Topic: Nintendo Wi-Fi Recieves Two New Titles

[Mario]

Seriously... even though I hate the controls because I can't get confortable with them, the accuracy is stunning.

[KDR_11k]

If hypothetically we discovered some alien race and it was your job to supply them with the Earth's greatest games would you give them both Tetris and Tetris DS?

That has nothing to do with ports. You wouldn't want to give them games that are similar where one is superior, this would also mean sending only one Final Fantasy, only one Mario sidescroller, etc. You wouldn't give them all Metroid games, just Prime and Super.

They could've made the exact same game and not used the Metroid license, but why should they? Metroid is a recognizable name, the characters aren't out of place in an FPS, and it makes marketing that much easier.

Metroid is a name recognizeable as a certain kind of game.

So what's the name of that game company which constantly brings new and fresh franchises to the market and never milks sequels?

Oh, right, there ISN'T one...

No but noone does it as excessively as Nintendo. You know it is a sad thing when you can say Capcom is creating more franchises than you.

Did Mario sell Cubes? No. Neither did Zelda or Metroid

Zelda sold some and Metroid Prime was a major console seller. It was a complete makeover for the franchise, after all. You know, like OOT and Mario 64.

i remember when megaman NEO (aka legends) was first announced and i was so excited. i thought it would be to megaman what mario 64 was to that franchise. boy was i wrong. that transition to 3d blew big time.

Nonsense. Rockman Dash wasn't a bad game. Capcom didn't learn from Quake what strafing can do to a game but other than that it was pretty good. Lots of exploration, hidden stuff, a nice story (even though it was another case of franchise shoehorning), villains with personality, etc.

[Infernal Monkey]

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Originally posted by: jasonditz

Hey, it may not be high art, but it definitely gives what it promises. If you're in the market for a GBA pinball game...  well first you should probably ask "why am I in the market for a GBA pinball game", but the Mario one probably deserves as much consideration as any. It's pretty, if nothing else.

It certainly delivers the Mario part, but it's got as much pinball style gameplay as a cook book. Sonic Pinball Party, Pokemon Pinball, Pinball of the Dead and Hardcore Pinball destroy it.

Infernal Monkey more like PGC's resident pinball nerd. =(  

[jasonditz]

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Originally posted by: Infernal Monkey

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Originally posted by: jasonditz

Hey, it may not be high art, but it definitely gives what it promises. If you're in the market for a GBA pinball game...  well first you should probably ask "why am I in the market for a GBA pinball game", but the Mario one probably deserves as much consideration as any. It's pretty, if nothing else.

It certainly delivers the Mario part, but it's got as much pinball style gameplay as a cook book. Sonic Pinball Party, Pokemon Pinball, Pinball of the Dead and Hardcore Pinball destroy it.

Infernal Monkey more like PGC's resident pinball nerd. =(

I'm not a huge pinball game fan (though I loved Video Pinball for the Atari 2600), but the difference between Mario Pinball and the other games strikes me a lot like the difference between Mario Golf and Tiger Woods, or Mario Kart and GT.

[Ian Sane]

"By this logic, Pikmins 1 and 2 should have been multi-million sellers.

Nintendo tries new game types, like Pikmin, Chibi Robo, etc. and most of them crash and burn."

I doubt Pikmin crashed and burned.  They made a sequel to it so it must have sold well enough to make a profit.  And I don't recall the good marketing that's a crucial part of my theory.  Nintendo obviously isn't going to have many successful new franchises if they don't fix their marketing.  As for Chibi Robo well I didn't buy it because it got creamed in reviews.  If a game isn't all that good then it doesn't deserve to sell anyway.  Actually my example doesn't really work that well with Nintendo because I can't think of ANY Cube game that was actually marketed well so all of them fail to meet my suggested criteria.

"Zelda sold some and Metroid Prime was a major console seller."

Nothing really sold consoles like Nintendo really wanted.  Nothing sold Cubes like how GTA3 sold PS2's and Halo sold Xboxes.  Metroid Prime lost out to Splinter Cell and the Xbox overtook the Cube around the same time.  I wouldn't consider it a major console seller.  Let's put it this way: if Nintendo franchises sell Revs like how they sold Gamecubes then the Rev is in trouble.

[jasonditz]

But there's no reason that has to be the case. GTA2 didn't exactly get a lot of people to rush out and buy a Dreamcast. GTA3 was a major revamp of an existing franchise and it was THE system seller for the most successful home console this generation.

Likewise, maybe Mario Sunshine didn't move Cubes, but that's no reason to believe Mario Revolution might not be the system seller of this generaiton. Or maybe it'll be Metroid Prime 3, or maybe it'll be SSBM: Online, or Zelda Revolution. Or maybe it'll be some new franchise.

[Ian Sane]

"Likewise, maybe Mario Sunshine didn't move Cubes, but that's no reason to believe Mario Revolution might not be the system seller of this generaiton. Or maybe it'll be Metroid Prime 3, or maybe it'll be SSBM: Online, or Zelda Revolution. Or maybe it'll be some new franchise."

You're right.  It might be, particularly if there's some big overhaul like with Super Mario 64 or more recently GTA3.

[UltimatePartyBear]

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Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I doubt Pikmin crashed and burned.  They made a sequel to it so it must have sold well enough to make a profit.  And I don't recall the good marketing that's a crucial part of my theory.

You don't recall Nintendo getting a kind of flower named Pikmin?  That was the most awesomest marketing ever!  (No, I don't believe that.)

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As for Chibi Robo well I didn't buy it because it got creamed in reviews.  If a game isn't all that good then it doesn't deserve to sell anyway.

What reviews did you read?  According to gamerankings, Chibi Robo is at a respectable 76 percent.  The individual reviews vary quite a bit, with some scored quite high, which just shows that it's the kind of game that deserves a rental first.  I liked it a lot.  It was full of quirky humor and had a surprisingly touching story.

[Ian Sane]

"What reviews did you read? According to gamerankings, Chibi Robo is at a respectable 76 percent."

I just realized that I was reading this as Custom Robo the whole time which did get creamed in reviews.  Sorry about that.

[KDR_11k]

Still 76% isn't that good. Certainly not something I'd plunk 60 Euros down for. Of course it doesn't sound so bad when your main system didn't see a new game in months so you grab what you can get. Kinda like the Cube's early life.