Chapter 401: Soaring Reviews (Requesting Subscriptions, Monthly Passes)

In the period since the Switch launched.

All sorts of news have been utterly overwhelming. Initially, there was only a small stir during the early launch period, with most of the attention coming from Nebula Games' loyal fans and players who were already following the Switch.

This was primarily due to the power of word-of-mouth. It was also the reputation Nebula Games had built up over the past few years. Just like Valve in its previous life, when it made controllers, VR, and handheld consoles, it still had fans buying them up.

Of course, this only set a lower bound; how high a device's upper limit could reach no longer depended on fans, but on the general public. The Switch's unique, irreplaceable attributes, combined with its affordable price, made many fence-sitting players decide to purchase it after seeing it.

However, once these players decided to buy, they realized they couldn't buy the darn thing at all. The second batch of Switch's console shipment volume was 150,000 units, just like the initial launch, and it was completely cleared out in virtually one second.

Although Chen Xu wasn't aiming for Scarcity Marketing and had even issued a public notice stating that a large batch of stock would be available at the end of June, this didn't deter anxious players. Moreover, under these circumstances, the Switch's popularity grew even higher.

This was mainly due to human psychology. When something is not out of stock, you don't pay much attention or care about it, because you can buy it anytime you want. But now that the Switch was completely sold out, it immediately captivated countless players. Every day, they would refresh the related Switch content.

And what they saw was extraordinary. The more they looked, the more they wanted it; the more they wanted it, the more they paid attention – it had become a perpetual motion machine.

At the same time, the Switch exclusive game, Super Mario Odyssey, further fueled the effect. For players who bought a Switch, buying games was a must. After all, even if the Switch wasn't expensive, they couldn't have bought it just to collect, right?

Among them, the two exclusive games, Animal Forest and Super Mario Odyssey, were naturally the players' top choices. However, for now, more players focused their attention on Super Mario Odyssey, as it appeared to be richer in gameplay content.

And just as players expected, gameplay was the most crucial core of this game. Countless players immediately felt they couldn't stop once they started playing. Throughout the entire game, every player felt as if they had rediscovered the feeling of playing a game for the very first time.

Everywhere in the map seemed to hide secret items, compelling them to explore and find out. When they reached a new challenge, they always thought they'd quit after overcoming it. But they ended up playing for half the night.

Of course, there were many Easter eggs in the game that players couldn't fully grasp. For example, in the Metro Kingdom's festival level, Pauline, Mario's ex-girlfriend from his previous life, reappeared after 36 years, and the level also recreated the original Donkey Kong design, paired with Pauline's rendition of 'Jump Up, Super Star!', which was full of nostalgia.

However, even if players couldn't understand the Easter eggs, the pure gameplay and levels alone could still surprise them. The 3D and 2D switching, and the HD and pixel conversion, created a sense of time travel that delighted many players.

After all, the fact that Super Mario Odyssey achieved over 20 million sales in its previous life was only partly due to nostalgia players. More importantly, it was the design of Super Mario Odyssey itself.

And accompanying the Super Mario Odyssey experience, major gaming media outlets successively released their latest reviews of the game.

And they were all uniformly high scores. Although the game console and the game had not yet launched overseas, many overseas media outlets were clearly paying attention.

For example, GameSpot, a renowned top-tier industry media overseas, immediately reviewed Super Mario Odyssey.

'Open world? No, this is a box garden game.'

'If we're talking about open-world games, then Nebula Games should be the developer who understands this genre the most. Red Dead Redemption showed everyone that games could be made this way!'

'But Odyssey is different. While industry game developers like Atrai, NetDragon, and TengHua are all moving towards open-world games, Nebula Games adopted a box garden game design for Super Mario Odyssey. Of course, this might simply be due to machine performance limitations.'

'But one thing you have to admit is that this design is simply perfect to the extreme. There are no massive maps to stun players; there are only a dozen independent small-to-medium regions.'

'The gameplay also revolves around these regions. The game's levels and puzzle settings are like thumbtacks pinned to every corner of these maps.'

'If that were all, it would just be an excellent game, but it wouldn't warrant such a high score. Its level design, however, is truly unique.'

'Adventures hidden in corners are incredibly diverse, with an astonishing number of collectibles.'

'Musical notes, unlocking mechanisms, jumping, racing, collecting currency, jump rope, remote-controlled racing cars – it tests players' skills and imagination from every angle. The fun factor of many elements even surpasses the main story.'

'Players will even experience levels where the 3D graphics switch to 2D graphics. Such a level, with its sense of era switching, makes one marvel at the game's creativity.'

'Furthermore, the game perfectly illustrates what a lighthouse effect is. In the game, players need to collect specific Power Moons, and these Power Moons are not hidden; they are often openly placed right in front of the player.'

'The purpose is to encourage you to collect them, and when you go to collect, you'll find that once you reach a new place, you discover other clues, as conspicuous as lighthouses in the vast ocean.'

'The game's levels are full of strong psychological suggestion, always allowing players to discover new things.'

'This repetition forms a habit for players, leading them to instinctively explore and search in subsequent levels, even without lighthouses.'

'The most frequent thought players have in this game is probably: Did I miss any Power Moons or currency here? Did I truly collect everything in the previous level?'

'Additionally, the game's hat possession mechanic significantly boosts the overall fun. Coupled with the use of motion control mode, this makes Odyssey a perfect match for the Switch.'

'If you want to pick a game that perfectly utilizes the Switch's features and is sufficiently fun, then Odyssey is the undisputed choice!'

The uniformly high ratings made players who hadn't managed to buy a Switch even more anxious. Of course, domestic players were a little better off because Chen Xu had announced on the official Weibo account that a large batch of stock would be available at the end of June and early July, meaning there was still a good chance of getting one.

But it was different for overseas players. Before, there was information about the Switch and Super Mario Odyssey online. But since they didn't understand Chinese, it was fine as long as they didn't intentionally seek it out. But now, what the heck is GameSpot reviewing!?

And reviewing it was one thing, but you're practically hyping it to the heavens! Countless overseas players expressed utter collapse. These high-scoring reviews immediately captured their hearts. And yet, there wasn't even a shadow of an overseas version of the Switch or Super Mario Odyssey!

Nebula Games hadn't made any grand promises to overseas players. But clearly, GameSpot's game review indirectly drew a huge, very traditional kind of pie for overseas players. Because you had no idea when you'd actually get to eat it.

(End of Chapter) <>