I’m so glad that despite the issues with Nintendo Minute disappearing off the UA-cam channel, I’m glad you are able to maintain strong relationships with existing teams inside the Nintendo sphere
To be fair, I don't think the word "issue" is right. It's just the way it is and a logical step from Nintendo. I don't say, that I was not sad about it - but that's just straight up Nintendo.
Ok you guys nailed it with a young, hot Ganon origin story!! Cannot wait for this in the 2026 Switch 2 direct haha! Thanks for another amazing episode. Loved it!
I was fascinated by the goal of a major first-party release each month for Switch and made a similar list in a spreadsheet to calculate it. Eligibility criteria were Nintendo-published and $40 MSRP or more. That left off DLC, indies, Game Builder Garage, and Labo (I don't recall its price point) but added in many Square Enix games. Factoring in 2024 announcements through September (when there might be another direct), the math comes out to a release every 31.4 days. How could this list leave off Bayonetta though?! Those games might not have affected the rankings too much for K&K, but those are very heralded games.
I remember when Nintendo worked with Robin and Zelda Williams to promote OoT 3D for the 3DS. Thumbs up to them getting those two. Sad that Robin never got to play BotW. He is missed.
Honestly the painting you both have painted of Nintendo has completely changed how I’ve viewed them (mostly in a negative way). It is shocking to hear how dated, closed off and just plain confusing they are as a company. Just as one small example- why are the devs so sectioned off? Why are they not celebrated for the hard work they do? It’s so disrespectful imo
Krysta - “2022 is a year of mid games”. Legends Arceus, Kirby Forgotten Land, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, Mario Rabbids 2 just to name a few. Like what is wrong with your tastes?!
Krysta is just wrong here lol. Also, no way 2020 is number 2 just because Animal Crossing. Especially since people didn't like it as much in retrospect because it has less content than New Leaf.
Retro are amazing. Austin BBQ is amazing. I live here, I work in the games industry. I've always wanted to get inside Retro. I know a few folks there and still can't get in haha. Maybe someday. Thanks for sharing!
Forgive me for commenting twice but I have had so many stupid side-game ideas over the years that pertain to the last question and I would like to share them: - A Tifa game where you tend to her bar and serve customers, but also get in bar fights and stuff - A Squid Sisters Rhythm game - A Zelda tactics/RTS game where you play as King Rhoam and command Hyrule troops - Kid Icarus Warriors game with Godly Kaiju-sized battles similar to Age of Calamity’s Divine Beasts
Dude... 2019 was *phenomenal* for the Switch. Link's Awakening, Luigi's Mansion 3, Tetris 99, Super Mario Maker 2, Cuphead, Cadence Of Hyrule, Astral Chain. Just Super Mario Maker 2 was an Animal-Crossing-sized deal!
I mean, maybe for you personally, but, overall, it definitely wasn't lol. AC was a total phenomenon and obviously the right game at the exact right time. It's the second-best-selling Switch game with over 45 million units (which puts it at #15 of best-selling games of all time), while Mario Maker 2 has sold less than 9 million.
Fire Emblem 3 Houses...also DQ11 was a Nintendo published exclusive version at the time. The first half of the year was pretty boring aside from Cuphead and Tetris 99 but after Maker 2 hit at the end of June it was banger month after month.
I am happy that Nintneod fixed the leaks. Seeing Mario & Luigi open the direct was such an enormous happy surprise and having it leaked the day before would have significantly diminished the hype
Okay, here goes nothing. 1st place is 2017. No question, Breath of the Wild and Odyssey ALONE carry that year beyond most others, and then add Xenoblade 2, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart, and the general excitement surrounding the Switch launch. Its unrivaled. Then it gets hard, but my second place is last year, 2023. Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Wonder, and Pikmin 4 was a heck of a trifecta, and that was a year I was expecting very little besides Zelda, so the excitement was palpable. My 3rd place is 2019. This one just felt so full, like there was never a dull moment. Dragon Quest XIs doesn’t quite count but it was my first experience with it, and I adore that game. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is probably a Top 5 switch game for me, too. Add to that the thriving first year of Smash DLC and it really was special. 4th, 2018. I’m a HUGE Smash fan and to say it carried the excitement that year would be an understatement, but that doesn’t mean it was an empty excitement. I cried watching E3 2018, and every announcement after that was just icing on the cake. Smash Ultimate was and still is a dream game come true. 5th, 2022. Kirby finally going 3D was so special and I think Forgotten Land is a bit of an underrated gem. Then Arceus, which as a lifelong Pokemon fan, was transformational. Tack on a new Splatoon and a second Pokemon title which I’ve grown to love more after DLC, and 2022 was pretty great, but a little unexciting in the moment. 6th is 2024. Can’t wait for Mario and Luigi and Zelda, but that’s about all there has been all year that does it for me personally. Still, I was expecting so much less than a new Zelda and the revival of my favorite Mario RPG, so I’ll gladly take it. 7th is 2021. Metroid Dread was the only game I got really excited for here, and it delivered, but other than that the only highlight was Smash’s final few DLC fighters, including Sora. 8th (last) is 2020. Sorry Krysta but this year was just BARREN. And as a certified Animal Crossing non-enjoyer, doubly so for me personally. The only 2020 games I played were Mario All Stars and Club House Games, and while revisiting 3D Mario was fun for a month, the rest of that year was just about as depressing as you can get.
Best to worst: 2017, 2019 (this year is underrated, the second half had enough games for 2 years), 2022, 2023, 2021, 2018 and 2020 are kind of a tie and are actively bad years..2024 is too soon to call but I think it could go above 2018 and 2020 if zelda and brothership are great.
I know you probably don't know or definitely can't say, but regarding Retro Studios' output, I have been wondering for many years what happened to them after releasing Tropical Freeze. They were definitely developing something between that release and the Nintendo Switch port and Metroid Prime 4. They even Tweeted that they'd be at an E3 saying, "Can you dig it?" But then they were absolutely nowhere to be found. Something must've happened, and its always saddened me that so much time went by seemingly for their project(s) being canceled.
The RPG/anime criticism is dumb to me. What else do people want to see? A bunch of Mario games? A bunch of platformers? Having so many cool RPGs is a good thing. A show shouldn't have to worry about having too many of a genre in an event if that's what's currently being made.
That's what I've been saying! A game I like a lot, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life got remade after many years into Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.. And I was waiting to see everyone's reaction to it but of course that was the farming sim direct, so everyone just looked at it as another one.
Retro Studios is my favorite development studio of all time so hearing about them is lovely! As for the best years of Nintendo's first party output on the Switch, I would order them: 1) 2023 - It may seem blasphemous to not have 2017 here, but I truly think 2023 is the better year. It has the best game I've played in recent memory (TotK), an impressive remake of my pick for the best game of all time (Metroid Prime Remastered), the second best 2D Mario and thus one of the best platformers of all time (Super Mario Wonder), an incredible Pikmin title (Pikmin 4), great output by Intelligent Systems (Fire Emblem Engage and WarioWare: Move It!!), and so many more (including a remake of Advance Wars and a new F-Zero entry) 2) 2017 - This was the best year for the gaming industry ever, and the release of the Switch is a big part of that. Mario Odyssey is the standout of the year, but the fact that they launched with BotW, were able to put out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 by the end of the year, and released a wonderful Splatoon entry with 2 make this year wonderful. But not only that, Nintendo released an interesting new IP this year with ARMS, and made a great collaboration with an indie studio (Snipperclips) to elevate this year to something truly special. 3) 2022 - This year was primarily propped up by surprises in rather iterative franchises that ended up rather amazing. Kirby and the Forgotten Land ended up delivering an incredible 3D platformer/character action game, Pokemon Legends Arceus took a Monster Hunter-y approach to Pokemon that offered a unique and addicting twist on the Pokemon formula, and Pokemon Scarlet/Violet delivered the best Pokemon games since Generation 5 with far more addicting gameplay than most modern Pokemon games. Add Splatoon 3 and Xenoblade 3 to that and you have a wonderful year. 4) 2021 - This year is carried by Metroid Dread delivering on decades long promises for me by giving us the best 2D Metroid since super with the best bosses in all of Metroidvanias. This was followed up by Bowser's Fury providing a promising blueprint for a future true open world 3D Mario game, and the rest of the year was filled out by great games like WarioWare: Get It Together!, Mario Party Superstars, and Mario Golf: Super Rush. 5) 2018 - The two standouts this year are Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Tropical Freeze. Tropical Freeze just let me reexperience the best 2D platformer of all time on the Switch again, which is welcome, and SSBU made the best Smash experience with the best roster of characters of any video game ever. In addition to that we got a couple good entries in well liked series, with Kirby Star Allies and most importantly Super Mario Party which fixed the Mario Party series into a way more positive trajectory. 6) 2019 - The best game this year was Fire Emblem: Three Houses and it provided a worthwhile fusion of TRPG gameplay with Calendar RPG systems to endear me to the cast and setting. In addition to this there were wonderful games like Astral Chain, Tetris 99, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Super Mario Maker 2 that provided a lot of fun (especially Astral Chain). 7) 2020 - Animal Crossing was the highlight of the year and solved a lot of the years problems while delivering a top tier entry in the series. There were also high profile remakes of games I love (Xenoblade 1, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions: #FE) to pad out the rest of the year in a way that I appreciated. The return of Clubhouse Games was also welcome! 8) 2024 - Mostly here on a technicality as we don't know all of the releases this year so I don't feel comfortable grading it, but it has already been pretty promising with Another Code, Endless Ocean, and most importantly Paper Mario TTYD. I'm really excited to see how Zelda and Mario & Luigi pan out alongside hopefully some more surprises!
A lot of really fun segments in this episode, I really loved it!! (I want to mention that when it came to making those “List of Switch 1st Party Games Per Year” images, I included physical boxes of DLC games wherever I could and I included a long-time pass only when it’s final wave released.) I would say: 2023 > 2017 > 2022 (XENOBLADE 3?!) > 2019 > 2021 > 2018 >> 2024 > 2020 I would agree personally with Kit that 2020 and 2024 are the definite lunkers in terms of Switch years. However, I think 2023 is far and away the easy winner here! So many amazing games all came nonstop every month!
I used to work in the building next to theirs. We shared a parking lot. During my smoke breaks I would talk to them. They didn't tell me that they were working on, but it was Metroid Prime. I got fired and left Austin before prime came out though
My switch year rankings: 1) 2023 2) 2017 3) 2022 4) 2020 5) 2024 (might jump up/down a spot depending on how good the upcoming games are) 6) 2021 7) 2019 8) 2018
For Perfect Dark on NSO... my personal experience, I found the default controls not as frustrating as Goldeneye upon first play tbh... the part that really pisses me off in this version is the dizzying effect is way way too pronounced even compared to the original. God forbid if you wander into that room that has the radioactive isotope without your camspy, if you are in there too long, good luck escaping that room, the smearing/frozen retention images make everything a huge pile of vomit on screen, no exaggeration
Hearing Krysta explain her struggles getting back into Elden Ring was legit me 🤣 but I too am so back in to this game! Reminded me how incredible it is like what a great game!
Here's my personal ranking of each year, top to bottom. Keep in mind that the majority of games i play are turn-based rpgs, so that heavily influences my rankings 😅 2024 - paper mario remake and new m&l game 2022 - legends arceus was a nice breath of fresh air for a pokemon game, and i loved 3 hopes (the story’s writing did claude more justice than 3 houses', and the gameplay was fun) 2019 - three houses. ring fit also bumps it up 2020 - age of calamity, rescue team, and #fe encore were fun but middle of the road games for me 2023 - fe engage, sparks of hope, mk8 dlc, and super mario wonder were fun but also middling 2018 - smash 2017 - odyssey 2021 - mario party superstars
Hey, Super Mario Maker 2 made 2019 one of the best years for Switch, along with Link's Awakening, Luigi's Mansion 3, and several others. SMM2 is still going strong as far as I'm concerned. I know I'm still making new courses.
Metroid Zero Mission was my first Metroid game I played through and it still holds up quite well in the series! Probably still my favorite, though Dread was fantastic as well!
Dang I hadn't heard or seen anything about the Pyoro sitch. Nintendo's investor meeting earlier today did touch on leaks, so there must have been something to do with what happened with his source
I absolutely love it when I get notifications that there is a new episode of this podcast,I download these episodes and listen to them at work,never miss a episode!
Haven’t finished TTYD but I don’t mind listening to the spoilercast since I have actually FINISHED the OG GC version. So I don’t mind getting spoiled since how it all went down in the story is truly memorable. Will never forget that Final Boss 😂
ClubHouse Games was such an awesome game in 2020, had lots of fun with my friends and co-workers during pandemic. It was a blast and we even started some playing we learned from it IRL to introduce even more people to it
That was a great episode and hats off to Victor Lucas woth the Electric Playground for his interview with you both. Whoever knew Krysta almost decided to be a lawyer vs working alongside with Nintendo and now to Kit and Krysta Podcast! Can't pass up the once in a lifetime opportunity! Great stuff 🥂
I also played a huge portion of Animal Crossing back in that year but except of that it was really a dry year as a Switch gamer. I think my favorite year was 2017.
I played some of Steam World Heist. Solid game, but I really hope they improve the inventory management system for the sequel. It annoyed me to no end that you can only sell items at the end of missions and only until you were at your inventory limit. You couldn't sell things to make extra room.
I don't want to be that guy, but going to Rudy's to experience "authentic" barbeque is like going to Olive garden to experience a taste of Italy. It may be decent place to eat, but at the end of the day it's a chain.
Mario Golf Super Rush just felt rushed with the lack of any decent single player outing. The online only unlocks were a turn off as well and they weren't that great either.
44:25 these guys go out of their way to shout out Mario Golf (yes it's fun) as if that was anything special... but completely ignore Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, Astral Chain, Daemon X Machina, and give lip service for Smash Ultimate🤦🏾♂️
Wow. You guys truly HATE 2024. Theres is no way in mind that 2024 is worst than 2018. The way I see it, the only note worthy game to come out of 2018 was Smash, and you had to wait till the last month of the year to get it. Of course there were games like Super Mario Party which everyone unanimously didn't like. Kirby Star Allies was just... please. You either liked Lets Go Pikachu/Eevee or didn't (I'm with Krysta, I didn't) I guess I'm just more optimistic in 2024 than most fans. I actually did like Another Code, Donkey Kong vs Mario, and Peach. Paper Mario is game everyone unanimously liked. And the rest of 2024 is just fire. A Super Mario Party that actually looks good, Mario & Luigi, new 2D Zelda. Yeah there is no way 2024 is worse than 2018. I refuse to believe that. And on a side note. (AT THE TIME) I always thought 2019 was much better than 2017. Yeah 2017 had 2 of the best games of that system still to this day release that year. But when 2019 started releasing its big games, they just kept and kept releasing their big games! Off the top of my head it was Fire Emblem to Astral Chain to Zelda to (I'm gonna cheat a little) the definitive version of Dragon Quest 11 to Luigi's Mansion to Pokémon Sword/Shield. You could make the same argument for 2017 when it BOTW to MK8 to Arms to Splatoon but I would counter argue with, well MK8 was a port. Arms no one bought no one liked tbh. I'm a massive Spaltoon fan but Splatoon 2 was just another Splatoon, then you had to wait till the end of the year again for Mario. And hot take, the only game I remember from 2020 was Animal Crossing but I put 400 hours into that first year so it was good Nintendo year for me imo lol.
As a Texas native it's so cool you guys got to visit Austin! Hope you got to see the city and some places like The Domain, Austin 360, and some other cool places back then. Also I love how you guys went to Rudy's and Salt Lick! Those are TX favorites :D
I’m so glad that despite the issues with Nintendo Minute disappearing off the UA-cam channel, I’m glad you are able to maintain strong relationships with existing teams inside the Nintendo sphere
To be fair, I don't think the word "issue" is right. It's just the way it is and a logical step from Nintendo. I don't say, that I was not sad about it - but that's just straight up Nintendo.
Also the channel that interviews older Retro employees is Kiwi Talks!
Thank you!! Lots of interesting stuff over there.
Enjoy your vacation guys!
I geeked out to Krysta saying Mohgwyn Palace, Roundtable Hold, and Two Fingers 😊
Ok you guys nailed it with a young, hot Ganon origin story!! Cannot wait for this in the 2026 Switch 2 direct haha! Thanks for another amazing episode. Loved it!
"Switch 2" won't be out until 2028, stop speculating
Both of you, stop with the nonsense. We already have a Switch 2. It’s called the Switch Lite.
I'm sorry Krysta, but a year that has Xenoblade 3 is NOT middle of the road 😅
Scarlet and Violet and Kirby were great games that year.
Kit mentions Pokemon:
Krysta: "Those are terrible games."
😂😂😂 You go girl
Makes 0 sense.
Whaatttttt I wish I knew you were here!!! Hope you enjoyed Austin 🎉
I was fascinated by the goal of a major first-party release each month for Switch and made a similar list in a spreadsheet to calculate it. Eligibility criteria were Nintendo-published and $40 MSRP or more. That left off DLC, indies, Game Builder Garage, and Labo (I don't recall its price point) but added in many Square Enix games.
Factoring in 2024 announcements through September (when there might be another direct), the math comes out to a release every 31.4 days.
How could this list leave off Bayonetta though?! Those games might not have affected the rankings too much for K&K, but those are very heralded games.
If Krysta is coming to Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, can we have a quick mini meet and greet on your summer break? 😮😊
I remember when Nintendo worked with Robin and Zelda Williams to promote OoT 3D for the 3DS. Thumbs up to them getting those two.
Sad that Robin never got to play BotW. He is missed.
1:15:16 It's Stray for me!
Kit was playing 4D chess with that bet.
A shame that you're unable to share what was happening in the past decade with retro. But I get it. Sworn to secrecy and all that
Play donkey Kong jungle beat please !
Honestly the painting you both have painted of Nintendo has completely changed how I’ve viewed them (mostly in a negative way). It is shocking to hear how dated, closed off and just plain confusing they are as a company. Just as one small example- why are the devs so sectioned off? Why are they not celebrated for the hard work they do? It’s so disrespectful imo
i underestimated how much i love Krysta's "TODAY!" at the start of every episode.
I LOVE IT.
I love Krysta but it’s gonna grate fast for me. 😂
It always puts a smile on my face! Haha
I want Kit to do it too sometimes, only him
Krysta - “2022 is a year of mid games”. Legends Arceus, Kirby Forgotten Land, Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, Mario Rabbids 2 just to name a few. Like what is wrong with your tastes?!
Krysta is just wrong here lol. Also, no way 2020 is number 2 just because Animal Crossing. Especially since people didn't like it as much in retrospect because it has less content than New Leaf.
I want to agree, but I only played XC3 out of that list
Retro are amazing. Austin BBQ is amazing. I live here, I work in the games industry. I've always wanted to get inside Retro. I know a few folks there and still can't get in haha. Maybe someday. Thanks for sharing!
Forgive me for commenting twice but I have had so many stupid side-game ideas over the years that pertain to the last question and I would like to share them:
- A Tifa game where you tend to her bar and serve customers, but also get in bar fights and stuff
- A Squid Sisters Rhythm game
- A Zelda tactics/RTS game where you play as King Rhoam and command Hyrule troops
- Kid Icarus Warriors game with Godly Kaiju-sized battles similar to Age of Calamity’s Divine Beasts
That last one is my favorite!
Dude... 2019 was *phenomenal* for the Switch. Link's Awakening, Luigi's Mansion 3, Tetris 99, Super Mario Maker 2, Cuphead, Cadence Of Hyrule, Astral Chain. Just Super Mario Maker 2 was an Animal-Crossing-sized deal!
Untitled Goose Game. Dragon Quest XI S. Marvel Ultimate Alliance 3. Wargroove. Ringfit. Collection of Mana.
Amen. Super Mario Maker 2 is my most played Nintendo first-party game. Over 370 hours and I still have so many ideas for new courses.
I mean, maybe for you personally, but, overall, it definitely wasn't lol. AC was a total phenomenon and obviously the right game at the exact right time. It's the second-best-selling Switch game with over 45 million units (which puts it at #15 of best-selling games of all time), while Mario Maker 2 has sold less than 9 million.
Fire Emblem 3 Houses...also DQ11 was a Nintendo published exclusive version at the time. The first half of the year was pretty boring aside from Cuphead and Tetris 99 but after Maker 2 hit at the end of June it was banger month after month.
Tetris 99 is still being supported 5 years later. I unlocked another tetris board this weekend
I am happy that Nintneod fixed the leaks. Seeing Mario & Luigi open the direct was such an enormous happy surprise and having it leaked the day before would have significantly diminished the hype
As a community, it’s also nice to all experience the same thing at the same time.
Here’s to today’s episode and some Retro Studios fun! 😁
(Great interview on Victor Lucas’ channel, by the way.)
Okay, here goes nothing.
1st place is 2017. No question, Breath of the Wild and Odyssey ALONE carry that year beyond most others, and then add Xenoblade 2, Splatoon 2, Mario Kart, and the general excitement surrounding the Switch launch. Its unrivaled.
Then it gets hard, but my second place is last year, 2023. Tears of the Kingdom, Mario Wonder, and Pikmin 4 was a heck of a trifecta, and that was a year I was expecting very little besides Zelda, so the excitement was palpable.
My 3rd place is 2019. This one just felt so full, like there was never a dull moment. Dragon Quest XIs doesn’t quite count but it was my first experience with it, and I adore that game. Luigi’s Mansion 3 is probably a Top 5 switch game for me, too. Add to that the thriving first year of Smash DLC and it really was special.
4th, 2018. I’m a HUGE Smash fan and to say it carried the excitement that year would be an understatement, but that doesn’t mean it was an empty excitement. I cried watching E3 2018, and every announcement after that was just icing on the cake. Smash Ultimate was and still is a dream game come true.
5th, 2022. Kirby finally going 3D was so special and I think Forgotten Land is a bit of an underrated gem. Then Arceus, which as a lifelong Pokemon fan, was transformational. Tack on a new Splatoon and a second Pokemon title which I’ve grown to love more after DLC, and 2022 was pretty great, but a little unexciting in the moment.
6th is 2024. Can’t wait for Mario and Luigi and Zelda, but that’s about all there has been all year that does it for me personally. Still, I was expecting so much less than a new Zelda and the revival of my favorite Mario RPG, so I’ll gladly take it.
7th is 2021. Metroid Dread was the only game I got really excited for here, and it delivered, but other than that the only highlight was Smash’s final few DLC fighters, including Sora.
8th (last) is 2020. Sorry Krysta but this year was just BARREN. And as a certified Animal Crossing non-enjoyer, doubly so for me personally. The only 2020 games I played were Mario All Stars and Club House Games, and while revisiting 3D Mario was fun for a month, the rest of that year was just about as depressing as you can get.
Best to worst: 2017, 2019 (this year is underrated, the second half had enough games for 2 years), 2022, 2023, 2021, 2018 and 2020 are kind of a tie and are actively bad years..2024 is too soon to call but I think it could go above 2018 and 2020 if zelda and brothership are great.
I know you probably don't know or definitely can't say, but regarding Retro Studios' output, I have been wondering for many years what happened to them after releasing Tropical Freeze. They were definitely developing something between that release and the Nintendo Switch port and Metroid Prime 4. They even Tweeted that they'd be at an E3 saying, "Can you dig it?" But then they were absolutely nowhere to be found. Something must've happened, and its always saddened me that so much time went by seemingly for their project(s) being canceled.
The RPG/anime criticism is dumb to me. What else do people want to see? A bunch of Mario games? A bunch of platformers? Having so many cool RPGs is a good thing. A show shouldn't have to worry about having too many of a genre in an event if that's what's currently being made.
That's what I've been saying! A game I like a lot, Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life got remade after many years into Story of Seasons: A Wonderful Life.. And I was waiting to see everyone's reaction to it but of course that was the farming sim direct, so everyone just looked at it as another one.
Haha, the reason I knew Kit wanted to shave his head was because I am myself a fellow head-shaver. Us baldies can sense these things.
Retro Studios is my favorite development studio of all time so hearing about them is lovely! As for the best years of Nintendo's first party output on the Switch, I would order them:
1) 2023 - It may seem blasphemous to not have 2017 here, but I truly think 2023 is the better year. It has the best game I've played in recent memory (TotK), an impressive remake of my pick for the best game of all time (Metroid Prime Remastered), the second best 2D Mario and thus one of the best platformers of all time (Super Mario Wonder), an incredible Pikmin title (Pikmin 4), great output by Intelligent Systems (Fire Emblem Engage and WarioWare: Move It!!), and so many more (including a remake of Advance Wars and a new F-Zero entry)
2) 2017 - This was the best year for the gaming industry ever, and the release of the Switch is a big part of that. Mario Odyssey is the standout of the year, but the fact that they launched with BotW, were able to put out Xenoblade Chronicles 2 by the end of the year, and released a wonderful Splatoon entry with 2 make this year wonderful. But not only that, Nintendo released an interesting new IP this year with ARMS, and made a great collaboration with an indie studio (Snipperclips) to elevate this year to something truly special.
3) 2022 - This year was primarily propped up by surprises in rather iterative franchises that ended up rather amazing. Kirby and the Forgotten Land ended up delivering an incredible 3D platformer/character action game, Pokemon Legends Arceus took a Monster Hunter-y approach to Pokemon that offered a unique and addicting twist on the Pokemon formula, and Pokemon Scarlet/Violet delivered the best Pokemon games since Generation 5 with far more addicting gameplay than most modern Pokemon games. Add Splatoon 3 and Xenoblade 3 to that and you have a wonderful year.
4) 2021 - This year is carried by Metroid Dread delivering on decades long promises for me by giving us the best 2D Metroid since super with the best bosses in all of Metroidvanias. This was followed up by Bowser's Fury providing a promising blueprint for a future true open world 3D Mario game, and the rest of the year was filled out by great games like WarioWare: Get It Together!, Mario Party Superstars, and Mario Golf: Super Rush.
5) 2018 - The two standouts this year are Super Smash Bros Ultimate and Tropical Freeze. Tropical Freeze just let me reexperience the best 2D platformer of all time on the Switch again, which is welcome, and SSBU made the best Smash experience with the best roster of characters of any video game ever. In addition to that we got a couple good entries in well liked series, with Kirby Star Allies and most importantly Super Mario Party which fixed the Mario Party series into a way more positive trajectory.
6) 2019 - The best game this year was Fire Emblem: Three Houses and it provided a worthwhile fusion of TRPG gameplay with Calendar RPG systems to endear me to the cast and setting. In addition to this there were wonderful games like Astral Chain, Tetris 99, Luigi's Mansion 3, and Super Mario Maker 2 that provided a lot of fun (especially Astral Chain).
7) 2020 - Animal Crossing was the highlight of the year and solved a lot of the years problems while delivering a top tier entry in the series. There were also high profile remakes of games I love (Xenoblade 1, and Tokyo Mirage Sessions: #FE) to pad out the rest of the year in a way that I appreciated. The return of Clubhouse Games was also welcome!
8) 2024 - Mostly here on a technicality as we don't know all of the releases this year so I don't feel comfortable grading it, but it has already been pretty promising with Another Code, Endless Ocean, and most importantly Paper Mario TTYD. I'm really excited to see how Zelda and Mario & Luigi pan out alongside hopefully some more surprises!
A lot of really fun segments in this episode, I really loved it!! (I want to mention that when it came to making those “List of Switch 1st Party Games Per Year” images, I included physical boxes of DLC games wherever I could and I included a long-time pass only when it’s final wave released.)
I would say:
2023 > 2017 > 2022 (XENOBLADE 3?!) > 2019 > 2021 > 2018 >> 2024 > 2020
I would agree personally with Kit that 2020 and 2024 are the definite lunkers in terms of Switch years. However, I think 2023 is far and away the easy winner here! So many amazing games all came nonstop every month!
I used to work in the building next to theirs. We shared a parking lot. During my smoke breaks I would talk to them. They didn't tell me that they were working on, but it was Metroid Prime. I got fired and left Austin before prime came out though
Saw your appearance with Victor Lucas, interesting interview but good to see you guys finally collab!
Sorry but the only "summer jam" this year is 'not like us'👍
My switch year rankings:
1) 2023
2) 2017
3) 2022
4) 2020
5) 2024 (might jump up/down a spot depending on how good the upcoming games are)
6) 2021
7) 2019
8) 2018
Ganon origin story?
Demise, “what, am I a joke to you?”
I mean, the timeline is in the trash, so they could make a game about some new version of young Dorf becoming king of the Gerudo.
For Perfect Dark on NSO... my personal experience, I found the default controls not as frustrating as Goldeneye upon first play tbh... the part that really pisses me off in this version is the dizzying effect is way way too pronounced even compared to the original. God forbid if you wander into that room that has the radioactive isotope without your camspy, if you are in there too long, good luck escaping that room, the smearing/frozen retention images make everything a huge pile of vomit on screen, no exaggeration
Hearing Krysta explain her struggles getting back into Elden Ring was legit me 🤣 but I too am so back in to this game! Reminded me how incredible it is like what a great game!
Here's my personal ranking of each year, top to bottom. Keep in mind that the majority of games i play are turn-based rpgs, so that heavily influences my rankings 😅
2024 - paper mario remake and new m&l game
2022 - legends arceus was a nice breath of fresh air for a pokemon game, and i loved 3 hopes (the story’s writing did claude more justice than 3 houses', and the gameplay was fun)
2019 - three houses. ring fit also bumps it up
2020 - age of calamity, rescue team, and #fe encore were fun but middle of the road games for me
2023 - fe engage, sparks of hope, mk8 dlc, and super mario wonder were fun but also middling
2018 - smash
2017 - odyssey
2021 - mario party superstars
Hey, Super Mario Maker 2 made 2019 one of the best years for Switch, along with Link's Awakening, Luigi's Mansion 3, and several others. SMM2 is still going strong as far as I'm concerned. I know I'm still making new courses.
Metroid Zero Mission was my first Metroid game I played through and it still holds up quite well in the series! Probably still my favorite, though Dread was fantastic as well!
2023 was my first place, most of the years were great in general, I had 2022 as my worst even though Arceus is my favorite Pokemon game.
2018 was the best year just because of Kirby Star Allies and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate.
The interview videos of former Retro Studios devs that Kit mentoned is likely from the channel Kiwi Tawlkz. Good channel
Dang I hadn't heard or seen anything about the Pyoro sitch. Nintendo's investor meeting earlier today did touch on leaks, so there must have been something to do with what happened with his source
Krista is right about 2020. The Switch was a major lifeline that year for everyone.
Low key kind of funny to use a Samus model from Other M on the Retro Studios thumbnail
Capcom's MT Framework doesn't work on Xbox Series.
I would LOVE to have Jason Schreier on the podcast!!
Thanks for answering my question! 😊
Krysta's opinions on games vs things she says off the top of her head on the pod are wild
how much you wanna bet sabrina carpenter watches kit and krysta-
I absolutely love it when I get notifications that there is a new episode of this podcast,I download these episodes and listen to them at work,never miss a episode!
Summer Jam 2024: Kendrick Lamar - Like us
Metroid is not a popular series.
2017 and 2022 were one and two.
Haven’t finished TTYD but I don’t mind listening to the spoilercast since I have actually FINISHED the OG GC version. So I don’t mind getting spoiled since how it all went down in the story is truly memorable. Will never forget that Final Boss 😂
Is great to have this podcast, you guys have been there for me since the Wii days i think, i love the two of you.
ClubHouse Games was such an awesome game in 2020, had lots of fun with my friends and co-workers during pandemic. It was a blast and we even started some playing we learned from it IRL to introduce even more people to it
FOR THE NEXT BET DYE KIT'S HAIR KRYSTA, TO A COLOR HE HATES THE MOST!!
That's the only way to broke the Win/Win scenario. 😂
That was a great episode and hats off to Victor Lucas woth the Electric Playground for his interview with you both. Whoever knew Krysta almost decided to be a lawyer vs working alongside with Nintendo and now to Kit and Krysta Podcast! Can't pass up the once in a lifetime opportunity! Great stuff 🥂
I also played a huge portion of Animal Crossing back in that year but except of that it was really a dry year as a Switch gamer. I think my favorite year was 2017.
It would be interesting to hear your take on Nintendo thought process when pricing games, especially remasters/ports.
I played some of Steam World Heist. Solid game, but I really hope they improve the inventory management system for the sequel. It annoyed me to no end that you can only sell items at the end of missions and only until you were at your inventory limit. You couldn't sell things to make extra room.
OMG you guys. Get married already
Wtf???
Hot, young Ganondorf origin story: Krysta is asking for what the people want!
'White Denim - Stiff' 🎵 was for Switch launch right?
40:56 Age of Calamity was so good, my first warriors game and "prequel" to my fav game of all time
The insight you guys share provides fantastic value - thank you 👋
@38:13 The Bayonetta 3 Slander in 2022...😔
I will say this at least Pyoro was creative with his leaks with the riddles
Love the surfing pikachu
I’m a big fan of Nintendo but it was so nice hearing Kit and Krysta talk about Elden ring lol
Did you see the switch 2?
I don't want to be that guy, but going to Rudy's to experience "authentic" barbeque is like going to Olive garden to experience a taste of Italy. It may be decent place to eat, but at the end of the day it's a chain.
A restaurant isn't allowed to grow?
Mario Golf Super Rush just felt rushed with the lack of any decent single player outing. The online only unlocks were a turn off as well and they weren't that great either.
44:25 these guys go out of their way to shout out Mario Golf (yes it's fun) as if that was anything special... but completely ignore Xenoblade Chronicles 3, Splatoon 3, Astral Chain, Daemon X Machina, and give lip service for Smash Ultimate🤦🏾♂️
Wow. You guys truly HATE 2024. Theres is no way in mind that 2024 is worst than 2018. The way I see it, the only note worthy game to come out of 2018 was Smash, and you had to wait till the last month of the year to get it. Of course there were games like Super Mario Party which everyone unanimously didn't like. Kirby Star Allies was just... please. You either liked Lets Go Pikachu/Eevee or didn't (I'm with Krysta, I didn't) I guess I'm just more optimistic in 2024 than most fans. I actually did like Another Code, Donkey Kong vs Mario, and Peach. Paper Mario is game everyone unanimously liked. And the rest of 2024 is just fire. A Super Mario Party that actually looks good, Mario & Luigi, new 2D Zelda. Yeah there is no way 2024 is worse than 2018. I refuse to believe that.
And on a side note. (AT THE TIME) I always thought 2019 was much better than 2017. Yeah 2017 had 2 of the best games of that system still to this day release that year. But when 2019 started releasing its big games, they just kept and kept releasing their big games! Off the top of my head it was Fire Emblem to Astral Chain to Zelda to (I'm gonna cheat a little) the definitive version of Dragon Quest 11 to Luigi's Mansion to Pokémon Sword/Shield. You could make the same argument for 2017 when it BOTW to MK8 to Arms to Splatoon but I would counter argue with, well MK8 was a port. Arms no one bought no one liked tbh. I'm a massive Spaltoon fan but Splatoon 2 was just another Splatoon, then you had to wait till the end of the year again for Mario.
And hot take, the only game I remember from 2020 was Animal Crossing but I put 400 hours into that first year so it was good Nintendo year for me imo lol.
As a Texas native it's so cool you guys got to visit Austin! Hope you got to see the city and some places like The Domain, Austin 360, and some other cool places back then. Also I love how you guys went to Rudy's and Salt Lick! Those are TX favorites :D
They should have gone to Stubb's! (If it's still a big deal.)
The point of the "pyoros" in the world is exactly you two discussing them.
Mario Golf was surprisingly good? I think that game was surprisingly bad! For me that was the most disappointing game from Nintendo on Switch.
the song of the summer last year was cruel summer by taylor swift