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The Nintendo Thread of Existential Doom

Paul le Fou

Paul le Fou

24/7 lofi hip hop man to study/relax to
(He)
I think you're reading too far into it. That may be the effect, but the intention at the surface level appears solid and straightforward. When it was revealed that Nintendo would be publishing B3, there were people who were worried the sexiness would be toned down and the game would lose the franchise's signature prurience; but also, there were people who always liked the games in spite of the over-the-top sex-appeal and/or were introduced to the character via Smash Bros. Plus, despite getting more lenient with its 3rd-party stuff in the Switch years, Nintendo still very much has its family-friendly image to stick to. I think this was honestly just a relatively simple-to-implement way of appealing to both crowds.

(Full disclosure: while I work for Nintendo, but absolutely nothing to do with, nor any knowledge at all of, this project, which I think was handled mostly by Platinum anyway? Again, no idea. Also, I'm not against criticizing Nintendo or reflexively defending them, nor Bayonetta as a franchise. This is just my neutral 3rd-party read of the feature, which I think is a good one.)
 
Lokii

Lokii

—
(He/Him)
Staff member
Moderator
I think making it a toggle is a great idea and hopefully serves both kinds of players
 
Peklo

Peklo

Oh! Create!
(they/them, she/her)
Bayonetta 2 was also published by Nintendo; its existence is entirely owed to their monetary backing and could extend in the grander scheme to Platinum's continuing operations as a whole with how many exclusives they have continued that partnership for. They did not guide the content of the sequel and were content to let Bayonetta remain what it was, and that's the status quo that is evidently still in place with 3; they have never had a problem with the tone of the series or how it presents its subject matter--if anything they enable it. The narrative that Nintendo's public image does not permit or tacitly condone sexually charged or exploitative material has never reflected their publishing decisions, least of all with a series whose entire image is defined by camp burlesque.

In any case, I've stated why I think this "feature" doesn't actually do anything meaningful to address what it claims to. Even if you read its inclusion more charitably than I do, the effect on the play experience and the game's presentation of itself is miniscule to nonexistent.
 
Violentvixen

Violentvixen

(She/Her)
I'm with @Peklo, calling it "Naive Angel mode" is essentially saying "aw look at the little babies who are offended, you wanna turn on baby mode?". I wish they'd called it "Boob armor provides no protection" or "coverage mode" or something else I don't know I'm not a marketing person, anything that didn't make fun of the audience who wants it.

Also I'd prefer the mode provided, you know, clothes rather than just using a fill tool and still leaving them uncomfortably exposed to be ogled, but I know things like this aren't going away in my lifetime, if ever. There was never going be "at home, makeup off, bra off, into sweatpants" mode in Bayonetta.
 
estragon

estragon

I think Naive Angel Mode is a situation where it's not one way or the other, it's both things at once:

The mode does in fact provide a fig-leaf of covering up the skin that some people will appreciate. But the imagined audience they're keeping in mind here to use this feature is like a 30 year old married Japanese guy with a wife and kids, not anyone bothered by the portrayal of Bayonetta.

It's also obviously presented as a joke, both in the marketing and the naming conventions.

Personally, I will probably turn it on because I think the costumes are more fun to look at, so I like that they're adding it, whatever their intentions are. The developers' intentions haven't kept me from enjoying Bayonetta before, and they almost certainly won't now either, unless they've done something to make Witch Time feel a lot less good, or unless the story isn't incredibly stupid.

I totally understand if anyone is uncomfortable with how the camera treats the characters, and obviously this won't change that. It's deeply weird, and some people find that weirdness unsettling or offensive, some people find it empowering (or at least entertaining) as a performance of gender/sexuality, some people find it tittilating, and some people have an ambivalent reaction.

I don't think anyone is going to finally identityThe One Correct Take on Bayonetta, but I do think it should be more widely acknowledged as just a very strange and messy text that a wide range people engage with in complex ways.
 
YangusKhan

YangusKhan

does the Underpants Dance
(He/Him/His)
TBH, I don't think it was until Bayonetta 2 that I fully realized her clothes come off during the demon summoning parts. Like, I'm sure I saw it happen in Bayonetta 1, but I didn't absorb that aspect until 2. I don't know why I felt like sharing this.
 
ShakeWell

ShakeWell

Slam Master
(he, etc.)
Peklo said:
Bayonetta 2 was also published by Nintendo; its existence is entirely owed to their monetary backing and could extend in the grander scheme to Platinum's continuing operations as a whole with how many exclusives they have continued that partnership for. They did not guide the content of the sequel and were content to let Bayonetta remain what it was, and that's the status quo that is evidently still in place with 3; they have never had a problem with the tone of the series or how it presents its subject matter--if anything they enable it. The narrative that Nintendo's public image does not permit or tacitly condone sexually charged or exploitative material has never reflected their publishing decisions, least of all with a series whose entire image is defined by camp burlesque.
Click to expand...

You're not wrong, but I will say as a counterpoint: Bayonetta 2 was before she was in Smash Bros., which is not insignificant.

Did that move the needle? Was this a Nintendo directive implemented in a cheeky way by Platinum? As with getting to the center of a Tootsie Pop, the world may never know, but I wouldn't be surprised to find out either way, honestly.
 
muteKi

muteKi

Geno Cidecity
YangusKhan said:
TBH, I don't think it was until Bayonetta 2 that I fully realized her clothes come off during the demon summoning parts. Like, I'm sure I saw it happen in Bayonetta 1, but I didn't absorb that aspect until 2. I don't know why I felt like sharing this.
Click to expand...

My wife seemed to think Bayo 2's intro called more attention to the sexualization than the parts of 1 she'd seen, though I don't know if what she'd seen of 1 was just the tamer parts to begin with, and I only got into like the first stage of Bayo 2 before my WiiU was stolen. Well, this'll be a good opportunity to try it again I suppose!
 
ArugulaZ

ArugulaZ

Fearful asymmetry
Someone stole your Wii U?! Joke's on them, I guess.

973355.jpg
 
ShakeWell

ShakeWell

Slam Master
(he, etc.)
As a person who is a) into the NES, b) into shoot-'em-ups, and c) has a not-insignificant import Famicom collection, I find it VERY WEIRD that I knew nothing about Daiva 6 until THIS VERY MINUTE, which tells me that despite it looking pretty ok... it's probably not that good, or someone somewhere would have said "hey, dude, you love the NES and shooters, check this game out, it rules!"
 
Positronic Brain

Positronic Brain

Out Of Warranty
(He/him)
I almost want to start playing Daiva 6 just to know what's up with that. And if you're the guy who negotiated the distribution deal to get it in Western NESFlix, I'll buy you a drink and you can tell me how it feels to use your powers for *this* instead of, well, anything else.
 
SpoonyBard

SpoonyBard

Threat Rhyme
(He/Him)
Violentvixen said:
I played a couple hours of Kirby's Avalanche last night, fun times. The dialogue is possibly just as goofy as the voices.
Click to expand...
I love how much of an asshole Kirby is in this. Whispy Woods politely asks Kirby not to walk on his roots and Kirby is all "I GUESS IT'S APPLE PIE TIME", it's great.
 
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