Giles Goddard is a name that will be instantly familiar to anyone who followed the development of titles like Star Fox and 1080 Snowboarding. The British developer started his career with Argonaut and along with Dylan Cuthbert would go on to join Nintendo's ranks - making them two of the first western developers to do so.
Goddard has since parted company with Nintendo and now runs Vitei in Japan, the studio responsible for titles like Steel Diver, Theta and Steel Diver: Sub Wars.
Speaking in an interview with Source Gaming, Goddard was asked which Nintendo series he'd like to work on:
F-Zero would be an interesting one. I don’t think they would ever….because the expectations for these old-school games are so high now. The last F-Zero game was…F-Zero GX…and that was really expensive. It has to be bigger and better than F-Zero GX, and that would be a huge risk for them. Having said that…I really like the original F-Zero. I never got into GX as it felt more and more like Wipeout. The faster and more wide angle it got, the more Wipeout it felt. To me, F-Zero is all about those tight courses with the tight bends, and the skidding around and drifting. I’d love to go back and visit that kind of control scheme but make it a smaller experience. I don’t think they would as their current philosophy is just bigger and better.
I have thought about 1080. [The series] has kind of moved on as they have done quite a number of them already. There’s only so much you can do with a snowboarding game until you are just making the same thing over and over again. So if we did, it’d have to be something very different. I think [Nintendo] is less inclined to do another 1080 if it’s just another 1080. It’s just bigger. That’s the reason I wouldn’t want to go on a new Star Fox. That’s gotta be bigger than Star Fox: Zero. The expectations are even higher due to people complaining about that one. People are going to want a bigger one and a better one. But I think from Nintendo’s point of view that was the best Star Fox. They are stuck between a rock and a hard place. The expectations are changing every year, as other games are influencing the fans. They are expecting that stuff to be in the game now.
The full interview goes on for several pages and is well worth a look.
[source sourcegaming.info]
Comments 83
Well, he is not alone on this...
We'd all love to see a new F-Zero.
my expectations to Starfox are not higher after the last game - all I want is a Switch re-release with a conventional control scheme!
Don't tell me Nintendo genuinely thinks Star Fox Zero was their greatest Star Fox game!
I really reckon this is what Retro is working on, they're literally known for bringing back dead Nintendo franchises.
I would have said a new F-Zero would be impossible but we just got two new Metroid reveals so anything's fair game at this point.
I can understand where he's coming from.
Big Blue inside Mario Kart 8 & FAST RMX were already felt like F-Zero in my opinion.
@Anti-Matter My brother told me "Why do you want a new F-Zero? Just play Mario Kart 8 on 200cc!"
It doesn't have to be bigger to be better Nintendo. Sometimes just going back to basics works a treat. And can we have Wave Race as well please?
I understand Goddard's logic. To be honest I would take a remaster of F-Zero GX with the arcade stuff integrated in at this point.
Ok why do they make such a big deal out of how hard this is. Just take Neo fast Racing and re-skin it into the F-Zero world. This would be easy and quick and relatively low cost to produce. The Fast racing engine is perfect.
@Lizuka Then you simply dont understand or love F-Zero.
@YANDMAN That may be true, but I think @Lizuka is fairly accurate. Loving and understanding F-Zero (I do, by the way) doesn't really change the response. Unfortunately, F-Zero was never a huge hit. Like this article mentions, expectations are also getting more and more lofty, especially as nostalgia kicks in, and games are getting more costly to develop. In that sense, it really doesn't make much sense for Nintendo to bring it back. Hopefully they figure something out. FAST was good, but it was no F-Zero.
What a wuss.. just get them remade in hd and with online capabilities - simple.
@BlueKnight07 You do realize that you can unlock everything from the Arcade in GX ? It's not easy tough, but you can do it.
I wouldn't be surprises if a new F-Zero shows up on Switch. Nintendo has announced a good chunk of their franchises for the first year or so of Switch. I doubt we'll be seeing another 3D Zelda, 3D Mario, Mario Kart 9, Splatoon 3, Metroid Prime 5, Pokemon Switch 2, Kirby Switch 2, or Yoshi Switch 2. Next few years are ripe for a revival.
@Mart1ndo At this point, calling it a legendary franchise is debatable. Don't get me wrong, I'd love for them to bring it out, but saying F-Zero is very relevant and needs to be kept alive is nothing more than the fanboy in us speaking. We don't really have enough info to say if that's true. Nintendo would have far more accurate numbers to make that decision.
The latest entry sold 0.65 million units world wide. Not too shabby, but also not great, so it's not hard to see why they would choose to focus on their more popular franchises.
With Fast Racing Neo, Redout and Wipeout, plus others, on the market, I can't see the point in another F-Zero. Where's the USP that's going to deliver worthwhile sales?
Someone frikin' needs to.
And, if they made it look just like that lovely image above but in full 3D, much like the recent Dragon BallZ game* and like the comic-style art from the original game**, it could actually look utterly stunning on Switch:
*http://www.inceptional.com/2017/06/15/seriously-dragon-ball-fighterz-look-frikin-amazing/
@Mart1ndo They're all such subjective terms, that it doesn't really matter. Do I, personally, as a one individual, think that they were awesome games that I would love for Nintendo to bring back? Absolutely. But you and I are not the majority, judging by the most recent F-Zero GX sales.
Considering there is even more distance between now and the last F-Zero game, I would say it is a safe bet that even fewer people care about the game now, than they did back when F-Zero GX launched.
My personal thoughts on the game don't really have any bearing on a business decision. Again, Nintendo will definitely have more information on actual sales/development costs/profits than we do, and no amount of wishful thinking will change that. I'm not saying a new F-Zero will never happen, just that the article makes a lot of sense and it's not hard to understand (From a business perspective) why Nintendo would choose to shy away from F-Zero.
@Mart1ndo Edit: @roadrunner343
You're wrong.
And it could be even better if given the proper respect today.
There's so much there to work with, an entire universe of characters and backstory:
http://www.captainfalcon.com/comic-page-1.html
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NN-gvLxF8vg
It easily has enough behind it to be the next Metroid in terms of a rich and deep sci-fi world with lots of genuinely appealing characters and settings, more so even, but just with futuristic racing as the core gaming component.
And Nintendo's just given us two new Metroid games, so F-Zero deserves its next moment in the spotlight too.
Again, if done right, it could be something truly great imo. But the odds of Nintendo actually doing it right are pretty slim imo, because I'm not sure it truly understands the full potential in this series to be honest.
@Mart1ndo Ah, sorry.
I read your comment as "I don't think F zero is relevant or legendary. I'm not going to even attempt to change your mind."
My bad.
@impurekind @Mart1ndo Yeah, a little bit of semantics at this point of what relevant or legendary means =) I think it is safe to say that we all agree that F-Zero was an amazing series and would love to see it make a comeback.
@roadrunner343 People could argue similarly about the Metroid series given its sales (only two entries have reached the 2 million+ mark)--in terms of it not really being "relevant"--but not me. And, I wouldn't argue that F-Zero is irrelevant either.
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=Metroid
http://www.vgchartz.com/gamedb/?name=F-Zero
I mean, F-Zero hasn't been given anywhere near the love and attention that Metroid has over the years, and certainly not close to the likes of Mario and Zelda have received, so it's no wonder it's not up there in terms of sales.
But I think it could be great again if given a real push.
It's much like how Fire Emblem is now extremely popular yet Advance Wars hasn't been seen in years, even though Advance Wars is the much better game/series imo.
As [future] racing games go, F-Zero is right at the top, and I think it deserves to shine again.
And, here's something I just observed: The highest selling F-Zero game ever has sold more than the highest selling Metroid game ever (2.85 mil vs 2.82 mil) And that was on SNES with an install base of 40 million vs Wii with an install base of over 100 million.
A new F-Zero can still happen on the Switch. Nintendo just need to be confident that it will sell. If only they could release one that is like F-Zero GX with online play but also had features from F-Zero Climax (ability to create your own track), that would be an instant buy for me.
@Mart1ndo Yeah, Captain Falcon of F-Zero fame is legendary.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OX_jsbdfc6Y
How many times does this guy say big/bigger??
@impurekind Just to be clear, I would not argue that either series is irrelevant. I definitely don't think either are, I'm simply saying that from a business perspective, I can understand the logic of focusing on the less risky titles. You bring up Metroid as a comparison, and honestly, we just went through a decade long Metroid drought - so the same logic definitely applies there.
@Mart1ndo Sure, that's the book definition. Not going to argue. Metroid is far more "Legendary" than F-Zero. My argument is that I don't think F-Zero is all that well known, outside of retro-gamers, so I understand why Nintendo would shift their attention elsewhere.
So... to sum up: I don't really disagree with either of your arguments, I'm merely stating that quite a bit of your arguments are subjective - what is or isn't legendary, is Advance Wars of FE the better series, etc... it's not really relevant when making a business decision. I hope they bring the series back, but it is also understandable if they continue to let it rest.
@roadrunner343 Yeah, and it's been even longer since the last proper F-Zero game, I think.
It's no wonder it's not "popular" or whatever right now.
But it could be.
It's sad the Sony is giving WipEout so much more love than Nintendo is giving F-Zero, when F-Zero has so much more depth to build and expand upon and turn into something special.
Get the kind of fans that made the recent Sonic Mania to work of a new F-Zero--a true passion project from people who REALLY get what made the original games so special and great--and F-Zero 2017 could be thee future racer of the decade.
Wipeout Omega Collection has really fulled my hunger for a new F zero title.
@impurekind For sure - my argument is that F-Zero does not have the same legendary status as the Metroid series, and being gone for so long will actually hurt it's chances of a comeback. The longer they wait, the less relevant it becomes, in my opinion. I just don't think there's the same interest there. I will definitely be watching both the upcoming Metroid games very closely - I hope they succeed so we don't go another decade without a Metroid game. 4-5 years I can live with.
EDIT: And I'm dying for an Advance Wars game too... Hoping Wargroove will scratch that itch.
Like others have noted above, STOP OVERTHINKING IT!! Fast RMX with actual characters and online play and gorgeous HD tracks like what Nintendo proved it can do with the Mario Kart 8 DLC.
F-Zero NX would print money.
Nintendo focuses on a lot of fighters nowadays.
Smash, Punch-Out!!, Arms, Pokémon Tekken DX, and then Ultra Street Fighter II and tons of Neo Geo fighters are available on the Switch.
But for racers we only get another Mario Kart 8. Yeah, it's great but old! Old in a negative way. Not old enough and not new enough.
What else is there on Switch? NOTHING, while Nintendo is sitting on a ton of great racing IPs.
A new F-Zero would be great. A couple of tracks in Mario Kart 8 Deluxe and the wholeness of FAST RMX do not cut it by any stretch! Clearly, people who think FAST RMX is a good alternative to F-Zero have never played F-Zero X or GX. Yeah, it looks great and it plays well. But it doesn't play like the best racing game ever in the same way F-Zero does.
Excite Bike/Truck/Bots, Wave Race, 1080°, Diddy/Donkey Kong Racing, Art Style light trax, even the new Cruis'n game are all highly regarded. Back in the day Nintendo even made Ridge Racer 64 (developed by NSTC) and F1 Grand Prix I & II (developed by Paradigm). I really miss the time when Nintendo ruled the racing genre from 1996 to 2003.
@Lizuka Well, for starters, F-Zero and Mario Kart are nothing alike, except that they're both racing games. I also think Nintendo can use some more racing games. Now all they have is.. Mario Kart, and that's more of a kart(/party) game, than a true racing game. They've got plenty of platformers (and now fighting games too), so why not a second racing game? Just don't expect MK sales numbers and market the game, I'm sure it'll do well.
I for the life of me, still don't understand why they won't take a gamble and release a new F-Zero. Quite frankly, games like Fast RMX exist because Nintendo has failed to capitalize on the opportunity.
Meanwhile, Star Fox Zero was a mess largely because the Wii U had to render two different frames at the same time. It left us with very sparse/empty areas. A new outing would be so much better on the Switch, not having to worry about the second screen. When the Wii U was first announced, immediately the first game I thought of was Star Fox, but the console was not powerful enough to fully take advantage of the concept.
@roadrunner343 Let's put it like this. Why would Nintendo work on F-Zero when they can put their attention to other parts of their business that is lacking in popular areas like FPS or RPG games which make up 30+% of a user's buying habits.
Racing games make less than 3% purchases of the market and Nintendo already owns a large portion of that with Mario Kart. Also with Fast Racing being an exclusive for them and with Redout coming out why invest in F-Zero outside of pleasing the fan-base. Is making a new F-Zero a good investment as a business compared to pushing Splatoon, Metroid and Xenoblade which are far more relevant and possibly bigger sellers? I understand where fans are coming from, but from a business standpoint it is better to focus on other niches when one is already filled with a property you own (IE Mario Kart).
@Mart1ndo I have no idea what you're trying to get at. I love F-Zero. I own every F-Zero game released. None of that is relevant to whether or not I think Nintendo will make another. It's only relevant to what I want.
How is my comment on Metroid cloaking my argument? It was brought up by @impurekind's comment, so I used it as an example. My opinion is that Metroid is the far more popular franchise. If you disagree, that's fine. But at least use some sort of logic to back up your argument rather than an asinine comment stating I don't like the games at all. That's just childish.
EDIT: @Wexter Exactly. I agree with you fully. I would love for another entry in the F-Zero series, I just see it as unlikely at this point. It seems to be @Mart1ndo is unable to separate my personal opinion of the franchise (And his own) from Nintendo's business decisions.
@roadrunner343 This is why I think Nintendo needs to get its butt in gear and release the likes of a new F-Zero and Advance Wars now rather than later.
Nintendo has now moved into the position that instead of selling their consoles or their games specifically, they're selling their IPs. From that perspective, that might make the greatest case yet for making a new F-Zero or StarFox. I don't think it needs to be a pure arcade racer or on-rails shooter. The trend in gaming now is open world. Even racing games have moved into that genre with the new NFS games and The Crew, etc. F-Zero's greatest strength has been its world building. We know their future world, and their odd characters have this comic book charm. Instead of a new racing game that's niche, Nintendo lacks a big "car culture" game. And a "car culture" game would not suit Nintendo. But F-Zero could be made into a whole world of it's own kind of comic book car culture, and would stand out as something utterly unique, built on the strength of the IP rather than being "a racing game". It would feature racing, and would still have tracks. But that, instead of being the game, could be parts of the game, and making a large scale "AAA" (BotW type) game out of it could revitalize the IP into the forefront.
Same with Starfox. Demand for fast on-rails shooters may be at an all time low, but Starfox is rich in world building. It was always Star Wars inspired. Why not make it an actual galaxy hopping, interplanetary adventure? Especially with Switch. MOST of the major IPs will have been present and accounted for in year 1, with only Metroid (and maybe DK) looming for future years. Big games like these could really bring something that hasn't been seen before.
@Mart1ndo There was no tangent. I'm not pulling you up on your definition of relevant or legendary, I'm stating our personal opinion is largely irrelevant to Nintendo's business decision. My point is, using words like "Legendary" is subjective. You then decided to quote a dictionary definition for the word (As if that changed something) so I responded to you using your own definition of the word. Note the quotes in my response. No side tracking, just direct response to your comment and using another example brought up by another post.
@NEStalgia Because I think it is unlikely Nintendo gives us a new F-Zero game anytime soon, I do hope they go the licensing route. It would be great to see Shin'en take a stab at the F-Zero franchise.
@Mart1ndo If you don't know what I'm arguing, I suggest you go back to the beginning and start there. It's just such a silly response to say I'm cloaking my dislike of the franchise. If that were the case, believe me, I would simply say the franchise is not for me, as I have in the past with many other games.
As for semantics - you can't get around it. That's how language works. The semantics comment wasn't meant solely for you, it applies to me as well.
Despite this going back and forth for way too long, my argument is simple: My love, or your love, for that matter, of the franchise has little bearing on Nintendo's business decision to make another F-Zero game or not. It's no secret that F-Zero is not one of Nintendo's top sellers, so it's not hard to understand why the may choose to pass on another F-Zero game. I hope they make a profitable return to the series, but there's also sound logic for them choosing not to, no matter how much we my dislike it.
EDIT: And please, don't take my "Go back to the beginning" as an insult/derogatory remark. I seriously just don't feel like retyping my response =)
@impurekind Completely agree with you on what could be done with F-Zero, but when I saw the title of the article, my first thought was: "Yeah, you would love to make one and we would love to see a new F-Zero, but we all know it's highly unlikely that it'll ever happen"...
On a side note: as also mentioned in the interview, it seems so utterly idiotic to me that companies only want to do something with an IP if they can make it bigger or different. In general, some titles have been away long enough for them to be able to attract a new audience.
Titles like F-Zero, Wave Race, 1080 Snowboarding, Advance Wars, Excite Truck and so on really deserve and could truly benefit from getting a Full HD makeover, and far as I'm concerned, nothing much has to be added or changed other than better physics/improved AI and such, or maybe an added mode or feature.
With games like F-Zero, Wave Race and 1080, all they would have to do is combine all the tracks of the previous games in one, much like is always done with Mario Kart, which also only has minor changes with each new game.
Games like these are always entertaining, and some of them have been gone for so long, that part of the current gaming community has never even played any of them, so they could easily make a successful return.
So, it would be nice for both older and newer gamers. I'm pretty certain that quite a few other people would agree to that.
@ThanosReXXX Totally agree.
If people think Metroid has been ignored in the past due to low sales, F-Zero is the same thing, only far more worse.
I agree with @NEStalgia, that's the way they should go with F-Zero and Star Fox from now on, atleast try if it works and gain more interest and sales. Nintendo has to tell stories about it's characters and IP's that are less known. The oldstyle kinds of games can still get made alongside if the IP's gain maibstream interest.
Star fox adventures 2 please :3
I think though the Switch could do an old-school F-Zero game. It doesn't have to be GX style, it could be similar to the SNES style but with HD retro visuals. That would be awesome actually. But I do agree with him that Nintendo would likely not want to make any of these new games from old series now (unless it's Mario or Zelda) because the expectation is just so high now.
They should just remaster GX and release it. That game was perfect.
Truthfully, I don't get the hubbub around F-Zero. It seems to be a pretty generic racing game. I don't really care if Nintendo brings it back. We have Fast RMX and 200cc in MK8. And I can tell for sure that many people here saying "Just do GX with nicer graphics and online play" would criticize that exact game as being too similar to GX.
@ThanosReXXX I agree that some of those games are definitely do for a comeback. I don't think it's necessarily idiotic from a developer's point of view to always want to make the next thing better. Maybe not necessarily bigger, though.
One of the other issues with games like Wave Race and 1080, I think is the fact that they are sports games. Just due to the way consoles and the sports genre has evolved, I think many people (Myself included) may steer clear of them because they appear to be another generic sports game. While, on the other hand, fun, chaotic, unrealistic "sports" games, like SSX, F-Zero (If that counta as racing), the mario sports, etc... still appeal to me greatly.
I'd love to be proven wrong, but 1080 and Wave Race specifically, I don't see performing very well. Even worse than F-Zero. I know Advance Wars didn't sell like hotcakes, but I'd kill for a follow up to that. I love Fire Emblem, but that formula is getting a bit tired.
@Masticore One of the things that has been an issue at Nintendo, especially in the WiiU era is their business model has depended upon developing low cost, cheap to make games, that provide a lot of charm and entertainment. Thus they spend little on development (compared to the big behemoth AAA factories) but yield similar returns, thus more profit. But I think they're also finally learning they need some high budget tentpoles to build that stuff around. For every Kirby and Yoshi there has to be a BotW, and BotW showed them their big expense games can still provide big returns and make a splash. (And their expenses are STILL lower than other companies....2M sales is all it took for BotW to profit vs 5M for Tomb Raider.)
With Metroid Prime 4 coming, most of the big name franchises already out of the way by December, they have a lot of room for a lot of tentpoles to go up in the Switch years ahead, and with headwinds from BotW knowing "big" can pay off, and an "IP focus" with some very dormant IPs and some genre gaps, there's definitely a big reason to think at least one of them might get bought out and/or trying new ones. We might not hear about it in the next year, but Switch seems like the right time for that kind of grand experiment.
Switch can never outdo GameCube. Ever.
Nothing ever comes close to the brilliance of the GameCube.
@roadrunner343 I think the problem with Advance Wars is more writers block. It happens with story driven games as Intelligent Systems has expressed interest just are not sure where to take the characters (they have said writing characters for FE is easier because of the Support System). That and Fire Emblem I would claim is up there with Nintendo's big 5 at this point (Mario, Zelda, Splatoon, Pokemon, Fire Emblem) for big franchises that just sell, they are probably not in a major rush to push out a new Advance Wars while Fire Emblem is doing so well.
I do hope Advance Wars comes back. I love them SRPG games
@Wexter Oddly enough, I actually prefer the FE series to AW, and yet, I hope they do away with (or tone it down, at least) the relationship simulator aspects of FE and that part never makes it into the AW series. I love FE, but I do feel that the games are starting to get slightly bogged down by all the extra systems/interactions. Part of me misses the simpler FE games (To be fair, I haven't played the latest FE yet, will pick it up soon) and I think that's the part of me that wants AW to come back - A game more focused on the strategy, rather than relationships.
@roadrunner343 The original F-Zero was the game that showed the technical prowess of the SNES, pretty much everyone owned it. It may not of sold as big later on as certain franchises but it is still a key Nintendo franchise. Metroid is also not a huge seller in comparison to others but it has a feverous fan base and we now know new games are on the way. Given the ease to create a new F-Zero game as i outlined previously i see no reason why a hnew installation to the series could not happen. Nintendo is not a company like others that requires continual mass elling games to stay afloat.
@roadrunner343 Well, Fire Emblem has already had its fair share of Nintendo love these last couple of years, so aside from personal preference (and I love this series as well), that is not really a title in need of a resurrection at all.
And I really do think that these developers are actually being idiotic, because their frame of mind is actually counter productive. The almost obsessive need to have to make something newer/different from the original or successor is actually the thing that is holding them back from making a new game in a series in the first place. And standing still in an ever faster moving world is, for all intents and purposes, moving backwards...
I also think that Wave Race and such don't need anything better than being spruced up to modern standards, as I already proposed in my previous comment. Slap on a couple of new tracks/new iterations of older tracks, improve some modes or add a mode and that would already be more than enough.
And SSX is fun, and I have nearly all of the games myself, but it's way more of an arcade racer than an actual snowboarding game. And it shows, because the label EA Big, that originally made these games, has also made another "over the top" racing game that involves similar mechanics and art styles.
EDIT:
Had to correct myself there. EA Big only made Freekstyle, which is a Motor racing game, but it is indeed in the vein of SSX. The other game that I had in mind, is from another publisher. But the other games made under the label of EA Big were definitely all over the top, so maybe they weren't racers, but they certainly weren't realistic.
As for actual snowboarding games: since 1080 Avalanche on the GameCube, I haven't seen anything that comes close in intelligent snowboarding games, that also deliver a real sense of speed and simulation. Amped on the Xbox/Xbox 360 comes close, but it is simply missing something, it's hard to explain or pinpoint, but it amounts to the overall "feel" or atmosphere of the game.
I did find the Shaun White snowboarding games to be entertaining enough in their own right, but it's still no 1080...
And even though 1080 does have a sprinkle of arcade in it as well, it is moderate enough for it to still be considered a real snowboarding game.
And the same actually goes for Wave Race, and that is also what makes these games so accessible, in my humble opinion.
I still play both the GameCube and the N64 versions of these games to this day (and it's amazing to see how good the water and snow physics of these games still holds up), so I would LOVE for there to be some new game in these series. Or a HD re-imagining of the GameCube game, just like they did with the two Zelda's.
And do not underestimate the opportunity of introducing these games to a new public. Like I also said in my previous comment: there are probably millions of younger gamers that have never even seen or played a single game from these series, so that would be yet another reason for them to not have to change anything to them, except for re-imagining it in HD...
But maybe we'll have to wait another year until the N64 Classic Mini will be released. I'm almost 100% sure that two of the games on the list of that Mini console will be Wave Race and 1080 Snowboarding...
I agree that fans will likely never be satiated one way or the other, but "bigger and better" worked for Zelda:BotW. Not saying that's a rule of thumb, but it's all about the right vision, right team, and right budget. A new F-Zero could be just as good and be sprite based, or, it could actually be bigger and better than GX. I'm in the latter camp, but I won't hold my breath. It's all up to Nintendo whether they want to continue that series, or see a dev be a good fit to carry it forward. I personally felt the kings of racing arcade Amusement Vision/Sega did a remarkable job, but that's just my opinion. Give it to those guys again.
@YANDMAN That it did. It was a great game. I still feel like Metroid is much more highly revered at this point in history. Especially given that it essentially gave rise to the Metroidvania genre of games. I too would love to see Shin'en take a stab at F-Zero, but I don't want a re-skinned FAST. At that point, I would just play FAST. FAST feels pretty different from the F-Zero series, so if they tweaked the physics to make it feel more like F-Zero, I'd be on board. We can hope.
@ThanosReXXX Perhaps I misunderstood your comment, but are you saying AW is not in need of a resurrection? If so, I agree with you that Nintendo doesn't "need" to resurrect it, as it seems FE is carrying the Strategy game torch just fine on its own, but I do think that the two games are different enough to live in parallel. I think I'd like to see them alternate between the two. As I said, I love FE, but I'm starting to FE overload a bit.
As for the mindset of always needing to be different/bigger, again, I don't completely disagree there, but I do think they should strive to be better. Perhaps it's just a personality difference? I know that I feel like I am wasting my time if I am not in someway improving myself (Be it through professional certifications, continuing education, learning new skills, etc...) so that I can learn more and do bigger/better things. That's just built into my DNA, so I can understand how a development team could feel the same way. Perhaps they feel if they can't do it better, why bother? The old games still exist and can be played. From a fan perspective though, I agree, I would often take more of the same formula (Advance Wars, for example) with just a new plot.
EDIT: Guess I should clarify - I understand the mindset from a personal/developer perspective. I don't understand that line of thinking from a business perspective. I think it may be a smart business move to resurrect some of these franchises, I just meant to say I understand where the developer mindset is coming from.
A new F-Zero would be amazing! Also, I may not have a whole lot of support on this one, but I want a new Pilotwings! Something about how laid back and tranquil that game is, I find it soothing and relaxing, like completely opposite of F-Zero, lol.
A new F-zero with modern graphics...oh, it would be soooo sweet! I don't know if I can still handle the speed though...
I think F-Zero GX was the closest thing to a good 3D Sonic the Hedgehog game that Sega have ever made.
@BustedUpBiker 1080' with the balance board would have been nice
@Mart1ndo If you don't like semantics, I suggest you stop having conversations, because you can't escape it. Merely acknowledging the fact that people may have different interpretations of what "Legendary" means, does not somehow mean it is now officially off limits for use in the English language.
Nevermind the fact that my post that mentioned semantics wasn't even directed towards you, and in it, I mentioned semantics only to emphasize that words can mean different things to different people, but I actually agreed with both of you that the game was not irrelevant. Or did you choose to ignore that part and only pick and choose what you want to read?
WE NEED A NEW F-ZERO!
Yes but it won't happen.
Well, none of you are going to get anything you want until YOU ALL STOP BICKERING
@Mart1ndo No word in any language means one thing to every person. Why do you think semantics exist? Even still, if we agree on a definition (Which, after you posted your definition, I attempted to use that one, which apparently ruffled your feathers) we can still have different opinions as to which games qualify for your definition of the word. You're just being so stubborn and argumentative over the fact that I mentioned semantics in my reply to @impurekind, that you refuse to realize that I only mentioned semantics to emphasize that I agreed with the overall sentiment of his and your post. Well done.
Last F-Zero was not GX but F-Zero Climax. Still, GX is the best in the series.
Also, I have something against the argument many people seem to have here: I don't buy the argument that we don't need F-Zero because of Mario Kart's 200 CC.
First, game mechanics are completely different. No items in F-Zero, driving mechanics are different etx.
Second, F-Zero GX is much better than any Mario Kart to date.
@roadrunner343 Yes, you did misunderstand. I only mentioned Fire Emblem in the first four lines of my previous comment. That series has seen quite a few games in the last couple of years, so even though I really like that series, I wouldn't mind seeing another franchise or two take its place for a while.
Advance Wars has been gone long enough, so I certainly wouldn't mind another part in that series.
As for developers: of course they should strive to be better. nothing much to do with a personality difference, if you ask me. But I already gave ample evidence of what could be improved/added and/or changed and that truly would be more than enough.
There has never even been a HD version of F-Zero, Wave Race or 1080, so that alone should supply them with more than enough means to improve a next game in any of these series. And with better graphics also comes better physics and what not, so I'd say that even with these "minor" changes, they'd already have their work cut out for them.
This is also why I mentioned Mario Kart. That's obviously a popular title that always sells a good amount of copies, but if you look at each game from the first to the last, then it's basically still the same game with only some changes made here and there, but the core is still there, so if developers and publishers can be satisfied with that, then why not do the same for an F-Zero or any of the other titles I mentioned?
And speaking professionally, as a sales & marketing professional, I think that from a business perspective, they're in a sector that provides a service. To a large extent, the main aim is to do their job and provide the people with what they want, not just making what they want (or don't want). Of course, that is much more up to the publishers, that should simply tell the developers what to do, or should select the company to make these games, but still...
So, why bother? Because your target audience, the people that provide you with the means to do what you do, keeps asking for it, so it's a goal that you should want to keep in mind and should want to strife to achieve.
If they only want to make the games that they want to make, then perhaps the Indie lifestyle is more for them. A developer in the service of a large publisher often times doesn't have that luxury. Which also happens to be the reason why some of them leave after a few years...
I also feel that this continuously trying to reinvent the wheel is completely unnecessary, if a franchise is already good (and wanted). If anything, Star Fox Zero is still a hotly debated title for that very reason. It added stuff that a lot of people didn't want at all, and all because of that need to do something "innovative"...
The two HD Zelda remakes showed that none of that is really necessary by default, because "HD-ifying" these games was apparently already more than enough.
And although the old games are still great fun for a quick run every now and then, we already know them through and through, so it's well and truly time to breath some new life into these IP's.
If they can do that for Metroid, which was also never a big seller, then they can certainly also do that for these games.
@ThanosReXXX Ah, pardon the misunderstanding. Thanks for clearing that up. I definitely agree with you, I would like to see FE take a short break and see a return to form for AW.
I come from an IT background (Network Engineer and now ServiceNow developer), so professionally speaking, I agree with you on providing a service, but at the same time, that's not how we see Nintendo function a lot of times and I understand the apparent need to be constantly improving. Part of the reason I love the booming indie scene - what people want, isn't always the best thing, and I love it when companies try new things. The original Metroid Prime is an example of Nintendo giving us something no one was asking for (FPS Metroid) which turned out to be amazing.
As for HD remakes? If priced correctly, I'd certainly snatch them up. I hope we get new versions of these games, I just meant that I understood where the devs were coming from. It would be daunting trying to make a new version of such a beloved game, especially if you don't really have any ideas on how to improve the formula.
Honestly, if Metroid Prime 4 does well, I think we could see more of these franchises get a reboot. If not, it may just reaffirm to Nintendo that their lesser known franchises aren't worth the time or effort. At which point, I definitely disagree, and I hope they license the IP out to someone else. All things considered, I think I agree with basically all of the points you've made, but I can understand the dev's comments as well.
@roadrunner343 No worries, man. I can understand that individual interpretation of another person's text and the accompanying semantics (sorry, couldn't pass up on mentioning that) can be confusing sometimes.
Far as those HD remakes are concerned: I'm somewhat disappointed that there is still no word on anything VC related, let alone GameCube related, and if Nintendo doesn't know by now that a lot of their fans want this, then I don't know what will make that clear to them, or what it will take.
And Metroid Prime is actually a good example of both points of view: they changed some things, but the core is essentially still the same. So there is some innovation by making it first person, but it doesn't feel forced or unnecessary, something that they arguably didn't get right with Star Fox Zero.
As for how it could go: when I mentioned the possible/probable N64 Mini earlier, I started to mull that over in my head, and I actually think that this could be the ticket for some of those franchises: let people young and old first get (re)acquainted with the original titles in those series, and then announce a new version. It would certainly be a great marketing strategy...
@ThanosReXXX Well done sir, I applaud your effort at poking fun at us =)
I agree, the N64 mini would be a great idea for reintroducing these franchises. That is, if they actually make enough to reintroduce them to people in the first place... I hopeful the SNES Classic launch is smoother, but initial indicators seem to point to it being nearly impossible to get one... again.
@roadrunner343 Ah, you haven't managed to secure one yet? Bummer...
I'm almost sorry to tell you that I actually did manage to secure one. Last Saturday, I just went to my local game shop, partly out of frustration, because I didn't have any success whatsoever online, what with pre-orders being up for literally only minutes, so I was never going to score one like that anyway.
But luckily, the game shop took pre-orders as well, although I did have to pay the full amount up front. But after having missed out on the NES Mini, I simply had to get this one, and I did.
In these threads, there's a couple of links to keep an eye on:
(also in the comments section, so browse away)
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/07/you_still_cant_pre-order_the_super_nes_classic_in_the_us_and_this_could_be_why
https://www.nintendolife.com/news/2017/07/guide_where_to_pre-order_your_snes_mini_super_nes_classic_edition
And here's one of the more handier ones:
http://www.nowinstock.net/videogaming/consoles/nintendosnesclassicedition/
Hope you manage to snatch one. And maybe, just maybe, Nintendo will stay true to their word in making this mini console available in larger quantities and throughout the year...
Either way: good luck.
Every one wants to see a new F-Zero but now I also really want to see a new 1080 snowboarding as both are great series.
@Mart1ndo I never said you can't have your opinion. If you'd take the time to read, you'd see I agree with your opinion. Not once did I say it was not legendary. I said it was not important what I called it, especially to Nintendo. Quit attempting to say I said things I did not. And also, read.
I liked F-Zero GX but I've never played any of the others. To be honest though with so many other similar games around, the market for F-Zero is probably pretty niche now. The appeal of F-Zero to someone who has zero nostalgia or knowledge of the games is hard to imagine.
I miss F-Zero. A new one doesn't have to be "bigger" then GX. (Which honestly did some things wrong, like making the difficulty rediculous, especially in "Story" mode.) One like GBA's "GP Legend," that's more back to basics would be welcome.
Also, I don't understand Nintendo's logic that they can't make a new F-Zero, Star Fox, ect. unless it's way different from the previous ones, yet continue to rehash other series, like the "New SMB" games? (Though, I still like those too.)
@Luffymcduck F-Zero is a completely different beast. Mario Kart is great but its Mario kart. The person that suggested we all play Mario Kart as thats good enough is being utterly ridiculous. That's likje saying we dont need a Metroid you can play Bayonetta she's also a woman.
I agree with him. GX was a poor game. F-Zero is about holding speed on sweeping corners not avoiding obstacles and loosing control over bumps. Sega made it, so of course that explains the cheapness added! The best version is X on N64 and I see no reason why that can't be graphically updated, a few new tracks added and released again, complete with a track editor. Get with it!
@Mart1ndo Why would I not answer? Unlike you, I've been trying my best to have a civil, friendly debate without stooping to lies and insults. So, since your reading comprehension appears to be lacking, and you insist on lying about the things I said and twisting the order in which I said them, allow me to help you.
#27 - I state calling it a legendary franchise is debatable and insisting that it is a relevant franchise today (To the masses) that should be kept alive can't be determined without more information, which Nintendo has access to.
#30 - You state that if I don't think the games are legendary, that you won't try to change my mind
#31 - I clarify that I love the games, think they are awesome, but it doesn't how I, as a single person, label the games when making a business decision.
#35 - I mention a bit of semantics over the meaning of the words legendary or relevance to emphasize the fact that we are all saying we love the games and would love another, regardless of how we use the word "legendary"
#37 - You decide a dictionary definition to "legendary" is somehow "relevant" to this topic, and post it
#41 - I respond using your own definition of the word (See the quotation marks, they're subtle and tricky) stating that I believe Metroid is more "legendary" and more well known than F-Zero, so it's easy to understand why they would focus on other titles. I again conclude that personal feeling and how I label a game have no bearing on making a business decision.
#49 - This seems to be where you really get your knickers in a bunch, flipping out over my use of the word semantic, and accusing me of cloaking my dislike of F-Zero. Which is hilarious.
#51 - Nothing too important here, I address you asinine comment above and state again that my opinion is that Metroid is the far more popular franchise
And I'll stop there, because the rest of your posts are ridiculous and run in circles, lying and accusing me of things I never said in any of the above posts. So yes - go back and read, and actually take a stab at comprehending what you read, before attempting to paraphrase and make up a load of bull that I never said. Have a great day!
EDIT: You don't have to answer but knowing you, you will =)
Honestly, I feel the same way.
I'd rather they shoot for new ip with no expectations (like arms!) than revive a star fox on rails shooter or f-zero futuristic racer - they've already mastered those.
Mariokart 8 was a disappointment for me in some ways because of those expectations. The single-player has digressed from the ds version's mission mode and doesn't have much to do, the two items I wanted can't be switched (and therefore don't add the layer of strategy they did during the gamecube), and too many multiplayer matches end up splitting 1st-3rd place from the rest of the pack as the best items available to 4th-12th are used to wipe out the nearest player while top positions get only defensive items, making 1st-3rd much more difficult to change position and 4-12 a slug fest where everyone holds each other back. It's the best Mariokart ever, but I walk away knowing it could've been better because the series has been in several different ways in the best. The character roster of clones and lack of options doesn't help either (Why do we have to play 4 matches before letting us change karts? Why does battle mode have to be timed instead of elimination, even in local multiplayer?).
I totally get Goddards point.
Nintendo should be more ambitious and innovative instead of producing remakes and going after low hanging fruits as they did with the Switch.
That said, I'd really love something in the veins of F-Zero X or GX. But of course, it would have to be a new game with new features etc.
Tap here to load 83 comments
Leave A Comment
Hold on there, you need to login to post a comment...