With the whirlwind of speculation, putdowns, and analysis circling the Nintendo Switch since its “true” unveiling, a few people are asking a pretty big question which wasn’t answered during the circus.
Will the Nintendo Switch have achievements or trophies?
It’s not something Nintendo are known for, though in the current gaming era in which many gamers get a kick out of being rewarded with a noise and a little graphic for doing sometimes mind-numbingly repetitive tasks, would they be wise to adopt them going forward for the Switch?
Yes and no.
Yes, as although I can’t personally claim that my achievements list will be something that I would have printed as a mosaic for my wall, it is satisfying to beat some challenges and have that reflected on my gamer profile. Better yet, absolutely mastering a game to 100% to squeeze every morsel you can out of a game you love feels like a worthwhile investment of time and money.
A case could also be quite easily made that achievement and trophy hunters could be put off by the Switch not having a system in place to facilitate their obsession. This could be especially important when it comes to third-party titles: why would they pick up Skyrim, a game that many have poured hundreds of hours into for countless achievement and trophies, when there’s little incentive to do so, apart from being able to play it on the move for a few hours (if we’re being generous to the Switch’s handheld efficiency)?
With a fanbase split down the middle, can Nintendo really risk alienating potential new players even further?
The heart has to lean towards steering clear of achievements, though. Awkwardly jamming an almost foreign reward system into a Nintendo console would feel forced and, maybe, slightly desperate.
Achievements are a polarising aspect of the modern video game experience. Some appreciate the added replayability while others think they’re there just to pad the playtime out and distract from the AAA scene’s sometimes lack of depth. How many open-world games have you played where a lot of the non-narrative content is there purely to tick some entries off a trophy list? Ubisoft are one of the worst offenders for this and they’re a company that couldn’t be more removed from Nintendo in terms of what they stand for.
It just wouldn’t feel right to be traversing magical lands as Link, smiting foes from horseback and to then be applauded for doing that for the fiftieth time with a pop-up and an added digit to a score that ultimately means nothing. Nintendo are innovators; whether that’s to their own commercial detriment or not is a discussion for another day. When people think back to the first time they slid down a flagpole as Mario or turned into a Morph Ball in Metroid, none of their memories include achievements and an improved gamerscore.
There may be a middle ground, though. If third-party games came with these systems in place while Nintendo’s first-party flagships steered clear, it’s the best of both worlds. Achievement hunters will be more likely to take a closer look at the console while Nintendo’s core fans can enjoy their games the way Shigsy intended them to all those years ago.
The future is uncertain for the Switch and the implementation of an achievements system is unlikely to unmuddy the waters a great deal. There are pros and cons to both sides of the coin, but this is Nintendo we’re talking about – they tend to do whatever the fuck they want and, more often than not, pull it off.
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