Topic: Would you buy a new Wave Race?

I mean, I do agree, in the sense that you need either a phenomenal game or great marketing/brand recognition to justify 70 dollars most times and Nintendo would rather do literally anything else than release a good, solid 40 dollar game. But I also don't think there's a sane price that would've made Air Riders a massive hit, its just through Sakurai's sheer will to make a quality content rich game and having earned a ton of attention that most other people whose job is ultimately "makes video games" would not get and the guaranteed Kirby supporters that will make it successful at all.

Now that's more a sign that the world is unfair considering how certain other Nintendo games are nearly guaranteed 10 million no matter what issues they have, but still, it is what it is.

cough https://www.nintendo.com/us/store/games/#p=1&sort=df&...

( Yes, they don't offer a way to sort by publisher, but the top of the chart is all Nintendo-published stuff anyway )

This makes them look worse, you know that right?

Like I love the Prime remaster and the Galaxy games are worth it imo, but the latter were still just fairly standard remasters of games only 10 dollars cheaper than they were 15+ years ago. And that's not even the problem.

The bigger issue is that its a tiny handful of games across 8 years when 40 dollar games used to be AN ENTIRE HALF OF NINTENDO'S LIBRARY. Nintendo went from 50% of their library to a game a year at this price, if that. And considering how poorly received the only cheaper than that games were received this past year (which they've otherwise barely done as well since Switch 1), when they also had a perfectly solid library of usually good, cheap download only games on 3DS, its not the best sign.

@kkslider5552000 I think that's the issue with the entire industry really, and it's not just gaming. Everything is becoming a massive budget spectacle or a tiny indie release. There's no middle ground, especially at the biggest companies. Release more mid-budget experiences.

@ElRoberico The weird thing is its not a huge issue at Nintendo. There are games SE called failures in 2013 for selling 3 million+ in a few months when BOTW needed 2 million to make a profit (Dead Space 3 as well IIRC). I'm fairly confident they're putting out games with reasonable and lower budgets compared to the competition, but that's not generally leading to more reasonable prices.

@kkslider5552000 I think part of the reason they haven't done anything to cut prices is because they're still mentally recovering from the Wii U days. Trauma runs deep, even corporate/fiscal trauma.

Not nearly as much worse as your original claim, which it shows to not merely look wrong, but to be actually wrong. You claimed Nintendo would rather die than release anything at a $40 price point. Lo and behold, its trivially easy to find a whole bunch of games that they have. . . released at a $40 or less price point.

If what you really mean to say is "Nintendo has charged too much for [specific game], more than I personally think it is worth", perhaps say that next time.

Do you not know what hyperbole is? Are you Drax levels of literally minded? Do I need to point out that obviously I know that LITERALLY Nintendo has released 40 dollar games in recent years?

I think I made my case already. They went from half to at best, once a year. Nintendo released 12 games in 2023 alone, so if we use that as the basis (which itself is me being generous with how many handheld games Nintendo used to release every year), that is going from 6 games to 1 game. That is a massive difference, on top of the half dozen other issues that have made their games feel increasingly, frustratingly, difficult to justify buying games beyond the guaranteed, must play safe bets. Which would not include Wave Race.

Guys, I just gotta ask: Do you not believe in inflation? Things get more expensive as time goes. That’s just how it is.

10 bucks more for games over the last decade or so doesn’t seem too bad to me.

Do you get mad that you can’t buy penny candies anymore?

All things said, I think the state of the gaming industry is terrible. But I also think the mindset of the average gamer is also pretty unrealistic. And neither party seems willing to meet in the middle.

I do worry about the future of this hobby a bit.

@rallydefault there's a difference between actual inflation and greedy corporations who want more money out of things. It's why the mid-range game is $50 US now instead of $40. When you're an old fogey who remembers paying that much for premium games, it's a lot.

Would they get more expensive over time? Naturally, but it isn't always the point. Sony's been really bad about charging $50 for "Remasters" and removing a cheaper path.

@rallydefault you make a good argument for just an extra $10.00, but a lot of gamers thought the price was already too high. It's so much 'JUST' another $10, it's more 'YET' another $10.

@ElRoberico
Hey now - I’m an old fogey, too. Might even be older than you.

And I’m all against corporate greed (don’t know many who are “for” it lol), but my point is that a general 10-buck increase over the course of 1-2 decades really ain’t all that bad. I think other hobbies would be pretty jealous of that. For the amount of time we get as gamers out of these products… it’s pretty incredible (if you really play your games inside and out).

@zool
Well, that’s where I think a lot of gamers have lost touch with reality. Everybody wants more in their games, or they want their favorite franchises to release faster. Well, great, but that takes bigger teams and way more expenses.

I mean the issue is that no one has the money for normal inflation. If not for that, it would be a relative non-issue. I still think its not even the worst issue about pricing with Nintendo's games, but the death of the normalized 40 dollar Nintendo game is a bigger deal than the typical 70 dollar issue.

@rallydefault Full disclosure, the kids were on my lawn when I wrote that, and I had to shake my cane at them! Wait, it that a cloud!? Gotta chase that off!!

In all seriousness, it isn't a bad thing as a whole, I just with the mid-budget was better. I'd love for older re-release to be less than $50 USD. And on a disk.

Now that I think about it, all my anger is at Microsoft because I really wanted Gears on PS5, but I was not paying $50. (Thank you Target, for having it for $25)

@kkslider5552000
I don't know the era you're referring to. The 40-dollar game era for Nintendo?

Maybe I was on my 360 or PS2 during that time.

@rallydefault Nintendo's entire history of handheld games when they used to have separate handheld and consoles were cheaper than their console games.

I mean I don't remember if that was also true for Gameboy (I assume by any and all logic that it was), but it was true from GBA - 3DS, so this is a 16 or potentially 28 year tradition that then vanished. (technically 18-30 years if we count final first party 3DS games instead of the Switch's launch as the endpoint of this)

Technically it was also 30-40 dollars for those handheld games but I'd have to look into pricing for decades of first party titles to decide if Nintendo themselves put out enough 30 dollar games to justify bringing that up.

@kkslider5552000
I loved my GameBoy when I was a kid, but I was "too old" (being facetious, obviously) by the time the GBA and DS line came around. I did get a 3DS when I was out of college, though.

That sounds nice and everything, but like you said, the 40-dollar titles were mostly their handheld ones?

@zool Incorrect. Switch 2 can run it with all the bells and whistles just fine. The problem is Aspyr being lazy Aspyr so they just ported the game to Switch 1 instead of making a proper Switch 2 version.

Yes I am sure you're correct on that. But so do all other games manufacturers at some time or other do that unless it's specifically for the switch? Like octopus traveller was at first .Tomb raider definitive which I've almost finished does play well on the switch. 2, as long as you don't compare it with the PlayStation version which I did by looking at at a video comparing the game, then you notice how poor the game is compared to the other consoles. Because tomb raider was priced at over half price that did make up for the poorer quality.
But what's going to happen this year when the new tomb raider comes out or next year when another one comes out? They're not going to make three versions, aren't they? They're going to make one version for the PlayStation and cut down on the graphics etc. For the switch 2.
Nintendo have always said in the past that they're not in competition with the other consoles. They make their console for their games and they weren't that interested in third party. But somewhere along the line that has changed and they welcome third party games, now to fill the gaps between the Nintendo releases.

Everyone's waiting for a new Wave Race, just like they're waiting for a new 1080° or a new Exitebike.

But these games, by prioritizing realism, limit creativity and make it difficult for Nintendo to implement new ideas. Even F-Zero, a futuristic racing game, has been limited because they haven't found new ways to evolve it, and those ideas that have emerged have been implemented in Mario Kart (like sticking to walls).
That's why I admire companies like Shin'en, because with Fast Racing they've implemented several ideas that have actually worked.