Thoughts on Modern Nintendo

This post is part of Agora Road's August 2025 Travelogue.

I grew up with Nintendo games. My first game console was a Nintendo DS Lite. I am not really a uber Nintendo fan like many people on the internet are, but I certainly was interested in their game.

I felt like that something happened in 2021. The last first party Nintendo game I purchased was Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity. This game was particular, never had my opinion on a single game being so split. The first part of that game was great, but as soon as a certain story moment was reached, I turned stopped playing the game and never touched it again.

A game I greatly anticipated was the sequel for Breath of the Wild - what we now know as Tears of the Kingdom. The first reveal trailer had me completely pumped up.

The E3 2021 teaser gave me really weird feeling. The design of Link and the architecture of the Sky Islands did not look like they belonged in a The Legend of Zelda game.

I ended up never buying that game and I am glad I did. The game is essentially a carbon copy of Breath of the Wild. Worse is that Nintendo didn't fix any of the issues the previous entry had. The story in that game was absolute garbage that feels like a first draft.

Tears of the Kingdom feel like the beginning of an era where Nintendo games become incredibly formulaic in a manner similar to Ubisoft. I will continue to keep an eye on what this company release by curiosity, but my faith in them has been completely eroded.

When the Nintendo Switch 2 was announced, I felt nothing. Mario Kart World did not impress me. The fact the game featured an open world was a giant red flag for me. This even without mentioning all the controversy surrounding the console's launch window.

Even games like Donkey Kong Bananza feels weird to me even though the game itself does nothing wrong. Something feels off and I am not sure why.

The vibe shift is probably the result of Shuntaro Furukawa becoming president of the company in June 2018. Considering how long video games take to make, it makes sense that the effects of the change in leadership are only now starting to be felt.

I asked my 3 IRL friends how they feel about the Nintendo Switch 2 and Nintendo's recent offerings. None of them have purchased the console so far and none show interest in the new games. One of my friends is waiting to see how Pokémon Legends A-Z will turn out before considering purchasing the console.

Although there is no doubt that the Nintendo Switch 2 is a success, think Nintendo has started to alienate their fans that are in the 20-30s. When I was a kid, I was pretty much blindly consuming every Nintendo product, so I doubt that we are the target audience here sadly.

Written by manpaint on 08 August 2025.