Asmongold TV - Switch 2 is not worth it. | Asmongold TV

Episode Date: September 26, 2025

Switch 2 is not worth it. Asmongold show for all of his stream highlights, competitions, reactions & more. ---- Keywords: gaming hot takes, gaming reactions, streamer content, streamer podcast, gaming drama, streaming highlights, game reviews Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The Switch 2 is the last straw. So the Switch 2 is out. And honestly, I wish I could say I was excited. Wow. I really, really wanted to be excited. Like many 90s babies, I grew up on Nintendo. Yes. They were my very first gaming love.

Not just the games, but the feeling of them. The wonder, the warmth, the way they pulled you into a world. I had this one. I had this one. I had this one. I had this one. I had this one. I had this one. I had this one. I had this one, I had this one, I had this one, and this one, and I did not have, oh, I had this one and I had this one. Yep. Things were good. It was a good time.

...and made it feel like home. Ocarina of time was the one that really awoke something in me. That opening in Kokiri Forest with the decutri, riding Apona across Hyro Field, it all felt so... Rich kid? No, you don't understand. My mom... just did not like she would spend money like we would have $20 left she would be in debt by $80,000 and she'd be like you want Taco Bell like yeah she just did not give a fuck massive like a real was tucked inside a little cartridge and then Majora's mask came along and my little self had never felt such anxiety that eerie moon the ticking clock the emotional

side quests that made you care so much and so little time It was the very first game that made me feel something beyond just fun. It was sad, confusing, kind of strange at times. I could never finish. I didn't like the timeline, the time thing in Ocarena or in Majora's Mask. I liked Ocena of Time way more, even though I think that the aesthetic of Majora's Mask is way more badass. And very deep. It wasn't just the Zelda.

I was obsessed with Super Mario 64, running wild through Peach's Castle, jumping into paintings, discovering every secret star. That game. felt like true freedom. And then there were classics like Kirby's Dreamland, Yoshi's Story. I remember I had this one. Yoshi's story was such a piece of shit compared to Yoshi's Island. Yoshi's Island is still the goat undefeated best Yoshi game and nothing else even comes close. Donkey Kong 64, Star Fox, Metroid Prime. Bro, I actually forgot all about this. So I was talking to my internet guy and he's like, so yeah, you do streaming. So like, what games do you play? And I was like talking to him.

about like what games I played. And he's like, yeah, man, I've been trying to get my Nintendo 64 to work so I can play Donkey Kong 64. And then we get to talking. And I find out that this guy has played Monster Hunter so much that he has like Hunter rank 400 and he beat Art Tempered Ray Dow

in like seven or like 10 minutes or something like that. Yeah, bro. He's, yeah, just out of fucking nowhere. It just reminded me seeing that. Metroid Prime, all completely different and wonderful in their own way. And every one of them had a vibe, a soul, that Nintendo Spark that made it feel like you weren't just playing. You were being led in on something very special.

And then my parents bought me the original idea. I love how you know exactly where this game is going, or sorry, where this video is going, because she's playing Powell World in the background. Everybody knows exactly where the video is going. Yes. And just like that, the whole thing was cracked wide open for me. That's how I found Animal Crossing Wild World, and I was hooked. I spent hours in that little village, rearranging furniture, writing letters, fishing for red snappers,

and visiting my best friend's town during our weekly sleepovers. Even now, just hearing the soundtrack makes me very emotional. I guess that's what girls did. For us, it was called Halo 2 on Xbox Live and calling each other game rewards, but, you know, to each other, their own. It makes me right back to those quiet, cozy afternoons after school, all curled up with that. clunky silver ds with nowhere else that needed to be truly the epitome acedc vathealan but those games were helping to shape how i saw everything stories characters even myself and for a while it really felt like nintendo understood how to make something that mattered and it didn't stop there i basically owned

every major nintendo console starting with the n64 game cube we yes ds 3d s i have that even the wu which in my humble opinion was ahead of its time by the way but i owned it was massively ahead of its time, absolutely fucking based. Iwada took a, he took a personal pay cut whenever this console didn't sell well, and it was not even his fault. It was the marketing team's fault, not even his, the Wii U was absolutely amazing.

I bought it because I watched TriX play Super Mario Maker. And the moment that I saw that, I realized that I needed to, I bought an entire console just to play that one game. All of them. And when the Switch was announced with Breath of the Wild, I was beyond excited. Like, very cringly crying at the announcement trailer excited. As a Zelda fan, it was everything I'd ever wanted in a game. And to this day, it is still one of my favorites. That launch brought back so...

See, we're going to play that soon. I'm going to try that. I bought both Zelda's and I bought Mario Kart. So much of the old magic, which is probably why I held on for so long and I even wanted to work for them. Like genuinely, I applied to corporate Nintendo PR jobs probably 15 to 20 times. I'm not even exaggerating. Back in 2019, I was pursuing PR. And when I got the opportunity to go to E3 that year, the very last E3, by the way, I actually spoke with the Nintendo PR team in person. It was magical.

The Nintendo section of the event was so overwhelming and electric. And I remember thinking, this is it. This is what I want. This is what I want to be a part of. So please hear me out. What we are about to discuss isn't coming. coming from someone who's out to bash Nintendo. This is coming from someone who genuinely, wholeheartedly,

even at times, very cringely, loved Nintendo and their games, and really believed in what I thought they stood for. But over time, I've started to realize that maybe Nintendo isn't the company I thought they were. What I've seen over the last few years is that my nostalgia goggles have been working over time. And they kept me from really seeing the true nature of a company that I once held so dear to my head. heart. So let's dive in and let's start. Hey, can you play Power World on the Nintendo Switch? No? Huh. The release of the Switch too. It's officially out now and sales are booming. Records are being broken and over 3 million units were sold worldwide on release day. People are also loving Mario Kart World.

And I'm genuinely very happy for them. Yes, the game looks like a lot of fun. I just wish I felt something because more than anything, I just feel tired. At 400, or $500 if you get it bundled with Mario Kart World, this doesn't feel like a celebration of the next chapter. It feels like Nintendo is seeing how far they can stretch our loyalty, how much they can charge us for something that isn't even new, just a little bit newer. And listen, I'm not here to crap on Mario Kart. I actually really like Mario Kart. I do. It's one of those comfort games that's always been there. I don't.

Mario Kart cannibalized F0 and F0 was better in every single way. Mario Carts for kids. It's attached to so many fond memories of playing with friends and family. Even though it looks fun, everybody knows it. That's the flagship title for a brand new console launch. I don't know. I personally just couldn't get behind the hype.

It feels kind of boring, safe, predictable. Nintendo wasn't asking, hey, what's possible here? They're asking, what can we get away with? Because $80 for Mario Kart World, that's not just a new number. It's a shift in how this industry treats its players. And what surprises me, even though it shouldn't at this point, is that it's Nintendo of all companies ushering in this new pricing standard. This wasn't them reluctantly followed. Nintendo had $60 games in Super Nintendo.

Nintendo's been, the thing is, Nintendo is like your, it's like your grandma that bakes you cookies, and she's really nice to you and she cares about everything that you care about. But she's also racist. Like, that's it. That's Nintendo, is that they have a lot of really good things, but there's a few of, of them that are not so great. Doing a trend that I know was inevitable, but this was them leading the chart. She has a black cat and it's named. Setting a precedent.

Establishing $80 as the new normal and not with some expansive genre pushing new experience, but with an exact game formula that we've literally seen 16 times at this point. And it makes you ask why? Because meanwhile, I'm looking at games like Hell Divers 2. Hi-Fi Rush, Lys of P, Remnant 2, Clear Ap skewer, Baldersgate 3, and so many more. Games that have real creative vision, some with massive campaigns, even some with fleshed-out co-op systems, launching at or below $60. And many of these games are taking risks and really pushing boundaries, and somehow they're still finding a way to be more accessible.

So when Nintendo drops a new console and leads with yet another Mario Kart at a higher price than ever before, It doesn't feel like they're honoring their legacy. It feels like they're cashing in, bro. Like it does. It absolutely does. Like, I love Nintendo too. Like, I mean, I could tell the same stories that she did, like 100%. But the reality is that it's weird.

It's very weird. $80 for Mario Kart. They're monetizing it. Like, they're using it against us. Actually, kind of feels like a slap in the face. I think it's easy to say it's a non-issue. If like, it's easy to say it's a non-issue. if like, it's easy to say it's a non-issue if like money isn't an issue for you or if you feel

like the games are good. But the fact is that like if you compare a lot of like that the Switch to its release titles with the Switch one's release titles or like I go back to, you know, like the GameCube, it's release titles or like, you know, Pickman and Luigi's Mansion. Like the fact is that it's just, it's a pretty weak release. All things can considered. Little remakes being $60.80. Yeah, yeah, that's crazy. It was pretty badly. And yes, to be fair, the Switch 2 is a technical upgrade. 4K visuals, better battery, smoother performance, more storage. It's all technically better on paper. But it doesn't feel like a new era. It seems like a slightly fancier version of something that we

already had. And for me personally, this realization of who Nintendo is is not like a sudden moment of awakening. I've quietly been stepping back from them for a while now. And not because I I think that the Nintendo Switch 2 is probably their least innovative console they've ever made. The Super Nintendo was at the time the cutting edge for graphics. The Nintendo 64, in its name, was the fact that it was a 64-bit system, the only one on the market. Then you had the GameCube, which was more experimental, but they did take a few risks, and the games were cheaper than the Xbox and PlayStation alternatives in a lot of cases. and they tried those smaller disks. I would say the GameCube was not great.

But then you had the Wii, which was, in my opinion, the most generationally successful console of all time. Maybe, I mean, you could say, like, for outside of gamers, it was the most successful console. Inside of gamers, it was the second most successful console with the first one being PlayStation 2, in my opinion. And then you go and you look at the Wii U, which was a completely portable console,

insane fucking innovation. The Switch, which was the taking the Wii U and then perfecting it to be a perfect version of itself. And the Switch 2 is just simply the same thing. It's basically a copy paste. Do you see what I'm saying? Like OG Game Boy Trendsetter? Yeah. I don't really feel like the Switch 2 really brings a lot to the table that wasn't already there.

Stop loving their games. Glazing Nintendo? Well, no, it's the opposite. I'm contextualizing Nintendo's previous Ws over the past 30 years and comparing it to their current, you know, maybe lowercase L. I mean, the Switch 2 isn't awful, right? It's not a bad console, but it's just not something that's innovative in a way that's unique. And also when you have places like Steam or you have places like, you know, Xbox now that are making their own portable consoles, the portable console selling point no longer exists. Because I started seeing the patterns, the choices, the shifts. And at this point, it's pretty clear that.

This Switch 2 release is not just about a new price tag or a genuine attempt at launching something new. It's just another step in the same pattern that's been repeating for years. Back in the day, this used to be the company that took risks that made... That was my fucking game right there. Oh my God. Magic. They redefined entire genres and invited us into something. truly special. But now

kind of just seems like they're relying on the fact. I have this one. I think I might have this one too, actually. But I know I have this one. Fact that will show up no matter what. Even though they are so often very anti-consumer, it's because they know our nostalgia runs incredibly deep. And the more I've seen it, the harder it has been too unsee.

Nintendo... I think it's not even nostalgia. I think Nintendo is so, like... I think the big problem is that Nintendo is a Japanese company. And a lot of Japanese cultural norms, like, for example, like not giving away games at all. Or, like, I mean, because this is something like, for example, like, you know, like the Wii, I think it was like a Switch, like, We Fit or something like that came for free with the Wii or like maybe the Switch. Reggie was the one that apparently had convinced them of doing that. And so the big problem is that now we sports, yeah, exactly.

and they were like, well, why should we give this away for free? Well, there's an investment to that. And Reggie pushed that, he did. And so, like, again, I think this is a, there's a big cultural clash too between the way that Western players see Nintendo and see the way that Nintendo does business and Japanese players do.

And that lack of localization or local communication is a huge issue. Sony has overcome that, but a Nintendo, I think, hasn't, which is a good and a bad thing. But this is the bad part of it. I can only describe as weaponized nostalgia. They've turned our childhood memories into a soulless business model.

And the part that really hurts is that it works. It worked on me for so long. I've been the Nintendo fan girl who's bought the remakes, re-releases, and updated ports, even though I knew deep down that what they were offering was not anything new. And that's fine. You can be a shit eater. You just have to know that what you're eating is. isn't chocolate. That's fine. Just never convince yourself it's chocolate.

Looking back on it, I don't know. I guess it was because I didn't feel like I was buying a game. It felt like I was buying a memory. And Nintendo knows that. They know that we remember how it felt to blast through alien worlds in Metroid Prime or how it felt to spend hours raising your perfect Nintendo like it was your actual childhood pet. They know we feel these titles in a way that goes beyond gameplay. They have perfected the art of re-releasing titles, sometimes only mildly updated at full price, locking legacy content behind paywalls and subscriptions, and offering nostalgia not as a gift, but as a heartless transaction. And just a quick side note that I found out while I was writing out the video. Do you want to talk about heartless? Because I just found out

that Nintendo actually replaced the voice actress for Princess Peach after 18 years. And they didn't even tell her. She found out what the rest of the world when the new Mario Kart game came out. That's actually insane. But anyway... Jesus. Why? What the fuck happened? To get back on track, it's always been a huge difference between celebrating fan love and exploiting it. And for me, it seems like Nintendo has lived long enough to finally see themselves become the villain. So moving on from the Switch to release, at some point, I started looking at how Nintendo treats the people who love their games. And what I found, honestly, broke me hard a little bit. Because Nintendo doesn't just protect

its legacy. They police it. Let's start with content creators. This is nothing new. For many years, now Nintendo has been going after them. Streamers, YouTubers, musicians. Nintendo used to have, and she's new to YouTube, so she might not remember this, but maybe she does. Nintendo used to have a special creator program, and they would take part of your revenue if you make YouTube videos about Nintendo games. And you had to be enrolled in a separate Nintendo creator program and they only rolled that back maybe like eight years ago or seven years ago. Yeah, I couldn't put videos on YouTube. Yeah, I'm telling you, it was crazy. We're doing what, like, they're doing really well now.

Honestly, most other gaming companies celebrate sharing their love for the brand and its IP. Somehow, I managed to kind of turn a blind eye to most of this until the Point Crow situation. He was a YouTuber who turned a blind eye. I received a copy of take down my account to spend 40 hours streaming age of calamity despite being out in Australia, Japan. I don't think this is really a big deal personally. Sometimes there's just mistakes that happen and like people get access to a game early and it's a mistake with the publisher or a mistake with the advertising agency.

This isn't really that big of a deal. And it's happened with a lot of games in the past. Yeah, this happens. But the other part doesn't. Until the point crow situation. He was a YouTuber who was making these really. incredible Breath of the Wild mod videos fun creative and totally original and then one day Nintendo claimed and struck 27 videos no warning no conversation just straight up attacked and it wasn't

just his Breath of the Wild mods it was any content that featured them including other creators who had collaborated with him it all got wiped out like a perch and it made me pause because these weren't leaks and they weren't made to be malicious it really i think this is ridiculous The idea that they can copyright strike you for modding their game, I think after you mod a game, after you buy a game, you should have the right to mod the game if it's a single player game, with basically no restrictions.

Unless you're reselling it, that's your property now. And I think that there needs to be a certain level of consumer protection that exists in order to ensure that that's the case. That's nuts? No, yeah, it is. It's totally unfair. Don't agree at all. No, I think that whenever you spend money, if you are spending money for something, you should get something out of the money that you're spending. The reality is that when you take that away from somebody and you say that it doesn't matter whether you're spending money, you're still going to have to follow all of these arbitrary rules that don't make any sense, even after you bought this, there's no reason that we as the public have to put up with this.

A lot of consumer protection laws exist right now for unfriendly business practices that companies. companies like this do that serve no purpose other than to inconvenience the consumer and to control the experience beyond what was paid for. The fact is that I think we as consumers get to decide if enough people in America, keep this in mind, if enough people in America and enough people in Europe decide that it's against the law to be able to do this, then it's against the law to be able to do it. There is no reason why we should tolerate this type of behavior. It's outrageous. When you purchase something and you spend your money on it, you're entitled to be able to use that product and that tool for what you decided to pay it with, what you decided to do it

with. That's it. So if you're buying a car, somebody else offers you a chip, so it only uses 1% gas speed. Oh, I don't know about that. I mean, it's a car. It's right to repair. Yeah. Asia, though, different ballgame. I don't care what Asia does. Asia can have whatever rules they want. just because it's an Asian company doesn't mean that they get to enforce Asian laws here in America. That's not how it works. The fact is that this is America, and I think that there should be consumer protections for mods. And if you buy a video game, and it's not a multiplayer online video game, you should be able to mod it and do whatever you want with that game,

and the publisher and the developer shouldn't be able to do a fucking thing to you, because you bought that game, and that's your right to do with what you paid your money for. It's outrageous. It's an outrageous overstepping of boundaries. And I don't know why anybody tolerates it at all. Does Nintendo sell a game or a license? They sell a license. They all sell a license.

But just because you sell a license doesn't mean you just get to rewrite all the rules based on that. There are plenty of consumer protections that exist. And also the nature of what a license is is defined by the government. So if I ask the government to redefine what a license is, I think that's totally fair, because government are the ones that decide. did what it was to begin with. There's too many rules? Exactly. Yeah, it's too many rules. You shouldn't have that.

You should be able to do whatever you want. They do it with physical copies. I disagree about single player only modding. Okay, well, I mean, I don't know why. I mean, you disagree. Okay, what does that mean? Like, I don't even know why somebody would type that. A major reason this doesn't work for Nintendo is selling a console is near a net loss. It's not under interest for you to buy a console and no games because you're playing freeware.

I'm not talking about anybody, I'm not talking about modding and like stealing games. Obviously pirating games is bad. But the difference is that if you purchase a video game, I think that you should have the right to mod that game with no restrictions. Unless it's a multiplayer online game that interacts with other people, because at that point, you are using Nintendo's servers. It was just fan content that was made out of love. And Nintendo really cracked down on it like it was a threat. And this was not an isolated case. One that has really stuck with me was Gilva Sutter.

And if you didn't know, Gilva Sunner's channel used to be one of the only places online where you could find full Nintendo soundtracks. For years, Nintendo basically had these locked up very tight unless you were able to purchase a physical CD from Nintendo themselves. They weren't on Spotify, Apple Music, Nintendo's YouTube channel, no official platform to listen to any of it. And Gilva wasn't even trying to profit from this. there were no ads or monetization, just the original music uploaded for fans who wanted to relit the moments those songs came from. It was really a gift to the community, and then it was gone. Nintendo initially sent over 1,300 takedown notices, and after that, it was followed

by another 2,200. The entire channel was essentially wiped out and Gilville closed-up shop. And I know this might sound a little bit traumatic, but that was kind of a big turning point for me when it came to how I viewed them. Just a little side note slash confession, but as a former, former Disney adult who has learned the error of her ways. I feel pretty qualified to say this. Jesus. Nintendo really is the Disney of gaming. They're wholesome on the surface, very full of magic and memories.

But underneath, there's a very quiet, corporate, malicious control. And both companies know how to tug at your childhood heartstrings while handing out copyright strikes and ulterior motives on the side. At the time I was watching this unfold, the more I sat with what happened to Gilba Center, the more it made me wonder, why is Nintendo's music so locked away to begin? with. These soundtracks have some of the most iconic songs in gaming. They were emotional, timeless, and they were very deeply personal for so many of us. And like I said earlier, Animal Crossing Wild World was my comfort game. And yet, at the time, there was basically no way for me to go listen to it legally. It felt like Nintendo had locked away their history in a vault, and they just would not let anyone open it up. And from... And that's what's so weird to me about this,

is that I don't even really think that this serves Nintendo's goals. It doesn't really help Nintendo. It doesn't do anything in Nintendo's favor. It just basically handicaps them and it makes it more restrictive for no reason. From there, I started noticing so many other examples. Fan games getting shut down. Community passion projects being wiped out. And listen, I get it. A lot of those.

IP protection is legally within their right. But it all just felt like they were going out of their way to crack down on this, acting very aggressive. By the way, I don't think that it is. I think that if you mod a video game, you should be able to do that. That's not within their right. You bought the game. You should do whatever you want with it. Cold and even heartless.

Especially when you look around at many other companies, Sega, Capcom, Xbox, PlayStation, even some indie studios, and you see them amplifying creators, lifting them up. It's abusive IP. IP is a, it's a concept. It's an abstract concept that's defined by people and governments. I'm just saying to redefine the concept. I don't like the way the. concept is currently identified and defined. I think that it's unfair. And so I think they should

redefine it. It's very simple. Letting the fans be a part of the legacy, but Nintendo doesn't really do that. And also, so another reason why, I just want to follow that up a little bit more, the reason why I'm okay with that is because people are doing this without malicious intent. these are not people that are doing this in order to hurt the game. They're not trying to subvert spending money on the game. They're not trying to steal a product. They're just simply trying to enjoy the game in a different way. And so when I look at should something be allowed or not,

I think about is the person that's asking for it to be allowed acting in good faith? And I think in terms of Nintendo, most of the people that are trying to ask for a little bit more, you know, control here are acting in good faith. To pull the plug again and again. And over time, I started wondering if maybe I had just been giving them the benefit of the doubt simply because I grew up loving them. So at this point, after the Gilfah Center takedown, I had already started to feel uneasy. The creator takedowns, the fan projects, the legacy content, it was all feeling a lot

more controlling than caring. But the moment that truly stopped me in my tracks was when I heard this story. of Gary Bowser. And I'll be honest with you. I didn't even know about any of this. How is it that there's two people with the last name Bowser? I've never heard anybody else with the last name of Bowser. And there's, I think, Gary Bowser and Doug Bowser that are both involved with Nintendo. It's like this is the kind of shit that makes me believe that we're living in a simulation. I listened to an episode of Darknet Diaries, which, by the way, Jack does an incredible job explaining all of this. I'll link it in the description for you.

Now, I obviously knew at this point Nintendo could be very protective of their IP. But this, this was on a whole other level. Gary was a part of a group called Team Executor. And what they did was build and sell mod chips, little pieces of hardware that you could install in your Nintendo consoles to run homebrew apps, custom firmware, and yes, pirated games. But people also use those mods for stuff that wasn't necessarily piracy. They used it to run backups of games I have no problem with them shutting down piracy stuff. I don't. And I have no issue with that at all.

I think that a company should be able to do whatever they want to shut down piracy. Because it's stealing and it's, again, malicious intent. Or just experiment with the system for that. Obviously, like obviously they went way farther than that, which is why it's bad. But I'm just saying at a baseline, piracy is not something that I think that any company should have to tolerate. it's stealing. Buying is not owning. Yes.

And piracy is not stealing. It's piracy. It's a different term. This like Reddit take that you have is just retarded. It's a retarded. It's a retarded, ha ha, gotcha without thinking about it. Word. You change, Matt?

I've said this forever. I've always been against piracy. I've always been against. Actually, I'm not even against piracy. Like, I pirated things. But what I am against is the idea that companies shouldn't be able to protect themselves from piracy. Because I think that that's malicious. So no use. Things that were really never going to be available through Nintendo directly. Gary essentially became the fall guy for the entire organization. And Nintendo came down on him

in a way that was very extreme. In 2020, Gary was arrested at gunpoint in the Dominican Republic and extradited to the U.S. by 2022. Didn't Nintendo literally use the Pinkertons? Let me see if I can figure this out. No, no, it was Wizards of the Coast. Okay, never mind. All right. Yeah, okay.

He'd been sentenced to three years in prison in order to pay $14.5 million in damages. $4.5 million in restitution and then another $10 million from a civil suit. And after he got out early, he still owed all of it. And he started paying Nintendo back 25 to 30% of his money. monthly income, which at one point was just $25 a month from his prison library job. He'll basically be paying them for the rest of his life.

When I heard that, my stomach dropped. I genuinely felt heartbroken for him. Yes, what he and the rest of the team were doing was illegal, and they did profit off of it. But Gary was just one man. And are we really saying the punishment fits the crime here? Because whatever legal lines were crossed, this felt less like justice and more like hatred and wrath. And not just for what he did, but for daring to even.

touch Nintendo's closed system. And the part that really got me with this is Nintendo tried to get Sony and Microsoft to back them up here to join the lawsuit and make it a united front against piracy. Both companies said no. Both Sony and Xbox, billion dollar publishers in their own right, refused to be a part of it. Even they seem to think that it was too far. And again, I am not here to outright defend piracy, really. There's a whole conversation to be had about access, preservation, and ethics. I think that it's very simple. If you can buy the product, from the developer, then piracy is not ethical. If you can't buy the product from the developer, then piracy is ethical. So, for example, if there's a video game that isn't offered by a publisher,

then it's completely okay for you to pirate it or to, what do you call it, to emulate it. But if you are using piracy as a market replacement for actually buying a game, then you are acting in bad faith. but this felt incredibly cruel and predatory. Nintendo did not just want to stop Gary from what he was doing. They wanted to make him an example. And for me, this was the defining moment when I knew Nintendo was no longer the company that I had loved for decades. And if you thought Gary Bowser's case was just a one-off or a legal overreach in a rare situation, it wasn't. Because not long after that, Nintendo said its sights on something much bigger and arguably much more telling.

You might have already guessed it, but I'm talking about Power World. You probably remember when it blew up. A very weird... Bro, this is so embarrassing. Chaotic blend of Pokemon-style creature collecting and open-world survival mechanics. It was very messy. It was wild, but it was so much fun. People were very obsessed, myself included.

And yes, come on. It clearly was inspired by Pokemon. That's not a secret. Everybody knows that. If you think Power World wasn't inspired by Pokemon and copy-pasted from Pokemon, look at Anubis and Lukario. Bro, like, look at Lugia and Jet Dragon. Like, come on.

What are we talking about? You throw a spear, you could collect little pals, you ride them, you battle them. It was Pokemon adjacent, absolutely. But here's the thing. Blatent. It wasn't a copy. The characters were different. Some of them are.

That's true. Many mechanics were different. It took a very familiar genre and gave it a bold, slightly unhinged twist. And for the first time in years, fans were saying, why doesn't Nintendo try stuff like this? Instead of... And it's also keep in mind that there is no, like, there's no unique creativity that Nintendo put into Pokemon either. If you look at Dragon Quest that predates Pokemon, a lot of things in Pokemon were also in Dragon Quest.

So it's not like, oh, wow, they came up with all these unique, amazing things and like nobody ever thought of this. But obviously, like, you know, Pokemon copied Dragon Quest, Power World copied Pokemon. Both of these things are true. taking that feedback in stride instead of rising to the challenge listening learning evolving Nintendo did what they've been doing for a while now yes they sued together with the pokemon company they filed a patent infringement lawsuit against the pow world devs team not over character design surprisingly not even over branding but over mechanics things like throwing a pal spear to catch creatures using them in combat riding them across the world and because of all of this the power

World team had to actually go in and change all of those features. They stripped out mechanics that players loved. You now can no longer throw your... Remember how in Power World you would throw your ball at what you wanted the pal to attack? And then it would automatically start on aggressive. They got rid of that feature. You can't do that anymore. Not because they were unethical, but because they simply couldn't defend themselves against a legal

drug or not. And just like with the Gary Bowser case, Nintendo tried to bring... Nintendo has never lost a legal case that they have initiated. their companies into the fight. In Japanese court. Which keep in mind, Powell World is in, is made by pocket pair and pocket pair or whatever is owns them is a Japanese company. And again, they declined. They did not want to be a part of it.

And all of this says a lot because this could have been a big moment for Nintendo. A wake up call, an opportunity for them to ask, what is it that people are responding to? Why are they so excited about this? What can we learn from this? But instead of innovation, they chose. Well, I think that there's probably like, what I believe, this is my personal belief, is that I bet there are so many guys that worked on the marketing department or the development team or on the Pokemon team at Nintendo that the moment that Power World came out and saw so much success,

they were probably saying, bro, see, I told you, I told you they'd buy this, I told you they wanted this. Why didn't you guys listen to me? I guarantee you. They were saying, see? I knew this was what they wanted. Why didn't they do this? And so, yeah, I told you all, yeah, I think internally, Nintendo probably did pick Power World and respected.

But obviously, they're not going to do that legally. Litigation. And to me, it was not a stand for creativity or IP protection. The Pokemon formula has been around for literally 30 years. We all know what it is and where it comes from. And Power World was not going to change that. No, this was Nintendo being a bull. bully and swinging at anything that threatened the comfort of their complacency.

They had an opportunity to grow, to evolve, to take advantage of someone already laying the groundwork for them. But instead, they chose violence. And after everything, the creator take downs, the lawsuits, the silencing of innovation. You think maybe Nintendo would at least try to get one thing right. Their legacy. I remember when Nintendo Online was first announced. It sounded like such a win, a way to legally revisit classic titles, play old favorites, dive back into the library that built up this brand.

And at first, I was so hopeful. But the reality has been frustrating at best. Games get added randomly. Some months, it's not much. Other months, it's one obscure NES title. There's just too many subscription services nowadays. It's just people are getting eaten alive. Like most people, I bet, probably have half a dozen subscriptions to things that are non-essential.

Like besides like your phone. payment. There's so many of these now it's nuts. Boiling frog? Yeah, it's like they're just taking little bites out of you. Little things. Nintendo loses legal battle against a supermarket named Super Mario. Fuck them. That's what they get. Asked for entire consoles like Game Boy Advance or N64 still feel incomplete and sometimes titles will just disappear without warning or explanation. They're just gone. And now with the launch of the Switch 2, I thought maybe they would just try to clean things up a bit. GameCube has finally joined the retro lineup, which is very awesome. But they only added three games at launch. Wind Waker. What? That's it? I mean,

I had all three of these games, but still. There is So Calibur 2 and F0GX. Oh my God. Yeah, that's a cool trio, I guess, but it's also pretty bare bones for a console with so many legendary types. and yet I know more are coming, but why launch with so few? Why not take the easy win here and give your fans what they've been begging you for for years? Beyond the catalog, the performance isn't always there either. Sometimes there's lag, some games have awkward control schemes, others don't support cloud saves. It doesn't really feel like a premium service.

It feels like something Nintendo begrudgingly maintains, and definitely not something that they can be proud of. The thing is, is I've always wanted to support something like this. I actually am very happy to pay to play these games legally. See, there's a thing that people might not remember about Nintendo. Is that back in the day, you used to be able to call the Nintendo hotline, and it didn't matter if you had an issue with Super Ghosts and Goals, Super Mario, your power converter, or anything, Nintendo would sit down with you and figure it out with you,

and they would solve your fucking problem. You could call in the year 2008, and you could say my Super Nintendo isn't turning on and they would say okay sir let me re let me reassign you and then there would be some fucking guy some wizard that would sit down with you and help you fix your super fucking Nintendo not the same company hey

remember that yeah that that's right I want to revisit the titles that shaped me in a clean easy way oh yes they had the video I I forgot all about the video yes Yes. But Nintendo has made it so hard. It's like they're sitting on this treasure trove of nostalgia, this very beautiful, powerful legacy.

And instead of sharing it or celebrating it with us, they keep it to themselves and withhold it. They kind of hold it over us like drugs, honestly, banking on the fact that we'll continue to play the part of the willing addicts who will be so happy for even the tiniest drop. It really is... I don't understand what... I don't understand Nintendo's strategy in general

because I think that they sabotage themselves. Like, for example, why can't you make a version of Armored Core that is called Star Fox? Why not? That would be really cool. Why have you discontinued so many super successful franchises? Why are there, why is every Pokemon game bad? Why is this? And it is honestly like just a quality, it's a quality question that I have.

Like, if, and Nintendo can apologize for this very, very, easily. All they need to do is they need to commission or pay from software to make the next Legend of Zelda. That's all they need to do. And say, look at Link to the past and do this.

That's all. Apology will be completely accepted. All these DMCA's totally understandable. Shit happens, right? That's all they need to do. Yeah, we'll get that and Twilight Princess. It's heartbreaking, but At this point, I'm not even really mad about it.

I'm just tired and maybe still a little bit sad. Now, again, to be clear, this video is not meant to shame anybody. If you bought the Switch 2 or you're part of Nintendo online and you're loving it, I think that's great. Truly, I am not here to steal joy away from anyone. I bought three games on too. This video really is just to talk about how I can't ignore how much my own relationship with Nintendo has changed over the years. And I don't love them anymore. Not the company, not like I used to.

And that's difficult to say out loud. because I grew up on these games. I spent summers chasing stars and Mario 64, winters decorating my animal crossing home, racing my siblings in Mario Kart, riding a pona across Hyrule Field, like it was the most magical thing in the world. And for me, these were not just games.

They were a part of my childhood. And that's why all of this hurts so much because the company that once led with a full heart and love for gaming feels like it's running on autopilot, giving us the... Yeah, they just suck. Like, I mean, the games suck. Like they make some good games, but like a lot of them are, I think, kind of mediocre.

They should be way better than they are. Absolute bare minimum. Comfortable, safe, lazy, greedy. We're getting less and paying more. And look, the industry as a whole is a bit of a mess right now. But it's still fair for us to ask for better, to feel valued as customers. Yes, true. To want these companies to care.

And for a long time, I really believed that Nintendo did, that they were different, that they stood for something. But now it's hard to see how that could still be true. I always joke that my relationship with Nintendo is super toxic because even after all of this, even after how I've seen, how they treat their consumers and fans, part of me still hopes that they'll change. Because to me, I have totally, I believe that I have totally transcended this toxic relationship that I have with video games and with video game companies. And I did it with wow. I used to hope so much. I used to get mad.

I would get mad reading patch notes and wow. Now it's just like, oh, you guys did something stupid? Well, that's too bad. I'm going to go do something else. And like, that's the way I feel now is that when I see something like even Night Rain, like I wasn't particular. I didn't like the way Night Rain was. There were some good things about it, but it just really wasn't for me.

And I didn't get mad at it from software. I'm like, oh, okay, this one's not really for me. I'll hopefully play the next one and it'll be good. And I've totally disconnected from any degree and I've tried to any degree of brand loyalty. Like if the last game was good, then I hope this game's going to be good. If it's not, well, then that's too bad, right? And then maybe I'll play something else or whatever. And like I did that with Zendless Zone Zero too. Like I went and you'd be the last person playing. You've come a long way. Everybody's saying I'd be the last person playing wow.

Well, I still love Wow. I mean, I do. I just haven't really played it recently because I haven't really felt like it. And like, it's the same with Nintendo. Like, if they bring out a good Legend of Zelda game, you guys have to understand that this is the level of my resolve. When I had Breath of the Wild come out and they said it was 30 FPS, I said, okay, I'm going to wait for it to come out in 60 FPS.

I just bought Breath of the Wild for 60 FPS on the Switch to. And I'll be playing it for the first time soon. Yep. I'll just wait. That's okay. They'll figure it out. Not a big deal. They could. It really would be so easy. If they wanted to, they could be the company that supports creators instead of silencing them. Shares their legacy instead of locking it away, prioritizes joy over control, and evolves instead of punishing innovation. I really would love nothing more than to fall back in love with them. But right now, it just seems like Nintendo is going to keep being Nintendo. just very stuck and too happy to stay that way.

The love that I once had for them was so real and the magic really mattered. But the company behind that magic, it feels further away. It's not there anymore. If you made it to the end of this video, seriously, thank you so much. And I would love to hear your story. What made you fall in love with Nintendo? Are you still in love with them? Or have you also had a bit of a breakup with them like me?

Let me know in the comments. And thank you so much for watching. I'll see you in the next one. I just feel like especially, like, if you go back and you look at like the Super Nintendo and the, like, in 64, those games were like generationally insanely good. This is a great video. And I think that she, I think she represents, there's a video, give it a like. I definitely feel that way. And I link the video.

Yeah, there you go. By the way, what's this here? Let me go back. I'll look at it. By the way, a Breath of Wild is more Soulslike game that you can imagine. Yeah, yeah, I heard about that a little bit. And Boo-Hun Ninja's Ville. Her emotional manipulation is tiring.

Yeah, but so is Nintendo's, and that's what she's talking about.