They need a great big Mario sunshine style of 3d platformer and get away from the simple "3d land" style.
I can't stress how much I agree with this! To me it feels lazy. Yeah, they're cool casual games and I've had kids in the family get into it, but they need to throw us hardcore fans from the 90s a bone here, I miss the good, strong old Mario games that didn't have elevator music in them.
Nintendo does have a formula when it comes to introducing a new console. They never come out with cutting edge technology. They find a cute little niche that makes them different, and a heavy use of mascots, familiar characters, and updated time tested games.
I think they have been following this recipe since the GameCube, and they have been slowly losing ground since. Wouldn't it be smart to break away from that marketing plan and do something different for a change. If you want to change the trend you have to go against the grain. It just makes sense to me.
So let's see now. What can they do to become competitive? The typical Nintendo way isn't working.
I strongly disagree.
They rely on their IP because it's not only good business but it's the edge they have, it what gamers want. I wouldn't have bought the Wii U or ended up with a Wii if it weren't for Zelda, Mario, Smash Bros, etc... and I wouldn't want a 3DS for me and one for my wife if it weren't for Pokemon. Why would I possibly want a technologically inferior console with tiny storage if it's not for their exclusives? And exclusives they have a ton of; I agree, not all of them are Donkey Kong, Kirby, Mario, etc... but I think you're overlooking how every time one of those games come out they innovate gameplay with something unique.
Examples: Super Mario 64 came out and I'd never experienced 3D gaming, like many others. It was a complete new concept and very well done (I still think it holds up well compared to many N64 games released years later). Then GameCube came out and Mario Sunshine soon followed. The whole integration of the FLUDD system made it a completely different experience from Super Mario 64. Let's not even go that far: Ocarina of Time is a straight-forward adventure game with RPG elements to me, though I've heard people simply call it an RPG. Regardless, name a similar title, similar as far as experience. I can think of many open-world epic games, like Dragon Age or the Elder Scrolls, and those two are very different in mechanics, but they're even more different from Ocarina of Time than to one another. Then compare Ocarina of Time to Majora's Mask. Same console, same engine, same models and skins for
a lot of stuff, but the entire mask theme and mechanic makes it very distinct. There's also the time aspect, and even other smaller stuff not directly linked to gameplay, like the noticeably darker overall tone of the story.
Now let's compare the N64 Zeldas with Wind Waker. I hadn't ever played a game based on open-world exploration with your own boat. It's very distinct and very unique, and yes, it does also manage to make it feel like a Legend of Zelda game, so to me that's remarkable and brilliant game-making.
Also to your point, they've been reusing many franchises ever since the NES had a follow-up in the SNES, way before the GameCube, with continuing most of the franchises already discussed, but also others they had the rights to at the time, like the Teenage Ninja Turtles for example.
The reason for using a big franchise at release is simple hype. Who wants to buy the PS4 with a handful of obscure games? You want to buy it with the new Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, or better yet, exclusives like the new Uncharted, or the Xbox One with Halo. In fact, I think Wii U sales took so long to pick up because they
didn't release their major franchises until several months ago, over a year into the console's lifespan.
Last, but not least, I agree that I'd like to see Nintendo become more competitive, as I personally feel as though the last generation and currently they're more comparable to having either the PS or Xbox
and also gaming on PC, rather than competing with Microsoft and Sony.
The NX coming out with significant hardware updates (and they'd have a 2-year advantage in getting better hardware than the others to truly try to come after them) would be awesome and completely in line with this. I'm
so hoping for it!
