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[RobFox64tm]

Even though Nintendo has a lot of games that feature the same characters, it doesn' t mean their line up isn't diverse. Considering the trends that the rest of the industry are following, Nintendo actually offers unique options in genres and play styles few others attempt, so I wouldn't really want to see them change things TOO much, at the risk of actually becoming a less diverse software developer. What Nintendo needs is better third party support to compliment their own games, but the way things are right now, it would take a lot for that to happen in any meaningful way.

 

[DidntKnowJack]

the expression is "yea or nay"

Funny side note. Even though I know what you;'re saying is correct, I usually write "yay" on message boards because I always feel like people are going to think I'm misspelling or trying to say "yeah" instead of yea.

 

[Polioliolio]

Yes, they need to diversify.

The problem with continuing old series is that generally, the way they design games now leads to simple, unsatisfying 'never will be as good as the oldies' sort of thing.

If they put new things on the table, everyone will be happy.

 

[Mr-Joker]

I still can't believe that they had Retro make DK. Ridiculous decision.

I would rather have Retro work on a new Donkey Kong game than force them to make a horrible Metroid Prime 4.

 

[fernoca]

The thing about the "New IP" argument is that people set arbitrary goal posts on what "counts" as a New IP.

Pushmo and Dillon's Rolling Western? ESHOP DOESN'T COUNT!
Xenoblade and The Wonderful 101? THIRD PARTY DOESN'T COUNT! (even though Nintendo owns Monolith and they 100% funded 101, in fact the original plans were to use the Nintendo mascots).

Yep.
Also add the "Nintendo should bring exclusives from indies" > Shin'en > "Oh.. they don't count because they're usually Nintendo exclusive".

In general if anything the main thing more than diversity is output. They do have a diverse lineup...but since they have their studios focused on the main franchises to (try to) drive sales to their platforms, they currently can't.

 

[zenosparadox]

From various quotes of Nintendo execs, it seems to me that Nintendo views (what I consider small) changes to existing franchises as NEW enough, if that makes sense. Only when changes to hardware were more extreme (NES to SNES to N64) did new installments of established series feel nearly brand new.

Then, when a new IP actually is released, the masses ignore it because it is not Mario. I think that's the curse of marketing your console to families.

I love Nintendo, but I would not want to be in their shoes. Not sure how they can get themselves out of this hole they dug for themselves with the Wii U.

 

[TDLink]

Pushmo, Dillon, Wonderful 101 and a bunch more....

I hope the bunch more is packed with quality because you just listed a puzzle game and 2 underwhelming games. It is of course implied that such new IPs would be of the calibre of Mario and Zelda.

Wonderful 101 is not underwhelming. It's the best game on the platform right now and Wonder Red could easily be as iconic as some of Nintendo's other characters.

 

[tuffy]

Nintendogs, Brain Training, Wii Sports and Wii Fit were all new IPs that really help push hardware, and Nintendo could use more new IPs in the same vein to go alongside its existing franchises.

 

[KillerDark]

yay. I think if Nintendo adds some new IP's (whether 1st or 3rd party) it would help attract more gamers.

 

[daakusedo]

Some good fps like on the n64 days.
Titanfall made me think that a proper fps conceived with the depth nintendo generally put in their mechanics and level design, would be great.

 

[Shahed]

Of course they should. More diversity is a bonus for everyone and all 3 platform holders should do so. It's one of the things I like most about Sony's output even if the quality bar isn't as high and there's quite a few games I don't care about.

Offer something for near everyone, and then everyone would have a reason to own your platform. But just don't diversify for the sake of it as a means of ticking genre boxes. They have to be retain their quality

 

[TheBaronOfNA]

There's been plenty. Pushmo, Dillon, Wonderful 101, a bunch more.

Two were low risk Downloable Titles.

 

[PlumCantaloupe]

Yay. I would love to see an officially released NES themes WiiU with some NES pack-ins to welcome the "older" audience, then keep them with an online F-Zero and Metroid Prime Hunters.

 

[The Bankslammer]

Pushmo, Dillon, Wonderful 101 and a bunch more....

I hope the bunch more is packed with quality because you just listed a puzzle game and 2 underwhelming games. It is of course implied that such new IPs would be of the calibre of Mario and Zelda.

i uh
what
that's one word i never thought i'd hear used to describe it

anyways nintendo just needs more games period. they are too tiny to try to undertake development of basically the majority of worthwhile titles on their system, especially as they enter HD development. it was silly of them to not try to expand in anticipation.

 

[Jackano]

Nintendo is just saying they have their own portfolio (which is great) and that is enough to sell hardware (in a certain way indeed). But they live in their dream world where they think third part dev will come and expand the audience of their hardware with their own portfolio.
I think it's Nintendo's job to release more games to build the user base for the 3rd parties audience. And they do already have many IPs that can start this job: F-Zero, Wave Race, 1080° (in the racing/sports genres for example)...

What they do with Bayonetta 2 is cool but this one-timer can't be called a strategy about this, even if it's in the right direction.

However I don't agree with the copy-paste thing, like people being recently sarcastic about A Link Between Worlds for example. Nintendo is in the unique position to have a good number of 25 years old IPs. Try being as successfull and remain fresh for so long... Even Final Fantasy is facing some critics, DraQue is very conservative in its DNA... and I can't think of other 20-25+ years old IPs still alive at a AAA level (for now, there probably is a couple more of them).

 

[Majukun]

of course they should

 

[thefro]

Absolutely.

A lot of the sequels look like some of the best games in the series, but I'd like to see some more new IPs from Nintendo that are aimed at the western core gamer.

 

[TDLink]

Two were low risk Downloable Titles.

Four retail new IPs in the last few years were Wonderful 101, Xenoblade, Pandora's Tower (it could be argued this one was a budget project though), and The Last Story. They have also had a couple IP revivals in Luigi's Mansion 2 and Kid Icarus Uprising (which is essentially a new IP). X is coming next year. This is in addition to the half dozen or so new digital IPs they have released on the eshop in the last year, including the two mentioned.

 

[Crash Station]

Like I said, those projects don't feel like they had their hearts in them.

If you don't think Wondeful 101 was made with all the heart and effort Kamiya could put into it, you are insane. There's even a thread here about how it's possibly the most varied action game of all time.

Or are we defining quality and "heart" by metacritic again?

 

[Nyoro SF]

After all the Ninty fans tossed aside W101 I don't think they really deserve anything but repeats.

 

[Snakeyes]

Absolutely. Now more than ever, Nintendo needs to broaden their portfolio in order to rebuild its dwindling fanbase.

- Wave Race revival
- New F-Zero
- 1080 Snowboarding revival
- A lineup of arcadey sports games that serve as a middle ground between something like Mario Strikers and Fifa.
- A new third person shooter IP
- A new first person shooter IP (not Metroid, that's an FPA)
- A horror game (Eternal Darkness revival?)
- A new action-adventure IP (or maybe a Startropics revival?)
- Another console JRPG series. If I were them, I'd try establishing a new studio headed by influential designers that got thrown under the bus in the past decade. Write a blank check to Matsuno, Gooch, Ito, and go from there.

And of course, not a lick of Mario and friends in any of the new IPs. The last thing they need right now is to reinforce the perception of being a company that won't take a risk on anything not featuring their kid-friendly mascots.

 

[Coffee Dog]

It has been less than two months since nintendo released a hardcore niche new IP in a near-dead genre.

Try again.

 

[Keyouta]

Yes, even if it weren't new IPs. They have a lot of older ones that they let go unused. I want more diversity. Platformers are great, but give me some other choices.

 

[Crash Station]

Two were low risk Downloable Titles.

It's just what I could think of off the top of my head. I was on my phone and didn't want to look up all the other stuff they've made/published in the last few generations.

 

[Christberg]

Diversify is the right word for it. They need to have more of their company in western markets from the top down. You just don't understand the culture you're selling products to the same way you would if you grew up there. It affects everything from the bottom up.

 

[brickarts295]

yay, Mario is no longer selling point to me.

 

[Shard]

I vote yea because on the Wii U in the past year Nintendo has published FOUR minigame compilations in the past year. It is a well represented genre on the Wii U and the system would do well to get other things.

 

[GulAtiCa]

I didn't really care much for any of those. For whatever reason those didn't feel like they had Nintendo's full weight behind them.

So new IPs only count if you like them?

 

[Hyperactivity]

I personally don't care, but dipping their feet into the fps, sandbox, etc. genres popular in the West wile giving those genres a classic Nintendo twist and in fact help change the genre would be cool. I think Nintendo could easily make something like TF2, KI:U (again), etc.

Oh, and a fps with Nintendo fanservice and a hookshot and blue shells and bomb-ombs and screw attacks and morph balls and crazy Pokemon suff etc.WOULD BE AWESOME.

I don't even typically like fps(i/s???)

 

[Dukey]

New IPs would be nice, but their console game lineup wouldnt look so dreadfully unbalanced if they were simply able to learn how to court third parties. With third party support, you get the best of all worlds. Wii U without that is destined to remain a disaster.

 

[Uncle Rupee]

Games like Pushmo, Sakura Samurai, Harmoknight, and so on are great, but they're budget titles. As far as games like X and Wonderful 101 go, of course they are great but the problem is they are the exception to the rule.

Specifically I was focusing on the similarities between 3DS and Wii U retail titles with big budgets and teams behind them. I'm not saying eliminate Mario Kart (and other games) altogether, just limit it to one every five years or so. There's absolutely no need (other than Nintendo's financials) to release Mario Kart 7 and 8 so close together, or to have Smash Bros on both 3DS and Wii U. It would be more exciting if Wii U had a new Wave Race or F-ZERO on the way.

There's no need for so many NSMB games either, but because they have the engine and assets built (and Japan seems to go gaga for them) they're cranking them out like crazy. This also explains why we're getting another DCKR (Wii U) and 2.5D Kirby (3DS) so quickly - they have the assets and game engine from the Wii versions that are being used to quickly pump out more titles. The problem is they look like the Wii games just running in a higher resolution (or, in the case of Kirby, like Return to Dreamland just in 3D). It's a quick and lazy cash grab, and doesn't feel like the quality of games I have come to expect from Nintendo. Now imagine if, instead of DCKR2, Retro was building a game from the ground up to take full advantage of the Wii U. Now that would be exciting.

There's going to be at least *four* Zelda titles in the span of a few years (Zelda OOT3D, Zelda WWHD, Zelda LBW, Zelda U), and many are still clamoring for a Majora's Mask 3D! All I'm saying is maybe leave that one for their next system and put that team to work on something that would surprise and excite people again. Furthermore, maybe put some of the EAD staff on something other than a Mario or Zelda.

 

[Pie and Beans]

With this bundle out in time to coincide with this game release, its pretty clear Nintendo has a Mario over reliance problem certainly:

And then Mario Kart is the next big thing to wait for.

 

[Snakeyes]

Has there ever been a "sci-fantasy" FPS/TPS, in a setting similar to FF8 or Moebius' art? That style would play to Nintendo's strengths while offering something different in today's homogenized shooter market.

 

[FlashbladeGAF]

Pushmo, Dillon, Wonderful 101 and a bunch more....

I hope the bunch more is packed with quality because you just listed a puzzle game and 2 underwhelming games. It is of course implied that such new IPs would be of the calibre of Mario and Zelda.[/QUOTE]

I can't tell you how wrong you are.. You have to buy the game and see for yourself

And if you do make it to the end of the game.

You will be welcomed, with open arms

 

[TDLink]

With this bundle out in time to coincide with this game release, its pretty clear Nintendo has a Mario over reliance problem certainly:

And then Mario Kart is the next big thing to wait for.

Donkey Kong is the next big game and they have bundles other than the Mario one. I also don't see anything wrong with a lot of Mario provided they have other stuff as well, which they do.

 

[ffdgh]

Yes...they could use some variety.

 

[Fandangox]

I want an actual list of new IP's that have been released on Wii or Wii U in North America, not "and a bunch more". Then compare that to Microsoft and Sony.

Didn't keep it to North America, but here's on top of my head:

3DS:

(not sure if they actually owned/funded the IP)

Wii:

Including under that one other stuff like Wii Fit, Wii Play and Wii Music.

Uses lots of already existing characters, so not sure if it fits under what you are looking for.

Also Projecr Ha-

Wii U:

;-;

Could be related to Xenoblade, but going on how the makers of that game tend to make spiritual successors it might be a different thing altogether.

Edit: Added a couple more, there's probably some minor stuff that I am missing but those are the Wii/3ds/Wii U ones I could remember.

 

[Magic Mushroom]

Pushmo, Dillon, Wonderful 101 and a bunch more....

I hope the bunch more is packed with quality because you just listed a puzzle game and 2 underwhelming games. It is of course implied that such new IPs would be of the calibre of Mario and Zelda.

Wonderful 101 is one of the best games of the year. Original, colourful, mechanically rich... the kind of game we need more of.

 

[Uncle Rupee]

Didn't keep it to North America, but here's on top of my head:

Could be related to Xenoblade, but going on how the makers of that game tend to make spiritual successors it might be a different thing altogether.

The problem is Nintendo of America and Europe didn't bother to release Captain Rainbow (or Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love, or Chibi-Robo Okaeri, or Soma Bringer, the list goes on and on) outside of Japan. Nintendo of America didn't bother releasing games like Doshin, Tingle's Freshly Picked, Disaster Day of Crisis, Another Code, Last Window etc that were already translated into English by NOE, and only very quietly released Xenoblade in small quantities a year after it was out in Europe. And if not for Xseed stepping in, North American gamers would not have gotten the chance to play The Last Story or Pandora's Tower.

Your post highlights a problem with NOA more than anything, because NCL funding new IPs is pointless if they never get released for other regions.

 

[DragonSworne]

Nintendo should create EFFECTIVE and IMPACTFUL new IPs that rival the top performers in the industry.

Nintendo continually fails to make new IPs that sits with the big boys, that's what is upsetting people.

Is Nintendo truly only capable of making small scale, indie type games for their new IPs? If so, then there is a reason why they rely so heavily on their old franchises, they lost the capability to make anything new with the same scope and scale as their projects in the past.

 

[Louis]

That was Retro's choice. They could have went with Metroid or DK and they chose DK. No pressie from Nintendo whatsoever.

How do you know that ? Retro is not going to say that they don't want to work on Donkey Kong.

 

[Snakeyes]

Pushmo, Sakura Samurai, Dillon and The Wonderful 101 may be great but they're not the kind of new IPs Nintendo needs right now. They already have the colorful mascot game on lock, but it's not something that can sustain a platform.

 

[Fandangox]

The problem is Nintendo of America and Europe didn't bother to release Captain Rainbow (or Tingle's Balloon Trip of Love, or Chibi-Robo Okaeri, or Soma Bringer, the list goes on and on) outside of Japan. Nintendo of America didn't bother releasing games like Doshin, Tingle's Freshly Picked, Disaster Day of Crisis, Another Code, Last Window etc that were already translated into English by NOE, and only very quietly released Xenoblade in small quantities a year after it was out in Europe. And if not for Xseed stepping in, North American gamers would not have gotten the chance to play The Last Story or Pandora's Tower.

Your post highlights a problem with NOA more than anything, because NCL funding new IPs is pointless if they never get released for other regions.

Yeah the decision to initially not bring the 3 operation rainfall games its really baffling, I can understand something like Tingle's Ballon Trip of Love not making it over, but there was no reason for those games in specific to not come here, specially after NoE already localized them.

Well I guess if X is any indication it hopefully means they will start bringing more stuff over here.

 

[Zinger]

I actually think that Nintendo should unify their accounts and make a "3DS" and "Wii U" version of most of their games. A typical 3DS or lo-res version would cost $40 and could be played on either the 3DS or Wii U. Then the user could upgrade to the HD version, which requires the Wii U, for $20.

You keep the lo-res version after the upgrade so you don't lose the ability to play on the 3DS. So essentially there's a lost sale for Nintendo from anyone who would have bought both versions ($60 now gets you both versions whereas if they were sold as separate games it would have cost $100), but how many people are really going to buy both games anyway? Nintendo might make up for that with goodwill from their user base and it could provide incentive for 3DS users to also get a Wii U since there's a pretty good value in owning both systems.

Making 2 versions of every game obviously takes more development time then making just 1 version, but if both versions were essentially the same game outside of their graphical differences, then it would take less development time then what they're currently doing (which is making two completely separate games that fill the same role for each system). With this saved development time Nintendo would have time to invest in lesser used franchises or be able to create more new IPs (preferably some stuff that appeals to the gamer crowd, like Pikmin, as most of their new IPs in the past decade have been for the casual crowd).

I don't really know things tho so this might not be very feasible. The difference in hardware architecture might make building two versions of the same game a lot more work than I realize, and I could be underestimating the impact of the lost sales from people who would have paid full price for both games. Also, the 3DS might not be powerful enough to run "Wii U games at a much lower resolution", so this could mean that the Wii U's library would basically be "3DS games at a higher resolution" (if that makes sense - I remember reading that the programmers for 3DS version of SSB were having a difficult time getting simultaneous characters such as Ice Climbers to work correctly on the 3DS - so the 3DS might be limited by more than just graphics).

 

[LeleSocho]

Here we go again with this catch-22...

I want new IPs! Nintendo only rehashes franchise "X"!

Have you tried so and so?

Oh no, I don't care about those at all.

Understanding what people says between the lines 101:

When people say "I just want new IP" they actually mean "I just want new IP made by big and good studios with a good budget for the game".

 

[The Albatross]

Nintendo used to make sports games, or, publish sports games... Ken Griffey Jr Baseball, Kobe Bryant Courtside (or w/e that game was)... Whatever happened to this wing of Nintendo?

 

[Coffee Dog]

Nintendo should create EFFECTIVE and IMPACTFUL new IPs that rival the top performers in the industry.

Nintendo continually fails to make new IPs that sits with the big boys, that's what is upsetting people.

Is Nintendo truly only capable of making small scale, indie type games for their new IPs? If so, then there is a reason why they rely so heavily on their old franchises, they lost the capability to make anything new with the same scope and scale as their projects in the past.

Pushmo, Sakura Samurai, Dillon and The Wonderful 101 may be great but they're not the kind of new IPs Nintendo needs right now. They already have the colorful mascot game on lock, but it's not something that can sustain a platform.

So you don't want new IP, you want games that sell. There is a very large difference there.

 

[Dv8thwonder]

The variety is great now but more could not hurt. Now where's my next-gen Starfox/Waverace/F-Zero/Pilotwings sequels!

 

[Fandangox]

Is Nintendo truly only capable of making small scale, indie type games for their new IPs? If so, then there is a reason why they rely so heavily on their old franchises, they lost the capability to make anything new with the same scope and scale as their projects in the past.

From the list I put I think of the most recent only Xenoblade, Last Story, Wonderful 101 and X would as big scale games, with only Xenoblade and X being done in-house.

Too be honest not exactly sure how much difference would it make for X to be a new IP as from what we have seen so far it will be gameplay-wise similar to Xenoblade. I think its better off being a sequel to Xenoblade, but I am fine either way.


Unrelated please go play Wonderful 101 guys ;-;

 

[Shaanyboi]

I didn't really care much for any of those. For whatever reason those didn't feel like they had Nintendo's full weight behind them.

lol fucking really? "Yeahhhh... they're new but.... that's... not what I mean..."

Wonderful 101 is an excellent action game with a superhero/sentai coat of paint, both of which are gaps in Nintendo's modern library (aside from this motherfucker of course....). They had Xenoblade, Last Story, and now X coming.


Just say "I want Nintendo to make a shooter" or something more specific because then you may have an argument. As it stands, the "I want new IP" complaint has begun either making people look super hypocritical or super uninformed.