15-40?
Before we delve into the announcements from Thursday’s Direct, let me say this: You will never, ever see another predictions post on this page. Against all conventional wisdom, all pre-existing evidence, Nintendo came out of left field with a Direct Mini: 15 minutes of completely unpredictable announcements predicated by two days of social media stunts, whipping the community into a frenzy. This was one of the most exciting, but equally unwieldy, release schedules for a Nintendo Presentation ever. On the one hand, I was genuinely amused by Nintendo of America’s joke tweets earlier this week. Consequently, I was completely surprised by the Direct. On the other hand, I don’t think that Nintendo can get away with a roll-out like this again. Chiefly, it causes confusion, leading to late or incomplete coverage due to the unconventional release timing. While it was humorous, and created genuine hype, this is far from sustainable. I simply don’t think that anyone would find humor in this delivery method a second time, let alone a third or fourth. Nintendo Directs also deserve to be events: genuine moments in Nintendo’s year that feel like formal, but fun, presentations which unveil the upcoming slate of games. Randomly dropping the presentation feels more like a crazy surprise than a genuine occasion. But, I digress. What’s really important is the software we’ll have to play in 2018, not how that software gets announced.
I enjoyed the Nintendo Direct itself, but this slate of software isn’t pushing the 20 million Switches Nintendo is hoping for. This Direct was, surprisingly, full of announcements. I was concerned that the "mini" format was due to a lack of announcements, but there was genuinely quite a bit packed into the fifteen minute presentation. The issue, though, is how compelling, or for the most part, how not compelling the announcements were. They break down like this: A lot of ports, a lot of DLC, and a few surprises. Let’s first address the elephant in the room.
There are flat out too many ports coming in the first half of 2018 from a first party perspective. I don’t want to waste time beating an all-too-alive horse, but we’ve now exited the hypothetical situation of having too many ports: now there literally just are too many. Of the five first party games coming in the first six months of 2018, three of them are ports, being Bayonetta 2+1, Donkey Kong Country Tropical Freeze, and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition. Only two first-party releases are brand new pieces of content. 2018 was supposed to be the year where Nintendo worked out a steady flow of new content that justifies the Nintendo Switch and its gimmicks, not rehashes old content. To an extent, ports were understandable in the first year of Switch. Nintendo needed to keep the games coming, regardless of where that content originated. But I, and many other people, feel that the grace period is well over. Even my friend, who skipped the Wii U, shares this same viewpoint. He hasn’t played Hyrule Warriors or Tropical Freeze, but he too is lamenting the sheer volume of ports on the system. He wasn't compelled to buy a Wii U for these games, and he isn't going to buy them on Switch. The commonplace defense of ports is that people simply didn’t appreciate them on Wii U, but now they can. And again, I just don’t think that’s true. I think Nintendo has lost the narrative when it comes to ports. Neither of the ports announced feel meaningful as Mario Kart 8 Deluxe did; now they just feel like a cash-in with zero incentive to double dip.
Nintendo is matching their output of ports in 2018 with their output of DLC, and I am happy to see Nintendo embracing this model. When executed correctly, DLC can breathe fresh life into games. Nintendo first revealed DLC for Pokken Tournament DX; an announcement that took me completely by surprise. It seemed as though the "Deluxe" line would be excluded from DLC support because these releases were supposed to represent the complete versions of their respective games. However, now that Pokken Tournament DX is getting additional content, it is no longer out of the question that, say, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe could get DLC tracks as well. To be honest, the prospect of more Mario Kart 8 Deluxe tracks is the most exciting part of this particular announcement. The Pokken Tournament DX DLC is simply too expensive, and doesn’t offer enough content to justify its $15 dollar price tag. Two fighters and a few new avatar customizations simply aren’t enough to interest me in this game; a title I played on Wii U back in 2016. Blastoise is my favorite Pokemon, but being able to play as him does not justify the $75 dollars I’d need to pay for the base game and the DLC.
On the other side of the coin, I’m considerably more excited for the Super Mario Odyssey DLC. Some people lament the fact that we aren’t getting, in their opinion, "true" DLC, but I think that Balloon World is a very smart piece of content. At this point, I’ve all but stopped playing Super Mario Odyssey. Occasionally, I’ll hop back in for an hour of platforming here or there, but I’ve seen everything the game has to offer. However, Balloon World turns just-for-fun complex platforming into a game mode, which is a very interesting concept. I can only imagine the crazy jumps I’ll perform to hide my balloons, and the stunts that will be asked of me to find the balloons of others. Will this mode add dozens of hours to my game clock? Probably not. But, I can easily see myself returning to this mode from time to time for a burst of clever platforming.
While Nintendo did focus mainly on ports and DLC, there were a few surprises and release confirmations to fill out the rest of the year. Kirby: Star Allies is now slated for March 16th, and Payday 2 for February 27th. While Payday 2 isn’t a first party title, it is the only third-party game that is really jumping out at me for the first half of 2018, with this version getting a very unique, Switch-exclusive operator named Joy. Not only that, but I’m simply a fan of a good heist film, so carrying out meticulously planned robberies seems like a lot of fun. While the gameplay looks far more like The Town than Ocean’s 11, that’s just fine by me. Some of my friends are planning on picking up this title as well, so it seems like I’ll be in for a pretty good time come the end of next month.
Kirby: Star Allies is looking, well, the same as before. I fully expect to enjoy this game, and playing in co-op seems to be a blast. This Direct also showed off some new copy abilities, such as artist, which all look quite unique and fun to use. However, I’m surprised that Kirby is still so far away. Between the release of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 on December 1st, and Kirby: Star Allies on March 16th, four months will have gone by without a new first-party title, and only one port (Bayonetta 2+1) in the meantime. It seems as though not all of Nintendo’s ducks are in a row quite yet; I was hoping that with their excess of talent they’d be able to have a new release every month. And, while both Kirby and Payday 2 are titles I’m anticipating, neither are setting my world on fire. In fact, for the most part, that’s how I feel about the first six months of 2018, with one key exception.
Mario Tennis Aces floored me. When I wrote my predictions post last week, I was confident that we’d see a new Mario Sports game, I was dead set on baseball. I was expecting to have to wait in line for my really good Mario Tennis game. However, Camelot doesn’t seem content to leave the court on a sour note with Mario Tennis: Ultra Smash (Which is one of only three Wii U games I never played, mind you) and is addressing all the issues that have been plaguing Mario Tennis as of late. Creative Courts? Check. More Personality? Check. Deeper Mechanics? Check. A full Story Mode? Check. Really, all I need now is confirmation of plenty of local and online multiplayer options, and Mario Tennis Aces has the potential to be one of my favorite games of 2018.
For as great as Mario Tennis Aces is, I really feel like Nintendo’s 2018 is losing steam. It isn’t impossible for them to turn the ship around, but the big N is going to have to really impress me in the latter half of the year. There simply is not enough compelling software hitting in the first six months of the year from a first-party perspective. This is the currently confirmed lineup:
January:
Kirby Battle Royale (3DS)
Ageislash (Pokken DLC)
February:
Bayonetta 2+1 (Wii U Port)
Luigi’s Balloon World (Odyssey DLC)
March:
Kirby: Star Allies
Blastoise (Pokken DLC)
April:
N/A
May:
Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze (Wii U Port)
June:
N/A
* Mario Tennis Aces and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition are also slated for this spring, but do not have hard release dates. I think we’ll see Mario Tennis Aces in late April, and Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition in late May. Yoshi was leaked to have a June release date by Amazon Italy, which I think is fairly probable, but not confirmed.
All, in my mind being pretty soft for a year in which Nintendo hopes to move 20 million consoles. I’d go as far as to say it is a soft six months, regardless of what level of sales Nintendo is targeting. There is so little truly fresh content from the first party in the first half of 2018, that I’m starting to wonder just what Nintendo is working on. Nintendo simply must have big guns for the second half of the year that aren’t revealed yet. I cannot wait for Mario Tennis Aces, and I’m sure that Kirby: Star Allies is going to be great. Super Mario Odyssey’s Balloon World DLC will be a fun piece of content on the side. Payday 2, Wargroove, and Dark Souls: Remastered are a couple more offerings from third parties that look to be thoroughly fun as well. But, that is probably all that I’ll be buying in the first half of the year.
I’m simply not willing to rebuy old Wii U titles that I beat four years ago, especially when they feature so little exclusive content. Bayonetta 2+1 is the only port I’d consider, merely because I never played the title on Wii U, and the combo disc can retail for as high as 100 dollars on Wii U, due to its low print-run. If I had played Bayonetta in the past, I’d have had no reason to return. If Nintendo is going to continue to release ports like this on Switch, they need to do a better job incentivizing the consumer to buy them, or better yet, release brand-new games entirely.
These next months look all the more dire because we, again, do not know what is coming down the pipeline in the long-term. Nintendo’s new obsession with announcing games before their imminent release only works if the titles are appealing. Well, as of now I can say the early part of the year looks sparse, but at least I have Yoshi to look forward to? The game looks great, and I'm sure it will be enjoyable, but that's all we have on the horizon. That simply is not good enough. If we had just seen a tease of Animal Crossing, or Pikmin, or Pokemon, or Smash Bros, or Super Mario Maker, or Fire Emblem, or another one of Nintendo’s countless franchises, we’d have something to latch onto and look towards the future.
I love many third party and indie titles, and I’m very glad Nintendo doesn’t have to support the Switch alone. We’ve gone so many generations without "true" third party support, and I think we, as Ninendo fans, are on the verge of being able to play all our games on one box. But, at the end of the day, I’m a Nintendo fan.....for the Nintendo games. I didn’t buy my Switch to play DOOM, or LA Noire (Two fantastic games, mind you) but to play the countless Nintendo franchises that I hold near and dear. Nintendo is in a fantastic position right now, but they’re stumbling. Shockingly, I am looking back at the Wii U generation with nostalgia right now, something I never thought I’d do. I don’t want to sound too pessimistic, but it is hard to put a positive spin on Nintendo’s current 2018 lineup to date.
I’m very glad that I waited to talk about the Direct, because on Thurdsay, I was riding high on the announcement of Mario Tennis Aces. I am still stoked out of my mind for that game, and Kirby: Star Allies will be a lot of fun, but it just isn’t enough. Perhaps Nintendo will knock our socks off at E3 and deliver an unforgettable second half of 2018. In fact, I have a good feeling that they will. But, that doesn’t change the situation we are facing right now. That doesn’t mean it is too late for Nintendo to course-correct though, and there are a few ways Nintendo could spin these six months into a memorable period in the Switch’s life.
The first thing Nintendo needs to do is announce a proper Nintendo Direct. Whether it is in two weeks or two months, we need to know that there is news on the horizon. They need to use this time to blow out Mario Tennis Aces, solidify a Hyrule Warriors: Definitive Edition release date, discuss their mysterious online service, and drop hints as to the plans for the second half of 2018. Save the megatons for E3, but give us some kind of indication as to what is coming next. Communication, as always, is key here.
The next thing Nintendo needs to do is leverage DLC even more than they already have. Pump even more content into Splatoon 2, Super Mario Odyssey, Pokken Tournament DX, and as I spoke about earlier, Mario Kart 8 Deluxe. Developing a few maps or characters requires far fewer resources than a brand new game, but DLC keeps players engaged in the titles they have already. The Nintendo Direct Mini showed that Nintendo is interested in continuing support for their current games, but they can do even more. Release Super Mario Sunshine DLC in Odyssey and charge us 10 dollars for it. Design two more Grand Prix for Mario Kart. Unveil another new mode for Splatoon 2. There are so many options, Nintendo just needs to take advantage of them.
The final thing Nintendo needs to do is release the Virtual Console. It’s time. There is really no other option at this point. Even if it is merely the same service from the Wii U, having Nintendo’s immense back catalogue on Switch would be a fantastic stopgap between releases. One of Nintendo’s greatest strengths has always been their rich library of past titles. On Wii, Wii U, and 3DS, whenever there was a drought of new software, I could take a trip to the past and experience an old game that I missed. This is an advantage Nintendo needs to leverage once again. I’ve been under the impression that the Virtual Console is being revamped, and in any other situation I would’ve been fine with waiting for a newer, more agile service. But right now, Nintendo just needs to get these games out the door. Being able to combat the current drought with decades of Nintendo games across myriad systems would be a game changer. In a perfect world, Nintendo would just have enough new software waiting in the wings. But, we’re facing such a deficit of content and being able to run through some old classics, or finally experience gems that I’ve shamefully missed, would be a great way to pass the time.
As I’ve stated throughout, there are real bright spots in Nintendo’s lineup; particularly Mario Tennis Aces. I just can't stop thinking about this game. In fact, short of an Animal Crossing or Smash Bros. game this year, Mario Tennis Aces could very well be my game of the year. Of course, it is very early, and that claim means very little, but the point is, I’m quite excited. Digging into Kirby: Star Allies with my sister, and dabbling in various third party titles will make for a solid batch of experiences. But, on the whole, I’m disappointed. We needed more, and Nintendo seemed to be in a position to deliver. However, they just aren't, for whatever reason. Hopefully, we'll hear more soon, as there is usually one more Direct before E3. Either way, soon enough I’ll be hitting the courts with Mario and friends, so I can’t be that mad.
Let me know how you feel about Nintendo's 2018 in the comments below!
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