CONNECTION ESTABLISHED BLOG: The industry does what Nintendon’t

Nintendo continues to flounder moving into 2014. The Wii U had ridiculous expectations of products sold by the end of 2013. The Japanese company refuses to make modern advancements in their products. And now, Nintendo President Satoru Iwata has more than a couple of tough decisions to make in order to save his company.

The Games: You didn’t get boost power!

So, I want to start out with the obvious: the (lack of) games. It’s only recently that Nintendo released Super Mario 3D World as one of the heavy hitting titles for the Wii U. Even though it’s a solid game and it acquired some Game of the Year nominations, it’s quite clear that Mario can’t carry the Wii U to victory.

Other games on the consoles that are noteworthy are Pikman 3 and Monster Hunter 3 Ultimate. People were hoping that Pikman 3 would bring some variety to the console, but that game fizzled out quickly. Monster Hunter, on the other hand, is actually a solid title for the system. It has a niche audience that enjoys the game and if playing a pseudo-Dark Souls experience sounds awesome to you, it might be worth picking up.

Everything else after that are third party titles that are available on every other gaming system. And it’s quite clear at this point that people don’t exactly buy third party titles on Nintendo. People buy Nintendo games because of their premier franchises that don’t appear on other consoles.

Now let’s look ahead into the future. We have Bayonetta 2, a game that has been in development for quite a while now. Bayonetta is a fast-paced action game that could be described as a Japanese version of God of War. Fans of the predecessor will most likely be getting this game because it is quite a promising game. If you haven’t played the original Bayonetta and you have an Xbox 360, I highly suggest picking it up. Here is some gameplay footage: http://bit.ly/1azSU8p

Next up we have Hyrule Warriors, a Dynasty Warriors knock-off using the Zelda license and characters. I think this game is going to be all hype and not much substance. However, Nintendo has been pretty slow on pushing out a legit new Zelda game out the door, so this is probably the closest thing we are going to get.

Lastly, we have Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. These are to be expected out of Nintendo. Mario Kart is always a great party game to have and we should expect no less from the popular kart-racing franchise. I am a little worried about Smash Bros. however. I feel like the franchise is starting to become like Call of Duty or Assassin’s Creed where it’s like, “We need to make this game because we have to.”

When the franchise made the transition from Melee into Brawl, a lot of the charm and love for the game seemed to be lost. Whenever you play Melee for a couple rounds, it just feels so right. The movements, the attacks and the kills feel so satisfying. But when you play Brawl, there’s something missing when you play a match. It’s like the soul of the franchise is void from the experience. Imagine drinking an empty glass of water; that’s what Brawl feels like.

Moving into the next iteration of the Smash franchise, I think that glass of water is going to be invisible. Maybe the producers of that game will prove me wrong, but I have a sinking feeling for that game.

The games that the Wii U has and will have aren’t bad by any stretch of the imagination. However, I can’t help but criticize them for ignoring some of their core franchises. Where is Zelda, Metroid, Star Fox and F-Zero?  Sure, they have a Donkey Kong game announced at VGX 2013, but why would you choose to develop Donkey Kong over Zelda? They even had an HD Zelda teaser at E3 quite a while ago: http://bit.ly/19DEl8Q

The Wii U has been out for an entire year and they are barely revving their engines. It is so painful to watch a company that has this many franchises to work with and then decide to not use any of them. Okay fine, Metroid, Star Fox and F-Zero only sell in the western hemisphere. But you know what doesn’t sell at all? Not making games in the first place.

It’s alright though; the hardcore fans can play Metroid Prime for the hundredth time. We can at least play that game

The Console and The Focus

Stuck in the Past

A unified account system is assumed by any decent company, unless you are Nintendo. For those who don’t know, virtual console games and other downloads for the Wii U/3DS are linked to the hardware only. If your console breaks, everything you paid for is gone. Permanently.

Everybody else in the industry has adapted to modern advancements while Nintendo continues to live in the past.
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I also have to mention the fact that whoever was on their marketing and advertising team did a terrible job. Most average people you talk to think that the Wii U is just anadd-on to the original Wii. When the populace has those kinds of thoughts about your product, you know you screwed up somewhere.

And it’s not even the fact that the Wii U is a bad console; it’s far from that. For example, the Wii U supports 1080p and has plenty of apps like Netflix. The Wii U has everything it needs to succeed there is just a lack of direction for the console.

Microsoft is aiming towards a family-owned console in the living room space. Sony is going after the core gaming audience. Nintendo, on the other hand, aren’t making it very clear who they want buying their console.

I believe that Nintendo shouldn’t try marketing to the casual gaming crowd at all with the Wii U. Casual gamers are too unpredictable. Right now, they are busy playing Candy Crush on their mobile devices. In the next six months, they could be back on their laptops playing Facebook games again. It’s too difficult for Nintendo right now to market to that kind of crowd.

Nintendo should do what Sony is doing and advertise to the core gaming crowd. The people want to buy their games are generally old-school gamers; the people who remember the good old days of the (S)NES. On that same note, this is why I believe that the console should have been named the UNES: Ultra Nintendo Entertainment System. It speaks for itself.

In the end, it does matter

Whatever Nintendo does, they need to do it fast. Otherwise, they’ll get swept under the competition, just like their old rival, Sega.

For more blog posts from Charlie Dalldorf, check out his website here.