Nintendo has been leading the video gaming industry in creative and innovative ways. However, Nintendo has really dropped the ball in one of modern gaming's most popular features: achievements and GamerScore.
Both Sony and Microsoft have incorporated this into their consoles for nearly a decade now, but The Big N has yet to pull the trigger.
Nintendo has changed up their stance on a lot of modern gaming features in recent years, embracing online gaming and DLC, but they're still behind the ball here. As the gaming giant continues to add to its console's massive library, it needs something else. Achievements and trophies are a mainstay of the console gaming experience.
Achievement systems have been in games for close to two decades now. Microsoft pioneered the concept back in 2005 with the launch of the Xbox 360, with Sony following suit a few years later. The basic concept is simple: do some predetermined action inside of any game, and a notification pops up. Your account tracks what you've done and assigns an amount of points to the achievement, allowing you to share your favorite moments and compare your scores with friends. At the core, it's an updated version of the classic arcade leaderboard.
Yet Nintendo has had no form of this in any of their consoles or games. It's a confusing omission because, from a business standpoint, it could be an absolute gold mine for Nintendo and go extremely well with the brand identity they have built over the years.
Nintendo constantly re-releases updated or just new to the platform versions of its classic games. Many hardcore Nintendo fans will gobble these up instantly, but even the most diehard Nintendo fanboy may hesitate at the 10th re-release of Super Mario Bros. - and that is where achievements come in. Achievements keep people playing a game they have beaten several times, they bring people back to games they never 100% cleared, and they would bring older fans back to see what's new in their favorite classics.
The best thing about achievements and trophies is what they mean to the players. They add a level of depth and replayability that not only adds value to a purchase but enriches the gaming experience as a whole. Not every trophy is a game-changer, as some are simple goals such as killing a certain number of enemies.
Some developers fail to implement this system to it's fullest potential, and it's to the detriment of the player. However, some devs put time and effort into these accompanying challenges and reward the player for trying new and unique styles of play.
Not everyone sees the value in these systems, and choose to ignore them completely. And there's nothing wrong with a gamer who chooses not to care about getting 100% of trophies. Accumulating a large gamerscore on Xbox or high trophy score on PlayStation doesn't actually mean anything in the grand scheme of things.
What do you think do you want a Gamer score with the Nintendo Switch?
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