Nintendo World Championships 2017 Was Not Good
I was hesitantly excited about the Nintendo World Championships for 2017 because there were signs that it was going to be bad. It was happening on a random Saturday in October; it was not tied to a major event like E3 or anything like that. They invited people once again, and also had a 12-and-under category. Could they repeat the fun and excitement of 2015? This was a question that was hanging in the air.
Immediately, the whole event was brought into question when Andre Rene took the stage as the host. She came off more like a schoolteacher than a hype-person, as she was being very nice to the children at the event. Her presence really set the stage for the event. It was warm and inviting, but it wasn't exciting or fun.
The first event also brought the whole event into question. Time-trials for shield-surfing in Zelda Breath? Really? It was boring to watch, as well as hard to follow, as the camera randomly cut to random players. Usually I detest commentary during gaming-events, but it was necessary this time because of the chaotic camera-work.
I understand why Nintendo chose to have these boring events as the competitions. They wanted to have a fairer, individualistic way to determine winners and losers. In 2015, they had Splatoon, which is a team-based game. Time-trials and the home-run contest in Smash 4 presented them with easy numbers to determine who was better than whom, but it was boring to watch, especially as we had to sit through all 16 people doing the same thing over and over again.
When Metroid: Samus Returns came on the screen, I admit that I wanted to revisit that game, and I did. I powered up the old 3DS and gave it a shot. Nintendo definitely achieved one thing during the Nintendo World Championships, and that was marketing their games. The competition of Balloon Fight also made me want to play that on my 3DS.
When 8-player Smash 4 came on the screen, however, I stopped watching. It wasn't that I wasn't interested in Smash 4, but I was just bored and my energy-level was low by then. Nintendo had failed to keep the energy and hype-level up, especially with an old game like Balloon Fight.
I did keep the event on in the background while I did other things, in the chance that Nintendo might announce a new game or something. That never happened.
Nintendo World Championships 2015 was more exciting. It had happened before, in 1990, but for many people it was fresh and new. We didn't know what to expect. It happened during the week of E3 so the excitement of the event was infectious. Splatoon was a fairly new game and so it was fun seeing it played live and competitively for the first time. There was a new game announcement. Hungrybox battled Reggie. We saw Super Mario Maker played competitively, and it was mind-blowing. Overall, the 2015-event felt like a celebration of Nintendo during a time when Nintendo was struggling. This 2017-event felt more like a marketing-scheme.
Immediately, the whole event was brought into question when Andre Rene took the stage as the host. She came off more like a schoolteacher than a hype-person, as she was being very nice to the children at the event. Her presence really set the stage for the event. It was warm and inviting, but it wasn't exciting or fun.
The first event also brought the whole event into question. Time-trials for shield-surfing in Zelda Breath? Really? It was boring to watch, as well as hard to follow, as the camera randomly cut to random players. Usually I detest commentary during gaming-events, but it was necessary this time because of the chaotic camera-work.
I understand why Nintendo chose to have these boring events as the competitions. They wanted to have a fairer, individualistic way to determine winners and losers. In 2015, they had Splatoon, which is a team-based game. Time-trials and the home-run contest in Smash 4 presented them with easy numbers to determine who was better than whom, but it was boring to watch, especially as we had to sit through all 16 people doing the same thing over and over again.
When Metroid: Samus Returns came on the screen, I admit that I wanted to revisit that game, and I did. I powered up the old 3DS and gave it a shot. Nintendo definitely achieved one thing during the Nintendo World Championships, and that was marketing their games. The competition of Balloon Fight also made me want to play that on my 3DS.
When 8-player Smash 4 came on the screen, however, I stopped watching. It wasn't that I wasn't interested in Smash 4, but I was just bored and my energy-level was low by then. Nintendo had failed to keep the energy and hype-level up, especially with an old game like Balloon Fight.
I did keep the event on in the background while I did other things, in the chance that Nintendo might announce a new game or something. That never happened.
Nintendo World Championships 2015 was more exciting. It had happened before, in 1990, but for many people it was fresh and new. We didn't know what to expect. It happened during the week of E3 so the excitement of the event was infectious. Splatoon was a fairly new game and so it was fun seeing it played live and competitively for the first time. There was a new game announcement. Hungrybox battled Reggie. We saw Super Mario Maker played competitively, and it was mind-blowing. Overall, the 2015-event felt like a celebration of Nintendo during a time when Nintendo was struggling. This 2017-event felt more like a marketing-scheme.
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