Okay, yes... I understand Nintendo fans have been super excited since the last Nintendo Direct. But am I the only one who feels they've gone completely bananas?

Just because Cloud has been added to Smash Brothers doesn't mean that the Final Fantasy VII remake is coming to the NX or that the NX is going to get exclusive Dragon Quest games. If that does happen then cool beans (I'm all for it)... but I just can't feel people are counting their chickens before they're hatched.

Additionally, I know there's a lot of hype around the NX as well, but again we don't know a whole lot about it and I think you'd have to be an idiot not to realize how much is riding on that thing. I'm interested as the next guy to see how the thing fares in the market place but no amount of message board posturing is going to guarantee its success.

Look, I'm not trying to rain on anyone's parade... it's just the things being "paraded" are far from being confirmed or conceived so I don't see the point of being excited. I don't want to say that you shouldn't give into the hype but I guess I just don't want people to be disappointed or grasping at straws.

I'm excited about the upcoming 3DS games -Dragon Quest VII and VIII, and Fire Emblem. Other than that, I haven't been excited about anything from Nintendo in quite some time...

Nintendo hasn't delivered enough to make the Wii-U fully worth it as far as I'm concerned.  But what can I do?  I'll have to get the NX to play the next Zelda game because if they do release a version of it for Wii-U it will probably be watered down.

I don't know... in my case I don't think the Wii U is any less attractive than the One or PS4 as nothing on them really entices me.

If you gave me $400 and said I HAD to buy a console I'd probably go with the Wii U... but at the same time if you told me I could spend that $400 on ANYTHING I wouldn't buy any of the three.

There are a bunch of games I would like to play on the PS4. Most are indy, but the list includes:

Bloodborne
Brothers
Divine Divinity Enhanced Edition
The Escapists
Shovel Knight
Wasteland 2
Witcher 3

Granted most of those you can get for the PC, but I find the above games much more attractive on the PS4. As for the Wii U there are a few games I think would be fun, but nothing that really excites me. I think the Wii U is similar to the Dreamcast in that few games and few genres really really hurt it.

Shovel Knight is on WiiU as well.
Brothers A Tale of Two Sons (I assume you mean this?) is also on PS3 and 360

I probably should have extended my train of thought above, but yeah, I can see why most people would find the PS4 and One more attractive... my thoughts above are obviously in the minority and really don't mean that much given I'm not very enticed by modern/current gaming.

Nintendo will always have their loyal fanbase and are usually good for at least 2 killer games each year, but really they have done NOTHING this generation to inspire confidence in people (consumers OR developers). I would argue none of the console-makers have, but Nintendo is essentially the only ones supporting Wii U and it's embarrassing browsing through the bare Wii U section at stores and thinking "THIS is a current gen console!?"

I predict NX will just end up more of the same, appeasing the same rapidly aging and increasingly frustrated fanbase. Although they might benefit a bit more if Sony/MS call it quits and their only competition is the PC/Steam.

As far as I'm concerned, their first party software has been as good as ever and still the breath of fresh air people with my tastes generally need to stay in gaming.  I've been happy enough with the Wii U, but I've also been happy with the freaking Vita.  Only picking and choosing the best each platform has to offer STILL leaves me with a tremendous backlog.

Frankly I'm a little glad that their current upcoming lineup is a bunch of stuff that doesn't interest me much - gives my wallet a bit of a break and lets me catch up on other stuff.  Except Xenobade X - that take precedence over every single other thing.

In my opinion, Nintendo's just wasting everyone's time.

They're going the way of Konami, Capcom, Square-Enix, and everyone else we used to know and love.

I wouldn't be at all traumatized if they decided to hang up the towel the next day. A dream come true would be their properties becoming public domain, so we could pirate their stuff for free, and not get nailed by the FCC.

I didn't care at all for Twilight Princess or Skyward Sword (Zelda); a friend showed both of them to me, from the beginning, for about 2 hours each, and the fetch quests in the beginning of both of them kill it for me.

I loved the N64 Zelda games - Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask - but after that, I think my Zelda appetite was completely satiated, they were that satisfying for me to play, kind of like how Final Fantasy X completely satiated my appetite for Final Fantasy, and Grandia II completely satiated my appetite for Grandia. If those were the last games in their respective series, I would've been happy with that.

Super Mario Galaxy made me feel glad to have gotten a Wii; the game made me feel even happier than I remember Super Mario 64 did, but I haven't given two squats about any subsequent Mario game thereafter, and there weren't a whole lot of other Wii games I cared for; it took me about just a year after I purchased the system before I started feeling like an idiot for doing so; it quickly dawned on me that the Wii wasn't going to see as many games as the Gamecube, or even the N64 did.

My NES and SNES libraries are about 60 games each, while my N64 library is just under 40. I didn't save a single thing for Wii; Super Mario Galaxy just wasn't reason enough to hang onto the system.

I find those times nostalgic now, 2007, when Super Mario Galaxy was released. G4TV actually had coverage about games, and I actually enjoyed watching Code Monkeys.

Yeah, I kind of quit with FF with X. I think a big part of that is XI was online only. I don't care that it was online but making a game I wasn't going to play part of the numbered continuity helped kill it in my opinion as I was trying to play them all.

I did try XII but the idea that the game pretty much played itself just turned me off. Gambits were a great idea... but only if they where in a game like Star Ocean where you don't control everyone anyways.

True, but not in a physical release

NightSky is also another good indie game that managed to make its way onto the Wii U, with help from Nicalis - the same people who got Cave Story released on the Wii. They were probably also responsible for the port of Cave Story on the 3DS, but I don't feel like looking that up right now.

I had that. I think their logo shows up in the boot up process... however on the bottom right of the cover has the NIS America logo.

Same here, honestly. The time they spent on an MMO was time NOT spent making  a traditional single-player game. Final Fantasy X was 2001/2002, and Final Fantasy XII was 2006. Certainly enough time between games to lose my attention, and for me to get my fix elsewhere.

If you ask me, the RPG is dead. They might as well have made FFXII either an action RPG (like Kingdom Hearts) or an RTS (real-time strategy game) much like Command & Conquer, in which your dungeons were your battlefields, but still allowed you to free-roam within towns.

With the technology that exists today, it's easy to make a fast-paced action game, rather than a game that's only about clicking through menus.

Also still trying to finish Resonance of Fate/Ends of Eternity 2-3 years after when I first started it, and have only gotten in a little each year since then. I'm in chapter 4 or so. The battle system is annoying, convoluted, and poorly explained in-game. It's essentially a turn-based strategy game, though not exactly like Final Fantasy Tactics or Disgaea. If they'd just made the game a third-person shooter (your characters are all gunslingers) action RPG, I would've been happy with that. What attracted to me to the game in the first place was its sci-fi retro steampunk setting that's kind of Final Fantasy VII and Ar-Tonelico tossed into a blender. It's a tower world (Ar-Tonelico) with a similar punk industrial vibe to it like Final Fantasy VII.

That's the way I feel... but obviously that's not a fact.

I guess what I really want to say is I'm disappointed with what's left of the genre and/or what it's morphed into.

I think I said it before but I don't think what we have today is any more cliche than what I grew up with, but I'm more at odds with the cliches used now. Maybe that stuff is too obvious now that I'm older...?

Additionally, this doesn't automatically mean I think the older games are better. I've replayed some of those games and yeah, some of them don't stack up anymore or they didn't back then and I ignored/didn't notice it.

I don't know... I wouldn't beat yourself up over this. My friend ran into the same situation. He started off strong with that game and he hit a point where he just lost interest. To be honest the setting of the game was the only thing that grabbed my attention when I saw him play it.

Edit:

However, I think my main gripe is I wish people (this seems to be those in the younger crowd) would realize games that are long aren't necessarily better because they're long. I honestly I don't want a game to be 100+ hours long.

For example, I can complete the original Wild Arms in about 32 hours. That's doing everything and I have a blast. It takes about 60 hours to do everything in the PS2 remake (it even touts this on the back cover) and 30 of that is inane crap that was added to pad the run-time.

I'm sorry but I hate when games add busywork for the sake of adding busy work.

Just do Hero Actions and use machine guns first to do scratch damage (blue)  and then hand guns to remove the hp and kill stuff. Easy as hell. Though, some battles/bosses might require to use the tri-attack but otherwise the game was pretty fun and easy on normal difficulty, tempted to replay it someday to unlock the harder ones.

And I wish there would be a sequel to the game, so I could craft more silly guns with 19 barrels all pointing the wrong way.

RPG's have too many strikes against them nowadays. Not enough time and not enough patience for them. They really do feel like doing chores/putting in time, especially that feeling when you come up to a dungeon and you KNOW the next hour is going to be spent going through it. At this point, it is kind of a negative reinforcement and I subconsciously prevent myself from putting the game back in.

I'm not going to generalize RPG players, but my interest in them peeked when I really didn't have a job (PT retail shit) and needed a good distraction from schoolwork. I would do all four classes, work 5 hours and then binge on Xenogears until 3am. A good solid weekend, I could put in 12-15 hours or more if I got hooked. To be fair, a lot of people I know use them more as a social outlet (FFXIV, I'm looking at you) and these are ALL people that were weened on the same SNES/PS1 RPG's I was. This is probably why I feel more attracted to fighting games (without the social outlet, they would be useless)

I feel like at this point, they could create a worthy sequel to FFVI with all the bells and whistles and I'd still probably put it down and not pick it up after 3 hours...

The ONE RPG I would call exempt from all of this is Chrono Trigger. I thought the length and pacing (even the fetchquests) on this one was perfect and it usually tricks me into finishing it up, once I start up a game of it.

Dude! Don't give SE anymore bad ideas!

Edit:

Okay, I missed the word "worthy" in there...

...however, considering what happens at the end of FFVI do you really want want them to try and double back out of that one?

Yeah, it took me a little while to understand "Scratch Damage;" rather counter-intuitive that a machine gun can't actually kill/destroy anything, but the machine gun still piles on damage more than the hand guns do, you just gotta pop the enemy with a hand gun for the machine gun hits to mean anything.

I'm under-leveled for where I am in the game; chapter 5, the frozen wastes. My average level between all 3 characters and their skill levels is 18, while the average enemy level is 32. I'd like to finish this game sometime within the next 2-3 years. Re-stating what I already have, I would've been happy if they'd just made this action game, then I'd probably be absolutely in love with it. Otherwise, too slow for my pace.

I always thought that, if SE wanted to make a Final Fantasy VI spin-off, they'd do a Mech Warrior action game rip-off with Magitek Armor.

"it’s a mix of frustration, disappointment and fury at a company who I desperately want to succeed, but can’t seem to stop making poor decision after poor decision."

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/ … -nintendo/

"Nintendo has to make a console that’s on par with or now above (given the release date) the power level of the PS4 and Xbox One. They need to use something resembling a “normal” controller and build system architecture that is easily utilized by third parties."

Good grief! Why is this guy giving Nintendo good advice?! Doesn't he know they will do whatever they want anyway?

"Nintendo, and its fans, need to get out of this mindset that unless Nintendo is doing something quirky and creative, that it’s abandoning what makes Nintendo, Nintendo."

I have to agree. Many of Nintendo's games seem to be about using the current gimmick of the current system (be it the horrible controls of the Wii, or the touchscreen of the DS, or something else). Just give us fun games to play already and make the system friendly for developers!!

Actually, DQXI HAS been confirmed for NX, as has DQX.  FFXIV is also considered for NX.  It might not mean much, but it's something.

I agree that Nintendo HAS made its share of errors this gen, but on the other hand, I feel that the backlash against the WiiU might be what might cause for Nintendo to have a wakeup call and make sure NX is the best it can be.  Now I'm not speaking as a diehard Nintendo fan; I recently got a PS3.  But I wouldn't write them off either.

http://www.gamespot.com/articles/ninten … 0-6433023/

Nintendo Files Patent for Unique, Free-Form Touch Controller

"The game screen drawn from the first-person viewpoint is displayed on the display panel having a form similar to a form of the visual filed of the human being, the player can obtain a feeling of immersion into the virtual game space," it said. "Furthermore, since the gun is displayed near the thumb of the player, it is thought that a higher feeling of immersion can be obtained."

Uhhhh, what??

Well...yeah. Nothing more to add to this article except it sums up the problems perfectly.

I think what turned Nintendo off of making a more powerful system than its competitors was its experience with the Nintendo 64 vs. the Sony PlayStation.

The PSX only had 32-bit graphics, and the Nintendo 64 obviously had 64-bit (superior) graphic capabilities, but you wouldn't have known it just looking at the games; there was a lot of stuff on the PSX more visually impressive than on the N64 (everything Squaresoft produced on the PSX).

Looking back at the N64, what did you have that even compared to Final Fantasy VII? There WERE some pre-rendered graphics in Legend of Zelda, Ocarina of Time (Hyrule Castle Town Marketplace, and Dampe's Grave Hut, for example - and those may be the ONLY examples in that game, much less on the entire console for all I know), but what other games did the N64 have that were visually comparable to some of the stuff on the PlayStation?

The N64 had a lot of potential that was never even used or tapped into for the most part!

Nintendo has to stop pitying itself over its Nintendo 64 and Gamecube days, and get with the present! That, and they got pretty complacent with the Wii, with being able to sell to soccer moms, and old folks' homes!

Newer Nintendo consoles probably won't even incorporate the motion controls from the Wii, will they? Certainly a feature that will make those games obsolete in the near future!

Actually, back when that generation started I had primarily become a PC gamer (a relatively brief time in my "gaming career" but I had moved away from consoles during my teenage years for a while) and FMV and FF7 and Resident Evil's prerendered videos and backgrounds really did very little for me because I'd seen comparable stuff already.  The N64's actual GAMEPLAY graphics were what impressed me, though - I hated the crappy pixelated look of Playstation and Saturn 3D models, but thought the stuff Nintendo and Rare were pumping out looked amazing.  And it was interactive!  I remember the arguments at school over graphics being all "but look how much more realistic this hallway is in Resident Evil" and my thinking "yeah but you can't really explore it or move around in it or interact with it."

Now granted, later on I came to appreciate the artistry of prerendered backdrops, but FMVs - while impressive - are not what's important to me in an interactive medium.  For that, the N64 visuals handily won because you weren't going from super amazing CG when you were just watching to "what the hell is going on in this blocky muddy garbage" when you were actually playing.

I've never understood this train of thought.

PlayStation games may have been pixelated, but it's not like the Nintendo 64 was prefect in all it's blurry glory.

Blurry or pixelated... pick your poison.

I think the problem with fans disappointed in Nintendo is that they are trying to relive the glory days of having one system to rule them all... a system with both high quality Nintendo games and all the third party content. That will never happen again unless Nintendo stops making consoles.

If Nintendo tries to please these people, it will fail miserably. There is absolutely no need to make a yet another console that does everything. We already have that in the XBO, PS4, and PC. One more box doing that same thing isn't necessary. Nintendo needs to continue doing its own thing to stand out, be different, and appeal to markets that aren't well served by the others. Nintendo has always been strong with children and families, and it should double down on efforts to appeal to them rather than chasing bitter gamers who grew up with Nintendo but are now in their thirties and like to complain on message boards. There are already three systems that serve the older crowd: XBO, PS4, and PC. It's time for these folks to admit that they're not Nintendo's target audience any more, and serving their whims is not in Nintendo's best interest. Once they make their peace with that, they can decide if it's worth owning a separate console just for Nintendo games.

Nintendo still makes fantastic games with thriving communities (Splatoon makes headlines every week while Evolve and Titanfall have all but disappeared). You may have gotten older and Nintendo's games may no longer appeal to you, and that's perfectly ok. Play the games you love and don't worry so  much about Nintendo.

I'd say the bigger problem is they have one company (themselves) making most of the big games for the system and they're not making nearly enough of them. And most of the biggest ones are simply updates. This hasn't really changed since the GC days really, but Nintendo is relying far more on MK8/Smash than GC relied on MK/Smash.

The problem with targeting children/families...What parent is going to buy a $300 system and $60 games when they can get their kid a $1 iPhone game for a device they're already paying to hold their attention instead? Yeah, they got away with the Wii shovelware, but certainly not with the Wii U. Say what you want about jaded gamers, but we put our money out there when something good comes along.

Yeah, I get that it's a matter of personal preference.  I think with early 3D I just preferred simpler textures on models where I could tell what was going on.  Even though there was blurriness going on with the N64, I found it visually more appealing than what the Saturn and PS1 had, most of the time.   I also prefer the look of the battle scenes in FF7 vs. Square trying to do too much with textures that were just a mess in FF8 and FF9.  The simplicity gave it a much cleaner, crisper look for me.

I agree. It really wasn't until Spyro the Dragon first came along that I thought the PS1 3D graphics actually looked good. That, and I remember Medal of Honor 1 being a visual standout. Prior to that, they just looked strange (FF7 and the faceless characters with blocky hands being a prime example). Fortunately, the PS1 had its' fair share of 2D games that made the blocky-looking weirdness more of a novelty to me for the most part. That is what I found most truly bizarre at the time...The lack of 2D games (particularly platformers) for the Nintendo 64. Yeah, I got PS1 primarily because of FF7, but seeing stuff like Street Fighter, Castlevania and Megaman jump to Sony's system made that decision super easy.

Am I wrong in thinking it's not that big of shocker that 2D games weren't very big on the N64? Stuff like bitmaps would have probably chewed through the memory available on carts at that point.

But yeah, I originally wanted a 64 but waited a year because it was hard to find the first holiday it was out. By next Christmas the PS1 library was really, really beefy so waiting was the right move for me in that case.

I read that N64 did not have a 2D processor either, so "sprites" would have been created from polygons, similar to the PS1. But again, coming straight off the 2D powerhouse that was the SNES, it seems a strange design choice.

I still have my 1998 EGM Buyers guide, which helped that decision. It really outlined that time period well...It just seemed like the N64 had that small handful of must-plays and the PS1 was bursting with must-have games with many more on the way (mind you, this was before franchises like Twisted Metal and Tomb Raider wore out their welcome). That time window really was the turning point for me, as I would not have considered a PS1 earlier because the library was very ho-hum, even with the slowing down of the 16 bit systems.

Edit: One thing that was very prevalent in this time period was the whole system vs system attitude. It wasn't "buy the Playstation, then buy the N64 to complement it" like the PS3/Xbox/Wii U is nowadays, it was "buy one or the other".

I recall the "problem" with the N64 was that Nintendo still wanted to use cartridges rather than go the way of progress and use discs. I even remember Nintendo had set some infomercial at a store that had some videos playing and some guy say something like "Cartridges are so much faster! When your friend says a CD is better than a cartridge tell him the Space Shuttle doesn't run on slow!" or something asinine like that. I definitely remember a Space Shuttle reference
The N64 had some great games for sure (Ogre Battle!) but ultimately Nintendo was being stupid and refused to go to optical discs which is what really screwed them and let Sony take the lead. By the way, I remember I eventually sold my like-new N64 to Tommy, I hope you got much use out of it