Attention Nintendo Fans

[cjshoup]

(This is my opinion)

If Nintendo wants to beat Sony or Microsoft, They need to bring out one game, and they have the company to do it.

Super Mario Bros RPG 2
(Not that pathetic Paper Mario Game for the Stinky4)

Square made the first game for the SNES. I believe it was the best game for the system. Now that squaresoft and Nintendo are back together, they should make this game.

It will give mario some credibility (Plus get him out of retirement, he's been playing too much golf and tennis)


(Like I said, this is my opinion)

[Borg4of3]

Well, here's my opinion.

First off, a single game will not a monopoly over PS2 and XBox make. While it'd be nice to see a collaboration between Square and Nintendo again, especially on such a huge project as Mario RPG, it wouldn't be a defining element of their victory.

What Nintendo has to do is get away from the artsy-wierd games. What I mean is that, profitability-wise, Pikmin, Doshin the Giant, and Animal Forest are not going to help them. All great games most likely, and games I, as a Nintendo fan, will try out. But the general populace wants racing, fighting, and action in general. Nintendo should continue their genre-busting games, that could be labeled an established genre, yet bringing something hugely new to it. Like Mario 3 to platforms, SSBM's simplistic controls to fighting, F-Zero's 60fps speed to racing, Earthbound and MRPG's concentration on humor to RPGs, etc. Nintendo, of all companies, shouldn't be doing niche games. Or at least hand it to their smaller in-house developers instead of wasting precious time that could be spent on Earthbound Cubed . Whatever Nintendo makes will be great, but won't seem interesting to everyone. So much for their E-Everyone games approach.

Oh, and have you ever played Paper Mario? No holds barred, that was one of the most fun RPG experiences I'd ever had! Character-wise, it was a lot better than MRPG, and instead of wierd mutated monsters we got tried and true Mario monsters, plus some new ones that fit Mario's world completely. The Invincible Tubba-Blubba remains my fave! This time was pure-Nintendo and they did great! Still, it would be nice to see him out of retirement

[Bird Boy]

I agree with everything Borg4of3 said. One game isn't going to help them beat the rest. Microsoft has "HALO"....but that didn't beat anyone. That games coming to the PC..it's not an XBOX exclusive, it just went to XBOX first..

The populace doesn't want fun games...they tend to want blow-em up, beat-em up games. Which is sort of sad...but, eh.Cube has Metroid Prime coming out, as well as a couple wrestling games, AND Soul Calibur 2, Bloody Roar..etc. etc. etc.

And there is a new Mario game coming out. Right now it's entitled "Mario Sunshine"...it looks like another Mario adventure....which people may complain about, but, hey..I WANT a new mario adventure..

-BB

[pencilsharp]

Amen, BB.

What I want to know is why did the big fat N decide to roll without their top guns? I mean, it's cool to see Luigi FINALLY get his own game, but where is Mario? Where is Link?! Without them two, GameCube stinks!

Ugh. Bad poetry. Makes me sound like a 12-year-old fanboy. If I don't watch it, i'll start puttting in mispelings and thyping everythin in lower cas e. Must be the cold medication.

Me? I'm still waitin'. Once GC's price point goes down (in response to PS2's and XBox's) I'll probably nut up for one.

GC ain't worth no $199...

[Lucky Bob]

Gotta have my Mario! Let's just hope that it's something along the lines of Mario 64. No more Paper, Party, Golf, or Tennis stuff. Please!

[Naraht]

Man, I just a want a fully interactive pokemon game for the Cube/GBA setup..you can play the GBA Cart, but plugging it into the Cube w/Disk you get a brand new world, with betterer graphics & functionality.

>=p

Pokemon may be a simplistic TV Show, but the game is anything but...

[Lucky Bob]

Okay, now THAT avatar is scary...

[Squall]

Well, based on the first Gamecube versions of Nintendo's franchises, one has to wonder what they're thinking.

Everyone's heard of the expression, "If it ain't broke, don't fix it," right?

Well, Nintendo may be trying to 'fix' franchises that aren't broke. A few examples:

Metroid should be a 2-D sidescroller with HUGE mazes and a creepy, sci-fi atmosphere. Whose bright idea was it to make Metroid a first-person shooter?!? (P.S. -- I never forgave Nintendo for not making a Metroid game for the Nintendo 64. It was one of the many reasons why the Nintendo 64 was a huge failure.)

The Legend of Zelda on the Gamecube looks horrible. That 70's cartoon look isn't what the fans should be getting -- Zelda should get more realistic with every new generation, not less! The Nintendo 64 Zelda games looked better! Like Borg4of3 said, "artsy-weird."

Star Fox has the potential to be the BEST melee space battle shooter franchise of all-time. By the way, that's the whole premise of Star Fox: melee space battle shooter. So can someone explain to me whose bright idea it was to make the first so-called Star Fox Gamecube game a game that doesn't even involve melee space battles?!? It's a Zelda-type game on a planet of dinosaurs!

Super Mario Bros. 1, 2, 3, Super Mario World, and Super Mario 64 are the greatest Mario games ever. And there hasn't been a great Mario game since Super Mario 64 on the Nintendo 64. And no, Paper Mario and Luigi's Mansion don't count.

As far as RPGs go... Squaresoft signed the Nintendo 64's death warrant when it changed alliances and joined with Sony. Super Mario RPG on the Super NES was the last good RPG on any Nintendo system. (The Legend of Zelda and Metroid are adventure games, not RPGs.)

And why would the Gamecube NOT play DVDs, even though it has a standard DVD player inside the console?!?

Personally, I think that all three active consoles -- the PS2, the XBox, and Gamecube -- will do well, be successful, and last for many years, but unless Nintendo stops trying to make demands on consumers, and instead respond to consumer demand, they're going to remain a distant 3rd place behind the PS2 and the XBox.

A final note: The PS2 has a HUGE head start on not just the Gamecube, but the XBox too.

[Naraht]

Last I heard, the GC's DVD was a proprietary system, which uses diffrent encoding/decoding than a standard DVD....

It was designed to be faster loading, mainly due to the fact that Nintendo's higher ups dislike the slow load time on Disk Based Systems (and neither do I!)

[Borg4of3]

I completely agree Squall!

Not only are they making these wierd niche games, but, when they DO do something with their star franchises, its the type of stuff that makes even a Nintendo fan puke. I mean... Mario Sunshine? Zelda turned into a Looney Toons-wannabe? This is blasphemy of high order.

Sure, they're still all under Miyamoto's supervision and that man could make a game with Mario with a bucket on his head and make it fun. But the thing is - we don't WANT Mario with a bucket on his head, or Zelda becoming a cartoon (well, maybe on TV, but not on the games!)!

And yes, there are defenses to this wierd behavior. Nintendo is being innovative and stuff. And yes, difference is great and Nintendo is the master of innovation. But there's a point where 'difference' crosses that line and becomes 'a stupid idea'. How can they not see that!

Oh, but one thing I think they're doing alright is Metroid Prime. Exploration is still going to be the primary factor in this game, and it seems to be retaining the alien atmosphere that characterized the previous incarnations. Its kinda ironic that the only update of their franchises that seems correct is being made by a 2nd party company. Oh, and speaking of 2nd parties, Rare is including space melees inside Star Fox Adventures ! It won't be the focus, unfortunately, but at least it'll be there!

And naraht is right. That propriety disk format is awesome! It helps them out financially by lessening pirating, and it keeps load times WAY down! REClassic would turn out slow and horrible without this smaller, safer medium. Couple that with the fact that if they did include a useless (IMO) DVD player, it would be a ton more expensive

[The Dark Knight]

You want to know what the problem is?

Originally posted by Borg4of3
they're still all under Miyamoto's supervision

That's the problem.
Sure, they're all under his supervision, but is he directly involved in any of them? Nope. He chooses to work on games like Pikmin. Why? I have no idea.

By the way, if you want a Gamecube that can play DVDs then take a look at this baby. Don't expect to see it in the U.S., but I don't see the point since it costs about the same as a Gamecube and a DVD player.

[cjshoup]

Okay maybe one game won't win the battle, but it will give Nintendo a credible game compared to Sony (who has many) and Microsoft (who wants to have many)

I mean, some of the latest mario games lately have been lame.

Sega kept Sonic doing what he does best (Sonic Adventures)

Why can't they make a Mario game with him doing his thing (Let's hope Mario Sunshine does it.)

Oh, and i wouldn't mind seeing a Teen rated Zelda game.

I remember people saying that Zelda games were better than Final Fantasys (The NES and the SNES games were, but not the 64's! They couldn't hold a candle to Final Fantasy FF 7 or 8)

[The Mad Hatter]

Going to Squall's comments: I'm not going to get into the Zelda thing again (we don't even know how it plays), but I should point out that Star Fox Adventures WILL have melee space battles, and plenty of 'em.

Personally, I think Nintendo needs to reach out to more third parties. Yes, they're the best first-party developer bar none (even their adversaries admit that), but the reason people gripe about the latest Nintendo systems is that there aren't enough games out there. Never mind that much of the games made today are crap, people like to have variety. If the Gamecube could even get half the gameflow of the PS2, then we might start to see some dominance.

Still, the Resident Evil franchise exclusive and Square's return may help a lot as well...

[ButteredToast]

I'm not even going to get into this argument. I like those "artsy-fartsy" games... Pikmin was great, and I'm not touching the whole Zelda/Mario thing until I can actually PLAY them.

As for the way games are these days, all I will say is this: I live in reality. Why would I want to play games that mirror reality?

[Borg4of3]

The thing about Cel-da: Tru, we haven't played it - but the general consensus already is we don't want it. We didn't want it. We didn't ask for it. We're angry that they show us a preview of Ganondorf vs. Link in pure realtime GameCube capability - and then they show us Moblins waving their arms and falling ala Wile Coyote.

I'm all for so-called 'kiddy' games. They aren't held back by the laws of physics as we know them and you can do just about anything within. It makes for a great escapist, gaming experience. I mean, Mario's world is one where a plumber can throw 2-ton turtles a mile and a half away. But Zelda is a completely different franchise than Mario. Zelda's essence is in LOTR-type fantasy, more epic, more mature, and more magical in its own sense. Yes, Z3 had cartoony graphics, but the storyline was pure epic, and everything, while fun, felt very serious. This game will probably be a fun experience, but its not going to be a Zelda experience.

Well, thats my opinion anyway. But, I reiterate again, it most likely will be a great game in its own right, and I won't bash it on that individual basis once its out.

[Zoddman]

Originally posted by ButteredToast
I'm not even going to get into this argument. I like those "artsy-fartsy" games... Pikmin was great, and I'm not touching the whole Zelda/Mario thing until I can actually PLAY them.

As for the way games are these days, all I will say is this: I live in reality. Why would I want to play games that mirror reality?

Amen, brother...Amen.

[The Dark Knight]

Originally posted by ButteredToast
As for the way games are these days, all I will say is this: I live in reality. Why would I want to play games that mirror reality?

I don't know what your life is like, but I've never infiltrated a terrorist organization to disarm a walking battle tank equipped with nuclear weapons. Games that are realistic don't necessarily mirror reality, but they do allow one to live out more realistic fantasies.

[Squall]

"...but I should point out that Star Fox Adventures WILL have melee space battles, and plenty of 'em."

That's a relief! If that's true, then I stand corrected. I guess they're going for more of a "Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire"-type feel with the first Gamecube Star Fox game.

And what's up with the next 'Mario' game being called Mario Sunshine??? Why not call it Super Mario Gamecube, or Super Mario Cube?

"Personally, I think Nintendo needs to reach out to more third parties. Yes, they're the best first-party developer bar none (even their adversaries admit that), but the reason people gripe about the latest Nintendo systems is that there aren't enough games out there."

It's true that Nintendo is the best first party software company in the video game business -- and that fact is basically the only reason that the Nintendo 64 even stayed alive as long as it did -- but it's not enough. Sony proved that in the late 1990's, when they virtually took over the video game market.

And Nintendo, even now with its Gamecube, has trouble attracting third party software companies for a reason: censorship. Ever since the days of the original Mortal Kombat on the Super NES, Nintendo has been harassing third party companies at every attempt they make to put game(s) on a Nintendo console. Nintendo wants it done *their way*. Sony, on the other hand, took a hands-off approach -- they gave third party software companies free reign to make their video games as they wished -- and as you'd expect, third party software companies flocked to Sony, and stayed away from Nintendo. Until Nintendo addresses this issue, nothing will change here.

[Borg4of3]

Actually, I think Nintendo finally learned their lesson about censorship. On the 64, they let Rare get away with the obscene and overtly disgusting Conker's Bad Fur Day, and on the GameCube, we're getting the Resident Evil franchise of all things, among other M-rated games. Maybe their recent lenience is another reason Square and other 3rd parties are coming back.

One thing I'd like to see Nintendo do is take more advantage of the GBA connectivity. Not only is the GBA an extremely popular system, but I'm certain there's a ton of things they could do with it. That, and on-line capabilities. Also, the GameCube is supposed to be able to do what the 64DD was supposed to, so I want to see the now defunct Earthbound 64 transferred- along with the ever-changing environment and the purely unlinear storyline too, along with an F-Zero track editor and the Mario Artist franchise.

[The Mad Hatter]

...not to mention Eternal Darkness, a second-party game that will show your character(s) going insane, often in very bloody ways. So Nintendo is relaxing... but it's going to take a few years before the whole "kiddy" image goes away.

I'll just say this... the people who think Nintendo's games are made just for kids are the same people who think that animation is just for kids.