Nintendo might be the first to bow out of the race.
Miyamoto has already discussed looking into the future, as the WiiU is getting no more major Super Mario titles (Which is a bummer because the system is lacking that AAA Mario game ala Mario 64/Galaxy) and after 2015 there really isn’t much to look forward to (Come to think of it, would it kill them to do a Mario 64 HD remake?). The 2015 lineup shows some promise but with the lack of pure marketing coming from Nintendo one can’t help but believe the end is near.
Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Brothers did move hardware, did sell plenty, but it still wasn’t enough to overcome the obvious third party issues and lack of software when compared to the competition. The main owners of WiiU hardware and software are your hardcore fans and those few duped into thinking it was going to be another revolutionary Wii system. In a classic case of history repeating itself, The Nintendo WiiU was a slightly more successful version of the infamous Sega Dreamcast. Of course the main difference is that Sega totally sunk after the Dreamcast, while Nintendo will stick around for at least another decade thanks to being the best first party developer in the land & because of its still strong grip on the handheld industry.
The question is, what now? What do you do from here? Where should Nintendo go from here? Although I have no say as to where the company is going, I do have an idea as to what the next Nintendo system can deliver. It would pretty much be the ultimate hardcore Nintendo system, a N64 for a new generation while also appealing to the old-school crowd. It would challenge the creativity of the Nintendo fanbase while simultaneously create a tight-knit community that would allow each person to be more than just an avatar, but instead a voice and a wholesome personality.
We can start with the first step, which is the types of games we will be seeing. Nintendo didn’t do a good job exclaiming how the WiiU was the first HD Nintendo system. The idea of HD Metroid, F-Zero, and Golden Sun should have had us salivating for hours. Instead, it was the Usual Suspects getting the HD treatment as well as the Virtual Console treatment—2-D Mario, Mario Kart, Smash Bros., Donkey Kong, Zelda; while we have to wait at least another year for Metroid, Earthbound, Kid Icarus, Fire Emblem, Wario Land, and many more. With the new system, they need to reach farther back in its history and give us long-awaited sequels and also throw in some new IPs that the company desperately needs.
Wario has gotten little to no love, although Wario Ware is an addicting franchise and Wario Land I-III remain one of the best platformers you’ll ever play. And where the heck is Waluigi’s own game? Nintendo Sports needs to make a comeback, as we can definitely use another Waverace, 1080 Snowboarding, Excitebike, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Strikers (Need to claim that European gaming crowd) and Punch-Out. For the new generation some franchises need to evolve into deeper, more engrossing games like Kirby, Pokemon (ESPECIALLY), Professor Layton, Mario RPG, Golden Sun, among others. The lineup needs to be Nintendo IP heavy, since the third-party scene in Nintendo is about empty. Nintendo has to whether reach out by licensing a few of their franchises to third-party publishers, or instead nab a few indie companies to make games with their lesser-known and lower-hyped gaming series. However they do it, Nintendo needs to rev up its first and second-party production schedule. They have no backup. Nintendo is fighting this war on its own.
The second major aspect I would work on is the avatar concept. The Mii creation feature is pretty neat on the WiiU, as your character can drive in Mario Kart and can fight in Smash Brothers. With the new Nintendo system, we need to expand this feature exponentially. We need the ability to have our persona participate in more games. We are talking Mario Party, Mario Tennis, Mario Golf, Mario Strikers Charged, Punch-Out, Waverace, MLB Power Pros (underrated baseball gem), Wario Ware, as well as the next generation of Super Mario, Smash Bros., Mario Kart, and perhaps even Professor Layton and Pokemon. And of course we can throw in some new IPs, perhaps a few JRPGs and a few shooters?
Each avatar can have a ranking depending on how many games he/she is participating in and how many online matches they have won. Each avatar should have their own house to decorate to show off to anybody within the Nintendo network. And even cooler whenever you win contests or tournaments, have a trophy room to show off all your Nintendo-related accomplishments. This part will especially be awesome once you can create a Mii for the massive 3-D Pokemon game that Nintendo should make in the coming years.
We need more game collections. Nintendo gamers are definitely willing to spend the money, and the Pokemon sales year after year is a good example. But we need more game collections like Metroid Prime Trilogy and Kirby Anniversary Collection. We are talking about a Super Mario World Collection, Handheld Zelda Collection, Metroid Collection, Professor Layton Collection, and even a few cluster collections like Mario and Luigi Gamecube Collection, 1990s Donkey Kong Collection, among others. We could definitely use some more HD remakes of older games that can use a visual facelift. Eternal Darkness HD anyone?
Deeper first-party lineup, stronger Mii/online support, stronger link-to-the-past lineup of games, what’s the next one? The big one. This is where you reward the Nintendo fans for all their patience: the next system should be the Nintendo Entertainment Studio. This machine will not just allow us to play video games, but will allow us to MAKE video games to share to the world. The Mario Maker is a fantastic idea because Nintendo fans are the most creative in terms of gaming cult audiences. From the masterful HD jobs to the unauthorized localizing of Japanese games to even the clever YouTube videos of modded Mario levels, Nintendo fans are something special. So why not give them the ultimate freedom of making games, levels, mini-games, maps, and other goodies throughout the ninth generation? Think Little Big Planet on generation-lasting steroids.
Mario Maker 2 needs to happen. Mario Kart Maker needs to happen. As well as Smash Bros. Mod, Wario Ware Mini-Game Maker, Mario Sports Course Maker, F-Zero HD Track Editor, Kirby Level Maker, Zelda Dungeon Maker, Mario Paint 2, Mega Man Maker, Art Academy 2, Sonic Level Editor, Advance Wars Battle Map Maker (Probably the only series that can directly take on Call of Duty), Mario Party Maker, and much more. Let’s also throw in some updated versions of classic sandbox games like SimCity, RPG Maker (With Nintendo sprites) and Roller Coaster Tycoon. With the Nintendo Entertainment Studio, you can make your own levels, characters, maps, music, movies, and more---and then be able to share them with others on the massive Nintendo network. You won’t just be playing games, you will be making them. And even better, after beating that Mario game, you still aren’t done because there are hundreds of levels online to choose from to continue the experience. Even actual popular developers can contribute long after they are done with the original game.
The Nintendo Entertainment Studio offers this massive online experience of creation and sharing because it will make up for the obvious lack of games that will hamper the hardware. Third-party issues will not go away, so why not wildly make the first-party games appealing by allowing the gamer to become the developer? With enough people, you will never run out of courses to race in or dungeons to try to conquer. The lasting appeal would be pretty much endless, and would give the system more years of life even during the weakest of periods.
Nintendo since 2000 has had to adjust the rules of its gaming practices because the competitors have so much more money to spend. The Nintendo Gamecube was a smaller machine that used smaller disks. The Nintendo Wii was an extremely underpowered system that relied on revolutionary gameplay to make its profit and win the war. Lastly, the WiiU relied more on the controller than hardware strength to create its array of entertaining games—although the gamble hasn’t exactly paid off. With the Nintendo Entertainment Studio, it expands the first/second party offerings to include the gamers themselves to see what they can deliver. It doesn’t matter if the XBox OneTwo or the PS5 are more powerful, if there are 1,000 Zelda dungeons to choose from online the competition has no chance.
Bottom Line: Nintendo needs to embrace the niche audience that has kept them afloat for the past four years. Giving them unprecedented access to screw around with their favorite franchises would be a most magnificent reward, and a gift that would keep on giving. There are more Nintendo fans than the WiiU would lead you to believe. 50 million 3DS sales is no surprise, the fanbase just hasn’t been ready to embrace the console side---yet. With the NES (See what I did there?), Nintendo can satisfy its deepest of fans while also entice curiosity for new ones. Solution for the future is simple: make more games, make more collectables, deepen the online features, and lastly make the system also double as an empty canvas of unlimited potential.
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