| Cerebralbore101 said: Oh, man I disagree with a lot of this. 2-D Sidescrollers are the bread and butter of the casual crowd. So NSMBU, 3D World, Yoshi, and Tropical Freeze were all aimed at the casual audience. The only problem is that Nintendo didn't realize that they'd gotten burnt out on games like that from the Wii era. Not to mention, most casuals wound up not liking the Wii in the long run, because it didn't have enough games that they liked. So Nintendo wound up making games for a crowd that largely ignored their platform. The Wii U controller was an attempt to emulate the iPad. That's about as casual oriented as you can get. Starfox Zero was given a horrible control scheme that alienated core fans in the hopes of bringing in new audiences. I agree with your points on Xenoblade X, Pikmin, Bayonetta, Mario Kart 8, and Splatoon. With the Switch Nintendo targeted hardcore audiences with a massively updated and improved Zelda. Mario went back to being a proper 3D platformer, and not some sort of 2.5D abomination that was 3D World. Xenoblade 2 targeted hardcore gamers as well. Switch seems to be a system for both casuals and hardcore fans though. Mario Kart 8, Mario Tennis, Smash, and Splatoon 2 can all said to be games for casuals as well as hardcore gamers. |
Side Scrollers are heavily associated with old-school Nintendo back in the 8 and 16 bit eras. New Super Mario Bros. isn't just for casuals, it's also designed for Mario fans who are more familiar with the more classical style of Mario game than the 3D ones.
Wii U Gamepad was a bloated, over-designed disaster that wanted to be a hardcore controller, that had some casual appeal. It was too big and useless for core gamers, and too daunting an clunky for casual gamers.
Zero was made to be a rehash of Star Fox 64 again, to pander to the fans who liked Star Fox 64.
Also. "Not to mention, most casuals wound up not liking the Wii in the long run, because it didn't have enough games that they liked. So Nintendo wound up making games for a crowd that largely ignored their platform. " Not true, Wii had one of the highest attach rates of any modern console.
Switch era Nintendo is more about balance. As in, Nintendo is addressing the complaints of both the hardcore fans and the mainstream gamers. Making games that are fun for both groups, while not trying to compromise them for one side versus the other. Mario Odyssey for example was designed to be a fun sandbox playground for casual gamers, and a big open world epic for hardcore Mario fans. Same thing with Breath of the Wild, especially since that game was bought by people who never played a Zelda game in their life. Most of Nintendo's games also serve different kinds of people, as opposed to trying to make most of their titles for absolutely everyone. 1-2 Switch is for people who want a silly party game, Nintendo Labo is for kids who like construction toys, ARMS is for people who like competitive fighting games or want a more intuitive, easier to learn take on them, and Xenoblade 2 is for fans of traditional RPGs. Nintendo's learned that different games should serve different people.
