Has Our Faith in Nintendo Dwindled?

BNBGAMING writes:

"Nintendo’s reserves of morale seem to have taken a bit of a beating over the last few years. The Wii, in particular, caused a virtual (motion-controlled) civil war amongst long-term fans; some saw the wand-waving as an exciting new way to interact with some of gaming’s greatest characters and universes, while the rest considered it little more than a gimmick, a cheap detour away from classics like Starfox and F-Zero, and into the living rooms of casual and non-gamers. The 3DS hasn’t exactly done much to salve the wound, either."

[Shnazzyone]

I think nintendo made a good business decision and won the console wars for a gen with a gimmicky system. This produced the weird culture that the gaming community just has not matured from yet. Since about 2010 nintendo has shown clear commitment to the core gamers again and it's been going strong for a while.

I hope at some point the gaming community will grow up already and be happy nintendo is trying to get them back so hard. Nintendo is a long time innovator and wii U and 3ds continues that tradition. Someone has to at some point remove their hate goggles and stop claiming nintendo is bad because they keep their core franchises alive and fresh.

I predict a comment in this thread is incoming saying "all nintendo got is mario, zelda and metroid they overdo that stuff!". If anyone makes such a claim it proves the point that we need to mature. Noone ever rips on marvel for making too many spiderman comics, do they?

Someone will also probably make the claim that nintendo is "too kiddy/casual for a mature gamer" Which again proves that we as a community need to mature. The younger generation is clearly very insecure about the level of their maturity and are confusing playing a game with an m rating with being more adult. Just because it's colorful and fun doesn't mean it's immature. You're confusing universal appeal and charm with kiddy stuff.

I like games to feel like games. I went through that phase in the 90's. Didn't wanna watch cartoons, play young kids games, or read comic. I'm 13 and I want mortal kombat and doom cuz I'm an adult. It took me gaining real life experience and maturity to get past that misconception.

What's killing gaming right now is our immature side wanting games to become like movies. And not even all genres of movies. Specifically action or scifi movies with the ol ultra violence. The problem is when you want a new medium to be like an old medium it kills the originality of the new media.

Nintendo is one of the few companies that gets that. They get that games need to be their own thing to really be fun and original and most importantly to gain respect. I hope in time people will accept that and at least respect nintendo for what they are and the risks they take to keep our hobby alive and well.

/rant

[TGM]

Excellently put, sir!

[yourmom2921]

Excellent post. I absolutely agree. Thanks for the enlightening read, good sir!

[live2play]

nintendo only does mario zelda and metroid LOL ROFL TROLOLO!!!!!!

"The younger generation is clearly very insecure about the level of their maturity and are confusing playing a game with an m rating with being more adult"

TRUE

but they wont see that

games need to be realistic because thats innovative and innovative games are the only good games because they are innovative /S

[born2live]

Not bad, but I can't agree with everything you just said.

Nintendo is daring in their use of new but affordable technologies, but that it not always successful (remember the power glove? the VirtuaBoy?)

The biggest reason for their success back in the '80s with the NES was those exclusive contract that they forced 3rd party developpers to sign (which accounted for them having 95% of the market while the Sega had the remaining 5%). After their shady monopolistic behaviour was struck down in the 90s, they lost a lot of market, and failed to adjust to the needs of their maturing clientele for more mature games.

The Wii worked at first because it was indeed innovative and easily accessible. Motion sensor gaming was rather new (not entirely but) and has since been replicated (although not as successfully) by other console makers. However, it became clear with time that 3rd party developpers would rather spend their time and energy on cross plateform games (cheaper to port from one console to the other) rather than on the Wii (which line up never actually improved enough for me to buy one - no app killers), which is too unique - games have to be redesigned to fit the style of the Wii, and usually not very well.

I fear the Wii U will be a monumental failure, as 3rd parties are really unlikely to develop their games in teh Wii U perspective, especially in an era where mobile gaming is getting more and more popular. You can't hope to survive on first party games only in the 21st century.

The 3DS is an astounding piece of technology and has great potential (plus it's backward compatible and backed with one of the best collections of portable games ever), but with 3 huge weaknesses: lousy battery life, poor viewing angle in 3D, and no second joystick. They could have easily fixed the latter with the new XL, but failed to do so, which is an horrible business decision, especially in North America, considering that a sizable amount of the most successful games are FPS.

I've grown with Nintendo and have them tattooed on my heart, but I believe they are on the wrong track, and may not survive another 20 years. I wish them the best though, and hope that they will somehow survive those poor hardware choices.

[live2play]

"especially in an era where mobile gaming is getting more and more popular"

ugh anothter one of "those"...

just because angry birds is being downloaded bajillions of times (actual number) (not really)

DOES NOT

mean people still wont crave a deeper more immersive experience. not everything cheap fast and easy survives.

LUXURIES exists in this world. dedicated gaming machines are luxuries and have their place in this 7 BILLION people populated earth

its not like people rush out and buy an ipad and iphone to play angry birds.
people rush out and buy ipads and iphones JUST because "ooooohhh ahhhhhh coooool" and those devices JUST SO HAPPEN to play app games

if app store games did not exists on those devices PEOPLE WOULD STILL BUY THEM

PEOPLE WOULD STILL BUY THEM

BECAUSE "COOL"

i will repeat to get it through your head

PEOPLE WOULD STILL BUY THOSE IPADS/IPHONE
EVEN IF THOSE APP STORE GAMES DID NOT EXIST

the rise of mobile games is not the cuase of the rise of the mobile market

THE RISE OF THE MOBILE MARKET caused mobile games (TIME WASTERS) to be played alot because they are just there

dedicated gaming machines provide people with EXPERIENCES. people MAKE TIME to play those games.
app store games are TIME WASTERS we just KILL TIME with those

there will ALWAYS be a market for DIFFERENT EXPERIENCES

i could even make the argument that those app store games WILL CREATE MORE DEDICATED GAMERS and they will want to seek something better and in turn CAUSE THE RISE OF DEDICATED GAMING MACHINES

SO.. HA!

listen to this

mcdonalds sell $1 dollar burgers
cheap, fast, easy to get, plain and bare bones

non fast food restaurants (say chillis) sell $15 dllr burgers
cost more, take more time, bigger, more filling

fast food value menus HAVE NOT KILLED OFF non fast food restaurants
PEOPLE STILL CRAVE TO BE FILLED, TO HAVE A BETTER BIGGER MEAL, even if it cost more

do you see that?

"this is what they are fighting against"

oh...really?

so this "competition" didnt exist before but now it does, so thats why they arent doing great?

and when the DS launched, they had no competition like the 3DS has now?

SO WHY DID THE 3DS OUTSELL THE DS??????

the 3DS sold in 9 MONTHS
what the Ds sold in an ENTIRE YEAR

AND WITH THE SUPPOSED "COMPETITION" IT HAS NOW

peopel want to believe SOOOO BADLY and the media wants to drive it into their heads SOOOO HARD that mobile games are the future
but not only that
but that it will COMPLETLEY get rid of any other gaming related thing

that is where they are wrong

[born2live]

Relax, my friend. I did not say that phone games will replace consoles anytime soon, but it's still a reality of this market, and you have to accept that... Casual gamers are more common than hardcore gamers. I, for one, am an hardcore gamer, and will not even consider playing phone games (heck, I've got a 3DS, a DSI XL, am probably getting a Vita and the 3DS XL soon), no real gamer would consider them games anyway. I'm just saying that this is what they are fighting against, and they have to have that in mind when they come up with new stuff.

@shnazzyone - you're being oversensitive. 3 of the 5 games you've named are also DS/3DS games, and if you read me correctly, I praised the DS/3DS, which has been Nintendo's best move in the last 10 years, but Zelda actually underperformed in terms of sales. You've named 5 games that were successful on the Nintendo, while I can name 100 on the Xbox and PS3 (that's 100 each!) which outperformed Zelda (although Zelda is pretty recent). What other game have you been playing lately on your Wii? Coz most people I know who bought 1 when it came out can't find it anymore; it's hidden under a pile of dust. I can see that you are a dedicated Nintendo fan, just don't let it blind you to the realities of this market...

[Shnazzyone]

Real nintendo fans know you can't tell Nintendo what to do. They do their own thing. In the end you'll eventually get something awesome for the system found nowhere else.

What is the equal of Skyward sword, Animal Crossing, Mario galaxy, kid icarus: uprising, and super mario land 3d on the other systems?

Nintendo was never a success because 3rd parties were in their grasp, atari had third parties too, as did the master system. Nintendo brought back gaming because their titles spoke for themselves. No amount of advertising could compare to the fact that those games were timeless.

[darkgod]

thats the issue these days those crappy fps games.

[mike1up]

There are comments that deserve Bubble Votes... and then there comments that hold you at gun point, beat you down, and demand all of Bubble Votes and Agrees that you have in your wallet. This is definitely one of the latter! Very well said, and Bubble Up+!

Sorry to put you on the spot, but after hearing all of that, I am seriously expecting a heart piece to appear in this channel from a puff of black smoke.

[DFresh]

I just want (4) things from Nintendo.

1.) Progression.
(I'd rather have visuals and game play over gimmicky controls any day which is where compatibility comes into play.)

2.) Compatibility.
(Analog controllers, Older Systems, Accessories, etc.)

3.) New IPs.
(I want new IPs. Preferably for the consoles and not the handhelds.)

4.) Put a second analog stick on their handhelds.
(Not circle pads but actual analog sticks.)

Wii U is at least going in the right direction but the handhelds I think not.

[darkgod]

i dont like the vitas anolog sticks i perfer the slide pads

[AdvanceWarsSgt]

Why should they not make new IPs for their handhelds? You want them to stagnate there as well?

[CouldHaveYelledUiiW]

BRAVO, Good gentleman! Bravo! Top drawer analysis!

"Well Said" 1-UP *SMB MIDI CHIME*

[AWBrawler]

Bubble up. Well said

[Megaton]

Yes. Roughly 10 years ago.

[NYC_Gamer]

I haven't brought a Nintendo console since the 64 and really don't see that changing based on E3

[born2live]

Really? not even a DS? So many amazing games on that console... But I do agree with you partially. The N64 was one of their best consoles. The GameCube did not live up to my expectations (considering what the competition was offering) and the Wii still doesn't have a sufficiently interesting line up (and it's not HD!!)...

[darkgod]

n64 had less games then gamecube lol

[mike1up]

I never lost faith in them, however, I had to acccept Nintendo for what they are. Nintendo lives by the code of the trend-setter.

Imo Nintendo would choose to fail miserably with their own ideas, rather than succeed on the ideas of other men. Most of the time this philosophy has pushed innovation and worked wonders for Nintendo, but there have also been misfires.

[AWBrawler]

Why are there so many screaming for New IPs from Nintendo, yet when Nintendo releases something new, they scream "kiddy", "gay", "lame" or "gimmicky"?

Sure Pikmin looks childish on first glance, but it is a seriously hardcore strategy game, and you can't argue that Nintendo is milking it, because it just came out on the Cube and even skipped a gen (minus ports).

So, All of these people screaming New IP! New IP! New IP! Have you even played their most recent IPs? Sells say that you haven't. They say that you're ignoring:
Trace Memory
Steel Diver
Magical Starsign
Geist
Custom Robo
Chibi Robo
Hotel Dusk
Sin and Punishment
Battalion Wars
Disaster day of Crisis
Sakura Samurai
Dillon's Rolling Western
Cursed Memoirs
and all the other games that they put out. I think people just use the Mario Zelda Metroid Pokemon argument when they don't even own the system theirself, so they can try to seem like they actually searched for good games. And Why limit to just Nintendo games, There are some 3rd party games exclusive to Nintendo as well. So no, our faith in Nintendo isn't shrinking, it's just people with no interest in them anyway,are just being more vocal about it online.

[ThePsychoGamer]

Trace Memory, The game is seven years old, not exactly recent.

Geist Another seven year old IP.

Custom Robo, You mean the IP originally came out in 1999 for the N64, and most recent iteration was released six years ago

Chibi Robo, This is six years old

Sin and Punishment, originally came out in 2000 for the N64, again not a recent new IP.

Batalion Wars, This is part of an IP that originally came out on the famicon in 1988

Dusk Hotel. Five years is stretching it close, but I'll give this one to you, that's one new recent IP.

Sakura wars, Yea, ok that's two

Disaster day of Crisis, It's completely fair that people don't see this as a new IP, the name and concept are incredibly similar to Disaster Report, an old PS2 game, and it was never released in the US. Still that's two recent new IPs still that's three. (Not coming out in the US could have been a non issue, but Nintendo region locked the Wii, to bad.)

Cursed Memoirs: Now this one just plain doesn't count as it is not a new IP to begin with, it's a spin off of Fatal Frame.

Also going back to Nintendo's treatment of Disaster and Fatal Frame 4, this also serves as a good reason why several US gamers have lost a lot of faith in Nintendo, simply publishing games like these or Fatal Frame 4 (or hell licensing them to other publishers)could have done a lot for the Wii, yet Nintendo of America said no.

Getting pack one topic of your New IP response, only three where actually recent new IPs. Not really making your case.

Break the locks.

[AWBrawler]

You are missing my point, and those games aare not all, and there is wy more than mario, zelda, pokemon, metroid is what i was saying. also if something didn't debut in US until after the Wii launched (Sin and Punishment) Then thats a new IP for us. I don't live in Japan, so that has no bearing on me if a game came out in 88 that we didn't get in US till 2001 (Advance wars)
Get off this lock breaking high horse and read what my post was really saying.

I am saying Nintendo and 3rd parties make a lot of exclusives each gen, but only the people who never liked the in the first place, are the ones bitching saying its only mario, zelda, pokemon, metroid. Please learn how to stay on topic.