Eighth Console Gaming Generation Retrospective - Part 1: Consoles

 To be honest, I was originally considering doing one big post about the consoles, games and other stuff about the eighth generation of gaming, but it started to get a bit long so I decided to split this into 2 (or possibly more) parts.

With the PlayStation 5, Xbox Series S and Series X coming out, I think it’s safe to say that the eighth generation of gaming is coming to an end. And I figured now was about time I did a retrospective look back on the eighth generation of gaming. While I was born towards the start of the sixth generation and did initially grow up through the seventh generation, I feel like the eighth generation was the first gaming generation I really paid attention to. I was just about old enough to really start paying attention to console launches, game releases and gaming news in general when it began and this was the first generation where I really found myself keeping up with stuff like E3. And now that it’s coming to an end, it definitely feels like the end of an era. I was 12 when the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One came out, and last year I graduated high school, so in a way the eighth generation honestly felt like it sort of coincided with my teen years. And now that it’s almost over, I figured that I should talk about it - the console releases, gaming trends, my favorite games from the generation, and really my experiences with the eighth generation as a whole.

Going into this generation, I had sort of found myself developing a new hobby in retro games. After Christmas in 2010 I had bought a copy of Super Mario World for the Game Boy Advance on eBay with money I got that year and for my following birthday I got a Nintendo DS and later got a Wii for Christmas in 2011. However I’d say 2012 was when I started “collecting,” - I bought a bunch of Virtual Console games on the Wii and towards the middle of the year I acquired a GameCube. Then in November, my brother came home with a Nintendo 64 literally a day before the Wii U released and after Christmas I bought a PS1. 

Regardless of the kinds of games I was into though, I was definitely interested in seeing the next generation of consoles come out. The Wii U was announced in 2011, and initially I didn’t really know much about it - I pretty much accidentally stumbled across the trailer from E3 that year, but as more information came out about the system I was definitely feeling more interested. I mean, it came out alongside a new Mario game, New Super Mario Bros U, and while that game didn’t really turn out to be anything special, as a diehard Mario fan it was enough to get me interested in getting a Wii U.

Then in 2013 the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One was announced. While the Wii U was still the console I wanted most, I still held some interest in the PlayStation 4. I mean, just a month or two before it was announced I had bought a PlayStation and my friend was a pretty big PlayStation guy with the PlayStation 3. I just wanted to see what the PlayStation 4 would offer. Despite being Team Nintendo I still held interest in certain PlayStation IPs like LittleBigPlanet - in fact I was holding out a lot of hope for a new Crash game even though I knew that wouldn’t likely happen (although at least that would pay off a few years into it). I didn’t really have much of an opinion on the system and it wasn’t the system I was looking forward to most, but I did hold interest in it.

Then… the Xbox One was announced. I actually remember me and my brother specifically watching the announcement and… not gonna lie, my first impressions of it weren’t exactly positive. The initial announcement did a really poor job of showcasing the Xbox One’s potential as a game console and pretty much felt primarily dedicated towards it’s multimedia and cable TV abilities. And with the DRM policies that were initially being talked about with the system against used games and the console having to always be online, I wasn’t exactly hyped for the system to come out. Granted I really was never an Xbox fan in the first place - as someone who’s brother owned an Xbox 360 at the time I really never felt impressed with the kinds of games on the system, but I can definitely say the build up to the Xbox One’s launch was not improving my opinion.

Regardless, when it came to the eighth generation of systems, I didn’t feel there was much of a chance of me getting one at the time. The Wii U was the console I was most interested in, but it came out a little less than a year after I got my Wii and there wasn’t really any chance of me convincing my parents to pay $300 for the system… in fact there really wasn’t any chance of convincing my parents to pay $300-$500 for any new system, and I was also more focused on playing my Wii and the older systems I collecting at the time. I did get a 2DS for Christmas in 2014, but that was really the only eighth generation system I had for a while.

And on that note, around 2015 I got into PC gaming - my brother made me a Steam in August 2014 and after going through the following Christmas and Summer sale, I really found myself becoming more interested in PC games at the time due to feeling it was more accessible to me and that there were more games I was interested in between all the new and old games on Steam. Towards the end of 2015 me and my brother built myself a PC out of spare parts which we later “finished” in February 2016 with a new case and heatsink. I was still interested in the Wii U and it’s library of Nintendo exclusives, but I was happy with a little budget PC build throughout 2016 and 2017.

Course, in March 2017, Nintendo released the Switch. Again I was pretty interested in it - the whole feature of being able to play it both on the TV and at home really appealed to me as someone who grew up with Nintendo’s handhelds but wanted to play “bigger” games that handhelds weren’t really capable of, and that was also aided by games like Super Mario Odyssey, but I wasn’t in a huge rush to buy one initially due to the costs of the system and me being happy with PC gaming.

The Wii U turned out to be the first eighth generation (home) console I bought - oddly enough though, in 2018. I had gotten my first job that summer and initially wanted to get a Switch with my first paycheck but again due the high costs of the system and games still was turning me off when I realized that after being discontinued for about a year Wii U stuff was starting to really drop in price. I kind of just figured that the Wii U would serve as a new experience, but I could grow a collection for the system a lot quicker. And honestly I don’t regret it, the time I spent collecting for the Wii U was really enjoyable. I did get a Nintendo Switch after my graduation the following year though, and this year I actually ended up buying an Xbox One X.

When it comes to my thoughts on the system, I will say I already did review the Wii U, Switch and Xbox One, so if you want a comprehensive review of those you should probably read those reviews, but I’ll give some brief thoughts on each system.

As I said, the Wii U was the system I was most interested in out of the initial console launches and throughout it’s lifespan it did continue to be the console I was most interested in - pretty much the only modern home console I was interested after getting PC gaming. It is safe to say though that the Wii U did not turn out to be a great success - it ended up being the worst selling console of the generation and Nintendo’s worst selling major console. And frankly, I would be lying if I said I didn’t see why - between the poor marketing of the system and the lack of third party support the system wasn’t exactly destined to succeed. However, I said that my time collecting for the Wii U, even after the Switch came out, was pretty great and I will stand by that. As a fan of platformers and Nintendo and retro games in general, the Wii U honestly just had more games I was interested in compared to both the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, and after picking up the system myself I really got a chance to respect the system’s unique library and features. The system has significantly gone down in price since the release of the Switch, so I was able to buy a good selection of games after working at my first job.

And for all the Wii U’s issues - including lack of third party support - I really felt the best games the system were pretty damn good, in some cases outright innovative. Super Mario Maker is probably the game that I felt used the Wii U’s main gimmick to the best of it’s ability - allowing players to use the Wii U gamepad to make custom Mario levels. As someone who’s been interested in the Super Mario World ROM hacking scene, the game by itself was a neat concept, and I think with how the Wii U gamepad was used, it arguably made the game hands down my favorite on the console. And yes, Super Mario Maker 2 has come out on the Switch, with many improvements to the core game, but to be honest I still get the impression that the original Super Mario Maker was just a game that worked “best” on the Wii U and really couldn’t quite be replicated anywhere else. Splatoon was also an interesting new IP in general, giving Nintendo their own shooter game that still had a lot of that Nintendo charm to it. And there were games like Super Mario 3D World, Mario Kart 8, Smash 4, Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze, Sonic Lost World and so on, and I really feel despite the Wii U having such a rough lifespan… it’s lineup of games was still pretty strong for what was there. Ultimately I don’t blame Nintendo for ditching the Wii U and moving onto the Switch, but for what it’s worth, I definitely got the impression that the Wii U’s lack of success didn’t necessarily stop Nintendo from making a really good lineup of games - which, in my opinion, honestly stood out to me a lot more than any PS4 or Xbox One exclusive.

But that moves me to talk about the next console that was announced and released, the PlayStation 4, Sony’s eighth generation system following the PlayStation 3… really, uh, clever names there. But anyway, like I said, I held some interest in the PlayStation 4. It wasn’t really a system I was waiting anxiously for or I was terribly excited for, but I expected it to be a good system. What I didn’t expect was the system to be as successful as it turned out to be. I mean, I figured it would be successful, but as of now, there have been over 112 million units sold and it is currently the third or fourth best selling console of all time. I can’t really tell exactly considering Game Boy and Game Boy Color sales are combined even though I kind of figured they were separate systems, but regardless, the PlayStation 4 has been a pretty massive success - selling at an even faster rate than the PlayStation 2, the current champion of best-selling consoles.

But in retrospect it doesn’t necessarily surprise me. After all, the PlayStation 4 was released alongside the Wii U and Xbox One - both consoles that have been sort of struggling since launch. The Wii U was obviously a financial flop - largely as a result of poor marketing and lack of third party support - and the Xbox One had a poor launch, and while it has picked up since then, I feel like it’s mostly just popular in the United States and regardless hasn’t seen success to the extent that the PlayStation 4 and even the Switch has. The PlayStation 4 really didn’t have any baggage at launch - it was $100 cheaper than the Xbox One, and unlike the PlayStation 3, was built with an architecture that most developers pretty easily understood, on top of not having any DRM against used games.

At one point, even as I was already into PC gaming, I even considered picking up a PlayStation 4 myself - around the time Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy was released and was initially exclusive to the system. But ultimately, I never did get around to buying a PlayStation 4, and honestly… I feel like once it was announced that Crash Bandicoot N Sane Trilogy was going to be released on other systems, I found… very little reason to buy a PlayStation 4.

I gotta be honest here, I have… not been that impressed by the PlayStation 4’s exclusive lineup. I know that’s kind of an unpopular opinion, but here’s the thing. I am not necessarily against Sony or the PlayStation line of consoles - in fact, in the seventh generation, I actually favored the PlayStation 3 over the Xbox 360 despite just having the latter between the two, and the PlayStation 1 and 2 I thought were really great, fun systems. And I think what made the libraries of the PS1, 2 and 3 stand out to me was there was generally a lot of variety as far as exclusive games were concerned - you had darker, gritty stuff like Metal Gear Solid, Tomb Raider, Final Fantasy VII, Shadow of the Colossus, Kingdom Hearts, God of War, Devil May Cry, Uncharted and the Last of Us, but alongside those, you also had brighter, more colorful and “fun” games like Crash Bandicoot, Spyro the Dragon, Ape Escape, Rayman, Jak and Daxter, Ratchet and Clank, Sly Cooper and LittleBigPlanet.

But going through the PlayStation 4’s exclusive library, I find that variety to be… kind of lacking. Most of the PlayStation 4’s best exclusives simply fall into that “darker, gritty” category and even then just fall into a couple genres - Action-adventure games that are split into a few subgenres, mostly cover shooters and hack and slash games. And as someone who’s not really into those types of games, I honestly just don’t really feel the PlayStation 4’s exclusive library appeals that much to me. As a fan of a lot of PlayStation platformers I find them almost non-existent on the PS4. The only ones I can really think of being Ratchet and Clank (2016), which from what I’ve heard out of the R&C community is a pretty weak reboot, LittleBigPlanet 3 which is also on the PlayStation 3, and Crash Bandicoot N. Sane Trilogy, which I actually was excited for but it just turned out to be a timed exclusive and went multiplatform a year later.

Now, to be fair, there are plenty of people who like these types of games, and if you do, you’ll probably get more enjoyment out of the PS4’s exclusive lineup. And either way I’m not necessarily in favor of the concept of console exclusives in general - I feel like by providing a $300 barrier to play certain games, they just end up alienating people from being able to play those games and causing the game developer to lose a sale, and I feel like their role in “competition” is a bit overstated - I feel like most people just buy whatever console based on features, specifications, price or just whatever is giving a unique experience, in the case of the Switch. But… that’s a topic for another time.

Thing is though, looking past the PlayStation 4’s exclusive lineup, I can’t really say I feel like there’s anything that makes the PlayStation 4 stand out to me compared to… honestly all the other major systems from this generation, plus PC. And okay, to be entirely fair, you could say the same thing about the Wii U, for as much as I’ve expressed my enjoyment of the system, but at the same time, I felt like the Wii U’s exclusive releases were more interesting to me than really any exclusive on the PS4 - which, yes, just comes down to personal taste - but I could also give the Wii U that it was a unique experience, and over anything else, there was still backwards compatibility and Virtual Console to fall back on.

Obviously, it’s safe to say that the PlayStation 4’s main competitor is the Xbox One. And for all the issues that system had - including a bad launch and lead up to that launch, I feel like Microsoft has at least done a good job of implementing features that have made the Xbox One stand out to me. The Xbox One X is specifically the most powerful console of the eighth generation - not as powerful as many modern gaming PCs but still the most power you can get out of an eighth generation console. And along with that, the Xbox One has backwards compatibility with a good amount of OG Xbox and Xbox 360 games, services like Xbox Game Pass and integration with Microsoft Windows. The PS4 does have something similar to Xbox Game Pass in the form of PlayStation Now, but unfortunately due to being a cloud-based service, it has the same issues that cloud based gaming services usually have (compared to Xbox Game Pass where you actually have the game downloaded onto your system). There’s also PS VR, which is a feature you can’t get on other consoles aside for PC, but at the same time if you’re not really interested in VR or have the ability to pay for a good PC and VR headset then that’s something that can be easily overlooked.

And that’s kind of the thing - outside of exclusives that I don’t really care about anyway, I don’t really feel the PlayStation 4 offers me anything that any other platform doesn’t. The Wii U and Switch both offered unique experiences on top of having IMO more interesting and unique exclusives, and while the Xbox One is lacking in the exclusives department, it still has a good line of features that make for a good console experience all around, and that’s not to mention the greater power, freedom and versatility on PC.

And another thing I really dislike that Sony did this generation was piggyback off of Microsoft’s idea to have paid online. One of the biggest advantages of the PlayStation 3 over the Xbox 360 was free online - you didn’t have to pay a subscription just to play with your friends. But, with the PS4, Sony started requiring users to pay for a subscription, and it’s pretty blatant that in both cases there really isn’t any benefit to having paid online compared to PC where you don’t have this paywall. You do get free monthly games, but in PS Plus’ case you only keep those games for as long as you have PS Plus. At least with Xbox Live you actually get to keep the games you get while subscribing.

Now, don’t get me wrong here - I am not by any means a PlayStation hater or Xbox fanboy or anything of that sort. In fact, even though my brother had an Xbox 360, I was always more interested in the PlayStation 3 and what that offered, and I’ve stated before that the Xbox brand has never really interested me in the past. Yet, I still feel that in recent times the PlayStation 4 has really failed to get my attention in any way and incentivize me to want to get the system.

And that brings me to the Xbox One. As stated, I didn’t have very high expectations for this system going into it due to the rumored DRM policies, underwhelming showcases and just a bad lead-up to the console’s launch in general. I can’t say I was really into the Xbox brand in the first place, and originally the Xbox One wasn’t making me change my mind.

Of course though, I ended up getting an Xbox One X earlier this year, and it’s a console that I’ve spent a lot of time with. So… what changed my mind?

Well, I gotta say first of all that on the exclusive front, the Xbox One really isn’t great. The system honestly lacks a really good killer app for itself, and every Xbox One “exclusive” that’s been released, especially during the second half of the console’s life, has also been simultaneously released on Windows PCs. Some games like Cuphead and Ori have even been ported to other consoles like the Switch and the PlayStation 4.

But I think people don’t really understand why Microsoft has been so open with their exclusives. I went over a little bit why I think console exclusives (especially third party ones) have become an outdated concept that just disadvantages both the consumer and developer - and I think Microsoft is seeing that as well. Now, it’s safe to say that the Xbox brand hasn’t exactly been the strongest in the industry - Microsoft has never even profited from Xbox systems and the Xbox brand has only really been historically popular in the United States. Okay, the Xbox 360 saw some success outside of there, but I think it’s safe to say most of Xbox’s sales and whatnot largely come from the west. Microsoft’s goal with their IPs is ultimately to get as many people to play as they can, and are more focused on creating a good console experience with features and power, as well as giving the consumer more options, rather than banking entirely on exclusives.

This has been their strategy since about 2016, and with the Xbox Series S and X, that isn’t going to stop any time soon. And I think despite the Xbox’s lack of exclusives, as well as it’s poor launch and leadup, they have made the Xbox One itself to just be a good console experience.

I think one of the first things that really shifted my opinion of the Xbox One was backwards compatibility. In 2015, Microsoft began working 360 backwards compatibility into the system, and in 2017, this was followed up with original Xbox backwards compatibility. Not only could you use your OG Xbox or Xbox 360 discs with the system, but they were also enhanced by the system - upscaled for free. I will admit that this feature didn’t really get expanded upon as much as I’d like prior to the Xbox Series systems being announced - only about a quarter of the Xbox 360’s library is supported, and only 42 original Xbox games were also made backwards compatible. On the plus side I do think Microsoft mostly focused on the best games from those systems over anything else - Blinx, Panzer Dragoon Orta, Morrowind, the Mass Effect trilogy, the 360 Halo games, and most of the Sonic games for the 360 aside for Sonic 06… which, hey, I mean, wasn’t exactly a great game that needed to be backwards compatible, but it would’ve been nice to have the entire OG Xbox and 360 libraries available or at least just more of the original Xbox’s library. Regardless though, the fact that the Xbox One has backwards compatibility at all - especially with all generations of Xbox systems - was a very good move by Microsoft. In fact, aside for the Wii U, it’s the only current gen home console that has actual backwards compatibility in some form. 

But in addition to backwards compatibility, there are some other things that I felt Microsoft did well to at least try to turn around the image of the Xbox One. I honestly feel like them porting Xbox One exclusives to PC, and in general integrating the Xbox ecosystem with Windows was a good move - it gives the Xbox One a bit of overlap with PC gaming and gives incentive for people to transfer over or go between the two, while having the system’s games be available to more people.  I also think the way they introduced different models of the Xbox One with the S and later the X was also a good move. I mean, to be perfectly honest, moving away from the big bulky DVR-looking original model was a good move on it’s own, but I think the way Microsoft introduced more hardware options and in the process releasing a more compact version of the Xbox One with a cheaper price did make the system more accessible to those wanting to transfer over to the next console generation and also gave the consumer their own choice as the X released the following year. Either pay the $300 price tag for the Xbox One S which served as the “standard” console, or if one wanted to get the most out of their system, they could pay $500 for the X and have a more “premium” experience. And it seems like they’re continuing this sort of the thing with Xbox Series S and Series X, which is a good idea in my opinion.

Although honestly I still have no idea what the fuck was even the point of the Xbox One S All-Digital Edition, especially considering it was only available for a year.

But I think, honestly, one of the biggest selling points of the Xbox One right now is hands down Xbox Game Pass. And I’ll say it - Xbox Game Pass is honestly the best gaming subscription service you can get. You can get Xbox Game Pass Ultimate for $15 a month, and have access to a good chunk of games available on both Windows and Xbox while also having Xbox Live Gold. And the games are downloaded to the system too rather than being streamed, meaning that any issues that come up with cloud-based services are practically non-existent. You can get Xbox Game Pass on PC as well, but it’s a good option if you are just more of a console player. And not only do you get Xbox One and Windows games but in addition there’s some 360 and OG Xbox games added in the mix as well.

And I think for what it is, Microsoft really set off what they wanted to accomplish with the Xbox One - essentially, create an all-in-one entertainment device while creating an ecosystem that pretty much anyone with a Windows computer can jump into. Ultimately, their goal wasn’t necessarily to have a best-selling console with top notch exclusives, but to have a system that served as a center for entertainment and games and create more of an ecosystem among Microsoft products.

Of course, I’m also not going to completely shill Microsoft here. While I do think that they do have a goal with the Xbox One that most people don’t really seem to understand, there are still some concerns with the system that I want to address. In a more minor case, unsurprisingly, Xbox Live still requires a monthly subscription and, like the PS4, it doesn’t really offer any benefit to online play. I’ll at least give them that you can at least keep the free games you get even if you stop paying for Xbox Live, but I still just don’t understand the point or benefit behind putting console multiplayer behind a paywall.

But I think one of the biggest issues - not necessarily with the Xbox in particular but with Microsoft in general - is that I feel like they haven’t really done much with their IPs or the studios they have acquired. I would definitely say that Microsoft’s most recognizable IP is that Halo series - that is of course what put the Xbox on the map initially. Yet, in recent years, I feel like that series has stagnated. Now, to be fair, I was never really a big Halo person to begin with - in fact to be honest I haven’t really played any of the games. But I don’t really feel like it’s the big, knockout title that it used to be - I feel like Halo 5 released to little fanfare and just sort of came and went, and I think ultimately the series is really due for a real knockout success. Something new, something that changes the series up. And maybe Halo Infinite will be just that, but it’s just a case of waiting and seeing. Then there’s something like Crackdown 3, which got delayed multiple times and came out to lukewarm reception. I feel like right now, the most notable Microsoft IP is, well, Forza, but I don’t think that alone is making people turn their heads towards Microsoft’s IPs.

This isn’t to say that there haven’t been great games from Microsoft owned studios - two that definitely come to mind are Cuphead and both Ori games, but these come off to me as more niche titles than anything. Overall, outside of these indie games, I feel like Microsoft hasn’t really been taking many risks with their IPs, and that’s sort of led to a content drought on their behalf.

But.... for the final console I have to talk about, the last console released in the eighth generation… the Nintendo Switch. When I posted my Top 5 consoles list back in April, I stated the Nintendo Switch was my favorite console. And, honestly, this still stands. 

I think it is safe to say that the Nintendo Switch was a risk that Nintendo had to take. Obviously, the Wii U was struggling, and it was pretty clear that Nintendo needed to go back to the drawing board. And the Switch turned out to be a unique system - something that had power close to that of the current gen consoles while having the feature that allowed it to be used as both a handheld system and a standard console. The announcement trailer released in October 2016 definitely made it come off as an interesting system, but at the same time, not everyone was believing right away that it was going to be a success. I actually remember there were a lot of people thinking the Switch was going to flop like the Wii U did - the Switch was still underpowered compared to current gen systems, especially at this point in the console generation where the PlayStation 4 Pro and Xbox One X were going to release.

But of course, despite the Switch having that disadvantage, it’s safe to say that it didn’t flop. A lot of people really liked the Switch’s main feature as both a portable and home system, and for all I said about exclusives, I will have to concede that I do think it was aided by having two big releases in it’s first year, one of them being at launch, and those being of course The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey. Both of which were also nominated for Game of the Year, and the former outright winning the prize. 

The Switch turned out to be the fastest selling console of all time, selling even faster than Nintendo’s previous breakout success, the Wii, and it managed to outsell the Wii U’s lifetime sales just in it’s first year, and has outsold not only the NES and SNES, but also the Xbox One, despite being available for a shorter amount of time. 

I personally didn’t own the Switch until a couple years later - it was actually a graduation gift from my aunt, and the first couple games I bought for the system were Super Mario Odyssey and Team Sonic Racing (which had just come out the week I graduated). And having it for almost a year and a half now, it’s honestly a system I have a lot of fun with. Not only have I really enjoyed the lineup of first party games between Super Mario Odyssey, Super Mario Maker 2, Splatoon 2, the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon remaster, Super Smash Bros Ultimate and especially Animal Crossing: New Horizons which has become my favorite game on the system, but it’s also my platform of choice for a lot of third party single player games simply due to the portable aspect. In fact, I’ve actually found myself buying a lot of games I’ve already purchased in the past on the Switch simply due to this feature - including a lot of my personal favorite games from the past few years such as Overwatch, Undertale, Night in the Woods, Sonic Mania, Crash Bandicoot: N-Sane Trilogy, Freedom Planet and Yooka-Laylee.

I think it really helps that I honestly grew up heavily with Nintendo’s handhelds, between the Game Boy Advance and the 3DS, and I think having a handheld with something that can run many current-gen console games really makes the Switch all the more appealing to me. Plus, well, I just really like Nintendo and their games.

But… I do have some criticisms though. For one… paid online. Something I’ve complained about with the other two systems, and unfortunately with Nintendo moving on to their next system, they decided to adopt this same idea. Problem is, Nintendo has historically never been great with online play, and if you think putting it behind a subscription service would make it better… I have some unfortunate news for you. I actually feel like the Switch’s online is, oddly enough, a step down from the Wii U’s. The Wii U wasn’t too great in this either, but it still had a good amount of features, and above all else, allowed friend requests to be sent with usernames rather than friend codes. The Nintendo Switch goes back to using friend codes and strips away a lot of the Wii U’s features, and the quality of the online itself is pretty bad.

I will say that I do like the NES and SNES service you get for paying online, but even this just feels like a really minor benefit for paying for online. And okay, the online isn’t too expensive - only $20 a year, but you would think if they were going to charge for online that Nintendo would at least make some attempt to improve their infrastructure. In which case, they haven’t. 

And I guess I could criticize Nintendo for still not having features like Netflix or a web browser, but in the case of Netflix I’m not really sure if that’s directly their fault, and either way I think it is good for them to have a greater focus on making the Switch a fun game system. But I will criticize them for one thing - joycon drift. This is a major issue with the Switch and franky, Nintendo has handled this situation horribly. They pretty much had to be pressured into fixing people’s joycons by the courts, and the problem is still pretty prevalent. I myself had the issue earlier this year - my blue joycon I initially got with my Switch started drifting, and with the pandemic situation halting repairs I didn’t really have any choice other than to buy a new pair. At least now I have a purple joycon though, but… still.

And another thing I have to criticize is how Nintendo still continues to sell their games for full price regardless of how recently they came out. Not only is Nintendo selling their new games from this generation like Breath of the Wild and Super Mario Odyssey for $60 despite both being three years old at this point, but also selling their Wii U ports for full price. Now, I don’t blame them for re-releasing their Wii U games, but my issue is that they’re selling barely improved ports of 4-8 year old games for full price. And unfortunately considering how well they’re selling I don’t think this is going to stop any time soon.

But, anyway, I still really like the Switch. Some of Nintendo’s actions have been questionable, but I do think the Switch has offered a really unique experience and is honestly the kind of console that I… honestly didn’t really know I wanted until it came out. A portable console that can run console-quality titles and many of my favorite games both old and new.

Whew, that went on a lot longer than I was expecting. I was going to talk about games and other aspects of this generation that I liked in one post, but, well, my discussion on eighth gen consoles has already gone on for long enough. So, I’m going to split this retrospective into parts. So stay tuned for Part 2, when I talk about some of my favorite and least favorite games from this generation and the practices surrounding many games.