Can we accept a world without Nintendo IPs?

[Ace Morologist]

Imagine if Nintendo didn't feel compelled to give us a new Mario/Metroid/Zelda/whatever game. Imagine if the game Legend of Zelda: Wind Waker had just been Wind Waker. Instead of Link and Zelda and Ganon and Hyrule, it had been something like Kyle and Jynx and Robespierre and Azure. Same gameplay, same art style, same(ish) story, just none of the "expected" Legend of Zelda trappings. I think that would have been just as good a game. Better, even, because it would've had all that fun stuff and yet been new as well.

Or imagine if Super Mario Sunshine hadn't been a Mario game at all. Instead of an Italian plumber with a robotic squirtgun on his back, the main character is a janitor droid created by a crazy scientist who secretly caused this tropical island resort to be coated in filth so he could have his new invention miraculously save the day. Same gameplay, same setting, same antics, just no plumber, no princess, no dragon. (It would be the scientist in the hot tub at the end of the game.)

You could go on and on like that with Nintendo's big name properties of recent console generations, essentially re-skinning them into brand new standalone IPs. They'd still be fun games with engaging stories (inasmuch as Nintendo stories are ever engaging). I guess the real question, then, is why this doesn't happen. Are we the problem? Are we really that scared, deep down, of things that are new and therefore childishly cling to what we recognize? Or is it Nintendo that's truly to blame, lazily clinging to the design and marketing shorthand that those established IPs allow for? If we're being honest, could we accept Nintendo saying, "Yeah, we're done with those guys. Here are all new guys!"

Or could we honestly not, and that's why it seems so unlikely it'll ever happen?

--Morology!

 

[Tom_green_day]

To answer the question: Yes.
To not infringe on the forum rules: I can't name one I particularly like. The Wii U looks fun but really I'm not going to buy a console with so few interesting titles.

 

[Andy Shandy]

So these games exist, they just aren't called [insert franchise name here]?

Yeah, I'd be fine with that.

And to be fair, I'd accept them not being around at all, but it'd be a worse place with Nintendo franchises.

 

[krazykidd]

Are we scared ? No . Do we like familiarity? Yes . Plus a name carries weight . Take a game give it a different name with different characters and it will sell less . Put in mario or zelda or samus or anyone recongnisable and it will sell more . The same holds true for movies . Put in a popular celebrity in a movie and more people will go see it , than if it's a movie full of no-names . Only difference being you actually gotta pay the actor .

Now of course a movie with a bunch of no names can become popular ( twilight ) just like a new IP can become popular ( Mass Effect ) , but there's a risk that it doesn't sell as well .

 

[Something Amyss]

All things considered, I wouldn't miss them even if they stopped making them altogether.

 

[shrekfan246]

What's with all the Nintendo threads lately?

Anyway, I loved Wind Waker despite it being a Zelda game, not because of it. As I said just a few minutes ago, the only franchise I really have any attachment to is Kirby. So I figure I'd be able to live just fine, independent of any wide-reaching ramifications caused by Nintendo's IPs vanishing into the ether.

 

[RJ 17]

"A rose by any other name would smell just as sweet."

/thread

Seriously though, of course you could take any game and just switch the characters out for random original ones. If everything is the same mechanics/setting/etc wise then all the good games would still be good, all the bad games would still be bad, just with different characters and titles. Assuming that in this alternate world it would be established fact that Nintendo DIDN'T carry the same IPs through console after console, we wouldn't really even know the difference, would we?

Edit: Now, if Nintendo were to just up and say - right now in the real world - "Yeah, we're officially done with Mario, Link, Samus, and all the rest" I think those franchises would be deeply missed by many people.

 

[00slash00]

if nintendo stopped making game and no one stepped up to fill the void, it would be fucking awful. nintendo has relied too much on nostalgia lately, but they are the only company that consistently focuses on family friendly games. as an adult/teenager/whatever you might not consider that a good game, but we need a large library of new family friendly games in order to help new generations get in to gaming. if my first experience with a game had been gears of war, instead of super mario, it woud have turned me off from video games. it would have been too much and too complex to immediately jump in to. maybe more importantly, my parents would not let 6 year old me play the mature and violent games that dominate the market. do we need these family friendly games to be mario or link or whatever? no. but we need them to exist and we need a company the makes them a priority

 

[Mr. Omega]

There are two scenarios where this happens:

1: They just decide to stop making their IPs (for some reason):
They'd just make new IPs. And people would accuse them of milking THOSE IPs and start whining "Why don't you bring back Mario?!" or "Yeah, you made THESE new IPs but they don't count/aren't numerous enough/aren't good enough/some other stupid whiny reason". Because gamers will whine and complain about Nintendo no matter what it does.

2: They go out of business (somehow)
You really think other companies are going to just let all those ripe IPs just go away? We'd likely get another THQ situation. The proposed prices for Pokemon would probably break records or something.

 

[Lunar Templar]

eh

they more or less ignore the one franchise I like anyway so meh, I mean getting a new Metriod out of them feels like pulling teeth some times

 

[Floppertje]

Not only could we accept it, we'd just go on with things that matter after throwing the obligatory hissyfit.
Yeah, I had fun with mario, but... what does it even MEAN to not 'accept' a world without nintendo IP's? If someone waves a magic wand and makes nintendo go poof, what do you DO? cross your arms and sulk in a corner, refusing to participate in life? do you off yourself? this question is kind of meaningless. as for the other question: I'm gonna go with 'they're lazy'.

 

[The Wonder of the net]

Yes, yes we can. We will miss the good ones, but we can so much. I mean we can play a whole plethora of different games. Well most of them should not worry about it anyway. Also the comment is we need to make all IP free license so no IP is stuck on console.

 

[Nurb]

I've been without Nintendo IPs since the original NES before they were ultimately run into the ground. I get by.

 

[martyrdrebel27]

honestly, nintendo could permenantly disappear right now and my life wouldnt change in the slightest. they are, by all accounts, hard to work with as outsider, and from the inside, they've been selling the same games for decades now. i would buy 2 Wii U's if they would finally make a new earthbound game though. i dont see how they keep squeezing new games out of mario and zelda, but the greatest rpg of all time (fact.) is apparently IMPOSSIBLE make a sequel for.

now i'm raging... what's with these stupid companies that are afraid of making money? battlefront 3 could have easily been the top selling game of every generation ever, and at 99% completion, corporate douchebaggery kills it.

nintendo has seen their place in our culture decline from top dog to kind of a joke. they dont think it has something to do with Mario 64? no: not the delightful one you remember, i mean Mario Game Number 64... GIVE US A NEW EARTHBOUND.

EDIT: and how about a new Blast Corps game?! anybody remember that? fuuuuun.

oh! and how about a new Battletanx? i spent a lot of time playing that on N64. i mean, if they wanna retread old properties, try something new every once and awhile at least. innovative stagnation.

 

[Atmos Duality]

eh

they more or less ignore the one franchise I like anyway so meh, I mean getting a new Metriod out of them feels like pulling teeth some times

That's literally the only main franchise I'm still on board with.
And after the disaster that was Other M, it almost seems like a "Careful what you wish for" scenario.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Nope, wouldnt miss them at all. I have zero interest in their games or characters. They just dont grab me at all. I personally all they do is recycle the same characters again and again. Without these characters there would be no Nintendo consoles as they are sold on Mario or Zelda etc

 

[Callate]

Of course we could accept it. For every Mario or Sonic, there's a dozen would-be mascot characters who have long since faded from memory.

But Mario hasn't existed for more than thirty years just because of familiarity; he's existed because the combination of the character, the consistent work of people like Shigeru Miyamoto, and companies like Nintendo have made a long list of games with those characters that were way better than average, on average. On one hand, the longer such a character goes on, the harder it is to come up with new things to do with him; on the other, a company like Nintendo is compelled to accept nothing less than their best work under the brand when a character becomes that famous, and the fear of characters synonymous with a company's name not shining can encourage a company to make work that's above criticism.

Yes, they could make what amounted to a Mario game with a different character. It might mean that they had a freer hand in terms of what they felt they could try, what enemies the character could encounter, what they could do with the overall tone, and so on. But it also would almost certainly not sell as well, because not only are people charmed by Mario (and increasingly feel a sense of nostalgia towards the character), but games featuring Mario can be expected to have a certain level of polish. And on the flipside, without the pressure of working on a "big-name" character, those who worked on the game might simply not try quite as hard.

 

[Lunar Templar]

eh

they more or less ignore the one franchise I like anyway so meh, I mean getting a new Metriod out of them feels like pulling teeth some times

That's literally the only main franchise I'm still on board with.
And after the disaster that was Other M, it almost seems like a "Careful what you wish for" scenario.

yeah :/

All I want is another one that plays like Super T-T why is that to much to ask?

 

[martyrdrebel27]

eh

they more or less ignore the one franchise I like anyway so meh, I mean getting a new Metriod out of them feels like pulling teeth some times

That's literally the only main franchise I'm still on board with.
And after the disaster that was Other M, it almost seems like a "Careful what you wish for" scenario.

but without Other M, we wouldnt have been reminded that even as badass heroes, women are still helpless slaves to their emotions and their primary role will always be makin' babies!

seriously, i forgot i hated nintendo for that. i'm not one of those people that looks for things to be offended by, but that whole premise made me want to punch Jason Nintendo (the founder of nintendo. fact.) in his stupid face.