LogFAQs > #979566310

Honestly, the big thing about the game is that while the reception towards it by nintendo fans might be vocal. in reality, the game itself was kind of destined to fail, from....

• not having a direct release date mentioned, downplaying it existing (it had like 4 foreign language ads, that fansites bought up), heck, it wasn't even mentioned on the MAR10 video. but the same video revealing Luigi's Mansion 2 HD having something more than a vague Summer 2024 release date, and Mario TTYD.
• the promotion was arguably thin online, only really getting a demo, a few twitter posts and one twitter post that's tangibly-related with pink joycons being revealed. (when it was more of a valentines thing).
• it instantly got overshadowed by Paper Mario TTYD and Luigi's Mansion 2 (i guess) when it was revealed in the same direct. if not for the lack of concrete release date for the latter, i would've assumed it was a late-arrival sacrificial lamb. but even Nintendo seemed to not be giving it much of a chance from not mentioning the developer until release, and it being released roughly one week~ before the start of the 2024 Japanese Fiscal Year.
• to a lesser extent, Nintendo drifting away from semi-regular directs gave it was less attention. internet definitely was talking about Mother 3 not being in the western direct. Switch 2 preperation probably shoved it even more. (if the sudden hard-pivot means anything).

It basically got Balan Wonderworld'd.

there's only really two extremes: on one side, it was unique for what it was with a higher-than usual budget, on a character who was kind of unexpected (despite the past happening) only to be slotted out mostly for IP-branching...and then there's Luigi's Mansion 2 where not a lot of people has hopes for it due to being a port of a 3DS game, which is honestly kind of a downfall considering the actually-unexpected explosive return the 3rd game had. even the 3DS had a remake of the 1st game that was more of a semi-Impossible Port. Nintendo even bought out Next Level Games to boot!

Honestly, i'd be kind of curious how Paper Mario TTYD could be, assuming the price point/content is OK. Super Mario RPG at least had the dancing bear of it being a remake of a game by Square-Enix, where almost everything unique to the game never got referenced/utilized later (barring Smash).

Like you know the overwhelming amount of the general audience and core Nintendo fans would definitely go ham over something like Mario Kart, and Odyssey to a lesser extent. but then it kind of dwindles down to stuff like Party and Sports. it's also a later-stage Switch game so who knows how much budget went into it (barring it possibly being a full-on port, or a remake?). it doesn't have the potential benefit of being developmentally homogenous (as in, having assets they could easily slot into other games. like soundbytes, models and images), nor did it get released during a time when the switch was far hotter.

all in all, i'm guessing that Nintendo must've really let Intelligent Systems cook. considering they were only recently let out of the Fire Emblem mines. like after 1 paper mario and warioware game, post-Engage, they've done a more true Warioware game, and remaking TTYD. they could even be sitting on a Geneaology remake, if the initial Engage screenshot leaks+text post meant anything.

HAL Labs though. they really flipped Kirby around in the switch generation when Forgotten Land was released. that the MTX games were basically necessary weasels. don't think i heard fans talking about the lore from Return to Dreamland Deluxe much, though HAL has better grasp of homogenous asset retention (they even do retro music), so i can't imagine that game was more heavier in development costs than Star Allies, and definitely not Forgotten Land.