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Nintendo should retire Mario, Zelda and Metroid

Mass freakout instead of thoughtful responses. Exactly as I expected.

Retiring these characters for at least a few years will challenge Nintendo creatively. That's what I would like to see.

HEY GUYZ, NINTENDO SHOULD RETIRE THE WORLD'S MOST POPULAR VIDEO GAME FRANCHISE.

What did you expect man? That suggestion just makes me angry.
 
They do need to expand their 'big' franchises. While the games are great they haven't done anything new at Pikmins level in a while. Or at least not often.
 
What else do they have?

I am OK with discussing this premise, but they make up their core business.

Seems unreasonable without other proven hits.
 
Mass freakout instead of thoughtful responses. Exactly as I expected.

Retiring these characters for at least a few years will challenge Nintendo creatively. That's what I would like to see.
Because its stupid to completely retire the franchises that make them money while totally banking their future on IPs that they don't know if people will respond well to.

Its a good thing you don't run a business.
 
I never understand why NIntendo is constantly requested to put their franchices to rest when the rest of the industry and first parties usually stop only when they burn into the ground? vWhy dont they make Socom games anymore? or Resistance? Or Viva Piñata?. NIntendo has done an amazing job keeping these franchises alive and profitable for 25+ years with a good mix of innovation, tradition, marketing and timing. Why stop?
 
mario_bros_haters_gonna_hate_by_mattmcmanis-d352c8d.gif
 
I know that these IPs are considered "hardcore" by Nintendo and NeoGAF posters, but the sales of these franchises have been on a declining curve over the last ten years.

Mario Kart Wii is the best selling racing game of all time.

Zelda Twilight Princess (both Wii and GCN) is the second best selling Zelda ever (after Ocarina of Time).

And both NSMB DS and NSMB Wii have both passed the 20 million sales mark, each.

These past 10 years have not been a decline at all. It was a rebirth.
 
Mass freakout instead of thoughtful responses. Exactly as I expected.

Retiring these characters for at least a few years will challenge Nintendo creatively. That's what I would like to see.

Why do people like these always conveniently forget that Nintendo does put out new IPs consistently, but they all bomb?
 
I didn't really expect a sequel to Dillon's Rolling Western. I didn't give the game much of a chance and might do that eventually. Maybe Nintendo has plans for that as a franchise.
 
I know that these IPs are considered "hardcore" by Nintendo and NeoGAF posters, but the sales of these franchises have been on a declining curve over the last ten years. Frankly, it's strange that in 2013, Nintendo is still touting these characters, and having to hold on to the tropes of these franchises (ie. Zelda dungeons, Mario rescuing Peach from Bowser, Samus recollecting her powerups) is creatively limiting. I would like to see Nintendo build a new stable of AAA franchises without relying on the crutch of these characters.

Cue, Poochie pics.

What?

I don´t think you know what you are talking about.
 
This is backwards. Nintendo attaches familiar characters to games they want to make based on who fits best. When they decided to make a racing game, they attached Mario because he's their "Mr. Videogames" character who can be adapted to all sorts of genres. They don't decide that since Mario is just sitting around, that they'll make a racing game for him. So retiring characters to make new games serves no purpose.

Mario Kart came out more than 20 years ago.

The Nintendo fans on this forum are a perfect reflection of the company itself, dogmatic, conservative, and absolutely resistant to change.
 
I've said it before and i'll say it again, i'll never understand why Metroid of all things gets grouped in with Mario and Zelda in the overly used Nintendo franchise department.
It's never held the same levels of sale success, it was dormant for an entire generation with far less titles overall.
Meanwhile Pokemon is still a juggernaut that Nintendo do rely a lot on, hell Kirby gets more use than Metroid these days.
 
I love that OP's slant on this is, declining sales, should retire games. Even if we accept up front that sales have been going down for ten years without questioning that for a minute, I like that it's not "These well loved, critically acclaimed games have declining sales, more people should try them out and/or buy them". No, we fly past objectivism, or as an example plenty think NSMBU is a really good fun engaging game, albeit a little too soon after the last installment, and land straight on "If sales go down, it should die." I'd love to see how OP won't contradict this in the future with one of their favourites.
 
Mario and Metriod are fine. Nintendo need to put Zelda on vacation and give it a big rethink because it's pretty stale now.
 
I know that these IPs are considered "hardcore" by Nintendo and NeoGAF posters, but the sales of these franchises have been on a declining curve over the last ten years. Frankly, it's strange that in 2013, Nintendo is still touting these characters, and having to hold on to the tropes of these franchises (ie. Zelda dungeons, Mario rescuing Peach from Bowser, Samus recollecting her powerups) is creatively limiting. I would like to see Nintendo build a new stable of AAA franchises without relying on the crutch of these characters.

Cue, Poochie pics.

Well, Metroid has probably been retired, at least for the foreseeable future.

Not many of your other points make very much sense, though. It's like complaining every James Bond movie has him smanging women and shooting bad guys.

Also, Galaxy is the best Mario game, SM3DL is the best handheld Mario, and NSMBU has great level design. Mario's definitely not on a decline. What did we get in the N64 and GC eras? A good open world first-attempt 3D Mario, a lackluster followup, and a bunch of ports for the GBA. Lame.

Zelda's a harder case to argue against, though. But they do change things up each game, in SS most of all. And they're supposedly going to go even further in the next game if Aonuma is to be believed (I'm not sure I do, but some of what he's said about making dungeon progression nonlinear is enticing.)
 
Has Disney ditched Mickey Mouse?
Has DC gotten rid of Batman?
Has Coca-Cola canned Santa Clause?


These are company staples that still work, and they are all much much older than Mario/Zelda/Metroid.
 
Mario Kart came out more than 20 years ago.

The Nintendo fans on this forum are a perfect reflection of the company itself, dogmatic, conservative, and absolutely resistant to change.

So first the OP says that sales dictate that they should kill of those franchises, and when that was debunked he pulls out the tired old 'everybody who doesn't agree with me is just a Nintendo fanboy'.

It's also strange that whenever Nintendo does something to separate itself from the competition, they're dismissed as gimmicks, but somehow that shit all goes out the window when it's time to complain about them.

Nintendo have their faults - massive faults but this shit is getting old. There's plenty of valid points to complain about when it comes to Nintendo. Why complain in a way that doesn't make sense?
 
OP, Nintendo does create new IP's such as Style Savy. However, for many people on this board, games of that variety do not fall within their target audience. That's why you appear so jaded.

Plus this is a Nintendo Direct, and I expect E3 with the Wii U will be the time/system of focus for more "hardcore" game reveals.
 
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