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"Nintendo's Short and Sweet Policy?"

I bet most of you have heard by now.
Nintendo apparently have a new policy of making all their games short and easy for casual gamers and kids.
I hate the policy although some others seem to like it.

I don't mind the odd shorty like Pikmin or Luigi's Mansion but I'd hate it if Mario or Zelda went the same way.

If they do follow this policy, it'll be their undoing.

In the past (N64 past, that is), Nintendo have given us games which were either large and epic (say, Zelda or Mario) or based around multiplayer (Mario Kart and Smash Brothers, for example).

It was the perfect combination and you can see why Goldeneye was so highly appraised when it had both.

These games always lasted a long time, either through adventure, or because you'd play your friends, time and time again.

Now go to a magazine/website and look at the reviews.

Notice how games like Monkey Ball and Smash Brothers are being raved over and getting huge scores, while other titles were getting a "nice but not impressive" 7 out of 10.

That's 70%.

It's not a coincidence that Smash Brothers and Monkey Ball are both multiplayer based master pieces and so we have a pattern, the multiplayer games getting the higher scores.

"So these mags are biased towards multiplayer!"
I hear you say.

But no.
You're wrong.

These are the same magazines that say Mario 64 and Zelda 64 are better than Goldeneye. And seeing as Goldeneye's single player mode was almost as good as theirs, and that it sported a ground braking multiplayer with it, I'd say that they're more biased towards single player adventures than multiplayer games.

So why is it that it's now the multiplayer games that are getting the big scores.

Putting it simply, Nintendo's other titles are frankly underwhelming.

Sure, they're neat little games that you'll enjoy while they last but they're not exactly the almighty PS2 blasters everyone wanted.

They're short and shallow.
They're designed to be rented for a weekend, not bought for a month's play.

After waiting so long for a PS2 beating Nintendo machine, they give us short mini games which have neat ideas and are very cleverly done, but at the end of the day, they're not really that impressive and people prefer the longer lasting adventures on the PS2.

Perhaps I'm wrong.
Perhaps Luigi's Mansion and PIkmin were just done quickly in time for the launch.
Maybe Nintendo have got something big planned in the way of Zelda and Mario.

But if Mario and Zelda do turn out to be cheap 15 hour mini games then a lot people will be disappointed. I will still love my Gamecube for multiplayer, and get a fair bit of decent solo player games from Rare and other second/third party devellopers, but Nintendo will lose their reputation for having depth in their games and lose much of what made them so special and gave them such a strong hardcore croud.

Let's hope that it doesn't turn out like that.

Nope, there's a Cooky AND a Cookie Monster.

Both 2 completely different people.

Cooky...

Is that you inside there, or am I gravely mistaken?

If it is you why the name change? You been watching too much of the muppets again? ;-)

I have to admit i was very dissapointed when i read the news, i hate the idea of shelling out my notes on games that will only last a few days instead of a few months. But what can you do to stop them?

I think they MUST be bigger games than before, especially with the new Zelda. We've been led to believe the earlier shots, and know find out it's gunna look all cartoony, kiddy and completely differnent!! Nintendo owe it to us know to make a newer, huger adventure. And being so great with game designs and the lot, I don't think they'd neglect all that extra space and the GameCube's discs!! They can do so much more now that they're finally using little discs, instead of big, expensive cartridges.

but Strafex, my point is that it was Nintendo who hyped the amount of space a GC disc could hold, and why bother if they weren't planning to use it? Maybe not with the early titles, but I'm sure that Zelda and Mario will be large games, but still accessible to casual gamers.

(that's what I am hoping for anyway)

Sibs wrote:

Just a point, Nintendo did say something like on one GC disc you
> could fit X number (I can't remember the quoted figure) of Mario 64s or
> Zelda:OOTs. And it was quite a lot. Now I can't imagine Ninty hyping the amount
> of space on a GC disc if they didn't plan to use it...

Zelda 64 is 32Mb.
And Optical Disk is 1536Mb

Although most of this extra space will be used by CD quality music and the like, there's more than enough space for the grand adventure.

But at the end of the day, are they going to bother with all that?

It's not that they can't fit a big adventure onto a Disk, it's just that they want to make it short and easy for casual gamers and so that they don't have to spend so long making it.

If they want to release more mini games rather than a few proper sized ones then that would be fair enough, only they're charging 50 pound a time for mini games?

I for one, won't be buying.
Pikmin and Luigi will come through GAD or rent only, or possibly second hand.

I'm probably gonna get Luigis Mansion and Pikmin, but not for £50. I'll get them (eventually) second hand when they are cheaper.

But I'll still get games new, but only bigger games, not mini-classics. I can't afford to buy every game I want, let alone fork out for lots of little games at full price!

if im going to fork out 50 quid for a game , then i want a big one ! so pimin looks ace and im gonna get it but 12 hours for 50 sobs , is too much ! if they make the games smaller then they should lower the price or something. so im with you aswell.

I don't reckon Ninty will let us down with Zelda, they simply can't afford to with all the controversey around it. Hopefully, it'll be even more epic than the N64 games.

Just a point, Nintendo did say something like on one GC disc you could fit X number (I can't remember the quoted figure) of Mario 64s or Zelda:OOTs. And it was quite a lot. Now I can't imagine Ninty hyping the amount of space on a GC disc if they didn't plan to use it...

i also agree although it probably make the game fun for little kidies it spoils it for the rest of us.