Topic: What if Nintendo did a total image overhaul?

Suppose Nintendo was getting desperate, and wanted to adopt an image similar to Sony and Microsoft. How would you react if Nintendo were to abandon it's family-friendly roots and go for a "core gamer" image. Can you imagine them going....

"Say hello to the 'New' Nintendo! Bye bye Mario, Samus is the new face of the company. Mii's are no more. We got a new console so insanely powerful and easy to develop for, it'll make Sony and Microsoft crap themselves. All hardware is now black, because black is cool and edgy. Cartoony graphics and cel-shading are outdated, here's realistic and M rated Zelda and Metroid. Game mechanics are irrelevant today, now it's all about stories and cinematics. No more handhelds because handhelds are gay. All our Marios, Kirbys, etc. are moving to Smartphones and tablets. We got every single 3rd party on board, from Ubisoft, to EA

Kids are not a viable audience anymore because kids are morons, so now we're marketing to the Doritos and Taco Bell crowd. All the charm and sense of humor in our presentation? Gone, now we're completely serious and sophisticated. You want new IPs, we got em', no more Splatoon kiddy crap, here's a bunch of realistic, gritty games. No more gimmicks or new ways to play and actually improve gameplay, dual analog and buttons only from now on. We getting more western studios designed to cater to western tatses, so no more quirky Rhythm Heaven, Japan crap. And finally, our online is on par with Xbox Live and is only $50 a month.

The New Nintendo, because we're so cool!"?

Yeah, me neither. As I said before, Nintendo should stick to making the games they want to make, not what market research and focus groups them to make. If they do end up trying to do all this, then it just makes them seem desperate, and look like posers. And I do want them to continue coming up with unconventional controls. Say what you want about touch screens, or motion controls, at least Nintendo is trying to push the industry foward. But, I will say they do need to make better decisions in regards to online and hardware.

???

If they did, then many of us would need to rethink our lives. So let's hope they don't.

Can't see 'em doing such a thing.

Making Zelda, & Metroid m-rated really wouldn't do anything positive for those series, I'm pretty sure. It might get the audience of gamers that go for a game rated m, to initially purchase those games, regardless of either games' content. I've always said, that in movies, & video games, most of the time, if not always, there are ways to address mature themes in stories/topics, such as sex, & violence, w/o ever showing any of it. So, if a Metroid, or Zelda called for such a rating, I would hope Nintendo kept that mindset during (game) development. Just including stuff of that nature for the sake of, it's pointless, save for sales targeting the demograph of gamers that want specifically that kind of material.

Since Nintendo is targeting "families/all-age-groups", I'm not sure they would charge for online play, or even have a tiered online scheme w/ free online as a basic. I'm sure Nintendo sees their free online as something they can say the competition doesn't have, & that, while it may cost them, that the gain outweights the loss; they have in their corner free online probably as a reason to help incline consumers to get their machines. I wouldn't certainly be interested in anything of an payed online service of any sort.

As for hardware, I would only say I always want it to be powerful for its time. I also wish Nintendo would do more than 1 hardware gen of bwc(backwardscompatibility). I understand that short of including actual cartridge slots, for the WU this means only 2 levels of bwc, Wii, & Gamecube. Still, Gamecube functionality would be nice, w/o modding my console, regardless if it's a hard, or soft mod. Maybe Nintendo's skipping out on GC this gen, to release those games next gen.

Edit: I don't support modding consoles, nor do it myself.

Haha I really hope your life isn't that heavily built on Nintendo's image. Look outside, there's plenty of other stuff here as well!!

So basically Nintendo becomes that nice innocent kid in high school that turned into a total rebel in college...

It would make an interesting story, but it would suck if it happened.

@Capt_N I really don't think this was supposed to be a serious discussion, haha. Could be wrong though. It's just that the way the OP was phrased seemed to me like they were just saying "What if? Lol" as opposed to "Please discuss"

Of course it's going to sound silly if you frame criticism of Nintendo as a giant Straw Man.

No.

@iKahn
Nintendo is already a rebel. They throw Mario into people's faces, and everyone's like "Oh ma gawd, brah, where's the blood?".

Most kids were always morons. You and I were morons too. Humans are born from a place of ignorance, you can't blame them for that.

Well...first I'd laugh myself half to death, then once the reality of it actually set in that is (completely improbable/psychotic 180% change face for Nintendo!) I'd lay down...and sob myself to sleep, then fire up the 3DS and play some of the best "kiddy" Nintendo games a handheld has ever seen. Gritty Nintendo is the last thing the world needs, we already have two "Dudebro, 1080p, 60 FPS, if it ain't M rated it suxs!!!!!!!!!!!!!! and DRM for all." Two companies use that as their strategies, the only thing keeping Ninty going, is their "against the grain color and fun (plus showing E rated games, with color can be fun too)" Nope if this Gritty Nintendo happened, I would leave the game industry to rot. Only thing it would deserve at that point...

Have you played Red Steel 2, Skyward Sword, MadWorld, No More Heroes, WarioWare, Any tilt based game? The problem wasn't the controller. The Wii remote actually is a great controller, but only if you use it correctly. They problem with many initial Wii games was that developers didn't know how to use motion controls tastefuly at the time, so they tried shoehorning it in to various actions and genres to see if it worked. Later in the system's life, developers started understanding how it's supposed to work. So though it have limitations, the Wiimote wasn't the problem, it was the developers. I agree with what you said about the gamepad though.

Nintendo does need an image overhaul, but they don't need to change any of their games to do it. I mean yeah, advertise things like Metroid more heavily to teens/older people while advertising the more "E" stuff to the youngins', but they just need to shake the "kiddy" image. That would take years upon years, though, since they are extremely entrenched in the "not to be taken seriously" category from the mainstream populace.

Wait. Why is Samus now a dudebro shooter character? Have you ever actually played metroid? She's the exact opposite. Metroid is in no way, a dudebro shooter. Its closer to Zelda than halo. Also, why do you have such a big problem with Nintendo making more mature games? They need a little freaking variety. It can't be cutesy all the time.

That is not what rebellion is. To rebel is to go against the norm. PS4 and Bone are undeniably the "norm", and they have the sales and public sentiment to prove it. They both chase the same demographics, release the same sorts of games, and conform to whatever the market imposes upon them (be it good or bad).

Nintendo is the rebel in the industry. Nobody is doing quite what Nintendo is doing nowadays. PS4/Bone are engaged in a digital arms race while Nintendo releases hardware that is powerful enough while using considerably less power than its competitors (even less so than the Wii). Nintendo will use more powerful hardware someday, sure, but only when it can be utilised with less power, less cost, and with less of a chance of failure. Sony and Microsoft have Nintendo beat both in power consumption AND hardware failure. Hardly something to boast about.

I don't think the problem here is the image that Nintendo is presenting necessarily, but the image that the public have formed of Nintendo. Bafflingly, there is still a lot of sentiment for Nintendo's older hardware (particularly the SNES, N64 and Game Boy line), and there are many actively seeking out this old hardware, which makes no sense when one could just buy a Wii, Wii U or 3DS to play the best that these old systems have to offer.

I never said it was a dudebro shooter.

By the way, have you actually played either an Xbox or playstation? They are nothing like that. The only games advertised that way, are some of the big AAA releases. Not every game on non Nintendo consoles is dark and mature. Ever heard of ratchet and clank? Tearaway? Little big planet? Jak and Daxter? Viva pinata? How about jrpgs? Nintendo does NOT make the only games with cartoons graphics.