Eiji Aonuma wants the next Zelda to provide “a unique experience that is beyond your expectations”

[Scisca]

Aielyn said:

I ignored nothing. I'm not asserting that NSMB U is a bad game. I'm asserting that it's not moving hardware in the way that NSMB Wii did, and the reason for that is that people who wanted that sort of game could have bought NSMB Wii with a Wii for a lot less money.

I take great issue with people who go "clearly the problem is with the Wii U hardware" - there's nothing wrong with the Wii U hardware. It functions exactly as you would expect, and is to the 8th generation what the Wii was to the 7th generation - lowest in power by a noticeable amount, but makes up for it with new ideas that weren't present in the previous generation, while its competitors continue with bumping the poly count and shader effects and don't do much else to change things up (unless you count anti-consumer actions like ramping up microtransactions, blocking used gaming, etc).

The Wii U has its problems, but Wii U sales aren't because of the hardware. With the right game, the system will sell hugely well. Wii was sold out for 2 years primarily because of one game - Wii Sports. It wasn't just a system-seller, it was a system-definer. Wii U has not had such a title, yet. I don't doubt that NSMB U will end up selling a huge number of copies in the long run... but people are not going out to gaming stores to buy Wii U in order to play that game. They went out and bought Wii for NSMB Wii, just as they went out and bought Wii for Wii Sports.

NSMB U is a great game. But if you want four player NSMB gameplay, you can get that for a lot less with a Wii. It won't sell the Wii U. 3D World will do better, although I expect it to primarily work during Christmas itself, rather than at launch, because there hasn't been a Mario title like it before (of course, it's still 3D Mario, so it won't do as well as NSMB Wii did). And the "NSMB U was at launch, and has a high attach rate" is completely irrelevant. Like I said, NSMB Wii made people go out and buy a Wii for THAT ONE GAME ALONE. NSMB U isn't able to do that. Which is no slight on the game itself. Few went out to buy a Wii for Mario Galaxy, and it sold well over 10 million copies, and was one of the greatest games of all time.

And to bring that back to the issue of Zelda... the exact same thing would apply with regards to a new Zelda, if it were too much like an old Zelda. It needs to be fresh and different in order to really be the sort of system-seller Nintendo needs it to be... and to be remembered fondly 5 years after release. Compare attitudes towards Wind Waker, Majora's Mask, and Twilight Princess. The most Ocarina-like of these was Twilight Princess... and while quite popular initially, it wore off quickly, and most people place it below WW, MM, OoT, and often Skyward Sword, too. Majora's Mask, which broke a lot of the traditions of Zelda, and threw all sorts of new things into the mix, is now called for as the game for Nintendo to remake - and when people talk about the style they'd like it in, they all point to Wind Waker's graphics - which were initially lambasted.

Twilight Princess sold so well because it was the Wii's premier launch "core" game. This gave it the sort of momentum it needed to get it into lots of homes. Zelda U won't have that benefit, as it will release likely 3 years after system launch (I'm expecting November 2015). It needs to be a fresh game, with its own feel and nuances. Note that I don't mention gimmicks - that's because I'm not saying it needs a new gimmick. It needs to feel like its own game, and not a paint-by-numbers imitation. If reviewers would start with "It's like a new Ocarina of Time quest, but in HD", then it has failed.

Wow! Incredible, I think I disagree with every single sentence that you've written here. You seem to not have a clue about what you're saying.

@NSMB Wii. People went to buy Wii for NSMB Wii? Prove it. I've just analysed the sales charts for Wii and can't see any real difference from the year before or after, in fact the Wii sold less YoY the week the game was released than the year before!! People didn't buy a Wii for this game. People bought this game, cause they already had a Wii. This game is the most obvious case of a game that you buy when you have a console, but don't buy a console for and the crazy attachment rate of NSMBU shows it. All your arguments here are just absurd. People aren't buying Wii U, cause they can play NSMB on Wii? If that was true, there would have never been a single sequel! And people somehow are buying millions of CoD every year, even though it's almost the same game.

Neither NSMBU, nor NSMBWii is a system seller. They are both impulse purchases that you get when you own a console.

@Zelda. I don't even know with what to start. Who cares how it's gonna be remembered after 5 years? It's now that matters, cause you're selling the game NOW, not in 5 years. WW sold badly when it was released and it still sells like crap now, so who cares if you think of it more fondly than of TP, which sold almost twice as much? But most importantly - remembered by whom? For me TP is much better than WW. Who helds WW in a higher regard than TP? A bunch of Nintendo fanboys, whose number is pitifully low, thus making them totally irrelevant? Look at all the "I want a mature Zelda" threads and see how many people want a TP-like game. You wanna know why they are more important than N fanboys who want a cartoony Zelda? Cause they won't buy a Wii U for a cartoony Zelda, but they will buy Wii U and a mature Zelda, while fanboys will buy both regardless, they already have a crazy number of cartoony N games on the Wii U. And just look at the cartoony defenders, who, as you say, "place TP below WW, MM, OoT, and often Skyward Sword" - they sure are turning the WW HD into a runaway success (just like they did with the original WW)! Nintendo sure should cater to them instead of the millions of people who buy mature Zeldas, thus making them the best selling games in history of the franchise. After all the remake of WW HD sold only 7 times less than the remake of OoT and it gave its struggling console a much smaller boost (mind you - 3DS was selling like crap when OoT was released). So yeah, take the word of a handful of forum screamers over the wallets of millions of people, who indicate a totally opposite purchasing pattern - that's always a good and wise choice.

Remaking MM with WW graphics is just batshit crazy! It's the first time I hear about this absurd idea, where did you even take it from? Nintendo would have to be braindead to make that happen. I haven't heard about a more ridiculous idea in a very, very long time. That would make this remake sell even worse than WW HD! I can't even express just how idiotic this idea is.

I don't care about your excuses about why TP sold so good. The facts are plain and simple - mature Zeldas sell better and they move hardware. Cartoony Zeldas sell worse and don't move hardware - it's as simple as that. And by taking the opinion of a handful of forum fanboys, who are oblivious of the reality, and considering them as "people" (thus the voice of all people interested in Zelda games), implying that they are any kind of a real force on the market is just laughable. Their voice is the least important - sales prove it.

Mature Zelda appeals to people who don't own a Wii U. A cartoony one appeals mainly to people, who already own it or will get it next year regardless. That is why Nintendo can't listen to these fanboys. What do you think the general reaction is gonna be if N shows the next Zelda with cartoony graphics? Everyone is gonna laugh at it for not being like the tech demo and ignore it as yet another game for kids. On the other hand, nobody would do that if it had mature graphics like the tech demo shows, everyone would take it seriously. And that's the huge difference. Wii U needs games that are respected, not laughed at.