Nintendo has been killin’ it lately. After the bungled launch and bungled-er life of the Wii-U, it’s nice to have a strong, healthy Nintendo that’s releasing high quality games for a platform that, three years after its launch, is still in high demand.
A Nintendo Direct on February 17 showed a variety of games that’ll be hitting the console either this coming year or the next, including an incredibly deep looking game from SquareEnix called Project Triangle Strategy. A Pokémon Presentation a week later showed us a new game that’s poised to bring the Pokémon brand forward with the new open-space philosophy Nintendo has been applying to their games in recent years. Things seem to be nothin’ but gravy for Nintendo. Even this moment was handled a lot better than it could’ve been:
However, Nintendo revealed remakes coming in a more immediate timeframe than the highly anticipated Breath of the Wild 2 and Pokémon Legends: Arceus. In doing so, they inadvertently traded fans asking what’s on the release calendar for fans asking ten year old games cost how much now?
This July you’ll be able to get a remake of the Wii’s final Zelda game, Skyward Sword. Its graphics have been enhanced, its motion controls have been reconfigured for both the Switch’s Joy-Cons and for handheld mode, and it costs $59.99. There are themed Joy-Cons releasing alongside for $79.99. There will likely be a bundle of the two for around $150 US. When Skyward Sword first released in 2011 the game was $49.99, as all Wii games were. There was also a special edition bundle that included a gold-themed Wiimote Plus, an enhanced controller that was necessary for the game (though available elsewhere. The bundle was $79.99.
In the fall, you’ll be able to grab remakes of Pokémon Diamond and Pearl. They were originally released for the Nintendo DS handheld in 2006 and were $39.99 each. When they release on Switch later this year they’ll presumably be $59.99, as most Nintendo titles are.
grass hasn’t pissed people off this much since the 1930’s
Sorry those two last paragraphs had a lot of numbers and were very boring.
Several of Wii U’s biggest titles were released to critical acclaim but a non-existent audience. A lot of those games would be re-released on Switch including New Super Mario Bros. U, Donkey Kong: Jungle Freeze, Pikmin 3, and about a dozen or so others. They released years ago on a high-definition system and if you were to ask Nintendo (and consumers), they’re really good titles. So good that Nintendo thinks Donkey Kong: Tropical Freeze has just as much value in 2021 as it did back in 2014, which is why it still costs $59.99.
Some of their games have actually appreciated in value. Diamond & Pearl are going to increase 50% over 14 years and Skyward Sword about 20%. over 10. Hell, even Let’s Go Pikachu and Eevee use old art assets from previous games and the same general roster/characters/world design of the original games. Those released for $29.99 in 1998, which means they appreciated 100% over 25.
the venn-diagram of agent carter and nintendo games is actually just a circle
Every other game publisher (and developer, for that matter), sees their games depreciate over time, until enough sales can get the games retired to ridiculous “get them off our shelves, please” prices, even on digital storefronts. Everyone’s trying to get rid of their games, and we’re more than happy to buy these incredible artistic achievements for cents on the dollar because game developers are suckers.
That’s not true, I was just being dramatic to make up for all the numbers. I really hate math and I don’t know how to show it. Sorry, I think a few more are coming.
I don’t like paying more for things, but I do appreciate Nintendo planting a flag in the ground and saying our games are worth this. Just in time for Mario Day, (March 10, Mario, it’s cute), a bunch of first party titles are for sale well below MSRP for the first time I can remember, some as low as $38.99. As anecdotal as this sounds, that doesn’t happen. Not since the Nintendo Select line of games for Wii, Wii-U and 3DS, where hit titles were repackaged as essential parts of the gaming vocabulary and available for $20.
But hey, even there—the most popular games on the Switch are worth three times as much as the most popular games on Wii-U. Because like me, Nintendo also maths.
one of the nerdier things about me is having a strong opinion on the Nintendo Select package design
Things cost more now. Inflation is also a thing. The Joy-Cons are decidedly more impressive and better technology than Wii-Motes ever were. Skyward Sword on Switch is going to look prettier than it ever did on Wii. Shining Pearl and Brilliant Diamond are going to have features that weren’t possible on the DS. These are going to be better games. They should be worth more. But there’s another thing.
While other devs and publishers may be making a better argument for video games as art in their craft, Nintendo is the only company arguing games are art economically. They’ve made pricing their art an art itself. It seldom matters if you buy a Nintendo game when it releases or years later - it’s going to cost at least the same price, and in the cases I just laid out, even more. Nintendo games, like paintings, are investments as much as artistry, and a huge component to art is selling or buying it. Van Gogh liked painting but he also liked eating, and if more people bought his paintings there’d be more Van Gogh paintings. More Nintendo games sold beget more Nintendo games made.
Most often, when a game is rereleased, that lowers the price of its previous releases. Stubbs the Zombie is being re-released on modern consoles and already the complete in box price has dropped about 14%. Now the only people who want Stubbs the Zombie are the people who want Stubbs the Zombie, not the people who before actually wanted to play it. Demand is dropping because soon enough you’ll be able to buy it on your PS4, Xbox One, and hey… your Nintendo Switch. Nintendo loves releasing old games for a lower price on their console. They just don’t like doing it with their games. And that’s fine, that little Nintendo Tax.
It’s being passed on to you, the consumer, the people who love Nintendo the most. I get why that sucks when you just want to play Luigi’s Mansion 3 but refuse to pay $59.99 for a two year old game. They’re a billion dollar company making games about plumbers and you’re an actual plumber. I’m not telling you it’s fair or unfair, right or wrong. Nintendo is pricing its art what they think it’s worth and by all indications, people agree that it’s worth the $60 price tag. You’re being given the opportunity to pay the artist instead of some dude on eBay. Don’t be like college-me and thumb your nose at Pokémon Platinum just to want it 12 years later.
