Nintendo Has Created Its Own Legacy Problem

Image by The Verge

Nintendo has once again achieved victory over a site that housed some of its ROMs. If a site has ROMs to their games on, the Big N is not having any of that noise. And Nintey is perfectly within their legal rights to do so. These are their IPs and as everyone knows, Nintendo is quite the papa wolf when it comes to guarding their property. Unfortunately, Nintendo is sole big contributor to their legacy problem. The Switch could have every single one of Nintendo's NES and SNES (and probably N64 as well as GCN) games on it but the only ones keeping that from happening is Nintendo.

You see, Nintendo has this awful habit of, well, being Nintendo. They make some really strange, and quite frankly, stupid decisions on a regular basis. Yeah, I love the games that come from Nintey, but at the same time, I gotta call them out on the nonsense. Nintendo's odd ball choices include peer to peer online, which is why you get all that wonderful lag in Super Mario Maker 2.

"But Reg, Nintendo has old-school games on Nintendo Switch Online!" Those meager offering that amount to samplings? HA, I say, and HA again. What's currently available doesn't even scratch the surface of Nintendo's extensive old-school game library.

Say what you want about Disney. They are money and power hungry. But man, is Disney+ awesome. I love physical media but it is more than nice to have access to so much of Disney's history in one super convenient app. In the mood for some old Donald Duck or Goofy shorts? All the temper tantrums and hyucks are just a few scrolls and taps away. All of the Disney catalog wasn't there for our viewing pleasure on day one (it still isn't) but what was there from the get go was massive. And compared to Nintendo's drip feed, it is a joke. 

Nintendo has used the drip feed model for releasing retro games on current consoles since the Wii era. (For those of you that like numbers, that began in 2006) NES and SNES games are released on Nintendo Switch Online at a snails pace. We should not have to wait months for retro games to hit that app. Nintendo Switch Online has been live for two years and it just recently passed the 100 game mark. That is beyond pathetic. And Switch owners should not have to create a Japanese Switch account to play Japanese versions of retro games or games Nintendo has not released on the app for audiences outside of Japan. For crying out loud, regional switching options have become a standard feature of retro games and compilations.

The Switch remakes of both Famicom Detective Club titles, The Missing Heir and The Girl Who Stands Behind were some very pleasant, unexpected surprises. For many Switch owners, these remakes would be the first time playing either title and they also served as a reminder of just how deep the Nintendo well can go. I never imagined we would get these adventure games, let alone remakes of them. But for every Samus Returns and Link's Awakening on Switch their are tons of other Nintendo titles that won't get this treatment, which makes re-releasing retro games all the more important. But because Nintendo is gonna Nintendo, who knows when they will get on the ball and get their stuff together.