Email: Miyamoto ‘out of touch’ on F-Zero

http://www.gonintendo.com/?mode=viewstory&id=189581

– thought people had gotten tired of the series
– feels it hasn’t evolved all that much
– wants people to enjoy the F-Zero attraction in Nintendo Land
– Wants to know why people want a new F-Zero
– also wants to know what do people want that Nintendo hasn’t done before

My guess is he’s so ingrained into Nintendo’s “integrated hardware & software” philosophy that he just doesn’t comprehend the interest and enjoyment of a raw, simplistic, arcade racing series like F-Zero, which could explain why Sega-AV made GX rather than EAD.

But no one buys F-Zero. F-Zero doesn’t sell. Why waste time and resources making something that doesn’t sell? It would be as bad as making another Pikmin game.

What Nintendo ought to do is to sell or republish existing F-Zero games and see how the market reacts to them. If no one cares, then don’t bother with a new F-Zero. You can tell people still liked Mario with the re-selling of the 2d Mario games on the handhelds or even the SNES All-Stars version. You can tell people still like Ocarina of Time with sales of the 3DS version or how people reacted to the Gamecube Zelda collection.

I think a good way to test out the viability of a franchise is to resell the older games. The Virtual Console is a good indicator of this dormant market hunger. But alas, there is no Virtual Console for the Wii U. Poor gamers!

What I’d prefer is a better racing experience from Mario Kart. I haven’t played the 3DS version but the Mario Kart Wii racing was awful with how large the tracks were and how many people were on it. I’d prefer a more skills based Mario Kart without the blue shells and to be more like Super Mario Kart where good driving laps the AI. Mostly, I’d like non rubber-band AI.

Instead of another F-Zero game, how about a Mach Rider revival?

Imagine Nintendo’s take on Road Rash on steroids and you’ve got something like a modern Mach Rider. I think a Mach Rider revival would sell better than another F-Zero. I remember Road Rash being extremely popular, and Nintendo has the perfect dormant IP to scratch that same market itch.