GT Bonus Round: Nintendo's 2011

[Retro_Link]

The GT Bonus Round panel have got together to discuss how Nintendo performed in 2011 (along with Sony and Microsoft in the previous episodes)...

 

 

SPOILERS!! *for anyone (like myself who hasn't played Skyward Sword... prepare to look away ALOT!! *

 

http://www.gametrailers.com/episode/bonusround/510?ch=4

 

 

How would you sum up Nintendo's 2011?

 

Just in terms of Nintendo's output themselves, is it (and I quote) 'Nintendo's worst year ever... ever!'?

 

In some ways it's difficult to disagree... I mean where have the games been?... many franchises have been completely missed out/skipped over on Wii! Yes as it happens Nov/Dec has turned out quite well, but otherwise?

 

Luckily many have a decent back catalogue from previous years, because otherwise it could have been mighty quiet!

 

---

 

And on a side note, it's nice to hear the excitement for Wii U!

 

Edited November 28, 2011 by Retro_Link

[nekunando]

I actually just watched this a few minutes ago and, in some ways, I understand where they're coming from.. but when they claimed that you had to have another console on top of the Wii to have had a good year, I had to disagree personally..

 

The Wii, DS and 3DS have kept me really busy this year. A lot of the games I have been playing may not have come out in 2011, but I have been thankful of the opportunity to go back and clear up a lot of other games that I've had on the backburner. For me, there has almost been too much for me to play and I sometimes find myself wishing I had a greater amount of time to get the absolute most out of each game I have and those, in particular, that I adore

[Retro_Link]

Have many games in your backcatalogue been from Nintendo themselves?

 

It really is a struggle to think of what they've been doing with themselves this last year or so... and you really have to hope the reason for it has been Wii U game development?!

 

Yeah I think you'd have to evaluate that Bonus Round looking purely on 2011 itself.

And especially for those in the video, who get through games regularly when they come out... had they and others in that position just had a Wii and been left with games coming out in 2011, it's been a bad year!

Edited November 28, 2011 by Retro_Link

[nekunando]

In 2011, I have played Donkey Kong Country: Returns, Metroid: Other M, Kirby's Epic Yarn, Punch-Out!! and am now, of course, playing The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword on Wii. I also enjoyed Golden Sun: Dark Dawn, Last Window: The Secret of Cape West, The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks and WarioWare: Do It Yourself on DS along with Pilotwings Resort and Super Mario 3D Land on 3DS. I even played through DK: King of Swing on GBA

 

In addition to all those games, there have been plenty of other exclusive third party games I have played this year that includes A Boy and His Blob, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Sin & Punishment: Successor of the Skies, Red Steel 2, Ghost Trick: Phantom Detective and Castlevania: Order of Ecclesia. You could also consider Pro Evolution Soccer 2012 an exclusive considering the unique controls

 

There has also been NBA Jam, Goldeneye 007 and Call of Duty: Black Ops with Okamiden on hold until I take care of the remainder of Okami, probably in 2012

[Burny]

Just in terms of Nintendo's output themselves, is it (and I quote) 'Nintendo's worst year ever... ever!'?

 

Nintendo themselves? Hardly.

 

By the end of the year, the new high profile games from Nintendo will include Skyward Sword, Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land. Even if one were to dislike any of these games, they weren't developed overnight and are as "high profile", as Nintendo games get.

 

The real issue is that these are all released at the end of the year, partly on different platforms and that the individual platforms were largely a wasteland during long stretches of the year. And that's to be expected with as little third party support as Nintendo gets these days.

[Retro_Link]

Nintendo themselves? Hardly.

 

By the end of the year, the new high profile games from Nintendo will include Skyward Sword, Mario Kart 7 and Super Mario 3D Land. Even if one were to dislike any of these games, they weren't developed overnight and are as "high profile", as Nintendo games get.

 

The real issue is that these are all released at the end of the year, partly on different platforms and that the individual platforms were largely a wasteland during long stretches of the year. And that's to be expected with as little third party support as Nintendo gets these days.

I'd say it was!

Three games... across Two platforms... and an entire year!

 

One significant game from them on Wii ALL year is appalling!... and it being Zelda doesn't make any difference. Nintendo have plenty of development teams.

[Burny]

I'd say it was!

Three games... across Two platforms... and an entire year!

I said three high profile games.

 

What do you suppose are Pilot Wings, Nintendogs+Cats, OoT, Starfox 64, Rythm Heaven, Kirby's Epic Yarn in Europe, Kirby's Return to Dreamland and Xenoblade, even if it was a 2010 game in Japan and wasn't released in the US? Then there is Wii Play Motion and Rythm Heaven for Wii, which only made it in Japan, but was released in 2011 nevertheless. I'd call them games.

 

That's before taking into account games that weren't developed by Nintendo, but published by them, like "Mystery Case Files", the latest Layton game and Fortune Street, which will be released this year in the US.

 

That makes a whole lot of games on top of the three high profile releases and I probably haven't even listed everything.

[Retro_Link]

I said three high profile games.

 

What do you suppose are Pilot Wings, Nintendogs+Cats, OoT, Starfox 64, Rythm Heaven, Kirby's Epic Yarn in Europe, Kirby's Return to Dreamland and Xenoblade, even if it was a 2010 game in Japan and wasn't released in the US? Then there is Wii Play Motion and Rythm Heaven for Wii, which only made it in Japan, but was released in 2011 nevertheless. I'd call them games.

Nintendo didn't develop the majority of those games! They only published them...

 

Pilotwings Resort - Monster Games

Kirby's Epic Yarn - HAL

Kirby's Return to Dreamland - HAL

Ocarina of Time - Grezzo

Xenoblade - Monolith Soft

 

And that leaves...

 

Starfox 64 3D - Remake

Nintendogs + Cats - Enhanced Port

Wii Play Motion - Terrible lazy game

 

So really again... it's been a lazy year from Nintendo themselves!

 

Like I said before, I hope we get the answer to this with the launch of the Wii U!

Edited November 28, 2011 by Retro_Link

[Coolness Bears]

I was hotly anticipating this segment all week since I watched the other parts and knew this would be worse. There sort of mocking of the Wii aside and also my love for Nintendo, it has been a poor year and they know this and hopefully they can rectify it.

 

I love the 3DS and I'm glad to see it is picking up now and initially they didn't sell it right but with the price drop and Super Mario 3D Land and Mario Kart 7 out and coming out this Friday hopefully they prove to be system sellers.

 

I'm glad they got some help to get Mario Kart 7 out on time as that will really help, I feel having to must own Mario games and giving a choice if people prefer one style of the other.

 

The online points from the video I agree with, their methods are archaic and they need to hand it to Microsoft and Sony and say they got beaten in that department and catch up.

 

In terms of the Wii I've not seen any must own games for me personally, I think firstly I put my priorities on the 3DS but also their own games have been lacking.

 

It's fine if you have a back catalog to get through but purely based on their output on 2011, if I was on the panel I'd be in Garnett Lee's poistion who seems to be a bit kinder towards them and not just plain out hating on them. You compare it to Microsoft and particularly Sony's efforts then it is fairly poor.

 

Though what they have brought out namely Super Mario 3D Land is like the best game I've played this year so they are partly redeemed.

[Grazza]

Hand on heart, I've enjoyed Nintendo's 2011 more than any year since the GameCube, and this is purely because of the 3DS. I don't understand the negativity towards this handheld, I honestly just don't get it.

 

OK, it's not perfect. From the day it was unveiled at E3 2010, I've said it should have had a bigger, higher-res screen, and just one of them. I still stand by that. It just doesn't cut it in the world of 5" smartphones and the PS Vita.

 

But... the games situation? Just don't understand the negativity about that at all! If I think back to March, owning the 3DS felt special. I was taking 3D photos, using StreetPass, using the pedometer. OK, I've got bored with that now, but it had a good innings.

 

Pilotwings Resort is a technical tour-de-force, feeling like you've got your own aircraft, and piloting them round an idyllic island system. I also enjoyed Street Fighter IV and Dead or Alive Dimensions, and am currently enjoying Tales of the Abyss, but if we're sticking to just Nintendo, I think their release schedule was perfectly acceptable. Ocarina of Time was great, a superb job done by Grezzo there. Super Mario 3D Land is good and I'm sure Mario Kart 7 will give the fans what they want.

 

And I can't ignore my personal Game Of The Year: WayForward's Shantae: Risky's Revenge on DSi Ware, which is the most perfect game I've played for half a decade. It's no longer a Nintendo exclusive, but it was made with the DS and its d-pad in mind.

 

It doesn't bother me that I only bought one game on Wii (Skyward Sword, which I haven't started yet), as I don't much enjoy playing on that console.

 

Now, I'm not saying all is well at Nintendo itself. Yeah, I'll be very disappointed if they're not hard at work on more 3DS and Wii U games, but for a year where they launched a very good new handheld, and their home console has outstayed its welcome (with me, personally), there's really not much else I could have asked from them.

[Burny]

Nintendo didn't develop the majority of those games! They only published them...

 

Doesn't matter one bit, if the games are essentially commissioned or developed by Nintendo-owned studios (=first party) like HAL and Monolith Soft and appear exclusively on Nintendo platforms this year. Yes, Monolith Soft is a first party studio, as Nintendo owns 80% of them. If you want to apply that idiotic logic, then Uncharted 3 wouldn't count as a Sony game, as Naughty Dog is also an acquired studio.

 

And calling Nintendo lazy is, well it's surprisingly stupid, really. Like Nintendo's internal teams are twiddling their thumbs all day, just because they don't manage to shower us with games all year every year.

 

It's always baffling me in what dream-world people are living, who expect a big Nintendo release every other month. Even more so, as any fully fledged game released on the Wii this year, would have had to be in development since early last year at the latest. For anything where development started at a later point, it's sensible to move focus to the WiiU or the 3DS, which needs the boost most at the moment.

[Retro_Link]

@Burny, you get incredibly arguementative!

 

Of course it matters one bit!

Nintendo aren't developing those games, so it's 5+ internal development teams must have been doing something these last few years, to have produced so few results this year?... and hopefully we'll find out with the Wii U... otherwise wtf!

[Hero-of-Time]

To be honest I think all 3 of the consoles have had a slow year. Sure, things have picked up towards the end of the year but looking at what i've played during the course of it, i've found it to be a very average/stale year for gaming.

[Burny]

Of course it matters one bit!

Nintendo aren't developing those games, so it's 5+ internal development teams must have been doing something these last few years, to have produced so few results this year?... and hopefully we'll find out with the Wii U... otherwise wtf!

 

Acquired studios are as much part of Nintendo as EAD 1-5. They're not suddenly going to start developing XBox games. As such, Nintendo has developed Kirby & co.. Stop moving your goalposts! There was a decent amount of Nintendo software this year, if unevenly distributed, and that's it. No need to repeat Gametrailer's stupidity, as they're entirely capable of spouting that stuff on their own.

 

If you are actually interested in knowing what some of the EAD teams are up to and believe Wikipedia, you might have a look at this article.

 

That doesn't look like Nintendo is particularly lazy. In fact, most of these teams have either a big game out this year, or one in development, that'll probably be released in 2012. Those that just released a big game cannot be expected to have a high profile game ready for the WiiU by the end of 2012.

 

I don't know why you're acting like these teams should be capable of releasing more than three high profile games each year, which happened this year. In fact, going by how unpredictable development times are, this year is already exceptional. As Nintendo maintains two platforms, naturally all of EAD's games will also be split between the handheld and home console.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Burny

[Josh64]

I can't believe some of you are sticking up for Nintendo. They've released barely anything note worthy this year, thank god November is finally here.

 

I see some people have even mentioned Wii Play Motion. Really? The fact that a sequel to Wii Play gets mentioned as a big release shows how little has been done this year.

 

I agree that Nintendo's consoles have been fun this year, the Wii has had Xenoblade, the 3DS has had Street Fighter and Pilotwings but Nintendo themselves have done barely anything.

 

Starfox, Ocarina Of Time and Pilotwings were all done by different teams (as has already been stated), Wii Play Motion was done by a mixture of teams all focusing on one mini game, Kirby's Epic Yarn only came out over here in 2011 because Nintendo held it back (to fill the huge void) and erm, that's about it.

 

It's understandable though as I assume Nintendo have some amazing Wii U stuff to show us soon, at least.. I hope so.

 

[...]this year is already exceptional. As Nintendo maintains two platforms, naturally all of EAD's games will also be split between the handheld and home console.

 

Really? Maintaining two platforms? Nintendo have released barely anything on the Wii or DS. Again, it's not exactly their fault and if the PS3 and 360 had such terrible third party support they would be in the same situation but luckily they don't.

Edited November 28, 2011 by Josh64

[Mr-Paul]

I think people are over reacting here. I haven't watched these videos, but surely when they review Sony/Microsoft's year, they mention all first party, second party and third party games.

 

But when it comes to Nintendo you can't include first/second party teams that aren't EAD - so basically anything that isn't the Mario or Zelda teams? What the hell?

 

I'm sure if you were looking back at a year of the N64 and reflecting on it you would mention all the great games that Rare, a second party developer did? So in that case, why should we ignore games from the likes of HAL, Monolith etc.??????

[Burny]

Really? Maintaining two platforms? Nintendo have released barely anything on the Wii or DS. Again, it's not exactly their fault and if the PS3 and 360 had such terrible third party support they would be in the same situation but luckily they don't.

 

"Barely anything" includes Mario Kart 7, Zelda Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land. Basically: one entry for each of their three biggest franchises. You'll be lucky to get anything remotely as solid from Nintendo as that next year. And that's on top of all the "lesser" games I listed above. I forgot the new Kirby game for the DS btw..

 

So yes, a whole lot of software for one company. What kind of expectations do you people have?

[Magnus]

I don't know... I think a year without Pikmin is a year wasted.

[Josh64]

"Barely anything" includes Mario Kart 7, Zelda Skyward Sword and Super Mario 3D Land. Basically: one entry for each of their three biggest franchises. You'll be lucky to get anything remotely as solid from Nintendo as that next year. And that's on top of all the "lesser" games I listed above. I forgot the new Kirby game for the DS btw..

 

So yes, a whole lot of software for one company. What kind of expectations do you people have?

 

Those are all quality games but I think the point being made is that for the first 10 months of the year, there was nothing.

[Burny]

Those are all quality games but I think the point being made is that for the first 10 months of the year, there was nothing.

 

Only if the games I listed above count as nothing. It doesn't matter if they weren't all "internally" developed, as these are Nintendo games and they were released. Acting as if there was no software all year, by not counting what software there was for asinine reasons, is just uninformed rubbish. There was little and unevenly distributed on top of that, but claiming there was nothing is factually wrong.

[Fused King]

I bet they're all gardening with Miyamoto in order to "truly grasp the Pikmin feel".

 

Right, so basically what NINTENDO has brought us THIS YEAR =

 

Super Mario 3D Land

The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword

Mario Kart 7

 

These would be their high profile games.

All the other awesome gems for next year that we know of (Luigi's Mansion 2, Paper Mario, Layton, Kid Icarus, etc...) are made by companies owned by NINTENDO.

Let's forget about Animal Crossing 3DS here

 

So this would lead me to think that NINTENDO's own teams are probably hard at work with new Wii titles and stunning new WiiU titles.

 

Damn, E3 can't come soon enough!

I want to see innovation on the 50+ and female gamers side!

[Josh64]

Only if the games I listed above count as nothing. It doesn't matter if they weren't all "internally" developed, as these are Nintendo games and they were released. Acting as if there was no software all year, by not counting what software there was for asinine reasons, is just uninformed rubbish. There was little and unevenly distributed on top of that, but claiming there was nothing is factually wrong.

 

Sorry to be factually wrong, I should have made it clearer. I meant there was nothing that interested me similar to how people often say "there's nothing on TV tonight" when there isn't anything good to watch. It's not as though all of the TV stations suddenly go off air, its just a phrase.

 

And even if you count all of the software that wasn't internally developed it's still appalling. Being drip fed an enhanced version of Nintendogs and a disappointing Pilotwings sequel is not my idea of a good year.

 

[killer kirby]

I'm sure if you were looking back at a year of the N64 and reflecting on it you would mention all the great games that Rare, a second party developer did? So in that case, why should we ignore games from the likes of HAL, Monolith etc.??????

 

It's the cool thing to hate on Nintendo now, it comes and goes.

 

Go to any game forum and it's Nintendo BOMBA!!!

 

I also think next year Gametrailers should only include games that Iwata and Miyamoto made by themselves, any help they get is off the list!

[Burny]

Sorry to be factually wrong, I should have made it clearer. I meant there was nothing that interested me similar to how people often say "there's nothing on TV tonight" when there isn't anything good to watch. It's not as though all of the TV stations suddenly go off air, its just a phrase.

 

That is a completely different argument than "Nintendo has been lazy/didn't get games out". Just because we might not like any or all of the games Nintendo released this year, they didn't develop themselves overnight.