Debate of the Day: What Do You Want From Nintendo?
News broke today that Nintendo missed nearly all of their sales expectations for the year, and suffered an operating loss in the process. While the 3DS is doing alright, the Wii U is struggling desperately, and Nintendo revised projected sales of the console down to 2.8M from 9M, then actually sold 2.4M.
So, what the hell guys? What do you want from Nintendo? My attitude is sarcastic as I have plenty of my own ideas, but I want to hear from you. If you do own a Wii U or 3DS, why is everyone wrong not to have one too? If you don’t, what’s holding you back from picking either up?
Do you want more games more quickly from established series? Do you want them to venture into new territory? Do you want Nintendo titles on your phone? On your other game systems? Do you want a fully fledged Pokemon console game at long freaking last? (that one’s obviously mine). Let me know in the comments!
They generally dominate in the handhelds so I think they should always continue on that avenue, but they just keep missing with their systems. They’re all far too gimmicky; small discs with the Game Cube, and the controllers for both the Wii and Wii U. Not to mention they lack the power of their competitors. That’s kind of why the Wii U came out (at least I think so), to keep up graphically with other games on other systems, only to become obsolete fairly quickly when the PS4 and Xbox One were announced. Their main selling point has always been their exclusives (Mario, Link, etc.) but that only goes so far and those cartoonish (graphically speaking) titles fit and work well for a system with not that much power, but other titles suffer when coming to Nintendo. I remember having the Ghostbusters game for PS3, which looked good for the time and then seeing it on the Wii, it was a joke. They had to make the characters look like the old 80’s cartoon instead of more realistic like the PS3 for it to work. Frankly (in my opinion) the Wii’s success was a fluke (resonating with the “casual” young and old gamers), which is partly why the Wii U is probably suffering as they cannot capitalize on that same lightning in a bottle again. I would love it if they stopped making systems and made their games available to others much like Sega did in the past (Sonic’s still kicking). To have Mario, Link, Samus, Smash Bros., etc. on multiple consoles would be great.
I’ve never seen a system with so much stigma on it before in my life. It’s pretty sad too because it does have some excellent games, unique control options and the most positive online community I’ve ever been a part of (this being a close second).
Unfortunately the problem here is not so much the system itself, it’s that every one is a critic. People who have never even sat down for a couple hours and played the system are writing full articles about it missing sales expectations, having a gimmiky controller and not enough games. It’s turned into a snowball effect. When anyone who is remotely interested in videogames logs onto a site like IGN, Gamespot or even here for that matter and sees nothing but poor sales forecasts and doom articles of how Nintendo should turn this they construe it as criticism (even if the points made are valid). Why would anyone in their right mind who is on the fence about buying one pull the trigger on buying one when they see articles on sites like that talking about it’s pre-eminent death every day? Especially when they are seeing the sale figures per quarter.
Don’t get me wrong Nintendo is not off the hook on a lot of the Wii U’s failings. When they originally announced the system and no ones hair was blown back they should of taken that as a cue to do something but in their own blind confidence they did not. Microsoft did with the Xbox One and it’s payed off. Nintendo should have pumped the brakes on the release, re-evaluated the name, the marketing plan, the price, built up a better launch line-up and then taken plunge.
Unfortunately for this system I think it may be too late to turn it around just because of all the terrible word of mouth that is being spread around on the Internet. Stigma Kills.
I want Nintendo to just keep being Nintendo. Except maybe open their collective ears to the general public for some feedback before a new console launch and prevent something like this from happening again.
Seriously though if you haven’t played Super Mario 3D world with a friend yet you’re missing out.
im a old gamer i have been in this since the atari , i was the biggest nintendo fan until … the wii,dont get me wrong, its a console with a good
hanful of games but that’s it a HANDFUL OF ACTUALLY VERY AWESOME GAMES.
If nintendo must stop making/allowing crap in the wiiu and future consoles and even the ds , and start focusing on makeking pokemon/zelda/metroid/starfox with the epicness of titles like skyrim.
just saying.
Add their entire backcatalog of Gamecube and N64 games to a subscription service like xbox live or PSPLUS. SNES games only doesn’t cut it.
Nintendo has had problems with third parties since the N64, still Nintendo has gold track record of good games because they develop for its own hardware. As a fan my point being that a lack of a console will likely affect their software quality like it happened with Sega, and making subpar series nonexistent.
Also putting Square as an analogy seeing there attempts at making business in the mobile market doesn’t inspire confidence.
It’ll be fine if other developers had the Nintendo charm but most go for the brutal and the dramatic. Mainly Nintendo delivers in the charming game department.
I own a Wii U, but just like Gamecube and N64 this is the Nintendo show. Basically all the awesome games are from Nintendo. Doesn’t seem like other 3rd party developer wants to make games specially for the Wii U.
I also feel that sometimes even Nintendo is not making games for it, we still don’t have a Wii U Zelda, just some remake of the Wind Waker, we still don’t get a proper Super Mario 3D game nor Metroid and all those other great series they have on their other consoles.
I really try and buy all the awesome games, but that pile of boxes doesn’t make a big stack 🙁 They need more GAMES!!! (and i mean WII U games, not ports).
They were pushing Pikmin 3, that’s the main followup to one of their big franchises.
Zelda games take up to 5-6 years Skyward Sword came in 2011, so it’s not abnormal not having one now.
With Mario I think they tried to push the New Super series since that made more money than Galaxy. And even then there were 3-4 Mario games explaining the lack of a true 3D one.
Metroid never sold magnificently not even the Prime games were huge blockbusters and with Other M selling abysmally I believe Retro will start development for another Prime game as soon as Tropical Freeze is released.
The main problem has been that Nintendo doesn’t have big studios as western devs and the lack of practice in HD has made the releases being delayed. They’re starting to employ more people for this, but we’ll probably not see the effects this year.
release a 3d open world pokemon on the wii u and i will buy it day one. the tablet controller would be perfect for a pokemon game as you could use it in much the same way you use the bottom screen on the the 3ds
They’re very stubborn with that one, hope it comes in our lifetime. The closest thing I see with that concept is X, it being 3D open world and maybe/hopefully having MMO features.
for sure but that would definitely be a system seller lol
I can more tell what I wanted then what I want. I think Nintendo has totally lost me.
What I wanted was a console that could reasonably compete with the new Xbox and PS4. A console that would have all the great third-party games Sony and MS have while also having the absolutely first rate first party titles Nintendo has. Instead, Nintendo went for the route of a gimmick and frankly, I don’t know why they’re surprised it’s tanking. I try not to be overly proud, and I know I’m horrifically ignorant of business, however, I just never saw any single way in which WiiU would be a blockbuster. First, the horrible name. Second,the fact that it has no audience. The more “hardcore” gamers would avoid it because it will have the same third-party problems Wii had. The more “casual” gamers were never going to be drawn in by that gamepad the way motion control drew them in. Seriously, who is the audience for this thing? I love Zelda and Metroid and all that but I refuse to buy a console solely to play Zelda and Metroid, especially when those games are long in coming.
So basically, since Nintendo did not have another game changing gimmick like motion control, they would have been better going for a more standard console that could actually compete with Sony and MS, then I would have bought it just for the exclusives. That’s my two cents.
Make a new metroid (prime) game, give it a good plot and cinematic cutscenes. include online multiplayer reminicent of halo and then market it as a typical halo-eqsue FPS. if the multiplayer is good enough then hopefully the bro-gamer community will buy into it as well probably not even touching the single player which will be a more typical metroid prime type game. then you end up with a game that appeals to the ‘hardcore’ ‘serious’ gamer who don’t like ”those kids games like mario” without selling out the true fans.
I would hope it being more like Prime. Other M tried to be cinematic but it blew in its face.
Multiplayer could be nice but Nintendo doesn’t focus on competitive play. Maybe a leader board but no much than that.
Other M was doomed when they let team ninja make it. I don’t even personally care about things like cinematics but the way things are today it would make advertising and appealing to a larger audience a lot easier if you have some cinematics of explosions, even if it isn’t all
the indicative of the actual gameplay.
As for multiplayer, well, Nintendo are just gonna have to adjust arnt they. Again, personally, I don’t even care much for competative multiplayer, half the reason I own a WiiU frankly, but if done right it could be that killer app they are looking for.
Actually the gameplay was decent and it seems even Nintendo put some hand in the development since that camera design isn’t from Team Ninja. But overall the story was the focus in that game and that was made by Nintendo. I think light hearted humor stories like Kid Icarus, Star Fox and Mario RPGs is were they’re at their game.
I have nes, snes, n64 and liked all 3. Got a gamecube eventually but just could never get along with the weird controller. I had bought a few games for it but spent the only real significant amount of time playing animal crossing eventually selling the system and all the games for 50 bucks to a co-worker. Wasn’t interested in the Wii because of the weird controller so never got it. Wasn’t interested in the Wii U because of the weird controller so never got it. So I guess what I want from nintendo is a system with a default controller that isn’t weird. Why I think the Wii U is floundering is because the big weird controller scares away the casual crowd that liked the Wiimote while simultaneously scaring off more conventional gamers.
I agree, but to be fair the N64 controller was also very weird for its time. Still agree in that Nintendo misses the point by making things more complicated than they should be.
true n64 controller was weird but if the game did not have a big focus on the d pad it was one of the best controllers of all time. by comparison the game cube had a weird d pad a weird analog stick, the most bizarre face buttons etc.
I could argue most of the functions of the gamepad don’t overshadow the traditional setup it also has. The main casual problem is that the screen distracts when it is playing the same thing as the TV.
I want them to just make a new system that looks clean and polished, allows developers to easily make games for it, not rely on gimmicks like motion controls right out of the gate (add them later for people who like that stuff), and have a decent online library. And here’s what they should call it… the N.E.S.. Boom! Just like that they would have a ton of nostalgia freaks clamoring for it as well as it would work as a great game system. If they could allow us gamers that want to be able to play the newest AAA title as well as go back and visit some of the older Mario or Zelda games to do just that, their business would recover.
What Nintendo doesn’t realize is that a lot of the kids out there who are into games are the children of gamers themselves. They see us playing Call of Duty and other top selling adult games and that is what they want to play too. With marketing to kids all this kiddy stuff they are trying to reach a market that is just about gone. Most kids are way to grown up for their own good and just don’t buy into cute cuddly game characters anymore.