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Nintendo franchises - Is change coming?

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It was a nervous time when the Gamecube launched as having no Mario was (to most) suicidal. Almost unthinkable! But it was interesting..Pivotal. I think Nintendo planned on the GC having more original content yet when the sales failed to light up the globe they reverted to bringing Mario and Co. off the shelf in a similar vein to the N64 years. (Golf, Baseball, Football, Tennis)

Fast forward and as the Wii launched we got Zelda and Wii Sports. One of which satisfied long-term Nintendo fans.

I really don't think many Nintendo fans were looking at Wii Sports as a better indication of what the Wii was capable of. We were all staring at Twilight Princess. (Ironic then that the public (and many gamers) saw Wii Sports as the best thing ever...And not Zelda).

 

There have been many other non-Nintendo character designs which have had staying power over the years - Games of varying quality - And there have been some games with just enough charm to get into our minds. Here's looking at you Earthworm Jim, Bubsy, Croc, Gex, Parrappa. The difference between these characters and Nintendo franchises is most of them were whored out across sequals and other consoles thus ruining their reputation. Look at something as simple as Pong...Overly produced resulting in many mixed memories of how well it worked. Then there's Dizzy..haphazzardly put onto the Gamegear and Megadrive..with little effort compared to the excellent originals.

It's even commonplace today as we see Crash Bandicoot, Spyro and Sonic slapped across all systems available (including mobile phones) for cash. That's where Nintendo's franchises differ. Bar some poor 3DO and PC titles, the frachises are unique and after the 90's, Nintendo pulled the reigns back in by only allowing close developers to use their characters.

 

Yet with the Wii we have seen a major shift in Nintendo franchise usage through Mii integration. Miyamoto even mentioned Wii Sports tennis originally had two versions for testers...Mario themed and Mii themed. We know which one was preferred. Mario stands for quality, ease of play (not to be confused with easy games) and fun. How remarkable would it be if the Mii characters took this idea as their selling point? This would mean all games on the Wii with Mii character inplementation would insinuate ease of play and quality. If this happened, where would that leave traditional franchises like Zelda, Metrioid and Mario in new people's mind-sets?

 

This could mean we wont see Mario golf. We see "Wii Golf" with Mii characters. We wouldn't see Mario, Kirby or Wario plastered all over identikit puzzlers and baseball excursions. We would probably see the return of these traditional characters into the geners in which they came from. Thus the mascots of Nintendo become the players and Mario, Zelda, Samus Kirby, etc become comforting friends and (as is current) escapisms into their respective genres/worlds. Maybe the existing franchises would sell more copies if this became the norm?

 

Any more theories?

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i can see where your coming from but i don't think it will happen, we will still see Mario this, Mario that, Mario Postman 2, Mario Rugby 7. But i think all these games will change alot, so we will still be having the sequels but they will chnage alot. For example we will have another Zelda game but it will play like nothing before. I dunno if what i said just made sense, i can hardley keep my eyes open but i hope you got it.

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We would probably see the return of these traditional characters into the geners in which they came from.

 

That would be ideal for me personally, but it doesnt look like its happening during the Wii's lifetime either. Within a year of Wii's launch, Nintendo has released or announced

 

Mario Party

Mario Strikers

Super Paper Mario

Mario Olympics

Mario Kart

and to a lesser extent, Smash Bros

 

Within half a year of launch, Nintendo's Mario Dependency (NMD) extends to the VC* with

 

Mario Bros

Super Mario Bros.

SMB 2

SMW

Super Mario 64

with Paper Mario forthcoming and Mario 3 being the only holdout and Mario All-Stars imminent

 

*not necessarily a complaint since its the VC, just an observation of NMD

 

I dont think i even need to mention NMD on the DS....

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I feel very strongly about this. Mario and chums will help to attract the casual gamers to Wii, but once that well runs dry you need IPs to attract the "hardcore". A new Kid Icarus could be used for that, and hopefully Disaster might be exactly what people are looking for. Still, Nintendo's dependency on the Mushroom Kingdom's inhabitants is a little worrying, but nothing new.

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I agree with the statements about the immediate future of the Wii and the mass franchise use in the run up to Christmas. But in 2008 will we see the same thing? Traditionally Nintendo have used franchises to sell consoles and maintain existing owners interests (whether at launch or midway through a consoles lifetime). All Nintendo consoles / ideas have launched with a mascot of some sort. (Even the Virtual Console!) Of course, most platforms launched with Mario and when they didn't the launch was always followed by (think Smash bros) a franchise heavy game. The SNES etc also had a franchise game every now and then to maintain Nintendo ownership and when sales started to slow down. (Like Super Mario World 2) Only natural of course - It's good business sense.

So the Wii has Galaxy, Brawl and Metroid on the way both to sell Wii consoles and maintain existing fans. I think Nintendo would have finished one of those games out by now if the Wii hadn't been such a runaway success. Yet they can now use the power of brand recognition for Christmas and in 2008.

 

I think (as much as we love Mario et al) Nintendo should use the Wii success as a chance to develop or re-introduce franchises. Nintendo could develop the Mii usage in games and make them become a staple inclusion of a Nintendo system. (Really make personalisation paramount - Before Sony/MS do). Sure, Nintendo will always put out a new Zelda / Mario game every now and then (ala DS) but the Brain Training, Wii Sports, Wii Health, Wii music etc are all going to do extremely well in the market place and seem to naturally fit the things Mario has been expected to do for so long now.

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To a certain extent yes I do believe we seeing a change.

 

The core games will always remain the same, such as the Marios, Metroids and Zeldas but I do believe we will see less spin offs from these series. As you mentioned before Wii Sports would probably been a Mario title and I really think that Nintendo should scrap the Mario Party series and change it into Mii Party.

 

The reason for this and the other changes is because the audience that Nintendo are trying to capture dont relate to Mario and other Nintendo characters but what they can get to grips with is playing as little versions of themselves and with people already hooked with the Mii concept I really do think Nintendo will start building games around that theme.

 

To be honest if Nintendo did start taking that route I would be a happy man. The whole saturation of Mario titles in recent years has been a joke. Sure they are fun to play but there is only so many times you can put Mario in various games. I would be fine I they kept him to doing platform/adventure games rather than all of the sports/mini games. Smash Bros is an exception to this rule :)

 

So, as I said at the start I dont think the core games will change but I do think that the spinoff titles will.

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As you mentioned before Wii Sports would probably have been a Mario title and I really think that Nintendo should scrap the Mario Party series and change it into Mii Party.

 

I completely agree with this. If Mario Party had been titled Mii party I really do think it would have sold more units. They could have branded it into a "Generations" title too. If Nintendo can get an online party game in production starring Mii characters they would have a bonafide hit on their hands...This could pave the way for......A party channel (incorporating Miis) where you could play on a game board (which is updated now and then with new tile sets and mini's).

 

I really think there is so much scope for the Wii that Nintendo and other developers have a huge opportunity to develop new characters and franchises. Characters with directly controllable limbs or weapons via wiimote functionality is already apparent and also increasing immersion. Thus solidifying these characters in the mindset of gamers. Harry Potter for instance feels much more immersive on the Wii via wand motion than it's other iterations have ever done. And I feel like I want to use that characters attributes more and more. It's the same in The Godfather and Zelda. I feel directly responsible for the actions on screen, in real-time. And coupled with generally lower development costs, there is now a larger opportunity for developers to take a risk and make new franchises with these immersive attributes as standard.

It's a shame that in the last few years we haven't seen the likes of a new Sonic, Mario, Parrappa the rapper, Crash Bandicoot, Earthworm Jim, Croc, Nights, Rayman and even Gex-like characters on home consoles. Most of the last few years has seen the recycling of pre-existing 'licensed' characters. I hope with the Wii we start to see more original characters with actions we are directly responsible for.

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I wanna see a change! I love my Marios etc..but i would like some more gritty titles like Disaster etc..

 

I think Nintendo know this, and at this E3 we will have some surprises.

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I wanna see a change! I love my Marios etc..but i would like some more gritty titles like Disaster etc..

 

I think Nintendo know this, and at this E3 we will have some surprises.

 

We will. Everyone's saying the next E3 will have some newer, different franchises. I don't care if they skip out on Mario this year. But, if anything, they damn well BETTER have my Zelda.

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The original Croc was absolute pants.

 

I don't think Mario and Link have much to worry about to be honest. I can't imagine many people would want many games with just their Miis in. I know I certainly wouldn't buy a game for that reason. I prefer my games to have different characters depending on the scenario, Mario for stomping on Goombas, Leon for shooting zombies. If Miis took over it would be a disaster, especially how lame they look in comparison to scanning your face in with the Xbox camera. Everytime I show a new person WiiSports and have to create them a Mii they always ask if it does it buy taking a picture.

 

Keep Miis for your WiiSports and Braintraining games thankyou very much.

 

On another note, integrating Miis into the assist trophies in Smash Bros would be a cool idea.

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It would be quite interesting having an RPG or MMORPG with the Miis, don't you think?

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In my opinion it's like taking a step back. Surely a new game would prefer to implement it's own character design system rather than use the Miis which are so limited. Plus their basic looks would seem out of place in a lot of games.

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Hmm I think we are more likely to just see the mii's make an appearance in games like mario golf etc. Maybe you can just choose the character or just be for your on-line avator like mario strikers.

The mii's have proven popular but i think the first year of gamecube proved that ninetndo isn't going to just ignore mario themed games.

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It would be quite interesting having an RPG or MMORPG with the Miis, don't you think?

 

no not really at all

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no not really at all

 

Agreed......let's hope they never attempt this:)

 

I do agree with been able to completely customise your character for an rpg(like within the game itself) though but......not miis.

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I think the ganes which were Mario Tennis and Mario this, Mario that etc will gradually become Mii games but the franchises themselves will stay entirely in tact, no doubt. Game icons are there for ppl to escape into and be for a while. Zelda wouldnt be the same game if you could stop = Link form being the honourable hero.

 

But I dont think that Mii's will take over all of the spin offs. For instance, Mario Strikers, MarioKart and Mario Tennis are too well established as franchises. They make what would be a fun Mii game into a wacky crazy experience filled with spiked shells flying all over the place! Also for games like Mario Party if you made this with Miis, what universe would you make around them? Putting them in Mario based environments would suck. Actually any reference to any other games would just be weird because they would feel so disconnected. New Wii gamers would just sit there going wtf?!

 

I think that Mii game franchises, Nintendo icon franchises and games which include Miis (like Fifa) will all exist along side each other.

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Personally I think that Nintendo shouldn't slap Mario in all kinds of weird games where he doesent belong

Mario can be in platformers, adventure game, and Mariokart, while the Miis can be in these, how can I put it... Party games. Sure, Mariokart is a partygame, but it's a cult series, while Mario Strikers, Mario Golf, Mario Tennis and whatnot, never ever will.

The Mii's can be a like a symbol of the game in question has been made for an "expanded audience".

 

Hopefully, we'll never see a single Mii in any Zelda or Metroid game...

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