More Thoughts From Me Special Edition: This Isn’t The End of Nintendo

Today, Nintendo announced some news about the next Nintendo system (codenamed the NX), news about the upcoming the Legend of Zelda game, E3, mobile, and earnings news too. And of course Nintendo fans are panicking and trying to tell you that this is the end of Nintendo. Here are my thoughts in today’s first More Thoughts From Me Special Edition.

Hey you, the one about to write a tweet about how Nintendo is doomed because they are not showing the NX at E3. Yeah, you. Calm down and back away from Twitter. Get over here and sit down. Please? Ok, just calm down a little. Let’s talk about this.

Nintendo NX coming out this year was always a bad idea. You don’t think so? Look, the Wii U hasn’t been out that long. Releasing the NX this year would have totally shot the Wii U in the foot or thrown it under the bus (plus the NX would’ve had no games. more on that later). Whatever metaphor you like better. You don’t care about the Wii U? Well, you totally should because the Wii U has some of the best games right now of any current generation system: Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Super Smash Bros, Pokken Tournament, and more. If you don’t have a Wii U, you should get yourself one. We have no idea if the NX will be any good. And we won’t find out about it at E3 because the system won’t be there.

Oh I can hear you now, you’re cursing Nintendo. You think they’re idiots for not even showing the NX at E3. Look, the system isn’t coming till next year (and note that Nintendo said they will show it this year, just not at E3). If they show it at E3, lots of people will think its coming this year and it’ll take away from the Wii U and 3DS. Not showing it at E3 gives them time to focus on other stuff. Oh here we go. You’re saying but “They are only showing Legend of Zelda at E3 and that’s coming next year! Why not show NX too? Nothing is coming this year!!” Hey, what did I tell you about calming down? Sheesh. Sit down. Right. That’s better. Listen to me a little longer.

Nintendo has said that the Legend of Zelda for Wii U is going to be the only playable game at E3 from Nintendo and it’ll be the focus of their E3. They didn’t say it would be the only game from them at E3. Nintendo will have other games at E3, just not in playable form. Yes, Zelda Wii U will be the major focus, but they do have other games coming out this year like Paper Mario Color Splash, a new Pokemon game for 3DS, and I’m sure they’ll have some surprise titles too. Also Zelda must be really something for the Wii U if its going to be the only playable Nintendo game at E3. Nintendo must really believe in the title.

Yes, it sucks that Legend of Zelda is not coming till next year. In fact, I have to say that I’m very disappointed about this and the fact that the game is coming for the NX too. The new Zelda should have been an exclusive for the Wii U. It would have been a great way to ring out Wii U’s final year alone too. Notice that I didn’t say it’s the Wii U’s final year. Zelda is still coming to the Wii U next year. That means that other games will likely come to the system next year too. But this would be the Wii U’s final year as the sole Nintendo console. Its too bad it might not get a great last year alone, but its not the end of the world. What? Yes, I heard about Nintendo’s sales. Let’s talk about that for a moment.

Nintendo reported that their stock was down and that they didn’t sell as much because they had no major titles last year. That’s not likely to change this year if they don’t have too many major titles coming later in the year. We don’t know for sure what Nintendo has coming this year though. They have to have something and maybe they’ll show it at E3, maybe they won’t. Don’t forget that Nintendo has Nintendo Directs and can show things whenever they want, unlike their competition. So we may get some big announcements at E3 and we may not. E3 isn’t as important to Nintendo as it is to you.

I’m not saying everything is great. I’m not happy with Nintendo doing mobile stuff nor the Zelda news (and the sells figures could be better), but I do believe that the NX news is good news. Do you want the system to come out with some actual games? Well then, it shouldn’t come out this year. In fact, Nintendo should delay the NX till later in 2017. Zelda Wii U should come out this year or in March (ugh) and the NX version should be later in 2017. The longer it takes for the new system to come out, the better. Just look at what happened with the PS4 and Xbox One. Those systems didn’t have any games when they came out. Heck, they still hardly have any games…

Now, take a deep breath. Think a little before you tweet. We have no idea if E3 this year will be good or not. I think it will be because Zelda Wii U will be jaw dropping. I also believe that Nintendo will have more than just that title to show us. But we shouldn’t jump to conclusions. We should wait until E3 to see what happens. I know you all are not used to waiting. You want everything now or at least as close to now as possible. And then you whine when its not perfect. Nothing is perfect. But the NX could be a good system, if only you’d give Nintendo time and try to be patient.

Ok, I’m getting out of here. See you next week!

Note: More Thoughts From Me Special Edition will return at E3. You can expect my thoughts about Sony, Microsoft, and of course Nintendo!