NintendObs Thinks: I'm a Nintendo gamer. Most of the games I'm playing are not by Nintendo.
Obviously: there's a plethora of second- and third-party games on Nintendo Switch.
I only play Nintendo. Period. If I’m not playing on my Nintendo Switch, I’m playing Fire Emblem Heroes on my smart device. As a consumer, there is no sound reason why I should have to buy another platform and invest in another business model for games that aren’t exclusives, and when it comes to exclusives, Nintendo has me covered 100%. Yet, I’ve noticed something weird in my gameplay experience lately, or at least something that seems weird given the ethos surrounding Nintendo and third-party developers: I’m actually not playing games made by Nintendo at the moment.
This is a bit of a stretch since, by “made by Nintendo” I specifically mean games made by Nintendo EPD, the company’s core studio that produces the Marios and the Zeldas people are driven to believe are the only things Nintendo outputs, erroneously. Case in point, though I am not playing it right now, Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is not made by Nintendo: it is made by Sora (Masahiro Sakurai) and Bandai Namco Games. I just finished playing Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, maxing out Link’s Master Sword and Zelda’s Bow of Light and getting everything done 100% (Koroks…) in anticipation for the Expansion Pass: the game is developed by Koei Tecmo Games. I’m also including Xenoblade Chronicles Definitive Edition in this, my adventure game of the moment, for being crafted by Monolith Soft, which makes me tinker a little bit with that “made by Nintendo” definition since Monolith belongs indeed to the Nintendo conglomerate.
I play a lot of actual third-party games on my Nintendo Switch right now, and I would argue they are the games I play the most. Just like with Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, I recently finished CrossCode completely (minus a few achievements) to prepare for the DLC arriving on consoles this summer. And in another similarity with Hyrule Warriors Age of Calamity, I’ve been playing it for over 100 hours. Overwatch Legendary Edition immediately comes to mind, my go-to game every time I want to play and listen to a podcast at the same time, which happens very often. This is how I get to learn about the world while grinding my coins and filling my collections. And finally, my current addiction: Hades. When I really want to get down for a one-hour session, that’s the game I’m talking about. It’s insane how they managed to make what would appear to be a repetitive experience so fresh every single time you try it again.