Topic: So this is why Hudson won't do another Mario Party

[Stratos]

Oops, Party Prank! seems to be what Hudson has been working on instead of a new Mario Party. They made their own party game and it is reportedly very close to MP but without the Mario license.

Would anyone really be interested in a game like this without Mario, though? I know I'm not as excited about it without Mario and Co at the helm. Curious what y'all think.

[MegaByte]

I actually asked them about that last night.  This was actually done by a different team than Mario Party, but it sounds like they aren't doing Mario Party any more (at least the American branch hasn't heard anything recently).  But yeah, it does seem Hudson is continuing with their own party games and Deca Sports.  I'll get you a little gameplay footage later.

[ShyGuy]

Well that game is minus a hundred points charisma

[MegaByte]

I think they went a little too far trying to emulate the Wii/Mii environment, making it look bland.

[Ian Sane]

I can understand why Hudson would want their own thing.  Hudson doesn't own the Mario Party brand.  They're at the mercy of Nintendo there.  Having their own series that they completely own gives them more freedom.  They can take that series to the other consoles for example.

In theory there is this whole new group of Wii users who are new to gaming so this seems like a good time to establish a new brand.  The old market knows this is just Mario Party without Mario but the new market doesn't know what Mario Party is.

... or didn't until Mario Party 8 came out.  D'oh!  This is a few years too late.  The launch window was the time to create a new brand.

[KDR_11k]

Now there's so much party crap out there that even if it is good it'll get buried quickly.

[TJ Spyke]

I think the Mario Party games are a case of the license selling the games, I don't think they would have done nearly as well without the Mario characters. That screenshot just looks so bland and boring (I am not saying the actual game is bad, just that the screenshot makes it look bland).

[MegaByte]

This is a few years too late.  The launch window was the time to create a new brand.

This isn't the first though; they made Help Wanted last year.  They don't seen to have any unifying brand though.

[ShyGuy]

Hey, if you went to Hudson, does that mean we are getting some Bonk info?

[MegaByte]

Hey, if you went to Hudson, does that mean we are getting some Bonk info?

Working on that.  They didn't have that for show last night.

[Mop it up]

No way this or any other party game will come close to 8 million in sales like Mario Party.

This isn't the first minigame collection that Hudson has released post-Mario Party, they've also released some generic 100 minigame collection in Japan, among other games. Some of their would-be Mario Party minigames have also been turned into WiiWare titles. I think the reason Hudson doesn't do another Mario Party is that they don't get a cut of the game's sales, and instead are paid one lump sum to develop the game and that's all. Hudson gets 100% of the revenue of all games they develop and publish themselves, so even though games like this probably won't sell more than a few ten thousand units, it might still be more profitable than creating Mario Party games.

[MegaByte]

It would be interesting if they created a Dream Mix TV World Party.

[Chozo Ghost]

Am I the only one who won't be very depressed if we don't see another Mario party game in the near future? It used to be we got at least one a year, and they generally didn't offer much different. Basically, they were the Mario equivalent of the Madden games.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be more MP games again ever, but it might not be such a bad thing if the franchise took a hiatus for a few years.

[ShyGuy]

I wonder if Nintendo is changing Mario Party to something like Mario Kart or Animal Crossing, where we get one per console.

[ejamer]

If I hadn't already fallen completely in love with Dokapon Kingdom then this might be interesting... but since discovering Dokapon Kingdom I've had no love for other party games.  It destroyed Mario Party 8, and I don't think anything will knock it off my "favorite geeky party game" pedestal for a long long time.

[Mop it up]

Am I the only one who won't be very depressed if we don't see another Mario party game in the near future? It used to be we got at least one a year, and they generally didn't offer much different. Basically, they were the Mario equivalent of the Madden games.

I'm not saying there shouldn't be more MP games again ever, but it might not be such a bad thing if the franchise took a hiatus for a few years.

I wouldn't say I'd be depressed, but I love the series and would like to see more. I think there is currently enough reason to release a Mario Party 9 at this point. It has been almost three years since the release of Mario Party 8, plus all but one minigame in MP8 uses only the Wii Remote. Add in the Nunchuk and it opens up a whole new world of possibilities, and they could also toss in Wii Motion Plus support to pack it full of even more variety. Then top it off with online play and it'd likely become the best Mario Party game yet.

[Ymeegod]

Asked this before, but I wonder if there was somewhat of a fallout between Big N and Hudson, started around Deca Sports.  Hudson wanted to use MII but nintendo didn't let them because I think Big N felt that Deca Sports was copying it's own Sports title.

Similar to big N and Capcom breakup.  Capcom (Flagship studio) used to make the Zelda handheld games but after Capcom doubled back on the Exclusive 5 on the GC, the partnership is broken.

[Spinnzilla]

I wonder if Nintendo is changing Mario Party to something like Mario Kart or Animal Crossing, where we get one per console.

Maybe nintendo saw the market was flooded?

Then again, yyou're probably right.  Probaqbly same reason why we haven't gotten a MP DS sequel yet.

[Adrock]

Does the world really need another Mario Party game? That's a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously no.

Similar to big N and Capcom breakup.  Capcom (Flagship studio) used to make the Zelda handheld games but after Capcom doubled back on the Exclusive 5 on the GC, the partnership is broken.

I thought it was because Flagship closed shop. They were still making games for Nintendo almost up until they ceased operation in like 2007. The last Zelda game they made was The Minish Cap (2005?). I think they also made Kirby: Squeak Squad for DS.

[Mop it up]

Does the world really need another Mario Party game? That's a rhetorical question. The answer is obviously no.

Does the world need videogames? No.

[ShyGuy]

All you need is love. Love is all you need.

[TJ Spyke]

I think they also made Kirby: Squeak Squad for DS.

They were working on Squeak Squad when Capcom consolidated the studio back into their internal teams. Natsume then came in and finished it.

[ThePerm]

um Hudson fails because they for get to realize they own Bomberman and are owned by Konami

Bomberman Party sounds like it would rock

[Adrock]

Does the world need videogames? No.

Oh, cool your jets. I was just kidding.

They were working on Squeak Squad when Capcom consolidated the studio back into their internal teams. Natsume then came in and finished it.

Thanks, Google.

[fiendcode]

I think they also made Kirby: Squeak Squad for DS.

They were working on Squeak Squad when Capcom consolidated the studio back into their internal teams. Natsume then came in and finished it.

That's not true, Natsume just did sprite work on the game (they also worked on the MegaMan Zero games btw).  Flagship wasn't even a developer, they were just a planning company.  Most of the design work and coding was done by HAL.