Michael French:
I bumped into an analyst friend on the train home the other day. Conversation about industry matters turned, as you expect, to the Wii U.
We both confessed a little bemusement at Nintendo’s take on a next-gen machine – but neither of us were willing to condemn it.
Never write Nintendo off. That’s what people often say in this business. Why?
If you were a 90s kid excited about Nintendo’s upcoming N64 console, you likely read something somewhere about the Nintendo 64 Disk Drive, also known as the 64DD or DD64.
Other nominees include games like SimCity & Tony Hawk's Pro Skater.
There are some good nominees in this list that are deserving to be inducted also, but I feel Metroid has had the most impact on the industry out of all of these. Look how Metroid influenced the evolution of the Castlevania games, and the "Metroidvania" subgenre of games have become a prevailing force in gaming today. Especially now, Metroidvanias are bigger than ever.
I can very much see Resident Evil being added later too, bc it really did popularize and define the survival horror genre. I would say that one is next in line.
If any Metroid game should get the honor it should be Super Metroid , it's perfection in my eyes . 30 years later and I still feel it's the most epic shit ever .
The GBA remake deserves it or Super Metroid, the original was a very sloppy and rushed game programmed in 3 months and it shows.
If you've never played the remake, it's absolutely a must play, fixes basically every flaw in the game. Check out ExoParadigmGamer's comparison video.
“Before even Kirby was born, HAL Laboratory released the super-cute puzzler Adventures of Lolo in 1989 and it has held up beautifully.” - A.J. Maciejewski from Video Chums.
No, it won't translate into sales....not if Nintendo is focusing on the wrong games.
Look at the New Super Mario Bros series. The first DS one was good because it had been SO LONG since a proper 2D Mario. NSMBWii was good, not just because of the features but because it was the first 2D console Mario game in forever. But with NSMB2(3DS) and NSMB U, it's obvious that they're phoning it in. There's no passion nor effort to step things up a notch. If Nintendo is focusing on quality, we certainly are NOT seeing it with their flagship 2d Mario games.
Instead, Nintendo insists on pouring their "quality" into games that are niche in comparison. Why does Super Mario Galaxy get full orchestrated music and beautiful graphics while a game (NSMBWii) that sold more than double BOTH SMG games combined gets goofy "bah bah bah" circus music? Why does the trailers for the Wii U Zelda look amazing when NSMB U gets the same ol' jungle/ice/lava/desert/grass worlds?
I mean, hate them all you want, but at least Activision understands their fanbase. "Oh, you like Call of Duty? You like it such-and-such way? Okay, we will make more CoD". How can Nintendo look at the tremendous sales of games like Mario Kart, NSMB, Wii Fit, Wii Sports Resort, Donkey Kong Country Returns, etc and then turn around and think "Gee, I wonder what our fans want. I bet they want more Pikmin and Luigi's Mansion and Pilot Wings, right?"