Nintendo has a stable of tried and tested games. But those of you who wished Nintendo would do something new, listen up. According to Mario creator Shigeru Miyamoto, Nintendo will.
In the latest issue of Famitsu, Miyamoto talked about a “new franchise”. Here’s the direct quote (translation via Kotaku‘s Toshi Nakamura):
Famitsu: So, starting with Pikmin 3, you’ve got a lot of new Wii U titles planed up until the holiday season.
Miyamoto: With the recent version upgrade [of the Wii U], we’ve worked on the system side of things and we’re planning on further system tweaks ahead, but even as is, [the Wii U] has become a useful item for the living room. However, it’s pointless to talk about other features, no matter how fulfilling, without releasing games of our own, so we hope you’ll look forward to the games to come. Next Spring, with the release of Mario Kart 8, we’ll have a general selection available, so I’ve been thinking it would be a good time to bring out a new franchise.
Famitsu: A new franchise! An all-new title that you would be working on?
Miyamoto: I can’t talk too much in detail right now, but I’ve been pretty busy with this title these days.
Miyamoto offered no details about what Nintendo’s mysterious new franchise would be, but at E3 he told Kotaku that he expects new franchises to feel new, to not just feel like new characters doing the same old thing:
“A lot of people say, ‘Oh, you should make new characters and those would be fun games,’ but creating a new character doesn’t necessarily mean the game is going to be fun. You really need to be focusing on creating a new gameplay experience that’s fun and unique.”
The ideal mix? Nintendo creates a new gameplay experience with new characters.
Picture: Kevork Djansezian/Getty
Comments
18 responses to “It’s Time Nintendo Brought Out A New Franchise, Says Shigeru Miyamoto”
I really hope this is great. I’ve been so disappointed in nintendo for so long now i have my doubts
They don’t have time to design and create something new.
Nintendo needs to pump out more rehashes because they’re trying to single-handedly keep the WiiU on life-support.
“His heart is slowing, we need a new Mario game to boost sales STAT!”
“We could rebadge 50cc’s of last year’s 3DS Mario game and inject him with that? Would that work”
“He might OD….. we’ve already given him a rehashed Wii Mario game to get his heart started in the first place”
“WE’RE LOSING HIM!”
“FUCK! Remake Wind Waker and well give him that……. God help us”.
If they stopped releasing consoles and went third party, we’d all get much better games out of them.
Agreed!
Saying that we would miss out on the DS which has become a great console.
Agreed, I’d be crying for months if they stopped making hand-helds.
Sadly I think it’s inevitable, I see the hand-held device market to be even more precarious than the console one, mostly because you can only carry so much stuff at once and as mobile games get better fewer and fewer people are going to keep carrying hand-held gaming systems.
The 3DS ROCKS though and still has a very bright future over the next few years. It’s going to have to change its pricing structure though I think, when you’ve got HD Phoenix Wright being released on iOS and it’s 3 games for $15 it makes it hard to justify the $180 odd it would have cost you on the original DS.
Why a game-gear port (complete with atrocious framerate) of Sonic 1 costs $5 on the Nintendo Shop but I can get Sonic 4 on Android for $3.99 I have no idea.
I secretly want the PS Vita and 3ds to have a baby so I can have both of best worlds, Vita’s raw power + it’s game range, plus Nintendo’s games that I love. ie Pokemon / Fire Emblem.
HD Phoenix Wright for iOS is tarted up versions of 6 and 8 year old games though. Or like, even older if you count the Japanese GBA releases. Whole different thing. Not saying I don’t wish 3DS games were cheaper because I sure do, but new 3DS-exclusive content is not the same thing as some iOS rehash of old games and suckers like me will be charged accordingly.
I don’t see why it has to be either one or the other. Look at Sony’s approach with the PS3 – they kept on releasing their established, popular franchises (Gran Turismo, Killzone, God of War, Ratchet & Clank etc), but they also released a bunch of new titles (Uncharted, The Last Of Us, LittleBigPlanet, Infamous, Resistance, MotorStorm, Heavy Rain etc). Nobody is going to like all of them, but they just keep on putting up enough new stuff that everybody is going to like some of them.
There’s no reason why Nintendo couldn’t or shouldn’t take the same approach. Yes, keep making your Zelda’s and Mario’s and Metroids for those who want them, but also keep working on creating new games for those who either don’t like the old ones or are just sick of them.
I just think they’re spread too thin and all of their development teams are working on the “Ubisoft Business Model” where something has to be out in a year, year and a half max but the project scopes are designed to produce quality software (Nintendo games aren’t glitchy, just safe).
Sony had a constant stream of 3rd party releases (and properly future-proofed hardware) that gave those projects time to gestate. As far as I know Nintendo have got a team working on Pikmin, and seemingly doing a proper job of it, but also a team working on that Wario crap that was just rushed out, the Wind Waker remake, the new Mario Kart, Mario and Smash Brothers…. and those are the only releases on the horizon. Not just as 1st party releases but really as ANY releases on the console. If they get delayed the WiiU is going to be rotting in the ground by the time they come out.
Did you read that article yesterday about how Ocarina of Time took SEVEN years to make? Can you imagine how dead the WiiU will be if it takes more than another 2 years?!? What about a REAL new Mario? That’s got to be put on the backburner so that the Super Mario 3D World or whatever crap it’s called is finished. If these upcoming rehashes don’t shift enough units to bring some 3rd parties on board then the next set of 1st party games will be put in the same situation of needing to be out quickly.
It’s a vicious cycle they’ve got themselves into, and it’s further compounded by the fact that they are already 5+ years in the red as far as the hardware cycle goes.
It makes me so frustrated! Nintendo can make the best games on the planet, and yet I don’t have a reason to buy their console.
+1
I don’t see how producing hardware prevents them from making games. It gives them a platform they have designed SPECIFICALLY so they can make exactly the games they want to.
Also pretending that the Wii U is the only console ever to have a troublesome launch is daft. The 3DS struggled for a year or two and now it’s the best selling console on the market. The Vita is selling poorly, Sony should just drop out of the handheld market.
So you think Nintendo should drop out of the home console market? Because Wii U is selling worse than the Vita…
Sarcasm. Taking the point trying to be made and using it in another context to prove a point. Wasn’t clear enough, my apologies.
It doesn’t stop them making games, it stops them making classics.
Nintendo has always made quality software, but producing games that are NEW and quality takes time. When you’ve got no 3rd party support and you’ve got a multi-billion dollar hardware division to prop-up then your project timelines need to reflect the fact that you have to sell consoles.
Heaps of consoles over history have had bad starts, but I’d argue that Nintendo are in a uniquely bad situation (for them at least) this time. Like I said I’m a Nintendo fan- I own a N64, Gamecube, Wii, DS and 3DS and love them all (ok, maybe not the Wii so much). I was planning on buying a WiiU at launch but there was nothing on there to compel me to do so and I decided to wait for my birthday in February. When it arrived, there was still no reason…. It’s now July and I’m looking to the next generation.
Can’t wait for Mario Cricket!
Miyamoto to announce half-life 3?
I’ve got patience. The last consoles I bought were the PS2 and GC. The only console I’ve fleetingly considered since then is the WiiU, simply because Nintendo appear to be isolating themselves from the general console progression.
@foggy, These kinds of daft predictions show up every console generation. For example, maybe Microsoft’s floundering attempts to launch any kind of viable console in the Asian territories should be taken as an indication that they should just give up and focus on games……like Halo?
Take Sega as the only proper example (or Atari if you’re desparate), what has Sega released since their transition to full-time developer – not including the fact that they publish all kinds of shit – that anyone would consider as full justification for your stance? Possibly Yakuza? One series within a decade isn’t a particularly slick hit-rate.
Total War has a pretty big following, I think. So does Football Manager.
Total War isn’t strictly Sega in-house. Creative Assembly is under the umbrella of Sega but they aren’t Sega themselves.
The Microsoft comparison is silly so I’m going to ignore it.
The Sega point is an more valid one, apart from the fact that they are completely different companies, there is a risk that Nintendo could completely go off the boil if required to develop software for hardware they didn’t design.
I’d argue that Sega were never particularly good at making games for home consoles, particularly after the transition to 3D. I know that’s a broad statement and there are exceptions but as somebody who bought a Dreamcast on launch day it’s largely true.
Where Nintendo brought their major franchises into 3D with games like OOT and Mario 64, Sega didn’t manage to make a proper 3D Sonic game until the Dreamcast and when they did it was mechanically terrible. Much of Sega’s (limited) success during the post Mega-Drive 90’s was driven by the big arcade titles (Sega Rally, Daytona, Virtua Fighter, House of the Dead ect) but they never really mastered the fully fleshed out home console blockbuster. Once arcades started to decline and people weren’t looking to fork out for a new console in order to play an at-home version of the popular Arcade blockbusters Sega really went off the rails.
Nintendo is in a very different situation. They know how to make console games that people will buy, the problem is they are single-handedly carrying a console they have invested billions of dollars in. If it’s so ‘daft’ then you tell me, do you think Nintendo can afford to take seven years to make a classic Zelda game like they did with OOT? Or is the current console environment going to be prohibitive of them waiting that long to release a WiiU game?
I thought Nintendo forgot how to make new franchises after the SNES died out (Pikmin aside).