closer to the SNES days when they put out treasure after treasure.
This really is a good time to own a Switch and it feels like a fully resurgent Nintendo.
 

PerfectDark

Banned
Nintendo is like a side to a main dish. You don't take a Switch over a PC, Xbox or ps4. But if you own one its the 2nd best system you can get.

Nintendo is not for kids. I have a 4 and 5 year old every console and high end PC. Switch is the console they dislike most. My boys ar esmart enough to not want to play a 3rd party gme at 500-700p when they can play it at 4k on my xb1x.
 
I think it just means Nintendo has better third-party support with the Switch compared to the Wii U, which can be attributed to the hybrid console's impressive sales performance.

But it is good to see a more diverse library of games on any platform.

from japan? yeah

west? WII u had better support. especially early on
 

mcjmetroid

Member
I think people are starting to give less of a shit about this. Just look at the UK charts. The most un Nintendo country and they're still dominating. It can't all be kids.
 

Jubenhimer

Member
Yes, in a way. Nintendo's never shied away from "Mature" games. But the Switch is the first console they've put out in a while that really does them proper justice, mostly because it's already been accepted by the mainstream gamers. In general, I think there is a push by Nintendo, this year and last year especially, to try and sell the Switch to non-Nintendo fans. Be it Kids with creative talent like Labo, gamers from the mobile space, and PS4/Xbox One fans.

Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3 for example is the kind of game you really wouldn't expect Nintendo to put out during even the Wii U days, and almost no other mainstream publisher would touch something as risky and niche as Astral Chain.

They gave up on trying to recapture that Wii lightning in anither bottle.

They haven't really. They still pimp the Switch as the perfect party and family machine regularly. Super Mario Party is one of its best selling games for example. The Switch is a more versitile device than the Wii was though, which is why it's able to do the more mature stuff better justice.
 
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louis89

Member
I remember back during the Wii era some FPS by no name High Voltage was hyped as some huge game because there were so few "mature/core" games.

lmao, I remember that. It was so cringey when Matt Casamassina and Mark Bozon at IGN tried to hype it on their podcast.
 
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V

Vader1

Unconfirmed Member
There were some great games on the Wii and Wii U. The Switch’s best seller is actually a Wii U game.

In terms of mature games...yeah, sure. It’s getting third party ports of M rated games (that are also heavily downgraded). Not that this is really a huge deal to me, Nintendo has always been mainly about the first party exclusives.
 
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