Will Metroid: Other M, Super Mario Galaxy 2 and Sin and Punishment 2 and the like truly create or even support momentum? I'm not so sure. They may serve to legitimize the Wii in the eyes of Nintendo fans hungry for a return to 'classic Nintendo' or who were feeling somewhat embarassed by the hardcore wailing of news outlets like IGN or Kotaku, but then they already own a Wii, don't they? They may serve as a secret weapon to brandish when PS3 and 360 afficiandos start listing off their "hardcore" exclusives in order to villify the Wii, but those people were never likely to buy a Wii anyway. Will they expand the userbase or broaden the parameters of 'gamer' like Wii Sports or Mario Kart Wii have been doing? As much as I am psyched for these games, not likely.
Super Mario Galaxy 2 won't convert anyone that the first game didn't, and the same can be said of No More Heroes 2, Red Steel 2 and to an extent Sin and Punishment 2. And how many Metroid fans can really be out there that were holding off on purchasing a Wii for lack of Metroid goodness with the Prime Trilogy and the virtual console? That's not to say we enthusiast gamers shouldn't be excited about them, but if Nintendo is looking to keep the Wii phenomenon going rather than simply pacify the very vocal minority that we constitute, then they should continue looking elsewhere.
The only titles I could legitimately see propelling Nintendo forth at their formerly explosive rates would be games that follow the philosophy of the Wii Sports Resort, Mario Kart Wii or New Super Mario Bros. Wii: bridge titles that offer enjoyment to everyone and focus on the community experience and an addictively accessible gameplay skeleton. These are the types of titles that encapsulates Nintendo's vision of the future. If they want to truly remain relevant and create new break-out hits, I believe they need to wrap those gameplay ideals around entirely new worlds and themes rather than rely on the somewhat exhausted mythology of Mario, Zelda and Metroid. Games like Pikmin were a good start, but they should not have let its middling sales relative to the reliability of the big three deter them. If the want to create and sustain new generations of gamers, they need new fictional worlds to explore and they need to tie them to accessible and enjoyable gameplay mechanics so that no one is barred entry and they are doubly enticed to return.
It's a tall order, to be sure. Are Nintendo the only developers capable of such a feat? Certainly not, though history leads me to believe that no one is better acquianted with this particular area than Nintendo themselves if Pokémon, Animal Crossing and Wii Sports are any indication. Are any such titles on the horizon? Not by the looks of it, but I'm certainly holding out hope.
We'll see how it goes, though, right?
