F0X said:
I would be happier to see Mario and Zelda in the hands of those who care about them the most, yes. It wouldn't be right to have Retro make a Mario of Zelda game for the sake of, and their work on Metroid and Donkey Kong was mainly because those franchises needed a new home. However, I think you're analogy is totally wrong. New creative talent is being injected into Nintendo's development teams for every single game, and the creator (Miyamoto) does not play the same role he has had in the past. Mario and Zelda have already survived changes in their development teams on multiple occasions (nearly every game), so I think a more apt analogy would be a comic series. A wide variety of writers and artists do "runs" on a series, and the original run is not always considered the best. But ultimately, the comic will always share the same producers in any situation to keep things on track. |
I was exaggerating, but you probably get my point. Of course Nintendo's Mario&Zelda teams are changing all the time, but there's a reason they like keeping development of these series close to their headquarters. Hand-picking new elite graduates for every game is one thing, giving development out of hand to another continent is another. In my opinion these 2 series are the best there is in gaming, and that's largely due to a handful of people maintaining tight reins over the essence of the respective games.
It's weird, but I even like the idea that you could probably never work on a Mario game if you don't speak Japanese. It's like a (huge) traditional family business with a very distinct personality. And whenever they come up with a new game you bet it's going to be weird and decidedly un-western. I like that.
