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Be it the Gameboy Colour's Pokemon, the N64's Goldeneye or the Playstation's Metal Gear Solid there is always a big seller on a system. A system-seller they are called. Oh sure there are many small versions of that, Zelda's, Mario's, Tomb-Raider's etc... all shift systems, but a game that makes the system, Megadrive’s Sonic, the SNES's Mario. These sell consoles all by themselves.
Microsoft's Halo and Playstation 2's GTA 3.
The problem with the Gamecube? We don't have one.
In a recent BBC article it read Nintendo need to move away from gimmicks (referring to the DS (don’t really agree but never mind) and the GBA-GC link up) and old franchises.
Nonsense.
Old franchises are vital for Nintendo's future. It is what the fanbase is here for. But Nintendo must create new franchises, and a new system seller.
And they came so close. Oh so close.
Believe it or not Pikmin and Metroid Prime, 2 original game series’, 2 wonderful little games that sold really well could have done a hell of a lot better.
Believe it or not, despite the adventure elements, Prime has all the makings of a classic (well it is) and when I say Classic I mean the Goldeneye for the Gamecube. A game that is so good that everybody around the world will buy a Gamecube for that game.
Just one problem. No multiplayer. As sad as it maybe even single player games such as GTA3 have a social element. And Metroid Prime would have spread like wildfire if every Gamecube owner played the multiplayer with his or her mates. "This game's actually rather good", word spreads, and the game stays at the top for months, Gamecube's are sold. But of course who wants to sit and watch someone else play a first person adventure game?
As much as the Metroid addicts feel there is no need for a multiplayer there really was. It had a superb single player, the best single player this generation of first person shooters has to offer. But no multiplayer? Criminal.
Now what about Pikmin? Well where's the freedom!?! Look at GTA 3, look at Mario, look at Pokemon, games like Pikmin need freedom, they NEED the ability to explore. Pikmin is such a fun, quirky and fantastic title. No matter of the age demographic the game is so fun. But for some unknown reason Nintendo strapped a time limit onto it.
Yes it added an extra gameplay mechanic but it destroyed Pikmin's potential. Who wants a game you finish in an hour and a half? It sold well because it was good, unlike Prime a multiplayer was not essential but a time-limit! Good God Nintendo what have you done!!!!!! Nintendo actually (heaven forbid) advertised the Pikmin game rather well and the average Joe knew about it, Pikmin's advertisement campaign in Japan was MASSIVE. But Pikmin had one element, like Metroid Prime, that meant it never had the hook.
The Metroid Prime and Pikmin series of games are now part of the Nintendo legacy, but they could have done so much more. These are 2 brand new series’ that could have shifted Gamecube's in their millions, not in there hundreds.
So what now? Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Pikmin 2 rectify what they did wrong. Metroid Prime not only has a far more advanced single player mode but also a comprehensive multiplayer mode (several new features for Samus were originally made for this mode alone before being implemented into the single player, proving Retro's dedication to it). Using the grapple hook, the morph boost, the bombs, the various weaponry to escape your foe is a brilliant nice twist on the multiplayer mechanic using the unique Prime gameplay. Metroid Prime 2 is a worthwhile upgrade.
Pikmin also adds a multiplayer mode, which is wonderful, a far larger gaming experience, more Pikmin, more characters, better graphics AND NO TIME LIMIT. *Cheers*. Two of the Gamecube's most innovative games have finally been perfected in the sequel, it is difficult to think how these games can move into a third, it'll have to be the next console as these games cannot expand on this current platform any further.
But is it too late? Surly it is one original game that sells a system, not a sequel, oh well we didn't do it first time around lets have a go this time. No this does not happen.
Well it does.
GTA was a successful game like Pikmin and Metroid Prime BUT it wasn't until the third title in the series that the game blew up into one of the industries biggest asset. Resident Evil was a popular title that sold well, Resident Evil 2 was a popular title that sold phenomenally.
Mario Bros. 3, the third in the series, remains the biggest selling game in the Mario series.
As 2D Zelda's go none of them did as well as the SNES and fourth title 'A Link To the Past'.
Yes this year we will not get the wonderful looking Resident Evil 4 and The Legend of Zelda. Instead we will get the sequels to the born and bread Gamecube franchises, Pikmin and Metroid Prime. Gamecube’s children so to speak.
Can these games save the Gamecube?
Microsoft's Halo and Playstation 2's GTA 3.
The problem with the Gamecube? We don't have one.
In a recent BBC article it read Nintendo need to move away from gimmicks (referring to the DS (don’t really agree but never mind) and the GBA-GC link up) and old franchises.
Nonsense.
Old franchises are vital for Nintendo's future. It is what the fanbase is here for. But Nintendo must create new franchises, and a new system seller.
And they came so close. Oh so close.
Believe it or not Pikmin and Metroid Prime, 2 original game series’, 2 wonderful little games that sold really well could have done a hell of a lot better.
Believe it or not, despite the adventure elements, Prime has all the makings of a classic (well it is) and when I say Classic I mean the Goldeneye for the Gamecube. A game that is so good that everybody around the world will buy a Gamecube for that game.
Just one problem. No multiplayer. As sad as it maybe even single player games such as GTA3 have a social element. And Metroid Prime would have spread like wildfire if every Gamecube owner played the multiplayer with his or her mates. "This game's actually rather good", word spreads, and the game stays at the top for months, Gamecube's are sold. But of course who wants to sit and watch someone else play a first person adventure game?
As much as the Metroid addicts feel there is no need for a multiplayer there really was. It had a superb single player, the best single player this generation of first person shooters has to offer. But no multiplayer? Criminal.
Now what about Pikmin? Well where's the freedom!?! Look at GTA 3, look at Mario, look at Pokemon, games like Pikmin need freedom, they NEED the ability to explore. Pikmin is such a fun, quirky and fantastic title. No matter of the age demographic the game is so fun. But for some unknown reason Nintendo strapped a time limit onto it.
Yes it added an extra gameplay mechanic but it destroyed Pikmin's potential. Who wants a game you finish in an hour and a half? It sold well because it was good, unlike Prime a multiplayer was not essential but a time-limit! Good God Nintendo what have you done!!!!!! Nintendo actually (heaven forbid) advertised the Pikmin game rather well and the average Joe knew about it, Pikmin's advertisement campaign in Japan was MASSIVE. But Pikmin had one element, like Metroid Prime, that meant it never had the hook.
The Metroid Prime and Pikmin series of games are now part of the Nintendo legacy, but they could have done so much more. These are 2 brand new series’ that could have shifted Gamecube's in their millions, not in there hundreds.
So what now? Metroid Prime 2: Echoes and Pikmin 2 rectify what they did wrong. Metroid Prime not only has a far more advanced single player mode but also a comprehensive multiplayer mode (several new features for Samus were originally made for this mode alone before being implemented into the single player, proving Retro's dedication to it). Using the grapple hook, the morph boost, the bombs, the various weaponry to escape your foe is a brilliant nice twist on the multiplayer mechanic using the unique Prime gameplay. Metroid Prime 2 is a worthwhile upgrade.
Pikmin also adds a multiplayer mode, which is wonderful, a far larger gaming experience, more Pikmin, more characters, better graphics AND NO TIME LIMIT. *Cheers*. Two of the Gamecube's most innovative games have finally been perfected in the sequel, it is difficult to think how these games can move into a third, it'll have to be the next console as these games cannot expand on this current platform any further.
But is it too late? Surly it is one original game that sells a system, not a sequel, oh well we didn't do it first time around lets have a go this time. No this does not happen.
Well it does.
GTA was a successful game like Pikmin and Metroid Prime BUT it wasn't until the third title in the series that the game blew up into one of the industries biggest asset. Resident Evil was a popular title that sold well, Resident Evil 2 was a popular title that sold phenomenally.
Mario Bros. 3, the third in the series, remains the biggest selling game in the Mario series.
As 2D Zelda's go none of them did as well as the SNES and fourth title 'A Link To the Past'.
Yes this year we will not get the wonderful looking Resident Evil 4 and The Legend of Zelda. Instead we will get the sequels to the born and bread Gamecube franchises, Pikmin and Metroid Prime. Gamecube’s children so to speak.
Can these games save the Gamecube?
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Call me nostalgic but if Perfect Dark had been optimised for Xbox hardware then it would STILL be the best game around.
Conker's on a similar plane.
As to Goldeneye, nothing will ever be as great as Goldeneye WAS, but it is out-dated now, and I think half the enjoyment I get out of it is remembering how it WAS when I first got it.
The Gamecube?
I don't think it will get a big hitter from Nintendo now, especially if the N5 is planned. All that'll come now is more treats for the faithful hardcore.
I don't think an N5 is needed, and still a bit sceptical that Nintendo are making it in response to MS and Sony's new offerings but they might have a genuinely new slant on this whole gaming malarky.
Wireless connection to the DS wouldn't hurt either.
Talking of DS, analogue stick and wireless Perfect Dark is all that's needed and the PSP will have a ROUGH time ahead.
Conker's on a similar plane.
As to Goldeneye, nothing will ever be as great as Goldeneye WAS, but it is out-dated now, and I think half the enjoyment I get out of it is remembering how it WAS when I first got it.
The Gamecube?
I don't think it will get a big hitter from Nintendo now, especially if the N5 is planned. All that'll come now is more treats for the faithful hardcore.
I don't think an N5 is needed, and still a bit sceptical that Nintendo are making it in response to MS and Sony's new offerings but they might have a genuinely new slant on this whole gaming malarky.
Wireless connection to the DS wouldn't hurt either.
Talking of DS, analogue stick and wireless Perfect Dark is all that's needed and the PSP will have a ROUGH time ahead.
Holy bloody feck. WS?
Whitestripes DX wrote:
> Still beats Halo, in terms of scenary and layout you were
> backtracking when you were going forwards
Didn't think much of either Halo or Metroid. Both quite good, but very overrated and dull after a while.
> Still beats Halo, in terms of scenary and layout you were
> backtracking when you were going forwards
Didn't think much of either Halo or Metroid. Both quite good, but very overrated and dull after a while.
Dringo wrote:
Pikmin had
> the hook but it was lost because of the time limit.
>
> Which, Edgy, was a cheap way of making the game harder... the time
> management idea could remain simply by the daily time limit.
Agreed, but a game needs limits in order to give it a proper Game Over.
Pikmin had
> the hook but it was lost because of the time limit.
>
> Which, Edgy, was a cheap way of making the game harder... the time
> management idea could remain simply by the daily time limit.
Agreed, but a game needs limits in order to give it a proper Game Over.
Arg! WS!
Anyway, your point about sequels being system sellers isn't really applicable to Metroid 2 and Pikmin 2, because none of the games you mention, except Mario 3, had their predecessors on the same console. The difference with Mario Bros 3 was that in Europe and the US, it was really Mario 2, and it sold mostly by virtue of it being the sequel to one of the most loved games of the generation (Much like Vice City sold off the back of GTA3's success).
It was a wonderful game in its own right, but neither Pikmin or Metroid Prime were anywhere near big enough to sell sequels purely off their own popularity, like GTA3 and Mario did.
If you take the idea that sequels on the same console can become system sellers, then there isn't really any hard evidence to back it up, I don't think.
I think the reason that this is true is because when there is a new game on a new console that everyone raves about, people will go out and try it. However, if the game is a sequel on the same console, people who weren't impressed with the first game won't usually give the sequel a chance. People who didn't like GTA3 didn't go out and buy Vice City because everyone said it was great, and people who didn't like, or weren't impressed with, Metroid or Pikmin won't go out and play their sequels, as they would if the sequels were not sequels (If Echoes was Metroid Prime, for instance, or Pikmin 2 was Pikmin 1). If too many people have a closed mind about the first game, then it won't become a system seller. If the game had almost unanimous popularity though (Mario Bros), then it's sequel will obviously become a system seller.
Anyway, your point about sequels being system sellers isn't really applicable to Metroid 2 and Pikmin 2, because none of the games you mention, except Mario 3, had their predecessors on the same console. The difference with Mario Bros 3 was that in Europe and the US, it was really Mario 2, and it sold mostly by virtue of it being the sequel to one of the most loved games of the generation (Much like Vice City sold off the back of GTA3's success).
It was a wonderful game in its own right, but neither Pikmin or Metroid Prime were anywhere near big enough to sell sequels purely off their own popularity, like GTA3 and Mario did.
If you take the idea that sequels on the same console can become system sellers, then there isn't really any hard evidence to back it up, I don't think.
I think the reason that this is true is because when there is a new game on a new console that everyone raves about, people will go out and try it. However, if the game is a sequel on the same console, people who weren't impressed with the first game won't usually give the sequel a chance. People who didn't like GTA3 didn't go out and buy Vice City because everyone said it was great, and people who didn't like, or weren't impressed with, Metroid or Pikmin won't go out and play their sequels, as they would if the sequels were not sequels (If Echoes was Metroid Prime, for instance, or Pikmin 2 was Pikmin 1). If too many people have a closed mind about the first game, then it won't become a system seller. If the game had almost unanimous popularity though (Mario Bros), then it's sequel will obviously become a system seller.
Whitestripes DX wrote:
> Still beats Halo, in terms of scenary and layout you were
> backtracking when you were going forwards
Now that's just superb.
> Still beats Halo, in terms of scenary and layout you were
> backtracking when you were going forwards
Now that's just superb.
> Tiltawhirl wrote:
and the endless
> backtracking tiresome.
Still beats Halo, in terms of scenary and layout you were backtracking when you were going forwards
and the endless
> backtracking tiresome.
Still beats Halo, in terms of scenary and layout you were backtracking when you were going forwards
Tiltawhirl wrote:
> Prime never had the capacity to be another Goldeneye.
>
> It's wasn't because of lack of multiplayer, it's a very niche game. A
> lot of people find the combat uninspiring and the endless
> backtracking tiresome.
Popycock, it's a niche title as not enough people tried it (it did hit the top of the charts though)
Endless backtracking? You are all really overrexagerrating this... the fact is even trapsing back through the rooms enables you to uncover new areas and it's not as if the rooms were bare.
It's all apart of an adventure title, I've complained about the game in the past but the backtracking never annoyed me. GTA 3, MGS etc... etc... all feature problems but like Metroid Prime the good parts of them are VERY VERY good. The game just needed that hook, Pikmin had the hook but it was lost because of the time limit.
Which, Edgy, was a cheap way of making the game harder... the time management idea could remain simply by the daily time limit.
> Prime never had the capacity to be another Goldeneye.
>
> It's wasn't because of lack of multiplayer, it's a very niche game. A
> lot of people find the combat uninspiring and the endless
> backtracking tiresome.
Popycock, it's a niche title as not enough people tried it (it did hit the top of the charts though)
Endless backtracking? You are all really overrexagerrating this... the fact is even trapsing back through the rooms enables you to uncover new areas and it's not as if the rooms were bare.
It's all apart of an adventure title, I've complained about the game in the past but the backtracking never annoyed me. GTA 3, MGS etc... etc... all feature problems but like Metroid Prime the good parts of them are VERY VERY good. The game just needed that hook, Pikmin had the hook but it was lost because of the time limit.
Which, Edgy, was a cheap way of making the game harder... the time management idea could remain simply by the daily time limit.
Metroid in 3D has the potential.
It could've been the game that Tomb Raider SHOULD have been.
Give an "cool" character Mario's playability and you've introduced the adult/casual market to Nintendo's world of fun.
Metroid Prime had nearly all the other elements of Metroid, which gave it depth and all the other things that made it a hardcore's dream, but without the flashy moves and instant playability it would never appeal to the mass market.
Pikmin?
Every casual I knew who saw it laughed at it.
Every casual I let play through just the first day got hooked on it.
I guess there wasn't quite enough to hold them there, but it sort of had potential.
Not bad tries from Nintendo, but not quite "it" either.
But don't give up.
It could've been the game that Tomb Raider SHOULD have been.
Give an "cool" character Mario's playability and you've introduced the adult/casual market to Nintendo's world of fun.
Metroid Prime had nearly all the other elements of Metroid, which gave it depth and all the other things that made it a hardcore's dream, but without the flashy moves and instant playability it would never appeal to the mass market.
Pikmin?
Every casual I knew who saw it laughed at it.
Every casual I let play through just the first day got hooked on it.
I guess there wasn't quite enough to hold them there, but it sort of had potential.
Not bad tries from Nintendo, but not quite "it" either.
But don't give up.
Darwock wrote:
> What's the big fuss about Metroid Prime, I don't get it. I can't be
> bothered going back to it at 50% completion... you just walk around
> and shoot things over and over and over... the discovery element is
> spoiled by the fact you have to traipse back and forth through the
> same old rooms constantly and the combat element is not very exciting
> (bar some of the boss battles)
-Story is interesting
-Explorations is cool. I like findng stuff, and matching a tool to the job which you have to do many times in Prime. The sense of satisfaction is quite great.
-The retracing of steps can be tiresome - but planning the route on the map can save time and effort. There is some strategy here- since most enemies yield power ups you need for the newer (and inevitably) harder sections.
-It's just so beautifully realised, everything fits so well.
Weird but true - you just feel it's a great game and end up proving yourself right. I understand it not everyones cup of tea - but thats why the world is interesting and I am typing this.
> What's the big fuss about Metroid Prime, I don't get it. I can't be
> bothered going back to it at 50% completion... you just walk around
> and shoot things over and over and over... the discovery element is
> spoiled by the fact you have to traipse back and forth through the
> same old rooms constantly and the combat element is not very exciting
> (bar some of the boss battles)
-Story is interesting
-Explorations is cool. I like findng stuff, and matching a tool to the job which you have to do many times in Prime. The sense of satisfaction is quite great.
-The retracing of steps can be tiresome - but planning the route on the map can save time and effort. There is some strategy here- since most enemies yield power ups you need for the newer (and inevitably) harder sections.
-It's just so beautifully realised, everything fits so well.
Weird but true - you just feel it's a great game and end up proving yourself right. I understand it not everyones cup of tea - but thats why the world is interesting and I am typing this.
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