Mailbox: Switch’s Pokémon Woes, NSO’s Value, First-Person Plurals

Image: Nintendo LifeWelcome back, one and all, as we delve into the Nintendo Life Mailbox once more.

It’s Direct season, and Summer Game Fest has done a good job of whetting our appetite for hearty Nintendo announcements sometime soon. It’s been a little quiet recently on the Switch front, which may have something to do with the small amount of correspondence we received this month. Perhaps you’re all out enjoying fine weather and great video games, but Mr. Postman had just a handful of letters in his bag for us. Publishable ones, at least.

Hopefully the upcoming Nintendo Direct will get your juices flowing! Be sure to check our submission guidelines at the bottom of the page and drop us a line for the July edition. Got something you want to get off your chest? We’re ready and waiting to read about your game-related ponderings.

Each month we’ll highlight a Star Letter, the writer of which will receive a month’s subscription to our ad-free Supporter scheme. Check out the submission guidelines at the bottom of this page.

Just three today, so let’s dive in, shall we?

Nintendo Life Mailbox – June 2024
Image: Damien McFerran / Nintendo Life
“my bill” (***STAR LETTER***)

Hello again NL team!

As I looked at my bill for the NSO expansion pack, a thought came to me.

*“What could Nintendo lose?”*

What would Nintendo lose by backing up the Virtual Console library to NSO? To adding the Pokemon games to the Game Boy and GBA apps or bringing Smash 64 to the N64 app? What could Nintendo possibly lose by listening to the fans and giving us a new Tomodachi Collection, or a Dillon’s Rolling Western game, or Switch menu themes, or _Mother 3?_

I genuinely do not understand how this could be such a long standing problem at this point. I want to hear what the NL team has to say about being completely ignored by Nintendo in the regards to legacy.

(I am definitely canceling my Expansion pak subscription)

MetaCrystal

As frustrating as the drip feed is, Nintendo would lose that monthly cadence of NSO drops that stirs minor excitement and sends people back to those apps. The five Game Boy Mega Men got their own little news beat recently, rather than being a buried bullet point on a list of hundreds. I’m sure the data says that staggering drops in small batches means more people play more of the games for longer. I definitely understand the frustration around the NSO offering, but — for me — there’s enough value and convenience there for the asking price. 163 games for the base tier, another 90 on the Expansion. I love the N64 and the NSO Mega Drive catelogue is massively underrated. There are gaps, but looking at the lineup now, it’s pretty stacked.

I agree, it’s crazy that Theme colour options have never been added — not fancy animations or stickers or anything, just a few colourways beyond black and white. You’d imagine it’s just a matter of time before Pokémon and Smash arrive. As for new releases, on a spreadsheet in Nintendo HQ there’s a number showing the cost to officially localise Mother 3 next to projected sales, and it’s just never added up to a green light. Fingers crossed that Switch’s enormous install base will loosen purse strings and we’ll get some good news in the Direct. If a Miitopia port can sell 1.79 million copies on Switch, a Tomodachi or Pushmo or Rhythm Heaven would quickly break all previous series sales records.

BUT. Balance that potential against more popular series Nintendo could be working on — games likely to sell tens of millions — and that’s the issue you run into when resources aren’t infinite. If there were a deep, undying love for Dillon’s Rolling Western that translated into sales, there’d be another one. – Ed.

Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
“massive pool”

I’ve been thinking about the state of Pokemon on Switch, and I realized that LA [Legends: Arceus], parts of SS [Sword & Shield], and SV [Scarlet & Violet] have to have a massive pool of Pokemon prepared to load at once, along with all their unique animations and data, on top of already being an open-world game. I don’t think this excuses the technical states of these games, but I do wonder if the Switch is genuinely unable to handle a fully featured open-world Pokemon game (esp since some other creature collectors also perform dismally on the platform).

Moblin

Yes, it’s a challenge, but the Switch is a capable little machine that those games were specifically designed for. The devs didn’t need to consider optimisation for other platforms — Arceus and Sword/Shield and Scarlet/Violet are only on Switch — and this is one of the biggest series on the planet we’re talking about.

With ambitious worlds, a little jank often comes with the territory (hi, Bethesda), but Game Freak should be able to get the resources, people, and time it needs to make these flagship games run better than they do. – Ed.

“multiple”

Hey Nintendo Life staff!

I apologize if these questions have been asked before. Why do your reviewers use “we” instead of “I” when referring to themselves? Are multiple staff members involved in reviewing each game?

Thanks!

Solomon_Rambling

It’s a legacy thing, really, but something we maintain in news and reviews for consistency. We are NL. Resistance is futile.

More seriously, the plural ties into the ‘club’ feeling the site has had since the beginning and helps reinforce community and kinship in a small but potent way. It has its drawbacks (especially when it comes to the occasional reader having trouble understanding the concept of subjectivity!), and the number of feature articles using the singular has probably increased since I took the chair, but we’ll be sticking to ‘we’ in news and reviews. We’re all in this together. – Ed.

Image: Zion Grassl / Nintendo Life
Bonus Letters

“For the Detective Pikachu movie sequel, how about including Tyranitar, Lucario, Rattata, Scizor, Murkrow, Machamp and Sudowoodo. and how about a trailer and a release date for the sequel.” – Scott Devine

Get your people to speak to my people and we’ll see what we can do. – Ed.