F-Zero
Image: Nintendo

Update [Fri 1st Jul, 2022 05:45]: Yesterday, VGC had a story about a Nintendo shareholder who asked the company if they had any plans to revive past IPs such as the futuristic racing series F-Zero, the RPG Baten Kaitos, and various other titles like Wario Land.

It turns out this question didn't come cheap. Speaking to Business Insider, the individual known as 'Momiji' on social media, revealed how he spent over 5.6 million Japanese yen (over $40,000 USD) on Nintendo stock just to ask Nintendo president Shuntaro Furukawa the question during the company's latest shareholder meeting.

The same individual, who described himself as a "die-hard Nintendo fan", bought 100 Nintendo shares in February priced at 56,430 yen per share (over $400 USD per share), after selling stock in another company. He's been playing Nintendo games since he was a child and apparently can't get enough of the sense of speed in F-Zero.

In the lead-up to the shareholder meeting, there was no guarantee he would be able to ask a question. This was supposedly a "bonus" in the end. Business Insider also notes how 100 shares of stock are required in order to gain direct access to Nintendo's shareholder meeting.

So, what was Nintendo's reply in the end? It's "always" considering how to develop new titles and remakes. Here is what was said, courtesy of a translation by Robert Sephazon (via VGC):

“It is realistically difficult to develop new titles and remakes, including sequels, for every Nintendo game that people request, but we are very grateful and appreciate the expectations our fans have for our games”

“We are always considering how to develop new titles and remakes that can be enjoyed by many players."

This isn't the first time we've heard a response like this from Nintendo. As for F-Zero, its absence has raised concerns about the future of the series, but there are people out there (including past Nintendo employees) who seem to think there's still hope.

You can find our original story from yesterday below.

Original article [Thu 30th Jun, 2022 11:45 BST]: Nintendo's annual general shareholder meeting information was made live yesterday, and while there are the usual numbers and business details dotted throughout, some interesting details have emerged from a discussion that was held during the meeting.

VGC reports (via @NStyles on Twitter) that one shareholder apparently asked if Nintendo had any plans to revive past IPs through new games or remakes. The shareholder then mentioned a handful of titles, ranging from obscure Japan-only games and a big Nintendo franchise that hasn't seen a new game in nearly 20 years.

The franchises the shareholder brought up are the racing game series F-Zero; Baten Kaitos, Monolith Soft's GameCube card-based RPG series; Wario Land, the Mario spin-off that hasn't seen a new game since the Wii; two Intelligent Systems games in Kaeru no Tame ni Kane wa Naru and Kousoku Card Battle: Card Hero; and Chōsōjū Mecha MG made by the Earth Defense Force developers.

After NStyles tweeted out about the request, another user — @momiji_manjyuu — claimed to be the person who asked for these titles.

Not all heroes wear capes, right?

The list is killing us, and many of you also want a brand new F-Zero or Wario Land game in particular, but there's a handful of really interesting games otherwise that would all be great games to bring back. Baten Kaitos — given Monolith Soft's prominence with Xenoblade — would make sense, but honestly, we'd really love to see all of these make a return.

But now that the notes from the meeting are live, NStyles has noted that the only game that remains mentioned in there is the futuristic racing title.

Here's a rough Google translate of NStyle's tweet (so this may it with a grain of salt), which is embedded below, and was published after the minutes went live. But it looks pretty promising for F-Zero fans!

After the general meeting of shareholders, you told Mr. Momiji, who asked this question, "If the title part is completely cut in the minutes, you can judge that there is no pulse, and if F-ZERO remains in the minutes, you can judge that it is a pulse ant." ..
He listed multiple titles, but Nintendo left only F-ZERO. Isn't this a clear F-ZERO appeal to us?

The "you" could be referring to someone at the meeting — potentially Shinya Takahashi, Nintendo's general manager of Nintendo's Entertainment Planning & Development (though remember, this is based on Google translate so may not be accurate). Essentially, NStyle says that what Momiji was told that if a game title is left in the minutes, then it means that Nintendo is aware it still exists. Yay! Of course, that doesn't mean much considering that Captain Falcon has appeared in every Smash Bros. game and hasn't had a game since the mid-2000s, but it's something, right?

Surely F-Zero can make a comeback soon. Former Nintendo of America President Reggie seems to think Nintendo hasn't forgotten about that series, at least.

What would you like to see Nintendo bring back? Let us know down below!

[source businessinsider.com, via gonintendo.com, videogameschronicle.com]