BacktoNarnia

I didn't watch the video, but I'm not sure he was literally referring to Iwata's death. When I read it, I thought he was just saying that it really bothered Iwata. When someone says, "this work is killing me," they don't mean it literally, just that it's very difficult or troublesome.

@Lalivero Yes, but she still reflects a series of moderate success (both commercially and critically) that hasn't really changed the industry. I think she'd make an interesting and unique fighter, but there are just so many much more significant characters I would choose first. I think of Minecraft Steve or Rayman, for example, who would also be really unique fighters, have had a huge impact on gaming, have a presence on Nintendo platforms, and who will still be talked about and remembered a decade from now.

@CC13 All good points. Wii Fit Trainer would probably still fall under my description because she represents the impact of casual gaming and the Wii era, though if I could go back and change Sakurai's mind about anything, she would be the first character I'd cut. Palutena too, though I think she was included because of Sakurai's connections to Kid Icarus Uprising.

I'm of the mindset that to be included in SSB, a character should either be an important and influential mainstay of Nintendo and/or one who had a significant impact on gaming history. I'm a bit confused by the number of people who, when given options from the breadth of gaming history, would choose Shovel Knight, Shantae, or an ARMS character.

This isn't surprising. The Switch is less powerful than the PS4, XBO, and PC, so developers have to go through significant efforts to downgrade their games to run on it. The only way the Switch will get third party support is if it gets an extremely large install base. Unfortunately, the only way to get that is to produce a lot of great first party games, which Nintendo doesn't seem too keen on doing themselves so far.

I'll never earn enough gold coins to be able to purchase anything, as I buy everything at retail.

@mjc0961 It's not Minecraft. It's the game they're giving away that plagiarizes Minecraft.

The art style change and the piecemailing of the game into pre-order bonuses are what killed any interest I originally had in this title.

@Pod A game.

@BigBabyPeach If he was making money, it was from holding the event at his business. It didn't sound like he was making profits off the tickets. The ticket money was to pay for contest prizes.

Apparently the Pokemon Company functions just like Nintendo. "Hey, this fan loves our product and is marketing it for free! They must be punished!"

My predictions:
1. Wolf - Would require a shorter development time and could release alongside a couple newcomers. He would also be useful for promoting the new StarFox. Seems pretty likely.
2. Rayman or Bomberman - If another third party character gets into SSB, I think it's going to be an iconic one that has had long-term impact on the industry. (Ie, definitely not niche or modern indie third party titles like Shovel Knight, Shantae, etc, no matter how good their games may be, though maybe they'll throw in a stage from those games.) Rayman seems like the more likely of the two.
3. K Rool, Isaac, or Professor Layton - A first-party character that has gotten a positive response from the SSB ballot.

I think it's important to remember that Nintendo has never once said this ballot was a vote and that the top ones would be guaranteed to be selected. Instead, it's more like a big suggestion box.

@TheTeaStirrer You don't have to worry about that ever happening.

@Monado_III Whew! I did not know that. That's nuts. Though if we're honest, I doubt many of those people would have spent money on it had it released sooner.

@Monado_III Then outsource the localization efforts to a small third party development team. They don't need to use their first-party devs for localization.

@Octane VGChartz is back up now. They estimate 420k in sales for the Wii version in North America and 250k in Europe. Yes, there was a Gamestop scam in North America. The game completely sold out and Gamestop managed to produce some new copies and put them on the shelf above retail price as "used." They did this because there was still significant demand for the title. Nintendo underestimated demand, and therefore I don't think they can reasonably complain about unit sales, at least not in NA (not sure how supply was in EU after launch). I wanted the Wii version for a couple years, but wasn't willing to pay almost double retail for a used copy online.

I think it's also worth noting that, in typical Nintendo fashion, this is all without the game ever going below MSRP. They'd rather sell fewer units at MSRP than sell substantially more while offering periodic price drops over time. Additionally, these unit sales were extremely late in the Wii's life cycle. Had Xenoblade been localized a couple years earlier when people still had their Wii systems hooked to their TVs, I bet it would have done even better.

The Last Story still sold 290k and Pandora's Tower 111k in NA, which aren't terrible numbers. I agree that they definitely need to make reasonable economic decisions when deciding what to localize, but ultimately if there's a high quality game that reviewed well in Japan, in most cases it can at least do well enough in NA and EU to merit localization efforts. Maybe Nintendo just has bloated localization budgets and needs to learn more from competitors.

The Xenoblade Chronicles thing still seems so ridiculous to me though. His comments implied Nintendo was disappointed with sales of the game in North America, and yet the game was completely sold out here. It'd be like Nintendo complaining about low sales of Marth Amiibo.

Further, publishers like NIS and Atlas manage to localize Japanese games that are far more niche than Xenoblade Chronicles with just as much (if not more) voice acting and text translation, and they seem pleased with sales.

I don't think Nintendo should be praised for Splatoon "DLC." They just kept half the game back for launch and have been releasing it in updates. I haven't picked up the game because I'm waiting for the full game to actually be released.

I really don't think an "upgraded" version is needed for SSB. Sure, an "ultimate edition" with a bunch of DLC included could be a great sell, but I think they should just continue supporting the Wii U version on the NX with continuous DLC. There's not as much of a need for a new version any longer when they could simply continue producing new content for the current one.

@argh4430 Spoilers definitely should be blocked. Perhaps I'm mistaken about competing consoles. I thought I read an article a year or so ago about people having posts deleted because they mentioned Sony. I may be misremembering.

Miiverse has always just seemed like a sanitized online forum for people to repeatedly say, "Woo! Nintendo! I love this game!" From what I've heard, you can't even mention competing consoles/games.

If only I could obtain any of the Fire Emblem Amiibo.

If they try to release a home console without the power of the PS4/XBO, they simply will not get third party publishers on board.

The Wii U failed primarily because of a lack of software. I was very excited about the system until E3 2012 when they basically revealed they had nothing coming for it except yet more Mario and a bunch of third party ports of games I already owned. It was like this for well over a year until Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Brothers finally started to expand the system's library. Tablets didn't cause the Wii U to fail; Launching a game system with no games did.

Well, that pretty much confirms Animal Crossing Wii U is coming.

There are very few characters less exciting to add to Smash than one from a different fighting game. One of the biggest reasons new characters in Smash are exciting is because we get to see how they adapt them from completely different genres to fight.

@Eat_Pie I'm pretty sure that's because, in traditional Nintendo fashion, they just let retail supply of their game completely dry up despite continued demand. I wanted to buy it new for a couple years but never found it in stores (though I eventually got it through Club Nintendo).

I love the figures, but don't really care about the digital content they've offered so far. I have a lot of them and have barely used them for my Wii U or New 3DS. Unfortunately, I've never seen many of the figures in-person, even when I've gone to stores at open on launch day for them. It really doesn't make any sense.

The problem is that it doesn't matter if you don't take pre-orders if there are only 2-3 of each figure per store. Characters like Robin, Lucina, and Ness sell out in the first couple minutes after the store opens.

I figured Happy Home was going to be a free to play digital title. I can't believe Nintendo plans to sell the game in addition to the extraordinarily overpriced, blind-pack cards. I love Animal Crossing, but I'm going to pass on this whole thing.

@Savino I think Metroid remains a realistic possibility for E3 on either the 3DS or Wii U, though I'm hoping for the latter. It's been 5 years since the last entry in the series, and Nintendo does not seem keen on abandoning the IP. Perhaps the strongest evidence for their continued support for the series is that the Samus Amiibo has not run out of stock like many others. Nintendo sees her as one of their top characters.

Metroid is not as wide reaching of an IP in terms of software sales, but it would definitely help push a lot of hardware sales among the core gaming community, which is Nintendo's safest bet at this point to maintain the small amount of momentum the console has. The Metroid series may seem more complex than, say, a Mario title, but I don't think complex necessarily means more expensive. A good publisher can manage expenses well, so I think it would easily be profitable.

To be honest, I have very little hope for StarFox, and I don't see much talk about it outside of Nintendo communities. It could turn out to be solid, but with talk of the game being designed with such a strong emphasis on second-screen gameplay, I'm not so sure it'll attract the core gaming demographic as much. Gamers generally don't seem quite as attached to that series as they are to other Nintendo IPs. I hope it's great, but I don't think it's Nintendo's next great big IP for the Wii U.

I think Nintendo has at least a couple big unannounced titles for the Wii U up their sleeves for E3. I'm thinking Animal Crossing and/or Metroid.

Most virtual console titles are too expensive, and the limited selection just makes no sense when compared to competitors like Sony. Every major NES, SNES, N64, and GC game should be on Wii U, and every major GB, GBC, GBA, and DS game should be on the 3DS.

@k8sMum Indeed! Well, if you ever have any road trips to visit the Ithaca area, let me know and I'd be happy to hit the relays around town so you can get some of my puzzle pieces.

@k8sMum Where in Central New York are you located? I'm in Ithaca and there are quite a few relays in town that work well.

Or they could just make a remotely reasonable supply of the figures. "Limited Edition" shouldn't mean, "sells out in 15 minutes online." Something can still be limited edition and actually be accessible to everyone for a limited time.

@Quorthon It's not so much the number of games that I'm concerned about. There are a lot of great games launching this year for the Vita, but unfortunately the majority of them are also launching on PS4. When given the choice between the two, most of the time I pick the PS4 version over the handheld. I'm really hoping for more unique, immersive Vita experiences.

I'm pretty sure there's no way the three pillar contraption pictured above could possibly work. One of those three things has to be removed for the gears to spin.

I hope God Eater 2: Rage Burst ends up getting localized. Other than some smaller titles and Danganronpa: Another Episode, this year looks particularly slow for my Vita.

If you haven't played Kirby's Epic Yarn yet, go pick it up now (it's only $20 on Amazon). It's fantastic, and this one looks like it's going to be just as great.

@NintyMan I'd agree with the shipping issues as an explanation, but there are Amiibo from wave 2 last December that I have yet to see at all.

I probably would have, but they did not release the regular New 3DS in NA, and portability is very important to me. I'll probably pick it up when Xenoblade Chronicles launches.

@Drac_Mazoku When you claim a game, it is given as a download code. If you really don't have any interest in the stuff available, you could probably get a bunch of codes for games to sell.

If you own a PC/XBO/PS4, 25GB really is not that large. lol I am glad that it'll be a big game for the Wii U though. I'm really looking forward to it. I'm assuming they are going to allow for an optional texture install to improve loading times, which sounds good to me.

The big free-to-play mobile games like Candy Crush, etc get the majority of their profits from an extremely small segment of players that become addicted and spend exorbitant amounts of money to continue playing the mini-games. Addictive is not synonymous with fun, and Nintendo is a company about fun games. They make complete, high quality products, and free-to-play is the antithesis of the standard that they have established.

@Nicolai This is definitely true, but it does not explain Nintendo's complete lack of communication with its customers regarding the stock issues. Following the sellouts, they could have easily announced that more will be produced as soon as possible and will be made available to customers. Nintendo does not seem to realize that they have a fairly significant PR problem on their hands, or else they know it and have chosen to let it eat away at consumer trust. With each wave of Amiibo released, it seems like excitement is being replaced by frustration.

@JasonAnArgoNOT64 I hope you're right. The problem is that Nintendo is making so few of some of these characters that even if resellers did not buy any figures at all, there would be people unable to get the figure that they want. The supply is not even remotely meeting the demand and the scalpers are only buying the figures to take advantage of that. The guy that claimed he bought 100 Rosalinas did so by having friends and family pre-order them too. If they can continue to make substantial profits from the Amiibo as they are now, it would still be worth the hassle to pre-order as many as possible. With the coming wave it only seems to be worse. The rare figures are even rarer and will never even appear on many stores' shelves.

If Nintendo actually wanted to stop scalpers, all they have to do is announce that they are producing more of all the Amiibo figures and that people who weren't able to get them will be able to get them soon. That's it. That will instantly devalue the supply of all the eBay sellers.

Limiting them to 1 figure per order is great, but there are a lot of resellers on eBay and all they have to do is have friends and family pre-order for them too. The problem will still persist. The only thing that can kill their sales is if Nintendo kills the demand for overpriced Amiibo.

Nintendo is not powerless to stop this. They hold the reigns to supply. Producing more of the adapters, Amiibo, and limited edition consoles increases the supply to meet the demand and completely devalues the stockpile that these scalpers accumulate. The scalpers are only getting worse because Nintendo keeps showing that, despite demand, they simply won't provide more supply (in the case of Amiibo) or can't keep up with demand (in the case of the adapters).

Each store in my area only got one Little Mac figure. I was standing at the entrance of Best Buy this morning until they unlocked the doors to try and get Little Mac, but there was already someone inside (presumably an employee) that had the only one they received at the store. Nintendo pretty clearly tried to make too many Amiibo at once. I think they should just delay wave 3 and focus on supplying retailers with the first two waves.