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Woolie Wool's avatar

No PCs in that history you wrote? It has always annoyed me that PC gamers have always been aware of consoles, but console gamers seem to go their entire lives without noticing that they could play video games that are at least as good if not better on their computers. If it weren't for PC game modding scenes I would have given up the vidya years ago.

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Scanlines's avatar

I do own a gaming PC and did plenty of gaming on a laptop as a teen but I didn't mention it because I could never afford a setup able to play modern AAA games until my early 20's; I don't see the point of owning a PS5 or a Series X over a PC these days.

It's not that we don't notice; my brother was always PC only apart from a few rough stints on console it's that (at least for me) I needed to have my own money to get a PC because when you're reliant on Christmas gifts and begging as a childhood/teenage gamer, when a single GPU costs more than an Xbox 360 or PS3 I was never going to be gifted that.

As a last little note, I find the PC gaming community the most toxic out of the 4 main spheres of hardware so there's that too.

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Woolie Wool's avatar

My PC is falling behind the curve on modern AAA games so I just don't play them and focus on indies and mods, AAA is all turning into live service slop anyway. There's more art in the average megawad on Doomworld than in these $200 million blockbusters nowadays, and the megawad will run on a 10 year old potato no problem.

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Scanlines's avatar

I'm in the midst of an upgrade at the moment so also not quite able to run the latest stuff yet, I've had a 2060 Super since 2020.

I sort of agree. I've never been a big modding guy and the indie scene is starting to suffer its own greedy issues (I'm tired of games that have been playable for 5-10 years using 'Early Access' as a shield against criticism) but in general? It is better than most AAA.

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Pixel Fix's avatar

The Switch felt like magic when it came out. This captures the vibe of that time well. Nice write up.

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Aidan's avatar

I have to agree, despite my own nostalgic attatchments. Kids these days got some of, if not the best mainline Nintendo games on a single console - they have no idea how good they have it TT^TT

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Scanlines's avatar

I'm a retro gamer first and foremost so I will always stick to the original hardware and a CRT but realistically, with NSO you get the best Nintendo games for every platform on the Switch as well. It is the perfect console.

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Dylan Cornelius's avatar

Really great post about the Switch, thanks for sharing your memories on it. It's definitely the most successful Nintendo system, in terms of consistently great library of games, since the SNES.

Oh, and I bought Breath of the Wild on Wii U. Couldn't afford the Switch, wanted desperately to play it at the time, etc. etc.

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Scanlines's avatar

Thanks for reading. I really think we haven't seen a Nintendo this dominant since the time of the SNES and unless Sony's Playstation 6 brings significant improvements or Xbox fundamentally change their approach, I don't see that changing.

I know the feeling. I was desperate for Twilight Princess as a kid and ended up getting it on Gamecube.

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Dylan Cornelius's avatar

In retrospect, Twilight Princess was better on the Gamecube. Playing with the Wii remote and nunchuk for 40+ hours was... rough.

Playing on the Wii U tablet was kinda neat for Breath of the Wild, but... I'm sure it was just as great, if not better on Switch.

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Scanlines's avatar

I'm a fan of the Wii waggle controls but they do get undeniably stale after a while and particularly with the Metroid Prime Trilogy, having to keep my Wiimote pointed at the sensor bar tends to lock up my wrist after a while.

The Wii-U tablet is 100% the more ergonomic handheld experience I think, it's just a shame the screen isn't that great and you can only use it with the console on in the same room. As a console? I own the Wii-U (playing Zombi-U on it right now actually) but it's very hard to justify buying it to someone who already has the Switch, unless they like cheaper games and don't care about the superfluous extra content.

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