I was thinking of putting this in Soren’s E3 thread but whatever. It’s a real long post with a different purpose and subject matter and I guess I just don’t play by the forum rules when E3 is around. Just wait until E3 arrives and then I conspire to bring down the whole site and/or complete my secret mission of ending Talkback comments because that’s been my goal all along. Anyways...
For some reason, my thoughts have been drifting towards E3 (IN JUST TWO WEEKS!). Part of me has to keep remembering that it is coming because I'm just feeling blase about it partly because we literally know very little of what could be shown and the stuff we do know about has been known for a very long time that I'm not considering it very newsworthy. But then when I try to start guessing and imagining what might be shown, I hit a blank wall because at this point, we have no idea what Nintendo is thinking or how they plan on going forward.
It is only that mystery which is even keeping me interested in their E3 showing at this point. So, with E3 about to happen (IN JUST 2 WEEKS!), I felt like taking a crack at what we might be seeing from Nintendo.
Let's focus on the Wii U since this is the console forum and begin with the obvious. Smash Bros. is most likely the tentpole news topic and the game to get a large share of press. X (with perhaps a real title), Bayonetta 2, Hyrule Warriors are all expected to make a showing along with a glimpse at the next Zelda title. Yarn Yoshi has disappeared for a long time but may finally make a reappearance here. I think there is something to do with Wii Sports being mentioned. Other than that, am I missing anything?
So, what else could show up? It pretty much seems that there will be no 3rd party games announced or shown with the exception of one, Sega. And maybe Watch Dogs. Sonic Boom probably will show up. Is that it of the 3 exclusive Sonic games or is there one more? The Sega partnership is interesting since they bought Atlus and there is supposed to be the Fire Emblem/Shin Megami crossover. Could there be some more Sega/Nintendo deals to happen or Sega/Atlus franchises to make an appearance?
Turning back to Nintendo and looking at what they might have to offer in regard to their franchises is just as much of a puzzle.
Will we really see another Mario game? Part of me doubts it. Even when the Wii was selling like gangbusters, we only got three Mario platformer titles on it and those took about 5-6 years to come out. Will Nintendo really release 3 Mario platformers on the same console in a span of 2 - 3 years? It's never been done before but they are the best selling titles for the system so far. Otherwise, what is left in the Mario stable to show? There could be a Mario sports title or two. There could be a Mario Party. But with the 3DS just having released an MP game 6 months ago and Mario Golf just arriving with Mario Tennis already out on 3DS before it, none of those seem likely except for the fact that Nintendo has been following a weird strategy of releasing a title on the 3DS first and then releasing it on the Wii U a little later so it's possible. Personally, I think Mario is going to have a pretty lowkey showing this year as they let Zelda handle the heavy lifting. However, there is one exception and possibility that I would go with. A new Paper Mario game. There's been some time now since Sticker Star came out and Paper Mario games always seem to take awhile to develop so its possible that a new one could be in the works and we get a brief glimps of it. Otherwise, unless there are some spin-off games from the Mushroom Kingdom announced ala Yarn Yoshi, I don't expect much here.
With Zelda, we've stated the 2 expected games to be shown. I highly doubt there'd be anything else to show from this franchise.
Donkey Kong - Had his Wii game release on 3DS over a year ago and a new console game came out a couple months ago. Unless there is some kind of Mario VS DK game to be announced and considering Retro's development cycle times if they were making another DKC game, I expect nothing from the big ape.
Metroid - It's possible we see something for Metroid but my prediction is that we'd see a 2D platformer on the 3DS than a new console game like Prime if this franchise resurfaces. Right now, it still seems to be in a cooling off period.
Pokemon - There could be some kind of Pokemon Stadium game mentioned or some kind of Pikachu spinoff again. Besides that or an incredible surprise announcement of Pokemon Snap 2, I don't see this franchise doing anything with the Wii U. It's got the 3DS to focus on.
So, where does that leave the rest? Kirby, Fire Emblem, and Animal Crossing have all had releases in the past year or so on 3DS. Guess that makes them prime targets to have a Wii U game next, right? But I think it unlikely.
That leaves Star Fox and F-Zero. It really seems like this is the time for those franchises to appear with most everything else in Nintendo's stable having been looked after pretty recently and with them missing the Wii years. But are they too risky? Star Fox needs a well-designed game period. If done well, an HD flight combat game with the gamepad acting as your ships console could probably stir up some interest and sales. With F-Zero, 10 years later, I still don't know how you can improve on that game. Moreover, is sales growth for that franchise possible? Even if Nintendo releases another game just like it with a new story and tracks, has the brand grown to a point where more people are going to try it? With the Japanese market moving away from games with higher difficulty, will Nintendo temper that difficulty or does it have a new idea/twist for the franchise?
After that.... Pikmin? No. Kid Icarus? No. Nintendogs? No. Battalion Wars? Even less chance than Star Fox and F-Zero. Ice Climbers? Now, I'm just listing Smash Bros. characters. Mr. Game and Watch? See. Star Tropics? Does it even exist because Smash Bros. hardly mentions it?
Are there are any other franchise I'm missing here? Which brings me to my next point of speculation. With so much of Nintendo's franchises rather up to date and having had a release of some kind in the past 2 years with only Metroid, Star Fox and F-Zero as the big exceptions, it would seem there are two choices. Keep making more entries for these series and pump them out or do something new.
If ever Nintendo wanted to semi-rebrand itself or expand its stable, this seems to be the chance. They've known about the state of the Wii U for awhile from its stagnent sales last year to the less than desirable holiday season. There's been announcements of change and restructuring and all kinds of future planning talk, might we actually see some of it at E3? It's obvious that their franchises are still selling well for the most part by they don't seem to be motiviating too many people to purchase a Wii U for them. With MK8 and Smash Bros. both set to hit this year, Nintendo's got two of its best sellers lined up to support the Wii U to further take that chance. There's been a rumor that Miyamoto has been working on a new IP of some sort but who knows what that could mean? Still, why should he be the only one? Iwata speaks of one game turning around the Wii U? Is he hoping it is just the right established franchise title or is there something new in the works?
Nintendo has something that most video game developers do not and that is the idea and belief that any game they release will be a top-tier experience. It's why we buy Nintendo products to play their games. Yes, they have had duds but compared to the vast output of many good titles, the expectation is always that a game they release will be good. Thus, I think if any company was primed to have success and a shot at being able to create new franchises and have them sell well, it is Nintendo. And they've obviously had some success at it to have the variety of franchises they do now. It just takes getting the word out to get people to notice and want to try it. When Nintendo wants to, they can almost give out too much information. Just look at the spoiler complaints that arose from the Super Mario 3D World information overload that happened last year. If they did that when promoting a new franchise, I think it would make them less of the risk the industry considers them.
The biggest obstacle to this is timing. Pikmin 1 and 2 were released on the GC, Nintendo's lowest selling console. As such, sales figures weren't great. Nintendo re-released them with motion controls on the Wii but they weren't really promoted and that whole idea ckind of fizzled. Yet, we finally got Pikmin 3 only for it to be released on an even lower selling console than the GC. Sadly, it is again suffer low sales. Now, if it had been released on the mega-selling Wii fever of the time, maybe things would be different for it. It took 12 years for Luigi's Mansion to get a second kick at the can but at least it was put on a high selling platform the second time around.
The final possibility of what Nintendo could show for E3 is the Bayonetta 2 route in which they have stepped in to fund a game. For instance, maybe they want to fund Beyond Good and Evil 2 and make it an exclusive. Thus, even though Ubisoft says they have no announcements for any Nintendo systems, it could be because Nintendo is announcing such exclusives themselves. Or just showing Watch Dogs themselves. But this is the most unlikely scenario. Still, they did take about mergers and acquisitions as an option so the possibility exists.
All in all, it is a real mystery and it is that mystery which is causing me to envision amazing scenarios and will no doubt be the reason so many people complain and moan after E3 because their wishes weren’t fulfilled as they also try to fill in the gaps of what awaits at E3. But that’s what can happen with surprises.
Topic: The Mystery of Nintendo's 2014 E3. (Read 8355 times)
