Nintendo and the "End of Mario"

[racketboy]

Does anybody remember a few years ago that Nintendo said something along the lines of moving on from the normal Mario (and maybe other franchises) and starting some fresher stuff?

Other than the move to the Miis thing, it doesn't seem like Nintendo is actually going to be doing this anytime soon. Although I can't blame them -- other than the whole Wii Sports/Brain Age thing, that where they seem to make all their money.

Mario kinda seems like the gaming world's equivalent to Mickey Mouse. But when it came down to it, Disney didn't really depend on Mickey Mouse that much when it came to their productions. And up until the recent flood of "Cinderella 3" DVDs and the like, they didn't even depend on recycling any franchises.

Even though the industry as a whole suffers from the whole sequel problem, most publishers are playing with at least one or two new IP. Nintendo seems to be one of the worst offenders though...

Sorry if this seems to be a bit of a ramble, but I wanted to get everyone's thoughts....

[Whatupdoc?]

I agree that Nintendo is milking the cow for all its worth and that they should invent some new franchizes but it doesn't seem like they have many ideas to do that since they are the "family friendly" console since the n64. If they got new ideas they would be kinda of kiddish. If they rolled with the legend of zelda style or something like that I think they could do much better. Some people don't like to jump onto franchises with a ton of sequels AKA Final Fantasy. Ahem. ANyways I think it would be cool if they did some new stuff that is Wii only and was on the lines of more hardcore gaming.

[Ack]

Dare I say Pikmin?

Honestly, I don't feel their milking Mario as much. He's the mascot, so he makes his way in lots of games that aren't necessarily about him, sure, but...well, I haven't really seen a Mario game hyped that much since Mario 64. Mario 128 was hyped, but then we never got it...we got Mario Sunshine instead, four years too late. If there was a series that Nintendo milks, I'd say Zelda and Metroid are more like it right now. Also, their tight grip on Pokemon frightens me...

[andymol21]

As has been said before by many, many people. Nintendo likes money! It's easier doing the stuff that they are doing now, and making millions from "soccer moms", than invest in a hardcore game that will only appeal to hardcore gamers. Still, we can all dream!

[Seganerd]

I'm tired of Nintendo slapping mario on everything. Mario Golf, Mario Tennis, Mario Soccer, Mario baseball, Mario Kart, and the list goes on. How many actual Mario games are there? Super Mario Bros 1, 2 ,3 (two barely counts) Super Mario World, Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, Super Mario Galaxy. Thats seven games out of the six home consoles they've made. On average they release a new Mario game every 3.5-4 years or once every console generation. But I know nintendo is capable of producing awesome games like Pikmin, why waste time churning out Mario sports games? Make some great games Nintendo we know you can!

[Daniel Primed]

It's good business for Nintendo so I cannot see why they woud stop, the lion's share of these games are actually good qualitity titles so you can't complain. My main gripe is that they are 1.5x the previous Gamecube titles like Mario Strikers and Baseball which is a straight out cash-grab. I do wonder how long they'll be able to continue pushing the Mario brand.

Of course, I'd love to see some new IPs from Nintendo as well. I think that the issue is that a lot of people want Nintendo to manufacture all of these "hardcore" games "just like they use to". The truth is that Nintendo has never been in that business, they just make games for people to enjoy.

This past generation Nintendo have actually introduced a flood of new titles, it's just that most players are too "hardcore" to really apreciate them. Elite Beat Agents, Nintendogs, Wii Sport, Wii Fit, Brain Age, Super Paper Mario, Cooking Guide, Crosswords are all example of that. They've also re-imaged some of their major brands with games like Links CrossBow Training and Metroid Prime Hunters while having new installments of almost every major franchise. I'm pretty happy with that.

[racketboy]

It's good business for Nintendo so I cannot see why they woud stop, the lion's share of these games are actually good qualitity titles so you can't complain. My main gripe is that they are 1.5x the previous Gamecube titles like Mario Strikers and Baseball which is a straight out cash-grab. I do wonder how long they'll be able to continue pushing the Mario brand.

Of course, I'd love to see some new IPs from Nintendo as well. I think that the issue is that a lot of people want Nintendo to manufacture all of these "hardcore" games "just like they use to". The truth is that Nintendo has never been in that business, they just make games for people to enjoy.

This past generation Nintendo have actually introduced a flood of new titles, it's just that most players are too "hardcore" to really apreciate them. Elite Beat Agents, Nintendogs, Wii Sport, Wii Fit, Brain Age, Super Paper Mario, Cooking Guide, Crosswords are all example of that. They've also re-imaged some of their major brands with games like Links CrossBow Training and Metroid Prime Hunters while having new installments of almost every major franchise. I'm pretty happy with that.

The DS has some great stuff -- I couldn't be happier with that.
But more and more I'm just planning on sticking with my Cube instead of getting a Wii. The only stuff that interests me is the Wiiware. (Same goes with the 360 and XBLA)

[Gamerforlife]

You know I never understood how Mario can still manage to be cool in this day and age. I mean a fat plumber who but bashes enemies? It's so eighties. I guess nostalgia just goes a long way. I'm sick of Mario. Sure, many of the games are cool but the character is SO outdated.

Nintendo seems to be the only company that actually still has a mascot. The gaming landscape has changed so much. I remember when every console had to have a mascot.

I loved Pikmin 2 and I really wish Nintendo would make a third one and advertise it heavily. If a game like Viva Pinata can be successful, I can see Pikmin 3 doing well too.

[Ack]

I honestly think the Playstation killed the mascot bit when it tried getting Crash Bandicoot to do it. That was...well, let's just say I wasn't upset when I saw that property die.

[Daniel Primed]

But more and more I'm just planning on sticking with my Cube instead of getting a Wii. The only stuff that interests me is the Wiiware. (Same goes with the 360 and XBLA)

I can definetly respect that, I usually play my Wii to play my GCN games that I'm catching up on. I checked my calender the other day as I was playing the new House of Dead collection and realized that I hadn't played a Wii game for 6 months.

Despite this I could definetly survive off my Wii, I've just have been distracted with older games and the PS3 as of late. No seriously, it's appalling how I have neglected the system. I just prefer to work backwards through the collection.