New Nintendo doesn't just play it safe; the Wii itself was a big risk, and games like Mario Galaxy, Xenoblade, Wii Sports and Skyward Sword were just as bold and brilliant as games like Mario 64 and Ocarina of Time.

They only time they really lost the plot was during the Gamecube era, where they butchered 3D Mario, Zelda, and Starfox.

Now, they have played it a bit too safe with Wii U so far, but games like X and publishing Bayonetta 2 are encouraging signs for the future.

I'm from Canada and New Brunswick is not that dangerous. Other than that, fairly good points. Nintendo needs to take more risks but also give gamers what they want. And their flagship titles should be ground breaking. We should get an epic Mario, an epic Zelda and a bunch of new IPs at the beginning of a gen. They nailed it with Wii and missed the mark with Wii U. We can see the results.

X is developed by NIntendo, and I said they're publishing Bayo 2.

Skyward Sword's full-on motion controls were a big risk. And Galaxy's throw-away-the-rulebook take on gravity was a bold move in the same way that Mario 64 was.

Iwata's leadership of Nintendo has focused on innovative hardware design not software design.

Very true. A more comprehensive tutorial or a training mode (a la modern fighting games) would've been appreciated.

I personally believe that the large overworlds in Zelda games are a detriment to the experience. Rolling across a field for five minutes just isn't fun to me...

Maybe that is part of the reason why Skyward Sword was my favorite Zelda game...

I would be interested to see some more 3D Adventure Platformers like in the N64 days though

I don't think you'll see that anytime soon, to be honest. From most accounts, Nintendo is struggling with creating high definition content. That means things will probably be pared down somewhat in order to meet projected release dates. Somehow, they got blind-sided by something the rest of the industry dealt with years ago.

Agree.

Take ALBW for example. It does many things right imo, like the new item system and dungeons that can be done in any order.

But why are the puzzles SO easy? Almost non existent, the dungeons are just so straight forward. I really hope this isn't a trend..

I actually played through Links Awakening for the first time right before ALBW arrived, it's dungeons were much more challenging and confusing to solve. It's a great feeling when you finally find the solution when you've been stuck for hours. That feeling just wasn't there in ALBW and it's a shame imo.

Give Pikmin 3 a try when you sober up.

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