Nintendo recap: Let's talk Game Awards snubs, GTA Trilogy fiasco, and Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl's release

Welcome to yet another Nintendo recap. It's been a rather exciting week as Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl released late on Thursday night giving many players a chance to experience Gen IV in a new way. The Grand Theft Auto Trilogy - Definitive Edition also released filled with glitches and horrible visuals, leaving many demanding refunds. In other news, The Game Awards nominees were revealed, but many think Nintendo games like Monster Hunter Rise got snubbed. Additionally, Twitch suddenly appeared on the eShop this week and the Nintendo Switch has already proven to be a hot holiday item ahead of Black Friday. It's a lot! so let's dive in.

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl

Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl finally released on Nintendo Switch as of Friday, Nov. 19, and it's already full of new and exciting additions for Pokémon fans.

Players can easily get the Mythical Pokémon Mew, Jirachi, and Manaphy if they have save data for previous Pokemon games. Specifically, save data for Let's Go, Pikachu or Eevee! nets players Mew and save data for Sword and Shield nets them Jirachi. Manaphy can be redeemed by all players before Feb. 21, 2022, but after that it won't be accessible anymore.

This will be the first time that the majority of players will be able to get their hands on these Mythical Pokemon. However, Mew, Jirachi, and Manaphy are all shiny locked, so you can't get a blue Mew, a yellow and red Jirachi, or a light blue Manaphy in Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl.

Many players are already diving into shiny hunting and getting relatively far into the Sinnoh region. Unfortunately, Pokémon HOME, the service that allows you to store and trade Pokémon from various Pokémon games, is still not compatible with BDSP and won't be until some unspecified time in 2022. Until then, players can only trade with each other using BDSP's in-game trading features.

Twitch unceremoniously drops on Nintendo Switch

Out of nowhere, Twitch dropped on the Nintendo Switch eShop on Nov. 11. Players can download it for free and view their favorite game playthroughs and streamers using it once they either create or connect their Twitch account.

However, players cannot stream their own games using this app. To do that, players will still need to purchase a capture card and connect it between their console and their computer. While it is nice having access to this service in yet another way, the Nintendo Switch version requires you to have your phone handy in order to see your account info or even participate in streaming chats. As such it isn't the most convenient option out there.

HORI Split Pad Grip gets an update

The HORI Split Pad Pro is a very popular third-party controller for the Nintendo Switch that has been out for awhile now. What makes them so desirable is that they give players a far better grip while still functioning like Joy-Cons that can slide on and off the sides of the Switch. The only big downside is that they don't have internal batteries and thus only work when attached to a Switch.

This week, HORI Japan announced that the Split Pad Pro was getting an accessory to make them usable in TV mode. This does make the Controller set wired, but there's also a headphone jack and volume controls. The grip accessory will be selling separately from the controller and it's slated to come out sometime this year, though no specific date has been listed yet.

GTA Trilogy - The Definitive Edition is a dumpster fire

The GTA Trilogy Definitive Edition released on Nov. 11 on Nintendo Switch and other platforms. However, players eager to jump into the iconic series once again were met with a host of glitches, terrible graphics, and even horrible-looking rain. This isn't too surprising considering that RockStar showed hardly any footage or images for the port leading up to its release.

Among the large host of complaints, players report characters looking much worse than they did in the original games, cars running into characters in the middle of cutscenes, one character was spotted wearing a jersey with a faded number under the one that appears more prominently on his back, and fog has been removed so you can easily see the entire map, which isn't very big.

Players have shown their hatred for this sloppy port by leaving negative scores on Metacritic, to the point that the GTA Trilogy is now one of the lowest scored Switch games ever on Metacritic and was resting at a User Score of 0.6 last I checked. Rockstar has publicly apologized for the state of the GTA Trilogy and says it is "working to improve and update overall performance as we move forward." The company even pulled access to the GTA trilogy on PC for three days from people who had already bought it due to "unintentionally included" game files, including some related to the infamous sex mini-game "Hot Coffee" and unlicensed music.

Rockstar said it is working on returning the PC version of the trilogy to its store but in the meantime is offering the original ports for purchasers of the trilogy for free.

We don't know the reasoning behind this port, but at any rate, it's absolutely inexcusable that such a large company would allow a highly anticipated and well-known trilogy like this to be released in such a state. So, you should definitely stay away for now. We'll have to see if they come through on their promises to fix it as time goes on.

Switch continues to sell well, but is hard to find in stores for the holidays

As reported by Nintendo Life, Nintendo of America's Doug Bowser revealed that the Switch sold 711,000 units across the U.S. in October, 314,000 of which were the Switch OLED. Nintendo's data has also determined that many people purchasing the OLED model already have a Switch in their homes.

You might recall that the PS5 broke the Switch's 33-month best-selling streak in September. However, it's back on its throne as of October; this one-month lapse was likely due to people holding out for the Switch OLED which released early last month. These monthly Switch sales give us an idea of how popular the Switch will be during the holidays. Unfortunately, due to chip shortages and low supply, many online and in-store retailers in the U.S. are having a hard time restocking Switch inventory.

With Black Friday deals around the corner, it's possible that stores are holding on to their Switch stock and will have some on hand once Black Friday deals officially go live. However, it looks like you'll need to jump on a Switch when you see one if that's what you're planning on getting this holiday season, as they're going to sell out fast. I suggest using Stock Informer to track when Switch consoles are available. Otherwise, you likely won't be able to snag one this year.

The Game Award Nominees snub several games

As with every big award ceremony, players are upset that some games weren't nominated for Game of the Year or other categories in Geoff Keighley's The Game Awards. Nintendo historically doesn't get included in many of these categories. This year is no different, with Metroid Dread being the only Nintendo game nominated for Game of the Year. While Samus' latest adventure definitely deserves praise, it feels like Monster Hunter Rise should have been included as well, at least for best role-playing game. After all, it made this long-standing franchise more accessible to newcomers and sold incredibly well for being a Nintendo console exclusive.

As has become the running joke, the Best Family Game category is really the Best Nintendo game category since it usually features Nintendo's biggest releases for the year (and is often only filled with Nintendo titles). This year the nominees are Mario Party Superstars, New Pokémon Snap, Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury, WarioWare: Get it Together!, and It Takes Two. Yes, those all did come out this year even if it felt like some released ages ago. We'll be hosting our own Nintendo Switch game awards on iMore next month, so we'll give these snubbed titles the due respect they deserve.

The Game Awards airs for free on Dec/ 9, 2021 at 6:30 p.m. PT / 8:30 p.m. ET and can be watched on YouTube, Twitch, and other big viewing services. Tune in to see this year's winners.

Enoy your weekend!

Well, that's all of the news we have for this week. I'll be diving further into Pokémon Brilliant Diamond this weekend and hunting for shiny Rapidash cause I love that blue flame oh so much. I hope you also have fun and get to play whatever game you enjoy most.

Until next time.

- Rebecca Spear