The mental gymnastics some Iwata defenders have to jump through to say that there isn't a dramatic decline in Western funded/developed games (particularly games that don't feature Japanese created character IP) is hilarious.

Nintendo 2nd Party 1994-2001 (Lincoln/Arakawa-era)

GoldenEye
Perfect Dark
Banjo-Kazooie/Tooie
Conker's Bad Fur Day
Mario Party 1/2/3/4
NBA Courtside
Ken Griffey Jr. MLB
Starcraft 64
Killer Instinct/Gold
Jet Force Gemini
Excitebike 64
Pilotwings 64
Donkey Kong Country 1/2/3
Eternal Darkness
Various Star Wars titles
Tetrisphere
Mario Tennis/Golf 64

Iwata-Era (2002-today):

The Last Story
Pandora's Tower
Line Attack Heroes
Endless Ocean 1/2
Excitetruck/bots
Metroid Prime 1/2/3
DKCR/Tropical Freeze
Bayonetta 2
Fatal Frame IV/V
Hyrule Warriors
Punch-Out!
The Wonderful 101
Devil's Third
Dynamic Slash (Zangeki no Reginleiv)
Mario Strikers
Donkey Kong: Barrell Blast


We go from about 90% of their 2nd party production coming from the West to it being reduced to like 20% in the Iwata era (must be a coincidence though right?).

At a time when the Japanese market shrinks and the Western market rises. It really makes no sense on Nintendo's part.

it's funny  how you failed to mention the paradigm shift of nintendo's focus on a blue ocean market under iwata. You know the casual market. There is no bias, just a different focus in a changing market from the 90's to today.

And it's funny how you fail to address my other two comments

it's funny  how you failed to mention the paradigm shift of nintendo's focus on a blue ocean market under iwata. You know the casual market. There is no bias, just a different focus in a changing market from the 90's to today.

It's funny you mention this, because the first thing I noticed looking at that list was how 2nd party used to be big sellers and now is restricted to primarily niche Japanese games aimed at a tiny market and selling very poorly. The few Western developed games left in recent years are the only ones that have sold. Titles like Fatal Frame, The Wonderful 101, Pandora's Tower are in no way blue ocean products.

It's why I roll my eyes when I see things like Nintendo making deals for Fatal Frame V and Devil's Third and rebooting series like Star Fox. Why waste resources on games with such incredibly limited appeal?

Iwata has at least given NoA freedom to market and competatively push Smash this time around.

They've (NoA) seemingly gained freedom enough to be able to push games like Shovel Knight into the light of day for consoles/handheld owners.

But, yes, they really do need to get more western devs but there is also, on some level, the Nintendo "OCD" over their studios being nothing short of excellent if they are to be first party.

I like those particular Japanese games, but at the same time I have to wonder if even Nintendo themselves knows these games are going to flop. 

It's not like they're going to market them either, they'd almost be better off pooling their money from these projects into one big IP launch and trying to push it hard like Sony did with Uncharted -- those of course it would have to be developed in Japan or be tied to a pre-existing Japanese IP. 

If Naughty Dog was a Nintendo developer under Iwata, they'd be making DKC or Star Fox games (likely because of their history with Crash Bandicoot), they wouldn't be allowed to do anything like Uncharted or Last of Us. 

Seems to me like Western devs are kicking Nintendo's rear end at making break out hits for casuals for a while now. 

Angry Birds, Candy Crush, Minecraft, Fruit Ninja, etc. 

Maybe they should spend a few dollars on financing some Western studios to see if they can't make a break out hit like that, but they won't because it's just not how Nintendo of today operates. Nintendo 15 years ago? No doubt. They would be financing small Western/indies like crazy and they'd give teams like the Darksiders guys a shot to make games, but Nintendo of today? No way. 

Basically all assumption and no facts? It's not like Nintendo published lego city undercover

Just like the lies and bullshit that jumpin,hedra and myself have pointed which you refuse to address? Ok then, i'll just bookmark this thread for the lols

LEGO City and what else? *crickets*

It's actually fairly egregious that Iwata, after swimming in all that money from the Wii/DS eras, could not even open *one* single Western studio. 

And yet Nintendo fans wonder why they don't have games today. Would it have been that difficult to open one fairly decent sized studio in the US/Canada and perhaps another in Europe somewhere?