Post-Direct thoughts on Nintendo (or on me and Ninty)
The most exciting things about the Switch 2 Direct were Enter the Gungeon (also coming on PC) and the GameCube emulation (also, uh, on the PC...). The rest of it left me with a sense of blaséness - which I've also felt across the past several Nintendo Directs overall. I make jabs at Mario from time to time but I'm not a Nintendo hater by personality and I would love to be more excited by these announcements, and I started thinking about why that's not the case. And I think it's 100% down to me trying to chase an unrepeatable high and always let down by not reaching it.
The GameCube was a genuinely tremendous, unique experience for me. It was the first console I owned after the Sega MegaDrive days and a lifetime of full-time PC gaming for the majority of the 1990s and early 2000s; and that also means it was my first Nintendo console. Given how the GameCube library turned out to be, that made it the perfect storm of a platform. My first experience of many of the iconic Nintendo franchises turned out to be some of greatest titles in their respective series (Wind Waker, Metroid Prime 1+2, Super Smash Bros Melee, Star Fox Adventures), and yes I say that with the full awareness that the fact they were my first titles of those series may play a part in their greatness. It was also fertile ground for brand new titles which had an experimental streak for a Nintendo platform, like Eternal Darkness or Resident Evil 4. The re-releases of both Sonic Adventures and eventually Sonic Gems Collection played a key part in making me the mess of a Sonic-brained fanboy I've become since. On top of it all, everything it offered was so massively different from the PC games I typically played - these were brand new worlds and experiences for me and it was a little bit mind-blowing in its own way.
You can't replicate that kind of a formative experience, and I'm increasingly coming to terms that that's why I just don't get excited by Nintendo anymore - I always, subconsciously or not, keep comparing any new Nintendo experience to the first time they shared my bedroom with me and so no wonder any new announcement can't help but fall short. I enjoyed the first Switch but I never quite got attached to it particularly deeply and thinking back to it now, I think I can count the truly special experiences I had on it with one hand (Smash Infinite, Fire Emblem Three Houses, Pokémon Sword, Mario + Rabbids 1 at a stretch), and for the past couple of years it has pretty much just gathered dust despite my occasional, intentional attempt to get back into it. Though to be fair, there is some "fault" in the library itself too: 3rd parties and indie titles are always on the PC so there's little incentive to buy them on the Switch, especially if you have a SteamDeck, I've disagreed with Ninty's design choices on some of their key franchises I used to love (the open world ruined both Zelda and Pokémon) and many of their more "niche" franchises have been left to rot or forgotten. But even the new 1st party franchises or unique console-exclusive titles that have been coming out on Switch for the past couple of years and what was announced in the Switch 2 Direct barely register interest for me, and I think that's where the personal apathy comes in forefront the most.
The Switch 2 Direct mainly just made me reflect on how excited I used to be about Nintendo news drops and how unexciting all the first party titles in the Direct felt; but I've really only got myself to blame for that. No matter what Nintendo does, it'll be impossible for them to outdo what they did when they struck me during a formative age and for better or worse, I struggle to shake off that association from their branding.
I'll still keep an eye out for what happens with Switch 2 though, once the library grows. Looking at the pricing of the new games though, there better be some damn good stuff released if I do ever bite the hook.