Is 2017 Nintendo's best year ever?

[Ronnie]

- A fantastic console/handheld that every loves, launched successfully, fastest selling ever, and been the talk of the industry
- One of the most critically acclaimed Zelda games ever, a bold re-invention for the series
- One of the most critically acclaimed Mario games ever, a true successor to a game changer in the industry
- The return of Metroid !
- An upgraded version of the already excellent Mario Kart 8
- New IP in Arms that people seem to like a lot
- A highly successful collaboration with Ubisoft
- Encouraging third party support from Rockstar and Bethesda
- Insane indie support with expert curation and promotion from Nintendo
- Some of the best advertising they've done in a decade
- Cult hits like Splatoon 2, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem Warriors either out or soon to release
- Mobile games like Fire Emblem Heroes doing very well for them, and Animal Crossing Pocket Camp looking fantastic
- SNES mini flying off shelves
- Arguably the best iteration of the 3DS system: the new 2DS XL quietly released
- Not a lootbox in sight

What a great year, excited to see what 2018 brings

Edited October 27, 2017 by Ronnie

[Blade]

For Nintendo to have two potential game of the year fantastic. A developer's dream. Only Nintendo could potentially compete against themselves for game of the year.

[Hero-of-Time]

It's been a very successful year for them. The Switch has had a great launch and keeps going from strength to strength. Their mobile business is doing great, what with Fire Emblem Heroes doing very well and Animal Crossing on the horizon. A special mention goes to the 3DS. This has had a stupidly strong year in terms of quality software. It's a shame many moved on from it so quickly.

[Ronnie]

What's the 3DS up to now, nearly 70 million I think? That's pretty crazy given it was launched when mobile gaming had taken off.

[Ashley]

13 minutes ago, Ronnie said:

- Not a lootbox in sight

 

It has been a fantastic year for them.  It's nice to see them hit back swinging after an economically difficult few years.

[Oxigen_Waste]

2002 will never be topped, personally. Metroid is my fav Nintendo IP and it became so precisely because that 1-2 Metroid Fusion and Prime punch hit me so hard... Prime was the first time I ever imported a game. That IGN score coupled with the impact Fusion had just had on me plus the ease of importing through videogamesplus was the perfect storm. Pikmin came out of nowhere to become my second fav Nintendo IP to this very day. Smash Brothers Melee remains near perfect 15 years later, Wind Waker (2003 for the West I know, but it did release 2002) was my first 3D Zelda and despite it's flaws is still a tremendous achievement and Mario Sunshine, despite the hate it gets, is a great game in it's own right. "Worst 3D Mario ever" yet it's still better than any other 3D platformer around and was absolutely perfect in my eyes at the time as a big M64 fan.

 

Then there's Advance Wars, Luigi's Mansion, Golden Sun, Mario Party 4 and even Starfox Adventures made a positive impression on me since I had never played any Starfox game. It was a particularly great year for me since Super Mario World and Kirby's Adventure got remakes/remasters on the GBA that year and it was the first time I played either or those (first Kirby ever).

Let's not mention the third party bombs that got released on Nintendo hardware that year, btw... REmake alone was the biggest reason I even got a Gamecube at the time. Sega died on me and RE was one of my fav IPs on the Dreamcast so if it weren't for REmake I would've probably never even become such a huge Nintendo fan. Didn't much care for them at that point in time outside Pokemon and playing Mario 64/SMB3 at my cousin's.

[Dcubed]

It’s been a good year, but absolutely not.

 

The answer is either 1998, 2004, 2010 or 2014.  Those are all the best years of their respective generations.  Every generation always has that one year where everything comes together and we’re still far off from that for Switch.

[Blade]

3 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

It’s been a good year, but absolutely not.

 

The answer is either 1998, 2004, 2010 or 2014.  Those are all the best years of their respective generations.  Every generation always has that one year where everything comes together and we’re still far off from that for Switch.

2014?

[Ronnie]

9 minutes ago, Dcubed said:

It’s been a good year, but absolutely not.

 

The answer is either 1998, 2004, 2010 or 2014.  Those are all the best years of their respective generations.  Every generation always has that one year where everything comes together and we’re still far off from that for Switch.

Going by that logic we wouldn't be able to judge 2017 until the Switch gets discontinued and we can reflect on each year as a whole.

2014: Smash, MK8, Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad, Bayonetta 2, DKC Tropical Freeze, Kirby Triple Deluxe
2010: Galaxy 2, DKCR, Kirby Epic Yarn, Other M, Xenoblade
2004: Paper Mario TTYD, Pikmin 2, Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Zero Mission, Minish Cap
1998: Ocarina of Time, F-Zero X, Banjo, 1080, Rogue Squadron

Personally think 2017 beats all of them. I wasn't talking about just games anyway. The Switch launch, their mobile games, advertising, the SNES Classic etc

Edited October 27, 2017 by Ronnie

[Glen-i]

For Nintendo, maybe.

For me? Nah, not even close. No Ninty game I've played has really stood out for me. Haven't played Odyssey yet, but it doesn't give me the feeling that it's way better than any other 3D Mario. Which is certainly no bad thing.

Zelda bored me for the first time ever in the series. So a massive low point there. So far, my game of the year is a contest between Wonder Boy and Monster Hunter Stories, neither of which are Ninty games. Mainline Pokemon is still pretending Gens 2-5 don't exist 4 games on the bloody trot, and won't even throw me a Battle Frontier so I can look past it.

And don't even get me started on the mobile shenanigans! 2017 has been a pretty lame Ninty year for me. I'm hoping Fire Emblem Warriors can salvage it a little, even if the character movesets are nowhere near inspired as Hyrule. If 2018 drops a Smash 4 port with a few extra features, then it's about 75% on it's way to beating 2017.

EDIT: Every year Dcubed mentioned has been better for me. But holy crap, 2014 totally blew me away. Smash? Bayo? MK!?

Edited October 27, 2017 by Glen-i

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Great topic!

It's certainly a strong argument, overall for Nintendo they've done an absolute number this year, everything they've touched has turned to gold and every mistake they've made or idiotic decision they've come up with has been quickly forgotten; that's always a sign things are going your way!

Switch has landed at the perfect time for me in my life, so much so I'll never go back to just a TV set up console ever, if I can't play a game anywhere I want in any fashion I want, then it's not for me

[Sheikah]

Going by that logic we wouldn't be able to judge 2017 until the Switch gets discontinued and we can reflect on each year as a whole.

2014: Smash, MK8, Hyrule Warriors, Captain Toad, Bayonetta 2, DKC Tropical Freeze, Kirby Triple Deluxe

2010: Galaxy 2, DKCR, Kirby Epic Yarn, Other M, Xenoblade

2004: Paper Mario TTYD, Pikmin 2, Metroid Prime 2, Metroid Zero Mission, Minish Cap

1998: Ocarina of Time, F-Zero X, Banjo, 1080, Rogue Squadron

Personally think 2017 beats all of them. I wasn't talking about just games anyway. The Switch launch, their mobile games, advertising, the SNES Classic etc

Given that this year has a new Zelda (and one of the best in nearly 20 years) and a critically acclaimed 3D Mario, it's hard to say "absolutely not" to this year to be honest!

 

I do think Smash Melee is one of the best ever games though.

[Jonnas]

Between the Switch and FE Heroes, I'd say this has been a pretty darn good year for Nintendo. This coming from a guy who rarely plays games on their year of release.

Though from this thread, I'm convinced that 2002 was the best year ever.

[Ronnie]

2002 was great, but no console launch, no mobile games, or SNES classic (most gaming hardware sales in September) etc. It's the culmination of a lot of things that makes 2017 special IMO. That and having two 10/10 games within 9 months of each other

[Kav]

It’s between this year and 2010 for me, with 2010 edging it... just!

[Grazza]

It's been an amazing year for Nintendo.  I'm just repeating many of your points, @Ronnie, but there has been a huge new Mario and Zelda, the return of Metroid, great hardware, good indie support (and parity) and prominent advertising.  Nintendo has worked out how to be genuinely cool without being forced to keep up with the hardware spec of Microsoft and Sony.

 

But I must relegate 2017 to 2nd-best, purely based on software quality.  What's great about now is that Nintendo has a generation of programmers who can make technically-impressive games again.  They're in a much better place than they were during the Wii and Wii U years, but the one thing they slightly lack is that sense of authorship and directorship they had at their true zenith.  In that regard, I must say 2002 was the best.

 

I'm loving Mario Odyssey and so far think it's a match for Sunshine.  As for the others... Breath of the Wild was staggeringly impressive and genuinely awesome in the literal sense, but for me it doesn't match the whole vision or gameplay of Wind Waker.  Samus Returns was great to have, but doesn't quite match Fusion, and in 2002 we had Prime as well.  So a great year indeed, but not quite the best software.

 

The best thing though is that 2017 has proved many gamers have a genuine love for Nintendo.  When we criticised during the Wii years, it's because we meant it, not because we had a bias against the company.  If anything, we have a bias towards the company and just yearned for the days when they were going to soar to great heights again, like they are thankfully doing right now.