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Arlo, I absolutely love ya and this video was truly great!... But I knew you wouldn't remember to mention Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, despite it being a great example of a switch remaster going the extra mile. It had significantly improved assets and visuals, dozens of the songs in the soundtrack were revamped, tons and tons of quality of life features, and a brand new 20-30 hour epilogue set in a unique location not featured in the original game! They brought back the voice actors and composed a bunch of new music for the new story content too! Honestly, one of the best switch remasters in my opinion, simply in terms of value.
Metroid Prime Remastered as a shadow drop for $40 is the biggest wild card moment from Nintendo this generation. I still cannot wrap my head around it.
Metroid isn't very popular compared to Donkey Kong, because of sales and inconsistent releases. Since Prime 4 was coming out it only made sense to make it easier for new comers to get into the Metroid franchise.
in updating the metroid assets to reuse in metroid prime 4, it made sense to pad the switch release schedule by remaking metroid prime using the new remastered tech that needed to be developed anyway.
@@orangeslash1667Usually companies do the reverse. Where you pay more, the less popular it is. Due to needing to make up the difference of not having a lot of customers.
The dumbest thing Nintendo did recently was release an HD port of Luigi's Mansion 2 without bundling it with the first Luigi's Mansion. They should have done 1&2 like they did with Pikmin.
Remember when they did Mega Man X collection and the first five games were on the cartridge and the next three were DLC even though it cost the same as the PlayStation and Xbox versions that had the complete series AND more content
@@LG555Same could be said about Pikmin 1 & 2, it’s not like those games have extensive lore that require a master’s degree to understand. No reason why Pikmin should get a bundle and Luigi’s Mansion shouldn’t, as they both have barebones stories. Try not to excuse Nintendo’s questionable and arguably greedy business practices, it’s really not a good look.
I know I’m not the first to say this and that I won’t be the last, but I really wish they brought Nintendo Selects back. The Switch’s library is gargantuan, and it will only continue to grow since the next system is all but guaranteed to have backwards compatibility. It would be really nice if some of the system’s older games were given a price cut to make them more affordable, since it’s hard to recommend many of them at the price they’re at in this point of the Switch’s life.
Tropical Freeze... $60... New Super Luigi U... $60... Arms.... Most first party Nintendo games are still $60, and when Ninty keeps making more games I don't buy (in the same genre/franchise), I end up getting the newer/shinier game or yet another cheap indie steamed ham.
Unfortunately there is 0 Incentive for Nintendo to do this. The switch, even at the end of its life, is still selling ridiculously well, it could very well become the greatest selling console of all time. People are still buying it in ridiculous quantities, and those people are still buying games at full price. With the Gamecube and Wii, the sales of those consoles really fizzled out during the last year or two of their lives (For most of the Gamecubes life to be fair). Nintendo weren't selling their software as they weren't selling their hardware, hence they reduced their prices via Nintendo Selects to sell more software, with the hope being the lower prices of games would entice newer audiences to buy those consoles. The switch just doesn't have this issue, Nintendo are still raking in absolute fat stacks, and have no intentions of reducing the prices of their flagship, system-selling games (BotW, ToTk, MK8, Odyssey etc.), as they have 0 issues selling systems. Sucks for consumers, but bringing back Nintendo selects right now would be a horrific business move. The only way to really get cheaper physical copies of switch games are like ebay or other online marketplaces.
Dude, Arlo pointing out how much better the sales of Link's Awakening are when compared to Skyward Sword just reminded me why Echoes of Wisdom is copying the exact same style as Link's Awakening and maybe why we are even getting another 2D Zelda game to begin with.
I never even originally took sales into consideration, I just thought Link's Awakening remake's art style was already an ode to them doing remakes of 2D Zelda's in this style. I honestly figured it was a given. I was even hoping for the original Zelda to be remade in this style. So getting a whole new game...but in this art style? ...is the kind of swerve shit Nintendo does that I love about them.
@@therealjaystone2344Tears of the Kingdom is the second best selling game in the series. Black Myth Wukong just sold 10 million copies in 3 days. People buy games, even in this economy.
10:18 - 10:36 *So many* people tend to forget that *Mario Kart 8 Deluxe* is *also* an upscaled port. Granted, the Booster Course Pass gave us significantly more content, by doubling the track count and adding eight playable characters, but that isn't included with the game and costs $25! My point is, MK8D only added three new characters and a battle mode rework, which it was in dire need of anyway! MK8D, which is barely more than an upscaled port, is priced at $60 and sold nearly **63 MILLION** units. Yet people tend to forget that it's a port because it's sold so well and has gained significantly more attention and popularity as a Switch game.
@@metroidcypher He really doesn't hate it, he just doesn't remember it since it's simply not his type of game. He did however mention Xenoblade in a past video mentioning ports and Wii U titles, so yeah, you can't really use that strawman logic.
15:32 No... Why do people think that removing the Game Pad functionality would take much effort? Both games already have a gameplay mode for Pro Controller. All they need to do is default to that and make the game skip the part where you pick the control mode. They don't even need to remove the Game Pad stuff, they can just hide it.
THANK YOU! I’m glad someone else said it, because as someone who played on Pro Controller back when these games first released, it makes it even more baffling that they haven’t brought them back yet. Even compared to something like Pikmin 1+2, it would be so so easy.
People probably think that because it's Nintendo. I can totally imagine Ninty putting off that effort because they think the second screen was too integral. If it's gonna be for any reason, that's the first excuse I can think of.
5:05 I think it should be mentioned that when Pikmin 3 Deluxe released for the full $60, the original Pikmin 3 (priced at around ~$20 or ~$30, can’t quite remember at the moment) was delisted off the eShop long before it totally shut down. Don’t get me wrong, I think Deluxe was overall good for the series, but it’s not an outlier when it comes to Nintendo’s questionable business practices.
I would LOVE for Nintendo to bring back Nintendo Selects. Where instead of selling some games for $60 they could sell them for $30. A TON of their games could have new life breathed into them just with a simple price cut. ARMS, 1-2 Switch, Advance Wars. And some bigger titles such as, Kirby Star Allies, Nintendo Switch Sports, Miitopia. And imagine how many more copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe they could sell!
@@DEATHxTHExKIDx1WE HATE but also LOVE Nintendo, I can’t believe us CONSOOMERS have let big companies get away with this shit, and I’m no better, I’m hyped for the Nintendo partner and indie direct tonight my time zone and me and so many others will celebrate and forget about Nintendo’s track record
I remember fanboys defending this with "uh...Nintendaddy always releases the Selects towards the end of the console generation, so please be patient" when the first selects for the 3Ds first appeared at the end of 2015, four years before the console died out
9:13 with how the game is designed, fixing the mission structure of the game would basically turn it into an entirely different game as certain aspects of the mansions change in between missions
A lot of people pretend that the structure of games like Luigi's Mansion 2, Skyward Sword and 3D world are issues that need to be fixed rather delibrate choices in their design.
@@vianabdullah2837 Don't you know? People who never had any experience in game design know more than the people actually working on said games. Since game X has a feature it shouldn't be a problem to add it to game Y, right? It shouldn't be difficult to completely overhaul a game for a simple remaster, right?
I understand that people would want the structure changed becaude they fundamentally do not vibe with it. But acting like changing it could be a simple task? Be all "why didn't they make this ooone simple chaaaange" and the change is just making a whole new game? Fundamentally unserious.
Thanks for bringing up Advance Wars around 12:46 As someone who had a GBA as a kid & missed the boat back then, 1+2 ReBootCamp is phenomenal. It's the entire campaigns of 1 & 2, an improved map editor, challenge levels, CO's work as they do depending on the style (1 or 2) you're playing, & every challenge level can be played either style, PLUS the fantastic redesigns/artstyle & ABSOLUTELY 11/10 SOUNDTRACK by WayForward! Everything in terms of its gameplay and presentation are a home run But also... no online sharing maps outside of friends, you cannot edit maps you receive, you can only play maps online with no more than 300 spaces (so often 15x20), minimal voice acting (at least they voiced everyone's introduction, CO Powers & several "meme lines"), & a common bug that will happen on large scale maps where after 20-something turns, the AI using their CO Power can sometimes crash the game. NOTE: The game quicksaves at the start of every turn so no progress is ever lost from a crash, but it is annoying. If all of these were addressed? Online maps up to 450 tiles, can edit custom maps, fully voice acted, having the more chibi style for units (even if theyre not pixel art), no crashes, etc... would TOTALLY say worth $60! Go buy it right now! But nope. As it is now, they sent it out to die by releasing it 2 weeks before Tears of the Kingdom; It's a seriously wonderful game doomed to be a cult classic of the Switch's strategy library (that being said, it was delayed to due the events in Ukraine, hasn't been released in Japan, AND it's been revealed that it had a rough dev cycle due to starting development around March 2020, so remote practices weren't ironed out yet). & I hope that anyone reads this gives ReBootCamp a chance.
The difference between Metroid Prime 4 and Pikmin 4 is that they had to start over from scratch. And even with that in mind, Prime 4 is taking a long time, because it seems they had to remake Retro Studios from scratch. Even if they had relatively equal budgets to start with, the scope has ballooned since. Neglecting the business side for a moment, it'd be soul crushing to put all that effort in for Prime 4 to fail. I think that's enough for me to believe that they were compromise that once on Metroid, just to set Prime 4 up for success
That's a good point I've never seen mentioned, but wouldn't it also make a bit more sense to advertise the remaster more and also bring the other two games?
Prime remake needed to remake the entire game. The switch could not run the GameCube game... 40... Switch games shouldn't be more than 40. Portable games were always cheaper than console versions... The switch is a damn portable
@@fillerbunnyninjashark271 ..but why, exactly? most nintendo-published stuff is absolutely AAA quality.. what, does everything on the Steam Deck have to cost 20 bucks less now?
Buying Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii U for 20 dollars may be the single best-value purchase I have ever made as a gamer. Even the best Steam sales have a hard time competing. Glad to see it mentioned.
@@therealjaystone2344when you have the option to give money to the company that made the product and also for a great deal emulation makes you seem like a jerk, I’m fine with emulating 10+ year old games that have no modern port because regardless of if you bought it third-party Nintendo wouldn’t get any money but to emulate something like Echos of Wisodm day one is just evil and not grey area illegal it’s just illegal
Pssst, the inscrutability of prices is a deliberate sales tactic! It allows companies to overprice select products while the average consumer is none the wiser. Widespread confusion about your pricetags is a goal, not a mistake.
Sure, but the question still stands - is there any method to the madness? How do they select which projects to overprice and which to charge reasonable amounts? Is it completely random? Is it related to sales or development costs or anything?
I believe it’s NoA localisation of price being anti-consumer. The median income of North America is near highest in the world. Buy DKC or Luigi’s mansion oversea to support fair prices from other countries.
@@undercoverduck Lol, ok buddy. If the point is confusion, does that mean a multinational corporation is using a random number generator to determine price? A dart board with numbers stuck on it? I mean, why not just have one random game cost $8,000 if the point is truly for consumers to have no idea what's happening lmao
DKC Returns getting the re-release is imo a clear attempt by Nintendo to keep Donkey Kong relevant. DK is in a weird spot, as it lacks a developer with Retro vanishing after 2014, only to come back to work on Prime 4. So Nintendo is just trying to affirm that DK is still a brand they want to push and keep relevant.
Yeah the Mario movie has made them lean into DK more, but they don't have anyone making DK games so instead we get Mario vs Donkey Kong and DKC Returns remakes. There have been rumors of a new 3D DK game for years now and I wouldn't be surprised if that's in the works for the next system and these titles are just boosting the IP until then
@@chuckbatman5I believe the rumored 3D DK game was canceled, unless there is a new one floating around. The cancelled DK game was being developed by Vicarious Visions with Nintendo, but Activision made VV scrap the project
@@MagillanicaLouMI feel like Jungle Beat was a small game and if they want DK back they'd want a "big game", big 3D platformer to really signify he's back... and they probably have to keep all thdir platform game people on Mario development now because in these days you have to always be working on one game, can't spread people out like you could in the pre-HD days. So they need a new team because the old has to be all hands on deck for Mario at all times.
@@goranisacson2502 See what you're saying, but the other side to that is they wouldn't need to place everything on some huge game that took forever to get ppl on board for to signify "DK is back" if they did just spread new smaller stuff out between TF and now lol. Then the series wouldn't have ever left beyond a couple ports. But we're sadly not in that timeline
13:38 My first casual playthrough Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir took over 10 hours. I played the original Disk System game and a friend of mine played the remake so we could compare the two and we noticed that the remake added a LOT more flavor text and visuals that are not present in the original game. I can agree that there isn't much gameplay in the traditional sense but that's just how adventure games usually are (and yes they're adventure games NOT visual novels) and that shouldn't discount just how much content is actually present in the game. I'd say the MSRP for one of the games is absolutely worth it for those interested in this type of game but I absolutely agree that Nintendo needs to apply discounts more often.
In the US, "visual novel" is the main genre, and "adventure game" is the subgenre. People here will not differentiate between the two, because they are both text-heavy genres with little to no other gameplay. It's fine to group them all under the visual novel umbrella.
@@kryzethx How is visual novel the primary genre when many databases such as MobyGames and GameFaqs consider it a sub-genre to adventure games? Even the Wikipedia page for visual novel clarifies that western players do not make the distinction between adventure games and visual novels. A video game genre should not change based on what language and country someone lives in and the Famicom Detective Club games are considered adventure games, the claims that they're visual novels come from western players who are likely not familiar with the adventure game genre and its sub-genres.
@@Bro3256 Yeah, the Wikipedia page is mostly what I was going by, and it's true. Most people in the US will be look at games like Danganronpa and Ace Attorney and Famicom Detective Club and refer to them as "visual novels", because that's just what they are called here. Words can mean different things in different countries, that's just how language works. Even within the English language, a word can mean two different things, depending on whether you're talking to an American or a British person. The same is true within the Spanish language, with several central american countries referring to the same things by different names, despite all speaking the same base language. It's all dependent on the country of origin. You can try to fight against it, but when the majority here will call it one thing, you will be considered the one who is wrong (specifically in regards to culture and language), by calling it something else (even if it's *technically* true, the worst kind of true). I think you just want to be the one to say "um, actually" (which tbf, is exactly what I'm doing lol)
I was just thinking yesterday "How come Nintendo hasn't rereleased Twilight Princess on the Switch yet?". You're right, their main attribute is just being consistently inconsistent.
I think they’re holding off on Twilight Princess so they can take advantage of the processing power of the next console for the graphics since it has the most detailed graphics in the franchise
If there's ANY game stuck on an old console, it's Kirby & the Rainbow Curse on the Wii U. The Switch has gyro AND touch controls, so the fact that it's stuck on a system that made people think Nintendo should leave the console market entirely is BAFFLING. Pack it with a stylus & artbook & sell it for $40-60 if HAL/Nintendo wants.
Yoshi's Woolly World, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Wind Waker/Twilight Princess HD, Star Fox Zero, etc. The Wii U still has a number of first-party games not on the Switch. Nintendo should probably bleed the console dry and reduce its value to zero. That's what everyone wants, it appears.
I Semi-disagree with the Famicom Detective Club take. Those games were locked in Japan for 30 years and then we suddenly got them in the West remade from the ground up. Yes they are short, but I still feel the Nintendo quality with those games, plus to own an obscure piece of Nintendo history is pretty cool. Also if memory serves right, you get some kind of discount if you buy them separately
I think the discount is buying them together, they're each $30 individually but $50 combined. Definitely a Nintendo upcharge when you compare to other visual novels but not quite as bad as Arlo makes it sound
@@chuckbatman5 I'm not arguing that they aren't expensive, I'm just saying I think it's worth the price with how good of quality it is. And I think you're right, I think that's the deal they gave
@@sjoerdhogervorst That kinda sounds like a waste of a voucher.. in the US, at least, you pay $100 for 2 vouchers, which you can redeem for 2 $60 games to save $20 (or $30, if one of those games was the $70 TotK), but using one of them on a $50 game means you only save $10. You could have just bought the game outright instead, and saved the voucher for a $60 release instead. In the US, at least.
That "...except Metroid Prime Remastered" line at the end got me. It will never cease to amaze me how Metroid, you know, the first half of that genre that somehow sells multiples better than itself, the series that could easily be on the Mt Rushmore of pop culture sci-fi, whose protagonist has been in Smash since the 90's, always seems to sell just barely enough to not be thrown in the F-Zero/Star Fox bin. This isn't even a taste thing. Metroid is objectively good and people objectively ignore it!
It’s crazy to me how many people don’t even know Metroid though. I know a lot of people who play video games and have no idea what Metroid is. It not like Mario or Zelda and even Zelda for a lot of people isn’t known. It pretty crazy how many people who play game don’t know about these cultural icons in games
@@slightcurve98It makes sense considering how Metroid is a Nintendo exclusive, people that are not in the Nintendo ecosystem would be less likely to hear about it since it's not a cultural icon like Mario, still the Metroid games deserve a lot more love and I'm shocked by how comparatively low it sells
I think a general rule for what games get rereleased is that aside from the obscure stuff like Another Code, most of the remakes/masters/whatevers are under the Mario umbrella. The RPGs, MvDK, DKCR, LM2. The Switch isn't doing as well as it used to since it's like 8 years old now, so they want to make sure they're releasing games that have a better chance at doing well. even the big new upcoming releases are Mario and Luigi, Mario Party, and Zelda.
You keep bringing up Famicom Detective Club's price, but you neglect to mention that it's two games that are each $30 and 9-12 hours on average. Pit that against their upcoming third game, which is $50, and based on the demo I played, a single chapter took an hour, whereas in both the remakes, I could do two or three in that time. Maybe they're overcharging for shorter games, still, but it just sounds like you speak about the complete package without understanding why they're a complete package.
I know right. It's really obvious that Arlo dislikes them, I already got the vibe from his previous videos, but this video is annoying because he keeps comparing the FDC collection, two games that are full remakes $30 a pop, to remasters and complaining about the price
I think you would see Nintendos development choices wouldn't be so inconsistent if you look at their 10 development divisions as seperate isolated groups instead of looking at them all as one "Nintendo" entity you think can just pump out everything all the time. The Zelda group pumps out stuff all the time, their too busy to revisit windwaker just yet.
Zelda team has released two games since Link Between Worlds. They’ve supervised/published/assisted with several other games, but it’s not like those tie up the whole team. Most of the work is done by third party studios
@extremepayne you gotta count everything Zelda that's been released, not just the new titles. The NSO ports, the HD remake of Skyward Sword, all of that. And yeah the really big games absorb a lot more of their time. So much so Tears of the Kingdom kept getting delayed
SSHD, TPHD, LA Switch, and OOT3D were all done by outside studios. Either handled by Tantulus or Grezzo. They could easily be put to work porting WWHD and TPHD to the Switch.
@@danieldishon688 are you gonna engage with the part where I point out that outside studios do most of the work on those? Grezzo, Tantalus, Brace Yourself, Omega Force. Not EPD 3.
I don't know how well that applies to rereleases though, because those are often handled by outside teams. Zelda, Metroid, and Xenoblade are the only ones who consistently seem to have the same people making their remakes as their new games, and even they have trusted teams like Grezzo and Mercury Steam who specialize in that. Also we don't really know who makes the calls on pricing for these things, but I would assume it is generally not the developers.
03:25 - you would be totally right to complain, though. They expect us to pay the same price for less quality than other ports/remakes. They even take more than their original price.
I feel like the "rhyme or reason" to what they choose is at least in part, at this point, part of: 1) A cycle where they're trying to make at least one entry from every prior console generation up to the Switch (Super Mario RPG was a SNES game, Paper Mario was N64, Metroid Prime was Gamecube, DKC Returns was Wii, Pikmin 3 was Wii U) 2) What classic games won't compete too much with their Switch online ROM libraries (notice they're not in a rush to make a Super Metroid remake when every Switch online member can just play Super Metroid, and they could have just worked out the IP rights to make Super Mario RPG work as a ROM, but instead went for a full Remake, and they've never put the main Pokemon originals in their ROM libraries) 3) The title fits into a larger marketing plan. The Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario remakes fit in well here, as Nintendo seems to want to make a big traditional RPG push in this later phase of the Switch's life cycle, following up everything next with Brothership. Metorid Prime helps to build hype for Metroid Prime 4. 4) The title can't compete too much with whatever it is Nintendo is actively marketing presently - note that they're not even trying to do Zelda remakes while Tears of the Kingdom is still likely to get DLC, but DKC:Returns? They've got nothing new that's Donkey Kong related in the pipeline, so that's a good one to go with. 5) Staff Training/Trusted Developer Retention Reasons - I feel like they use some of these projects to train up newer staff on simpler projects with clear guidelines and guard rails, and for things like the Advance Wars Re-Boot Camp, they were tossing a job at WayForward who they like maintaining good relations with, for example.
Also, why do so many people hate on the 3DS and its "low resolution"? It has a higher pixel density than a 50-inch 4K TV. It's not "blurry" or anything. The only real flaw of 240p on a handheld is aliasing, which has a reduced effect on a smaller screen.
If you define resolution as total pixel count, the 3DS is low resolution compared to most other consumer displays. It has a high pixel density, but even its pixel density pales in comparison to phones releasing at the same time. Its pixel density isnt high enough for the distance at which you view it, hence why you see the aliasing artifacts you mentioned.
Arlo is not familiar with visual novel prices, Famicom Detective Club is not particularily expensive compared to other fully voiced visual novels or japanese adventure games. For example I just looked for the Switch VN's published by Aksys Games and they are all $40 or $50.
Definitely. VN-style games are still popular in Japan, and while there has been growing interest from the West it's still very niche and even then the more well-known ones are either tie-ins to known brands (eg. Psycho Pass or other anime/manga) or heavily involve other gameplay elements (Zero Escape & Danganronpa series). Japanese VNs are not budget products in Japan, they weren't when they flooded the Vita's western library and they aren't now (unless you buy low-effort indie crap from Steam).
Counterpoint: Ace Attorney. Probably one of the most popular visual novel series at least overseas, and those games are getting trilogy/duology collections for $40 left and right, plus Capcom is constantly putting them on sale. The only difference is the lack of full voice acting, but I doubt that is a huge factor in their pricing. Granted Capcom did charge $60 for the 4-6 collection sooo maybe the market for visual novels is just growing
Counterpoint: Ace Attorney. Probably one of the most popular visual novel series at least overseas, and those games are getting trilogy/duology collections for $40 left and right, plus Capcom is constantly putting them on sale. The only difference is the lack of full voice acting, but I doubt that is a huge factor in their pricing. Granted Capcom did charge $60 for the 4-6 collection sooo maybe the market for visual novels is just growing
22:01 Underrated difficulty of trying to start out on RUclips too. It pushes you to make slop you're not as passionate about, when you see the video you spent a month on get 100 views, but a tier list video will get almost 5k .-. Makes it a lot harder to judge if you're improving as a creator...
@@imperius88 RUclips is absolutely a job for plenty of people, but it isn't a particularly stable job nor is it easy to get into so you're right in some aspect
@@LARAUJO_0 Well yes a normal person can assume I didn't mean that it couldn't under any circumstances serve as a job. What I mean is that it is a fools errand to attempt to make a living out of it. Do it as a hobby and if you hit it big then wonderful. But in all likelihood you will not.
Arlo Acknowledge Xenoblade Challenge: Impossible XC:DE was a fantastic rerelease, remade character models, completely redone menus, new armor sets, and a new epilogue campaign.
I totally forgot that game existed. Also that technically was the first “was ported to 3DS but now is on switch” game, not DKC Returns. Edit: forgot Captain Toad Treasure Tracker was on 3DS was well, making DKCR the third
DKC Returns HD is done specifically for brand synergy with the DK land coming to Universal. Famicom detective club has a lot of drawn art assets that may cost more and so the cost is in that.
I genuinely cannot believe Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are STILL stuck in Wii U jail. Those 2 and my beloved Xenoblade X are literally the only reasons I still even have my Wii U.
I think what makes me madder about the Luigis mansion 2 port, is that in what was it? 2018? They decided to remake the first Luigis mansion for the 3DS but NOT the switch. At this point we could have had the luigis mansion trilogy ON ONE CONSOLE but no, they only made it for the 3DS for whatever reason. Another one (though this might be to cloudy character rights) is that... where's donkey Kong 64? Many people even myself have been asking for a remake, remaster, a port to the N64 on switch thing yet nothing... we got Banjo-Kazooie and i thought that would NEVER happen! Even Jet force gemini! That's a niche game even from the devs of Banjo, Conker and DK64
There's no rhyme or reason to first-party game pricing lol. Metroid Prime Remastered costs $40, Kirby Star Allies, ARMS, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Mario Odyssey, and Breath of the Wild all cost $60, and Tears of the Kingdom costs $70. It's literally just the highest they feel customers are willing to pay.
I think the answer is simple, Metroid is a niche franchise & Nintendo felt that they needed to lower the price to entice more people. And if MP1R only barely cracked 1 million already, imagine how much less it would’ve sold at full price. At least with XB1, it came with an entirely new story to justify its price tag alongside a remastered version of the original. Pikmin kinda had the same approach, they just included two games in one.
I'm always surprised at all the little touch-ups I see in LM2 HD when looking at comparison videos. For better and worse, the initial impression looks how you remember it.
There is definitely consistency in how Nintendo’s rereleases are named. Games with “HD” in the title build from the original version of the game and add to it, whereas if a rerelease simply uses the game’s original title then it’s a complete from the ground up remake. Then of course you have “Deluxe” games which don’t really make graphical improvements but do add new features
@@ausgod538 Did... did you completely miss the part in the video where Skyward Sword had it's entire control scheme changed and various alterations made throughout the game based on player feedback to make it a more enjoyable experience while Luigi's Mansion 2 on Switch is the exact same game as on 3DS with slightly nicer graphics? There is a vast level of difference between Luigi's Mansion 2 and Skyward Sword. Yes they are both rereleases of older games, but the amount of time and effort put into them is, as said before, wildly different. That was the entire point of this video after all.
Buying a non-Nintendo system in my late 20s really opened my eyes to their absurd pricing strategy. These days I'd rather buy 2 new indies and a discounted AAA classic for the $60 I'd otherwise be spending on the new Wii port from 2009. Miss me with that, Ninty!
It's an interesting thing to try to decipher, but I dont think it's all that complicated. It likely just comes down to supply and demand, and how much Nintendo thinks it can get away with charging people
22:21 honestly kinda reminds me of Pixar. Everyone always complains about their sequels but the truth is in such an IP-dependent landscape these are kind of necessary like it or not because they’re the ones that make the most money. Said money funds those original films.
I’m not speaking to you necessarily, but putting my own thoughts down. I honestly don’t care about sequels as long as they’re good. People say it’s unoriginal, but I completely disagree. You can be stagnant about it, or you can push forward into something new. Besides, sometimes people like a return to form like with the Zelda series. Also, I kinda miss having more spinoffs. Some Persona fans complain about Atlus milking the franchise, but has any of their spinoffs are ever really considered bad? Has anyone ever thought “it’s better that these games shouldn’t exist” at all? I much rather play some games in the meantime, rather than wait for the next huge installment. For example, if Nintendo made some good spinoffs for Pikmin, the wait for Pikmin 4 would be a lot less unbearable.
12:03 actually it was limited because they didn’t want to compete with themselves if they were to ever rerelease them individually down the line via NSO or proper remake or whatever
I really don't like the game only having a super expensive Japanese physical version that can only be played in Japanese, and an artbook in only Japanese. And when Nintendo released the Starfy games on NSO in America.... in Japanese. I'm starting to think if they do re-release Mother 3, I'm not gonna be able to read it anyway.
Arlo might be not very well versed on VNs but even then, perhaps purely by coincidence, he's not wrong here There's many MANY VNs with amazing writing, soundtracks and alternate routes for $30 that can go as low as $15 on sales, don't get me wrong Famicom detective club are also great games but you can TELL they come from the past they feel archaic in a lot of ways even if the remasters do a good job trying to disguise it
The only thing I can fault Nintendo for when it comes to Pikmin this generation is that Pikmin 2 should have been upgraded to be able to play the entire campaign in co-op. Pikmin 3 Deluxe is, to this date, the only game that has every single piece of content be accessible with 2 players and is easily the best for it imo.
Metroid Prime 2 & 3, Windwaker, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Mario Galaxy 2, Luigi's Mansion 1. All these games need HD rereleases!
We should also get some of the more obscure games back. Chibi Robo, Custom Robo, Fossil Fighters, Dosshin The Giant, Cubivore, Panel de Pon, ExciteBike, Wave Race, Pilot Wings, etc., would all benefit greatly from rereleases or a new game on the Switch. I could easily see Panel de Pon becoming very popular.
Price is why I've never picked up Famicom Detective Club or Another Code. It's a huge ask to charge full price for niche games where one didn't do well back when they came out and one stuck in Japan for decades, because most people don't know if they'd like it, including myself. Also, eShop sales are still a joke. Also, still no Selects.
fire emblem echoes: shadows of valentia is one of my favorite remakes of all time, and it stings to know that it, and the other 3ds fire emblem games are just stranded despite all of them being phenomenal games. Yes, even Fates. Especially with Engage releasing and it being a celebration of the fire emblem series, it's kind of disheartening for a new fan because legit the only games they can play without going on a wild goose chase (aside from Engage) are Fe7, Fe1 if they bought it during its small release period, Warriors, Heroes, and Three houses/hopes. It's a shame, especially with how popular fire emblem is these days.
Nintendo’s refusal to put their games on sale is REALLY gonna sting when their games get bumped to $70. I was only able to handle it when PlayStation and Xbox raised the price because I don’t ever buy games at launch and their games devalue so fast.
If you bought a Steam game back when the Xbox 360 was around You can still play that Steam game today but if you bought an Xbox 360 game there's no guarantee you can play the other than an Xbox One or a series system. I think that's a better way to describe why PC is better than to use Nintendo as the example but you know Wii games can't be played on a Switch.
Value is a funny and nebulous thing. To one person, a game might have little value, but to another it could have great value. I don't think there will ever be a good set of guidelines for what something should be priced at, it all just comes down to the customer and what they are willing to pay. There's just no logic to it.
Except there is logic to it. You can predict approximately how many people are going buy the game, and combine that with the known budget & profit goal for the game, to then figure out what price the game needs to be to make a certain amount of money if a certain amount of people buy it
The correct price has always, and will always, be whatever the end consumer is willing to pay. Metroid Prime Remastered at $40 is a tremendous value given the reworking it got, but the series as a whole is WAY lower in the totem pole in terms of Nintendo’s most valuable IP. The lower price was most likely because of lower consumer recognition of the series compared to say, Mario, and total sales expectations.
While the pricing is inexcusable, I imagine the inconsistent re-release quality comes down to a variety of factors, such as the re-releases being made by different studios, what other products those studios might be working on at the time (Resource availability), reception & sales numbers of the original games, and how well or not well the series may be doing. Also keep in mind that certain marketing tactics may be seen as good by some and bad by others, and that lessons can be learnt. That's why Luigi's Mansion 1 had new content on a dead console, while 2 was just a HD uplift on a thriving console. Or why Pikmin 3 Deluxe got a bunch of new content, but New Super Mario Bros Deluxe added little, and took away little as well
The pricing is what kills me. A port/remaster should never EVER be full price if you ask me. Remakes can sometimes fall into that category too depending on how extravagant they are.
23:13 This. Definitely this. I think it was just 2 months ago that I saw Metroid Dread on sale on the eshop, and it was surprising to see a Nintendo game being offered at a discount. I was mildly interested in the game when it came out, but didn't care enough to buy it. I've personally never been big on the metroid series, I've only played Super metroid long ago. However after seeing Dread on sale I bought it on impulse and didn't regret it for a second. I definitely would not have bought it otherwise. Far be it from me to tell anyone how to run a business, but I have to believe that occasionally offering a product at a temporary discount is a good business decision. Seeing as how every other company on earth does it.
6:24 while I understand the frustration on bdsp, I would like to point out that some of the footage you are using is from an earlier build. They actually polished it up a good bit past the announcement trailer. You can say a lot about the game, but they did make efforts to make it look a bit better. Things are softer, and the colors are much nicer.
I don’t get the confusion. It’s a well-known fact that after a game finishes development, Miyamoto pulls the price out of a hat. Ordinary business stuff.
Great video, it summed up almost all of my thoughts about this quandary. In fact, this spurned on some additional thoughts and theories however, at least 3 of them. Pretty darn long ones too. 1) Ironically, Nintendo's philosophy of "its okay to make some money, not all the money" that we love is a reason we've gotten here. That same philosophy leads them to say "make a smaller profit by selling everything at full price, instead of a _potentially_ bigger profit by selling lower but to more sales" is exactly the same philosophy that rejects microtransactions and lootboxes and excessive DLC and special editions for already $60 games. "That'll lead us to more money, but that doesn't really matter to us." Of course, it's then silly to act like you can't balance these two extremes and not have both a want for more money and a want to not go hog wild. Honestly, I'll bet Nintendo could use that as an excuse, conveniently ignoring the middle ground. 2) You know what was going on when Nintendo first introduced dramatic price cuts for all their products after a certain time had passed, i.e. the Player's Choice line? They were in the SNES era - the first era they had actual, threatening competition, from Sega. And then Sony came in and provided even more ruthless competition, and the Player's Choice line continued up to the GameCube. And then with the Wii, it disappeared and was replaced by Nintendo Selects, only in 2011-around the time the Wii was winding down and getting lower and lower sales each year and it's successor was around the corner. And look at that, Nintendo Selects continued to exist for the Wii U, Nintendo's worst performing home console. And if you're say, "what about the handhelds? They had virtually no competition," well, that's true. The Game Gear's 13 million probably wasn't enough to scare Nintendo, and even _if_ they considered the Wonderswan (in Japan) and the PSP enough of a threat to launch the Color and DS respectively, they probably didn't afterwards. No, I think it was mainly to have consistency and not appear ultra greedy by only introducing a discount line for the lower profit consoles. And you know what Nintendo handheld conveniently dodged getting the Player's Choice treatment? The DS. Third-parties had to make up their own discount labels! Furthermore, this discount line has been completely absent in Japan... EXCEPT for the 3DS, with the Happy Price selection in 2016. And during that time, the Vita was actually pretty darn popular in Japan! It was popular enough that it was one of the reasons they made the Switch! So, I think the path is clear: Valve needs to sell 30-50 million more Steam Decks to wake Nintendo up. 3) I think the common chain between Prime 1 Remastered and Prime Trilogy, is Retro Studios. I will champion this fact for as long as I can: according to the DYKG video, Retro were the ones that came up with the idea for Prime Trilogy, and Nintendo *hated it.* ...Okay, maybe not hate, but they didn't like it! Seems to me that when it comes to Metroid Prime, Retro have a lot more say in how its priced. I mean, DKC, they didn't make that series from the beginning, they had a lot less to do with it, so maybe Nintendo has more swing. Whereas Prime, that is their sub-series baby, from the start. It's their baby so much it was given back to them when Nintendo couldn't care for it! That's all I got. Thanks as always Arlo, and hey: at least I like your Samus-losing-her-stuff video more than your Emio one. :)
Why are we comparing remasters and remakes like they're the same thing? I'm usually on board with your videos, but this one doesn't really make a good point. I know we're used to being spoiled by remakes thanks to some of them completely reimagining the games, but that's not what they had been for most of gaming history. Usually, a remaster is just an uprezzed port with some minor improvements (Skyward Sword HD, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD). A remake is usually the same game just remade using more modern techniques with perhaps a few added, previously unimplementable features (Pokémon HGSS, Super Mario RPG, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door). It's not inconsistency on the part of Nintendo in this case. It's conflating two inherently different types of re-releases, and saying that all re-releases should be remakes.
Because Arlo's not comparing them like it's he same thing though. He's pointing out the inconsistencies between them: Some titles get remakes that aren't necessary, warranted titles only get a remaster, remakes and are only available on obsolete consoles, justifiable or unjustifiable price differences, release windows etc. There is even inconsistencies within it's on category.: Skyward sword got HD, QOL and complete new control features while the more successful Luigi2 got a touch up of resolution,. Prime 1, a complete remake is $40, Luigi 2, same game but higher resolution, is $60 is wickedly inconsistent in its on.
arlo’s intention as an american is to have nintendo constantly strip mine every single one of their properties at every opportunity to squeeze cash every chance they get. Nintendo’s goal as a japanese company is to play it very conservatively and not dilute the value of their brand. this view is why they’ve been so long-lasting, and can afford to have a generation be a disaster and not have to have layoffs. when you do finally get a new f zero gx, it’ll be a huge historical event, and not a “once every 5 years” thing like skyrim.
Yes Nintendo is Keynesian in their finance policy and prioritize stability over growth. Westerners cannot understand that modality of thought. Everything in "The West" is Miltonian grab, grab grab! Right now!! But those same westerners scream rapaciousness! greed! when lay offs happen. People don't know what they want...
@@verygoodfreelancer Well, I'm glad to have brought you into reality then plus, the F Zero fanbase wouldn't be so big If It wasn't for emulation, most of gamecube players are over 35 now
Having never played Thousand-Year Door I'm glad the did a remake. Despite it not being incredibly challenging I've had some unexpected surprise moments and close calls in battle. Moments that make me reconsider how I should approach a battle. So far I've been having a blast with it.
There's a potentially more devious outcome to Prime's shadow dropped remaster being $40. There's two more games they can re-release down the line, both for $40 each now that that's established precedent, which would be *more* pull for them compared to $50 for Pikmin 1+2, or even $60 for Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Plus they could repackage them as a trilogy (again) for $60. But on a brighter note, if Nintendo is positioning Metroid to be a bigger series for them, maybe we'll have more to look forward to besides Prime 4. Or maybe they're gonna be mining old series like this for a while, and someday they'll figure out how to make another F-Zero game. Or we'll get a Kid Icarus Uprising re-release, if we're talking miracles when hell freezes over.
Universal Studios' Donkey Kong Country theme park is opening at the end of the year, and the park is entirely based on Donkey Kong Country Returns. So getting a remaster of DKCR actually makes a ton of sense considering that, in fact, they may have fast tracked development of it for this very reason.
I don't like that you keep making Famicom Detective Club the punchline here. The reason it's $60 is because it's two games that are remakes, not remasters. Why do you keep comparing it to remasters
Nintendo is so weird. I bought Metroid prime remastered EXCLUSIVELY because of the low price. I loved it and now I’m definitely getting prime 4. If the game had been full price I would have never become a fan of the series. Why don’t they charge less for stuff like this? It will make them money in the long run like huhhh?
Nothing inconsistent here, supply and demand dictate everything, Mario and Luigis Mansion sell better, thats why $60, Metroid sells worse, thats why $40, though thats partially their fault for just dropping Metroid Prime on the Switch without any marketing whatsoever, that alone cut the games' potential sales in half.
The reason Donkey Kong Country Returns is getting a HD remaster is because Nintendo’s been doing a massive Donkey Kong brand push recently. Between prominently featuring him and many other Country characters and elements in the Mario Movie, giving him his own Country themed Lego Sets, getting more Donkey Kong Jakks figures, and him getting his own section at Nintendo World in Universal Studios. The remaster is meant to line up with all that so if you’re introduced to him in those outside projects you have an easy, represents the brand game to buy. Why it’s so low effort though is what’s weird about it.
There’s no inconsistency. They aren’t selling widgets and sprockets. After an amazing game like Metroid Dread barely limped passed 3 million units shipped, Nintendo clearly wasn’t confident in Metroid as a brand. Plus, they knew Metroid Prime Beyond was on the horizon, so they want to get people invested in Samus’ adventures. They must have been hoping that the great value, combined with the surprise stealth drop, would help propel Metroid Prime Remastered to success. They even staggered the digital and physical release. Yes, it couldn’t have been kept a secret if they’d shipped physical copies all over the world, but I’m confident the real reason was to get the small but devoted Metroid fan base to double dip (which, being an idiot, I did. Of course, they did an amazing job on the remaster, so I forgive the shady marketing tactic). Anyway, anything associated with Mario is going to command a premium price. It is what it is. If you don’t want to buy a game, don’t buy it.
That last line explains everything- it's Nintendo fans who are the cause of this. Because so many nostalgic fans just can't help paying for the same game for the third time, Nintendo sees no reason to update their ports unless the dev team REALLY wants to do so. That's why we got Metroid Prime Remastered. When you spend your money on dogshit like Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, that money goes to Nintendo, and obviously it shows them that they can just make this crap and it'll sell. Same deal as Game Freak with Pokemon, same deal as SEGA with Sonic. Have some goddamn self control.
I miss Nintendo's gorgeous pixel art and I blame their need to make everything 60 dollars. Would love a new traditional Pokémon or Metroid game with pixel art for 40 bucks.
You understand good, high quality pixel art is expensive in HD. No one is going to accept indie level quality pixel art from Nintendo. Why would Nintendo want to do more work than with 3-D graphics for a lower anticipated MSRP of $40? I am sure that is why Nintendo do not even bother with pixel art anymore.
Pixel art would be *MORE* expensive to make. You need to create each frame of animation as a seperate piece of art for each character, item, effect, and more. In 3D, you make a model, and then you can apply each animation to it, which saves time and money.
I think the reason for the inconsistency is because a highly anticipated port being sold for 40 dollars is worth more than a more obscure game sold for cheap. Because all the other ports are higher in price and you have a really compelling price for a amazing port, people are going to flock to it. Keep in mind that I'm sure Nintendo is aware of emulation and piracy. They wanted to do a very competitive release. You get an old game with a FRESH coat of paint and portable for only 40 bucks. That seems like a steal, even if you could emulate the game. However, an obscure port? The only people who are going to buy that are people who are HUGE fans of it. They would buy it regardless of how much new stuff they did. On the flip side, people who don't care would rather spend their money elsewhere regardless of the bells and whistles. They might as well milk the hardcore fans as much as possible. I think they are waiting to release more highly anticipated ports to build suspension. Scarcity breeds value. The more people are itching for another Zelda port or Super Mario Galaxy 2, the more they could charge for profit or release at a competitive price to add to the hype to buy it. Even better if it's a limited physical release because their loyal player base would gladly pay extra to get their hands on it if they only have limited stock.
@@vjthehandsome5659 that isn’t a port. it’s a complete visual remake. the only thing not remade is the source code. and as you said it’s the exception. literally every other one is $60 for ports. embarassing.
There is a lot to say about what Nintendo dares to ask for games at launch, which as the video points out is strange considering almost every title is 60 regardless of input. However, I would argue that aproach of price drops / sales by Nintendo is hurting us and them even more. Fans of games will likely pay at launch, but if you never drop below 40 you don't get a lot of impulse buyers, only occasional interest. This is why third party and indie titles do so well on the switch, because they actually lower the price to reflect the age / popularity to drive up sales
Appreciate all of the analysis on different angles of this! I do find this really fascinating and yeah, it honestly does feel kinda odd that Metroid Prime is significantly cheaper than most of these, alongside with several games costing $60 that feel like they were much less altered
I mean, yeah. That’s how porting a game works; you bring existing code, files and assets over into the new version. Not all of those files will be used, and some will be scrubbed, but some will be left over as well. I’m not sure why people are surprised that the 3DS game on Switch has files referencing the system it was originally made for
It is literally on an HD system running at an HD resolution, I don’t know if you were expecting 4D where you can smell what’s happening on-screen or something but it is very much an HD re-release if nothing else
@twosoup3252 No, it is not. It's an SD version of the game with a resolution fit to the switch. Any game on the switch for that matter can be called HD. What I was getting at was, they didn't bother tweaking the game further, like arlo said, making the worse parts well, better. You'd think they'd make it closer to Luigis mansion 3.
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@@WaddleWhite-r8wunlisted videos
Your ad formula is not good. Game Grumps is a great example of ads done right.
Arlo, I absolutely love ya and this video was truly great!... But I knew you wouldn't remember to mention Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition, despite it being a great example of a switch remaster going the extra mile. It had significantly improved assets and visuals, dozens of the songs in the soundtrack were revamped, tons and tons of quality of life features, and a brand new 20-30 hour epilogue set in a unique location not featured in the original game! They brought back the voice actors and composed a bunch of new music for the new story content too! Honestly, one of the best switch remasters in my opinion, simply in terms of value.
Metroid Prime Remastered as a shadow drop for $40 is the biggest wild card moment from Nintendo this generation. I still cannot wrap my head around it.
Metroid isn't very popular compared to Donkey Kong, because of sales and inconsistent releases. Since Prime 4 was coming out it only made sense to make it easier for new comers to get into the Metroid franchise.
Dolphin
in updating the metroid assets to reuse in metroid prime 4, it made sense to pad the switch release schedule by remaking metroid prime using the new remastered tech that needed to be developed anyway.
@@orangeslash1667Usually companies do the reverse. Where you pay more, the less popular it is. Due to needing to make up the difference of not having a lot of customers.
I purchased it immediately, and I pray we can have the same situation repeat with Prime 2
The dumbest thing Nintendo did recently was release an HD port of Luigi's Mansion 2 without bundling it with the first Luigi's Mansion. They should have done 1&2 like they did with Pikmin.
Remember when they did Mega Man X collection and the first five games were on the cartridge and the next three were DLC even though it cost the same as the PlayStation and Xbox versions that had the complete series AND more content
this is the only way a $60 price point makes any logical sense.
@@austindolan7182or they could’ve redesigned the game to work without missions and just be 5 big levels but nooo too much effort for nintendo 😢
Why though? It isn't like you have to play LM 1 to understand LM 2 from a story perspective.
@@LG555Same could be said about Pikmin 1 & 2, it’s not like those games have extensive lore that require a master’s degree to understand. No reason why Pikmin should get a bundle and Luigi’s Mansion shouldn’t, as they both have barebones stories. Try not to excuse Nintendo’s questionable and arguably greedy business practices, it’s really not a good look.
I know I’m not the first to say this and that I won’t be the last, but I really wish they brought Nintendo Selects back. The Switch’s library is gargantuan, and it will only continue to grow since the next system is all but guaranteed to have backwards compatibility. It would be really nice if some of the system’s older games were given a price cut to make them more affordable, since it’s hard to recommend many of them at the price they’re at in this point of the Switch’s life.
Tropical Freeze... $60... New Super Luigi U... $60... Arms....
Most first party Nintendo games are still $60, and when Ninty keeps making more games I don't buy (in the same genre/franchise), I end up getting the newer/shinier game or yet another cheap indie steamed ham.
watch Nintendo not do backwards compatibility and make you buy all games you already own again for 70 bucks this time, watch them
Unfortunately there is 0 Incentive for Nintendo to do this. The switch, even at the end of its life, is still selling ridiculously well, it could very well become the greatest selling console of all time. People are still buying it in ridiculous quantities, and those people are still buying games at full price.
With the Gamecube and Wii, the sales of those consoles really fizzled out during the last year or two of their lives (For most of the Gamecubes life to be fair). Nintendo weren't selling their software as they weren't selling their hardware, hence they reduced their prices via Nintendo Selects to sell more software, with the hope being the lower prices of games would entice newer audiences to buy those consoles. The switch just doesn't have this issue, Nintendo are still raking in absolute fat stacks, and have no intentions of reducing the prices of their flagship, system-selling games (BotW, ToTk, MK8, Odyssey etc.), as they have 0 issues selling systems.
Sucks for consumers, but bringing back Nintendo selects right now would be a horrific business move. The only way to really get cheaper physical copies of switch games are like ebay or other online marketplaces.
@@budderk1305 They definitely won't do that, because if they do the next console won't sell well 🤷♂
I think they will wait until their next system to do this. Motivate the Switch install base to keep buying titles while they sell the new system.
Dude, Arlo pointing out how much better the sales of Link's Awakening are when compared to Skyward Sword just reminded me why Echoes of Wisdom is copying the exact same style as Link's Awakening and maybe why we are even getting another 2D Zelda game to begin with.
I think EoW may sell less then link’s awakening remake thanks to people not spending more on games in this current economy
@@therealjaystone2344 But… tears of the kingdom.
I never even originally took sales into consideration, I just thought Link's Awakening remake's art style was already an ode to them doing remakes of 2D Zelda's in this style. I honestly figured it was a given. I was even hoping for the original Zelda to be remade in this style. So getting a whole new game...but in this art style? ...is the kind of swerve shit Nintendo does that I love about them.
@@LleytonSPDtears of the kingdom is 3d
@@therealjaystone2344Tears of the Kingdom is the second best selling game in the series. Black Myth Wukong just sold 10 million copies in 3 days. People buy games, even in this economy.
10:18 - 10:36
*So many* people tend to forget that *Mario Kart 8 Deluxe* is *also* an upscaled port.
Granted, the Booster Course Pass gave us significantly more content, by doubling the track count and adding eight playable characters, but that isn't included with the game and costs $25!
My point is, MK8D only added three new characters and a battle mode rework, which it was in dire need of anyway!
MK8D, which is barely more than an upscaled port, is priced at $60 and sold nearly **63 MILLION** units.
Yet people tend to forget that it's a port because it's sold so well and has gained significantly more attention and popularity as a Switch game.
It came with all the DLC too
@@Antasma1 Yes, but that was still from the original version. I didn't mention it because it wasn't new content.
A very valid point.
As someone who bought MK8D, and still owns it on Wii U, I also forgot it was an "HD" port. 😂
I remember when some people was complaining about that years ago
And tropical freeze
Donkey Kong Country Returns isn't the first game to be re-re-released from Wii over 3DS to Switch.
Xenoblade Chronicles is.
he hates that series, there's a reason it didn't get mention at all in this video
@@metroidcypherI wouldn't say he hates it, more like forgets it exists lol
@@metroidcypher He really doesn't hate it, he just doesn't remember it since it's simply not his type of game.
He did however mention Xenoblade in a past video mentioning ports and Wii U titles, so yeah, you can't really use that strawman logic.
@@metroidcypherhow are ALL of your comments on this channel accusing him of hating xenoblade, please go outside
15:32 No... Why do people think that removing the Game Pad functionality would take much effort? Both games already have a gameplay mode for Pro Controller. All they need to do is default to that and make the game skip the part where you pick the control mode. They don't even need to remove the Game Pad stuff, they can just hide it.
THANK YOU!
I’m glad someone else said it, because as someone who played on Pro Controller back when these games first released, it makes it even more baffling that they haven’t brought them back yet. Even compared to something like Pikmin 1+2, it would be so so easy.
Furthermore those are just remasters of games that were designed for a console that didn't feature two screens
Honestly in the case of Wind Waker that functionality was so much better than everything else it had going that I'd feel scammed if it were gone lol
People probably think that because it's Nintendo. I can totally imagine Ninty putting off that effort because they think the second screen was too integral. If it's gonna be for any reason, that's the first excuse I can think of.
In Wind Waker the only thing that actually needs to be outright replaced is the Tingle Bottle
I just got a fancy new OLED monitor and Arlo looks SO BLUE RIGHT NOW
5:05 I think it should be mentioned that when Pikmin 3 Deluxe released for the full $60, the original Pikmin 3 (priced at around ~$20 or ~$30, can’t quite remember at the moment) was delisted off the eShop long before it totally shut down. Don’t get me wrong, I think Deluxe was overall good for the series, but it’s not an outlier when it comes to Nintendo’s questionable business practices.
Fact
Iirc they did the same to tropical freeze when it came to the switch
While all of that is true, you can’t leave out that they did put it back
@@stormageddon9930because people called it out so they wouldn’t have put it back if everybody was a blind sheep
None of that is questionable, all sold a lot
I would LOVE for Nintendo to bring back Nintendo Selects. Where instead of selling some games for $60 they could sell them for $30. A TON of their games could have new life breathed into them just with a simple price cut. ARMS, 1-2 Switch, Advance Wars. And some bigger titles such as, Kirby Star Allies, Nintendo Switch Sports, Miitopia. And imagine how many more copies of Mario Kart 8 Deluxe they could sell!
I feel like this gen proved Nintendo can price a game at whatever they want and get away with it.
@@DEATHxTHExKIDx1pretty much
@@DEATHxTHExKIDx1WE HATE but also LOVE Nintendo, I can’t believe us CONSOOMERS have let big companies get away with this shit, and I’m no better, I’m hyped for the Nintendo partner and indie direct tonight my time zone and me and so many others will celebrate and forget about Nintendo’s track record
$30 is too cheap, do $45. Maybe they can do “Nintendo trial” for nicher franchise which can get $30
I remember fanboys defending this with "uh...Nintendaddy always releases the Selects towards the end of the console generation, so please be patient" when the first selects for the 3Ds first appeared at the end of 2015, four years before the console died out
9:13 with how the game is designed, fixing the mission structure of the game would basically turn it into an entirely different game as certain aspects of the mansions change in between missions
As much as I prefer not for Luigi’s mansion to use a mission structure, it’s just how the game is structured
A lot of people pretend that the structure of games like Luigi's Mansion 2, Skyward Sword and 3D world are issues that need to be fixed rather delibrate choices in their design.
@@vianabdullah2837 Don't you know? People who never had any experience in game design know more than the people actually working on said games. Since game X has a feature it shouldn't be a problem to add it to game Y, right? It shouldn't be difficult to completely overhaul a game for a simple remaster, right?
Some things in games can't be taken out.
I understand that people would want the structure changed becaude they fundamentally do not vibe with it. But acting like changing it could be a simple task? Be all "why didn't they make this ooone simple chaaaange" and the change is just making a whole new game? Fundamentally unserious.
Thanks for bringing up Advance Wars around 12:46
As someone who had a GBA as a kid & missed the boat back then, 1+2 ReBootCamp is phenomenal. It's the entire campaigns of 1 & 2, an improved map editor, challenge levels, CO's work as they do depending on the style (1 or 2) you're playing, & every challenge level can be played either style, PLUS the fantastic redesigns/artstyle & ABSOLUTELY 11/10 SOUNDTRACK by WayForward! Everything in terms of its gameplay and presentation are a home run
But also... no online sharing maps outside of friends, you cannot edit maps you receive, you can only play maps online with no more than 300 spaces (so often 15x20), minimal voice acting (at least they voiced everyone's introduction, CO Powers & several "meme lines"), & a common bug that will happen on large scale maps where after 20-something turns, the AI using their CO Power can sometimes crash the game. NOTE: The game quicksaves at the start of every turn so no progress is ever lost from a crash, but it is annoying.
If all of these were addressed? Online maps up to 450 tiles, can edit custom maps, fully voice acted, having the more chibi style for units (even if theyre not pixel art), no crashes, etc... would TOTALLY say worth $60! Go buy it right now! But nope. As it is now, they sent it out to die by releasing it 2 weeks before Tears of the Kingdom; It's a seriously wonderful game doomed to be a cult classic of the Switch's strategy library (that being said, it was delayed to due the events in Ukraine, hasn't been released in Japan, AND it's been revealed that it had a rough dev cycle due to starting development around March 2020, so remote practices weren't ironed out yet).
& I hope that anyone reads this gives ReBootCamp a chance.
The difference between Metroid Prime 4 and Pikmin 4 is that they had to start over from scratch. And even with that in mind, Prime 4 is taking a long time, because it seems they had to remake Retro Studios from scratch. Even if they had relatively equal budgets to start with, the scope has ballooned since. Neglecting the business side for a moment, it'd be soul crushing to put all that effort in for Prime 4 to fail. I think that's enough for me to believe that they were compromise that once on Metroid, just to set Prime 4 up for success
That's a good point I've never seen mentioned, but wouldn't it also make a bit more sense to advertise the remaster more and also bring the other two games?
Prime remake needed to remake the entire game. The switch could not run the GameCube game... 40... Switch games shouldn't be more than 40. Portable games were always cheaper than console versions... The switch is a damn portable
@@fillerbunnyninjashark271 ..but why, exactly? most nintendo-published stuff is absolutely AAA quality.. what, does everything on the Steam Deck have to cost 20 bucks less now?
@@squiddu they're still games from 10 years ago, and on portable hardware. The games shouldn't be more than 40. Why do you want less for more?
Buying Metroid Prime Trilogy on the Wii U for 20 dollars may be the single best-value purchase I have ever made as a gamer. Even the best Steam sales have a hard time competing. Glad to see it mentioned.
Emulating them for free was the best choice
@@therealjaystone2344when you have the option to give money to the company that made the product and also for a great deal emulation makes you seem like a jerk, I’m fine with emulating 10+ year old games that have no modern port because regardless of if you bought it third-party Nintendo wouldn’t get any money but to emulate something like Echos of Wisodm day one is just evil and not grey area illegal it’s just illegal
Yeah I had just played and loved dread, so when I heard the eshop was closing I panic bought the prime trilogy and I’m glad I did
@@NIX-FLIX It's only fair. This company isn't above being jerks to its consumers.
@@NIX-FLIXEmulation is legal, nuff said
Pssst, the inscrutability of prices is a deliberate sales tactic! It allows companies to overprice select products while the average consumer is none the wiser. Widespread confusion about your pricetags is a goal, not a mistake.
Sure, but the question still stands - is there any method to the madness? How do they select which projects to overprice and which to charge reasonable amounts? Is it completely random? Is it related to sales or development costs or anything?
I believe it’s NoA localisation of price being anti-consumer. The median income of North America is near highest in the world. Buy DKC or Luigi’s mansion oversea to support fair prices from other countries.
@@brettboi3730 The point is that the consumer can't keep track anymore
@@undercoverduck Lol, ok buddy. If the point is confusion, does that mean a multinational corporation is using a random number generator to determine price? A dart board with numbers stuck on it? I mean, why not just have one random game cost $8,000 if the point is truly for consumers to have no idea what's happening lmao
@@brettboi3730 guess you didn't pay attention in econ class
DKC Returns getting the re-release is imo a clear attempt by Nintendo to keep Donkey Kong relevant. DK is in a weird spot, as it lacks a developer with Retro vanishing after 2014, only to come back to work on Prime 4. So Nintendo is just trying to affirm that DK is still a brand they want to push and keep relevant.
Yeah the Mario movie has made them lean into DK more, but they don't have anyone making DK games so instead we get Mario vs Donkey Kong and DKC Returns remakes. There have been rumors of a new 3D DK game for years now and I wouldn't be surprised if that's in the works for the next system and these titles are just boosting the IP until then
@@chuckbatman5I believe the rumored 3D DK game was canceled, unless there is a new one floating around. The cancelled DK game was being developed by Vicarious Visions with Nintendo, but Activision made VV scrap the project
Dont see why they don't do it themselves. They did with Jungle Beat and that game rules
@@MagillanicaLouMI feel like Jungle Beat was a small game and if they want DK back they'd want a "big game", big 3D platformer to really signify he's back... and they probably have to keep all thdir platform game people on Mario development now because in these days you have to always be working on one game, can't spread people out like you could in the pre-HD days. So they need a new team because the old has to be all hands on deck for Mario at all times.
@@goranisacson2502 See what you're saying, but the other side to that is they wouldn't need to place everything on some huge game that took forever to get ppl on board for to signify "DK is back" if they did just spread new smaller stuff out between TF and now lol. Then the series wouldn't have ever left beyond a couple ports. But we're sadly not in that timeline
Arlo, I appreciated your does Samus need to lose her items video, it was great! Sorry it didn't perform as well. Blame the algorithm?
nah people just aren't as interested in metroid as they are in rumours (Emio discussions before it was fully revealed was mostly rumours)
13:38 My first casual playthrough Famicom Detective Club: The Missing Heir took over 10 hours. I played the original Disk System game and a friend of mine played the remake so we could compare the two and we noticed that the remake added a LOT more flavor text and visuals that are not present in the original game. I can agree that there isn't much gameplay in the traditional sense but that's just how adventure games usually are (and yes they're adventure games NOT visual novels) and that shouldn't discount just how much content is actually present in the game. I'd say the MSRP for one of the games is absolutely worth it for those interested in this type of game but I absolutely agree that Nintendo needs to apply discounts more often.
In the US, "visual novel" is the main genre, and "adventure game" is the subgenre. People here will not differentiate between the two, because they are both text-heavy genres with little to no other gameplay. It's fine to group them all under the visual novel umbrella.
@@kryzethx How is visual novel the primary genre when many databases such as MobyGames and GameFaqs consider it a sub-genre to adventure games? Even the Wikipedia page for visual novel clarifies that western players do not make the distinction between adventure games and visual novels. A video game genre should not change based on what language and country someone lives in and the Famicom Detective Club games are considered adventure games, the claims that they're visual novels come from western players who are likely not familiar with the adventure game genre and its sub-genres.
@@Bro3256 Yeah, the Wikipedia page is mostly what I was going by, and it's true. Most people in the US will be look at games like Danganronpa and Ace Attorney and Famicom Detective Club and refer to them as "visual novels", because that's just what they are called here.
Words can mean different things in different countries, that's just how language works. Even within the English language, a word can mean two different things, depending on whether you're talking to an American or a British person. The same is true within the Spanish language, with several central american countries referring to the same things by different names, despite all speaking the same base language.
It's all dependent on the country of origin. You can try to fight against it, but when the majority here will call it one thing, you will be considered the one who is wrong (specifically in regards to culture and language), by calling it something else (even if it's *technically* true, the worst kind of true). I think you just want to be the one to say "um, actually" (which tbf, is exactly what I'm doing lol)
I was just thinking yesterday "How come Nintendo hasn't rereleased Twilight Princess on the Switch yet?". You're right, their main attribute is just being consistently inconsistent.
but sure, let's port the wii installment nobody's played, not the wii game that would be a cashcow again.
I think they’re holding off on Twilight Princess so they can take advantage of the processing power of the next console for the graphics since it has the most detailed graphics in the franchise
Because why not fill up the full line-up with even more old games? Nintendo, how dare you make new games when we want old ones?!
I think incompetent is a better word to describe Nintendo as of recently
@@CarterInosencioI hope this is the case.
If there's ANY game stuck on an old console, it's Kirby & the Rainbow Curse on the Wii U. The Switch has gyro AND touch controls, so the fact that it's stuck on a system that made people think Nintendo should leave the console market entirely is BAFFLING. Pack it with a stylus & artbook & sell it for $40-60 if HAL/Nintendo wants.
and what happens when i play on tv
@@mkrool Then the Gyro functions as a pointer like Metroid Prime Re and Pikmin
Poor Rainbow Curse. Treated as a forgotten burning memory.
If you played it you would know it’s not really fun. The visuals are top notch but the gameplay just doesn’t land imo
Yoshi's Woolly World, Xenoblade Chronicles X, Wind Waker/Twilight Princess HD, Star Fox Zero, etc. The Wii U still has a number of first-party games not on the Switch. Nintendo should probably bleed the console dry and reduce its value to zero. That's what everyone wants, it appears.
I Semi-disagree with the Famicom Detective Club take. Those games were locked in Japan for 30 years and then we suddenly got them in the West remade from the ground up. Yes they are short, but I still feel the Nintendo quality with those games, plus to own an obscure piece of Nintendo history is pretty cool. Also if memory serves right, you get some kind of discount if you buy them separately
I think the discount is buying them together, they're each $30 individually but $50 combined. Definitely a Nintendo upcharge when you compare to other visual novels but not quite as bad as Arlo makes it sound
@@chuckbatman5 I'm not arguing that they aren't expensive, I'm just saying I think it's worth the price with how good of quality it is. And I think you're right, I think that's the deal they gave
I got them with an eshop voucher, together with a big release, and haven't regretted buying them. Games are great.
@@sjoerdhogervorst That kinda sounds like a waste of a voucher.. in the US, at least, you pay $100 for 2 vouchers, which you can redeem for 2 $60 games to save $20 (or $30, if one of those games was the $70 TotK), but using one of them on a $50 game means you only save $10. You could have just bought the game outright instead, and saved the voucher for a $60 release instead. In the US, at least.
That "...except Metroid Prime Remastered" line at the end got me. It will never cease to amaze me how Metroid, you know, the first half of that genre that somehow sells multiples better than itself, the series that could easily be on the Mt Rushmore of pop culture sci-fi, whose protagonist has been in Smash since the 90's, always seems to sell just barely enough to not be thrown in the F-Zero/Star Fox bin. This isn't even a taste thing. Metroid is objectively good and people objectively ignore it!
It's called the world is unfair
It’s crazy to me how many people don’t even know Metroid though. I know a lot of people who play video games and have no idea what Metroid is. It not like Mario or Zelda and even Zelda for a lot of people isn’t known. It pretty crazy how many people who play game don’t know about these cultural icons in games
@@slightcurve98It makes sense considering how Metroid is a Nintendo exclusive, people that are not in the Nintendo ecosystem would be less likely to hear about it since it's not a cultural icon like Mario, still the Metroid games deserve a lot more love and I'm shocked by how comparatively low it sells
I think a general rule for what games get rereleased is that aside from the obscure stuff like Another Code, most of the remakes/masters/whatevers are under the Mario umbrella. The RPGs, MvDK, DKCR, LM2. The Switch isn't doing as well as it used to since it's like 8 years old now, so they want to make sure they're releasing games that have a better chance at doing well. even the big new upcoming releases are Mario and Luigi, Mario Party, and Zelda.
You keep bringing up Famicom Detective Club's price, but you neglect to mention that it's two games that are each $30 and 9-12 hours on average. Pit that against their upcoming third game, which is $50, and based on the demo I played, a single chapter took an hour, whereas in both the remakes, I could do two or three in that time.
Maybe they're overcharging for shorter games, still, but it just sounds like you speak about the complete package without understanding why they're a complete package.
I know right. It's really obvious that Arlo dislikes them, I already got the vibe from his previous videos, but this video is annoying because he keeps comparing the FDC collection, two games that are full remakes $30 a pop, to remasters and complaining about the price
I think you would see Nintendos development choices wouldn't be so inconsistent if you look at their 10 development divisions as seperate isolated groups instead of looking at them all as one "Nintendo" entity you think can just pump out everything all the time. The Zelda group pumps out stuff all the time, their too busy to revisit windwaker just yet.
Zelda team has released two games since Link Between Worlds. They’ve supervised/published/assisted with several other games, but it’s not like those tie up the whole team. Most of the work is done by third party studios
@extremepayne you gotta count everything Zelda that's been released, not just the new titles. The NSO ports, the HD remake of Skyward Sword, all of that. And yeah the really big games absorb a lot more of their time. So much so Tears of the Kingdom kept getting delayed
SSHD, TPHD, LA Switch, and OOT3D were all done by outside studios. Either handled by Tantulus or Grezzo. They could easily be put to work porting WWHD and TPHD to the Switch.
@@danieldishon688 are you gonna engage with the part where I point out that outside studios do most of the work on those? Grezzo, Tantalus, Brace Yourself, Omega Force. Not EPD 3.
I don't know how well that applies to rereleases though, because those are often handled by outside teams. Zelda, Metroid, and Xenoblade are the only ones who consistently seem to have the same people making their remakes as their new games, and even they have trusted teams like Grezzo and Mercury Steam who specialize in that. Also we don't really know who makes the calls on pricing for these things, but I would assume it is generally not the developers.
03:25 - you would be totally right to complain, though. They expect us to pay the same price for less quality than other ports/remakes. They even take more than their original price.
I feel like the "rhyme or reason" to what they choose is at least in part, at this point, part of:
1) A cycle where they're trying to make at least one entry from every prior console generation up to the Switch (Super Mario RPG was a SNES game, Paper Mario was N64, Metroid Prime was Gamecube, DKC Returns was Wii, Pikmin 3 was Wii U)
2) What classic games won't compete too much with their Switch online ROM libraries (notice they're not in a rush to make a Super Metroid remake when every Switch online member can just play Super Metroid, and they could have just worked out the IP rights to make Super Mario RPG work as a ROM, but instead went for a full Remake, and they've never put the main Pokemon originals in their ROM libraries)
3) The title fits into a larger marketing plan. The Super Mario RPG and Paper Mario remakes fit in well here, as Nintendo seems to want to make a big traditional RPG push in this later phase of the Switch's life cycle, following up everything next with Brothership. Metorid Prime helps to build hype for Metroid Prime 4.
4) The title can't compete too much with whatever it is Nintendo is actively marketing presently - note that they're not even trying to do Zelda remakes while Tears of the Kingdom is still likely to get DLC, but DKC:Returns? They've got nothing new that's Donkey Kong related in the pipeline, so that's a good one to go with.
5) Staff Training/Trusted Developer Retention Reasons - I feel like they use some of these projects to train up newer staff on simpler projects with clear guidelines and guard rails, and for things like the Advance Wars Re-Boot Camp, they were tossing a job at WayForward who they like maintaining good relations with, for example.
Also, why do so many people hate on the 3DS and its "low resolution"? It has a higher pixel density than a 50-inch 4K TV. It's not "blurry" or anything. The only real flaw of 240p on a handheld is aliasing, which has a reduced effect on a smaller screen.
If you define resolution as total pixel count, the 3DS is low resolution compared to most other consumer displays. It has a high pixel density, but even its pixel density pales in comparison to phones releasing at the same time. Its pixel density isnt high enough for the distance at which you view it, hence why you see the aliasing artifacts you mentioned.
The aliasing is very noticeable on an XL
Arlo is not familiar with visual novel prices, Famicom Detective Club is not particularily expensive compared to other fully voiced visual novels or japanese adventure games. For example I just looked for the Switch VN's published by Aksys Games and they are all $40 or $50.
Arlo don't search for anything, the way he talks about visual novels is disgusting
Definitely. VN-style games are still popular in Japan, and while there has been growing interest from the West it's still very niche and even then the more well-known ones are either tie-ins to known brands (eg. Psycho Pass or other anime/manga) or heavily involve other gameplay elements (Zero Escape & Danganronpa series). Japanese VNs are not budget products in Japan, they weren't when they flooded the Vita's western library and they aren't now (unless you buy low-effort indie crap from Steam).
@@ausgod538Bro got green mothers basement aura💀
Counterpoint: Ace Attorney. Probably one of the most popular visual novel series at least overseas, and those games are getting trilogy/duology collections for $40 left and right, plus Capcom is constantly putting them on sale. The only difference is the lack of full voice acting, but I doubt that is a huge factor in their pricing.
Granted Capcom did charge $60 for the 4-6 collection sooo maybe the market for visual novels is just growing
Counterpoint: Ace Attorney. Probably one of the most popular visual novel series at least overseas, and those games are getting trilogy/duology collections for $40 left and right, plus Capcom is constantly putting them on sale. The only difference is the lack of full voice acting, but I doubt that is a huge factor in their pricing.
Granted Capcom did charge $60 for the 4-6 collection sooo maybe the market for visual novels is just growing
22:01 Underrated difficulty of trying to start out on RUclips too. It pushes you to make slop you're not as passionate about, when you see the video you spent a month on get 100 views, but a tier list video will get almost 5k .-.
Makes it a lot harder to judge if you're improving as a creator...
You're measuring your own success by a corrupt metric. If you produce something you hate but lots of others like it then is that even success?
@@imperius88 People need money to live.
@@veggiesnake4430 RUclips isn't a job, genius. Making stupid choices will keep you in squalor for the rest of your life
@@imperius88 RUclips is absolutely a job for plenty of people, but it isn't a particularly stable job nor is it easy to get into so you're right in some aspect
@@LARAUJO_0 Well yes a normal person can assume I didn't mean that it couldn't under any circumstances serve as a job. What I mean is that it is a fools errand to attempt to make a living out of it. Do it as a hobby and if you hit it big then wonderful. But in all likelihood you will not.
Arlo Acknowledge Xenoblade Challenge: Impossible
XC:DE was a fantastic rerelease, remade character models, completely redone menus, new armor sets, and a new epilogue campaign.
I totally forgot that game existed. Also that technically was the first “was ported to 3DS but now is on switch” game, not DKC Returns.
Edit: forgot Captain Toad Treasure Tracker was on 3DS was well, making DKCR the third
DKC Returns HD is done specifically for brand synergy with the DK land coming to Universal. Famicom detective club has a lot of drawn art assets that may cost more and so the cost is in that.
I will never get over 3D All Stars.
It genuinely upset me that it was limited release.
Don't forget, it was also limited content!
And that Fire Emblem NES re-release/remaster too
I genuinely cannot believe Wind Waker and Twilight Princess are STILL stuck in Wii U jail. Those 2 and my beloved Xenoblade X are literally the only reasons I still even have my Wii U.
I genuinely wanted to thank you for making these sort of videos. It makes me (as a budgeted Nintendo fan) feel heard
It's still wild how metroid prime went from a $60 game originally to $40 as a remaster, meanwhile Luigi's mansion 2 went from $40 to $60
I think what makes me madder about the Luigis mansion 2 port, is that in what was it? 2018? They decided to remake the first Luigis mansion for the 3DS but NOT the switch. At this point we could have had the luigis mansion trilogy ON ONE CONSOLE but no, they only made it for the 3DS for whatever reason. Another one (though this might be to cloudy character rights) is that... where's donkey Kong 64? Many people even myself have been asking for a remake, remaster, a port to the N64 on switch thing yet nothing... we got Banjo-Kazooie and i thought that would NEVER happen! Even Jet force gemini! That's a niche game even from the devs of Banjo, Conker and DK64
So they misbehave when they’re doing well and are generous when they do poorly. Great Stuff, as always!
There's no rhyme or reason to first-party game pricing lol. Metroid Prime Remastered costs $40, Kirby Star Allies, ARMS, Brilliant Diamond/Shining Pearl, Mario Odyssey, and Breath of the Wild all cost $60, and Tears of the Kingdom costs $70. It's literally just the highest they feel customers are willing to pay.
Breath of the Wild now costs $70 :D
I think the answer is simple, Metroid is a niche franchise & Nintendo felt that they needed to lower the price to entice more people. And if MP1R only barely cracked 1 million already, imagine how much less it would’ve sold at full price. At least with XB1, it came with an entirely new story to justify its price tag alongside a remastered version of the original. Pikmin kinda had the same approach, they just included two games in one.
Another Code and Advance Wars aren't niche?
The reworking of LM2's controls are really underrated actually
I'm always surprised at all the little touch-ups I see in LM2 HD when looking at comparison videos. For better and worse, the initial impression looks how you remember it.
There is definitely consistency in how Nintendo’s rereleases are named. Games with “HD” in the title build from the original version of the game and add to it, whereas if a rerelease simply uses the game’s original title then it’s a complete from the ground up remake. Then of course you have “Deluxe” games which don’t really make graphical improvements but do add new features
Okay but Pokkén DX is a port with extra characters and Rescue Team DX is basically a remake
@@crazynaut223 thats the Pokémon company not Nintendo so they can name their games how they want
the degree to which an “HD” game builds on the original varies *wildly*, from none at all (Luigi’s Mansion 2) to fairly substantially (Skyward Sword)
@@extremepayneLuigi's mansion 2 and skyward sword are the same thing
@@ausgod538 Did... did you completely miss the part in the video where Skyward Sword had it's entire control scheme changed and various alterations made throughout the game based on player feedback to make it a more enjoyable experience while Luigi's Mansion 2 on Switch is the exact same game as on 3DS with slightly nicer graphics? There is a vast level of difference between Luigi's Mansion 2 and Skyward Sword. Yes they are both rereleases of older games, but the amount of time and effort put into them is, as said before, wildly different. That was the entire point of this video after all.
Buying a non-Nintendo system in my late 20s really opened my eyes to their absurd pricing strategy. These days I'd rather buy 2 new indies and a discounted AAA classic for the $60 I'd otherwise be spending on the new Wii port from 2009. Miss me with that, Ninty!
I Saw It for years and my main consolé is switch
I don't have an issue with lazy ports/upscales, just DON'T PRICE THEM THE SAME AS BRAND NEW GAMES NINTENDO
It's an interesting thing to try to decipher, but I dont think it's all that complicated. It likely just comes down to supply and demand, and how much Nintendo thinks it can get away with charging people
Arlo I loved your Metroid/Samus video. Thank you for the effort it didn't go unnoticed :)
22:21 honestly kinda reminds me of Pixar. Everyone always complains about their sequels but the truth is in such an IP-dependent landscape these are kind of necessary like it or not because they’re the ones that make the most money. Said money funds those original films.
I’m not speaking to you necessarily, but putting my own thoughts down. I honestly don’t care about sequels as long as they’re good. People say it’s unoriginal, but I completely disagree. You can be stagnant about it, or you can push forward into something new. Besides, sometimes people like a return to form like with the Zelda series.
Also, I kinda miss having more spinoffs. Some Persona fans complain about Atlus milking the franchise, but has any of their spinoffs are ever really considered bad? Has anyone ever thought “it’s better that these games shouldn’t exist” at all? I much rather play some games in the meantime, rather than wait for the next huge installment. For example, if Nintendo made some good spinoffs for Pikmin, the wait for Pikmin 4 would be a lot less unbearable.
@@nightynightlayla374 people destroyed Hey Pikmin
And now your wondering why Nintendo dosn't do more spin offs of pikmin
12:03 actually it was limited because they didn’t want to compete with themselves if they were to ever rerelease them individually down the line via NSO or proper remake or whatever
Damn Arlo really does not like Famicon detective club being 60$
I really don't like the game only having a super expensive Japanese physical version that can only be played in Japanese, and an artbook in only Japanese. And when Nintendo released the Starfy games on NSO in America.... in Japanese. I'm starting to think if they do re-release Mother 3, I'm not gonna be able to read it anyway.
@@DeCryptid23 They already did rerelease Mother 3. Twice. Once on the Wii U GBA VC and another time on the GBA NSO app only in Japan.
He doesn't know anything about visual novels he's a dumbass
He just doesn't know anything about vn. 2 games in one for 60 is good even more for vn. He looked into how long to beat and called a day
Arlo might be not very well versed on VNs but even then, perhaps purely by coincidence, he's not wrong here
There's many MANY VNs with amazing writing, soundtracks and alternate routes for $30 that can go as low as $15 on sales, don't get me wrong Famicom detective club are also great games but you can TELL they come from the past they feel archaic in a lot of ways even if the remasters do a good job trying to disguise it
I swear is those old man executives
The only thing I can fault Nintendo for when it comes to Pikmin this generation is that Pikmin 2 should have been upgraded to be able to play the entire campaign in co-op. Pikmin 3 Deluxe is, to this date, the only game that has every single piece of content be accessible with 2 players and is easily the best for it imo.
Metroid Prime 2 & 3, Windwaker, Twilight Princess, Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, Mario Galaxy 2, Luigi's Mansion 1. All these games need HD rereleases!
We should also get some of the more obscure games back. Chibi Robo, Custom Robo, Fossil Fighters, Dosshin The Giant, Cubivore, Panel de Pon, ExciteBike, Wave Race, Pilot Wings, etc., would all benefit greatly from rereleases or a new game on the Switch. I could easily see Panel de Pon becoming very popular.
@@ridgenyan-botxv367 would love geist, killer 7, and eternal darkness too at some point.
I'm honestly craving for Twilight Princess
@@anibalhyrulesantihero7021 guess it's either hold out for switch port or break out the wii and play that one.
@@austindolan7182 If Twilight Princess was ported to the Switch, I'd buy it in a heartbeat. ❤️
Price is why I've never picked up Famicom Detective Club or Another Code. It's a huge ask to charge full price for niche games where one didn't do well back when they came out and one stuck in Japan for decades, because most people don't know if they'd like it, including myself. Also, eShop sales are still a joke. Also, still no Selects.
Every time I watch a video like this on this channel, it reminds me I have a fantastic Switch backlog to get back to finishing!
Mario RPG is actually cheaper than DK country returns. I've even seen it go for $30 in stores.
fire emblem echoes: shadows of valentia is one of my favorite remakes of all time, and it stings to know that it, and the other 3ds fire emblem games are just stranded despite all of them being phenomenal games. Yes, even Fates. Especially with Engage releasing and it being a celebration of the fire emblem series, it's kind of disheartening for a new fan because legit the only games they can play without going on a wild goose chase (aside from Engage) are Fe7, Fe1 if they bought it during its small release period, Warriors, Heroes, and Three houses/hopes. It's a shame, especially with how popular fire emblem is these days.
Nintendo’s refusal to put their games on sale is REALLY gonna sting when their games get bumped to $70. I was only able to handle it when PlayStation and Xbox raised the price because I don’t ever buy games at launch and their games devalue so fast.
Game prices are already too high
i’m glad topicarlo also seemingly gives the original arlo channel more focus on these longer, scripted videos. they’ve always been my favorite!
If you bought a Steam game back when the Xbox 360 was around You can still play that Steam game today but if you bought an Xbox 360 game there's no guarantee you can play the other than an Xbox One or a series system.
I think that's a better way to describe why PC is better than to use Nintendo as the example but you know Wii games can't be played on a Switch.
A substantial and long Arlo video ❤ I was craving that
Value is a funny and nebulous thing. To one person, a game might have little value, but to another it could have great value. I don't think there will ever be a good set of guidelines for what something should be priced at, it all just comes down to the customer and what they are willing to pay. There's just no logic to it.
Except there is logic to it. You can predict approximately how many people are going buy the game, and combine that with the known budget & profit goal for the game, to then figure out what price the game needs to be to make a certain amount of money if a certain amount of people buy it
Warms my heart to see that background again, Arlo.
The correct price has always, and will always, be whatever the end consumer is willing to pay. Metroid Prime Remastered at $40 is a tremendous value given the reworking it got, but the series as a whole is WAY lower in the totem pole in terms of Nintendo’s most valuable IP. The lower price was most likely because of lower consumer recognition of the series compared to say, Mario, and total sales expectations.
This doesn't explain Famicom Detective Club though.
ah, yes. because consumer recognition of famicom detective club is way higher than metroid
Indeed
@@profl0g1c38 You forget there’s two games in that set.
@@aaronko3480 Famicom Detective Club is like a 10 dollar game if you go by brand recognition.
While the pricing is inexcusable, I imagine the inconsistent re-release quality comes down to a variety of factors, such as the re-releases being made by different studios, what other products those studios might be working on at the time (Resource availability), reception & sales numbers of the original games, and how well or not well the series may be doing.
Also keep in mind that certain marketing tactics may be seen as good by some and bad by others, and that lessons can be learnt. That's why Luigi's Mansion 1 had new content on a dead console, while 2 was just a HD uplift on a thriving console. Or why Pikmin 3 Deluxe got a bunch of new content, but New Super Mario Bros Deluxe added little, and took away little as well
The pricing is what kills me. A port/remaster should never EVER be full price if you ask me. Remakes can sometimes fall into that category too depending on how extravagant they are.
23:13 This. Definitely this.
I think it was just 2 months ago that I saw Metroid Dread on sale on the eshop, and it was surprising to see a Nintendo game being offered at a discount. I was mildly interested in the game when it came out, but didn't care enough to buy it. I've personally never been big on the metroid series, I've only played Super metroid long ago. However after seeing Dread on sale I bought it on impulse and didn't regret it for a second. I definitely would not have bought it otherwise.
Far be it from me to tell anyone how to run a business, but I have to believe that occasionally offering a product at a temporary discount is a good business decision. Seeing as how every other company on earth does it.
Exactly! There are loads of games I have on Steam and GOG that may have passed up on otherwise if I didn't see them at a discounted price.
6:24 while I understand the frustration on bdsp, I would like to point out that some of the footage you are using is from an earlier build. They actually polished it up a good bit past the announcement trailer.
You can say a lot about the game, but they did make efforts to make it look a bit better.
Things are softer, and the colors are much nicer.
The games are still crap, though.
They still look extemely no effort
Also I'm pretty sure they had significantly less dev time than other pokemon games
Re-releasing DKCR actually makes sense when you think about the upcoming DK theme park they're working on
I don’t get the confusion. It’s a well-known fact that after a game finishes development, Miyamoto pulls the price out of a hat.
Ordinary business stuff.
Especially gives priorities to pikmin, his own games, mario, the company's mascot, and Zelda, the action orchestral mascot. That is why
I value you and appreciate all the efforts you provide us Arlo
5:45 this edit has me on the floor😂
Great video, it summed up almost all of my thoughts about this quandary.
In fact, this spurned on some additional thoughts and theories however, at least 3 of them. Pretty darn long ones too.
1) Ironically, Nintendo's philosophy of "its okay to make some money, not all the money" that we love is a reason we've gotten here. That same philosophy leads them to say "make a smaller profit by selling everything at full price, instead of a _potentially_ bigger profit by selling lower but to more sales" is exactly the same philosophy that rejects microtransactions and lootboxes and excessive DLC and special editions for already $60 games. "That'll lead us to more money, but that doesn't really matter to us."
Of course, it's then silly to act like you can't balance these two extremes and not have both a want for more money and a want to not go hog wild. Honestly, I'll bet Nintendo could use that as an excuse, conveniently ignoring the middle ground.
2) You know what was going on when Nintendo first introduced dramatic price cuts for all their products after a certain time had passed, i.e. the Player's Choice line? They were in the SNES era - the first era they had actual, threatening competition, from Sega. And then Sony came in and provided even more ruthless competition, and the Player's Choice line continued up to the GameCube. And then with the Wii, it disappeared and was replaced by Nintendo Selects, only in 2011-around the time the Wii was winding down and getting lower and lower sales each year and it's successor was around the corner. And look at that, Nintendo Selects continued to exist for the Wii U, Nintendo's worst performing home console.
And if you're say, "what about the handhelds? They had virtually no competition," well, that's true. The Game Gear's 13 million probably wasn't enough to scare Nintendo, and even _if_ they considered the Wonderswan (in Japan) and the PSP enough of a threat to launch the Color and DS respectively, they probably didn't afterwards.
No, I think it was mainly to have consistency and not appear ultra greedy by only introducing a discount line for the lower profit consoles. And you know what Nintendo handheld conveniently dodged getting the Player's Choice treatment? The DS. Third-parties had to make up their own discount labels! Furthermore, this discount line has been completely absent in Japan... EXCEPT for the 3DS, with the Happy Price selection in 2016. And during that time, the Vita was actually pretty darn popular in Japan! It was popular enough that it was one of the reasons they made the Switch!
So, I think the path is clear: Valve needs to sell 30-50 million more Steam Decks to wake Nintendo up.
3) I think the common chain between Prime 1 Remastered and Prime Trilogy, is Retro Studios. I will champion this fact for as long as I can: according to the DYKG video, Retro were the ones that came up with the idea for Prime Trilogy, and Nintendo *hated it.* ...Okay, maybe not hate, but they didn't like it!
Seems to me that when it comes to Metroid Prime, Retro have a lot more say in how its priced. I mean, DKC, they didn't make that series from the beginning, they had a lot less to do with it, so maybe Nintendo has more swing. Whereas Prime, that is their sub-series baby, from the start. It's their baby so much it was given back to them when Nintendo couldn't care for it!
That's all I got. Thanks as always Arlo, and hey: at least I like your Samus-losing-her-stuff video more than your Emio one. :)
Why are we comparing remasters and remakes like they're the same thing? I'm usually on board with your videos, but this one doesn't really make a good point. I know we're used to being spoiled by remakes thanks to some of them completely reimagining the games, but that's not what they had been for most of gaming history. Usually, a remaster is just an uprezzed port with some minor improvements (Skyward Sword HD, Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, Donkey Kong Country Returns HD). A remake is usually the same game just remade using more modern techniques with perhaps a few added, previously unimplementable features (Pokémon HGSS, Super Mario RPG, and Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door). It's not inconsistency on the part of Nintendo in this case. It's conflating two inherently different types of re-releases, and saying that all re-releases should be remakes.
Because Arlo's not comparing them like it's he same thing though. He's pointing out the inconsistencies between them: Some titles get remakes that aren't necessary, warranted titles only get a remaster, remakes and are only available on obsolete consoles, justifiable or unjustifiable price differences, release windows etc. There is even inconsistencies within it's on category.: Skyward sword got HD, QOL and complete new control features while the more successful Luigi2 got a touch up of resolution,. Prime 1, a complete remake is $40, Luigi 2, same game but higher resolution, is $60 is wickedly inconsistent in its on.
The sponsor segment before the meat of the video is much better, doesn't snap you out of it
arlo’s intention as an american is to have nintendo constantly strip mine every single one of their properties at every opportunity to squeeze cash every chance they get. Nintendo’s goal as a japanese company is to play it very conservatively and not dilute the value of their brand. this view is why they’ve been so long-lasting, and can afford to have a generation be a disaster and not have to have layoffs. when you do finally get a new f zero gx, it’ll be a huge historical event, and not a “once every 5 years” thing like skyrim.
Yes Nintendo is Keynesian in their finance policy and prioritize stability over growth. Westerners cannot understand that modality of thought. Everything in "The West" is Miltonian grab, grab grab! Right now!! But those same westerners scream rapaciousness! greed! when lay offs happen. People don't know what they want...
... or people will simply say "nahh" and kepp playing on their emulators
@@TornaderX i don’t think most switch owners are playing games on emulators lol
@@verygoodfreelancer Well, I'm glad to have brought you into reality then
plus, the F Zero fanbase wouldn't be so big If It wasn't for emulation, most of gamecube players are over 35 now
@@TornaderX nah
Having never played Thousand-Year Door I'm glad the did a remake. Despite it not being incredibly challenging I've had some unexpected surprise moments and close calls in battle. Moments that make me reconsider how I should approach a battle. So far I've been having a blast with it.
Make Nintendo Selects $20 Again! (They wont, but I member.)
I remember when they called those budget re-releases "Player's Choice"...I feel old now
Arlo I love your Metroid video thank you for all your effort ❤
There's a potentially more devious outcome to Prime's shadow dropped remaster being $40. There's two more games they can re-release down the line, both for $40 each now that that's established precedent, which would be *more* pull for them compared to $50 for Pikmin 1+2, or even $60 for Super Mario 3D All-Stars. Plus they could repackage them as a trilogy (again) for $60.
But on a brighter note, if Nintendo is positioning Metroid to be a bigger series for them, maybe we'll have more to look forward to besides Prime 4. Or maybe they're gonna be mining old series like this for a while, and someday they'll figure out how to make another F-Zero game. Or we'll get a Kid Icarus Uprising re-release, if we're talking miracles when hell freezes over.
Hot Take: The most consistent thing Nintendo does is making business decisions that make nearly everyone annoyed
Thats a hot take? More like a cold take.
@@ProjectionProjects2.7182and yet it sells
@@ausgod538 True.
Universal Studios' Donkey Kong Country theme park is opening at the end of the year, and the park is entirely based on Donkey Kong Country Returns. So getting a remaster of DKCR actually makes a ton of sense considering that, in fact, they may have fast tracked development of it for this very reason.
"For the most part, they consistently deliver quality products".
*Picture of Wii U in the background*
Wow, the shade...
Lets go! 30 MIN ARLO UPLOAD!
I don't like that you keep making Famicom Detective Club the punchline here. The reason it's $60 is because it's two games that are remakes, not remasters. Why do you keep comparing it to remasters
Probably because they look like $60 visual novels.
17:28 You did not have to remind me how old this game is man😭. I remember opening this game up on Christmas day like it was last year.
Nintendo is so weird. I bought Metroid prime remastered EXCLUSIVELY because of the low price. I loved it and now I’m definitely getting prime 4. If the game had been full price I would have never become a fan of the series. Why don’t they charge less for stuff like this? It will make them money in the long run like huhhh?
Arlo if you’re reading this, I love you man, your videos provide so much comfort and I’m sure I’m not the only one
Nothing inconsistent here, supply and demand dictate everything, Mario and Luigis Mansion sell better, thats why $60, Metroid sells worse, thats why $40, though thats partially their fault for just dropping Metroid Prime on the Switch without any marketing whatsoever, that alone cut the games' potential sales in half.
Yeah it’s like…why did they pick Donkey Kong Country Returns? Because it sells! A lot!!!!
That's called price gouging
Good point, but how many people were asking for $60 DK country returns on switch? I’m not really ink the DK fandom so I wouldn’t know
...then why does pikmin 3 deluxe cost $60?
Care to explain the price of another code, Famicon detective club and Bayonetta then?
The reason Donkey Kong Country Returns is getting a HD remaster is because Nintendo’s been doing a massive Donkey Kong brand push recently. Between prominently featuring him and many other Country characters and elements in the Mario Movie, giving him his own Country themed Lego Sets, getting more Donkey Kong Jakks figures, and him getting his own section at Nintendo World in Universal Studios. The remaster is meant to line up with all that so if you’re introduced to him in those outside projects you have an easy, represents the brand game to buy. Why it’s so low effort though is what’s weird about it.
There’s no inconsistency. They aren’t selling widgets and sprockets. After an amazing game like Metroid Dread barely limped passed 3 million units shipped, Nintendo clearly wasn’t confident in Metroid as a brand. Plus, they knew Metroid Prime Beyond was on the horizon, so they want to get people invested in Samus’ adventures. They must have been hoping that the great value, combined with the surprise stealth drop, would help propel Metroid Prime Remastered to success. They even staggered the digital and physical release. Yes, it couldn’t have been kept a secret if they’d shipped physical copies all over the world, but I’m confident the real reason was to get the small but devoted Metroid fan base to double dip (which, being an idiot, I did. Of course, they did an amazing job on the remaster, so I forgive the shady marketing tactic).
Anyway, anything associated with Mario is going to command a premium price. It is what it is. If you don’t want to buy a game, don’t buy it.
That last line explains everything- it's Nintendo fans who are the cause of this. Because so many nostalgic fans just can't help paying for the same game for the third time, Nintendo sees no reason to update their ports unless the dev team REALLY wants to do so. That's why we got Metroid Prime Remastered. When you spend your money on dogshit like Donkey Kong Country Returns HD and Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, that money goes to Nintendo, and obviously it shows them that they can just make this crap and it'll sell. Same deal as Game Freak with Pokemon, same deal as SEGA with Sonic. Have some goddamn self control.
I miss Nintendo's gorgeous pixel art and I blame their need to make everything 60 dollars. Would love a new traditional Pokémon or Metroid game with pixel art for 40 bucks.
You understand good, high quality pixel art is expensive in HD. No one is going to accept indie level quality pixel art from Nintendo. Why would Nintendo want to do more work than with 3-D graphics for a lower anticipated MSRP of $40? I am sure that is why Nintendo do not even bother with pixel art anymore.
Pixel art would be *MORE* expensive to make. You need to create each frame of animation as a seperate piece of art for each character, item, effect, and more. In 3D, you make a model, and then you can apply each animation to it, which saves time and money.
I think the reason for the inconsistency is because a highly anticipated port being sold for 40 dollars is worth more than a more obscure game sold for cheap. Because all the other ports are higher in price and you have a really compelling price for a amazing port, people are going to flock to it. Keep in mind that I'm sure Nintendo is aware of emulation and piracy. They wanted to do a very competitive release. You get an old game with a FRESH coat of paint and portable for only 40 bucks. That seems like a steal, even if you could emulate the game. However, an obscure port? The only people who are going to buy that are people who are HUGE fans of it. They would buy it regardless of how much new stuff they did. On the flip side, people who don't care would rather spend their money elsewhere regardless of the bells and whistles. They might as well milk the hardcore fans as much as possible. I think they are waiting to release more highly anticipated ports to build suspension. Scarcity breeds value. The more people are itching for another Zelda port or Super Mario Galaxy 2, the more they could charge for profit or release at a competitive price to add to the hype to buy it. Even better if it's a limited physical release because their loyal player base would gladly pay extra to get their hands on it if they only have limited stock.
the ports aren’t 40. they’re 60. the same as any full price game.
@cwega2463 when I was referring to the 40 dollar port I meant Metroid prime remastered because it was the exception
@@vjthehandsome5659 that isn’t a port. it’s a complete visual remake. the only thing not remade is the source code.
and as you said it’s the exception. literally every other one is $60 for ports. embarassing.
@@cwega2463 yeah that's fair
There is a lot to say about what Nintendo dares to ask for games at launch, which as the video points out is strange considering almost every title is 60 regardless of input. However, I would argue that aproach of price drops / sales by Nintendo is hurting us and them even more. Fans of games will likely pay at launch, but if you never drop below 40 you don't get a lot of impulse buyers, only occasional interest. This is why third party and indie titles do so well on the switch, because they actually lower the price to reflect the age / popularity to drive up sales
I likely would've never experienced shovel knight back in the day had they not sold treasure trove on switch for 20-30$.
Appreciate all of the analysis on different angles of this! I do find this really fascinating and yeah, it honestly does feel kinda odd that Metroid Prime is significantly cheaper than most of these, alongside with several games costing $60 that feel like they were much less altered
10:53 THANK YOU, Arlo! It’s been far too long since Nintendo gave F-Zero some love 🫶
Apparently in the files for Luigi's Mansion 2 HD, almost everything is identical. I'm pretty sure there's even a streetpass folder left over
I mean, yeah. That’s how porting a game works; you bring existing code, files and assets over into the new version. Not all of those files will be used, and some will be scrubbed, but some will be left over as well. I’m not sure why people are surprised that the 3DS game on Switch has files referencing the system it was originally made for
@@twosoup3252 You'd think they'd put more work into its graphics since they're claiming it's an "HD re-release" doesn't look very HD to me.
It is literally on an HD system running at an HD resolution, I don’t know if you were expecting 4D where you can smell what’s happening on-screen or something but it is very much an HD re-release if nothing else
@twosoup3252 No, it is not. It's an SD version of the game with a resolution fit to the switch. Any game on the switch for that matter can be called HD. What I was getting at was, they didn't bother tweaking the game further, like arlo said, making the worse parts well, better. You'd think they'd make it closer to Luigis mansion 3.
@@Valstrax420that's totally normal in remasters.
There’s nothing like binging arlo videos before and after a direct! Full on Nintendo hype!! Thank you for these awesome videos!!
Butternut Squash? Yes Please!