I don't really enjoy modern Nintendo games.
I can't put my finger on what exactly it is, but pretty much across the line up of franchises, I'm either so disinterested that I don't even know what's coming out, or the games I have tried have just been huge let downs.
Luigi's Mansion 3 just didn't feel good, and left me bored.
Pikmin 3, I was getting to the end of what I thought was an extended railroad tutorial, right when I thought the game was about to open up and let me off the rails, and then the credits rolled. Saw my friends kid playing pikmin 4, and couldn't believe how "cutesy" the tone was. In the first game, Olimar would write diary entries, talking about how he was going to die alone on this strange planet, never seeing his family again. Or expressing the guilt he felt, watching the local race he had enslaved as soldiers, dying on his behalf by the dozen.
I've never been huge on Mario, and while the variety of world's was cool, odyssey just felt bloated and tedious
Zelda was one of my favorite franchises growing up, but I honestly just don't get the hype for breath of the wild. It feels aimless. And while in some ways, the open world exploration is a return to form, at the same time, it just doesn't feel like a Zelda game at all. Tears of the kingdom, I haven't played, but the whole "building" mechanic is just a headscratcher for me.
Ironically, I think one of the big criticism for most of Nintendo's IPs is how derivative they've become, so its a real let down that Zelda is probably the one they're experimenting with the most, and it just falls so flat for me, while being so seemingly successful. I'd also say that historically, Zelda has been one of their more experimental franchises. Links Adventure, link to the past, that gameboy game that was a dream, ocarina, majoras mask, wind waker, twilight princess, even those DS games, all felt like they were innovating, but still retained the core experience of a Zelda game. While I didn't like it much, even skyward sword feels like Zelda. Breath of the Wild feels like a starfox adventures situation, where they just slapped the branding onto an unrelated game late in development
I'm not huge on pokemon, but I loved Colosseum and Gale of Darkness, so you'd think the switch games might appeal to me more... But not really
The only reason I own a switch is because a friend just gave it to me, along with a couple games. I've had it for probably 3-4 years now, and I'll occasionally try to get some use out of it, only to inevitably realize I'm not really interested in the first party titles, and I'd generally rather just play third parties on PC
I'm sure nostalgia plays some factor, but I don't think its the main element. I can go back and play classic games that I didn't play as a kid, games from before my time, or games from consoles I didn't own, or genres I didn't play. I can even enjoy a modern game from other devs on occasion. Something has just shifted in the design philosophy of Nintendo that's made me lose interest
It could be worse, I guess. At least they're not crammed full of micro transactions
