Nintendo back in profit

[0098386]

Only posting this because there was once a frontpage article about Nintendo's shareholders wanting them to port games to iOS, and commenters saying they're doomed unless they embrace Apple. I'm not bitter, honest 😀

The little company that could

Smash Bros, Mario Kart and Amiibos helped them out.

Personally I'm very happy that game companies can still make money and thrive despite the growing mobile phone and tablet market. That's the celebration for me.

 

[tevion5]

Smash Bros, Mario Kart and Amiibos helped them out.

Now I'm a Sony man when it comes to consoles. I do most of my Gaming on a PC these days, and most of my Computing on a Mac. But I've owned a Playstation 1, 2 and 3. I'd personally like to see Sony continuing to make Playstation consoles at a profit, and the 4 is doing this well I hear.

I have never owned a Nintendo console myself, but I have very much enjoyed playing games like Smash Bros and Mario Kart when at a friends house. They seem like well crafted titles with lot's of replayability.

The only thing that always makes me a little tepid toward Nintendo is how it seems to milk the life out of the same franchises for the last 30 years. Now I know something like Mario is a major internationally recognised mascot, but when I see yet ANOTHER Mario or Pokemon game I just feel like they need to be a little bolder.

Not saying their output is bad, just wondering if they could help their marketing by putting out some more original titles like Sony has been doing with Uncharted and The Last of Us for example.

I'd be interested to see what a Nintendo fan has to say 🙂

 

[0098386]

Now I'm a Sony man when it comes to consoles. I do most of my Gaming on a PC these days, and most of my Computing on a Mac. But I've owned a Playstation 1, 2 and 3. I'd personally like to see Sony continuing to make Playstation consoles at a profit, and the 4 is doing this well I hear.

Same! I find myself playing Wii U with friends+family in coop, but I play my PS4 exclusively in singleplayer (or with random people online in GTAV). I couldn't live without either. And 3DS has the usual outstanding first party games, whereas the Vita is my go-to system for indie games. Due in part to Sony's download ownership policy and that most indie games are cross-buy.

Not saying their output is bad, just wondering if they could help their marketing by putting out some more original titles like Sony has been doing with Uncharted and The Last of Us for example.

Those titles are original though. There was nothing like Mario Galaxy or 3D World before they came along. The "New Mario" games are an oxymoron since they're just refined games using the old formula. But they're all crazily high rated, it's not like they just re-badge stuff.
I find Sony, Microsoft and Nintendo are all the same with their franchises though. And why shouldn't they be? Of course if Sony or Microsoft were in Nintendo's shoes in the 80's we'd have Little Big Planet, Wipeout, Halo in primordial form. That's just the way franchises are.

 

[foobarbazqux]

I'd be interested to see what a Nintendo fan has to say 🙂

We say the exact same things about Call of Duty, Assassin's Creed, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, EA sports games, ... 🙂

I'm not saying Nintendo isn't guilty of milking their franchises. I'm just saying everybody does it. Don't forget that we buy Nintendo consoles because we want to play Nintendo games. 30 years later, I still don't get tired of Mario and Zelda games.

 

[tevion5]

Of course if Sony or Microsoft were in Nintendo's shoes in the 80's we'd have Little Big Planet, Wipeout, Halo in primordial form. That's just the way franchises are.

Yeah, I pull out my Playstation exclusively for GTA V/Online these days myself!

Indeed, I do like to see more Wipeout (I loved HD), despite them being minor updates aside from graphics. The core gameplay is just so solid in those long running titles, I suppose that is the reason they remain so popular!

I don't deny the greatness of Super Mario Galaxy games, as the consensus is very high, despite I having never played them myself. I must admit I was confused when I saw IGN name it as game of the year over Fallout 3 (Possibly my favourite PC game of all time) a few years back. Here I was blown away by a huge dark open world RPG with tremendous depth, and then it was beaten by what seemed to me at the time like some sort of N64 clone of a plumber flying through space solving colourful puzzles. 😛

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Don't forget that we buy Nintendo consoles because we want to play Nintendo games.

I have been suspecting that is the only reason Nintendo is still around in the last few years 😉.

That is true that people like to milk franchises, although I would have similar disdain for COD and Fifa etc..

GTA seems to do the same thing admittedly every time, but each revision they up the graphics considerably, add usually 100's of new things to do, and with V they added an ambitious online mode (which I have found to be my favourite open multiplayer game ever, having never enjoyed MMO's). Rockstar set themselves tremendous challenges and for the most part seem to deliver. Red Dead Redemption for example takes experience from GTA, but turns it into a borderline oscar worthy western.

I don't mean to single out Nintendo for franchise milking, just curious as to how they could make themselves more appealing to those who see them as not as serious as Sony or Microsoft. 🙂

 

[mandoman]

Not saying their output is bad, just wondering if they could help their marketing by putting out some more original titles like Sony has been doing with Uncharted and The Last of Us for example.

Nintendo is introducing a new original title called Splatoon in May. I don't know about you guys, but I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

[foobarbazqux]

I have been suspecting that is the only reason Nintendo is still around in the last few years 😉.

Don't underestimate Nintendo. Pokemon, Mario, Zelda, etc sell very well. Not to mention they have tons of money in the bank. Even at the rate they were loosing money up until recently, they could probably last for several console generations.

GTA seems to do the same thing admittedly every time, but each revision they up the graphics considerably, add usually 100's of new things to do, and with V they added an ambitious online mode (which I have found to be my favourite open multiplayer game ever, having never enjoyed MMO's). Rockstar set themselves tremendous challenges and for the most part seem to deliver. Red Dead Redemption for example takes experience from GTA, but turns it into a borderline oscar worthy western.

I don't mean to single out Nintendo for franchise milking, just curious as to how they could make themselves more appealing to those who see them as not as serious as Sony or Microsoft. 🙂

I could make similar arguments about how certain Nintendo games aren't just rehashes of previous games. I don't know how to explain it though. I'll happily play through just about any Mario/Zelda/Metroid game but for some reason I get bored of some other non-Nintendo franchises very quickly. I just find Nintendo 1st party games to be some of the best and most fun games. It also helps that Nintendo 1st party games tend to be very polished and bug free. Sure, I'll hop on my PC or Xbox once in a while and play other things but I always come back to Nintendo.

Also, keep in mind that they don't release major Mario and Zelda games every year like some of the other major franchises. We only get one, maybe two, Mario and Zelda console games each generation.

Don't get us Nintendo fans wrong though. We do grow tired of seeing Mario in everything. Go on any Nintendo forum and you'll see folks wanting new and original IP out of Nintendo. Fortunately, we have Splatoon coming which I'm really looking forward to. I'm so glad they didn't simply make it "Mario Paintball".

 

[Lennholm]

Now I'm a Sony man when it comes to consoles. I do most of my Gaming on a PC these days, and most of my Computing on a Mac. But I've owned a Playstation 1, 2 and 3. I'd personally like to see Sony continuing to make Playstation consoles at a profit, and the 4 is doing this well I hear.

I have never owned a Nintendo console myself, but I have very much enjoyed playing games like Smash Bros and Mario Kart when at a friends house. They seem like well crafted titles with lot's of replayability.

The only thing that always makes me a little tepid toward Nintendo is how it seems to milk the life out of the same franchises for the last 30 years. Now I know something like Mario is a major internationally recognised mascot, but when I see yet ANOTHER Mario or Pokemon game I just feel like they need to be a little bolder.

Not saying their output is bad, just wondering if they could help their marketing by putting out some more original titles like Sony has been doing with Uncharted and The Last of Us for example.

I'd be interested to see what a Nintendo fan has to say 🙂

The thing is, Nintendo DO create new IPs but when they do nobody cares and then lambasts Nintendo for wasting their time instead of working on the next Mario/Zelda/Starfox/Metroid game.
I don't think there's anything wrong with using established franchises as long as the games continue to be of high quality and have unique and fun gameplay, which is something Nintendo consistently deliver.