Nintendo doesn’t want achievements, except when it does

There were few surprises, but it was worth checking out. Nintendo Switch 2 has no results. When passthecontroller asked Bill Torinen, vice president of Nintendo’s player and product experience, when Nintendo was about to introduce a ubiquitous progress tracker, he returned the simple one-syllable answer: “Nope.”

It seems safe to assume that in this late stage 20 years after Microsoft debuted the Gamerscore Achievement System on the Xbox 360, Nintendo is not normally behind the party implementing this feature. It’s a conscientious opponent. Nintendo has never given any reason to avoid achievement, but it appears to be against them on a fundamental, perhaps even a philosophical level.

why? It is true that Nintendo always loves to do things differently and takes pride in the originality of its design. However, the company is not copying other systems when it meets its needs or simply becomes inevitable. Nintendo has been holding online multiplayer on Arms length for decades, perhaps with concerns about child safety and providing a funny, limited service. However, the online gaming market is currently inevitable and Nintendo’s online switch subscription revenue is important enough, so at the time of Switch 2, it will reinvent discrepancies and Zoom for Nintendo’s viewers, and expand the Zoom in the Nintendo way. If Nintendo’s chief designers really feel they need accomplishments, pride won’t stop them from jumping into the bandwagon.

My guess is, along with many other observers, the outcome is simply that there is no atmosphere in Nintendo’s idea of ​​what the experience of playing video games should be. In this purist discussion, the fun factor of the game is the lack of the breadcrumb trail of metagor and rewards. There is no risk of unfoundedness. The achievements may be able to undermine the pure enjoyment of the game, distract you, overwhelm the player with a checklist of what they need to do, and focus on bragging rights rather than enjoying it in the moment.

There is no real need to rehash the discussion about the value of results that have been interacting with for 20 years. A well-designed achievement is creative and rich, leading you into the realm of gaming and gameplay styles. It is equally true that the merit system can appeal to some of our worst human instincts and turn what should be a fun art form into a bloody chore. Personally, I’m on the fence. But I respect the purity of Nintendo’s approach. This appears to focus on putting the game itself and the fun of the player first.

All of these should include an achievement style system The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and The tears of the kingdom He’s even more curious.

This system called my play data looks pretty basic. It can be used with the Zelda Notes feature of the Nintendo Switch app. Track statistics such as defeated enemies, treasure chests opened or collected rupees and award in-app medals to hit specific targets. Global Play Data allows you to compare your progress with players around the world.

It sounds very unstimulating, and perhaps so too. When I first heard that Nintendo was adding metagor to these two games, I was terrified of their spirits. I love it. Despite being so busy and widespread, these games are pretty much bothering me. They are designed to encourage spontaneous and organic exploration. They have a lot to do, but don’t rely on the densely intended web that suffocates so many open world games.

Luckily for me, the achievement designs in my play data are so boring and abstracted that it hardly plagues its delicate balance. I have to believe it is intentional. If Nintendo wanted it Wild Breath and The tears of the kingdom To get good results, they will already have them. My Play Data medals seem like a half-baked feature included solely to pad out the Switch 2 Editions offering.

Maybe it won’t work that well on the Nintendo Switch 2 edition. But that shows that when it comes to achievements, Nintendo’s mind isn’t really, and perhaps never will.