With that being said, though, you are asking NintendoLife to report bad news in a dressed up fashion. I also hate to repeat myself, but that's not their job. Being a Nintendo-centric website doesn't make them obligated to sugar coat. @Thomasbw84 gave this article a perfect title. Why? Because all us Nintendo fans have been holding our breath with each new release for "this to be the one", so when it isn't, it's disappointing.
Quite frankly, had he labeled it as you suggest I would've got excited, clicked on the article, and then I would've been disappointed and wondered why he sugar coated the fact that the game sold horribly. Darned if he does, darned if he doesn't. Give the guy a break, he's doing his job, and he's doing it well. I don't blame him for being frustrated at the criticism.
Only the first part of that was meant to respond to your first comment. the 2nd half was more of a "letting my frustrations out, to a lot of people" type of thing but in re-reading it, i seemed overly aggressive to you. sorry if it came off that way!
Let's play a game. Tell me which of these conversations is going on at Nintendo HQ right now.
A) "We have most of the top 20 baby! If you count, more of our stuff has a number than the other companies!"
Or
B) "Despite the fact that the 3ds continues to dominate, our current home console remains an utter failure, selling horribly, receiving bad press, missing target goals by almost 2/3's.. etc etc"
Do you think it matters to those invested in Nintendo how many spots on the chart Nintendo receives if in the end it results in losses? Nintendo fans have "well atleast we have the 3ds to make up for the wii u, mindset, but let me promise you, kids, Nintendo is looking at it the other way around. The wii u is draining the enormous success of the 3ds. Nintendo didn't release 2 consoles with the hopes that atleast 1 will do good.
Everyone on this website keeps complaining about bad news. THESE ARE BAD TIMES FOR THE COMPANY. NintendoLife isn't here to lie to you. It isn't a conspiracy people. Wii U is draining this company.
Yes, the 3ds is doing well. Yes, Nintendo has enough in the bank to withstand an ultimate wii u failure.
That DOESN't matter. They still want it to succeed, and NLIFE is still obligated to report when it's not. It's their job. "Geez couldn't NLIFE have worded it a little more happy and put a picture of a bird smiling and giving a thumbs up and make it happy " blah blah NO! Grow up!
Until (if) Nintendo does a bettter job at turning this system's fortunes around, expect bad news. No matter WHAT excuse you think of, these are poor sales. Slow sales month, japan vs usa, people didn't buy games cuz they were feeling ill from all the st valentines day chocolate, whatever spin you put, this is bad.
What were you saying last year. Did you not think Pikmin 3, W101, Monster hunter 3u, Lego City, Wario, Mario 3d World, Donkey kong, etc. would turn the wii u's fortunes around? You're lying if you say no. Because if you didn't think that, then you shouldn't be surprised that bad news is being reported.
Nintendo is not in trouble, guys. But the wii u is. Nintendo will probably recover, build some revolutionary home console/portable combo system and be fine, but unless wii u recovers, stop complaining about bad news.
I'm slowly losing my love for this company. I understand the first returns did well but that was more a result of "retro" being new again with NSMB & dkc:r. They actually thought they could capitalize and just keep pumping out 2d platformers in 2013, 2014 & beyond? Ugh.. This is just freaking painful to watch. Every single person except for the few hundred inside the walls of Nintendo saw putting Retro on a high tech, revolutionary project was the key to this platform catching a glimmer of hope, and instead they make a 2d platformer. Not only that but I recall a Retro employee actually tweeting something along the lines of "Another fps? Wow so boring", at one of the big e3 reveals a day or 2 before this got released. Oh, the irony.
This gets revealed, the media world and fans are universally disappointed, so Nintendo runs back to HQ and has a big meeting. "We need to recapture the public's interest with a big announcement" Miyamoto grabs his Zelda U paperwork and begins to stand up but the man next to him reaches out his arm, pushes Shiggy back in his seat, and with a twinkle in his eye says "I've got it. Cranky Kong as a playable character within the game everyone's disappointed in for existing" Board room erupts in cheers
It has a negative tone because it's negative news. That's a bad debut for one of the "big" titles. Just because this is a Nintendo website doesn't mean a part of their job is to make Nintendo fans feel happy inside by polishing turds. Their integrity as journalists require they report it like it is, and as Nintendo is flopping, most of the articles are going to have a negative undertone. Blame Nintendo, not NintendoLife.
Nintendo is far from doomed but c'mon guys, it's too freakin late for the Wii U.I actually sold mine. I was fiercely loyal to Nintendo for many years but I'm done being blind. Every Nintendo console will have it's share of great Nintendo first party titles but there has been, and by all indications will be, such a small amount of games. what do we know about for 2014, like 7 exclusives? We're a year and a half into it's lifecycle. Even if developers started flocking to the wii u now, the 2, sometimes 3, year development cycles of many games would mean most of the good content would be coming out at the end of it's lifecycle. If you're Nintendo only at any point after the Cube, you're blind.
I own a Wii U and a PS4 and hven't touched either in 2 months besides a game of nbs2k14. These last 2 months I've been playing suikoden 3, wild arms 3, banjo kazooie and dk64. That's right, ps2 and n64. Does this generation suck or am I just getting old?
Things like this are upsetting. Nintendo has been a giant in this industry for near 3 decades, so they should have multiple contacts with every relevant company. They should design their hardware by either consulting other companies about where the industry's heading, or at the very least keeping them in mind.
They're placing priority on the thing being NOISY over keeping it friendly for third parties? The thing can make a 56k dialup connection modem noise the whole time it plays if it means more great games are coming to it.
Nintendo is still the best software developer around, but not by a huge margin anymore. There are lots of good ones that we shoulen't have to miss. I'm sick of blaming third parties for being lazy. Nintendo is the stubborn one.
Nintendo is the kid at the dance standing in the corner, staring at the wall and we, it's friends are telling everyone at the dance "It's YOUR fault for not going out of your way to go talk to him." No, it's not. it's his fault for choosing to be a loner, especially in a school he was the most popular kid in for quite a while.
This gen, everyone needs a PS, and only Nintendo fans need a wii u. I love mine, but I totally understand those who don't.
Maybe someone can answer this for me. Reading about "Dark Cloud" reminds me of a game for the snes called Soul Blazer. You went into dungeons, destroyed monsters & rebuilt towns. Can someone who's played both tel me if dc is like a 3d sb? sb was in my top 3 games growing up
Sorry, in rereading my own post, it sounded almost dismissive or your comment. It wasn't meant to. So, let me give a detailed response as to my opinion of your statement.
Your quote is: "Maturity, though, is about not caring about the superficial layers, and realizing that depth comes from the layers found beneath the surface"
If you did happen to read the entirety of mine and Jaxon's conversation, you might remember I stressed the point of "Just as something looking kiddie doesn't automatically make it kiddie, something having depth doesn't automatically make it non-kiddie".
Let's take Game A: Party Babies and Game B: Super Mario 3D World. Both are bright, colorful, cheery. Game A has very shallow gameplay whereas B has deep gameplay. So now we're to the point of "What makes something chilidish vs mature?" Your argument suggests that because I can do a lot with my characters, find lots of secret paths, replay the levels, etc. that that places it in a category of "not being kiddie". Well... Why?
Is it because the assumption is that kids can't handle as much? I sure could handle the abovementioned game depth as a kid. So, just as you can ask "Why do the graphics have to suggest it's childish?" I can ask "Why does the game having depth have to suggest it's not?"
So, again, what makes something kiddie? In my opinion, it's the developers intentionally including things for the purpose of appealing to kids. Like colorful, shiny, toylike graphics. Characters in bright, puffy, silly costumes High pitched, goofy, silly, zany voice acting. Talking animals. These are all things included in cartoons because bright colors, high pitched voices, etc gra children's attention.
Your general argument is that the depth and quality of the experience negates that, however I beg to differ. Take your favorite shirt and paint it pink and purple. It WILL look more feminine despite te quality of the fabric, design, etc. Why? Pink and purple afre known to be feminine colors, just as all the things listed above are known to hook children's interest.
I feel it's time for Nintendo fans to stop denying the childish nature of the experiences that we enjoy. We need to embrace that that is WHY we like it. This matters because we go and get defensive when people call what we like childish, but the fact is, they're right. But, so what if it is? We can still lke it. But, that doesn't change that it is!
Game B is just as kiddie as Game A, it's just a higher quality, deeper, better experience. I truly feel Nintendo gamers that deny the games are childish are uncomfortable with the fact that they are. They don't want to admit they like something geared towards kids. My stance is "Yes, it's a kid's game, and it's freaking awesome, so I'm going to play it til I'm 70", and not "Yes, it is a game about talking animals grunting and farting and jumping on each other, but as you can see, it's geared towarfds adults because it's a deep game with an incredible physics engine"
Mario is a game about an Italian plumber who jups on the heads of turtles and smiling, waddling floppy foot goombas, trying to save a pink princess from a giant spiky shelled lizard. It is for kids. And that's okay.
If you read the entirety of @JaxonH and I's conversation, you'll see the points your raising have all been addressed and analyzed from numerous angles, quite in depth (if you didn't, i don't blame you, he and I sure can type a lot!) I don't disagree with what you're saying, but how you've worded your response does te d to make me think you maybe skimmed the conversations VS read them in depth.
I'm a 30 year old owner of all systems, as well, with Nintendo being my personal favorite.
I agree. Personally, I feel Square has done one of the best jobs in the industry when it comes to walking the childish/mature and realism/fantasy lines.
I'm a group of human beings walking around a world with towns, villages, castles, etc. There usually 1 or more love stories, as well as stories of friendship, betrayal redemption, etc. These are all things that will hook a gamer who likes realism.
But peppered into that world of towns and mountains are dragons, and monsters. Mixed in with the stories of love and betrayal are magic spells. And the graphics have a "real enough" sense about them mixed in with the fantasy.
Square is one of the few companies that can compete with Nintendo's catalog of content, in my opinion. And while I rank them my #2 company of al time behind Nintendo, they are head and shoulders above them in appealing to multiple crowds, for the reasons i listed above.
I agree about the family thing. I don't think too many families sit down and play the games as they show in the commercials. I'm sure some do, but it's curious that Nintendo does this in every commercial. it might be more effective to show a group of kids in a sleepover or something. I know that was my childhood in a nutshell...
After playing Skyward Sword with that friend, he popped in the new COD he just bought (I believe MW3) and I played it for an hour, and to be honest, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I think what it is, for me, is that skillwise, i stink at fps games, so a game like Killzone that requires a ton of stealth is hard for me. Its like, take 1 wrong step, youre seen, and get shot from all sides, auto death. That's quite a daunting task for someone who feels like an old man playing these games ("theres too many buttons! 2 joysticks???") whereas cod just kinda felt like a fun shooter that was more forgiving of my mistakes. My experiences are only of a beginner in the first 2 levels.
HAHA, this is definitely one of the best talks I've ever had about the subject on the internet. Completely respectful, both sides having intelligent, and well-said, points. All over a "kiddie" topic, like video games!
But where your argument will always be better than mine is this: These games are damn fun, so let's play them!
Thank you, as do you. This is kind of a hard side of the argument to hold up as i actually am on your side on 90 percent of what you say, and for whatever reason have decided to play devil's advocate to show why other people would think this way.
I, too, only care for how fun the game is and think Nintendo is THE premier quality software developer. In fact, right now, sm3dw, sonic lost world, link between worlds and ocarina of time 3d are taking up the vast bulk of my playing time. Killzone on ps4? Its my first FPS and i keep telling myself "youll get into it" after 20 minute play sessions.
I take that back, it's my 2nd fps as goldeneye 007 was one of my favorite games as a kid. The only others I remember being around were the doom and wolfensteins whch my friend played constantly and i never liked. Goldeneye 007 hooked me, though. Ah, that old Rare magic.
The only thing we seem to disagree on is that the little details really add up to a childlike experience to me, no matter how good. Personally? I love being taken back to childhood experiences, so i love it. To me, Nintendo's childish nature is one of it's greatest strengths. It fulfills a gaming need the other companies don't.
I actually used to think the same about sm3dw. My dad comes over to watch the Patriots every Sunday. I was playing it when he did 3 weeks ago and he said "You still play this kid stuff?" He's always been anti videogame, so my assumption was that he meant video games.
As I started to ask him what made them childish, he differentiated between what he saw me playing the previous week (killzone for ps4) and then went on a tangent while laughing, pointing out "everything is bright and shiny" "it looks like a bunch of toys on screen" "they have voices you hear in kid's cartoons" "im playing as a girl in a pink dress" "the enemies are smiling"
It was a pretty eye opening experience coming from someone who didn't even know it was a mario, or Nintendo game. We, as gamers, don't consider Nintendo a kid company because we have those deep gameplay experiences in the back of our mind. But to many, many people looking on, what Nintendo creates could be very easily considered to be for children.
As far as what you listed, for nsmbu, you dont consider it's bright, shiny, toylike appearance kiddie? Or the fact that youre playing as silly little toads with puffy hats? Or that your enemies are little smiley and sad face goombas cutely waddling around?
Or DKC:TF, a gme where you play as a monkey jumping on the heads of penguin pirates?
The gameplay is deep, and great, but i think us Nintendo fans have been blinded by what we grew up with when we (i used to, too) can look at a bright, shiny game filled with talking animals who constantly shriek, giggle and cry and ask "what's kiddie about this?"
Is it good? No, it's great. Is it fun? You bet it is. Are we right in our "The gaming masses are just ignorant and we know the real truth that it's not kiddie!" Well, i no longer think we are. We are right that it is a quality experience, but they are also right that it is a kid's game. The difference comes down to whether or not you are interested in playing a kid's game. Luckily, i am
To clarify mine and @JaxonH discussion, we weren't debating whether or not there were a few games outside of the criteria I was listing. I'm very familiar with the awesomeness that is Nintendo. I've beaten 13 of the 17 zelda games, barring the 2 ds ones and the 2 four swords games.
My stance was that Nintendo's reputation is well deserved and correct because of what the majority of the system caters to. For every Twilight Princess there's 30 fluffy cute games, whether quality titles like a kirby epic yarn, or trash like a party babies.
Every system has every kind of games, it's having a lot that makes the difference. Xenoblade Chronicles looks great on that shelf, but when I have to browse past 45 yellow, orange and pink cases to see it, I can't think anything but that this is a kid's gaming section.
I forgot to address 1 of your points that i really liked, and agreed with. Yes, Nintendo has always made similar kinds of games. In this medium's infancy, when nintendo and sega reigned supreme, it was very much a niche, youth hoby.
And while "niche" is no longer true, Nintendo is still making the same exact games as when it was exclusively, for the most part, for the younger crowd. So what does that mean? They're still making games cfor a younger crowd.
You can argue for game quality all you want, and I'll be right there next to youj on the same side of the fence screaming along with you. But the fact is, Nintendo does primarily make "kiddie" games, for the sole reason they dress up their incredible gameplay experiences to be tailored to kids.
When Sony and Microsoft started presenting different kind of content, people said "oh wait, it can be like this? Well this is more my tastes", which, probably not coincidentally, was around the time gaming grew from a niche youth hobby to a mainstream hobby for all.
I enjoyed reading that (serious, not sarcasm). It seems we agree on as many, if not more, points than we disagree. Having just turned 30 3 days ago, we're also the same age, essentially.
I would just ask you to look at it from a slightly different angle. What actually makes something considered "kiddie"? When you say that although something is cosmetically kiddie, it does not automatically have to be, I agree, but I also feel that because something is deep in gameplay, it's not inherently "not kiddie".
The assumption that complex gameplay is automatically not aimed at a younger crowd is just as incorrect as the assumption that kiddie graphics is automatically aimed at only younger crowds. (Starting to hate the word "kiddie", lol)
I guess, for me, the argument "well, although it's bright pink and cute and silly, it's not for kids, because if you play it, you will see there's a lot to it" doesn't work. When I was a kid, i handed very complex games.
So, the question becomes, what is it, that makes it... childish? Well, let's look at a car. Take 2 cars that have incredible interiors, tons of features, totally suped up engines, etc etc. Now lets paint one pink and one black. Which is now catering to females, and which to males? Does it matter what's under the hood?
The aesthetic is what defines that to a large degree. Should people be able to see past the cosmetic to see how deep a game is? Heck, I sure can. Is someone wrong if they can't? No, why would they be. Some grown men don't like playing super cute things, and there's nothing wrong with that.
While I agree that Nintendo's experiences are some of the deepest and funnest, their kid reputatiion is well deserved, as they make a point to make the majority of what you're looking at cater more to a younger than older crowd. And whether or not a game is fun doesn't change that. Neither does it's depth.
Metroid Prime is literally the only Nintendo series I can think of that falls outsixde of what I'm saying. And that's only a few games. When people say "If you think it's kiddie, play..." and list 5 games, it doesn't outweigh the 120 that are. Every system has every type of game, the difference is the majority of it's focus.
While I agree with you in the past, things HAVE changed. Here's my story:
I was the biggest gamer in the world from ages 5-17, which encompassed the NES, SNES & N64 generation. About a year into the Gamecube generation, I went through life experiences that caused me to "feel like i grew out of gaming", so i stopped until the very end of the Wii's lifecycle. It was approx. 10 years out of the loop.
When I decided to get back into gaming about a year and a half ago, it had become a solo venture, as the life changes i had made came with the result of losing touch with my gamer friends. So, naturally going to what I knew, I bought Nintendo's new system, Wii U.
Everyone I then ran into at work, parties, etc. that ha any interest in gaming started asking me"Why the HELL would you buy a Wii?? They're for kids" Utterly confused, I started searching out the old, hardcore franchises, only to find out, people were right.
That's not to say they're not fun, and that's not to say they're not deep gameplay experiences. And I am far from a dudebro gamer that needs blood and headshots (I don't play FPS or Racing, only RPG, platformers primarily, with some Mario kart and Smash mixed in)
But, every title I bought that my fellow Nintendo fans used to argue against the "kiddie, family company thing" only reinforced it. What I mean by all this is every single game is specifically designed to be loaded with cuteness. The characters and environmments are all bright and glossy. They have high pitched shrieks and cute faces. The characters like Toad, Kirby, DK are all cute. Luigi is silly and cugte when he's frightened. I just bought Rune factory 4 and every other sentence, they're making cute and exagerated faces with giant sweat pouring off.
Skyward Sword? Got in touch with my old gamer friend and played it with him. At the part where you run into those 3 things in the forest you need to catch, almost awkwardly cute for 2 big guys like us to be sitting down playing.
Mario Kart? Everything's shiny and bright. Every character that gets hit yells out a silly sound. Smash? Bunch of cute things fighting each other.
My point is that 90 percent of what you buy on Nintendo systems, including the deep, hardcore experiences, are cosmetically tailored to be very attractive to kids and families, and this is what lots of the public that hates Nintendo doesn't like.
What's a good alternative? Final Fantasy 7, 9, heck probably most of them. Probably most ps1 and ps2 RPG's. Lots of em are very accessible to kids but very far from the cuteness of Nintendo titles that turns off the mainstream.
Nintendo got popular in the era where almost every gamer was a kid and they seem to be stuck in that style. But, weirdly, while they used to just naturally appeal to kids, they now go out of their way to, and that seems to be the difference.
Sorry for typing so much, if anyone even read this far, lol. But, as a gamer who both has the retro knowledge as well as also came into this generation fresh, the non-Nintendo group out there DOES have a point. I'll always buy Nintendo systems for my Zelda, MK, Smash & Metroid, but Nintendo could make some changes to appeal to more people.
Square's a tough company to use in competition to Nintendo as many of it's classics were on Nintendo's system- FF2(4), FF3(6), Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, as well as the collabo with Ninty for Super Mario RPG.
Man, I miss those days. And not so much that i feel games aren't as good anymore, but moreso because i had a ton of gamer friends in those days and now all my friends are too cool to play any video games, much less Nintendo.
@mab, If that was in response to me, then YES, that was definitely humo(u)r. "In response to your inquiry of which rpg's of the genesis were better than the snes ones you named, I present you with a video of 2 kids explaining why the 17th best platformer on snes had better graphics on the Genesis version. Now that's humo(u)r!
I truly feel sorry for you if you believe the Genesis had better RPGs or platformers than snes, lol. Come on man, really? In RPGs, snes is a+ to genesis' f+, and in platformers it's an a+ to a b. Please list your genesis rpgs that come close to ff2, ff3, chrono trigger, secret of mana, secret of evermore, super mario rpg, bof 1 n 2, lufia 1 n 2, etc etc etc. Genesis had only one superior category over snes, and thats sports games. while i was never into racing games, i hear genesis was the goto for those, too.
To jump into this conversation about FE, I'm still trying to decide where I rank it. It's actually my first strategy game, so I'm not familiar with the genre. Hearing it constantly referred to as an RPG, I was quite surprised to find out it is essentially cutscene-virtual chess-cutscene. No typical RPG exploration type stuff.
I'm aware this is a well established genre but, I'm new to it. I expected more like a Final Fantasy. I'm starting Ch 4 now and it's starting to get interesting, but i found the story very "generic fantasy" to start.
From what I understand, building relationships is what this game is all about and I am starting to do that, so we'll see how that goes.
spoilers I heard such a big deal made of this permadeath feature, but from what I've seen, it doesn't matter much. Sully, Vaike & the archer that begins with a V have all died for me (i know, i suck) and it has not been mentioned in battle or within the cutscenes at all yet. Do I miss out on cutscenes/secrets because of it? What changes? end spoilers
Anyway, sorry for the long post. But the verdict is still out on this game for me. For the record, comparing what i've played of FE:A to what ive seen/expect fromNNK, NNK could likely beat this game. It looks incredible.
GC's big issues were lack of cd rom/dvd drive and online, yes, but the N64, and, in turn, Nintendo, was widely criticized for sticking with cartidges when CD was being recognized as the future.
If I recall correctly, it's the reason Square Enix moved the Final Fantasy series off Nintendo consoles and onto Sony's, because the cartridges couldn't hold enough for them to do what they wanted to with the game.
While i didn't care about the whole CD vs Cartridge debate, I DID care about losing Final Fantasy, and I vividly remember an incredible amount of articles declaring the death of Nintendo for sticking with cartridges.
And, while I'm too young to remember it, because I was 8 when the SNES came out so I just looked for good games and didn't care about the business end, if you search youtube you will find videos from the 90's of news outlets and such running specials declaring that although Nintendo has "90 percent of the market", the new genesis coming out could spell trouble for them since their 16 bit console wasn't set to come to the US until the following year.
So, it's pretty much always been there since the genesis began it's massive run.
It's really simple for me- Nintendo's system connects me to my childhood favorites (while modernizing, revolutionizing them) & Sony and/or Microsoft's system allows me access to the titles & experiences that the industry considers "new", "pushing the envelope", etc.
I choose PS over Xbox because Sony allows that while also giving me access to it's own wealth of awesome exclusives.
People make way too big of a deal out of this. I understand some people don't have a lot of money, but you know the system's coming like 2 years before it does, and it takes a year to really heat up, so can you not save a few hundred dollars over a few years?
No, he said that we WOULD see zelda u at e3 2014, not that we wouldn't until then. In fact, he said he was planning to show it at comic con but was too busy with the albw presentation to do so, and specifically said he would "start planning a presentation on zelda u to show soon, as soon as he returned home". I am sure you would find the info if you looked up aonuma's statements on comic con.
I missed out on sonic as a kid, but i honestly don't regret it. It was either miss out on Sonic or Link to the Past, Final Fantasy 2 & 3, Crono Trigger, Secret of Mana/Evermore, Act Raiser, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, SMW, Yoshi's Island, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, Lufia 1 & 2, Donkey Kong COUNTRY 1-3, Earthbound, Harvest Moon, Metroid, Mario Kart, etc etc etc. Genesis only owners missed out on SO MANY classic games that i actually used to feel bad for them as a kid. Even lesser known adventures like Robotrek & Brain Lord were better than most of the Genesis' offerings. oh, what a system...
My opinion on this is that every 2-3 years would be a good compromise. While i don't want rushed products, it kills me sometimes when i finish a zelda game and think of the age I'll be the next time I get a chance to do so.
Zelda has always been the gold standard of quality but honestly things are getting much closer nowadays than they were. OOT was miles ahead of it's competition when it released, so that wait was worth it, but how much better can Zelda be than the other big hitters out nowadays?
Can Zelda really be made to feel way more epic than skyrim? how much better can it really than the monolith soft's x?
Whereas in the past, that extra time helped to create a "miles ahead of the rest" experience, zelda's only real differentiating factor from it's competition nowadays is it's history and it's charm. And neither of those need 5 years development cycles, so let me have my zelda just a LITTLE sooner please, big N?
Everyone's saying they wish the Wii U would have this success, and I do, too, but realistically, isn't it just about too late? Don't most games take 2-3 years to develop? So anything starting now will be coming out on the last leg of the Wii U's lifespan, as Nintendo systems usually last 5-6 years
As long as Aonuma really does go back to the "Zelda Basics". The recent overworlds have focused too much on "what kind of transportation can we use?" Instead of "let's let the player explore this beautiful world we've created" SS, ST, and PH were all like this. TP let you explore but forgot to put anything there for you to explore in those big, open, empty spaces. But everything points towards them returning to the exploration/adventring aspect the series was originally based on.
Absolutely way too early to make that statement. We're within the first year of a 5-6 year console cycle, minimum. The first year tends to be predictable.. The realy big, groundbreaking games come in the mid to late years when developers have become familiar with the hardware (N64 aside)
Monolith Soft's X is, quite frankly(judging by what we've seen, which does a good job hammering home the sense of scope this game has), much more ambitious and just as fresh as anything put out in the GCN days.
by this Holiday season, Nintendo will have already taken care of the 2d dk, wii series stuff, kiddish safe mario, etc. That'll be just over a year after launch. There is no indication that the remaining 5 years will be anything less than extraordinary.
There have been so many games (&movies, tv shows, etc.) That when I finished playing/watching them, I had a feeling of "I don't know if I'll ever experience something that incredible again. I wish I hadn't experienced it yet so that I could again".
That seems to be how many people feel about this game. Luckily for me, this is one of the very few Zelda games I played only once or twice for a couple hours, so this is a whole new adventure for me. And from what I understand, I'm in for a real treat. Like a top 5 Zelda treat
I, in no way, am faulting NintendoLife for this, as they can only report what info they are given, but am I the only one getting so tired of reading article after article of crowdfunding/kickstarter/indie 2d platformers. If it's not one of those it's a virtual console release. All that stuff is great as complimentary pieces but man, where are the retail games? We know about, what, 6 games total in 2014 and beyond? Again, not NLife's fault, I just hope we start hearing about new, big AAA retail games. A good amount are coming in 2013, but we have known about most of these for over a year. Let's get some new blood in here to get excited about!
I love the N64 and was a pretty spoiled kid so I was loaded with games. It's funny, because everytime I read about an n64 game on here, i've at one point owned and played it. A few weeks ago when this site did the Turok review, I was thinking to myself "Wow, are there any n64 games I HAVEN'T played??" And now I know why. I never realized there were so few games made for it! Under 400, wow. And how many of those actually came to each region? I guess, worst case scenario, if the Wii U doesn't become another Wii, it could become another n64. Less quantity, with either more or (in my opinion, equal) quality...
I have to agree with both of you. It was a fantastic game, but I also lost interest, if that makes any sense. I remember being amazed and having a "best Zelda game ever!" Feeling at certain points like when Fi wakes you up at night and you follow her. Pretty epic stuff.
But, somewhere around the desert, like Einherjar, the game started to feel like somewhat of a chore and I couldn't figure out why. I continued to the part where you need to find the Ghost ship and for some reason, never picked it up again.
In retrospect, I think the reason is that it was far too segmented of a game for me. I love exploring and happening upon things, but this effect was completely lost with the hub world-forest-hub world-mountain formula. You also returned to these places too much, which hurt that exploration feel.
Surprisingly, I also did not like the whole "puzzle overworld, overworld is like a dungeon" thing they did, which was actually something I was really excited for. I think that's why the game felt like a chore. While every Zelda overworld is setup in a way that makes you think to get around, having the entire overworld feel like a puzzle filled dungeon was incredibly monotonous.
Overall, Skyward Sword had it's parts that were typical, epic greatness found in Zelda, but as an overall package, something seemed to fall flat.
Is this a prank. You're the only ( well, let's add @knightrider666 to the list ) person I've ever met to feel this way.
Lttp is universally loved and respected. It is so many gamers, as well as developers, favorite game of all time. Eiji Aonuma cites it as his biggest influence.
Please name for me a single thing LOZ does better than LttP?
Dungeons? LttP has more, with way more depth and creativity Bosses? Lttp by far. Using the hammer to break the helmarock king's mask, getting knocked off the platform to restart, fire/ice boss. These were all fun and creative fighgs, whereas LOZ is generally "walk up to boss and stab" with the occasional bomb. Look at Ganon! Hit him a few times with the sword while he moves around fhe room then shoot an arrow? Lttp had "layered" fights, where there were differenf phases you went through to take your foe down. Much funner fhan wzlking up to a 3 headed dragon and repeatedly tapping B Exploration? Lttp's was a world packed tighf and brimming with content. Every single screen had secrets, it felt. Swimming in a giant lake and under bridges, long, twisting caverns in Death Mountain, exploring a castle. LOZ? 5 or 6 single, one room caves with a character that said a line of dialogue. There was story in Lttp that made you want to explore this world. LOZ's world was huge for it's time but it was bland and empty by comparisons Puzzles? LOZ's puzzles essentially were pushing blocks on a button and giving an old guy meat to pass by him. Lttp has intricate labyrinths with switches, ice you need to melt, multi layered dungeons to hookshot across. I mean, actually, were there even any FLOORS in LOZ? No, the entire game was one flat surface.
Really, bro, I can go on and on and on. You can like LOZ better, that's opinion. But it's a fact that Lttp is the better made game. And it's not even close. ONLY nostalgia could make you feel differently.
Well, I'd always need the ability to connect to a tv, but I'd be just fine with your idea if it was a home/portable hybrid. Essentially, a portable that connects to the TV and becomes the controller when it does.
Game Boy again, huh? Nah, this'd be a grown up version of a Game Boy. I got it! The Game Man!
Ok, here's what I want you to do. You know the "I'm a PC" slogan? Well, let's take that. I want you to start proudly proclaiming to everyone "I'm a GameMan", just make sure you say "gameman" nice n fast, k?
I don't understand your logic. You need it proven to you that the Gamepad is necessary? Well... It's not. Every other system ever cn attest to that.
CD players, iPOD inputs, built-in GPS & televisions in my car aren't necessary, either. But they sure don't hurt my driving experience. What is wrong with having more options?
I could maybe see your point if the gamepad was this completely akward design that changed around all the buttons to fit the screen, but it's literally the same exact setup as another controller, just with a screen in the middle. Why can't it just be a system with another option?
Some games do make cool use of it. Rayman Legends has great, unique gameplay. Think of calling plays in Madden or another NFL gamek your friend can't see which plays you're picking. What about an FPS? Now you can sneak up on your fiwnd better cuz he canlt just look at your side of the splitscreen to see what you're gonna do.
Maybe it'll never live up to it's full potential. Who knows? It'll certainly need to be there. But it'll have plenty of instances where it'll be better, or if nothing else, different, that it's there. It's a new experience. Embrace it for what it is.
I read your comment just fine. Whether or not you meant the current Wii U model or not, your stance / conditions for purchase are unreasonable.
I believe that is the price the Wii dropped to in it's final year ( ahnd then finally 99.99 at the very, very end. Please correct me if I'm wrong)
So, what you're saying is, you won't purchase Nintendo's console until they drop the price of it to what the Wii was in it's 5th year?
Well, being as how the Wii started at a much lower price than the Wii U, wouldn't that tell you that the Wii U is then likely to take atleast that long, if ever?
Wasn't the Wii 249.99 when it came out? How the heck can they get a 349.99 consol that low, man?
Unless you're the type to swoop in at the end of the generation when the next-gen is coming out and buy everything at it's lowest price, then more power to ya, I guess.
I just love my gaming hobby, and for that reason I like to be current and enjoy games as they come out, play with friends online, discuss them online, etc. To miss out on all that and be 3 or 4 years late to save 50 to 100 bucks? Eh, to each his own. I'll just pick up an extra shift at work.
I don't know, shouldn't bother me, of course. I just wanna see my favorite gaming company succeed, so they keep providing me with these excellent games. It doesn't help them when their potential customers are only willing to buy under unrealistic circumstances.
As a sidenote, if you are in a situation where you are struggling financially then i realize you may not have the option to choose, and I apologize if that's the case.
ND's would be incredibly boring if they were just for release dates.
They do them when a game is coming out soon because they show gameplay, release details, etc. Sm3dW and DKC are too far away to start releasing many details. They'll almost certainly have their own info-releasing nd's around launch time.
Why would they have a ND for Windwaker? It's not a new game, so showing teaserfootage is pointless. It'd be a 3 minute long direct tops saying there's going to be a bundle and showing a design on the controller.
Although it has about a zero percentage chance of happening, I really would love for some kind of 3ds-to-wii u player (or 2ds to wii u), or a device where the tv displays the top screen of the 3ds along with it. I'm buying a 3ds or 2ds solely for Link Between Worlds as I'm part of the "old guy who was the perfect age and amount of nerdiness to have Link to the Past enhance his life" club, but it just isn't the same on a portable. I'll love it just as much, and it will be of the same high quality, but I just wish the sequel to one of the most influential home console games of all time would have a way to play it on a home console. There are lots of console only gamers like me that never give portables much thought.
Us late 20's, early 30's gamers aren't much for huddling around a tiny screen with 3 of our friends... We want to kick back and watch the game on the tv...
Is it really necessary to review a game (Breath of Fire 2) which is exactly the same as the one before it, which was exactly the same as the original?
Let me save you some time:
They still have blue hair and you can play on the Gamepad.
BTW, great game, but why do they "review" these things? I could see if it was last on SNES because then lots of kids might not have played it & they might not have a review already but geez, save yourself dozens of hours of playing and writing amd just point people to the Wii review.
Comments 326
Re: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Only Sells Just Over 35,000 Units in Japanese Launch
With that being said, though, you are asking NintendoLife to report bad news in a dressed up fashion. I also hate to repeat myself, but that's not their job. Being a Nintendo-centric website doesn't make them obligated to sugar coat. @Thomasbw84 gave this article a perfect title. Why? Because all us Nintendo fans have been holding our breath with each new release for "this to be the one", so when it isn't, it's disappointing.
Quite frankly, had he labeled it as you suggest I would've got excited, clicked on the article, and then I would've been disappointed and wondered why he sugar coated the fact that the game sold horribly. Darned if he does, darned if he doesn't. Give the guy a break, he's doing his job, and he's doing it well. I don't blame him for being frustrated at the criticism.
Re: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Only Sells Just Over 35,000 Units in Japanese Launch
@tsusasai,
Only the first part of that was meant to respond to your first comment. the 2nd half was more of a "letting my frustrations out, to a lot of people" type of thing but in re-reading it, i seemed overly aggressive to you. sorry if it came off that way!
Re: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Only Sells Just Over 35,000 Units in Japanese Launch
@Tsusasi,
Let's play a game. Tell me which of these conversations is going on at Nintendo HQ right now.
A) "We have most of the top 20 baby! If you count, more of our stuff has a number than the other companies!"
Or
B) "Despite the fact that the 3ds continues to dominate, our current home console remains an utter failure, selling horribly, receiving bad press, missing target goals by almost 2/3's.. etc etc"
Do you think it matters to those invested in Nintendo how many spots on the chart Nintendo receives if in the end it results in losses? Nintendo fans have "well atleast we have the 3ds to make up for the wii u, mindset, but let me promise you, kids, Nintendo is looking at it the other way around. The wii u is draining the enormous success of the 3ds. Nintendo didn't release 2 consoles with the hopes that atleast 1 will do good.
Everyone on this website keeps complaining about bad news. THESE ARE BAD TIMES FOR THE COMPANY. NintendoLife isn't here to lie to you. It isn't a conspiracy people. Wii U is draining this company.
Yes, the 3ds is doing well.
Yes, Nintendo has enough in the bank to withstand an ultimate wii u failure.
That DOESN't matter. They still want it to succeed, and NLIFE is still obligated to report when it's not. It's their job. "Geez couldn't NLIFE have worded it a little more happy and put a picture of a bird smiling and giving a thumbs up and make it happy " blah blah NO! Grow up!
Until (if) Nintendo does a bettter job at turning this system's fortunes around, expect bad news. No matter WHAT excuse you think of, these are poor sales. Slow sales month, japan vs usa, people didn't buy games cuz they were feeling ill from all the st valentines day chocolate, whatever spin you put, this is bad.
What were you saying last year. Did you not think Pikmin 3, W101, Monster hunter 3u, Lego City, Wario, Mario 3d World, Donkey kong, etc. would turn the wii u's fortunes around? You're lying if you say no. Because if you didn't think that, then you shouldn't be surprised that bad news is being reported.
Nintendo is not in trouble, guys. But the wii u is. Nintendo will probably recover, build some revolutionary home console/portable combo system and be fine, but unless wii u recovers, stop complaining about bad news.
Re: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Only Sells Just Over 35,000 Units in Japanese Launch
I'm slowly losing my love for this company. I understand the first returns did well but that was more a result of "retro" being new again with NSMB & dkc:r. They actually thought they could capitalize and just keep pumping out 2d platformers in 2013, 2014 & beyond? Ugh.. This is just freaking painful to watch. Every single person except for the few hundred inside the walls of Nintendo saw putting Retro on a high tech, revolutionary project was the key to this platform catching a glimmer of hope, and instead they make a 2d platformer. Not only that but I recall a Retro employee actually tweeting something along the lines of "Another fps? Wow so boring", at one of the big e3 reveals a day or 2 before this got released. Oh, the irony.
This gets revealed, the media world and fans are universally disappointed, so Nintendo runs back to HQ and has a big meeting. "We need to recapture the public's interest with a big announcement" Miyamoto grabs his Zelda U paperwork and begins to stand up but the man next to him reaches out his arm, pushes Shiggy back in his seat, and with a twinkle in his eye says "I've got it. Cranky Kong as a playable character within the game everyone's disappointed in for existing" Board room erupts in cheers
Re: Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze Only Sells Just Over 35,000 Units in Japanese Launch
@GuyBrush20x6,
It has a negative tone because it's negative news. That's a bad debut for one of the "big" titles. Just because this is a Nintendo website doesn't mean a part of their job is to make Nintendo fans feel happy inside by polishing turds. Their integrity as journalists require they report it like it is, and as Nintendo is flopping, most of the articles are going to have a negative undertone. Blame Nintendo, not NintendoLife.
Re: Sega's New Shining Game Is Rather Different From What You Might Have Been Expecting
There's still an "arcade market"? Where? Cuz I've been missing arcades since i was about 14 or 15 and they all shut down.
Re: Talking Point: Nintendo Direct Pointed to Another Wii U Retail Drought
Nintendo is far from doomed but c'mon guys, it's too freakin late for the Wii U.I actually sold mine. I was fiercely loyal to Nintendo for many years but I'm done being blind. Every Nintendo console will have it's share of great Nintendo first party titles but there has been, and by all indications will be, such a small amount of games. what do we know about for 2014, like 7 exclusives? We're a year and a half into it's lifecycle. Even if developers started flocking to the wii u now, the 2, sometimes 3, year development cycles of many games would mean most of the good content would be coming out at the end of it's lifecycle. If you're Nintendo only at any point after the Cube, you're blind.
Re: Feature: Breaking Down What Nintendo's QOL Platform Could Mean
I own a Wii U and a PS4 and hven't touched either in 2 months besides a game of nbs2k14. These last 2 months I've been playing suikoden 3, wild arms 3, banjo kazooie and dk64. That's right, ps2 and n64. Does this generation suck or am I just getting old?
Re: A Third-Party "Secret Developer" Gives an Inside Story of Working on Wii U
Things like this are upsetting. Nintendo has been a giant in this industry for near 3 decades, so they should have multiple contacts with every relevant company. They should design their hardware by either consulting other companies about where the industry's heading, or at the very least keeping them in mind.
They're placing priority on the thing being NOISY over keeping it friendly for third parties? The thing can make a 56k dialup connection modem noise the whole time it plays if it means more great games are coming to it.
Nintendo is still the best software developer around, but not by a huge margin anymore. There are lots of good ones that we shoulen't have to miss. I'm sick of blaming third parties for being lazy. Nintendo is the stubborn one.
Nintendo is the kid at the dance standing in the corner, staring at the wall and we, it's friends are telling everyone at the dance "It's YOUR fault for not going out of your way to go talk to him." No, it's not. it's his fault for choosing to be a loner, especially in a school he was the most popular kid in for quite a while.
This gen, everyone needs a PS, and only Nintendo fans need a wii u. I love mine, but I totally understand those who don't.
Re: Level 5 Is Hard At Work On A New Game That Will "Surprise" Us
@warlocknem
Cool, thank you! as far as the 2 games in the series, are both good? one good, one bad? Which is better, etc.?
Re: Level 5 Is Hard At Work On A New Game That Will "Surprise" Us
Maybe someone can answer this for me. Reading about "Dark Cloud" reminds me of a game for the snes called Soul Blazer. You went into dungeons, destroyed monsters & rebuilt towns. Can someone who's played both tel me if dc is like a 3d sb? sb was in my top 3 games growing up
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@FineLerv
Sorry, in rereading my own post, it sounded almost dismissive or your comment. It wasn't meant to. So, let me give a detailed response as to my opinion of your statement.
Your quote is: "Maturity, though, is about not caring about the superficial layers, and realizing that depth comes from the layers found beneath the surface"
If you did happen to read the entirety of mine and Jaxon's conversation, you might remember I stressed the point of "Just as something looking kiddie doesn't automatically make it kiddie, something having depth doesn't automatically make it non-kiddie".
Let's take Game A: Party Babies and Game B: Super Mario 3D World. Both are bright, colorful, cheery. Game A has very shallow gameplay whereas B has deep gameplay. So now we're to the point of "What makes something chilidish vs mature?" Your argument suggests that because I can do a lot with my characters, find lots of secret paths, replay the levels, etc. that that places it in a category of "not being kiddie". Well... Why?
Is it because the assumption is that kids can't handle as much? I sure could handle the abovementioned game depth as a kid. So, just as you can ask "Why do the graphics have to suggest it's childish?" I can ask "Why does the game having depth have to suggest it's not?"
So, again, what makes something kiddie? In my opinion, it's the developers intentionally including things for the purpose of appealing to kids. Like colorful, shiny, toylike graphics. Characters in bright, puffy, silly costumes High pitched, goofy, silly, zany voice acting. Talking animals. These are all things included in cartoons because bright colors, high pitched voices, etc gra children's attention.
Your general argument is that the depth and quality of the experience negates that, however I beg to differ. Take your favorite shirt and paint it pink and purple. It WILL look more feminine despite te quality of the fabric, design, etc. Why? Pink and purple afre known to be feminine colors, just as all the things listed above are known to hook children's interest.
I feel it's time for Nintendo fans to stop denying the childish nature of the experiences that we enjoy. We need to embrace that that is WHY we like it. This matters because we go and get defensive when people call what we like childish, but the fact is, they're right. But, so what if it is? We can still lke it. But, that doesn't change that it is!
Game B is just as kiddie as Game A, it's just a higher quality, deeper, better experience. I truly feel Nintendo gamers that deny the games are childish are uncomfortable with the fact that they are. They don't want to admit they like something geared towards kids. My stance is "Yes, it's a kid's game, and it's freaking awesome, so I'm going to play it til I'm 70", and not "Yes, it is a game about talking animals grunting and farting and jumping on each other, but as you can see, it's geared towarfds adults because it's a deep game with an incredible physics engine"
Mario is a game about an Italian plumber who jups on the heads of turtles and smiling, waddling floppy foot goombas, trying to save a pink princess from a giant spiky shelled lizard. It is for kids. And that's okay.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@FineLerv
If you read the entirety of @JaxonH and I's conversation, you'll see the points your raising have all been addressed and analyzed from numerous angles, quite in depth (if you didn't, i don't blame you, he and I sure can type a lot!) I don't disagree with what you're saying, but how you've worded your response does te d to make me think you maybe skimmed the conversations VS read them in depth.
I'm a 30 year old owner of all systems, as well, with Nintendo being my personal favorite.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@gatorboi352
I didnt even know you could use the wii remotes on the wii cod's. I'll have to try it
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@TechnoEA
I agree. Personally, I feel Square has done one of the best jobs in the industry when it comes to walking the childish/mature and realism/fantasy lines.
I'm a group of human beings walking around a world with towns, villages, castles, etc. There usually 1 or more love stories, as well as stories of friendship, betrayal redemption, etc. These are all things that will hook a gamer who likes realism.
But peppered into that world of towns and mountains are dragons, and monsters. Mixed in with the stories of love and betrayal are magic spells. And the graphics have a "real enough" sense about them mixed in with the fantasy.
Square is one of the few companies that can compete with Nintendo's catalog of content, in my opinion. And while I rank them my #2 company of al time behind Nintendo, they are head and shoulders above them in appealing to multiple crowds, for the reasons i listed above.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@gatorboi352
Thanks, man!
I agree about the family thing. I don't think too many families sit down and play the games as they show in the commercials. I'm sure some do, but it's curious that Nintendo does this in every commercial. it might be more effective to show a group of kids in a sleepover or something. I know that was my childhood in a nutshell...
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@JaxonH
After playing Skyward Sword with that friend, he popped in the new COD he just bought (I believe MW3) and I played it for an hour, and to be honest, I enjoyed it quite a bit.
I think what it is, for me, is that skillwise, i stink at fps games, so a game like Killzone that requires a ton of stealth is hard for me. Its like, take 1 wrong step, youre seen, and get shot from all sides, auto death. That's quite a daunting task for someone who feels like an old man playing these games ("theres too many buttons! 2 joysticks???") whereas cod just kinda felt like a fun shooter that was more forgiving of my mistakes. My experiences are only of a beginner in the first 2 levels.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@JaxonH
Fair enough. I think we've both represented our side of the coin well in this discussion. It's been a pleasure.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@JaxonH
HAHA, this is definitely one of the best talks I've ever had about the subject on the internet. Completely respectful, both sides having intelligent, and well-said, points. All over a "kiddie" topic, like video games!
But where your argument will always be better than mine is this: These games are damn fun, so let's play them!
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@JaxonH
Thank you, as do you. This is kind of a hard side of the argument to hold up as i actually am on your side on 90 percent of what you say, and for whatever reason have decided to play devil's advocate to show why other people would think this way.
I, too, only care for how fun the game is and think Nintendo is THE premier quality software developer. In fact, right now, sm3dw, sonic lost world, link between worlds and ocarina of time 3d are taking up the vast bulk of my playing time. Killzone on ps4? Its my first FPS and i keep telling myself "youll get into it" after 20 minute play sessions.
I take that back, it's my 2nd fps as goldeneye 007 was one of my favorite games as a kid. The only others I remember being around were the doom and wolfensteins whch my friend played constantly and i never liked. Goldeneye 007 hooked me, though. Ah, that old Rare magic.
The only thing we seem to disagree on is that the little details really add up to a childlike experience to me, no matter how good. Personally? I love being taken back to childhood experiences, so i love it. To me, Nintendo's childish nature is one of it's greatest strengths. It fulfills a gaming need the other companies don't.
I actually used to think the same about sm3dw. My dad comes over to watch the Patriots every Sunday. I was playing it when he did 3 weeks ago and he said "You still play this kid stuff?" He's always been anti videogame, so my assumption was that he meant video games.
As I started to ask him what made them childish, he differentiated between what he saw me playing the previous week (killzone for ps4) and then went on a tangent while laughing, pointing out "everything is bright and shiny" "it looks like a bunch of toys on screen" "they have voices you hear in kid's cartoons" "im playing as a girl in a pink dress" "the enemies are smiling"
It was a pretty eye opening experience coming from someone who didn't even know it was a mario, or Nintendo game. We, as gamers, don't consider Nintendo a kid company because we have those deep gameplay experiences in the back of our mind. But to many, many people looking on, what Nintendo creates could be very easily considered to be for children.
As far as what you listed, for nsmbu, you dont consider it's bright, shiny, toylike appearance kiddie? Or the fact that youre playing as silly little toads with puffy hats? Or that your enemies are little smiley and sad face goombas cutely waddling around?
Or DKC:TF, a gme where you play as a monkey jumping on the heads of penguin pirates?
The gameplay is deep, and great, but i think us Nintendo fans have been blinded by what we grew up with when we (i used to, too) can look at a bright, shiny game filled with talking animals who constantly shriek, giggle and cry and ask "what's kiddie about this?"
Is it good? No, it's great. Is it fun? You bet it is. Are we right in our "The gaming masses are just ignorant and we know the real truth that it's not kiddie!" Well, i no longer think we are. We are right that it is a quality experience, but they are also right that it is a kid's game. The difference comes down to whether or not you are interested in playing a kid's game. Luckily, i am
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@whitetrashguy
To clarify mine and @JaxonH discussion, we weren't debating whether or not there were a few games outside of the criteria I was listing. I'm very familiar with the awesomeness that is Nintendo. I've beaten 13 of the 17 zelda games, barring the 2 ds ones and the 2 four swords games.
My stance was that Nintendo's reputation is well deserved and correct because of what the majority of the system caters to. For every Twilight Princess there's 30 fluffy cute games, whether quality titles like a kirby epic yarn, or trash like a party babies.
Every system has every kind of games, it's having a lot that makes the difference. Xenoblade Chronicles looks great on that shelf, but when I have to browse past 45 yellow, orange and pink cases to see it, I can't think anything but that this is a kid's gaming section.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@JaxonH
I forgot to address 1 of your points that i really liked, and agreed with. Yes, Nintendo has always made similar kinds of games. In this medium's infancy, when nintendo and sega reigned supreme, it was very much a niche, youth hoby.
And while "niche" is no longer true, Nintendo is still making the same exact games as when it was exclusively, for the most part, for the younger crowd. So what does that mean? They're still making games cfor a younger crowd.
You can argue for game quality all you want, and I'll be right there next to youj on the same side of the fence screaming along with you. But the fact is, Nintendo does primarily make "kiddie" games, for the sole reason they dress up their incredible gameplay experiences to be tailored to kids.
When Sony and Microsoft started presenting different kind of content, people said "oh wait, it can be like this? Well this is more my tastes", which, probably not coincidentally, was around the time gaming grew from a niche youth hobby to a mainstream hobby for all.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@JaxonH
I enjoyed reading that (serious, not sarcasm). It seems we agree on as many, if not more, points than we disagree. Having just turned 30 3 days ago, we're also the same age, essentially.
I would just ask you to look at it from a slightly different angle. What actually makes something considered "kiddie"? When you say that although something is cosmetically kiddie, it does not automatically have to be, I agree, but I also feel that because something is deep in gameplay, it's not inherently "not kiddie".
The assumption that complex gameplay is automatically not aimed at a younger crowd is just as incorrect as the assumption that kiddie graphics is automatically aimed at only younger crowds. (Starting to hate the word "kiddie", lol)
I guess, for me, the argument "well, although it's bright pink and cute and silly, it's not for kids, because if you play it, you will see there's a lot to it" doesn't work. When I was a kid, i handed very complex games.
So, the question becomes, what is it, that makes it... childish? Well, let's look at a car. Take 2 cars that have incredible interiors, tons of features, totally suped up engines, etc etc. Now lets paint one pink and one black. Which is now catering to females, and which to males? Does it matter what's under the hood?
The aesthetic is what defines that to a large degree. Should people be able to see past the cosmetic to see how deep a game is? Heck, I sure can. Is someone wrong if they can't? No, why would they be. Some grown men don't like playing super cute things, and there's nothing wrong with that.
While I agree that Nintendo's experiences are some of the deepest and funnest, their kid reputatiion is well deserved, as they make a point to make the majority of what you're looking at cater more to a younger than older crowd. And whether or not a game is fun doesn't change that. Neither does it's depth.
Metroid Prime is literally the only Nintendo series I can think of that falls outsixde of what I'm saying. And that's only a few games. When people say "If you think it's kiddie, play..." and list 5 games, it doesn't outweigh the 120 that are. Every system has every type of game, the difference is the majority of it's focus.
Re: Video: Just Look For The U On The Box, Nintendo's New Wii U Promotion Helpfully Suggests
@JaxonH
While I agree with you in the past, things HAVE changed. Here's my story:
I was the biggest gamer in the world from ages 5-17, which encompassed the NES, SNES & N64 generation. About a year into the Gamecube generation, I went through life experiences that caused me to "feel like i grew out of gaming", so i stopped until the very end of the Wii's lifecycle. It was approx. 10 years out of the loop.
When I decided to get back into gaming about a year and a half ago, it had become a solo venture, as the life changes i had made came with the result of losing touch with my gamer friends. So, naturally going to what I knew, I bought Nintendo's new system, Wii U.
Everyone I then ran into at work, parties, etc. that ha any interest in gaming started asking me"Why the HELL would you buy a Wii?? They're for kids" Utterly confused, I started searching out the old, hardcore franchises, only to find out, people were right.
That's not to say they're not fun, and that's not to say they're not deep gameplay experiences. And I am far from a dudebro gamer that needs blood and headshots (I don't play FPS or Racing, only RPG, platformers primarily, with some Mario kart and Smash mixed in)
But, every title I bought that my fellow Nintendo fans used to argue against the "kiddie, family company thing" only reinforced it. What I mean by all this is every single game is specifically designed to be loaded with cuteness. The characters and environmments are all bright and glossy. They have high pitched shrieks and cute faces. The characters like Toad, Kirby, DK are all cute. Luigi is silly and cugte when he's frightened. I just bought Rune factory 4 and every other sentence, they're making cute and exagerated faces with giant sweat pouring off.
Skyward Sword? Got in touch with my old gamer friend and played it with him. At the part where you run into those 3 things in the forest you need to catch, almost awkwardly cute for 2 big guys like us to be sitting down playing.
Mario Kart? Everything's shiny and bright. Every character that gets hit yells out a silly sound. Smash? Bunch of cute things fighting each other.
My point is that 90 percent of what you buy on Nintendo systems, including the deep, hardcore experiences, are cosmetically tailored to be very attractive to kids and families, and this is what lots of the public that hates Nintendo doesn't like.
What's a good alternative? Final Fantasy 7, 9, heck probably most of them. Probably most ps1 and ps2 RPG's. Lots of em are very accessible to kids but very far from the cuteness of Nintendo titles that turns off the mainstream.
Nintendo got popular in the era where almost every gamer was a kid and they seem to be stuck in that style. But, weirdly, while they used to just naturally appeal to kids, they now go out of their way to, and that seems to be the difference.
Sorry for typing so much, if anyone even read this far, lol. But, as a gamer who both has the retro knowledge as well as also came into this generation fresh, the non-Nintendo group out there DOES have a point. I'll always buy Nintendo systems for my Zelda, MK, Smash & Metroid, but Nintendo could make some changes to appeal to more people.
Re: Nintendo Is The Company That Made Me Love Gaming, Says Zelda Williams
@rjejr
Square's a tough company to use in competition to Nintendo as many of it's classics were on Nintendo's system- FF2(4), FF3(6), Chrono Trigger, Secret of Mana, Secret of Evermore, as well as the collabo with Ninty for Super Mario RPG.
Man, I miss those days. And not so much that i feel games aren't as good anymore, but moreso because i had a ton of gamer friends in those days and now all my friends are too cool to play any video games, much less Nintendo.
Re: This Video Brings Back Festive Sega Memories of the '90s
@mab,
If that was in response to me, then YES, that was definitely humo(u)r. "In response to your inquiry of which rpg's of the genesis were better than the snes ones you named, I present you with a video of 2 kids explaining why the 17th best platformer on snes had better graphics on the Genesis version. Now that's humo(u)r!
Re: This Video Brings Back Festive Sega Memories of the '90s
@mab
I truly feel sorry for you if you believe the Genesis had better RPGs or platformers than snes, lol. Come on man, really? In RPGs, snes is a+ to genesis' f+, and in platformers it's an a+ to a b. Please list your genesis rpgs that come close to ff2, ff3, chrono trigger, secret of mana, secret of evermore, super mario rpg, bof 1 n 2, lufia 1 n 2, etc etc etc. Genesis had only one superior category over snes, and thats sports games. while i was never into racing games, i hear genesis was the goto for those, too.
Re: The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds Picks Up Best Handheld Game VGX Award
To jump into this conversation about FE, I'm still trying to decide where I rank it. It's actually my first strategy game, so I'm not familiar with the genre. Hearing it constantly referred to as an RPG, I was quite surprised to find out it is essentially cutscene-virtual chess-cutscene. No typical RPG exploration type stuff.
I'm aware this is a well established genre but, I'm new to it. I expected more like a Final Fantasy. I'm starting Ch 4 now and it's starting to get interesting, but i found the story very "generic fantasy" to start.
From what I understand, building relationships is what this game is all about and I am starting to do that, so we'll see how that goes.
spoilers
I heard such a big deal made of this permadeath feature, but from what I've seen, it doesn't matter much. Sully, Vaike & the archer that begins with a V have all died for me (i know, i suck) and it has not been mentioned in battle or within the cutscenes at all yet. Do I miss out on cutscenes/secrets because of it? What changes?
end spoilers
Anyway, sorry for the long post. But the verdict is still out on this game for me. For the record, comparing what i've played of FE:A to what ive seen/expect fromNNK, NNK could likely beat this game. It looks incredible.
Re: Digital Foundry Heaps Praise on Super Mario 3D World
@Kirk,
That's actually not true.
GC's big issues were lack of cd rom/dvd drive and online, yes, but the N64, and, in turn, Nintendo, was widely criticized for sticking with cartidges when CD was being recognized as the future.
If I recall correctly, it's the reason Square Enix moved the Final Fantasy series off Nintendo consoles and onto Sony's, because the cartridges couldn't hold enough for them to do what they wanted to with the game.
While i didn't care about the whole CD vs Cartridge debate, I DID care about losing Final Fantasy, and I vividly remember an incredible amount of articles declaring the death of Nintendo for sticking with cartridges.
And, while I'm too young to remember it, because I was 8 when the SNES came out so I just looked for good games and didn't care about the business end, if you search youtube you will find videos from the 90's of news outlets and such running specials declaring that although Nintendo has "90 percent of the market", the new genesis coming out could spell trouble for them since their 16 bit console wasn't set to come to the US until the following year.
So, it's pretty much always been there since the genesis began it's massive run.
Re: Soapbox: Even With The Arrival Of PS4 And Xbox One, I'd Still Pick The Wii U
It's really simple for me- Nintendo's system connects me to my childhood favorites (while modernizing, revolutionizing them) & Sony and/or Microsoft's system allows me access to the titles & experiences that the industry considers "new", "pushing the envelope", etc.
I choose PS over Xbox because Sony allows that while also giving me access to it's own wealth of awesome exclusives.
People make way too big of a deal out of this. I understand some people don't have a lot of money, but you know the system's coming like 2 years before it does, and it takes a year to really heat up, so can you not save a few hundred dollars over a few years?
Re: VGX Award Ceremony To Include New Footage of an Upcoming Wii U Game
@adanvc,
No, he said that we WOULD see zelda u at e3 2014, not that we wouldn't until then. In fact, he said he was planning to show it at comic con but was too busy with the albw presentation to do so, and specifically said he would "start planning a presentation on zelda u to show soon, as soon as he returned home". I am sure you would find the info if you looked up aonuma's statements on comic con.
Re: Nintendo of America Confirms 23 Locations for its Holiday Mall Experience
@wiiuexposed
I hate to give you more ammo, but ummm.. need to work on your math a bit. 23 in 50 states is less than 1 every 2 states
Re: Feature: Last Night A Hedgehog Saved My Life
I missed out on sonic as a kid, but i honestly don't regret it. It was either miss out on Sonic or Link to the Past, Final Fantasy 2 & 3, Crono Trigger, Secret of Mana/Evermore, Act Raiser, Soul Blazer, Illusion of Gaia, Mega Man, Castlevania, Contra, SMW, Yoshi's Island, Breath of Fire 1 & 2, Lufia 1 & 2, Donkey Kong COUNTRY 1-3, Earthbound, Harvest Moon, Metroid, Mario Kart, etc etc etc. Genesis only owners missed out on SO MANY classic games that i actually used to feel bad for them as a kid. Even lesser known adventures like Robotrek & Brain Lord were better than most of the Genesis' offerings. oh, what a system...
Re: Eiji Aonuma Explains Why The Legend of Zelda Isn't a Yearly Franchise
My opinion on this is that every 2-3 years would be a good compromise. While i don't want rushed products, it kills me sometimes when i finish a zelda game and think of the age I'll be the next time I get a chance to do so.
Zelda has always been the gold standard of quality but honestly things are getting much closer nowadays than they were. OOT was miles ahead of it's competition when it released, so that wait was worth it, but how much better can Zelda be than the other big hitters out nowadays?
Can Zelda really be made to feel way more epic than skyrim? how much better can it really than the monolith soft's x?
Whereas in the past, that extra time helped to create a "miles ahead of the rest" experience, zelda's only real differentiating factor from it's competition nowadays is it's history and it's charm. And neither of those need 5 years development cycles, so let me have my zelda just a LITTLE sooner please, big N?
Re: Lifetime Sales for the 3DS Have Now Surpassed the Wii in Japan
Everyone's saying they wish the Wii U would have this success, and I do, too, but realistically, isn't it just about too late? Don't most games take 2-3 years to develop? So anything starting now will be coming out on the last leg of the Wii U's lifespan, as Nintendo systems usually last 5-6 years
Re: Shigeru Miyamoto Outlines His Evolving Role in Overseeing Projects
As long as Aonuma really does go back to the "Zelda Basics". The recent overworlds have focused too much on "what kind of transportation can we use?" Instead of "let's let the player explore this beautiful world we've created" SS, ST, and PH were all like this. TP let you explore but forgot to put anything there for you to explore in those big, open, empty spaces. But everything points towards them returning to the exploration/adventring aspect the series was originally based on.
Re: Feature: Great Nintendo 64 Multiplayer Games You May Not Have Played
@Doma
Absolutely way too early to make that statement. We're within the first year of a 5-6 year console cycle, minimum. The first year tends to be predictable.. The realy big, groundbreaking games come in the mid to late years when developers have become familiar with the hardware (N64 aside)
Monolith Soft's X is, quite frankly(judging by what we've seen, which does a good job hammering home the sense of scope this game has), much more ambitious and just as fresh as anything put out in the GCN days.
by this Holiday season, Nintendo will have already taken care of the 2d dk, wii series stuff, kiddish safe mario, etc. That'll be just over a year after launch. There is no indication that the remaining 5 years will be anything less than extraordinary.
Re: Video: The Wind Waker HD's New Features Are Shown Off, Along With Gorgeous Visuals
There have been so many games (&movies, tv shows, etc.) That when I finished playing/watching them, I had a feeling of "I don't know if I'll ever experience something that incredible again. I wish I hadn't experienced it yet so that I could again".
That seems to be how many people feel about this game. Luckily for me, this is one of the very few Zelda games I played only once or twice for a couple hours, so this is a whole new adventure for me. And from what I understand, I'm in for a real treat. Like a top 5 Zelda treat
Re: James Pond Franchise to Return With Crowdfunding Campaign
I, in no way, am faulting NintendoLife for this, as they can only report what info they are given, but am I the only one getting so tired of reading article after article of crowdfunding/kickstarter/indie 2d platformers. If it's not one of those it's a virtual console release. All that stuff is great as complimentary pieces but man, where are the retail games? We know about, what, 6 games total in 2014 and beyond? Again, not NLife's fault, I just hope we start hearing about new, big AAA retail games. A good amount are coming in 2013, but we have known about most of these for over a year. Let's get some new blood in here to get excited about!
Re: Feature: Great Nintendo 64 Multiplayer Games You May Not Have Played
I love the N64 and was a pretty spoiled kid so I was loaded with games. It's funny, because everytime I read about an n64 game on here, i've at one point owned and played it. A few weeks ago when this site did the Turok review, I was thinking to myself "Wow, are there any n64 games I HAVEN'T played??" And now I know why. I never realized there were so few games made for it! Under 400, wow. And how many of those actually came to each region? I guess, worst case scenario, if the Wii U doesn't become another Wii, it could become another n64. Less quantity, with either more or (in my opinion, equal) quality...
Re: Eiji Aonuma Advises Adventurers to Hoard Rupees in The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds
@FiveDigitLP @Einherjar
I have to agree with both of you. It was a fantastic game, but I also lost interest, if that makes any sense. I remember being amazed and having a "best Zelda game ever!" Feeling at certain points like when Fi wakes you up at night and you follow her. Pretty epic stuff.
But, somewhere around the desert, like Einherjar, the game started to feel like somewhat of a chore and I couldn't figure out why. I continued to the part where you need to find the Ghost ship and for some reason, never picked it up again.
In retrospect, I think the reason is that it was far too segmented of a game for me. I love exploring and happening upon things, but this effect was completely lost with the hub world-forest-hub world-mountain formula. You also returned to these places too much, which hurt that exploration feel.
Surprisingly, I also did not like the whole "puzzle overworld, overworld is like a dungeon" thing they did, which was actually something I was really excited for. I think that's why the game felt like a chore. While every Zelda overworld is setup in a way that makes you think to get around, having the entire overworld feel like a puzzle filled dungeon was incredibly monotonous.
Overall, Skyward Sword had it's parts that were typical, epic greatness found in Zelda, but as an overall package, something seemed to fall flat.
Re: Review: The Legend of Zelda (Wii U eShop / NES)
@Relias
Is this a prank. You're the only ( well, let's add @knightrider666 to the list ) person I've ever met to feel this way.
Lttp is universally loved and respected. It is so many gamers, as well as developers, favorite game of all time. Eiji Aonuma cites it as his biggest influence.
Please name for me a single thing LOZ does better than LttP?
Dungeons? LttP has more, with way more depth and creativity
Bosses? Lttp by far. Using the hammer to break the helmarock king's mask, getting knocked off the platform to restart, fire/ice boss. These were all fun and creative fighgs, whereas LOZ is generally "walk up to boss and stab" with the occasional bomb. Look at Ganon! Hit him a few times with the sword while he moves around fhe room then shoot an arrow? Lttp had "layered" fights, where there were differenf phases you went through to take your foe down. Much funner fhan wzlking up to a 3 headed dragon and repeatedly tapping B
Exploration? Lttp's was a world packed tighf and brimming with content. Every single screen had secrets, it felt. Swimming in a giant lake and under bridges, long, twisting caverns in Death Mountain, exploring a castle. LOZ? 5 or 6 single, one room caves with a character that said a line of dialogue. There was story in Lttp that made you want to explore this world. LOZ's world was huge for it's time but it was bland and empty by comparisons
Puzzles? LOZ's puzzles essentially were pushing blocks on a button and giving an old guy meat to pass by him. Lttp has intricate labyrinths with switches, ice you need to melt, multi layered dungeons to hookshot across. I mean, actually, were there even any FLOORS in LOZ? No, the entire game was one flat surface.
Really, bro, I can go on and on and on. You can like LOZ better, that's opinion. But it's a fact that Lttp is the better made game. And it's not even close. ONLY nostalgia could make you feel differently.
Re: Round Table: Let's Talk About the 2DS and Wii U Price Cut
@coalmoore
Well, I'd always need the ability to connect to a tv, but I'd be just fine with your idea if it was a home/portable hybrid. Essentially, a portable that connects to the TV and becomes the controller when it does.
Game Boy again, huh? Nah, this'd be a grown up version of a Game Boy. I got it! The Game Man!
Ok, here's what I want you to do. You know the "I'm a PC" slogan? Well, let's take that. I want you to start proudly proclaiming to everyone "I'm a GameMan", just make sure you say "gameman" nice n fast, k?
Trust me on this.
Re: Round Table: Let's Talk About the 2DS and Wii U Price Cut
@GazPlant
I don't understand your logic. You need it proven to you that the Gamepad is necessary? Well... It's not. Every other system ever cn attest to that.
CD players, iPOD inputs, built-in GPS & televisions in my car aren't necessary, either. But they sure don't hurt my driving experience. What is wrong with having more options?
I could maybe see your point if the gamepad was this completely akward design that changed around all the buttons to fit the screen, but it's literally the same exact setup as another controller, just with a screen in the middle. Why can't it just be a system with another option?
Some games do make cool use of it. Rayman Legends has great, unique gameplay. Think of calling plays in Madden or another NFL gamek your friend can't see which plays you're picking. What about an FPS? Now you can sneak up on your fiwnd better cuz he canlt just look at your side of the splitscreen to see what you're gonna do.
Maybe it'll never live up to it's full potential. Who knows? It'll certainly need to be there. But it'll have plenty of instances where it'll be better, or if nothing else, different, that it's there. It's a new experience. Embrace it for what it is.
Re: Round Table: Let's Talk About the 2DS and Wii U Price Cut
@Kirk
I read your comment just fine. Whether or not you meant the current Wii U model or not, your stance / conditions for purchase are unreasonable.
I believe that is the price the Wii dropped to in it's final year ( ahnd then finally 99.99 at the very, very end. Please correct me if I'm wrong)
So, what you're saying is, you won't purchase Nintendo's console until they drop the price of it to what the Wii was in it's 5th year?
Well, being as how the Wii started at a much lower price than the Wii U, wouldn't that tell you that the Wii U is then likely to take atleast that long, if ever?
Wasn't the Wii 249.99 when it came out? How the heck can they get a 349.99 consol that low, man?
Unless you're the type to swoop in at the end of the generation when the next-gen is coming out and buy everything at it's lowest price, then more power to ya, I guess.
I just love my gaming hobby, and for that reason I like to be current and enjoy games as they come out, play with friends online, discuss them online, etc. To miss out on all that and be 3 or 4 years late to save 50 to 100 bucks? Eh, to each his own. I'll just pick up an extra shift at work.
I don't know, shouldn't bother me, of course. I just wanna see my favorite gaming company succeed, so they keep providing me with these excellent games. It doesn't help them when their potential customers are only willing to buy under unrealistic circumstances.
As a sidenote, if you are in a situation where you are struggling financially then i realize you may not have the option to choose, and I apologize if that's the case.
Re: Nintendo Direct: Pokémon Direct Scheduled For Wednesday September 4th
@rjejr
ND's would be incredibly boring if they were just for release dates.
They do them when a game is coming out soon because they show gameplay, release details, etc. Sm3dW and DKC are too far away to start releasing many details. They'll almost certainly have their own info-releasing nd's around launch time.
Why would they have a ND for Windwaker? It's not a new game, so showing teaserfootage is pointless. It'd be a 3 minute long direct tops saying there's going to be a bundle and showing a design on the controller.
Re: Nintendo Direct: Pokémon Direct Scheduled For Wednesday September 4th
first, details on x and y
Second,x/y 3ds bundle announcements
Third, announcement/teaser on the Pokemon fighting game seen recently
These Directs always have a surprise at the end! And the x/y bundle isn't a surprise!
Re: Weirdness: This 1DS Spoof is Remarkably Well Done
Although it has about a zero percentage chance of happening, I really would love for some kind of 3ds-to-wii u player (or 2ds to wii u), or a device where the tv displays the top screen of the 3ds along with it. I'm buying a 3ds or 2ds solely for Link Between Worlds as I'm part of the "old guy who was the perfect age and amount of nerdiness to have Link to the Past enhance his life" club, but it just isn't the same on a portable. I'll love it just as much, and it will be of the same high quality, but I just wish the sequel to one of the most influential home console games of all time would have a way to play it on a home console. There are lots of console only gamers like me that never give portables much thought.
Us late 20's, early 30's gamers aren't much for huddling around a tiny screen with 3 of our friends... We want to kick back and watch the game on the tv...
Re: Out Now: Rayman Legends (North America)
Wow, I was in a "done with 2d platformers" mood but these 3 gameplay videos look SO good. I absolutely cannot resist this game
Re: Nintendo Download: 5th September (Europe)
Is it really necessary to review a game (Breath of Fire 2) which is exactly the same as the one before it, which was exactly the same as the original?
Let me save you some time:
They still have blue hair and you can play on the Gamepad.
BTW, great game, but why do they "review" these things? I could see if it was last on SNES because then lots of kids might not have played it & they might not have a review already but geez, save yourself dozens of hours of playing and writing amd just point people to the Wii review.