Topic: Should more Nintendo franchises get the BotW treatment for the NX?

So I think we can all agree that BotW tries to change a lot about 3D Zelda games we've become used to. The reveal of that game has obviously gotten a lot of people excited which may drive sales for the NX. So I was thinking, what other well-loved Nintendo games do you think should really try to shake up it's formula in attempt to remain fresh and exciting? Can be anything you want- as big or little a change as you like, but something that would be different for the franchise! I'll start:

Mario Kart 9:

There are two changes I'd like to see-

(1) I'd like to see more emphasis put into expanding the single player aspect to the game. This would likely be through offering different modes. They could bring back a double dash mode, but I'd also be interested in seeing you team up (with either a computer or second local player) so that you work together in accumulating points for your team (e.g. Toad/Toadette, Mario/Luigi). So basically how formula 1 works with the constructor championships.
(2) Shake up the race 3 lap race formula. It's overused and I think offering more variety of types of tracks could be really fun. I know we've already seen some prior tracks that have done similar things but for example more single long lap races would be great. This could even work across a whole cup whereby each stage is a continuation of the previous stage. Also, I'd like to see more stages that include multiple routes. Yoshi's valley is mostly everyone's favourite because of this, but I could see this working really well in a city-type stage where you have freedom to take any route. They could even include in this stage the function that start and end points are randomised each time meaning that you'll have to really think on your feet about which way to go

Mario could have more games like the Galaxy series where the plot expands beyond the simple defeat Bowser and save the princess formula.

This.

@Ultimategamer132 I'm not sure I understand. In the Super Mario Galaxy games, you have to defeat Bowser and save Princess Peach. How do you not do that in those games. If you're referencing the supporting cast in those games, every 3D Mario has had that.

I honestly don't care about story in Mario. If they could write a good plot, great. I'd love that. But I have never played a Mario game to experience a good story. Some things should just stick to what they're good at. In Mario's case, it's nailing platforming action mechanics. The story's just there to frame the actions of the player so the game feels less arbitrary than it is.

That depends on what you mean by "BotW treatment". Do you want more game to be open world games with near infinite freedom and a realisitc physics engine or just a new formula for certain IPs? Because the former won't really fit every IP out there, or only some aspects of BotW's formula will, but there's a ton of their IPs which could use new or improved formulas. Here are several IPs I think could change this gen:

Mario: There's several things BotW can work for Mario. But Mario has a bigger problem, which is that there's a rift in the fanbase between fans of the linear platformers and the collectathon platformers, so they need a new formula that can appeal to both better. Ultimately I think what Mario needs to do is work on level design that is both simple and straightforward enough to be a linear platformer but free and open ended enough to be a collectathon platformer, that should be the foundation for future games. With that in mind, I don't think Mario should be quite as open world as BotW, but definitely more than 3D Land/3D World, open world wouldn't be accessible enough for Mario so that would probably be an extreme. They should definitely work in BotW's physics and the ability to solve the same problem different ways (although in Mario's case, that should apply more to the platforming than the physics).

Metroid: Metroid could definitely benefit from the BotW treatment, but it needs the ALBW treatment more. Metroid could use a NSMB/DKCR/ALBW type of game, a grand revival of more traditional gameplay that draws from fan favorite games (in this case Super Metroid and Metroid Prime). I would probably design it to accommodate sequence breaking, allowing the player to progress in whatever order they want if they're clever enough to figure out other ways to progress. Also, for the 3D games I would stick with the Prime series, but maybe allow for a third person mode to allow for more platforming. I would also say work in BotW physics as well. I wouldn't go full in the BotW direction though. Metroid should stick with the traditional item system to keep progression item based, BotW's item system would ruin that. And if they make it too open world it would also ruin the feeling of isolation.

DK: DK is kind of stale and indistinct from other platformers, so it could use something to make it stand out more. Adding in more combat elements and making it Nintendo's answer to games like God of War could be a good direction for the series. Since this is kind of a risk for the series I'd be hesitant to brand such an experience as the next main series entry, probably more as a second branch in the series so that if it fails they can just ditch it, but if it is successful I would integrate the combat elements into the core gameplay. Aside from BotW's physics though, I can't see anything from BotW being particularly beneficial to DK.

Kirby: Kirby really needs a 3D game, but they can probably translate the traditional formula to 3D fairly easily. I wouldn't mind Kirby taking more influence from Squeak Squad though. Bring back the belly system to make item and ability management more interesting. Ability Scrolls would also be an interesting mechanic to see again, what if you only start off with a few moves for each copy ability and you gradually unlock more as you find more Ability Scrolls throughout the game? That would really incentivize exploration and puzzle solving. Again though, BotW probably wouldn't help Kirby much.

Yoshi: Like Kirby, Yoshi could definitely use a 3D game, we've seen Yoshi in some 3D Mario games but never a 3D Yoshi's Island game. Beyond that though, not really sure what can be done with Yoshi at this point, but it's about time we see this series evolve.

Star Fox: Several people here have suggested Star Fox become an open world space exploration game like No Man's Sky and I think this could be a great idea, Star Fox could stand to have more mainstream appeal (I would certainly be a LOT more interested in Star Fox if they made a game like that). It doesn't need to change that radically, they could still have missions that are more on rails, but adding in an overworld where you can explore planets and engage in dogfights at any time would make the gameplay a lot more fun.

So as it stands, Mario and Metroid have the most to gain from BotW, but there's a lot of IPs that they could create new formulas for or drastically alter existing ones.

They can't really do that well with minimalist stories though. If they just recycle those types of plots the games feel like glorified level packs and don't really feel distinct from one another. You need more than just good platforming mechanics to accomplish that, you need some unique way to frame/present the game, whether it's through plot, settings, themes, or what have you.

@Bolt_Strike Relax Bolt. The BotW treatment means delayed for 3 years. I don't think any franchises deserve this treatment for NX.

@DylanMcGrann

Supporting characters are not in every Mario game. Super Mario 3D Land? New Super Mario Bros. 2? They didn't have any new supporting characters. The only recent game that did is Super Mario 3D World, but that still followed the same story formula. Galaxy offered a different narrative in the way of Rosalina's storybook where her back-story was told to the player. Rosalina's story is the kind of narrative new Mario games need.

I think Mariokart could really use a re-vamp, but that's just from my perspective.

I don't play arcade racers any more. I've just played too many drivings simulations over the years at this point to really enjoy arcade racing any more...it just no longer feels right. I mean, these days, I'd literally play ChoroQ HG 3 & 4, Stunt GP and probably even Bomberman Kart for the PS2 (although I need to take a closer look at that one, I've not played it enough to say for certain) before I'd play Mario Kart. I literally have Mario Kart Wii here (given to me as a present) and I've not even opened it...I'm probably just going to put it on eBay.

I'd like to think I'm not such a small minority that Mario Kart couldn't afford to get a little more like the more sim-style ChoroQ's (ChoroQ HG 3 & ChoroQ HG 4).

I think it would be totally cool if you could buy parts and upgrade to make the karts drive like real go-karts, complete with manual transmissions and just lock that level of play away from the younger players by having different formula/class race events....

...Also I think it could totally be open world and an RPG / CarPG like ChoroQ Works seems to be (although I've not played it as it didn't get a localisation so I'm not exactly sure what Works is like but it looks like it could be a template for something really cool)...

(although, having said that, I imported ChoroQ works and just driving around the town (I havan't tried to progress due to the language barrier) it does feel like the sim-style driving physics have been removed. I'm not sure if that can be changed in the course of the game somehow.)

BotW treatment merely means a departure from the norm for a series*. That is it doesn't just try to improve by refining the previous iteration, but attempts something new/different from previous generations.

*technically, BotW could be seen as a return to the roots of Zelda, but here I'm more talking about the 3Đ Zelda's and generally what has become the 'norm' of the modern titles of that series.

Re: Metroid...I think a lot of the appeal of Metroid was its "non-linearity" (relative to pre-16-bit game design (Assuming we're discounting stuff like Monty Mole, Jetset Willy, Spindizzy, etc.)) but if you expand that structure into the third dimension in a modern context, by today's standards, rather than non-linear it's just kind of "relatively less-linear", than what we've seen before. Technically, unless you can collect the weaponry in a random order it's kind of a linear path but with backtracking and some randomness injected in the form of the player potentially wandering in circles trying to figure out the path forward.

I guess the obvious suggestion is to make it open world but how far can you get from the Metroid formula before it's just no longer Metroid? Maybe the next step is an incremental one where you can collect the weapon upgrades in a random order dependent on which path you're freely able to choose through the game. This in itself would probably mean a much larger environment just to accommodate the potential options that would be necessary to retain the basic metroid/castlevania type structure...so just the Metroid corruption structure but each branch exploded and expanded to accommodate approaches using every weapon/item from the game. I don't know but, unless you're going to completely re-boot the series I can't see how else it'd be done.

I guess at that point it comes back to content vs length and length vs replayability and what people really want (which, when you get right down to it, is probably just a Metroid custom-mod for GTA...but that probably wouldn't be Metroid, but rather GTA with a Metroid skin).

Personally, if I have to walk back and forth across an environment numerous times I'd rather it be on subsequent playthroughs rather than due to empty backtracking and circling environments looking for stuff I've probably missed, but then, I don't mind a certain amount of linearity in exchange for the higher quality production values it can offer and because it can be a lot less frustrating (as long as the game length hasn't been padded with what feels like endless repetition or punishing difficulty spikes (which always used to be the case with older games...or at least it felt that way to me. But having said that, I just want to enjoy the experience, I don't need to feel like I'm being challenged to a point just beyond my capabilities (and/or those of the game engine))).

Considering how most franchises people would want more of from Nintendo in the first place are pretty beloved and acclaimed and whatnot, this is easy.

Mario and Kirby games have been a bit samey for a while: Innovate!
Many other franchises haven't and/or people want them to stop innovating: Innovate much less!

that was easy