People had a fit when the Nintendo Badge Arcade came to the 3DS eShop a couple of weeks ago. There was talk of Nintendo selling out, stretching out its hand, and offering minimal content for real-world money. Usually offered up alongside Pokemon Shuffle , Badge Arcade is alleged proof that Nintendo is headed down a slippery slope toward lazy, free-to-play cash-grabs and income models based on DLC and season passes. When I first heard about Badge Arcade , I had the same knee-jerk reaction: I was confused and a little annoyed. When I stopped to think, though, I realized that Nintendo has long been the last remaining bastion of traditional pricing models, and it hasn’t exactly paid off. Before Badge Arcade , did you not have a problem with Nintendo branching out?
For a while now, Nintendo has been flirting with less traditional payment methods. Toys-to-life games and amiibo have provided stable, consistent sources of income; Mario Kart 8 , Hyrule Warrios, and Super Smash Brothers all offer a good amount of affordable DLC that fans have truly enjoyed; Animal Crossing NFC cards took off in Japan and thrilled collectors in the same way amiibo excited collectors here in the west. Typically I’m a pretty hard-nosed traditionalist; I like to pay $30-60 for a game and be done with it. I don’t own a single amiibo, and generally I feel taken advantage of whenever a game that I buy gets a ton of DLC after the fact. Sometimes it can feel like you’re duped into buying the base product just so publishers can make more money off of you.
With Nintendo I’ve never felt that way, mainly because the DLC is so reasonably priced. In Mario Kart 8 , for example, dropping $12 gets you a whopping 16 additional tracks, 6 additional characters (and color variations for existing characters), 8 new vehicles, and a new, faster game mode. Looking at all the Smash Brothers DLC can be a little overwhelming at first, but you never feel like you’re being deprived of content; it’s all there so you can play the game the way you want to. Costume sets for your Mii fighters are less than a dollar, and for a few bucks you can unlock the one or two stages that you can’t live without.
If you ask me, Nintendo is the only company that does DLC correctly and with great respect for its fans. Heck, even in Pokemon Shuffle I’ve never felt compelled or cornered into spending money to have fun with the game. I think the real reason that most people are up in arms over Nintendo Badge Arcade is because the game is unapologetically transparent in its approach. It exists solely to make Nintendo money; whereas Hyrule Warriors and Mario Kart provide solid experiences that are built upon further by your purchases, Badge Arcade is a blatant, pay-to-play worm on a hook. I have three words for those of you who find this distasteful.
Get over it. Everyone has that one “friend” on Facebook whose every post makes their blood boil, but for some reason, we never block those people because there is a certain gratification we get from getting all pissy and judgmental. When confronted with something that you don’t agree with you have two options: you can bitch about it, or you can move on. No one is forcing you to download Badge Arcade to your 3DS, and no one is forcing you to deck out your slots with cute little icons. Those of you who play in the arcade know: if you’re patient you can win lots of badges for free. By the end of my second visit I had collected 10 badges without spending a dime, and a few of them are going to stay on my home screen.
Do your thing, Nintendo. The Badge Arcade mascot says it all when you boot up the app for the first time; Nintendo does want your money. It needs money to keep creating awesome games and to make great hardware. If I can help make the NX become a success by spending a few dollars on a Splatoon theme and some squid icons, I’m happy to do it. My home screen looks a lot cooler than yours does.