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NWR Interactive => TalkBack => Topic started by: Shaymin on December 30, 2015, 10:45:43 PM

Title: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: Shaymin on December 30, 2015, 10:45:43 PM

For those of you who thought the year would go smoothly, we’ve got some bad news.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/feature/41711/2015-the-year-of-unintended-consequences

“I’ll make a wish that can’t backfire. I wish for a turkey sandwich, on rye bread, with lettuce and mustard. And, AND, I don’t want any zombie turkeys, I don’t want to turn into a turkey myself, and I don’t want any other weird surprises. You got that?”

- Homer Simpson, Treehouse of Horror II: The Monkey’s Paw

For Nintendo fans and the company itself, the hope going into 2015 was to basically have Homer’s turkey sandwich. With the pending New 3DS and the high of Super Smash Bros. boosting hardware sales, the hope was for a few successes to get ready for the introduction of new hardware in 2016.

As it turned out, it didn’t work that way. In fact, it didn’t even come close.

There are multiple examples this year of fans making a wish that ends up becoming something completely unexpected, whether because of market realities or just plain publisher bullheadedness. After a decade of whining, the Final Fantasy 7 remake is announced… and it’s going to cost multiple hundreds of dollars over multiple games. Hideo Kojima is freed from the shackles of Metal Gear, but only after Konami burns every bridge on their way out of console/handheld gaming, and reduced great developers to janitors. A new Star Wars game is announced to tie into The Force Awakens, but doesn’t actually include anything from the movie. Shenmue 3 finally gets announced, but it’s a crowdfunded title.

But Nintendo seemed to have more of these type of announcements this year than anyone. Let’s run down the year and see how many we can come across.

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: CidsMechanic on December 31, 2015, 07:17:31 AM

Salty (and good)!


I was surprised that Splatoon wasn't mentioned.

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: ClexYoshi on December 31, 2015, 10:58:33 AM

I had to roll up to the top and make sure this was Donald writing this salt-filled diatribe.

Regardless, this is pretty much correct. 2015 did have a lot of that. other things not mentioned are the introduction of a Steam Refund program that the catch is that it has a really arbitrary catch of being tied to a really arbitrary time limit...

But at the same time, this form of recourse set the president for WB Games to pull their biggest game of the year from steam to fix it... of course, this was a very disingenuous move considering that they released the game very well knowing how borked it is.

The Mega Man Legends 3 hype almost came back in the form of RedAsh, a project so exposing and mishandled along with other mishandled projects like Star Citizen and anything that Double Fine has crowdfunded, that the integrity of the whole sodding crowdfunding bubble is at the verge of bursting.

Square-Enix is worth a mention again for it's facinating experiment with pre-order culture wherein they promised a bunch of awesome pre-order bonuses that would gradually be unlocked as more people pre-ordered the product.

there's more examples still, but sadly, I have to work on this new years eve. peace.

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: Ian Sane on December 31, 2015, 12:07:41 PM

The ultimate Monkey's Paw wish for me was that Iwata would no longer be in charge of Nintendo... and then he DIES?!!  WTF?!!

Nintendo had a really bad year for underwhelming titles.  They've probably never had so many duds in one year before.  I figure it's like the odd year for a sports team where they look good on paper but somehow everyone has the worst year of their career in the same season.  Probably a fluke, hopefully not a sign of the future.

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: Enner on December 31, 2015, 03:39:27 PM

I'll just hold on to Splatoon, Super Mario Maker, and Xenoblade Chronicles X and pretend 2015 was a good Nintendo year.

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: ejamer on December 31, 2015, 06:42:52 PM

Splatoon still holds no appeal for me.


Mario Maker discovery issues persist despite attempts to improve, and the system for "rating" games remains horrible. Interesting idea, but still gets a pass from me.


Xenoblade Chronicles X. Now we are talking. The only saving grace for Wii U after some games went digital-only, others universally bombed (I'm looking at you, Animal Crossing), and promising titles got pushed into next year.


It was a bad year for most Nintendo fans. Somehow I expect things to get worse before they get better. (True Nintendo fanboy optimism right there!)

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: Shaymin on December 31, 2015, 07:25:22 PM

Quote from: ClexYoshi on December 31, 2015, 10:58:33 AM

I had to roll up to the top and make sure this was Donald writing this salt-filled diatribe.

Next year I'll use my salt as it comes rather than let it all fly at once.

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: ShyGuy on December 31, 2015, 08:17:21 PM

Nice to get a nice, positive piece from Shaymin for once.  ;D

Title: Re: 2015: The Year Of Unintended Consequences
Post by: ClexYoshi on January 01, 2016, 10:28:34 AM

I think there's a lot being looked over too if your'e a nintendo fan. Box boy came out this year and that didn't disappoint in the slightest in it's minimalistic way~! wonderful Indie stuff all made some bretty big splashes on Wii U, even if some of that was rereleases like Plague of Shadows and Freedom Planet. I'd also take a shot in the dark and say that one of the most acclaimed indie games on PC this year is very much a certain flavor of game for a certain flavor of Nintendo fan.

also, I think its telling that I effectively doubled my Wii U retail library in 2015. (I had Nintendoland, New Super Mario U+ Luigi U, 3D world, Smash 4, Mario Kart 8, Pikmin 3 before, aquired Kirby and the Rainbow Curse Mario Party 10 (Gift, played it once), splatoon, Super Mario Maker, Yoshi's Wooly World, Xenoblade Chronicles X)

... Still need to get Bayo 2.