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Fun Club Nintendo Switch's Secret Sauce: Weeb appeal

I legit have this convo about twice a month with a friend of mine, because he really doesn't think he's a weeb. He's play almost everything in the first post. Just baffling to me. lol I have like every game in the first post that's out and want all the upcoming ones.
 
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Man God said:
Remember when the N64 was out and Nintendo pivoted to their western development partners for their advanced graphics three dee shooters and sports game and Sony first party+their partnerships had the weebiest games (that actually came out in the US, Saturn is no slouch on weebiness though most of that wasn't first party Sega)

Now Sony is the graphics, sports games, shooter company while Nintendo has finally completely taken over the market that the Vita once shared with the 3DS.
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Monster Rancher 1&2 went from PS1 exclusives that utilized its CD-ROM technology to ports releasing for just the Switch and PC.
 
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This is why I love handhelds! The portable crowd having been feasting on JRPG (and Japanese AA) goodness since the GBA days and that's not slowing down now.
 
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Miraj said:
I'm very happy that Japanese devs are finding success with the Switch, and I've enjoyed a number of those titles OP listed. That said, I find it notable that some first party properties that are beloved in the west, like Donkey Kong, Star Fox, F-Zero and Metroid, have gotten little (if any) focus on the Switch. DK got a Wii U port and some DLC in a Ubisoft game. Star Fox got DLC in a Ubisoft game. Metroid has been in flux, but finally got a release just now. F-Zero... lol

Meanwhile, we've had multiple Zeldas, Xenoblades, Fire Emblems, etc., some of these almost annually, and Nintendo consoles tend to usually have one entry per life cycle. It's not like Xenoblade was gangbuster in sales compared to DK or Metroid, yet we've had 3 releases on Switch so far, with a fourth rumored to be coming. I'm not saying Monolithsoft would make a Star Fox or F-Zero if they weren't making Xeno all the time (though that would be interesting to see), but I wonder what they could work on if resources weren't focused on multiple entries of a single IP.

So while I think it's great to see "weeb shit" doing well, it also feels like it's at the exclusion of other things (intentionally or not).
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I get where you're coming from, but I think this is a fairly strange outlook altogether.

It's a little hard to talk about the comparisons made in your comment because "first party properties that are beloved in the west" and "weeb shit" are actually not mutually exclusive. Xenoblade sells well in Japan for what it is, but also has a big Western following (proportional to game sales). Fire Emblem is a similar story although I think that game is actually even more popular in the West proportional to its overall game sales. And don't even get me started on non-first party "weeb" games. Stuff like No More Heroes III or Bayonetta 3 is pretty much made exclusively for the West, no matter how "weeb" it is.

And then ... the inclusion of Zelda with the "weeb games" is just, odd? Like, not only is Zelda not really that weeb in and of itself, it's sales history indicates that much like Metroid, it's popularity is much more centralized to the West. It's just a big enough series to still get really good sales in Japan, and even a big comeback with Breath of the Wild, but it appeals to the West much more overall.

If anything, I think that the Switch has been the most neutral console possible when catering to game taste. It leans a bit more to the Japanese side, but that's only because even its biggest games reflect to some small extent the culture of the creators that make them. It's not nearly as Western centric as Xbox or even Playstation. But honestly, I feel like if I was super into "weeb games", I'd be pretty back-and-forth on the Switch. Not exactly lukewarm, because there's really not a lot of other great consoles to go to for that type of experience, but a lot of the RPGs we get on the example kind of seem lacking compared to the games they are taking inspiration from (I'm really not sure I'd think of Bravely Default 2 or Octopath Traveler as more than slightly above average in terms of ambition or quality, Octopath's greatest accomplishment seems to be its artstyle more than anything). Then you have table scraps like the Tokyo RPG Factory games. Then you have Pokemon and Xenoblade, I mean ... Pokemon is a global franchise, not too weeby, but both of those games had divisive entries on Switch. With Pokemon Gen 8 sparking heated debates in the community, and Xenoblade 2 being generally pretty well liked but getting nowhere near the reception as 1. And people into those kind of games, aren't even getting stuff like SMTV until now, or Rune Factory till next year, and who knows when for Etrian Odyssey.

I guess when you look at it this way it's true there's certainly more of an attempt to cater to weeb-specific games more than western-specific games, but a lot of this has to do with developers making games they would have already made, rather than Nintendo having a certain focus on them (none of those developers would have picked up DK or Star Fox, for example). It's also a bit unfair because Nintendo games that sell almost all of their units in the West, never seem Western-specific, because they seem to have such non-exclusionary universal appeal. Because this skew looks over stuff like Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild, aside from their global appeal, actually being more western specific. And again, that 'attempt' just seems above average relative to other consoles, not particularly great. I'm not really into these kind of games so maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but that's the kind of reaction I've seen from people who are, honestly. I imagine the story would be quite different if Switch got Nier and Persona as well. Ironically for such a dead genre, "weeb" action games might be one of the more catered to subgenres on the Switch, even if it has been a slow trickle.
 
What can i say, only those weeb friendly, rated E games will satiate my thirst.

And actually, most of the AAA games will be in that uncanny valley for me
 
Gengar said:
I swear I'm not a we--

*checks switch playlog
*Cold Steel III and IV: over 150 hours combined
*Dragon Quest XI: over 90 hours
*Fire Emblem Three Houses: over 240 hours
*looks at avatar and username

I... might have a hard time convincing people of that.
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Cold Steel is a series I want to give a shot. I have 1 & 2 for the Vita but havenā€™t played them yet. Should I start there or is there a chance they will come to Switch?
 
Clix said:
Cold Steel is a series I want to give a shot. I have 1 & 2 for the Vita but havenā€™t played them yet. Should I start there or is there a chance they will come to Switch?
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I would go ahead and start them. I don't know the full story but there was a different publisher for I & II that has the rights to english localizations, and I guess Falcom doesn't work with them anymore? Those games are coming to switch in Japan (if they're not out already) but not in the west at this time.
 
AngryAlchemist said:
I get where you're coming from, but I think this is a fairly strange outlook altogether.

It's a little hard to talk about the comparisons made in your comment because "first party properties that are beloved in the west" and "weeb shit" are actually not mutually exclusive. Xenoblade sells well in Japan for what it is, but also has a big Western following (proportional to game sales). Fire Emblem is a similar story although I think that game is actually even more popular in the West proportional to its overall game sales. And don't even get me started on non-first party "weeb" games. Stuff like No More Heroes III or Bayonetta 3 is pretty much made exclusively for the West, no matter how "weeb" it is.

And then ... the inclusion of Zelda with the "weeb games" is just, odd? Like, not only is Zelda not really that weeb in and of itself, it's sales history indicates that much like Metroid, it's popularity is much more centralized to the West. It's just a big enough series to still get really good sales in Japan, and even a big comeback with Breath of the Wild, but it appeals to the West much more overall.

If anything, I think that the Switch has been the most neutral console possible when catering to game taste. It leans a bit more to the Japanese side, but that's only because even its biggest games reflect to some small extent the culture of the creators that make them. It's not nearly as Western centric as Xbox or even Playstation. But honestly, I feel like if I was super into "weeb games", I'd be pretty back-and-forth on the Switch. Not exactly lukewarm, because there's really not a lot of other great consoles to go to for that type of experience, but a lot of the RPGs we get on the example kind of seem lacking compared to the games they are taking inspiration from (I'm really not sure I'd think of Bravely Default 2 or Octopath Traveler as more than slightly above average in terms of ambition or quality, Octopath's greatest accomplishment seems to be its artstyle more than anything). Then you have table scraps like the Tokyo RPG Factory games. Then you have Pokemon and Xenoblade, I mean ... Pokemon is a global franchise, not too weeby, but both of those games had divisive entries on Switch. With Pokemon Gen 8 sparking heated debates in the community, and Xenoblade 2 being generally pretty well liked but getting nowhere near the reception as 1. And people into those kind of games, aren't even getting stuff like SMTV until now, or Rune Factory till next year, and who knows when for Etrian Odyssey.

I guess when you look at it this way it's true there's certainly more of an attempt to cater to weeb-specific games more than western-specific games, but a lot of this has to do with developers making games they would have already made, rather than Nintendo having a certain focus on them (none of those developers would have picked up DK or Star Fox, for example). It's also a bit unfair because Nintendo games that sell almost all of their units in the West, never seem Western-specific, because they seem to have such non-exclusionary universal appeal. Because this skew looks over stuff like Mario Odyssey or Breath of the Wild, aside from their global appeal, actually being more western specific. And again, that 'attempt' just seems above average relative to other consoles, not particularly great. I'm not really into these kind of games so maybe I'm speaking out of turn, but that's the kind of reaction I've seen from people who are, honestly. I imagine the story would be quite different if Switch got Nier and Persona as well. Ironically for such a dead genre, "weeb" action games might be one of the more catered to subgenres on the Switch, even if it has been a slow trickle.
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My take on it is that Nintendo first party only has so many resources to go around, and only so many studios they can collaborate with. They also historically tend to release one entry per console (sometimes more). With the Switch, they have doubled down on "weeb games" like Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Hyrule Warriors titles, etc. and they are getting almost annual entries now (including remakes, spinoffs, etc.) while several notable "non-weeb" franchises have had, at best, DLC appearances or cameos in third party stuff.

Now, I'm not at all saying I dislike the "weeb games". Far from it. But I also know there are only so many developers in Japan, and Nintendo doesn't have an array of western studios like Sony and Microsoft, so when I see a "weeb game" get its third entry in 5 years while Star Fox or whatever has nothing so far, it makes me feel like they are investing their limited pool of resources into that "weeb" demographic and don't have enough to dedicate to some IPs that don't share that style, and tend to sell far better in the west.

Again, this is first party. Third party has been far better support and diversity-wise, getting closer to the DS days. But I'm specifically talking about Nintendo first party/collaborative titles.
 
I'm not a weeb, but I play pretty much only Japanese games. So that is one of the reasons the Switch is my favorite console right now and why I'm disappointed in other consoles.
 
This is definitely true, I'm kind of shocked Sony just gave up the mantle of being the place for Japanese games so easily. Not really sure if that was a conscience thing or just kind of happened. I know their appeal in Japan is not what it used to be.

I think in a way all the weeb coming the Switch's way has reignited my interest in Japanese media like it was when I was younger. I started reading manga again a couple years ago and play a lot more Japanese games now.

Counter-point: I do kind of wish everything wasn't totally weeb-ified. I know this is sacrilege but I really couldn't get into Three Houses, or any of the 3DS games before. The GBA Fire Emblem games are among some of my favorite games ever, and to me they had just the right amount of tasteful weeb-iness. They were still very Japanese influenced, just without all the social link and romancing characters stuff. I got like 8 hours into Three Houses and it was just too much "anime highschool" for me.
 
Wans said:
What can i say, only those weeb friendly, rated E games will satiate my thirst.

And actually, most of the AAA games will be in that uncanny valley for me
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I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. While I have no problem with the world design in AAA games the same can't be said for character design. The more developers aim for realism in character design the more uncomfortable I get.
 
Miraj said:
My take on it is that Nintendo first party only has so many resources to go around, and only so many studios they can collaborate with. They also historically tend to release one entry per console (sometimes more). With the Switch, they have doubled down on "weeb games" like Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Hyrule Warriors titles, etc. and they are getting almost annual entries now (including remakes, spinoffs, etc.) while several notable "non-weeb" franchises have had, at best, DLC appearances or cameos in third party stuff.

Now, I'm not at all saying I dislike the "weeb games". Far from it. But I also know there are only so many developers in Japan, and Nintendo doesn't have an array of western studios like Sony and Microsoft, so when I see a "weeb game" get its third entry in 5 years while Star Fox or whatever has nothing so far, it makes me feel like they are investing their limited pool of resources into that "weeb" demographic and don't have enough to dedicate to some IPs that don't share that style, and tend to sell far better in the west.

Again, this is first party. Third party has been far better support and diversity-wise, getting closer to the DS days. But I'm specifically talking about Nintendo first party/collaborative titles.
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I don't think there's anything intentional here, even if it is somewhat true. Metroid Prime 4 was supposed to be out by now, and if rumors are to be believed, we're getting Prime 1 next year with Prime 4 targeting the year after for three years of Metroid in a row. Star Fox and F-Zero had been largely dormant, in part because they haven't exactly been popular anywhere. Donkey Kong comes and goes; the early 2010s was his most relevant period since the late 90s, and now he's gone again (but perhaps but for long?).

You're also ignoring games with global appeal; Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing are all larger in the west than any of the IPs you mentioned. Splatoon, a game known for skewing Japanese, is demonstrably more popular in the west than all of those except Donkey Kong, which I believe it's on par with.

If you're trying to say they're largely ignoring games that barely resonate with the Japanese market at all, you'd be correct. But the majority of those aren't popular here either; they're just less unpopular.
 
Am a weeb, and a Nintendo fan. This checks out.
enempi said:
This is definitely true, I'm kind of shocked Sony just gave up the mantle of being the place for Japanese games so easily. Not really sure if that was a conscience thing or just kind of happened. I know their appeal in Japan is not what it used to be.

I think in a way all the weeb coming the Switch's way has reignited my interest in Japanese media like it was when I was younger. I started reading manga again a couple years ago and play a lot more Japanese games now.

Counter-point: I do kind of wish everything wasn't totally weeb-ified. I know this is sacrilege but I really couldn't get into Three Houses, or any of the 3DS games before. The GBA Fire Emblem games are among some of my favorite games ever, and to me they had just the right amount of tasteful weeb-iness. They were still very Japanese influenced, just without all the social link and romancing characters stuff. I got like 8 hours into Three Houses and it was just too much "anime highschool" for me.
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I like my anime high school stuff but I also didnā€™t buy Xenoblade 2 and FE3H. It honestly would be really cool if we get more ā€œweeb gamesā€ in the vein of stuff like Berserk, Jujutsu Kaisen, 20th Century Boys or Lucifer and the Biscuit Hammer.
 
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Miraj said:
My take on it is that Nintendo first party only has so many resources to go around, and only so many studios they can collaborate with. They also historically tend to release one entry per console (sometimes more). With the Switch, they have doubled down on "weeb games" like Xenoblade, Fire Emblem, Hyrule Warriors titles, etc. and they are getting almost annual entries now (including remakes, spinoffs, etc.) while several notable "non-weeb" franchises have had, at best, DLC appearances or cameos in third party stuff.

Now, I'm not at all saying I dislike the "weeb games". Far from it. But I also know there are only so many developers in Japan, and Nintendo doesn't have an array of western studios like Sony and Microsoft, so when I see a "weeb game" get its third entry in 5 years while Star Fox or whatever has nothing so far, it makes me feel like they are investing their limited pool of resources into that "weeb" demographic and don't have enough to dedicate to some IPs that don't share that style, and tend to sell far better in the west.

Again, this is first party. Third party has been far better support and diversity-wise, getting closer to the DS days. But I'm specifically talking about Nintendo first party/collaborative titles.
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Xenoblade gets constant (although not annual) attention because there's a subsidiary developer dedicated and invested into its continued existence and who would most likely look for ways to bail out if they weren't allowed to make it (something they already did twice).

And even then 2/3rds of said developer are already dedicated to developing Breath of the Wild and asset creation for Animal Crossing/Splatoon so it's not like they are selfishly taking Nintendo's funds just for their own personal projects while contributing nothing outside that.

There isn't a dedicated studio for Star Fox like there is for Xenoblade or Fire Emblem (which have existed for decades, it's not a recent development, there's always been a ton of FE games they just weren't as popular). It's as simple as that. If you want to blame something, blame the lack of foresight and failing to establish dedicated teams for specific series back when game development wasn't so demanding. Now Nintendo has to make do with outsourcing development for quite a few of their own IPs because they just don't have enough manpower.
 
Nintendo isn't consciously de-emphasising non-weeb titles but it kind of does make sense to double down of Japanese AA content anyway. Games like Xenoblade and Fire Emblem aren't just successful in terms of revenue generated for Nintendo, they also establish a consumer base looking for similar content and there's a plethora of other developers making similar content - and more importantly willing to work on hardware like Switch in the first place.

Renmazuo said:
Xenoblade gets constant (although not annual) attention because there's a subsidiary developer dedicated and invested into its continued existence and who would most likely look for ways to bail out if they weren't allowed to make it (something they already did twice).

And even then 2/3rds of said developer are already dedicated to developing Breath of the Wild and asset creation for Animal Crossing/Splatoon so it's not like they are selfishly taking Nintendo's funds just for their own personal projects while contributing nothing outside that.

There isn't a dedicated studio for Star Fox like there is for Xenoblade or Fire Emblem (which have existed for decades, it's not a recent development, there's always been a ton of FE games they just weren't as popular). It's as simple as that. If you want to blame something, blame the lack of foresight and failing to establish dedicated teams for specific series back when game development wasn't so demanding. Now Nintendo has to make do with outsourcing development for quite a few of their own IPs because they just don't have enough manpower.
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To be fair Star Fox 64 is the only time that series wasn't co-developed with an outside developer, and the remaster ended up being co-developed by their most frequent collaborator anyway.
 
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Seven said:
I'm glad I'm not the only one who feels this way. While I have no problem with the world design in AAA games the same can't be said for character design. The more developers aim for realism in character design the more uncomfortable I get.
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Ya, one day they are gonna nail animating 3D models but today's tech isn't there yet. Plus making things realistic tones everything down and it's harder to do unique character designs so weeb/anime-styles for the win \o/
 
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PKrockin said:
Switch owners are so weeby they'll name their forum after a Japanese console they've never touched and then slap katakana under it. Checks out.
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Damn, shots fired.

Joseki said:
Oregano just went and dropped the Nintendo secret sauce online for everyone to copy
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It's all good, Sony turned down the secret sauce. Microsoft has been having to smuggle it out of Japan during their trips.
 
Renmazuo said:
Xenoblade gets constant (although not annual) attention because there's a subsidiary developer dedicated and invested into its continued existence and who would most likely look for ways to bail out if they weren't allowed to make it (something they already did twice).

And even then 2/3rds of said developer are already dedicated to developing Breath of the Wild and asset creation for Animal Crossing/Splatoon so it's not like they are selfishly taking Nintendo's funds just for their own personal projects while contributing nothing outside that.

There isn't a dedicated studio for Star Fox like there is for Xenoblade or Fire Emblem (which have existed for decades, it's not a recent development, there's always been a ton of FE games they just weren't as popular). It's as simple as that. If you want to blame something, blame the lack of foresight and failing to establish dedicated teams for specific series back when game development wasn't so demanding. Now Nintendo has to make do with outsourcing development for quite a few of their own IPs because they just don't have enough manpower.
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Maybe Nintendo should use their billions in profit to... I dunno, expand. Monolithsoft has gotten a lot of expansion in recent years, but besides buying NextLevelGames (which they were kind of given a last chance to do), they seem very averse to expanding their studio count. This may eventually bite back at them since they will have to keep up with demand of existing IP, plus making new IP. They already outsource and collaborate heavily with third party studios, but that may not be sustainable.
 
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Jersh said:
I don't think there's anything intentional here, even if it is somewhat true. Metroid Prime 4 was supposed to be out by now, and if rumors are to be believed, we're getting Prime 1 next year with Prime 4 targeting the year after for three years of Metroid in a row. Star Fox and F-Zero had been largely dormant, in part because they haven't exactly been popular anywhere. Donkey Kong comes and goes; the early 2010s was his most relevant period since the late 90s, and now he's gone again (but perhaps but for long?).

You're also ignoring games with global appeal; Mario, Zelda, Pokemon, and Animal Crossing are all larger in the west than any of the IPs you mentioned. Splatoon, a game known for skewing Japanese, is demonstrably more popular in the west than all of those except Donkey Kong, which I believe it's on par with.

If you're trying to say they're largely ignoring games that barely resonate with the Japanese market at all, you'd be correct. But the majority of those aren't popular here either; they're just less unpopular.
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Warioware and Advance Wars don't set the world on fire, yet we're getting new releasees this year. It's okay for them to invest in mid-tier titles that don't sell 10 million+ copies per entry. It diversifies the portfolio, and honestly the massive mega sellers are the exception when looking at the library as a whole. If DK for instance wasn't worth the effort because it won't sell tens of millions, why are they building a theme park? Why are they reportedly making a DK game in-house? Because it's a well-known IP that the company values and they want to bring it back in some form to retain public interest, even if it isn't always a mega hit.

Everything on Switch sells. Old or dormant IPs are getting revived on the system. If all we see from Nintendo is just Mario, Zelda, Splatoon, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade, that's really missing a lot of genres and potential audiences. Just like how movie studios use tentpole pictures to fund smaller films that they don't expect to be hits, game companies do that too, including Nintendo. I'm very pleased we got the triple treat of Metroid, Wario and Advance Wars this year. It makes me very intrigued by what other non-mega hit franchises they could bring to the Switch (and possibly give them their best sales yet).
 
Miraj said:
Warioware and Advance Wars don't set the world on fire, yet we're getting new releasees this year. It's okay for them to invest in mid-tier titles that don't sell 10 million+ copies per entry. It diversifies the portfolio, and honestly the massive mega sellers are the exception when looking at the library as a whole. If DK for instance wasn't worth the effort because it won't sell tens of millions, why are they building a theme park? Why are they reportedly making a DK game in-house? Because it's a well-known IP that the company values and they want to bring it back in some form to retain public interest, even if it isn't always a mega hit.

Everything on Switch sells. Old or dormant IPs are getting revived on the system. If all we see from Nintendo is just Mario, Zelda, Splatoon, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem and Xenoblade, that's really missing a lot of genres and potential audiences. Just like how movie studios use tentpole pictures to fund smaller films that they don't expect to be hits, game companies do that too, including Nintendo. I'm very pleased we got the triple treat of Metroid, Wario and Advance Wars this year. It makes me very intrigued by what other non-mega hit franchises they could bring to the Switch (and possibly give them their best sales yet).
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I'm not trying to argue whether these IPs are worth it or not when I bring up sales, I'm questioning whether they really appeal to the west to begin with as you claim.
 
Jersh said:
I'm not trying to argue whether these IPs are worth it or not when I bring up sales, I'm questioning whether they really appeal to the west to begin with as you claim.
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They all sell better in the west, and most were at one time very popular. For instance, Star Fox and DK used to be marquee titles until Nintendo started getting too experimental with them, or released entries very far apart and lost audience retention. Metroid is a relevant example, as it's a rather revered franchise in the west, but Japan historically didn't care much for it... yet the early sales figures for Dread are very good.

If Nintendo puts in the effort, these IP have a chance to be successful. However, they seem to be doubling down on IP popular in Japan, particularly "weeb games" as the OP jokingly referred to them as. Nintendo's western branches don't have the power they used to have, so NoJ is calling all the shots, and may not be aware of the fan fervor for some of their IPs (they reportedly were surprised western audiences loved K. Rool so much, for instance).

I feel like this is derailing this thread a bit, but essentially all I'm saying is that while I welcome "weeb games", it seems Nintendo is stretched thin and instead of more sequels to those in a single console cycle, I'd like to see them spread those resources around to get more variety in IP representation.
 
Miraj said:
They all sell better in the west, and most were at one time very popular. For instance, Star Fox and DK used to be marquee titles until Nintendo started getting too experimental with them, or released entries very far apart and lost audience retention. Metroid is a relevant example, as it's a rather revered franchise in the west, but Japan historically didn't care much for it... yet the early sales figures for Dread are very good.

If Nintendo puts in the effort, these IP have a chance to be successful. However, they seem to be doubling down on IP popular in Japan, particularly "weeb games" as the OP jokingly referred to them as. Nintendo's western branches don't have the power they used to have, so NoJ is calling all the shots, and may not be aware of the fan fervor for some of their IPs (they reportedly were surprised western audiences loved K. Rool so much, for instance).

I feel like this is derailing this thread a bit, but essentially all I'm saying is that while I welcome "weeb games", it seems Nintendo is stretched thin and instead of more sequels to those in a single console cycle, I'd like to see them spread those resources around to get more variety in IP representation.
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I think the point being made is that weeb games are actually super popular outside of Japan, even compared to those non-"weeb" franchises. Fire Emblem has sold something like 2.5m copies outside of Japan.
 
Oregano said:
I think the point being made is that weeb games are actually super popular outside of Japan, even compared to those non-"weeb" franchises. Fire Emblem has sold something like 2.5m copies outside of Japan.
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Fire Emblem used to sell poorly (so poorly the series was almost cancelled) until they did a last ditch effort and Awakening became a surprise hit in the west. Now the series is getting almost yearly releases of some sort, even old Famicom titles, and this keeps the fanbase active. Other franchises go dormant for 4-5 years with nothing to remind people Nintendo is invested in bringing more. It's partly why I think some series struggle while others don't. They just simply aren't in the collective consciousness outside of Smash.

Regarding focusing on some series to the detriment of others, sometimes the opposite can happen in terms of "weeb" franchises. There are lots of people on this forum and elsewhere who really wish Nintendo would bring back Golden Sun. But the last entry didn't sell well, so Nintendo has Camelot focus on an endless rotation of Mario Golf & Tennis games, because they're reliable sellers and pad out the annual Mario title schedule. This is an example where the "weeb" game isn't given priority, but if it did get a remaster or a new entry, it would likely be a hit with the modern Switch audience. What didn't work in the 2000s may work in the 2020s as the demographic is far more diverse (and bigger).

Intelligent Systems made a new Paper Mario and Warioware this generation, while they handed Fire Emblem to Koei Tecmo. Advance Wars likely only got a reboot/remake because Working Designs pitched it, but that was another series that had a poorly-selling last entry, but fans wanted to see it come back. I'm honestly surprised IntSys didn't just keep pumping out constant Fire Emblem games, but I'm glad they're rotating between franchises. They seem to be the exception and not the norm, though, and it was likely because they handed off the bulk of development duties to a third party collaborator.

What I'm essentially getting at is that Nintendo likes to focus heavily on some franchises while others don't get a boost, but the Switch Effect is real, and they could stand to take some chances and give some of those dormant franchises that didn't sell great a decade or ago another chance. But ultimately it comes down to their management and where they allocate resources.
 
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Have definitely felt this.

It used to be that a lot of "weeb" games were distributed pretty evenly not just between Nintendo/Sony consoles, but also handhelds/home consoles. Now, I'd say damn near 90% of it hits Switch. In particular, I've ventured more into games, like Atelier and Code Realize, that'd have probably been more associated with the Vita audience last generation.
 
It's totally true. They've did a really good job of investing in multiple genres and building mindshare that if you're a jrpg fan, a fighting game fan, a VN fan, the switch is at least a very strong option (if not THE option depending on your tastes). Alot of that has spread into putting money back into third party Japanese studios and relationships too and pushing the culture that weeb games of all types display and it feels like it's working saleswise. It's fantastic.

I love the OP too @Oregano !
 
This ā€œweebā€ talk is nonsense. And I donā€™t get why We continue to believe this theory.

So anyways Iā€™ve been playing A great card game called shadowverse champion battle and itā€™s even has a story mode like older yugioh games I recommend it toā€” wait a minute

Oh no. I proved Oreganoā€™s theory for my case šŸ˜
 
Nintendo has done a great job slowly locking down a lot of the Japanese content pretty much since the GBA/DS. I think most people in the West didn't really notice because it was all happening on the handheld side, but it has certainly payed dividends with the Switch as long as you don't care about the big Japanese titles that Sony is willing to pay out for because those games also tend to target the Western audience more directly.

But the way I see it these days, I think I'm happier with a new Team Asano game every 1-2 years vs. a new Final Fantasy every 5 (if we're lucky).
 
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Nintendo's embrace to Japanese games first party wise is one of the main reasons why besides the n64, I have yet to miss out on their systems since the Snes days. As much as I enjoy the Nintendo's evergreens, Japanese RPG and action games are some of my favourite genres.

It's also the reason why from a first party perspective, currently, Sony and MS' first party line-ups are as appealing to me as dirt. Coming from a long time fan of PS consoles due to their amazing library of a Japanese games, Sony especially since last gen really disappointed me when they have been leaning to predominantly Western output and the final nail on the coffin is when they moved their PS HQ to the US and pretty much killed their Japanese studios.
 
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So true lol

And you forgot Bravely Default 2, Age of Calamity, Wario Ware, No More Heroes 3 and Shin Megami Tensei V, which are pretty weeb too.
 
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