I’m not going to do a full commentary on the Nintendo Direct today:I didn’t watch it and since I don’t have a Nintendo Switch, not much said there has any real direct impact on me. I do however pay attention to what is announced, in general anyway and I, like everyone else, noticed one very common thread not only with this announcement but about the Switch in general – it has a ton of ports of games from other systems to it.
it was one thing back this past year when a few Wii U titles, like Mario Kart 8 as a fine example, were “enhanced” and re-released for the new console – this, alongside some other older games, like (the rather boring but much beloved) Skyrim, being brought over from PC and other consoles. Alongside the new games unique to the console, well, it has been a pretty varied year.
This year isn’t much different really; the ports keep on coming, alongside some new games down the horizon. This has brought a harsh reaction among some Nintendo fans, though: with many complaining about the fact that the system has so many ports, and while new games are coming, they feel there are fewer than their should be, or dislike the fact that very little on the new games was announced. I guess they expected the ports and remasters to be gone this year and the system to be flooded with new games, maybe?
I can’t speak on the lack of too many new titles being announced, but with the ports and remasters, well, I’m fine with them. Hell, I kind of like the idea, and I’ll tell you why.
Firstly, the Wii U ports make total sense. The system didn’t do well in the market – that simple – and considering the system is a bit on the easy to damage side (namely the gamepad and its charger) the used market for Wii U consoles is kind of spotty. You aren’t getting one new, at all.
The Switch, however, well, that’s a top end system that’s obviously current (it’s still just under a year old) and, the most critical thing is, it’s portable, but still able to be used on a TV just fine.
That helps out with the ports from other systems, too – you could now take those games, very few of which were ever on portable gaming machines and, yeah, take them anywhere! That alone is pretty awesome to me, and is honestly the main draw for the Switch to me, being the kind of gamer I am – I wouldn’t mind having some solid console styled games on the go, and porting games of the past, both in Nintendo’s library and from other companies, to the system fills that need nicely.
Reminder that the switch is a portable game system – you can take the damn thing wherever you go!
Sure, there will be new games unique to the Switch – I would expect nothing less, and if I got one, I certainly would play those, but hey, the idea of possibly being able to play an old favorite on the console while I’m waiting at a coffee shop to meet a friend is a pretty enjoyable thought.
I really don’t see an issue with it at all – I’d rather have a library of games for the system than not, and besides, it isn’t like Microsoft and Sony haven’t had the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 filled with their own remasters through the past few years; at least with what Nintendo has going on I can take the game wherever I want!