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Does anyone else out there sometimes tire of Nintendo's insistence on taking a perfectly fun and enjoyable game and then tarting it up in a pair of Mario's dungarees? We all know that this guarantees it commercial success amongst the NGC, N64 and GB market - but how much more successful in the console market (as a whole) could Nintendo be if they didn't continuously cultivate their kiddie image?
What they must remember is that their games are the flagships of the consoles they sell. If I buy a personal stereo I'm not going to purchase a Fisher-Price "My First Walkman" (no matter how good it sounds). But by their own actions they make their consoles appear technically inferior to Sony's and Microsoft's efforts. Devotees like myself know that there is a level of depth in your average Nintendo game that other developers can only dream of, but it is wasted if you go and make it look shallow and unsophisticated.
For your own sake, Nintendo, ditch Mario - you could be so much more !
What they must remember is that their games are the flagships of the consoles they sell. If I buy a personal stereo I'm not going to purchase a Fisher-Price "My First Walkman" (no matter how good it sounds). But by their own actions they make their consoles appear technically inferior to Sony's and Microsoft's efforts. Devotees like myself know that there is a level of depth in your average Nintendo game that other developers can only dream of, but it is wasted if you go and make it look shallow and unsophisticated.
For your own sake, Nintendo, ditch Mario - you could be so much more !
Nintendo don't need to. They leave that to second and third parties like Rare and Capcom.
I take your point, and to be honest I think this is the strategy which Nintendo appears to be taking - perhaps by luck rather than by design, though.
However, I would like to see Nintendo avoid creating more games based in the Mario universe. I personally loved all the Marios and Mario Karts (yeah, even the much-maligned 64 version). But it's important that Nintendo produce a number of games themselves that screams out for a share of the young adult audience. Not from second or third parties - that just won't do at all...
For those of us that are in to cars, let me put it like this:
Lotus, it could be argued, is a second party to Proton (those quaint little Malaysian cars), but no-one buys a Proton thinking that they're getting any of the street cred or sporting heritage that they would by shelling out for one of the little British sports cars...do they??? Nintendo, have to create their own teen-orientated titles to create the desired image.
However, I would like to see Nintendo avoid creating more games based in the Mario universe. I personally loved all the Marios and Mario Karts (yeah, even the much-maligned 64 version). But it's important that Nintendo produce a number of games themselves that screams out for a share of the young adult audience. Not from second or third parties - that just won't do at all...
For those of us that are in to cars, let me put it like this:
Lotus, it could be argued, is a second party to Proton (those quaint little Malaysian cars), but no-one buys a Proton thinking that they're getting any of the street cred or sporting heritage that they would by shelling out for one of the little British sports cars...do they??? Nintendo, have to create their own teen-orientated titles to create the desired image.
I don't think that there's any argument that nintendo are seen as a bit too child-orientated, but alienate all those current purchasers, hoping for enough other people to flock in to repalce them, but with no guarantee of success?
Surely it's far better to keep the kids on board, but to try to expand to adult gamers with games aimed at older players (Pd, G-eye, Turoks),games to challenge capable gamers (Zeldas, Body harvest) and reincarnations of retro characters the older gamers remember fondly (Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong), before these gamers realise the cartoony graphics CAN still suround a game they can enjoy.This should hopefully be quite effective, though may not be enough to convince everyone.
The next step would be to get games like resident evil and more perfect darks for the next console, along with more 3rd party games, and thus more 'adult' titles from those sources.
I think it'd work. Maybe i should pass this idea onto nintendo? : )
Surely it's far better to keep the kids on board, but to try to expand to adult gamers with games aimed at older players (Pd, G-eye, Turoks),games to challenge capable gamers (Zeldas, Body harvest) and reincarnations of retro characters the older gamers remember fondly (Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong), before these gamers realise the cartoony graphics CAN still suround a game they can enjoy.This should hopefully be quite effective, though may not be enough to convince everyone.
The next step would be to get games like resident evil and more perfect darks for the next console, along with more 3rd party games, and thus more 'adult' titles from those sources.
I think it'd work. Maybe i should pass this idea onto nintendo? : )
Does anyone else out there sometimes tire of Nintendo's insistence on taking a perfectly fun and enjoyable game and then tarting it up in a pair of Mario's dungarees? We all know that this guarantees it commercial success amongst the NGC, N64 and GB market - but how much more successful in the console market (as a whole) could Nintendo be if they didn't continuously cultivate their kiddie image?
What they must remember is that their games are the flagships of the consoles they sell. If I buy a personal stereo I'm not going to purchase a Fisher-Price "My First Walkman" (no matter how good it sounds). But by their own actions they make their consoles appear technically inferior to Sony's and Microsoft's efforts. Devotees like myself know that there is a level of depth in your average Nintendo game that other developers can only dream of, but it is wasted if you go and make it look shallow and unsophisticated.
For your own sake, Nintendo, ditch Mario - you could be so much more !
What they must remember is that their games are the flagships of the consoles they sell. If I buy a personal stereo I'm not going to purchase a Fisher-Price "My First Walkman" (no matter how good it sounds). But by their own actions they make their consoles appear technically inferior to Sony's and Microsoft's efforts. Devotees like myself know that there is a level of depth in your average Nintendo game that other developers can only dream of, but it is wasted if you go and make it look shallow and unsophisticated.
For your own sake, Nintendo, ditch Mario - you could be so much more !