By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Soundwave on 14 October 2015
Edit Thread
spemanig said:
Soundwave said:

Nintendo should've just signed a life time contract with the James Bond production company (EON) after the huge success of GoldenEye. That character is perfect and he's always "fun" but still appeals in a huge way to teenagers/adults as he's the iconic alpha male. 

And parents will shrug aside any/all violence and sexual inneundos from Bond because they grew up with Bond too so it's not something alien to them. 

He was really the perfect fit for the Nintendo brand of being cool/bad ass but not so far that it was like going from Mario to hyper-violent M-rated stuff like Devil's Third that just doesn't work for Nintendo. 


That being said, there is something to be noted about Nintendo's branding a video game company synonimous with video games. While I think that they would benefit from IP that were on other media first like with James Bond, there's something lost when licensed games enter the mix. I felt that way about the Lego game.

This is honestly just personal preference, but I think it's much more authentic to their brand to keep their exclusive IP specifically video gaming IP as opposed to licenced IP.


I don't have a problem with it, because Nintendo in the 90s actively chased a lot of IP. James Bond and Star Wars used to be known as Nintendo franchises in a lot of ways, to the point where the first Smash Brothers had the lightsaber knock off weapon and I think there was some talk of a Bond reference too. Nintendo in fact outbid Sony for the Star Wars licensing deal and it was very successful for them in the 90s ...

http://lubbockonline.com/stories/110498/LF0065.shtml#.Vh4UC7RViko

Also the NBA Kobe Bryant games, the Ken Griffey Jr. MLB games, etc. etc. We know they were also heavy into attempting to get the Harry Potter license. 

Nintendo is weaker without these brands not stronger IMO. I don't think you want too many licensed games, but if you have so much success with something like Bond ... sometimes it's smarter just to not screw around with it. Bond is just a special character that is time less. They've never had a game since that has appealled to the so-called "core" market like GoldenEye did. 

I remember a lot of my friends, even those who didn't care about Mario/Zelda felt they had to buy an N64 to have GoldenEye. Everyone loved that game even ardent Playstation fanatics, everytime my Sony-only friends came over they'd want to fire up GoldenEye.