Top 10 Worst Things Nintendo Has Ever Done
Top 10 Worst Things Nintendo Has Ever Done
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Welcome to WatchMojo and today we’ll be counting down our picks for the top 10 worst things Nintendo has ever done. For this list, we’re looking at the anti-consumer practices and bad business decisions of Nintendo. Let us know in the comments which one you find the most unforgivable.
#10: “Super Mario 3D All-Stars” (2020)
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Since the Switch came out, all fans have been asking for is more ports of classic games, but Nintendo remains stingy with what they choose to re-release. Finally, in 2020, prayers were answered with the announcement of “Super Mario 3D All-Stars”, a Switch collection containing “Super Mario 64”, “Super Mario Sunshine” and “Super Mario Galaxy”. So, what’s the problem? Well, the collection only had a limited release window. On top of that, the ports were actually inferior to fan-made ports and emulations, specifically a PC port of “Super Mario 64” that had 4K and ultrawide support. This was, of course, quickly removed by Nintendo’s legal team, leaving us stuck with the lazy “official” version.
#9: Amiibo Shortages
These collectible figurines disappear from shelves usually before they even reach them, thanks to Nintendo’s terrible business model. Despite having consistent Amiibo support since the 3DS, Nintendo doesn’t seem too interested in making the Amiibos themselves more accessible, constantly refusing to restock the lines while perpetuating a toxic pre-order cycle. It’s basically impossible to get your hands on Amiibos for a reasonable price; you’ve got to be a dedicated fan with a lot of money to burn to assemble any kind of collection. This could all be solved if Nintendo would just manufacture more Amiibos or actually restock them, but they still refuse to do so.
#8: Switch Voice Chat
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Many games nowadays are meant to be enjoyed with lots of other people, which is why voice chat has been an integral part of gaming for decades. But this isn’t the case with Nintendo, which insists on making it unnecessarily difficult to actually connect a headset to your Switch. Though the Switch has a standard headphone jack, you need a phone or tablet running the Nintendo Switch Online app to make a party and actually talk to people while you play. Nintendo claims this is to protect kids using their devices, but since most kids who have Switches will also have access to a phone or tablet, it’s doubtful that the extra steps actually help at all.
#7: Super NES CD-ROM
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In the late 80s, Nintendo signed an agreement with Sony to jointly develop a CD-ROM attachment for the popular SNES, which was hindered by the fact it was still using expensive cartridges. But not wanting to give ground to Sony, Nintendo eventually abandoned the partnership completely to work with a different company, Philips, on the CD drive. Sony’s response was, of course, to announce it was making a video game console of its own, which would go on to become the wildly popular PlayStation 1. This grave error on Nintendo’s part has left them playing catch-up to Sony for the better part of 30 years – though the PlayStation was certainly a good thing for gamers.
#6: Selling Out Sega
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It’s been proven many times that it’s a myth video games cause violent behavior, but back in the 90s, the moral panic over gory games like “Mortal Kombat” reached a fever pitch. By 1993, Nintendo and Sega found themselves in front of Congress. Rather than show a united front to politicians who didn’t understand the industry, Nintendo tried to blame Sega for increasingly mature video games by saying they only allowed family-friendly titles onto their platforms, unable to put their intense rivalry aside. To this day Nintendo maintains its “family-friendly” image, despite plenty of M-rated games coming to its consoles.
#5: No Virtual Console on Switch
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Nintendo has an absolutely enormous library of old games, and in the days of the Wii and Wii U, the Virtual Console made it easy to play retro games. Unfortunately, Nintendo has all but abandoned the Virtual Console on Switch. Switch Online comes with an impressive collection of NES and SNES games, but you’ll struggle to get your hands on anything more recent. It’s baffling that the Virtual Console has disappeared for this generation. Not that it was always handled well to begin with; back when the 3DS had its launch price slashed, early adopters were compensated with ports of classic GameBoy Advance games – ports that never saw the light of day on the eShop for anybody else.
#4: The Wii U’s Failure
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The Switch eventually became the hybrid console Nintendo always wanted the Wii U to be – but stuck in between two game-changing consoles, the Wii U has already been forgotten. On paper, it had a lot of good ideas: it was finally going to support HD graphics and would have a GamePad with its own screen, capable of being played in both handheld mode and on the TV. But things just didn’t click for the Wii U, which sold poorly, had a terrible name, and didn’t have too many system-seller titles. And with minimal third party support, it had a significantly smaller library than the PS4 and Xbox One.
#3: Joy-Con Drift
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We’ve had multiple different Switches and even the Switch Lite, but they all develop the same problem eventually: Joy-Con drift, where your Joy-Con thumbsticks think they’re being moved when not in use. The problem can get so severe that you’re unable to play your games, meaning you’ve either got to buy new controllers or, in the case of the Switch Lite, send your entire console away and hope it can be fixed. The problem is so endemic to the Switch family that multiple lawsuits have been brought against Nintendo which, until 2020, continued to deny that Joy-Con drift was even a problem.
#2: Major Account Breach
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Living in the age of information comes with some risks, namely that any one of the many companies that hold your personal details could get hacked – but few would handle it as poorly as Nintendo. In March 2020, news began to surface on social media of unauthorized purchases appearing on people’s Nintendo accounts, often for “Fortnite” V-Bucks. Instead of admitting that there had been a data breach, however, Nintendo decided to keep customers in the dark for weeks, only announcing in late April that roughly 160,000 accounts had been the victims of these hackers. They may have offered refunds, but refusing to explain what happened is unforgivable. Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few Honorable Mentions:
Tharja Censorship, “Fire Emblem: Awakening” (2012)
They Really Thought This Scene Was Too Inappropriate.
Awful Controls, “Star Fox Zero” (2016)
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The Wii U Gamepad Wasn’t Anywhere Near Good Enough to Be Used This Much.
#1: DMCAs
If there’s one thing Nintendo hates, it’s their own fanbase. Do anything using a Nintendo property, ranging from creating a fan game to just uploading gameplay footage to YouTube, and you’ll almost certainly be issued a cease-and-desist notice. Nintendo’s merciless approach to copyright has led to a decline in people live-streaming their games on pain of receiving a DMCA takedown, despite the fact live-streams are free advertising. The company even went out of its way to remove Mario-themed games from other platforms like “Dreams” on the PS4. With a huge track-record of anti-consumer practices, this abuse of copyright law is the worst thing Nintendo still does to this day.