By using this site, you agree to our Privacy Policy and our Terms of Use. Close
Fei-Hung on 02 June 2016
Edit Thread
Jumpin said:
Fei-Hung said:

Honestly speaking, for Nintendo I'm not sure. If you ignore the Wii and look at N64, GameCube and WiiU sales, it seems it is a core fanbase keeping Nintendo going. That isn't necessarily a bad thing as if they deliver what the fans want they can still be successful. 

 

I think Nintendo needs to go back to its roots and cater to them instead of 3rd parties like EA etc. They need the 3D Marios, Zelda's, Lylat Wars, Pokemon Stadium, Harvest Moon, Banjo Kazooi, Goldeneye etc.

 

They've done it before, there is no reason why they can't do it again. However, that's what I want from Nintendo. What someone else wants might be entirely different. 

The big failings with N64, Gamecube, and Wii U are largely that those consoles do not have the same sort of Nintendo feeling that NES, Wii, and SNES have.  All three also have very awkward and unintuitive controllers. Whereas the NES, Wii, and SNES all had very straight forward and intuitive controllers.

Even though the N64 had more sales than the Gamecube, I think that console was easily the biggest mistake Nintendo ever made: expensive cartridges, alienating nearly all of their business partners, and the dryest dought in Nintendo's history. The only thing that really offset the N64's terrible mistakes was that it had an unusually large number of Killer Apps: Mario 64, GE007, and Ocarina of Time.

The Gamecube had a very bad image, the kid sized DVDs, the handle so kids could carry it around like a lunchbox, and the noisy springy Fisher-Price controller. While games were a lot cheaper on Gamecube, it completely lacked a killer app, the first of the two times a Nintendo console did this.

Then there's the Wii U. No killer app, an unappealing controller, and functionality that does not live up to its promise. It was a sad story on both hardware and software fronts.

 

As for the main topic. I have no idea if Miyamoto is losing his touch. He is the soul of Nintendo, the person who shaped Nintendo into what we know it as. I'm going to wait and see how Zelda NX and Super Mario NX do before making that judgment. But from what I understand, he retired from taking a big part in the dev process years ago. So maybe it's the lack of a strong Miyamoto presence that's the issue these days. http://www.wired.com/2011/12/miyamoto-interview/

Couldn't agree with you more. N64 started their downfall, but the quality games kept them going.