Hey Malstrom, here’s something you might find funny (or sad, depending on how you look at it). You know the Zelda series, Nintendo’s “other” flagship series, behind Mario?
Well, according to this article at the Zelda Wiki:
The Legend of Zelda was commercially successful, selling 6.5 million copies worldwide and being the fourth best-selling Nintendo Entertainment System game of all time;[3] it’s also the second best-selling Zelda game to date, the best seller being Ocarina of Time, which sold 7.6 million copies.
Now, it shouldn’t be too surprising that LoZ and OoT are the two best-selling Zelda games. The “Nintendo is batshit insane” moment comes when you contrast the worldwide sales of these two old Zelda games with
New Super Mario Bros. Wii, with 21.94 million copies sold worldwide! So we should expect to see “New” Super Mario Bros. 2 and “New” Legend of Zelda at E3, right? ….not!
You’ve hit on a long-time frustration of mine.
A decade ago, when I was a non-gamer, I wondered why Nintendo no longer wanted to make the games I wanted to play. I had two answers:
1) It was assumed everything had to use ‘latest technology’ in order to sell. Hence, Mario had to be 3d Mario. It was assumed that games with ‘not latest technology’ would not sell. They thought 2d Mario would not sell in this day and age.
2) Nintendo did not know the demand still existed. Nintendo may be unaware that there were many people out there wanting more 2d Mario and other such games.
So when Nintendo talked about the Revolution and said (paraphrasing), “The time when horsepower alone made the important difference is over,” I got very excited. You do not need ‘cutting edge technology’ to make good games. I was tired of the ‘more graphics’ argument to gaming’s evolution. I never took Nintendo seriously until NSMB DS was shown at E3 2005. FINALLY. A new Super Mario Land game!
And with the massive sales of NSMB DS, I was certain Nintendo would make a home console version. Certainly, it is worth the risk. I was very excited with seeing Super Mario Brothers 5 because it would end some myths. 2d games could still sell on the home console today. And that Nintendo would learn there is a huge market for these type of games.
With the 3DS, you’d think Nintendo would prioritize another NSMB game. Instead, we are getting 3d Mario. “Finally,” Iwata reported Miyamoto saying. “Now people can hit the block in 3d.” Eh? That is not why we didn’t buy 3d Mario. I can hit the block just fine.
Nintendo isn’t ‘crazy’. They are operating by different rules than we thought they were. I thought Nintendo wanted to make the bestselling games, games that would create phenomenons and sell their consoles. But this is not what Nintendo wants to do (as crazy as that sounds).
Nintendo has some other objective in mind than satisfying customers or creating sales. It appears the objective is for the developers to have fun. Instead of Miyamoto making the games we want him to make, he will make the games he wants to make. The end result of this is the Gamecube.
But with the Wii, Nintendo stopped and said, “It is time for us to stop making games we desire to make. We need to make games the market actually wants.” Awesome! That is how it should be! But Nintendo no longer says that. With the 3DS, you see Nintendo developers make Augmented Reality games. They aren’t exciting anyone. Doesn’t matter. They will make more. Super Mario Galaxy didn’t move the Wii hardware. Doesn’t matter. Here is Super Mario Galaxy 2.
And you 2d Mario fans? You have to wait 18 years for the next game.
I do not consider Nintendo a serious business anymore. They should rename the company to ‘Miyamoto’s Playhouse’ since that appears to be the mission statement of the company.
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