Nintendo's ideas and their lasting appeal

[Nico Nico Sleep]

Over years I've come to meet lots of people who sound like a broken record stating that "Nintendo doesn't do enough new things." And when they do create a new IP, it's shunned and those people use a common excuse... "It just doesn't have the same appeal as Mario or Zelda."

I've heard many of them say the same thing about Splatoon, among other of Nintendo's many endeavors like, including but not limited to, Dillon, Pushmo, and Code Name STEAM. Why is this the case? I must ask. What exactly is more unique about Mario or other popular Nintendo franchises compared to other new Nintendo franchises? Is it excuses?

Personally I'd like to know the experience or knowledge of other users.

 

[Trieste Sp]

Hmm... I think it's the nostalgia that comes with those games.

 

[Clayton-D]

Hmm... I think it's the nostalgia that comes with those games.

Agreed. The people that want want new IPs with old appeal cannot be pleased.

 

[mininut4]

from the sound of it, it sounds similar to what I see in Zelda games. everyone hates the game until the next one comes out at which point everyone loves it and hates the new one. ive seen it with majora's mask, wind waker and currently skyward sword. I didn't follow twilight princess much, so I cant say it happened with that one, but I imagine it did.

 

[Trieste Sp]

Agreed. The people that want want new IPs with old appeal cannot be pleased.

You can't please everyone, no matter how hard you try. I've been in this situation many times.

 

[Yaezakura]

A lot of the time, these people grew up on Nintendo. Games like Mario and the early Legend of Zelda games defined their childhoods.

As people grow up, we have a tendency to want the things we enjoy to grow up with us. We don't want the same Mario we wanted when we were 5--we want one that better reflects our attitudes towards life as teenagers and young adults. While we have fond memories of the things we enjoyed as children, we understand part of the reason we enjoyed them was their childishness, and society puts a lot of pressure on people to stop enjoying childish things after a certain age. So we want the things we love to grow up with us so we can keep loving them.

Why are the same people knocking on Splatoon while also whining that Mario games are more of the same? Because, quite simply, they represent that childishness, and people are ashamed of being attracted to that, but can't divorce themselves from the love of the games they grew up with.

You'll notice after a certain age (usually around the mid 20s) people tend to abandon those kinds of attitudes and go back to openly enjoying what they enjoy, despite how childish it may be. At that point, people are settling into their lives, having their own children, and realizing how stupid it is to let what other people think of what they enjoy influence their hobby.

 

[YesI'mTaco34]

Hmm... I think it's the nostalgia that comes with those games.

this pretty much people can't think past what they loved as a child

Spoiler

it's also the reason why people think Quest 64 is a good game

 

[SylemG]

It's a lot of dumb marketing wizardry. "people don't want what they think they want." People enjoy the familiar, the safe. Yet with too much of the familiar and safe, you get stagnation, leading to people wanting new things... and then the new things often don't perform as well due to being untested, leading to more of the same old same old.. because it's safe for both the consumer and the creators. It sucks, but it's true.

That said, I'll always strive to support a new fresh IP if i think it's really cool. I like Codename S.T.E.A.M, and i freaking Love Dillon's Rolling Western.

I think Nintendo managed to hit the perfect balance of newness with splatoon, so i'm actually not worried about it as much as some other new IPs.

 

[Graff]

Nintendo does weird stuff, sure; but that's why I like 'em. The peripherals make my head spin, but they make games I like.

And I'm a grown *** man.

 

[Lyn]

Nintendo has some questionable decisions, yes. That does get annoying sometimes but they usually are adventurous enough when they need to be.. now how about that Mother 3 translation, Nintendo?

 

[Jawson]

i freaking Love Dillon's Rolling Western.

Glad to see I'm not the only fan! o_O

All the "big" games like Destiny, BlooudBourne, and The Witcher seem just so dull to me.

The excuse I'm going to go with is "stupid people have bad tastes in games." :D

 

[zmop]

A lot of the time, these people grew up on Nintendo. Games like Mario and the early Legend of Zelda games defined their childhoods.

As people grow up, we have a tendency to want the things we enjoy to grow up with us. We don't want the same Mario we wanted when we were 5--we want one that better reflects our attitudes towards life as teenagers and young adults. While we have fond memories of the things we enjoyed as children, we understand part of the reason we enjoyed them was their childishness, and society puts a lot of pressure on people to stop enjoying childish things after a certain age. So we want the things we love to grow up with us so we can keep loving them.

Why are the same people knocking on Splatoon while also whining that Mario games are more of the same? Because, quite simply, they represent that childishness, and people are ashamed of being attracted to that, but can't divorce themselves from the love of the games they grew up with.

You'll notice after a certain age (usually around the mid 20s) people tend to abandon those kinds of attitudes and go back to openly enjoying what they enjoy, despite how childish it may be. At that point, people are settling into their lives, having their own children, and realizing how stupid it is to let what other people think of what they enjoy influence their hobby.

this pretty much people can't think past what they loved as a child

Spoiler

it's also the reason why people think Quest 64 is a good game

i am a part of this demographic that was sucked into nintendo in the early 80's when it was introduced to the USA. however, i've always welcomed new ideas from nintendo over the years. while it's great to be nostalgic and lay down/stick to their roots, the creative inside me clamors for new and fresh ideas i haven't seen before. splatoon fits that bill. technically we're nintendos biggest proponents and i believe it lays with younger generations who did not experience what we did in the 80's. the kids born in the late 90's to early 2000's are the expectation generation that can never be truly satisfied and it breaks my heart. now nintendo hit a major nail on the head with amiibo's but every trend has it's end. but that's the only thing in recent history and since i was a kid that nintendo did that i was like HOLY GUACAMOLE I NEED TO BUY THIS! interest retention is complicated in this saturated industry. so many choices. so many consoles to choose from, such different views on content. i just hope nintendos firm stance isn't their undoing in my lifetime. but i've honestly questioned their future numerous times over the last 9 years.

 

[Yaezakura]

i am a part of this demographic that was sucked into nintendo in the early 80's when it was introduced to the USA. however, i've always welcomed new ideas from nintendo over the years. while it's great to be nostalgic and lay down/stick to their roots, the creative inside me clamors for new and fresh ideas i haven't seen before. splatoon fits that bill. technically we're nintendos biggest proponents and i believe it lays with younger generations who did not experience what we did in the 80's. the kids born in the late 90's to early 2000's are the expectation generation that can never be truly satisfied and it breaks my heart. now nintendo hit a major nail on the head with amiibo's but every trend has it's end. but that's the only thing in recent history and since i was a kid that nintendo did that i was like HOLY GUACAMOLE I NEED TO BUY THIS! interest retention is complicated in this saturated industry. so many choices. so many consoles to choose from, such different views on content. i just hope nintendos firm stance isn't their undoing in my lifetime. but i've honestly questioned their future numerous times over the last 9 years.

I don't think there's much to worry about there. While Nintendo may have some pretty firm stances on things generally centered around being family-friendly (which they loosen the reigns on a bit for some of their subsidiary developers like Monolith--after all, Xenoblade Chronicles had cursing, blood, lots of death, and serious questioning over whether it's ever okay to take a human life), they're the only console manufacturer really willing to innovate.

I mean... just look at the Xbox and PlayStation consoles. What's the only real difference between them, one to the next? They got more powerful. That's it. The only thing Sony and MicroSoft try to do with each new console is make sure they're capable of rendering more individual arm hairs per model. Nintendo's consoles are asking us to think about some very fundamental questions, like how we control our games. Does it always work out well? No. But if they didn't at least try, we'd never get the kind of smashing successes we had with the Wii and DS. The gaming industry can't move forward and tread new ground if no one is willing to scout out the paths and see what lies ahead.

Nintendo's the only one of the Big Three willing to do that. Which means that yes, sometimes they're going to hit dead ends, like how the Wii U isn't performing very well. But sometimes, instead, they're going to find another Wii, and make all the money ever again. So long as they don't hit too many dead ends in a row, there's no real risk of Nintendo going anywhere.

 

[zmop]

I don't think there's much to worry about there. While Nintendo may have some pretty firm stances on things generally centered around being family-friendly (which they loosen the reigns on a bit for some of their subsidiary developers like Monolith--after all, Xenoblade Chronicles had cursing, blood, lots of death, and serious questioning over whether it's ever okay to take a human life), they're the only console manufacturer really willing to innovate.

I mean... just look at the Xbox and PlayStation consoles. What's the only real difference between them, one to the next? They got more powerful. That's it. The only thing Sony and MicroSoft try to do with each new console is make sure they're capable of rendering more individual arm hairs per model. Nintendo's consoles are asking us to think about some very fundamental questions, like how we control our games. Does it always work out well? No. But if they didn't at least try, we'd never get the kind of smashing successes we had with the Wii and DS. The gaming industry can't move forward and tread new ground if no one is willing to scout out the paths and see what lies ahead.

Nintendo's the only one of the Big Three willing to do that. Which means that yes, sometimes they're going to hit dead ends, like how the Wii U isn't performing very well. But sometimes, instead, they're going to find another Wii, and make all the money ever again. So long as they don't hit too many dead ends in a row, there's no real risk of Nintendo going anywhere.

this recent push for vr is even more gimmicky than motion control with proprietary hardware. cloud gaming isn't what i want as a consumer either as that will put companies like gamestop out of business. while i applaud nintendo's innovation, it's still not where gaming should be for 2015. and as a consumer, like everyone else in the world, i don't really know what i want. i just know current technology limitations hinder the progress i thought would be reality by now.

 

[Radi]

Overall, they seem to have a larger variety of ideas than other game companies. Most of what you will see from other companies is the typical first person shooter, which tends to never change a whole lot. I was never interested in them from the beginning, but if they can't change it up even slightly, then I see no reason to even try it. It's hard to remember what game someone may be talking about when they're all practically the same. That's not to say that every game has to be a shooter, but that's what I see quite a lot from other companies. As for Nintendo, they have a lot of things that I would be able to choose from. It can range from platformers, adventure games, to even racing games such as Mario Kart. I feel that Nintendo is able to go the extra mile and add a lot of detail to their games and make them stand out from the rest. In a few years time, you will want to go back and play whatever games they made in the past because of nostalgia. Many games can give you that feeling, but Nintendo does it with relative ease.

If you're too lazy to read what was said above, Nintendo has a variety of games to choose from, unlike other companies that repeat the same annoying concept so many times in a row. Even with some of Nintendo's franchises, they like to change certain things about them to make them fun.

 

[Yaezakura]

this recent push for vr is even more gimmicky than motion control with proprietary hardware. cloud gaming isn't what i want as a consumer either as that will put companies like gamestop out of business. while i applaud nintendo's innovation, it's still not where gaming should be for 2015. and as a consumer, like everyone else in the world, i don't really know what i want. i just know current technology limitations hinder the progress i thought would be reality by now.

GameStop kind of brings it on themselves, though. The used game market they monopolize contributes nothing to the game developers. Their whole business model is basically a method of ripping off the people who actually make the games--they sell the same copy of a game three times, and only have to pay any money to the developer once.

When you do that kind of stuff, you have to expect that when it becomes viable, the developers are going to start making games in a way that bypasses your formerly-needed position. Thus the move away from retail and into digital.

 

[jp4464]

You'll always have the vocal minority that will complain and troll, it's the same with any video game and gaming community.

That said, I feel like Splatoon has been receiving tons of praise from various media outlets online.
Sure, some Nintendo fans only want to stick with what they know (Zelda and Mario, for example.) However, I agree with @SylemG in how Nintendo seems to have hit a balance of nostalgia and freshness with Splatoon.

 

[SylemG]

GameStop kind of brings it on themselves, though. The used game market they monopolize contributes nothing to the game developers. Their whole business model is basically a method of ripping off the people who actually make the games--they sell the same copy of a game three times, and only have to pay any money to the developer once.

When you do that kind of stuff, you have to expect that when it becomes viable, the developers are going to start making games in a way that bypasses your formerly-needed position. Thus the move away from retail and into digital.

I know this is off topic from the main point of the thread, but this is absolutely correct. Gamestop should be marginalized by attempts to push it out of the competitive market by Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft. Gamestop runs a racket on game sales and can gouge for prices as much as they want on their used titles. I completely love physical games, and owning them for myself with a box and everything- but Nintendo needs to step up their game digitally so they can get their games to the consumer- hopefully for a much more affordable price- without a middleman who will double-dip on their profits. When having your games stocked on gamestop shelves loses it's value, it'll be a better day for gaming.

 

[GamingWarthog]

People always say they want something other than Mario and Zelda, but the sales of games like The Wonderful 101 and Code Name Steam compared to New Super Mario Bros U tell the exact opposite story. You can even see this in Super Smash Bros, three Kid Icarus characters is considered an outrage while there are seven Mario characters and people want even more of them. Most people will go with a familiar experience instead of something new when actually forced to choose, even if they claim otherwise. The really annoying thing to me is people saying Code Name Steam and Splatoon are the first new Nintendo IPs since Animal Crossing and Pikmin, I really hate obvious BS like that actually being believed, since it falls apart the moment you do some research.

 

[ThisFungi]

While nostalgia is a big factor into the "broken record of too new and too old" system, I think what most people are really saying is that they want a game that can be a major hit and heavily supported by Nintendo as a new series. Hence that's why some people think of Pikmin being the newest series and other games like "Rusty's Real Deal Baseball" go unheard of.

From how Splatoon's shaping up to be, it's definitely got potential to be a major hit. If Nintendo plays their cards right with this game it can even turn into a series of its own.

(Heck I wouldn't be surprised if we were to see a "Splatoon 2" on the new Nintendo "NX" system one day.) xP