Nintendo Life Mailbox – March 2025
Oh, hello there! You must be here for our monthly rummage through the Nintendo Life Mailbox. Pull up a chair!
Got something you want to get off your chest? We’re ready and waiting to read about your game-related ponderings. Each month we’ll highlight a Star Letter, the writer of which will receive a month’s subscription to our ad-free Supporter scheme. Check out the submission guidelines at the bottom of this page.
Grab a cuppa and come with us now on a journey through time, space, and spam…
“indulge in said bells” (***STAR LETTER***)
As a lifelong early adopter of new consoles, I’ve often gawked at mid-gen refreshes such as Switch OLED or PS5 Pro, but have never felt a strong enough urge to pony up the cash for a seemingly trivial handful of upgrades. With Switch 2 on the horizon, and the mid-gen releases becoming increasingly more commonplace, I’ve been left wondering if I should hold out a few years for the inevitable “Switch 2 OLED,” or what have you. (“Switch 2 Pro”? “New Nintendo Switch 2 XL”?)
I think I’m having a mid-gen crisis. I have a long enough backlog on my original Switch to last me a good few years (I’m looking at you, Ace Attorney collections), but there does exist the looming FOMO by not being able to nab that sweet physical copy of Mario Kart 9 on launch day. I have just sincerely never wanted to spend several hundred dollars more for a console I already own with a few added bells and whistles, so maybe it’s high time I wait it out and allow myself to indulge in said bells and said whistles. Is this a shared experience? Has anyone else been questioning their loyalty to early adoption?
LimitedPower
I joke about my triple-figure backlog, but if I played everything I own to completion — and if my OLED Model didn’t die — I genuinely believe my current Switch library could keep me going for decades, not to mention older games for older systems. Enough amazing video games exist already to see me out quite happily.
But I’m excited for the future! I absolutely get the desire to hang back and play what you’ve got rather than barrel on to the next thing like a good consumer, but I want to see where the medium is going and ride that wave. Budget is an understandable limiting factor for many (I’ve got good ol’ professional obligation as an excuse), but personally there isn’t a Nintendo system I regret adopting early, even when the inevitable upgrades came. – Ed.
“just normal”
Game completion – is it really worth it?
I’ve been playing games for the past 20+ years, but never have really felt the need to get to 100%.
Like most games, I enjoy the tale of learning how to play, get the moveset and skills up, but when I get to about 70/80%, feel as if I’ve completed enough of it to warrant the spend of the game, and then I’m happy to move onto the next one. Granted I play the ‘easier’ games, Mario/Crash/Spyro, so I get great enjoyment from the games, but if I then get stuck too much, I’m more than happy to give up, think I gave it my best shot, and just move on. I won’t go back to those games either, think I’ve tried hard enough, and that’s me done.
Is anyone else like that?
I’ve 100% some games, but also never done it just by myself. Always followed some sort of walk-through to get me there…that’s just normal isn’t it?
Kevin Bryant
That sounds normal and healthy, Kevin! Personally, I struggle with a brain that guilt-trips me unless I extract maximum value from anything I’ve bought, past the point of enjoyment. I’ve gotten better at ignoring it and walking away, but I still like finishing things.
Everyone has their take, but you can’t do leisure ‘wrong’ and video games aren’t a test of moral fibre. There’s absolutely nothing wrong with giving up and moving on from, oh let’s say, Kirby and the Forgotten Land if, for instance, you made it most of the way through but got a bit bored.
Speaking of moving on, let’s. – Ed.