| Salnax said:
The Nintendo fandom, besides the Wii U launch titles, was also distracted by latter Wii U games like Pikmin 3 and Rayman Legends and the 3DS in general, which had a new Paper Mario coming out as well as RPG's like Fire Emblem. Plus, back in late 2012, the PlayStation and Xbox fans were a bigger presence on this site; the most anticipated game was The Last of Us, the Wii U was about 100 points behind the PS3, and the Vita was still considered a serious competitor for the handhled market against the 3DS. Heck, Halo 4 was the fourth most anticipated exclusive on any console November 1, 2012! With all of that taken into account, NintendoLand's modest numbers may make more sense. If I honestly had to guess what went wrong with Epic Mickey, it was a problem with Warren Spector. Or rather, his specific set of skills and experience. From what I know of him and his work, he's a great game maker, but Epic Mickey was his first game in the platforming genre. It probably also didn't help that he basically released nothing between 2004 and 2010, possibly leading to the level designs people have called archaic in Epic Mickey. Come to think of it, he made most of his reputation in the 90's, and Epic Mickey has been called stuff like "the last great N64 platformer." Maybe if Epic Mickey were released, say in 2005, when 3D platformers were a lost art, people would have been kinder to it. But in recent years, peoples' expectations of the genre of changed, thanks to Ratchett & Clank, Super Mario Galaxy, and even some of the Sonic games. |
Maybe, although I think Spector's involvement really made Epic Mickey shine. The light RPG elements transformed Epic Mickey into something more than just a 3D platformer.
I haven't yet played the sequel (I bought it for Wii and will play it soon with my fiancee), so I can't comment on its quality. But maybe the critical response sunk it. Epic Mickey is probably one of those games where word of mouth and reviews can turn the tide one way or another. It certainly wasn't for lack of advertising, or for being on too few platforms. Although I guess you could argue it would have done better as a Wii/Wii U exclusive. The fanbase was already there, the game is better suited to IR controls (although Move would work, also), and Wii owners are accustomed to local multiplayer.
