Hi, Sean
I think Nintendo made some weird decisions regarding the E3 games that were presented and the lineup for the remaining of the year. First up while I have never owned a Smash bros game, I was thinking I would buy one this time ( I probably should have bought Brawl, but never got around to it). After the reveal I am not so sure anymore. I agree with previous reader who commented that game should have new worlds put into. Also it seems to me that they are putting way too many characters in the game, especially third party. I know fans want this, but do all these characters fit into this universe. One thing I noticed when I was watching the e3 direct is that the game looked pretty ugly. Maybe this is just me, but I am not a fan of the art style. Especially when BOTW and Mario Odyssey look so good. I mean compare the Smash trailer to Dragon Ball Fighter Z that game looks really nice. I also don’t understand why the decided to put a Fire Emblem game in 2018 lineup. The game has niche fan base, its not as if the game will sell really well. Plus Fire Emblem Warriors released not so long ago.
Sean, I was wondering what you think of Star Fox being added to Ubisoft’s Starlink. I understand Nintendo doesn’t really have anything to lose by letting Ubisoft borrow a declining IP. While I think the game looks interesting, the toys to life makes it doa for me. Of course it is not targeted to my age group. When Star Fox Zero released, I remember reading that Miyamoto thinks that Star Fox is a game in which they like to put experiments in. I think the reason Star Fox games have not sold well is not because there isn’t any demand for them, but because Nintendo’s mad scientists keep putting crazy experiments in the game. While I have not played Star Fox Zero, I remember watching Miyamato’s walk through tutorial of the controls, which were much too complicated and even had me confused. Why cant we have choice in how we play. Even after hearing about the bad reviews for Star Fox Assault, I played the game. The first level was in space and I thought well this not bad, it;s actually good. Then got to the ground level where you have to play in a third/first person mode. In a few levels I went from tight controls to horrible controls with wonky camera issues. Why cant Nintendo make a Star Fox game void of their experiments but filled to the brim with choices. How bout using BOTW’s template and making it open world. And the player gets to decide which control style they want and how to play. For me I always want to be in the arwing, no landmaster or chicken walker for me. Also given the game is based off of Star Wars, why not bring in more type of ships.
Given that another mainline Zelda will not be coming for several years and the high attach rate of BOTW why not make good expansion content for the game. I have been recently playing Hyrule Warriors, there are some very interesting enemies in the game why not bring them over to BOTW, or bring a new area to explore, new characters to play. Or how bout new dungeons and you can take real world examples for ideas. Such as ancient Mayan underwater caves with their own mythology, or Indian caves which have drawings of a huge war that took place in ancient times. There are very many real world examples. Or they could release the original Zelda with BOtW systems and physics. This is what Nintendo used to make BOTW. This is really easy money for Nintendo, is Nintendo too lazy to bring these ideas to fruition.
I also wanted to speak with you on Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze. I have only played the first two levels so far. I agree that the game is challenging, but I think its challenging in cheap ways. At least that is how I feel of what I have played so far. For example I noticed there are levels in which there are no barrels for Diddy, Dixiy, or Cranky. So much of the time I am only playing with DK and his two hearts. In theses areas I can only get one of the other Kongs, if I have the banana coins to buy them from Funky. I don’t know if this how it is for the rest of the game. But I don’t like that I have buy Dixy. Mainly because Retro has made DK noticeably heavier than in the original DKC games on the snes. I don’t understand why Retro has not brought back character switch mechanic, that is present in the original game. While I understand your view that the control layout is not the best, I think they are way way better than the horrendous crippling motion controls. One game I would recommend (some one might have already made this recommendation) is Celeste. The game is challenging and fun. I wonder if a game like this existed in the past. It’s in same genre as Mario brothers but plays differently. I do wish they would release a physical version. I recommend a good dpad, the Wii U pro controller works well.
I think the Switch currently is very similar the Vita. Great hardware, but lack of quality games. We were promised we would get more games given Nintendo would only need to develop for one platform. So far its seems very inconsistent, last year was great, but this year and the particular this year’s lineup could be similar to the drought years of the Wii era. The difference between the Vita so far is the tremendous Indie and third party support. I think when we get a better look at the new Metroid and 2d Mario, we will get a better idea of which Nintendo we will see for the rest of this generation.
I think Switch hardware has issues.
I think DK: TF is insanely overrated (but I already wrote a Wii U review on it). What I dislike is how there are many online ‘serious’ game reviews that are similar to mine. Gamespot’s original review on DK: TF. Frenzied fans are forcing the reviews into a very similar collective. No one wants to defy the hive. I can defy the hive because there is no revenue stream for this site.
Nintendo’s approach to making games is similar to making toys. Star Fox is something they just ‘paint over’ any toy idea they have. I think they should just make new IP for their new ideas and refine Star Fox as a Wing Commander / Freelancer type game.
Starlink is interesting, but I do not like the toys.
I think they should have saved much of the Smash Brothers info for its own special broadcast. E3 is general. I’d rather see previews on new games.