Nintendo and their franchises
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Yes, plus a testament to Nintendo's ability to keep the installments to their franchises fresh and full of new ideas without losing track of what makes them great franchises in the first place. Mario and Zelda games look very different from the way they did back on the NES and SNES, but they've never lost track of the whimsey, adventure, satisfaction of accomplishment, and touch of mystery which made people love the original Mario and Zelda games in the first place. Sonic was also a solid game franchise which had the same amount of potential for staying as timeless and as solid as the Mario or Zelda games, but they lost track of the simple mechanics and formulas which made people enjoy the first games, and added in a bunch of unnecessary shit which ran off more fans than it attracted.VG_Addict said:
i cant say much for their other franchises but pokemon alone is picking up speed and becoming better these days, B/W and B2/W2 seemed a bit bland and more of an experiment with faux 3d effects but X and Y are easily the best games, so much so that i cannot go back and play the older games. even though they only released the latest game late last year, they are releasing remakes of their best selling pokemon games in mid november, right when they have picked up new fans and made the old fans interested again. if a 20 year old, billion dollar franchise is still getting better with the core mechanics intact and mostly unchanged, thats a testament to quality (or very die-hard fans, or both).
Do you think there's anything in the idea that these franchises (gods, I hate that word) are a bit more widely regarded because they haven't laid dormant for 10+ years and have then been rebooted to a cold response?
I guess it's a generational thing as well; for every generation there's a new instalment, and as such that becomes some people's first. Wind Waker was my first Zelda, for example.
I guess it's a generational thing as well; for every generation there's a new instalment, and as such that becomes some people's first. Wind Waker was my first Zelda, for example.
I think it's less a testament to the franchises themselves than to the quality of so many individual games within said franchises. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Donkey Kong, they've all had multiple installments that are ranked as some of the greatest games ever made.
This is why I get pissed off at people for saying Nintendo fans are just nostalgic for their childhoods. No, it's not about my childhood, I was born too late to appreciate most of these games during my childhood anyway. Super Metroid is one of my favorite games, and I played it for the first time less then 2 years ago. Yes, we all have some nostalgia, but most of us are intelligent enough to separate that from objective appreciation of quality.
And despite the increasing sense that Nintendo is simply whoring out the franchises it has made popular without revolutionizing them in any way, there is still a fairly consistent quality to these games that fans can appreciate.
This is why I get pissed off at people for saying Nintendo fans are just nostalgic for their childhoods. No, it's not about my childhood, I was born too late to appreciate most of these games during my childhood anyway. Super Metroid is one of my favorite games, and I played it for the first time less then 2 years ago. Yes, we all have some nostalgia, but most of us are intelligent enough to separate that from objective appreciation of quality.
And despite the increasing sense that Nintendo is simply whoring out the franchises it has made popular without revolutionizing them in any way, there is still a fairly consistent quality to these games that fans can appreciate.
A lot of their games are higher quality and marketed towards fans of all ages. What we see as a rehash, a younger fan will see as new and exciting. That's my take on it anyway.
They've been around for long and as ranking seniors in game publishing they have a standing brand loyalty/recognition. They re-shaped the gaming landscape after the Atari power void and have catered to quite a lot of generations of gamers ever since. Even among non-gamers a character like Mario is instantly recognized as the Mickey Mouse of gaming. Their games also happen to be marketed towards "family", so their target demographic is pretty sizeable. If mom or dad want to buy their kid a console and have to choose between the one with Mario on the box or the one with a bloodied half-naked barbarian or some grim soldier with a gun, they're most likely going to go with Nintendo.
So in a nutshell I would say it's because of seniority, brand recognition and a broad target demographic. The games themselves are simple enough that anyone can play them.
So in a nutshell I would say it's because of seniority, brand recognition and a broad target demographic. The games themselves are simple enough that anyone can play them.
Its a combination of keeping the nostalgic feeling of the hits that the older gamer crowd loved and adding a bit of innovation to each installment. Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't but generally people love Nintendo even when they're so sold on their own gimmicks they may not get that its not always about being on top of the innovative tech list (ask Sony how much money they tossed before they finally hit a format standard, aka BluRay).
I am slowly losing interest in Nintendo games and my son (and his friends) have no interest at all in them. They love their Minecraft, Call of Duty and Halo, in that order. They love their tablets and phones but have no interest in the 3DS. In fact, I just sold my sons 3DS because he never played it.
I think Nintendo is slowly losing relevance.
I think Nintendo is slowly losing relevance.
That's just like your opinion manWeepingAngels said:
Nintendo still has it's relevance, just because they don't to you or your son doesn't equate to them suddenly not being relevant any more, I've noticed that harp of yours for the pining of mobile devices and tablet over any Nintendo console/3DS, the runes not going to change any time soon.
If anything I think tablets aren't great for mobile gaming at all, i think they are the worst sector of the industry within gaming for what they do and spill onto the rest when we've had scam games and games from the likes of EA on there.
You will find mostly opinions on discussion boards. Was "I think" not enough for you, should I have added "IMO" to my post so you weren't confused?Shadow-Phoenix said:
Anyway, I never see people playing 3DS's out in the wild but I see plenty of people playing mobile devices. Do you see more people playing 3DS's in the wild than mobile devices?
You're absolutely right. And if it was just WA and his son, or his friend and his friend's son, or a small number of people, you'd have a larger point about relevance. The problem is, it's not just his opinion, man. It's a lot of opinions from a lot of people. Nintendo's been declining over the years in terms of console sales. The Wii is an exception, but only an exception--Nintendo hasn't exactly turned the tide on their sales, and now they're in major damage control mode. Nintendo is losing relevance, and has been for quite some time. While it's true that Nintendo still has relevance, it's also true for what WA said:Shadow-Phoenix said:
Ignoring for a moment that he already qualified his statement with "I think," there is a legitimate, good faith reason to make such a claim.WeepingAngels said:
Now, will Nintendo ever completely lose relevance? I don't know. Maybe they go out of business, or maybe they turn their asses around and become the dominant global market force. I think it's more likely they'll plug along in the short to mid term, but I can't know that any more than anyone else, so it's a guess, an opinion, and an estimate. And until the Doctor comes back for me like he promised, that's the best we can do.
And you're as entitled to your opinion as WA is, but then that sort of undercuts the "that's your opinion, man" line.
I admittedly live in a rural area, but I used to see the original DS (Delorean Style) in big numbers, and the DS Lite in big numbers. I've only seen a couple of 3DS in the wild, though, and I've got a total of four Streetpass hits for the lifetime of my 3DS XL. While not inherently a sign of failure, it certainly makes me wonder.WeepingAngels said:
Hell, ask them how much it cost them.Imperioratorex Caprae said: