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publisher, nintendo

5 New Year’s Resolutions Nintendo Should Seriously Stick to

New year, new Nintendo.
This article is over 8 years old and may contain outdated information

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Super Mario Run

Nintendo has only just started to breach the mobile market, releasing two mobile titles in the last year, besides Pokemon GO which was developed by Niantic. It’s been a slow process, and clearly Nintendo has taken time and care with both Miitomo and Super Mario Run. Despite this, reception to Nintendo’s mobile titles has been a little lukewarm.

Miitomo shot up the charts at its release, and it was definitely an incredibly unique concept, but the game just didn’t have any staying power. The gimmick rubbed off a little too quick, and Miitomo quickly lost players. Mario Run on the other hand, rocketed to the very top of the app charts mere hours after its release. The $10 purchase to unlock the full game may not be enough of an incentive for players to drop money on, however, as they can just continuously play Toad Rally. There’s no doubt that Mario Run has made decent money, but a new report from The Wall Street Journal suggests that while the game has been downloaded 90 million times, only 3 million have made the purchase.

This isn’t necessarily a new thing for mobile games though, as other monumental titles have also had trouble getting users to make a purchase. Before being purchased by Activision, only 2% of monthly users for King Digital’s Candy Crush were paying customers. This means that in the future Nintendo is going to have to experiment with new pay models, gameplay styles, and more. It’s also important to note that we’ve been waiting for mobile iterations of Animal Crossing and Fire Emblem since they were announced last April. Both titles were originally intended to be out last fall, but eight months after their announcement we still don’t know any more about them than we did at the time.

Nintendo is definitely going to need to implement a more structured release schedule for their mobile titles, and keep a stream of updates and new content coming to them to keep players engaged. Their initial experiments with the platform were interesting, but they’ll have to up the ante from here.

Celebrate Each of the Big Series and Anniversaries

Kirby, Robobot, 3ds, summer

The big focus of 2017 is The Legend of Zelda series, which will be celebrating its 30th anniversary. Zelda’s influence on gaming is without question, but it’s important to remember that there’s a few other Nintendo series celebrating some major milestones. Key among those anniversaries is Kirby, celebrating its 25th this year. Metroid and Kid Icarus also just celebrated their 30th and 25th anniversaries respectively, with little to no fanfare.

There’s no question that Nintendo will and should give Zelda a big showing for its anniversary, just like they did with Mario. However, there’s far too many Nintendo series that we haven’t seen for quite a while, and the Switch is a perfect opportunity to bring some of them back. Fans have been clamoring for a new Metroid game featuring Samus ever since  the release of Metroid Other M in 2010. Kid Icarus has also been dormant since Kid Icarus Uprising in 2012.

Nintendo has so many series and characters brimming with personality that would all get attention with a new release. Hopefully, the company sees fit to divert some of their effort to their other mascots, and give Kirby and other anniversary gifts too.

Give the Switch a Stronger Launch Than the Wii U

biggest, mistakes, 2016, video game

Video game consoles are generally notorious for not having exceptional lineups of launch titles, and Nintendo is no exception. Particularly with the release of their last two systems, the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS, the selection has definitely left some fans wanting.

The Wii U had only two Nintendo games available at launch, Nintendo Land and New Super Mario Bros U., with most of the other titles being made up of ports from other systems. It’s more important than ever for the company to give consumers a reason to hop on board with their new system, and pave the way for a host of new developers. The landscape of the industry is certainly busy at the moment, with both Sony and Microsoft providing enticing exclusives for each of their systems.

While Nintendo has boasted some newfound third party support for the Switch, it truly is up to them to provide the essential experiences for the system. They need to give gamers something they can’t experience anywhere else. This means multiple Nintendo titles on day one of the Switch releases. We’ve heard rumors of ported titles from the Wii U like Smash Bros. and Mario Kart 8, featuring new content on the Switch. It’d be a huge step if Nintendo could provide these, as well as a new Mario game and maybe one other first party title at launch. The big question, of course, is whether The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild will make launch or not. Regardless, the new Zelda will need to be out at least close to launch.

It may be equally important, however, that Nintendo shows us a strong first party lineup throughout the year. After the disappointing failures of the Wii U it’s absolutely vital that we see how different the Switch is, why we should want it, and what kind of experiences we should be excited for.

Bring Third Party Support to the Switch

Skyrim

Of course it’s important for Nintendo to provide a strong and diverse first party lineup, but that’s in part to attract third party developers onto their console. A lack of third party titles really hurt the Wii U, and you could even start to see the effect on the original Wii and more recently on the 3DS.

While Nintendo’s titles are widely acclaimed and beloved by fans, they’re just not enough to keep people on a system or convince them to purchase a new one. Considering both the PS4 and Xbox One have been around for years and both built considerable libraries, the Switch definitely has some leg work to do. In the case of the Wii U, there weren’t enough titles early on to really show what you could accomplish with the system and its tablet controller. The Switch, obviously, doesn’t have quite the same gimmick, but it’s still important for Nintendo to lead the way.

During their initial Switch reveal we saw gameplay footage of an NBA game and surprisingly The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. A few days later we found out that Skyrim actually wasn’t confirmed to be on the system, surprising considering it was one of the highlights of Nintendo’s presentation. While bringing big name titles like Skyrim is great, Nintendo needs to make sure that there are brand new third party games coming to the Switch. Part of the problem with the early Wii U lineup was that most of the third party titles you found were things like Mass Effect 3 and Batman: Arkham City, experiences that had already been out on Xbox 360 and PS3 for quite some time.

Early signs for third party support look better at least than the Wii U, with over 30 developers and publishers already on board in some capacity. This list includes companies like Square Enix, EA, Activision, From Software, and much more. On top of that we already know that Dragon Quest XI and the new Sonic game will be heading to the console. Things are looking up for Nintendo’s third party support at the moment, and hopefully they can keep things moving.

Keep Systems and Items in Stock

h2x1_nintendoclassicminines_announcement

It’s no secret that Nintendo has had some serious stock issues in the past, from the amiibo fiasco to the more recent release of the NES Classic. Fans have had a rough time getting their hands on their favorite pieces of Nintendo merchandise, and the NES Classic especially is still at the forefront of people’s minds.

The system had a tough release with pre-orders selling out within mere minutes, and stock has been near impossible to find ever since. Nintendo promised a restock near the holidays, but if it happened, it really went without notice. There are still tons of customers that’d be willing to shell out that $60 that still can’t get their hands on the system. It’s a bit baffling that we haven’t gotten a substantial restock. This is especially worrisome as we’re just two months out from the launch of the Nintendo Switch.

There are definite worries about availability for the new system, and fans are completely justified in those worries. For the success of the Switch it’s critically important that Nintendo provides enough units for people to buy. This is an important launch for the company, something that they need to take completely seriously.

The original Wii also experienced stock shortages at launch, as demand for the system shot up. To date, the Nintendo Switch reveal video has been viewed over 22 million times on YouTube. Needless to say it’s a system that’s on peoples’s radars, and may be even more so when we find out more information. Based on past shortages, Nintendo needs to make sure to play their cards right.


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Author
Image of Hayes Madsen
Hayes Madsen
A connoisseur of all things RPG related, and always looking for the artistic expression in gaming. His love of Gundam is only matched by his love of Pizza. Playing Games Since: 1991 Favorite Genres: RPGs, JRPGs, Strategy,