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Fun Club Nintendo Switch's Secret Sauce: Weeb appeal

Oregano

Oregano

Asano stan
Founder
Hello gang,

Often when the subject of Switch success comes up, we talk about the strength of brands like Mario or Animal Crossing, and when we talk about third party support we talk about the impossible ports; The Witcher, Mortal Kombat. But I'm here to tell you the real secret of the Switch's success:

They've been appealing to Weebs every step of the way

Let's start with the big launch one - The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild
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The big next evolution of the The Legend of Zelda franchise, and one sporting a new look reminiscent of Studio Ghibli films. Total weeb game.

Then throughout 2017 they even snuck weeb influences into other games:
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Tanooki Mario. Clear Weeb appeal for Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.

ARMs - Spring-man looks like a Tezuka character. Old school weebs.

Splatoon 2 - idols? Tokyo style setting? Weeb game

Fire Emblem Warriors - obvious weeb game
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Then came the big one at the end of 2017 - the weebiest game that ever weebed.

Xenoblade Chronicles 2
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then what came in 2018? More weeb games:

Octopath Traveler - that name screams weeb

Pokémon Remakes - franchise literally has a long running anime

Smash Bros - Full of JRPG characters - weeb game.

Then in 2019 Nintendo decided enough was enough. No more pretending they weren't a weeb company, time to really up the ante:

Fire Emblem Three Houses - 100% weeb
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Astral Chain - super weeb
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Daemon x Machina - for mecha weebs
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Dragon Quest XIS - so weeb it almost literally has DBZ characters in it
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and to top it off Nintendo decided to return to the fitness game - but Wii Fit wasn't going to cut it any more. This new fitness game had to be a bit more weeby

Ring Fit Adventure - A goddamn Fitness JRPG
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Following the weeb out in 2019 Nintendo then decided it was time not just to create new weeb games but remind people of the great weeb games of the past

Tokyo Mirage Sessions
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Xenoblade Definitive Edition
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Famicom Detective Club
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and then in the future of the Switch what do we see?

Pokémon Arceus - an even weebier take on Pokémon
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Triangle Strategy - goes without saying

Splatoon 3 - more squid weebs

The sequel to The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild -more Weeb Zelda

Bayonetta 3 - Bayo now in Shibuya? How much more weeb can you get
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On a serious note one of the most fascinating facets of Nintendo with the Switch has been their focus and support on AA Japanese content, and it has been one of the key parts of the Switch strategy that has been underestimated in my opinion. Nintendo's own output consisting of games like the above not only helped Nintendo their own niche series by having synergy between them but really fostered an environment for similar third parties to succeed on the platform.

I feel like that's been especially important as competitors(and publishers) at large are focusing more and more on bigger budget games, supported for longer, and more heavily monetised.
 
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You've listed many of my favourite Switch experiences, one of which is in my top 10 (Xenoblade Chronicles)...so yeah.
 
You joke, but I think there is actually something to it lol. There's a pretty big intersection between Nintendo and the anime/manga communities I visit. And Sony's decline in Japan is obviously mostly their doing, but I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo fostering a place for these kinds of games had a little bit to do with it too lol
 
If they truly cared about the weeb consumer, they’d release Persona 5 for the Switch 👺

You’re absolutely right though
 
10/10 thread, would be funnier if when you got to Xenoblade 2 you said "well, there's always the exception, this one isn't weeb at all"
 
Of course, no surprise Fire Emblem's sales went through the roof after they pointed the anime-o-rize ray right into the franchise's face.
 
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Lord Azrael said:
You joke, but I think there is actually something to it lol. There's a pretty big intersection between Nintendo and the anime/manga communities I visit. And Sony's decline in Japan is obviously mostly their doing, but I wouldn't be surprised if Nintendo fostering a place for these kinds of games had a little bit to do with it too lol
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Dardan Sandiego said:
Have you met Oregano?
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I would never joke about anime.
 
Well, I certainly can’t deny it. Most of my game library are JRPGs and retro/arcade games. Just last night I picked up Gleylancer and Espgaluda II (the latter being Switch exclusive).

It’s also what started pushing me away from PlayStation. My interest in the brand pretty much died with the Vita.
 
Excellent thread.

One of the reasons I love Nintendo, and back in the day when I was a Sega kid until they went RIP, was distinctly Japanese games.

Sony I feel has left me behind on many aspects with this after the PS3, but especially after the PS2.

A little back story, and I’m sure other South Americans may be able to attest to this. Anime was always a part of our childhoods. Not just DBZ, but all sorts. From Saint Seiya to Samaria Pizza Cats. We got some American cartoons, but most of our cartoons as kids growing up was anime, with excellent Spanish dubs BTW, and some European (french/belgian), but it was all anime. And Japanese live action shows like Ultraman and Mazinger, etc.

So naturally, as that’s what I grew up with, when I got into gaming it’s what I gravitated towards the most. My first console was Genesis in 1990 and followed by a SNES for my birthday shortly after launch.

So yeah, guess that makes me a weeb.

Also another fun fact. As a South American, watching anime since forever, I saw all those characters as strictly Japanese, even if they didn’t have a Japanese name. Same in games, no matter the setting. When I moved to America, I always found it weird how many people didn’t see the characters that way, but western. Always found that weird.
 
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People joke but Switch is almost PS1/PS2-like in terms of this. The audience has firmly consolidated around it too after Sony did everything they could to drive them off. The weeb audience intersects well with retro/lapsed gamers and indie gamers too, which Switch also leads the market with.
 
fiendcode said:
People joke but Switch is almost PS1/PS2-like in terms of this. The audience has firmly consolidated around it too after Sony did everything they could to drive them off. The weeb audience intersects well with retro/lapsed gamers and indie gamers too, which Switch also leads the market with.
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I made the full jump to Nintendo consoles at some point in the ps3 era, but I'm assuming I was one of the very earliest.
 
The weeb games essentially got me to handled gaming lol. Started with GBA but knew nothing then 10 years later I got the 3ds, only had Rayman and Mario. Then the Gameboy ambassador program...I clicked on Fire Emblem Sacred Stones and got exposed to Jrpgs like Bravely and Xenoblade.

Weeb games are amazing lol.

Then I discovered Visual Novels like Zero Escape and Ace Attorney.

Funny enough, I got more into Japanese games and got less into watching anime. I hardly watch anime or read manga these days, only exception is One Piece and Attack on Titan which has ended now. (Jujutsu Kaisen is pretty decent).
 
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Add to the list the infinite cuteness of Weeb U ports like Pikmin and Captain Toad.
 
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This is the most weeb thing ever. I finally can be a weeb together with other weebs.
 
It's fucking hilarious but hey I think you got a point here. I'm definitely not a weeb but many of these games are great and have cool universes; and that's all that matters to me
 
you're not wrong, at all. nintendo are greatly consolidating their weeb status ever since the switch released. Cant say i am all in but most of those games are pretty good and interesting
 
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Raytro said:
It's fucking hilarious but hey I think you got a point here. I'm definitely not a weeb but many of these games are great and have cool universes; and that's all that matters to me
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Jarmusch said:
you're not wrong, at all. nintendo are greatly consolidating their weeb status ever since the switch released. Cant say i am all in but most if those games are pretty good and interesting
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It's okay guys, no one will judge you here. The first step is admitting you are in fact a weeb.
 
Oregano said:
It's okay guys, no one will judge you here. The first step is admitting you are in fact a weeb.
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Ahahahahah, really I'm not :ROFLMAO: I'm not so much attracted to mangas, animes, etc. Sometimes I'm like "I don't understand these things" while many of my friends are weebs and they're talking with me about this kind of subjects. As far as I'm concerned the only "weeb" things I enjoy are some games, sometimes, but that's because I consider myself a video games enthusiast who play many different genres, from many different kind of universe!
 
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