Now you’re playing power. A mantra Nintendo used to proudly wear on its sleeve. Beyond its hardware, the company’s real power has always been the art of connecting players through wholesome, family-friendly gaming. Yet, there’s a change in the air, a new wind that could mature its image with the arrival of the Nintendo Switch 2. If rumors of Xbox titles and even Rockstar Games’ GTA 6 landing on the handheld come true, this could be the aesthetic overhaul Nintendo should embrace.
Nintendo’s mission statement promises to “create smiles for generations,” and hopes to “put smiles on the faces of everyone we touch.” That emanates strongly across its advertising campaigns. Glossy living rooms filled with perfect families. Nintendo’s latest console sitting gracefully within their TV unit, showcasing a new Wii game, or a new Switch game these days. While not an exclusive idea in games marketing, Nintendo has long relied on the cozy vibes of lounging on the couch to batter your friends on Mario Kart or Super Smash Bros. It’s just a little too sterile.
Nintendo’s figureheads of Mario, Sonic, and Pokemon breathe life into colorful experiences, but that’s often where its child-focused reputation stems from. That’s not to say that these franchises are juvenile, as many of them often appear in the rankings of the best Switch games. Nintendo is a renegade, though.
It has earned an incredibly unique spot in the industry, not unlike developers like Rockstar Games, who can command their audiences without conforming to the norm. If Nintendo wanted to announce a new Kid Icarus game or the revival of Earthbound, it could easily drop a random post at 5:38 am on a Thursday to sensational fanfare.
Turning its gaze to older players would be breaking convention. Ahead of the next Nintendo Direct and the Nintendo Switch 2’s launch, rumors are rife regarding the console’s game roster. Halo: The Master Chief Collection, Forza Horizon 5, and GTA 6 are all in the conversation.
Take-Two Interactive CEO Strauss Zelnick said in a recent earnings call that “there was a time when Nintendo platforms were geared at younger audiences […] today, with Switch and potentially with Switch 2, the Switch device can support any audience.” We’ve seen previous GTA games land on Nintendo hardware, whether that’s lackluster Game Boy iterations, the brilliant GTA: Chinatown, or those divisive trilogy remasters.
Alongside that, Nintendo has proved it can welcome riskier experiences. We all remember Mad World on the Wii. Eternal Darkness claimed a spot with the horror greats on the Gamecube. Goldeneye puts us in the shoes of once problematic cinema icon, James Bond. It’s not like Nintendo is afraid to welcome adult-leaning games to its shores, but it is afraid of shattering its image. Before Yakuza Kiwami came to the Switch, executive producer Masayoshi Yokoyama alluded that the company’s aesthetic may not mesh with the series.
Speaking to Gamespot in 2022, Yokoyama expressed the following: “Do we want to put a title like this where we’re going around and picking a fight with the world and doing all this Yakuza stuff, on a Switch?” Luckily, that bet paid off. You can read our Yakuza Kiwami review for proof of it. While the commercial success speaks for itself, it still feels like these games are slipping through the cracks in the bigger picture. I remain hopeful that there’s an exciting era ahead, though, because there’s another silver bullet that Nintendo still has in the chamber: Call of Duty.
Regardless of whether or not recent entries have amounted to nothing more than diminishing returns, the long-running FPS game series is surely set to make its mark on the Nintendo Switch 2. Microsoft and Nintendo are yet to fulfill a decade-long deal to bring COD to the console. I want nothing more than to obliterate the undead with the Ray Gun on the Switch 2. Give me that blood-curdling, atom-smashing thrill wherever I may be.
There are still tricks up Nintendo’s sleeve, and pushing the goalposts to accept a refresh should be part of it. For better or worse, there’s no play like it.
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