Topic: Next Nintendo Direct?

I've never really understood people who want Nintendo to compete in the same sort of fashion as Sony and Microsoft. Do we really need three companies that offer almost indistinguishable products? Nintendo succeeded with the Switch because it managed to do something wildly different that proved still popular with both the public and core gamers. It's a corner of the market almost completely disconnected from what the power consoles are going for. It's why, as long as Nintendo keeps releasing popular games, I don't think the PS5/XSX are going to slow down sales much at all.

Anyone who just wants a powerful box to play Western AAA games on can go buy one from the competitors.

@GrailUK That's funny. Other than a few cases, I've never had any issues with Sunshine's camera. It's actually pretty responsive!

64, on the other hand, has the worst third-person camera I've ever seen in a game. Full stop. It's more dangerous and aggravating than any of the enemies Mario encounters, and was the cause of the majority of the unfair deaths I experienced.

But then, in general, I've always really liked Sunshine and hated 64, so... shrug

@theJGG ...maybe, but that's one bit of realism I really didn't need in the game.

Hmm, well, I've only played Bayonetta of those 2, @FragRed .... But both are made by Platinum! So, you'd best come up with some other egs? Especially if it's really supposed to be 1st party games. Not at all sure if whatever deal got made with Bayonetta affected Astral Chain or not

@kkslider5552000 Bingo. I was fine with 3D Land because the handhelds hadn't really had a proper 3D game (we had 64 DS and that's it), so it was kind of a bonus that had nothing to really compare it to. 3D World, on the other hand, was supposed to be the next great 3D console Mario game, and to essentially make it a 3D Land sequel when past 3D Marios had been open sandboxes and/or ambitious new experiences made it a disappointment. When they teased that they were revealing a new 3D Mario game for Wii U that E3, I was expecting the next 64/Sunshine/Galaxy. Not a rehashy sequel of a 3D game trying to be a NSMB. Mario definitely went through a creative slump during the early 2010s, I pretty much put 3D Land and 3D World in the same boat as the NSMB, so we had a whopping 4 games in 3 years that were rehashy, generic Mushroom Kingdom (or in 3D World's case, Mushroom Kingdom-esque, don't try to tell me the Sprixie Kingdom is anything more than the Mushroom Kingdom in all but name) with no real new gameplay mechanics to spice things up and it got very tiring. That's why it makes sense for 3D World, despite being the better game in terms of size and scope and content, to be more hated. It's a combination of fatigue for the NSMB style of gameplay and failing to live up to past console entries.

Rare was a massive part of Nintendo's N64 library. I wanna say 1/4 of ALL the first party games on that system (at least released outside of Japan) were Rare games. Gamecube did have a lot more from Nintendo but also had no Rare after the one GCN Rare game. (though there were a handful of largely forgotten GBA games after that for some reason).

But in terms of 3rd party, there were definitely more interesting exclusives back in the day. But part of that is because of how cheaper it was to make games, so they could justify that more easily (though they can still make cheaper games now as well, companies just inexplicably decide not to bother sometimes).

@FragRed Nintendo was still in the "look how powerful this console is" phase back then of which certain types of games really showcase power.

F-Zero has been dead since Nintendo quit the power battle, Metroid has been mostly dead since Nintendo quit the power battle, etc.

@Grumblevolcano In Metroid's case, not really. Metroid maintained a presence during the Wii/DS days with Prime Hunters, Prime 3, and Other M. It only really died during the 3DS/Wii U era when Nintendo thought they could get away with just making games for casuals back then and they had tons of delays and gaps in the Wii U's lineup because of the shift to HD, and Metroid wasn't the only casualty of that. Sandbox Mario games were also dead during that time, Wario Land disappeared (and Warioware for the most part), and Kirby, Animal Crossing, and Fire Emblem never saw main series entries on Wii U (they did see spinoffs and some main series titles on 3DS, but none on Wii U). Metroid's disappearance has more to do with their mishandling of the Wii U and Prime 4's development woes more than Nintendo quitting the power battle.

Pretty much agree. I think a lot of people now buying the Switch are the folks who missed out on a console the last decade or more. I think this would have been the perfect audience for the WiiU. And I think this is the main reason people are still buying MK8D.

I hear you. I would totally love a new fzero, but if I have to be honest, nintendo isn't making one because it would probably sell less than captain toad.
When I saw what they did with Mario kart 8 I thought "oh, so fzero is dead..."
Happy to be proven wrong.
Unless they update the character design of captain falcon I don't see the appeal for new generations of gamers. Even Wipeouts have sold progressively less and less.
The genre is almost dead.
On the other hand, Fast is a very good game!

@teo_o They aren't making an F-Zero because the last time they talked about F-Zero, they didn't have any new ideas to bring to it. They come up with ideas THEN decide which franchise to put them in. Crazy huh! lol.

The only problem with that is that some of Nintendo's most popular games have come from them trying to compete in that same space as the other big developers.

Breath of the Wild being the most obvious example. That kind of open-world game was so completely out of character for Nintendo right up until they made it (arguably Xenoblade X counts as a precursor).

Splatoon would be another example. That was clearly Nintendo's attempt to compete in the online multiplayer shooter market, because they saw how huge it is, but yet they'd never done anything like that.

Yeah that was definitely a very weak generation for Mario, even if it meant we got more games overall.

Part of the reason that didn't affect me is that I skipped quite a few of those games at the time. I never had a DS, so I skipped NSMB. I didn't get a Wii until the Wii U had already released, and I still haven't played NSMB Wii. Then I waited until 3D World released before buying the Wii U. So I played that before NSMBU.
So Mario for me basically went Sunshine->Galaxy->Galaxy 2->3D Land->3D World, so I wasn't at all frustrated with Mario at that point in time. I welcomed more of the same.
I of course went back and have played all of the 2D Mario games in the years since then (except the Wii game), and they're all incredibly forgettable.

Well that's the same for me. I skipped those three NSMB games I mentioned. My concern was more worry that this could just be the direction of Mario for now on. That would be the worst. In hindsight, its more accurate to say the 2D Mario team just found it easier to use "oh 3DS downloads" and "oh Wii U launch" and "oh Year of Luigi" as reasons to make sure they have a game out at a certain time for those reasons. (I bet no one remembers (quoting Wikipedia here) "the first Nintendo-published game to be released simultaneously in both digital and physical form" is NSMB 2).

I really do hope they find a way to bring something really new to 2D Mario again. Other than letting the community do that with Mario Maker.

I know Nintendo want to sell their games as much as the next man, but they are the least cynical out of the big 3. AAA is usually a showcase for their hardware, I think it's the other way around for Nintendo (call them old fashioned lol)

@Dezzy One could argue Zelda has always been open world. I mean, sure, you unlock the world as you go along but by the end of the game you can pretty much go everywhere. BotW just 'unlocked' everything from the beginning.

What 3rd party games does everyone think we'll see this year?

I'm hoping for a port of No Man's Sky.

I'm calling a proper re-reveal of Bayonetta 3 and maybe another SMT remaster from Atlus like Digital Devil Saga HD or maybe an enhanced port of Devil Survivor Overclocked

In terms of the big hitters there's that cloud version of RE3 Remake that was leaked a while ago and I suspect this also potentially opens the door for games like FFXV (the full fat one) and FFVII Remake to get that treatment as well, especially given FFVII's PlayStation exclusivity period ends in about 3 months

I've wondered if they'll try and port FF7 Remake. The Japanese market is so huge on the Switch that it would make a lot of money. And it would be easier to do than FFXV because it's not open world.

If they gonna do cloud version please just don't and wait at least switch pro.

@Dezzy I imagine they'd do something halfway between the PS4 version and the FFXV Pocket Edition because of how challenging it would be to render all that on Switch. The game had to be stored in two discs after all. The PS4 wasn't enough even, because pretty much every location had still backgrounds that didn't even move. It felt pretty cheap to see all this detail, slapped against a slightly blocky frame.

@teo_o
F-Zero selling less than Captain Toad: TT?
Honestly, if a new F-Zero game launched on Switch, I would say that it would sell at least 5 - 10 Million, because of how long it's been since the last one was released. I probably would even consider buying it, even though I've never that much into F-Zero myself.

I'm a little confused with your statement, as I believe there are other games like F-Zero that exists, aside from Fast RMX like you mentioned.
I know that futuristic racers are as prevalent as they used to be, but wouldn't they be a niche genre and not a genre that is almost dead, or is a niche genre a genre that's almost dead? 🤔

@teo_o, @GrailUK
IIRC, I also believe the reason that F-Zero hasn't gotten a new title in so long, is because Nintendo said that they felt they couldn't push the hardware and have the same "wow" factor as they did with the original Super NES game, and they felt that the Wii and DS wouldn't do the series "justice" (or something like that) with the control setups each system had.

@MarioBrickLayer
If Genshin Impact counts, then I'll say that's what I'm hoping for.
A port of No Man's Sky would be pretty cool.

@JokerCK
Just a heads-up, the Switch Pro isn't going to 100% solve the "power gap" between the Switch, Xbox One/Series X, and PS4/PS5, so they'll still have to be cloud version for some games.

I wonder if Nintendo's trying to use the next-gen launches as an offset, to launch a Switch Pro a few years down the line. In the Console War heyday the Genesis came out in 1989 in the US, and Nintendo waited two years to release their own 16-bit console. Despite the traction Sega was firmly beaten by Nintendo after the SNES launched. Of course Sony has a much wider age range than Nintendo, so it's less about beating them outright and more slowing them down. I always felt the 360 was where the Xbox line peaked, and that nowadays they just cater to people whose sole interest is driving games and shooters (which is mainly adults, which hurts their marketing). Plus they don't have many exclusives so IMO I don't feel they're in the fight. Maybe as a guaranteed third, but it's just a matter of how far off the top two they are.

@theJGG
I think Microsoft still have their ego "Too cool to make kiddie games".
They just only depend on realistic racing and shooter games for adult gamers all the time without even trying again like they did on XBOX 360 by creating games for kids and casual gamers.