Nintendo’s greed this direct was insane, it was more prevalent then past directs even.
Galaxy ports at $40 each:
These are literally 2007/2010 Wii games. They’re not rebuilt from the ground up like Metroid Prime Remastered was, they’re just upscaled and maybe unlocked to a higher framerate. On Wii U’s Virtual Console they were $10 apiece. Splitting them and charging $40 each in 2025 is going to feel insulting to anyone who knows what Dolphin can do.
Paid DLC before launch:
It’s the same shit Ubisoft, EA and Activision use: announce an expansion pass alongside the base game so you can collect $100+ up front from the “superfans.” For Pokémon, a series already in a rough technical state, it just magnifies the feeling that content is carved off and sold separately.
Donkey Kong Bananza DLC:
When Mario Odyssey added Balloon World and other extras for free, it felt like goodwill. Selling a single new island and a rush mode for $20 is the opposite. It’s not that expansions shouldn’t cost money; it’s that the scope of the content has to feel like value.
Patent saga:
All of this is happening while Nintendo is filing and enforcing a patent on a decades-old mechanic, which makes it look like they’re protecting revenue streams rather than earning them with quality and screwing over the ENTIRE INDUSTRY because ONE GAME outdid them
It isn’t that people suddenly “hate” Mario or Pokémon; it’s that the business side is making it harder and harder to feel good about giving them money and that Nintendo hates you as a consumer and a fan
the hilarious thing is that the only new feature nintendo is adding to mario galaxy is new Rosalina storybook content, something that was famously snuck into the game against Miyamoto’s wishes because he hated having interesting stories in video games. now decades later, Rosalina is in every mario spin off and also Super Smash Bros. and now miyamoto is presumably in charge of a cash grab movie based on mario galaxy. the company could not be changing in a more confusing way
Yeah even a big old Nintendo nerd like me has bounced off Nintendo hard lately. No Switch 2 for me.
Success Nintendo has always been an ugly sight, made worse by the fact that there’s no real competition in the console game at the moment (I will not speculate on PlayStation’s future right now) however I have feeling the bill will come due, especially as the economy tanks. The switch 2 and it’s games are hauntingly expensive and they’re making dumb gimmicky accessories, which has historically not been good for the company. So let’s hope either PlayStation gets their shit together or a new console decides come to to take advantage of the opening.
Imagine, China makes a cheap, affordable system that is just as powerful as the reigning competitors of the market(ala DeepSeek) and everyone flocks to it instead, tanking every capitalist platform and forcing them to lower prices across the board to keep up.
Never happening obv but a guy can dream
“Comrade, your job is to make fun video games to appease the western treat demons.”
“NOOOOO! I wanted to invade the American mainland like in Red Dawn!”
Nintendo was even worse in the 80’s and it’s partially what led to their low point during the N64 and Gamecube era. This might be a return to that.
Nintendo messes up every other console generation or so and it looks like we’re heading into another flop era.
I want to go back to clamshell handhelds that fit in your pocket with games that cost 20$ less than home consoles.
I would actually think about buying a portable GameCube emulator that exclusively plays ports with barebones multi-player, but after the abysmal ports that the Switch offers for N64 games, I don’t trust Nintendo to pull it off. I essentially do have that portable in my Steam Deck, but multi-player would be cool.
The DS was the best.
The Intellivision Amico is going to blow away these losers
I just pirate games.
Me too, played and beat all the 12 or so switch games I wanted to beat through Yuzu, I know switch 2 is supposed to be a beefier machine so I assume its games wouldn’t run as well through an emulator but I hope someone cracks it in a couple of years once there are more switch 2 games worth playing
🐬
