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Forums - Nintendo - I would just like to know, how is Nintendo not milking their games?

Garcian Smith on 09 July 2008
cwbys21 said:
That's because it is popular to hate on SquareEnix right now, don't ask why, it just is. It is kind of popular to hate on Nintendo since they sell hardware almost as fast as they can make it, but that is mostly among the press and fan boys. Don't worry though, after SE releases all the games that look great from what we know that they have lined up all the hate will go away. For a while. And then the people will crop back up with the nostalgia about the good ol' days with nes/snes.

 


People hate on S-E because 75% of the games they release nowadays are just a constant stream of half-arsed re-releases/remakes. The company seems to be recovering a little - TWEWY was good, and The Last Remnant and Soul Eater look promising - but they REALLY need some new ideas.



"'Casual games' are something the 'Game Industry' invented to explain away the Wii success instead of actually listening or looking at what Nintendo did. There is no 'casual strategy' from Nintendo. 'Accessible strategy', yes, but ‘casual gamers’ is just the 'Game Industry''s polite way of saying what they feel: 'retarded gamers'."

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HappySqurriel on 09 July 2008

Over a 20+ year timeframe Nintendo has released the following main series Mario and Zelda games

Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Mario 64 (N64)
Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

The Legend of Zelda (NES)
The Legend of Zelda 2 (NES)
The Legend of Zelda: LttP (SNES)
The Legend of Zelda: OoT (N64)
The Legend of Zelda: MM (N64)
The Legend of Zelda: WW (Gamecube)
The Legend of Zelda: TP (Gamecube/Wii)

7 games for each series which works out to (approximately) a game every 3 years ... This is not exactly "Milking" a franchise.

 

Certainly, Mario (as a character) appears in a lot of games ... but Nintendo is using Mario more as a celebrity actor to draw attention to these games. I suspect (but could be wrong) that this will become more common in the future and large publishers will use their mascot characters in as many different types of games possible to increase sales. We have already seen this happening with Sega's abuse of Sonic, and Microsoft is getting into this with Halo Wars.



Esmoreit on 09 July 2008
HappySqurriel said:

Over a 20+ year timeframe Nintendo has released the following main series Mario and Zelda games

Super Mario Bros. (NES)
Super Mario Bros. 2 (NES)
Super Mario Bros. 3 (NES)
Super Mario World (SNES)
Mario 64 (N64)
Super Mario Sunshine (Gamecube)
Super Mario Galaxy (Wii)

The Legend of Zelda (NES)
The Legend of Zelda 2 (NES)
The Legend of Zelda: LttP (SNES)
The Legend of Zelda: OoT (N64)
The Legend of Zelda: MM (N64)
The Legend of Zelda: WW (Gamecube)
The Legend of Zelda: TP (Gamecube/Wii)

7 games for each series which works out to (approximately) a game every 3 years ... This is not exactly "Milking" a franchise.

 

Certainly, Mario (as a character) appears in a lot of games ... but Nintendo is using Mario more as a celebrity actor to draw attention to these games. I suspect (but could be wrong) that this will become more common in the future and large publishers will use their mascot characters in as many different types of games possible to increase sales. We have already seen this happening with Sega's abuse of Sonic, and Microsoft is getting into this with Halo Wars.

You forgot a lot of handheld titles... off the top of my head concerning Zelda (dunno about Mario)

Links awakening, Four Swords, Oracle of ages, Oracle of seasons, The Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass. That's 13 over a 22 year period, or 1 each 1.7 year... 

 



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HappySqurriel on 09 July 2008
Esmoreit said:

You forgot a lot of handheld titles... off the top of my head concerning Zelda (dunno about Mario)

Links awakening, Four Swords, Oracle of ages, Oracle of seasons, The Minish Cap and Phantom Hourglass. That's 13 over a 22 year period, or 1 each 1.7 year... 

 

 

I tend not to include handheld games into this because that makes most series look like they're milked ... Almost every major series has seen releases for handheld devices at a similar rate to their releases for consoles.



Timmah! on 09 July 2008

Milking is generally concidered to be a lazy cash-in of an established franchise (in this context). Because Nintendo puts so much time, energy, and money into their main series, and because the games are so freaking great, no, they are not 'milking' these series. The only Ninty title I would concider milking is Mario Party.



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De85 on 09 July 2008
Garcian Smith said:

Mario is a brand name now, not a franchise. Who care if Nintendo makes some game and then slaps the Mario name on it? It's an easily recognizable brand, so a Mario game is guaranteed to sell a bunch of copies.

Furthermore, how many Mario games come out per generation? One since the N64, and two this generation due to NSMB. How many Zelda games? Two or three. Metroid? Two.

Now compare that to how many Final Fantasy games were released just last year: 12. Yes, twelve. Granted, some of those are re-releases with a bit of new stuff on them, but still. Twelve Final Fantasy releases in a year alone, pretty much all of them some form of JRPG. For comparison's sake, Nintendo only released six Mario-branded games in the same year (if you count Mario & Sonic) - and that includes offerings as diverse as Mario Party, the Mario Sports titles, and - of course - SMG. Which one is milking which franchise, now?

 

This is just the pot calling the kettle black.  Just because SE gets more milk from their cows does not change the fact that Nintendo is also milking.  One or two main series games per gen is not milking, but Mario Party, Mario Kart, Mario & Sonic, Mario Strikers, etc... most definitely is.  Anyone who disagrees that the Mario cash cow is being milked is delusional.



Cheebee on 09 July 2008

Oh god, it's so simple really. Brand recognition. People buy it. The ones who make it keep seeing their games sell. So why not release more of it? Besides, I'm pretty sure there'd be a person or two on this planet who'd be rather upset if Nintendo were to never release a new Mario/Zelda/Metroid game.. :p



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Blacksaber on 09 July 2008
Garcian Smith said:
cwbys21 said:
That's because it is popular to hate on SquareEnix right now, don't ask why, it just is. It is kind of popular to hate on Nintendo since they sell hardware almost as fast as they can make it, but that is mostly among the press and fan boys. Don't worry though, after SE releases all the games that look great from what we know that they have lined up all the hate will go away. For a while. And then the people will crop back up with the nostalgia about the good ol' days with nes/snes.

 


People hate on S-E because 75% of the games they release nowadays are just a constant stream of half-arsed re-releases/remakes. The company seems to be recovering a little - TWEWY was good, and The Last Remnant and Soul Eater look promising - but they REALLY need some new ideas.

 

Their making an RPG out of Soul Eater? Sweet!



Former something....

Desroko on 09 July 2008
De85 said:
Garcian Smith said:

Mario is a brand name now, not a franchise. Who care if Nintendo makes some game and then slaps the Mario name on it? It's an easily recognizable brand, so a Mario game is guaranteed to sell a bunch of copies.

Furthermore, how many Mario games come out per generation? One since the N64, and two this generation due to NSMB. How many Zelda games? Two or three. Metroid? Two.

Now compare that to how many Final Fantasy games were released just last year: 12. Yes, twelve. Granted, some of those are re-releases with a bit of new stuff on them, but still. Twelve Final Fantasy releases in a year alone, pretty much all of them some form of JRPG. For comparison's sake, Nintendo only released six Mario-branded games in the same year (if you count Mario & Sonic) - and that includes offerings as diverse as Mario Party, the Mario Sports titles, and - of course - SMG. Which one is milking which franchise, now?

 

This is just the pot calling the kettle black.  Just because SE gets more milk from their cows does not change the fact that Nintendo is also milking.  One or two main series games per gen is not milking, but Mario Party, Mario Kart, Mario & Sonic, Mario Strikers, etc... most definitely is.  Anyone who disagrees that the Mario cash cow is being milked is delusional.

Again, it's foolish to speak of just one Mario series. You just named at least three genres, besides the main Mario series' action-adventure: party, racing, and sports. Not to mention the RPG games. Final Fantasy isn't quite as broad-based, running the gamut from action-RPG to JRPG to strategy-RPG.

But I don't think that alone qualifies SE for milking. It's the parade of re-releases and remakes that are the problem, as blatant as the nearly annual Mario Party titles.

 



noname2200 on 09 July 2008
RolStoppable said:
noname2200 said:

Interesting question, but he won't respond. All this account is good for is to start controversial threads with more or less effort put into the OP.

I'm sure you're right, hence the skimpy post (you'll notice it didn't take three hours to read...). Still, I usually give people the benefit of the doubt, especially since I would up with egg on my face just a few hours ago for not doing so.