Peripherals that can’t be updated or changed easily, and are often proprietary to one game.
Man, have I got a bug up my ass about Nintendo and peripherals.
I am one of the few people who actually bought a Wii U system — but I never owned the original Wii. I knew that the Wii-motes were compatible with the Wii U, and you could use them as backup controllers for certain games like Mario Kart and Super Mario 3D World.
But they looked uncomfortable to use, so when I needed extra controllers for friends and family, I just went and bought Pro controllers.
Then I bought Mario Party 10, a game that was released solely on the Wii U. This was not a cross-gen game. This was not a game that was in development on the Wii, and then brought over to the Wii U instead — which we know because the Wii U had been out for 3 years by the time Mario Party 10 was released.
Why am I harping on about this?
Because Mario Party 10 — a Wii U game — only works with Wii motion controllers.
If all you own is the Wii U tablet controller and a few Pro controllers, you won’t be able to play this game.
What the hell, Nintendo?
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Nor is that the only perplexing decision they’ve made that has left me scratching my head.
I’ve long wanted to purchase The Legend of Zelda: Minish Cap and several of my other favorite Gameboy Advance games through the Virtual Console to play on my 3DS.
But they by and large don’t sell Gameboy Advance games for the 3DS. You can buy them for the Wii U. But not for the 3DS.
Which might lead you to believe that maybe the games aren’t compatible with the system… maybe the 3DS isn’t powerful enough to emulate the software.
But no. Nintendo actually DID release Minish Cap and a few other GBA games on the 3DS — but these games were only available to members of their “Ambassador Program,” a customer rewards program designed to celebrate players who purchased the 3DS before its first big price drop.
But why not make them available in the shop for everyone else? Give the games to the ambassadors for free, by all means. But let me buy it. I’m standing here with hard cash in my fist, but apparently they don’t want my money.
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Anyway. What were we talking about again? Oh, right. The Switch.
I haven’t bought one yet. Which means I still haven’t played Breath of the Wild. I still have my Wii U, but I’ve been holding off on buying it for that system, because I know once I do, that’ll just be one less reason for me to buy a Switch.
I probably will get one, at some point. Right now it’s not a huge priority. There are still very few games out for it that I’m interested in.
Probably I’ll get one whenever the new Metroid game is released, provided that it’s not a steaming pile of disappointment like Federation Force.