Nintendo has two big shots left in 2014.
So they need to use them well, try to hit as many targets as possible.
The two bullets are Mario Kart 8 and Smash Brothers 4. These are the two games that can absolutely save the WiiU, but if utilized poorly will do absolutely nothing to help Nintendo----no matter what the quality of the actual game is. The two Mario games were poorly timed and lost their opportunity to make an impact. However, with 2014, the Mario Kart and Smash Brothers franchise can create ripples in the gaming community and finally turn things around in the eighth generation for Nintendo.
On this corner, we have the hardcore franchise Super Smash Brothers. Within this franchise we have the 1999 original surprise-surprise hit on the N64 that gave it a brief glimpse of life in an otherwise dismal performance when Sony started conquering the gaming world. When the Gamecube landed in 2011, one of the first games was Smash Brothers Melee.
Melee would not only become an instant hit, it would become the biggest success of the Nintendo Gamecube, with over 7 million sold. It remains an often-played game today, a tournament staple, and a hardcore fighter masterpiece that has and will remain one of the big boys of fighting along with Street Fighter 2, Soul Calibur, etc. In my opinion it is the greatest fighting game of all-time, bar none. It is also the greatest offline multi-player game of all-time, bar none. One can only imagine if this game were released years later on a Nintendo system with XBox Live-like connectivity. It could have been beautiful. Nonetheless, Melee’s impact on the gaming world remains noticeable today with its fighting mechanics and its rabid underground cult audience of hardcore fighters.
And then came Brawl in the middle of the Nintendo Wii dominance. Not only did this outsell the Gamecube version by a wide margin, but it became the best-selling fighting game of all-time. 12 million copies were sold, which is unheard of in the fighting game genre. Even Street Fighter II during its SNES dominance requires three of its spinoffs to match the 12 million sold by Smash Brothers Brawl. Even if it doesn’t have the deep appeal of Melee, it was still a respected game.
And then on the other corner, we have the ever-growing Mario Kart franchise. The original Super Mario Kart would change racing games forever, and its 8 million copies sold on the SNES was no joke. Then we have the N64 version, which is arguably one of the fan favorites, if not the favorite. Mario Kart 64’s battle mode remains the most fun you’ll ever have with friends, and it’s the first major video game to have a successful four-player mode. This was met with 9 million sold.
You know where the story goes. The GBA version hits 5 million, the Gamecube version nets 6 million, the DS version takes it to new financial heights with over 23 million. And then….Mario Kart Wii.
Mario Kart Wii has done so well people forget. It has outsold entire systems. The Gamecube, Sega Saturn, Sega Dreamcast, Sega Genesis and even the original XBox were outsold by this one video game. A staggering 34 million copies were sold, and that was without having to break any first day/week/month records. It slowly crept up the charts and continued to move hardware sales. This is the kind of game that the WiiU desperately needs; the kind of game that creates noise but generates even more sales.
Nintendo needs to market these games heavily, they need to notify the world of its existence and convince people to mark the release dates on the calendar. They can nab the casual crowd that likes the pick-up-and-play racing mechanisms of Mario Kart (97 million copies sold overall is enough evidence), and can retain the hardcore crowd if they can make the new Smash Brothers look anything like the hyper-crazy mania of Melee. We need more videos, we need commercials, we need to rev up the marketing campaign. Because you aren’t just advertising the game, you are trying to convince gamers to purchase an entire system.
But there is one more step: You need to bundle them.
We need a Mario Kart bundle with the WiiU, with a Smash Brothers bundle later in the year.
Sell them separately, and bundle them in the United States. And in Europe. And in Japan. The NES, SNES, and Nintendo Wii each had games bundled with them at launch---and each of these systems won their generation. Nintendo Land was clearly not a strong game to be considered an incentive to buy the system. The eighth installment of a well-beloved franchise? Definitely buyable. The fourth installment of currently the biggest fighting game franchise in the business? Of course its buyable.
Nintendo, you cannot drop this ball. There is too much at stake. Although Sony took the lead and Microsoft isn’t too far behind neither have a high-profile game to the caliber of Mario Kart and Smash Brothers. Neither have the game that can become a game-changer. Neither has the first-party credentials of Nintendo’s first-party arsenal.
Nintendo, you have two wild cards. Use them well.
Otherwise, you might have to look into the ninth generation a bit early.
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