I like the no-nonsense poll. Pushes away all the fluff and makes people actually think before responding. Kudos to OP on that.
Personally, yes I like them. Admittedly a large portion of that is nostalgia, but they are freaking experts in so many of the crucial little things that many other devs don't give a shit about - most notably loading time and camera control.
Being "privileged" of growing up on Nintendo I'm probably more aware of this than people that grew up with the Playstation or PC, but these things a frustratingly noticeable whenever I'm playing a non-Nintendo game. I can't stand waiting through some unskippable end of level score sheet or cinematic, and then having to wait even more for the next level to load. Knowing exactly what was going to come next Nintendo would have begun loading up the next level while that end of level stuff was going on, so that by the time it's finished you're ready to jump right back into the game. Take a game like Metroid Prime where a "loading" screen between rooms would have killed the flow - that game actually predicted which room you'd go to next and pre-loaded it before you even opened the door (there was still loading delays if you were moving fast or "tricked" the system into loading a room you weren't going to, but it was acceptable). And let's not forget 'load -> briefing screen -> load -> cinematic -> load -> FINALLY the game!'
Regarding camera control (and this could be down to preference) I've found a lot of developers just go "Here's a second thumbstick - bam. Camera done". I find this so clunky and annoying (even now going back to Mario 64 and Banjo Kazooie it's a little annoying), like the game has no idea where the player should be focusing - what's important in the scene. I hate trying to fight a monster that's mostly off screen if I don't manually adjust the camera. It's like "C'mon game, you can't figure out I'd like to SEE the thing I'm attacking?". Like I said, this could be preferential and if someone's been accustomed to this for years it's likely second nature to them, but personally I really struggle having to harness a lazy camera in addition to everything else I'm doing. I only have two thumbs after all. Again, I've found Nintendo tends to handle this far better than most devs out there.
In short, Nintendo games tend to have a degree of polish you don't see as frequently elsewhere.
Now, this isn't to say they're without fault - they routinely pull the same "We'll totally have a steady stream of games after launch, not like the Gamecube/DS/Wii!" followed by a post-launch drought and Iwata saying "Please forgive us. We have learned a valuable lesson from the launch of ", and when their Wii U Mario title was yet another "New" Super Mario Bros. game I couldn't get excited at all. It's been done to death - move on to another idea like you did with Galaxy. Skyward Sword also sucked dick. In the age of the internet with FAQs and walkthroughs at our fingertips the one thing we DON'T need more of is mandatory in-game hand-holding. Seriously Fi, just fuck off for a bit. I KNOW my health is low.
