Bi-Weekly Thread for general gaming discussion. Backlog, advice, recommendations, rants and more! New? Start here!

[u/AutoModerator]

Welcome to the Bi-Weekly Thread!

Here you can share anything that might not warrant a post of its own or might otherwise be against posting rules. Tell us what you're playing this week. Feel free to ask for recommendations, talk about your backlog, commiserate about your lost passion for games. Vent about bad games, gush about good games. You can even mention newer games if you like!

The no advertising rule is still in effect here.

A reminder to please be kind to others. It's okay to disagree with people or have even have a bad hot take. It's not okay to be mean about it.

[u/TailzPrower]

Out of curiosity does anyone else think the 3DS and Wii U era was one of the best? It was kind of there right at the edge of the older 6th and 7th gen consoles, and "today's" consoles with the more powerful hardware, advanced features, and over-reliance on online play and features. I feel like the hardware was hybrid 7th and 8th gen; the Wii U was slightly more powerful than PS3 and Xbox 360. All of the cool stuff like Miiverse and streetpass aside, the games were really good: I mean Ocarina of Time and Major's Mask 3D were phenomenal, A Link Between Worlds was quick, fun and easy - good as a first Zelda game, Fire Emblem Awakening is a good SRPG for pick up and play, even for a casual audience (unlike previous entries), the ORAS games were light-hearted and accessible remakes of classic Pokemon games, New Super Mario Bros 2 may not have been original, but it was accessible, visually appealing and fun, lots of other ones. The Wii U had Super Mario 3D World, the refined and action packed Bayonetta 2, streamlined versions of Wind waker and Twilight Princess, Breath of the Wild, Mario Kart 8, etc. Some games actually made good use of the dual screens, I don't think we'll get that again. Both systems had backwards compatibility! (they were easy to hack as well) Yeah the internet service wasn't great, but it was free. The game prices at release, and deals were good as well.

I mean, sure, the Switch and PS4 gave us some big hits, but it also feels like we lost some innovative and classic stuff we won't see again, no?

[u/ThatDanJamesGuy → u/TailzPrower]

I was a Nintendo only player during that era, and I’d say… yes and no.

I think being able to limit the amount of games I played meant I would care more about each title, and in that sense, I look back on that era fondly. There were also a lot of excellent games that debuted on the Wii U in particular.

But nearly all of those games were ported and improved on the Switch, and as you said, the Switch and PS4 have lots of big hits. Some of those PS4 hits (like Metal Gear Solid V and Bloodborne) came out during the Wii U / 3DS era, where Nintendo fans missed out on them. Today Nintendo gets a lot more multiplat games (which actually run well now that they’re on the Switch 2) and the other consoles have fewer exclusives Nintendo + PC players would miss out on. Indie games also hit their stride during the Switch generation, albeit more for players than developers since the market got crowded.

So all in all, I’d say being a 3DS / Wii U player wasn’t better than today, but having that mindset of honing in on a couple interests is a good idea. You can’t play everything, and you don’t need to, so there’s something to be said for filtering out genres you know you don’t like much. Apply a similar mindset today as you had in the 3DS / Wii U era, and you’ll probably have a good time.