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 On 01/17/2014 at 09:44 AM by Jesse Miller See More From This User » |
My first console was a Nintendo Entertainment System – a system I purchased in 1987 from months of saving allowance, birthday money, and various bribes from my parents. My first videogame adventures were with Mario, Link, and Samus. They say the first impressions are the longest left, and I tend to agree. My first years of gaming were by far the most magical; shaping my perceptions of games and culture for years to come.
So you can imagine that it pains me to admit, declare even, that Nintendo has completely blown it with the Wii U. The Wii U was the first system since the Nintendo 64 that I purchased on day one; an event that unfortunately has reinforced why I stopped buying hardware right out the gate in the first place.
No don’t get me wrong, I love my Wii U and have had fun playing various games on the system (Mario 3D World, Rayman, Wind Waker HD, ZombiU, etc…), and I think that the Off TV Play feature is one of the best to hit home gaming in quite some time (especially with a growing family), but I very well could have waited for better offerings to become available on the system before putting down my cash.
With the Wii U, Nintendo was attempting to recapture the magical sales of the Wii. They depended on brand loyalty and a continued use of Wii tech (the Wii-motes specifically) as primary methods of generating sales, which completely ignores more than a few contributing factors that made Wii a success early on and stagnant towards the end of its life.
What made the Wii so attractive to not only gamers, but the public at large, was that it was something different. Wii Sports was a novel idea that people could wrap their heads around. It became an accessible party machine – a device that could be picked up and played just like that and put down again just as quickly. It was disposable entertainment at a decent price.
But the thing was, people didn’t buy much beyond the home console and Wii Sports. Attach rates and utilization levels for the Wii were the lowest of the seventh generation machines, meaning that people bought the machine, played it for a little while, grew bored with it, and let it collect dust.
Nintendo must have completely ignored this fact, because why would you continue down a path that people had already abandoned? Introducing the Wii U as a direct successor to the Wii does two things – it confuses more casual consumers that already have a Wii and view the Wii U as an accessory they don’t need, and the name rings of “more of the same”. If I grew bored with the Wii, why would I want to get the Wii U? Nintendo went with the Wii U for brand recognition, but in reality “Nintendo” is the brand they need to be selling – not “Wii”.
And let’s take a moment to examine why the Wii was such a success in the first place – the fact that it was completely unique, accessible, and new. Casual and hardcore gamers alike were excited about the possibilities with the Wii (at least initially), and that translated into sales. The Wii U offers the Gamepad, a feature that Nintendo hasn’t properly marketed in my opinion, and to which gamers equate to a home console version of the DS/3DS. As marketed, this feature isn’t exactly buzz worthy (I love the off TV play – can’t stress that enough), and since the console isn’t powerful enough to be put into the same weight class as the PS4 and Xbox One it becomes hard to drum up excitement. Power isn’t everything, but when you don’t offer anything truly exciting in its place, the lack-there-of becomes more apparent.
Aside from simple marketing missteps, Nintendo doesn’t seem to understand that gamers, casual and hardcore alike, expect certain features when buying a new machine. Regardless of your opinion of achievements/trophies, but Nintendo’s dismissal of them is an issue. People love these little chimes of recognition, so much so, that “gamification” has infiltrated many aspects of our lives. Achievements are exclusive to consoles – web sites, apps, and, and many other tools utilize them to keep consumer interest; to make the hunger for the next small piece of recognition.
Nintendo doesn’t like achievements, even though they’ve appeared in more than a few of their games (Smash Bros., Xenoblade, even Super Mario 3D World in the form of “Stamps”, etc…) and have declared that because they don’t like them, they won’t support them. If Nintendo doesn’t like them, then don’t include them with your games. Personally, I turn of achievement/trophy notifications because I find them distracting, but I completely understand the appeal. All I ask is that Nintendo swallow their pride and have the infrastructure to support an official system.
As a side note, I’ve always thought it would be cool if Nintendo had “badges”. This would tie the achievement to Pokemon, a game that is pretty much completely achievement based.
I think as far as ranting goes, I’m done for now. Let’s discuss this at further length in the comments section! Let me know your thoughts on my points above and offer new ones as well. Please keep in mind that I’m not dooming Nintendo (they’ll be fine). I’m simply airing frustrations on a company that is maddeningly stubborn.
Game On!
Let me add some more discussion points:
I'd like to see Nintendo take some more risks with their core franchises. Wind Waker is my favorite Zelda game to date, and it also takes the most risks. How about a Zelda game where we get to play as Zelda? Or another edition of Super Peach World?
I'd actually argue Majora's Mask took more risks as far as the 3D Zeldas, although I'm not as big a fan of that one. When I say more risks, I mean risks involved in the gameplay. Sailing might have been a bit tedious, but from my perspective, it wasn't near as mounumental a change in overall structure as seen in Majora's Mask's clock system and masks. The masks idea was cool. I wish they'd have left it at that.
As for Wii U, I think we agree from all that I know, which I know from watching from the sidelines.
Wind Waker also illustrates why Nintendo doesn't take those kinds of risks more often. It got a very cold reception at its unveiling, especially in the US, which is the Zelda series' largest market by far, it was mocked constantly during development, and though it still sold well enough to make a decent profit, and was somewhat vindicated by history, it still was far less successful than Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, or Twilight Princess. For the record, I thought WW was a great game, but Nintendo was taken aback by its reception from the gaming public. American gamers wanted the hyperrealistic Zelda they saw from the Gamecube demo and acted like Nintendo gave them the middle finger with WW.
For that matter, Majora's Mask is likewise a very divisive title in the Zelda fanbase.
Yeah, I knew about the divisiveness surrounding both those titles, but I didn't know WW sold worse comparatively, though it doesn't surprise me. It does make me a bit sad, though.
I think that Wind Waker has gained some ground with the fans, which is why they recently released the most excellent HD release on Wii U. Majora's Mask I think is a great game, but is still divisive to this day, which is unfortunate.
In either event, another departure is in order. Skyward Sword fell flat and I don't hear many people talk about it when discussing the great Zelda titles. Wind Waker gets mentioned quite a bit, as do the expected titles like Ocarina of Time, Link's Awakening, and A Link to the Past.
I still want to play as Princess Zelda. She was quite capable in OoT as Sheik, and WW had her as a firecracker in the form of Tetra, so I think she's ripe for making a playable character.
I like a lot of what's in Majora's Mask, and I did finish it ... I just don't like the time thing that more or less defines its separation from the other Zeldas.
That's not to say I want all 3D Zeldas the same though, and like you, I've long wanted a game starring Shiek.
I would argue that the making of WW HD was probably more a result of the fact that it would probably take Nintendo far less effort to HD-paint a cartoony game like WW up than a game like Twilight Princess, so less money would be spent and the game would be more profitable. Cartoony games aren't as dependent on heavy-duty hardware to look good as more "realistic" games. I did mention that WW was somewhat vindicated, but the fact remains that the reception to WW at reveal, during development, and to a smaller degree, at launch, was hostile. Shigeru Miyamoto was completely shocked at the vitriol for the game. Negative feedback like that figures into future design decisions. I doubt we'll be seeing a revisit of Skyward Sword's design, either.
I actually would like to see a game focused around Princess Zelda herself, BTW. I envision Zelda wielding a whip in battle. No, get your mind out of the gutter and hear me out. I would propose that the whip be controlled by the right thumbstick to allow whip tricks a la Indiana Jones or some of the Castlevania games.
I feel as though Nintendo has taken quite a few risks with the Metroid property. For the most part they kept the core tennants of gameplay, but putting Metroid in a first person perspective had to have been risky. Then there is the whole handing the reigns to Team Ninja for Other M.
How about a Zelda game that is set up like RE 2. Where you play through the game as Link or Sheik/Zelda then you can go through the game as the other character with remixed dungeons and abilities... that is assuming I remember RE 2 correctly.
I lost my patience with Nintendo a long time ago. Long gone are the days when a Nintendo console is any gamers primary console, even their offers of portable gaming fall shorter than their full potential. I had and Loved my SNES console, infact this console made me not upgrade until the N64 which was in my opinion also awesome, but malnourished with games no matter how great some of them were. I wanted lush graphics and FPS and was so lured in to buy my first PS2 which led to 360 and I'm glad I did. The Wii had so much potential but was a laughing stock by how much 'family' gaming had intruded the market. Having owned one I did enjoy a few titles but there was a serious lack there and always has been.
I cannot believe that in regards to stella titles Nintendo has so few offerings and almost complete disregard with third party developers ensures that beyond Mario, Zelda and a few others nothing is really happening in 'Nintendo-land' . Even in their biggest success they fall seriously short of what could be. Such a huge catalog of games from SNES and N64 and still nothing, not that some of the titles are awesome and all but I'm literally wanting to give them my money on these classics and they won't take it. Pure insanity!
Speaking as someone who grew up playing Nintendo and Super Nintendo (and still does to this day!) what really makes me scratch my head about Nintendo is their refusal to not learn from their succeess as well as their missteps. SNES is a beloved console which dominated the 16-bit era because of major first and third party support - its library is arguably the greatest of all time for this reason. If Nintendo had snuffed third party support in the SNES era, Sega would have likely won the console wars of that generation and we'd be looking at a very different gaming landscape today.
Nintendo has always been stubborn when it came to its dealings with third party software developers (perhaps never more so than for the original NES), but they need to learn that it is easy to maintain that stance when you're the only dog in the yard. Gamers today, casual and hardcore alike, will not be satiated by a Mario or Zelda every few years after dropping hundreds of dollars on a console. Nintendo has always marched to the beat of their drum, but their is a stark difference between being staunchly individualistic and living in a bubble with blinders on. The "blue ocean" approach has proven to be a sprint rather than a marathon; it simply is not a sustainable model. Most of the people who bought the Wii have absolutely no interest in making another investment because they aren't gamers.
I'm not saying Nintendo needs to fall in line with the rest of the AAA industry, a lot of which seems to be dead set on this "games as occassionally interactive film" notion. On the contrary - Nintendo has always been great at making video games; when they're at the top of their game, no one does it better. I wish they had more confidence to take chances (as you said, Jesse), because Nintendo's success rate when they are focused and ballsy is impressive to say the least. I hope they formulate a new approach soon, for the sake of not only themselves, but for us, the fans.
I want Nintendo to create a co-op enabled 3d Zelda where you can play as both Zelda and Link, and the story revolves around Zelda fighting to save her kingdom as Ganondorf tears it apart from within and turns the people on the royal family and on one another.
Do you remember the very ending of Ocarina of Time where Zelda helps you defeat Ganon with her arrows? The same thing happened at the end of Twilight Princess I think, well they should make an entire game out of that but give her all the cool mechanics she should have, make her fight for Hyrule, make her the heart of the story.
Create a story where the kingdom is under attack politically, agriculturally, and economically from Ganon but he maintains a feared and uneasily tolerated spot on the royal council (Ganondorf is the leader of a large Gerudu tribe that has a voice on the council). He's secretly using dark magic to cause droughts leading to famine, paying pirates to raid merchants leading to people blaming the crown for not protecting them, he's taking control of the temples and dungeons and using the wealth inside to pay people off and coveting the magic inside the temples for himself, he is poisoning the minds of the court and corrupting people, in effect taking Hyrule down from the inside, leading to pieces of the kingdom to be usurped or rebellious to the crown. The game is spent trying to gather people around the world to your cause as you quest throughout the lands, build a case against Ganondorf to make the people see his false nature, and prepare for a possible war with him and his minions if it comes to blows (which it will). You have to earn the public trust in the way Fable 3 was trying to do and succeeding in some ways, failed in others.
Zelda games have always been hero-stories but the ways they tend to unfold have gotten stale so they should keep that hero-story but tell it differently by offering sidequests and main quests that show Hyrule in a desperate way, present a lot of chances to develop empathy for the citizens of Hyrule, fight to create a trust between Zelda and the people, and fight to overcome the plots of Ganon as he's on the brink of ousting the crown, insighting rebellion, and coveting power for himself. That's the kind of Zelda I want, it's not M rated, it's not super different but I really like hero-stories when they're done well and I'd like them to rethink how they're telling it. I believe you could add some certain elements of Game of Thrones to Zelda in the sense of magical high-drama world building and more intimate personal character drama, except without the cursing, sex, or gore that would lead to it being T or M, and without it becoming too overly complex for most players.
If I was making the next Zelda I'd have the game start with the King of Hyrule being assassinated and then a power vaccum develops, a series of demonstrations or localized rebellions begins due to people being unsure if the current royal family really cares for their plights and their sufferings (which have been subtly orchestrated by Ganon). Just enough people around Hyrule are untrusting enough of the royal family that the power doesn't end up transitioning smoothly to Zelda as it lawfully would. There has to be a way to make that kind of a scene without making it too adult. Violent and tragic things happen in a lot of Pixar films while being inclusive to a wide audience.
Oh, and Link and Zelda would have to be voiced and have personalities created for them, I thought that would go without saying but since the series is so set in its ways of silent protagonists I think I have to say it. They need to talk and be relateable people.
A princess full of pride over the heritage of Hyrule and compassion for her people and their suffering, and her fierce champion in Link whom comes from humble means and has a loving grandmother and younger brother to care for in his forest village. Link's parents were killed by Ganon's pirates when he was a few years younger and his brother was just a baby, and they were both taken in by the grandmother. The first time you take control of Link his story begins in the forest much like OoT and you help your grandmother accomplish homely tasks, and you get a quick brush with the co-op mechanics by interacting with your little brother, which later translates to some of the mechanics you'll be using with Zelda when she and Link cross paths and join forces. During that intro to Link and his forest roots the place gets attacked by pirates again, the village is burned, and Link's family runs for refuge inside the sacred Deku Tree which protects them and uses its old magic to cause the forest's trees to attack the pirates and protect the villagers. Link's grandmother and little brother are both injured in the attack and the grandmother dies in Link's arms inside the Deku Tree, but not before giving him a key to a secret passage hidden in their home back in the village. She whispers into Link's ear that there's something inside the home that could still save the little brother, she could also whisper something he has yet to learn the meaning to, typical fun cryptic stuff.
Link exits the Deku Tree with his rudimentary sword and fights his way to the village, into his home, and finds the secret room. It ends up having a shield, sword, a healing item of some magical nature to save the little brother and the sequence is where it's revealed to the player that Link's family has a special but yet unknown heritage, and over the course of the game you learn that the reason Ganon's pirates attack the forest people over the years is because they believe somebody born with the Triforce of Courage lives somewhere therein and Ganon desperatly wants to covet it like he would. You learn that the grandmother wasn't just some typical homely old woman but incredibly brave, clever, and working to protect Link and his little brother while putting on a very modest face to hide her history and the history of their family. I haven't thought much beyond that or when Zelda and Link would cross paths and find common cause. Maybe the switching between Link & Zelda can freely happen after that Forest intro and Link gets his gear, they both meet up because Zelda is out of the castle with her knights trying to avoid violence and assassination in the Castle, out on their mission to build evidence against Ganon and rally people. Link gets overwhelmed by a new monster type and Zelda and her knights come across Link and save him, they patch Link's wounds and tell him of their quest and Link feels he needs to join causes with Zelda to protect his brother and personal interests in the Forest from Ganon, and also as a debt to Zelda for saving him. Link joins her and helps her instead of it being the other way around, and they bond over their adventure as they each have a piece of the Triforce within them. Shit, maybe I'd even kill Link when I felt it was most impactful, as he's fighting side by side with the princess to defeat Ganon in the Castle at the end. Link's little brother whom you saved back in the Deku Tree picks up the family mantle in the sequel lol.
I want to make a Zelda game, or at least something similar. There are ways both narratively and mechanically to make Zelda feel a bit fresher and stimulating to the heart and brain, and I believe it doesn't necessarily have to be wildly different or alienating either, or M rated. Maybe those particular ideas are too conservative or not experimental enough, it's mostly just like taking a stab at making a better OoT but I think you could tell a somewhat traditional Zelda hero-story in ways that feel emotionally engaging, satisfying, and fresh. The general premise is predictable and traditional Zelda in most ways, but it's all in the execution of it that could make it really good.
You certainly have been reading A Song of Fire and Ice lately - it's quite apparent. I'm not sure that the political intrigue suits the Zelda series, since the focus has always been on puzzle solving and adventure.
That being said, I think that a series like Fire Emblem or Golden Sun would be perfect for some of the gameplay elements that you mentioned here. Those series are more political in terms of theme than Zelda is.
And even with THAT being said, I wouldn't be opposed to the land of Hyrule being opened up to different types of games with different characters and leads - similiar to what Koei is doing with Hyrule Warriors (working title). There are a lot of game types that could be set in that universe, including a series that centers on political intrigue, kingdom building, and strategy.
I think it's pretty wild that something like Hyrule Warriors is a thing that will exist. I'm not sure if it'll be my type of game mechanically but I totally like the fact that something that weird is being greenlit and attempted.
Fire Emblem, Golden Sun, or something else like those would be pretty great I never thought about that. I'm trying to imagine Link, Zelda, Ganon, and that whole Triforce mythology in that situation and I can kinda make some things fit but overall it's not really the place for the type of story I want so I think you're right. Forcing that certain kind of world building and political intrigue into Zelda probably isn't a good fit, it would open up things a lot more if I didn't have to worry about certain parts of the mythology or the fundamental nature of those games.
I really want to bite into that kind of hero story where the villian goes about his conquest in a more insidious way and is kinda getting away with all of it and making it seem legal at face value since he covers he tracks well most of the time. Planting seeds of revolt among commoners, finding ways to corrupt just enough nobles and council members to enable him to hatch his schemes, poisoning just enough of the kingdom against the royal family to create a genuine threat. I imagined the villian out with his soldiers talking with commoners after protecting them from a "pirate attack" he orchestrated, and paints the princess in a bad light by complaining that while he and his men are out fighting the bandits the princess is in the castle wearing silken dresses and watching her father play King. That doesn't belong in Zelda, but it could be neat for something else.
Shedding the trappings of the Zelda thing I could just make the story all about the princess and begin the game in the castle. You have control of her and you watch people beg the King for help and tell him of their troubles. The princess feels a great compassion for the citizens and ends up having a nightmare because of the stories she heard from attacks people have suffered. She goes to her father and he comforts her, imparting wisdom to her during their conversation on how to be good to people and how you have to take responsibilty for protecting your citizens. Shortly after the warm and comforting talk ends, the princess witnesses a shadowy figure assassinate her father, and boom, game officially gets underway lol.
Yeah Nintendo does some dopey stuff sometimes and the Wii U isn't their best console ever. But it certainly has my interest a heck of a lot more than the Xbox One and PS4. Granted, that could change in a year or two.
Hehe, I did think at first you were ddoming Nintendo, but good thing I read the blog before commenting.
Stubborness is something that can describe Nintendo sometimes. As much as I still support them and planning to get a Wii U in a near future (IMO, it looks better than the PS4 and Xbone), I will admit they are taking some few risks and besides Pikmin 3 recently, they haven't brought some of their IPs back (like Star Fox and F-Zero), and the Smash Bros article you did months ago kinda shows Nintendo is a bit afraid on getting into the gaming core.
As for Zelda suggestion some have done here, I had commented before about a Zelda games, where you get two storylines, one of Link, which controls like the games we know, and one from Zelda, who may or may not have a different gameplay.
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