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Forums - Nintendo Discussion - Should Nintendo be more experimental?

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What's the best combination for Nintendo?

Traditional software + traditional hardware 7 14.29%
 
Traditional software + experimental hardware 5 10.20%
 
Experimental software + traditional hardware 24 48.98%
 
Experiental software + experimental hardware 8 16.33%
 
What is a "nintendo"? 5 10.20%
 
Total:49

In the eyes of the consumers, Nintendo holds a special position when it comes to innovation. People usually talks about how their hardware is unique from its competitors (Wii vs PS360; WiiU vs PS4-XBone), with varying degrees of success and reception. However, in the software aspect, there's always a big group that talks about how tradicional usually is the big N about their games, with again, varying degrees of success and reception.

Nintendo had to reinvent themselves multiple times during their existence, but they always had a couple of cards they could count on. And it seems that trend continues even to this day.

Fron a hardware perspective, we have to compare the Gamecube, the Wii and the WiiU. The Gamecube is the most traditional of the three, but even a strong lineup and a really cheap price (i think it was 99$ during some periods) was steamrolled by the PS2. The Wii was basically an enhanced GC with motion controlls, but that new aproach made all the difference, becoming the best selling Nintendo home console. The WiiU tries a mix of both elements, approaching to a more focused audience and adding the gamepad, but once again, it's failing to gain audiences.The same with the handhelds: GBA was just an portable SNES, and the DS almost doubled its sales when there was not that much difference in power.

From a software perspective, Nintendo has always had Mario, Pokemon and Zelda as a basis to support their systems, with other smaller IPs around them to add variety to the mix. And even though sometimes the public critisice those franchises for a supposed lack of innovation, the numbers agree that those games are more succesful than the ones more different (NSMBWii vs SM Galaxy). Also, while some new Nintendo IPs get the sales but not the praise, while others are the exact opposite (the Wii series sold ridiculously well but  it's often dismissed as a casual thing, while on the other hand we have Xenoblade, a highly praised franchise that has sold poorly).

So, what do you think is the better angle for Nintendo? What can they do for the 9th gen? Should they become more riskier and take more chances with their main franchises, or they need to have those bases as always and innovate with their other IPs? Should they follow the leader in terms of hardware or they should try to do their own thing? What of these options do you think would be more profitable for the company?



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I feel like with hardware, they should do something standard that most developers want rather then do something weird that may or may not work...

Cause its like, u look at the say the n64, cartridge was not the right way to go when the developers wanted CD... Then, with the gamecube, mini-discs was not the right way to go when the developers wanted DVD, then with the wii, motion controls was not really the right way to go when developers wanted more power and finally, the gamepad/powerPC was not the right way to go with the wiiU when the developers wanted x86. Yes, the wii was very successful but that was truly due to motion controls! It took a nose dive after 3 years so it was clearly not very sustainable

As for the software front, I think thats where they should take more experiments but not with established IPs cause the established IPs are successful because what they do is something that people love and trying to do it differently is not a good thing imo. But instead, invest on new IPs and I don't mean like Splatoon but I mean invest in new Big IPs and go into places they havn't really gone much into that people want

But thats just what I think anyway, who knows what they will actually do. And obviously, they need to price it perfectly and market it well



                  

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If Nintendo wants to win back the hearts of their core fanbase, they need to make their system more powerful than the PS5 and next XBox system. Nintendo needs to get with the times and understand what people want in a game. Nintendo needs new IP's; they need to stop depending on Mario, Zelda and Pokemon to keep the revenue up. Nintendo needs the 3rd party support if they want to have a chance against Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo needs to stop with the gimmicks and keep the old-fashioned controller to use, because there are people out there that hate the gimmicks, like me.



if they can match the power of other next gen consoles as well as have the classic ip, that would be a market dominator



Voltaris said:
if they can match the power of other next gen consoles as well as have the classic ip, that would be a market dominator

The GameCube proved that, that is not the case.



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51JBerger said:
If Nintendo wants to win back the hearts of their core fanbase, they need to make their system more powerful than the PS5 and next XBox system. Nintendo needs to get with the times and understand what people want in a game. Nintendo needs new IP's; they need to stop depending on Mario, Zelda and Pokemon to keep the revenue up. Nintendo needs the 3rd party support if they want to have a chance against Sony and Microsoft. Nintendo needs to stop with the gimmicks and keep the old-fashioned controller to use, because there are people out there that hate the gimmicks, like me.

That's like telling Activision to stop publishing Call of Duty games... Nintendo can't decide what sells well.



Current gaming platforms - Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, New 3DS, PC

KyleeStrutt said:
Voltaris said:
if they can match the power of other next gen consoles as well as have the classic ip, that would be a market dominator

The GameCube proved that, that is not the case.

touche, maybe a decent ad campaign aswell



KyleeStrutt said:
Voltaris said:
if they can match the power of other next gen consoles as well as have the classic ip, that would be a market dominator

The GameCube proved that, that is not the case.


That's because they weren't developer friendly.



Voltaris said:
KyleeStrutt said:
Voltaris said:
if they can match the power of other next gen consoles as well as have the classic ip, that would be a market dominator

The GameCube proved that, that is not the case.

touche, maybe a decent ad campaign aswell

 Nintendo has had horrible marketing for years now. I mean compare what they've done recently to how the marketed the Wii... It's night and day.



Current gaming platforms - Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Wii U, New 3DS, PC

Mystro-Sama said:

That's because they weren't developer friendly.

The NGC was the most developer friendly console Nintendo's ever done, easy to make games for, easy to port games for, great hardware and simple architecture.