I'll be blunt: My opinion is Nintendo needs to grow up.
What I mean here: Nintendo makes great games - indeed, classic games, and while the latest hardware and development strategies isn't a replacement for gameplay, it does have an impact.
More specifically, take a look at the UI of a modern game system. Folders and subfolders, but more importantly online capabilities and pairing with another console or group of consoles.
Nintendo has always seemed to have cold feet for whatever reason - liability or simply focus on the "in room" game crowd - but it's well past the point of being acceptable for a modern game console to have such limited multiplayer / online / streaming capabilities.
The other modern home game systems have make it very easy to play with friends, but Nintendo always seems to have cold feet compared to others in this regard. It is changing (some of this has been implemented to various degrees) but they could vastly improve this.
With things like Twitch and youtube live being more and more common for streaming people playing games - and letting people interact with those streamers - Nintendo's lack of courage in this area is costing them dearly. Imagine a game console where you could start watching someone play a game on Twitch, then join in on your own to play with or against them with your own console.
Besides that - anyone else remember how much impact "Launch Titles" used to have? I remember how big the launches of the SNES were and even more the launch of the Nintendo 64. Reason? Because the games at launch were a big deal, which SHOWED their improvement over the previous generation's.
SNES Launch Titles: F-Zero, Sim City, Gradius III, Pilotwings, and of course Super Mario World.
N64 Launch Titles: Pilotwings 64, Super Mario 64 (Ultimately this system proved to be a bit of a disappointment to me personally, but Super Mario 64 and Wave Race were enough to show the diffference from the SNES)
Are there good games? Yes. Were there a lot MORE games at launch than for the SNES or N64? Yes. But what here shows something that couldn't be done on the Wii, or wasn't already being done on another Console? The power of having an exclusive with Tank! Tank! Tank!? That's not an incentive, that's a joke. And Nintendo land, entertaining? Maybe. But who buys a console that costs hundreds of dollars for a collection of mini-games? (Yes, I know this also slams Mario Party).
There WAS New Super Mario Bros. U, and as I write this it is still the Wii U's 2nd best selling title (which does indicate it is a great game), but what about this game is one that shows it's a game changer? That shows this game is a huge improvement that simply COULD NOT have been done on the Wii?
They could have done a Zelda game immediately, had a Metroid game ready to go, but no.
Even now, this is rather weak. Here's a list of the Wii U's all-time best selling games: Mario Kart 8 — 7.5 million New Super Mario Bros. U — 5..19 million Nintendo Land — 5.07 million Super Mario 3D World — 4.82 million Super Smash Bros. Wii U — 4.8 million Splatoon — 4.27 million Super Mario Maker — 3.52 million New Super Luigi U — 2.49 million Mario Party 10 — 1.76 million The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD — 1.72 million
Just this list alone should indicate why this console failed. 7 Mario based games (of various types), 1 Zelda game, Nintendoland, and Splatoon.
Don't get me wrong, Splatoon is a great game, great premise and new type of FPS, but it isn't one that can manage to make up for a weak system launch - which the Wii U definitely had.
Nintendo through it's history has a huge catalog and variety of games (particularly on the NES), but what happened to this variety?
I know I'm showing my age here, but what happened to RPGs for example? Why couldn't Nintendo have done something to revive adventure games by letting players use the touchpad to select items to interact with (another hypothetical). How about reviving Star Tropics or Mother, as opposed to a 12th or 13th Mario game? (Don't get me wrong, Mario games are great, but really, Nintendo needs to know the difference between making a sequel and starting to milk a franchise).
I'm not saying Nintendo needs to grow up by suddenly issuing out a lot of NC-17 games (though they really should put out more adult games or let publishers develop some as well), but if they're going to continue their focus on 1st party games they need to do better on day 1 and do more variety. Risk is dangerous, but if they don't innovate again they're going to fall to the wayside.
To put it another way: Nintendo's biggest game this year wasn't anywhere on this list. It was (and still is) Pokemon Go. And the Wii U had absolutely nothing to do with it. Nintendo, if they're going to continue in the home console market needs to adequately fund and develop for that console or they're destined to go the way of Sega in the home console market. (Note I am not saying mobile, though that is also growing far weaker thanks to cell phones).
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Re: Editorial: The Wii U Has Been Nintendo's Lowest Selling Home Console; It Deserved Better
I'll be blunt: My opinion is Nintendo needs to grow up.
What I mean here: Nintendo makes great games - indeed, classic games, and while the latest hardware and development strategies isn't a replacement for gameplay, it does have an impact.
More specifically, take a look at the UI of a modern game system. Folders and subfolders, but more importantly online capabilities and pairing with another console or group of consoles.
Nintendo has always seemed to have cold feet for whatever reason - liability or simply focus on the "in room" game crowd - but it's well past the point of being acceptable for a modern game console to have such limited multiplayer / online / streaming capabilities.
The other modern home game systems have make it very easy to play with friends, but Nintendo always seems to have cold feet compared to others in this regard. It is changing (some of this has been implemented to various degrees) but they could vastly improve this.
With things like Twitch and youtube live being more and more common for streaming people playing games - and letting people interact with those streamers - Nintendo's lack of courage in this area is costing them dearly. Imagine a game console where you could start watching someone play a game on Twitch, then join in on your own to play with or against them with your own console.
Besides that - anyone else remember how much impact "Launch Titles" used to have? I remember how big the launches of the SNES were and even more the launch of the Nintendo 64. Reason? Because the games at launch were a big deal, which SHOWED their improvement over the previous generation's.
SNES Launch Titles: F-Zero, Sim City, Gradius III, Pilotwings, and of course Super Mario World.
N64 Launch Titles: Pilotwings 64, Super Mario 64 (Ultimately this system proved to be a bit of a disappointment to me personally, but Super Mario 64 and Wave Race were enough to show the diffference from the SNES)
Now, just compare this with the launch titles of the Wii U: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_video_game_console_launch_games#Wii_U
Are there good games? Yes. Were there a lot MORE games at launch than for the SNES or N64? Yes. But what here shows something that couldn't be done on the Wii, or wasn't already being done on another Console? The power of having an exclusive with Tank! Tank! Tank!? That's not an incentive, that's a joke. And Nintendo land, entertaining? Maybe. But who buys a console that costs hundreds of dollars for a collection of mini-games? (Yes, I know this also slams Mario Party).
There WAS New Super Mario Bros. U, and as I write this it is still the Wii U's 2nd best selling title (which does indicate it is a great game), but what about this game is one that shows it's a game changer? That shows this game is a huge improvement that simply COULD NOT have been done on the Wii?
They could have done a Zelda game immediately, had a Metroid game ready to go, but no.
Even now, this is rather weak. Here's a list of the Wii U's all-time best selling games:
Mario Kart 8 — 7.5 million
New Super Mario Bros. U — 5..19 million
Nintendo Land — 5.07 million
Super Mario 3D World — 4.82 million
Super Smash Bros. Wii U — 4.8 million
Splatoon — 4.27 million
Super Mario Maker — 3.52 million
New Super Luigi U — 2.49 million
Mario Party 10 — 1.76 million
The Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker HD — 1.72 million
Just this list alone should indicate why this console failed. 7 Mario based games (of various types), 1 Zelda game, Nintendoland, and Splatoon.
Don't get me wrong, Splatoon is a great game, great premise and new type of FPS, but it isn't one that can manage to make up for a weak system launch - which the Wii U definitely had.
Nintendo through it's history has a huge catalog and variety of games (particularly on the NES), but what happened to this variety?
I know I'm showing my age here, but what happened to RPGs for example? Why couldn't Nintendo have done something to revive adventure games by letting players use the touchpad to select items to interact with (another hypothetical). How about reviving Star Tropics or Mother, as opposed to a 12th or 13th Mario game? (Don't get me wrong, Mario games are great, but really, Nintendo needs to know the difference between making a sequel and starting to milk a franchise).
I'm not saying Nintendo needs to grow up by suddenly issuing out a lot of NC-17 games (though they really should put out more adult games or let publishers develop some as well), but if they're going to continue their focus on 1st party games they need to do better on day 1 and do more variety. Risk is dangerous, but if they don't innovate again they're going to fall to the wayside.
To put it another way: Nintendo's biggest game this year wasn't anywhere on this list. It was (and still is) Pokemon Go. And the Wii U had absolutely nothing to do with it. Nintendo, if they're going to continue in the home console market needs to adequately fund and develop for that console or they're destined to go the way of Sega in the home console market. (Note I am not saying mobile, though that is also growing far weaker thanks to cell phones).