Dringo

@kingbk I still like to play them. The platformers work, although most are Rare games and no longer apply (bar DK64).. Pokemon Snap is still fun. OOT and Majora’s Mask are great. Yoshi’s Story. Paper Mario, Diddy Kong Racing. I also still really enjoy the Mario sports games. And I still find Wave Race, F-Zero X, Lylat Wars, 1080 and Excitebike pretty solid.

The shooters have aged, and camera technology has come along.

I love how before the collection this comments thread was full of ‘Nintendo would never bundle them all together, they’re not that generous”.

Then they do it and the complaints switch to “Where’s Galaxy 2? Why didn’t they change Mario 64?”

Almost all of these games are 10/10 quality. Sunshine may be 9. 64 DS a 7.

But the rest are all 10s.

@msvt Now that was limited in every respect

@Agent069 Mario All-Stars, Mario Kart, Pikmin and Hyrule Warriors are it’s end-of-year releases.

Animal Crossing will likely be its main seller over the period

@msvt Well, those were only available with bundles or via the catalogue.

When I say not going anywhere, I just meant they’re not going to be hard to pre-order

All physical games are limited run. It’s just usually we don’t know the end date, and it’s unusual for a potentially big game like this to have such a short run.

Digital is odd.

People who are paying $100 for a game that will be in plenty supply are crazy fish. It’s not going anywhere.

People seem upset with scalpers... physical games are always limited. They don’t print them forever. They stop eventually. It depends how many copies they’re making to say whether it helps scalpers.

The fact that digital is limited... well weird

For me, the really odd thing is that it was missing from the montage. Choosing to focus on 3 games is fine, whatever... but cutting it from the montages... that seems like a retcon.

Here’s another hopeful one for the list:

• It unlocks upon completing all 3 games as a surprise Pokemon Gold/Silver style treat

I still play Mario 64 regularly. A lot of the N64 3D platformers have aged really well. Banjo included

Mario Collection is real. Its announcement is really slow and painful, but it is real.

Please remember, that making remasters is often done by outsource studios or small groups internally. They're not made by the people making Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Splatoon etc... they're not stopping the production of Breath of the Wild 2 or Odyssey 2 to create a Sunshine remaster.

I appreciate people want new things. Hell, I want new things. But the existence of a remake or a remaster doesn't stop the new thing from happening

@MeowMeowKins Yep on PC. It’ll also be available over xCloud

I love all of these games. But their best one is Sea of Thieves. It’s the best game on Xbox, frankly

@fortius54 Indeed. One of the challenges is doing a Direct and showing stuff that might slip... or the dev and marketing teams not being able to do proper assets or trailers.

It is frustrating, for everyone. Nintendo won’t want this either

But we know they have teams building games. And making games is complex and lengthy. It’s annoying having to be this patient. I really hope they show us some big titles soon

Comparing a console that sells on a select number of games (so: All Nintendo consoles) to a console that sells on a huge number of games (so: All PlayStation consoles) isn't the best comparison. People buy Sony machines for a variety of different games, whereas people buy Nintendo machines for Mario, Zelda, Pokemon etc...

Yes, Switch games are selling incredibly well. Yes that's great. And the achievements of these games should be celebrated.

But there's no need to stick them up against GTA on another platform.

@rockodoodle It's not as much as you think. The actual sell-in price of these games is around $30 - 35, as duplication, replication, distribution, retail margin etc... come into it. Nintendo don't need to pay their own licensing fee, granted. But $60 is not pure revenue for Nintendo.

In addition, that 1.2 million number seems very unlikely to me. It's based on Resetera analysis. The famitsu numbers for Pikmin was less than 200,000, as was the NPD numbers, and the game sold terribly in the UK. There are places like France where these things do ok, but not to tune of 600,000 units...

@Kabloop You're right. Social media is a major competitor to Switch

@Ralizah I think by Gimmicks, it’s not tweaks to the controllers or tech that we are talking about. But VR, Move, Wonderbook, EyeToy... PlayLink.

That sort of stuff

@fortius54 The view of business analysts is that launching a $500 games console in the middle of the worst recession we will have ever experienced is going to be very hard. The enthusiasts will rush out (which they were always going to do), but everyone else may hold fire. The comparatively cheaper Switch might fare a bit better.

Switch and Switch games are selling incredibly well. It’s a bit boring for us Nintendo fans, but they’re not remotely in trouble.

@rockodoodle AAA games at £5m? Not in about 15 years. Practically 100 staff worked on Pikmin 3, over a protracted development period of 4 years. That’s over £5m in salaries alone, before we factor in localisation, marketing, distribution, taxes, tech... treble it and you’ll be some of the way there.

There are indie games with a £5m budget

And people criticising Nintendo right now... they've released 4 or 5 games and an ambitious LEGO collaboration during a pandemic. I get it's frustrating and we'd love to get an update on their big titles... but it's a difficult time for everyone. Nintendo make games. They will release games.

Hopefully they'll sell some copies of Pikmin 3 now and it won't be a huge financial disaster for the company. Perhaps they can make it profitable now and we can get more Pikmin in the future.

@Not_Soos PlayStation operates out of the US

The new head of WWE 2K cited No Mercy as an inspiration for where the series will be headed

I am crossing my fingers for the next big Switch title from Ubisoft, but although Mario + Rabbids did the business, Starlink misfired. So I’d expect them to be cautious with that.

I understand the next Mario + Rabbids is a little way away.

@DoktorTotenKopf It matters to the games industry. Which makes the games you like.

@DoktorTotenKopf But the only ones who lose out is the industry and the employees. It’s not like there’s another retailer to take its place. When it’s gone. Physical games retail becomes just Amazon

@DoktorTotenKopf Don’t care? At the start of a global recession? Then you’re not a very nice person are you?

@AtlanteanMan There wasn’t a Mario Party last year. There was a Mario + Sonic. Plus Luigi’s Mansion 3

@DoktorTotenKopf yay. Here’s hoping for lots of unemployed games fans. Can’t wait.

What a thing to hope for

Pokemon Company has always made spin-offs that are usually naff but occasionally good. They do things for fans like Pokemon Snap and things to widen the series like this.

If you want to ignore them for partnering with Tencent. Have fun not playing any games that:

• Are by Ubisoft
• Or Activision
• Or Take-Two
• Or use the Unreal Engine
• Or are by PlatinumGames
• Or is PUBG or Fortnite
• Or League of Legends

I wonder if this is the Breath of the Wild bridge game I've heard so much about

@StevenH Well, yes, they might announce something before their next reveal event. True. I don't know their exact announcement schedule, and things are always moving.

But they will be revealing the Mario games in the next 2 months.

@RazumikhinPG Nintendo use them for additional development resource. If Bayonetta 3 doesn’t perform, they’ll just stop commissioning that one and get them on something else. Maybe the next Starfox or Astral Chain.

Ultimately, you’re cutting your nose off to spite your face. Platinum is looking to publish its own games. Those are the ones to target. But even then... do you really want to not play these games? I am a little more calm about the situation. Platinum has never done Kickstarter or published a game before. They’ve not done this to screw over fans. That wasn’t the intention. It’s just not gone smoothly. Physical is such a complicated and expensive thing to do. I’m surprised they went down they route. But I guess it’s what fans wanted... ironically.

I got the digital version and I’m pretty happy to have backed it.

@StevenH But they do. They’ll be in the next announcements.

I think you’re really talking about games for core fans to look forward to, rather than things that will sell at Christmas. Because Nintendo have plenty of those. Both on the market already, and the Mario remasters.

@StevenH Yes. But those will be its big games of Christmas. Announced or not.

‘Most early adopters’, I mean I do games market analysis for a living, and I have no idea where that ‘fact’ comes from.

Although, it’s not unusual for people to drop off a new game 3 months after it came out. So I wouldn’t be surprised. Nor does it matter.

@RazumikhinPG Ok. But it won’t hurt them.

@StevenH Animal Crossing hasn’t dropped off... I’m confused by that statement. It’s showing an impressive long tail. The game got to over 13 million in 6 weeks and will remain a big part of Nintendo’s campaign. It’s still in the Top Ten across all major markets.

The two Mario games coming out at Christmas (the collection and 3D World) will be significant sellers for Nintendo. Although they won’t satisfy the core audience who crave something entirely new.

Nostalgia is a major motivator for consumers during Christmas. Mario is a very strong brand right now. While PlayStation and Xbox will put together big campaigns promoting the future of gaming, Nintendo will avoid that conversation and pull together a nostalgia-tinged campaign designed to attract lapsed gamers, families and nostalgic older players.

They will compete with PS5 and Series X by not competing with them.

@RazumikhinPG It’s worth noting that the only company hurt by you doing that is Nintendo. As Nintendo is paying for its production. Platinum will already have the money, the unit sales of Bayonetta 3 will primarily end up at Nintendo.

And of course, if everyone follows suit, there is no Bayonetta 4

Because I’m old, this, Shadowman and Mario 64 remaster are all my most anticipated upcoming games.

Love Pod Racer. I completed it back in the day and I’m not especially good at racing games. I loved how you could upgrade your pod

@StevenH Animal Crossing is there big game of the year. Mario is there big game of Christmas.

Nintendo don’t need to do anything. It’s selling loads as it is.

They just can take their time, handle the COVID situation, get their next big games right... and we’ll just have to contend with Paper Mario, a few ports and some third-party stuff for a bit.

They’ve released tonnes of games on the console as it is

David Duchovny’s finest performance e

@Shinra It’s just a pure joy to play over and over. I sunk hours into ExciteTruck. I reviewed it for Nintendojo back in the day. But the sequel was never release in the UK

Excitetruck is a proper classic nobody played.

Excitebots in Europe would do me fine.

@sanderev I suspect you’re right. Maybe it is a cultural thing.

That line-up of games would be fine, I think. A nice nostalgia-tinged Christmas to go up against the future facing next gen consoles. Character-driven marketing over tech-driven. Gives Switch a point of difference

@StevenG You can’t steal someone else’s game and use it. It’s the law. It’s an established concept all artists understand and signed up to. You can’t steal someone else’s book or movie or album. You can adapt it long after the author is gone and their kids have grown up. But it’s not this person’s property to mess around with.

I am not going to descend to your name calling.

@Impaler-D Ghoulies was short and needed something to extend it. But it is not only a good game, it’s not a horror game. It’s a comedy. Originally a GameCube game, too. If you get Rare Replay, check it out. If you see the reviews for Rare Replay, they all call that one out as the surprise package.

Kameo is ok. It’s entertaining enough and decent for a launch game.

I did a big piece on Rare a few years ago. They always get to choose what they make. Nuts and Bolts is a Gregg Mayles idea. Started as a BK remake and then changed drastically. Rare did Viva Piñata deliberately as a counter to all the brown shooters on 360. Did a million copies, which was sold enough for a sequel.

Kinect Sports is complex. Rare had been working on numerous games that kept getting cancelled, and their most likely project to come out was a Newton sports and dancing game (Newton was the codename for the 360’s Wii rival). Then Newton got cancelled, and the head of the studio at the time, a guy called Lee Shuneman, was really concerned that Rare didn’t have a title green lit. He was then shown Kinect and pivoted the whole studio to focus on that in an effort to make Rare relevant.

And it temporarily worked. Kinect Sports was Rare’s most successful game and gave them a new life. They probably stayed too long making Kinect games. But now they’re back making the sort of games they’re known for. Banjo started life as a pirate game, and DKC2 was a pirate themed game, too.

You’re right though. Rare’s run of form during the mid 1990s to 2000 was incredible. And it won’t be repeated, because they simply don’t make that many games anymore.

But SoT is fantastic. And Rare Replay, albeit a collection, was great. They’re working with Dlala on a Battletoads reboot and they’ve got another game in the works called Everwild. And let’s not forget, they worked with Nintendo on Banjo in Smash.

Rare is still a relevant studio today. I wish their games were on Switch

Nintendo seem to be in quiet a bit of disarray with COVID-19. So many other developers had some real disruption for a month, but they’ve found working from home and in the cloud quite efficient since and are only expecting minor delays if any.

Nintendo seem unable to even do a Direct video

@the4seer In 2017 there was Mario Kart, Mario + Rabbids, Odyssey, Mario Party Top 100

In 2018, Mario Tennis Aces and Super Mario Party (and technically Smash Bros)

In 2019, Dr Mario, New Super Mario Bros U DX, Mario Kart Tour, Super Mario Maker 2, Mario + Luigi, Mario & Sonic (and technically Luigi’s Mansion 3)

I get what you’re saying in that these are similar games. But Nintendo put out so much Mario stuff all the time. I’ve not even counted Captain Toad and Yoshi