The below post was originally posted on my blog found at the following link; Euphonic Gaming.Happy Anniversary to the Nintendo Switch. Nintendo's first year with the Switch has come full circle. All Switch consoles are on the same side of the sun as they were at launch. We have enjoyed 365 full days with this beautiful console. Ninten-does what... the hell it wants. Stocks are up, sales are booming, gamers are chatting. This has been a heck of a year. Multiple times throughout it I thought to myself, "Wow, it's been an incredible first year," only to then realize it had only been five months, or nine months, or any slice of time less than a year itself. As of this blog post, Nintendo Switch sales have exceed the LIFETIME sales of the Wii U console. Bonkers in the best way. As a life-long fan of Nintendo, its so easy to just be enamored by the fun and excitement. I thought I would take this opportunity to break down the past year with the Nintendo Switch through mainly the lens of my own gaming experiences. I want to showcase the games that earned my rupees, the games I've yet to spend coin on, and the games I'll probably never get around to but deserve a special mention because of how beloved the fanbase is. I'll dive deeper into some of the experiences and anecdotes that essentially make up the notion that without question, this is the greatest first-year of a Nintendo console in my whole life. It is easy for me to announce such a claim. Nintendo has had so many fantastic years but for an initial early-adopter console launch, I have had so much fun, been so eager to share my experiences,... there's just no question about this. Enough preamble. Let's-a-go!
I'll begin with some stats. I love stats. Stats show complex calculations and data in a neat little package. Stats tell a story. So here's one... how about...
Hours of Nintendo Switch Played: 939+ Hours
I have to add a + and presume some rounding down in this stat because Nintendo did something weird where they only show the general time played on a game within a five hour increment. In theory with all the games I've played I could have logged another 100+ hours if I happened to be at the upper limit of all these titles but I suspect that's not true. So lets presume the low end and see how that shakes out. 937 hours is exactly 39 days and 3 hours. 39 days is over 10% of my year. Awake. Sleeping. Eating. Working. Biking. Walking. Driving. Gardening. Vacationing. Netflixing. There are so many actions and activities I've entertained this last year. Yet, 10% of my life the last year was gaming on Nintendo Switch. That's a staggering number considering how much else I've done. I got engaged! I worked on my home! I participated in almost every Splatfest. To be fair, this stat was somewhat front-loaded as I did nothing but play The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild in March of 2017. However the pace stayed consistent afterwards. Believe it or not, there are still games I have not started but own and games I want to own but have not yet purchased. The potential to eat up even more time of mine was there and I had the restraint, or distractions, to keep it at a cool 10% of my time. Bonkers in the best way.
For the sake of the argument, here is a breakdown of my ten most played titles by life-consumed.
Splatoon 2 - 270+ Hours
The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild - 245+ Hours
Stardew Valley - 90+ Hours
Super Mario Odyssey - 70+ Hours
Mario + Rabbids: Kingdom Battle - 50+ Hours
Picross S - 35+ Hours
Mario Kart 8 Deluxe - 30+ Hours
Yooka-Laylee - 30+ Hours
SteamWorld Dig 2 - 20+ Hours
Shovel Knight: Treasure Trove - 20+ Hours
So the top ten games by time played eat up 91% of my gaming on Nintendo Switch this past year. That is a hell of a value if you ask me. This thing paid for itself since day one. Splatoon 2 itself is nearly 29% of my gaming time with The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild at just above 26%. The thing is... I'm still not done with those games. I'd like to go back and finish Master Mode in Zelda. I beat the Champion's DLC story but I never finished those special trials. With Splatoon 2 I have the same goal I had with Splatoon 2, which was to collect, expand, and fulfill all gear. I started that endeavor after 100%ing the single player campaign. What a joyous year indeed.
All in all I have amassed a total of 24 titles... that's an average of 2 a month. On top of this there's the two DLC packs for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, three Splatoon 2 demos (the Global Testfire, the Splatfest World Premiere, and then the European Splatfest World Premiere), and three demos. Admittedly I barely touched the Pickle Lines DX demo and I flat out haven't played Dragon Quest Builders. I really should though. It looks great. The only demo I have that I played a little bit of was the unique Project Octopath Traveler Demo Ver. With this many games I'm sure this blog post will grow and grow but this is a celebratory moment after all. I'll be trying to write some reviews down the line for some of these titles but I want to spend a moment addressing each game and why it was either important to me, important to the Switch's launch, or other things I appreciated about them. While not all of these titles blew me away, I won't dwell on the negative. Not here, not now. Like Nintendo's stock, we'll just keep looking up. I'll do this in no discriminatory manner. Let's get alphabetical.
ArmsRelease Date: June 16th, 2017
Purchase Date: June 16th, 2017
Ownership: Physical Copy
Genre: Fighting
Played For: 5 Hours or more
For the first game in this jaunt down memory lane, I am truly surprised I have not even logged 10 hours into this title. Admittedly I was on the fence but I liked the idea of a game that got me moving. I tried out the Global Testpunch and had a lot of fun and the hype was brewing amongst friends. That theme song is so powerful and catchy that I think it was what finally won me over. Arms is a fighting game at its core but it does something different. Not only is it in a 3-D space but your 'arms' are spring-loaded so to speak. They act as arcing projectiles that move and sway to your motion controlled actions (or button presses if you're a bit more hardcore). I found it the most fun to play with those motion controls. What really won me over was how well this game won over my nephew. By the time he received his Switch in the summer, he really wanted this. We played together a bunch, but on his copy, which is probably why the hours are lower than expected. I found that quickly the online community got really good, which ultimately acted slightly discouraging. That said, It is quite foolish of me to feel such a way. This game deserves attention and it is incredibly fun. It needed more time between its release and that of Splatoon 2. That might have fixed its fate with me.
BayonettaRelease Date: February 16th, 2018
Purchase Date: February 16th, 2018
Ownership: Digital Copy
Genre: Action
Played For: 10 Hours or more
I avoided this game for a while now. I just did not think I was going to like it. Button mashing? Overtly sexualized protagonist? Blood and gore? These aren't usually my kind of thing. However the hype remained. Friends and folks on Twitter kept saying how fun the series was. I wasn't swayed on the Wii U but for some reason, even with a tighter than normal budget, I decided to bite. The result? Well, to quote a little shit named Enzo from the game, "Un-be-fucking-lievable!" I was floored! This game was so much more than I ever gave it credit for. The action is deeper and way more fun than expected. The upgradeable move-sets, the dodge mechanic, Witch Time... it was all so fun to enact! The overtly sexualized protagonist? To my true delight and surprise, for me anyway, Bayonetta is a sexy woman for her strength first and foremost. She's not written like a damsel or written like a ditz. She may be curvaceous and unabashed but in even greater amounts she is confident, and coy, and clear-headed. She is in full control of her actions and her place in the world. Her sex appeal is completely intentional for the personality, not for gratuity. As for the blood and gore, I thought fighting angels might be hard to swallow. These things look so grotesque and unpleasing that it's truly just a fun anti-hero romp. Not really too bloody either. A fantastic addition to the Nintendo Switch collection.
Bayonetta 2Release Date: February 16th, 2018
Purchase Date: February 16th, 2018
Ownership: Physical Copy
Genre: Action
Played For: Half an Hour
It is almost unfair for me to write about Bayonetta 2 right now. I've only made it through the first chapter past the Prologue but at the same time this happened just moments ago. Thus it is the freshest memory yet. As I mentioned above, Bayonetta is a breathtaking character and a breathtaking game. Where the original title left off in terms of excitement, raised stakes, and set pieces, the sequel picks right back off. The story is engaging and the world a bit more colorful. It is appearing to tie into the plot of the original to some degree, which I think is great. I look forward to establishing things deeper within the Bayonetta Universe. The humor and coyness of Bayonetta is once again an attractive trait that helps the cinematic story scenes achieve their max enjoyment between action-packed battles. It seems this game does away with a 'quick-time' style event system of the original and already that seems to be a favorable choice. The screenshot below is taken from a cutscene but it very likely uses in-game models or is close to it. This game looks great. The music is wonderful too. I highly anticipate the euphonic tunes as I make my way further through. The fact that I was awoken to this series in the Nintendo Switch's first year despite the series existing for nearly a decade... I am completely thankful to Nintendo for their support of this franchise. Bring on Bayonetta 3.
Golf StoryRelease Date: September 28th, 2017
Purchase Date: September 28th, 2017
Ownership: Digital Copy
Genre: Sports, Role-Playing
Played For: 15 Hours or more
Everyone who has console-gamed regularly knows how important console-exclusives are to your platform. They are games that help set you apart from the competition. They are reasons to favor on over another. Nintendo themselves (for obvious reasons) always bring exclusives to their Nintendo consoles but this means it is extra special when indie-developers do it. Golf Story is one of those special games. At its core it is a sports sim mixed with some role-playing elements. Splash in some look and feel from Earthbound for the SNES and you've got Golf Story. I have been particularly a fan of golf video games since Mario Golf 64. Perhaps its the action-mechanics that appeal to me. Easy enough for me to grasp unlike in the real world on a real fairway. Despite that fandom I still never had much experience on a 2D world when it came to golfing. This game does the golf-action quite well. Hitting a 'tee' literally anywhere was a really cool mechanic that took this to the next level. Unlimited balls in doing so also was a wise move. The course hazards and the character writing were enjoyable. The latter was a bit beefy and I'm not entirely sure it was in the best way. The game lasted just a little too long for my tastes as far as that main story, but I would rather find fault in that than to have too little gameplay. This is an indie worth investing in.

Due to character length requirements by Negative World, the remainder of this article will be posted below as additional posts.