Soapbox features allow individual writers and contributors to voice their opinions on hot topics and random stuff they’ve been chewing on. Today, Gavin takes a quick look at some hot snaps from 2022 and instantly transforms into a puzzled John C. Reilly…
As a Nintendo-focused site, we will naturally be more positive about Nintendo than you know, other Web sites. We have a team that works with Nintendo fans, and as fans with a long history of covers and enjoying the company’s products, Nintendo games and hardware will resonate with us. That doesn’t stop us from being disappointed or even angry at times when it comes to some of the more puzzling podium picks – often the pitfalls annoy us the most! – But just as you’d expect PlayStation and Xbox sites to rave about Sony and Microsoft #content, we’re here to love some Switch games. Crazy, right?
And there have been many in the last year! We succeeded Check out over 300 It’s 2022 and unfortunately there are many great characters that we have had to face. For me, it was like a year of wall-to-wall fun, so I was a little disoriented to see titles like “Without Pokemon, 2022 has been a sad year for the Switch‘ AND ‘Bankruptcy of 2022: Nintendo Switch has really shown its ageWhen year-end summaries started appearing on the gaming web in December.
That’s not to say the premise of articles like the one above isn’t understood, and many other commenters have shared similar sentiments. surely, Pokémon Legends: Arceus AND scarlet and purple; It’s the big hits and yes, the devices are getting old – we’re coming to an end YOU After all, a whole year on store shelves. However, as eye-opening as it may be to the world to see Nintendo Life “defend the honor” of a Nintendo console, these arguments seem outlandish to me given the amazing games we’ve all been enjoying in 2022.
Let’s take Pokemon out of the equation for a moment. This leaves the first-party include list Xenoblade Chronicles 3AND Kirby and the Forgotten LandAND Splatoon 3AND Nintendo Switch SportsAND Mario Strikers: Battle League. Nintendo also released Fire Emblem Warriors: Three HopesAND Bayonet 3and developer Square Enix Triangle strategy AND live alive. Say what you like about the individual games in this collection, and stock up on those that aren’t in-house developed if you like, but this is an eclectic collection of software packed with quality. And this completely ignores all the games published by third parties, of which there were a lot. At the time of writing, Scarlet and Violet isn’t even in the top 50 in our reader rankings The best Switch games of 2022 List.
No, 2022 hasn’t brought a completely new Mario or Zelda, but with Kingdom tears Needing a little more time in the oven, it’s up to Pokémon to support Nintendo’s release schedule with this year’s Support Pillars. To say the year was a disappointment if you didn’t like Pokémon is like saying the PS5 would have been a disappointment if it weren’t for the Sony exclusives. ‘without horizon AND God of War, 2022 will be sad for PS5. Um, yeah? It’s time for another We delay Repost again? And Microsoft released everything In 2022!? “Without Game Pass, 2022 would have been Boo Boo for Xbox.”
Maybe it’s just me. With little kids enjoying my free time like an impossibly cute and expensive sponge, I don’t play 24/7 like I used to, and the Switch fits right into my lifestyle. 200 hours of Elden ringthe most obvious jewel in the 2022 crown that Switch games have been denied is simply not an option right now.
I also fully understand that everyone who has ever bought and played elsewhere received the premium port adapter – a Person 5s (finally!), e Yoke: automatayes, th No man’s skys, and the like – the blows were thinner. But I would still say that the sheer variety of games coming to Switch in 2022, both old and new, exclusive and otherwise, has been exciting. There was just an absolute selection of titles to enjoy. There’s nothing wrong with playing only your favorite genre or buying a system just to play a certain series like, for example, call of Duty or Fifa (In that case, the Switch definitely isn’t the console for you!), but I struggle to understand how anyone who loves video games could call last year’s release such a disappointment for the system. Even if we destroy Pokemon for the sake of argument.
According to the Switch Age Meter, this has been a problem since 2017. Almost from the start, we’ve seen calls for upgraded hardware with a little more horsepower to run bigger games better. Yes, it would be nice to see more titles hit the frame rate and resolution targets more regularly, and new hardware is definitely on the horizon over the next year or so, but as the platform matures, developers get better at it. squeeze the best out of that, and that was certainly a test in 2022. We’re seeing calls from developers For Microsoft to stop holding back more powerful consoles by making support for lower spec Xbox Series S hardware mandatory, so it seems odd to single out the Switch when its limitations are well documented and 30fps caps are starting to show up for big games. names on PS5 and Xbox (looking at you, Knights of Gotham). And many Switch games, against all odds, as they always have, performed stellar!
Apologies if this sounds “reckless”, but it’s been frankly baffling to see gamers and YouTubers describe 2022 as useless to Switch owners. Imagine “Only three Marvel movies coming out, what a terrible year for cinema” as the headline. Same energy! Each month brought me a new wave of unmissable offers. I won’t compare The Lean Wii U Years™, the ease of portable play, or the price of proprietary titles versus the competition because none of that really matters. In terms of quality game releases in 2022, I’d say the Switch has held up handily to the PS5 and Xbox.
With Nintendo potentially diverting internal resources and attention to the next console and prioritizing its proprietary software release schedule to repeat the once-a-month Switch cadence that put Switch in such a good position in its year of launch, 2023 will likely be such a “quiet” year, with Zelda: TOTK doing the heavy lifting for the current system. I can’t wait to reveal the new hardware along with all the other Nintendo fans out there, but we shouldn’t let the lack of “Switch Pro” or “Switch 2” commercials or a long overdue game delay let us down. He stayed for what was a truly stellar year.
Will we see titles similar to “Without Zelda…” in December, then? Likely. Hopefully, 2023 will be as wonderfully disappointing on Switch as 2022.
What is your opinion? Was 2022 a sad year just for Pokémon? Let Gavin know if he should splurge on crazy pills by voting in the poll below and leaving a comment if you get fancy.
And make sure you have a Happy New Year too!
