Nintendo Switch - Happy Switchmas Everyone!

[Ronnie]

Ummm... no, I'm watching what games get hyped and what games sell. Check the top lists of the 360, PS3, PS4 and Xbox One. Like it or not, you won't find many top selling 2D games there.

 

If Unravel is any indication, it's because no one can do 2D platformers like Nintendo can.

 

Mario quite simply can't do that because yet again, like it or not, the gaming press and average gamers are impressed by realistic graphics.

 

What a sad state of affairs. Give me Nintendo's art style over Witcher 3/Tomb Raider visuals any day. The former are more often than not timeless, the latter will look outdated in 10 years

[Hogge]

If Unravel is any indication, it's because no one can do 2D platformers like Nintendo can.

 

What a sad state of affairs. Give me Nintendo's art style over Witcher 3/Tomb Raider visuals any day. The former are more often than not timeless, the latter will look outdated in 10 years

 

You know, I remember when Nintendo's art style was a bit more varied. When it could look like:

This was considered mind blowingly realistic in 1996

 

Don't you imagine this is what Witcher would've looked like if it was released in the late 90's?

 

 

Or even:

The hipster's version of Modern Warfare.

[Kav]

...Give me Nintendo's art style over Witcher 3/Tomb Raider visuals any day...

 

Give me both. I don't see why this can't be done!

[Fierce_LiNk]

Let's not pretend that we all didn't lose our shit when we got our GameCube's for the first time and chucked in Rogue Leader and Wave Race: Blue Storm. Or that first time riding around Drake Lake in Wave Rave 64, with the reflections appearing in the water.

 

Nintendo handled realism absolutely fine in the past. The first time I saw those reflections in Wave Race (both Bluestorm and 64), I had never seen water look and act so realistic before.

 

Fuark, where's my Wave Race, Nintendo?!

Edited February 18, 2016 by Fierce_LiNk

[Hero-of-Time]

Let's not pretend that we all didn't lose our shit when we got our GameCube's for the first time and chucked in Rogue Leader and Wave Race: Blue Storm. Or that first time riding around Drake Lake in Wave Rave 64, with the reflections appearing in the water.

 

Nintendo handled realism absolutely fine in the past. The first time I saw those reflections in Wave Race (both Bluestorm and 64), I had never seen water look and act so realistic before.

 

Fuark, where's my Wave Race, Nintendo?!

 

The issue is that most of the games that had realistic visuals were made by western branches or western partners of Nintendo.

 

Eternal Darkness = Silicon Knights

Rogue Squadron = Factor 5

Golden Eye/Perfect Dark = Rare

Metroid Prime = Retro Studios

Wave Race = NST

1080 Snowboarding = NST

 

• Rare was sold off ( still one of the biggest mistakes Nintendo made IMO)
   
  
• Factor 5 went else where due to the Wii, as their vision didn't fit with what Nintendo had planned. They eventually died off.
   
  
• Silicon Knights went bust.
   
  
• Poor NST got relegated to making Mario vs Donkey Kong games.
   
  
• Retro Studios ditched Metroid and started making Donkey Kong Country games.
  

 

Ever since the Wii/Iwata era Nintendo have shifted focus from the more realistic/western focused games to more what is in line with what the Japan side produced. Like kav said, why can't we have both? The Japanese side of Nintendo should continue to do produce their colourful and quirky games, while the western side of Nintendo should make more western style games that give more variety to the line up, in terms of both graphics and gameplay.

[Serebii]

Rare were falling apart and it was sold off because the Stamper brothers wanted out. Nintendo bailing on them was the better option.

 

Rare was done before Nintendo sold it off. They passed on the offer for the 51% the Stampers were selling, and then sold the rest since MS bought the majority.

Edited February 18, 2016 by Serebii

[Cube]

Although Viva Pinata, Kameo and Nuts & Bolts still turned out to be the same quality as some of the best Wii/Wii U games.

[Hero-of-Time]

Although Viva Pinata, Kameo and Nuts & Bolts still turned out to be the same quality as some of the best Wii/Wii U games.

 

Even the original Kinect Sports was a fantastic game. I spent countless hours on that thing. I probably played that more than I did Wii Sports. This was probably just down to me hunting the achievements, though. D:

 

Viva Pinata is one of my favourite games from the last generation. I think it would have done much better in terms of sales if it was on the Wii and had Nintendo's backing. Sure, there was the DS version but it was a poor mans console version. The Wii U is probably a great console for the series. Being able to manage your garden from the GamePad would have been ideal.

[Kaepora_Gaebora]

Even the original Kinect Sports was a fantastic game. I spent countless hours on that thing. I probably played that more than I did Wii Sports. This was probably just down to me hunting the achievements, though. D:

 

Viva Pinata is one of my favourite games from the last generation. I think it would have done much better in terms of sales if it was on the Wii and had Nintendo's backing. Sure, there was the DS version but it was a poor mans console version. The Wii U is probably a great console for the series. Being able to manage your garden from the GamePad would have been ideal.

 

Also I'm sure I remember hearing Microsoft had promised to push Viva in things like Happy Meals, Saturday morning cartoons etc and it never really materialised.

 

On Nintendo platforms not only would it have fit the "image" more, Nintendo would have had another great exclusive IP with which to create even more games, I think the series is ripe for Diddy Kong Racing style off shoots!

 

(Whether or not Nintendo actually would have...no need to stir that up )

[Ashley]

If Unravel is any indication, it's because no one can do 2D platformers like Nintendo can.

 

 

You're comparing a company that has been around for 13 years with a small number of people to one of the founders of modern video games that has been making games for over 30 years and has the financial luxury of a large R&D and prototyping period as well as collective knowledge of hundreds of people.

 

It's a real barrel scrape of an argument.

 

Or to put simply, no Unravel is no indication of the ability of thousands of others that could make a platformer as good as Nintendo. It's like me writing off everyone on the board for one poor post by some person.

[somme]

And I actually prefer Unravel to any other platformer I've played in years.

[Serebii]

 

You're comparing a company that has been around for 13 years with a small number of people to one of the founders of modern video games that has been making games for over 30 years and has the financial luxury of a large R&D and prototyping period as well as collective knowledge of hundreds of people.

 

It's a real barrel scrape of an argument.

 

Or to put simply, no Unravel is no indication of the ability of thousands of others that could make a platformer as good as Nintendo. It's like me writing off everyone on the board for one poor post by some person.

 

Really? It happens on GAF and here all the time :p

[Ashley]

Really? It happens on GAF and here all the time :p

 

Yeah but we put up with you.

[Hero-of-Time]

Also I'm sure I remember hearing Microsoft had promised to push Viva in things like Happy Meals, Saturday morning cartoons etc and it never really materialised.

 

They did make an animated series but it was awful.

 

[Glen-i]

Yeah but we put up with you.

 

Oh snap!

[Fierce_LiNk]

The issue is that most of the games that had realistic visuals were made by western branches or western partners of Nintendo.

 

Eternal Darkness = Silicon Knights

Rogue Squadron = Factor 5

Golden Eye/Perfect Dark = Rare

Metroid Prime = Retro Studios

Wave Race = NST

1080 Snowboarding = NST

 

• Rare was sold off ( still one of the biggest mistakes Nintendo made IMO)
   
  
• Factor 5 went else where due to the Wii, as their vision didn't fit with what Nintendo had planned. They eventually died off.
   
  
• Silicon Knights went bust.
   
  
• Poor NST got relegated to making Mario vs Donkey Kong games.
   
  
• Retro Studios ditched Metroid and started making Donkey Kong Country games.
  

 

Ever since the Wii/Iwata era Nintendo have shifted focus from the more realistic/western focused games to more what is in line with what the Japan side produced. Like kav said, why can't we have both? The Japanese side of Nintendo should continue to do produce their colourful and quirky games, while the western side of Nintendo should make more western style games that give more variety to the line up, in terms of both graphics and gameplay.

 

Man, those names. They were the big guns during that era. I remember looking at Rogue Leader and wondered how they had managed to create such beautiful visuals, especially that opening Death Star level...which was mostly grey and black.

 

It just highlights how important it is to have that range. I miss old school Rare. However, I was still interested in Kameo when that moved over to 360 and Viva looks nice. Perfect Dark Zero can go suck a fuck, however. PD was one of my favourite N64 games and Zero just looked...hideous. An abomination. Way to shit on a legacy!

[Serebii]

Yeah but we put up with you.

[Glen-i]

 

Scratch my last post, that's an even better reply!

Well played!

[Hero-of-Time]

Man, those names. They were the big guns during that era. I remember looking at Rogue Leader and wondered how they had managed to create such beautiful visuals, especially that opening Death Star level...which was mostly grey and black.

 

It just highlights how important it is to have that range. I miss old school Rare. However, I was still interested in Kameo when that moved over to 360 and Viva looks nice. Perfect Dark Zero can go suck a fuck, however. PD was one of my favourite N64 games and Zero just looked...hideous. An abomination. Way to shit on a legacy!

 

Indeed.

 

I would have loved to have seen Nintendo snap up someone like Factor 5 or Silicon Knights. It's these types of studios that could have given them more diversity. It still baffles me that they didn't invest in some western studios during the Wii days.

[peterl0]

Both of those companies seemed to make catastrophic decisions after they left though. It would have been good as long as they maintained their form but neither company really did, did they?

 

Perhaps it would have been better to try and keep some of the talent that left Retro after MP on board or to buy another western developer that actually was having some success in the 360/PS3 years.

[Glen-i]

Seeing all this yearning for Wave Race and the like. has got me thinking.

How well did Wave Race Blue Storm sell over here? Does anyone know?

 

BTW, playing Waverace 64 again for the first time in almost 20 years has made me think that that game is better than I remember it.

[Hero-of-Time]

Both of those companies seemed to make catastrophic decisions after they left though. It would have been good as long as they maintained their form but neither company really did, did they?

 

Perhaps it would have been better to try and keep some of the talent that left Retro after MP on board or to buy another western developer that actually was having some success in the 360/PS3 years.

 

Nintendo have a habit of directing companies to success. Just look at what happened with Retro Studios. The talent was there in those companies I mentioned, they just needed better direction. To save Silicon Knights all they needed to do was buy them and then fire Denis Dyack.

[Hogge]

Seeing all this yearning for Wave Race and the like. has got me thinking.

How well did Wave Race Blue Storm sell over here? Does anyone know?

I believe it was something like 0,5 million. But I'd say that's all down to the game not being very good. The vehicle handling was all wonky (a clear downgrade from the N64 version) and the developers skimped out on content.

Both of those companies seemed to make catastrophic decisions after they left though. It would have been good as long as they maintained their form but neither company really did, did they?

The 360/PS3 generation and the high development costs killed off a whole bunch of very capable developers. Nintendo could have gotten amazing discount prices for legendary developers which could've saved the Wii U.

Beyond the ones mentioned previously in this thread, we have:

Free Radical Design Imagine if Nintendo would've given them the Bond license. Perhaps the only guys able to pull off a true successor to Goldeneye.

Bizarre Creations The Gran Turismo clone I've been yapping about? These would've been the guys to pull it off

Pandemic Because the Wii U desperately needed a GTA-equivalent!

Team Bondi Having created LA Noire, these guys knew how to exploit tech and make visually stunning games. Although their work ethics were pure murder.

 

Not to mention, I think it would've been great if Nintendo bought out Yu Suzuki's company as well as grabbing hold of Playtonic before they even launched their Kickstarter!

[nekunando]

Seeing all this yearning for Wave Race and the like. has got me thinking.

How well did Wave Race Blue Storm sell over here? Does anyone know?

 

BTW, playing Waverace 64 again for the first time in almost 20 years has made me think that that game is better than I remember it.

 

It's funny how we were all crying out for a new F-Zero only a few months ago and now, quite rightly, we're now desperate for a new Wave Race

 

I'd absolutely love to see both, of course, but growing up through the N64 era makes me crave things like Excitebike, 1080 and Pilotwings too

 

Resurrecting even just one of these would make me delighted : peace:

[Falcon_BlizZACK]

This is why its hard to believe Nintendo can't rise again... They have so many sleeping franchises that were truly a joy to play.