We talk a lot abouthow expensive gaming can bethese days, but I don’t think we spend as much time on how needlessly complicated it can be. In an industry full of reboots, remakes, and sequels, most games revealed these days are followed by the question ‘which games do I need to play first?’, andevery time someone asks that question, you’re losing a player.Nintendoseems to be the only one to understand this.
I have my own issues with Nintendo’s tendency to play things safe and stick to a relatively small cadre of characters, but the fact each of its games stands as its own experience is to its credit. It’s a continuation of the understanding that games are toys that makes pushing a cartridge into the Switch and instantly being able to play itfeel like such a throwback.
Every Nintendo Game Is Its Own Experience
It’s not that Nintendo doesn’t do series, it’s just that there’s an understanding with the audience that you’ll be welcomed in from the start.Tears of the Kingdomis a rare exception as a true sequel toBreath of the Wildthat required some understanding of what happened previously, but mostly these games start from scratch. New regions inPokemon, new sagas inFire Emblem, new versions of Hyrule in everyZeldaother than TOTK… it’s all fresh.
No one is looking atMario & Luigi Brothershipand asking if they need to play the previous Mario & Luigi games. They’re brothers. They plumb. The end. WhenPrincess Peach Showtimedropped, there was no need to catch up on Peach lore. You’ll be building a home from scratch again in the nextAnimal Crossing. Bowser will still want to get the girl in the nextMario, and even if it does follow expectations asOdyssey 2, no one will fear missing out on key themes if they didn’t hit up Sand Land in the OG.
Of course, this approach has its flaws. Nintendo games place the experience of playing front and centre, keeping fun and innovation in mind, but it’s pretty hard to care about any of it. Zelda, again, is an exception, but even the more story-driven Mario games like Mario & Luigi or Paper Mario are leagues behind PlayStation’s big hitters.
PlayStationsometimes earns the right to demand you play them in order. Yes, you need to playThe Last of UsbeforePart 2. The narrative depends on it. You’re getting a worse experience if you don’t, even if Part 2 is a great game in its own right. No one ever tells you that you won’t appreciate a new Mario game’s story without playing the previous one, but that cuts both ways - there’s nothing there to appreciate. I’ve been hoping Pokemon steps up for years and have been left with the same formula, in part because of Nintendo’s pick up and play mantra, so there is value in TLOU2’s approach of building on what came before, but there is a limit.
There Are Too Many Games These Days Relying On Previous Experience
ConsiderFinal Fantasy 7 Remake. A remake ofFinal Fantasy 7, right? Not quite. A remake of the first third of Final Fantasy 7, one that has leftRebirth(the middle chapter) suffering low sales and complaints of directionless drifting. In a few years the third FF7R will come along, and new players will need to have played two 50+ hour long RPGs beforehand, not just one. You also should have probably played the original to fully comprehend the clever subversions that play out in the remake(s).
Capcomrecently confirmed a newResident Evil, but is it new, or a sequel to8, which was a sequel to7but also a retcon, all of which are mostly unrelated to the latest game,Resident Evil 4, which is a remake ofResident Evil 4but not quite, both of which work on their own but are best played afterResident Evil 2? Also 8 is a pseudo-reboot of 4 in that it copies the entire structure but is narratively separate.
Perfect Darkis another curious case of how reboots work. The new Perfect Dark is just called Perfect Dark, like the original, but is a reimagining narratively, and from the trailer,offers drastically different gameplay. It does however have a British Joanna Dark, which the original did but the sequel to the original did not.
Speaking of British action heroines, the nextTomb Raideris supposed to tie the Legend era and Survivor era together,combining the ends of Underworld and Shadow. That’s setting itself up for new fans to be told they need to play six games before they play it, which they aren’t going to do, all for a morsel of nostalgia instead of the clean break between eras the series has always done.
That brings us to the most pressing one:Dragon Age. As one of my favourite series of all time, I’m well versed in the narrative groundworkBioWarehas laid forThe Veilguard, and I think the way the story unfolds inInquisitionwill make The Veilguard richer. But Inquisition is a decade old and it takes close to 100 hours to play properly, especially if you’re adding in Trespasser. So many new fans are going to either rush through that and end up not enjoying it, skip it and end up with only half a story, or miss out on The Veilguard entirely.
Alternatively, they could play the latest Mario game. It’s the 537th game in the series and you don’t need to know anything about the rest. Just push this button to jump and you’re good. There’s a lot of charm in a game like that these days. It’s simple. But sometimes simple is good.
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
WHERE TO PLAY
Super Mario Bros. Wonder is a brand new 2D Mario game launching exclusively on Nintendo Switch. Reimagining the original Mario game format yet again, it will include a lot of firsts for the series such as Elephant Mario and a playable Princess Daisy.
