-Nintendo needs to be dark and gritty
-Metroid Prime should have been dark and gritty
-Wind Waker should have been dark and gritty (he doesn't mention Twilight Princess)
-Wii is not a gaming console
-Nintendo needs to stop catering towards families (even though they've been for the family ever since the FamiCom)
- he does mention twilight princess actually, but argues it Came at a weird time because he felt it was the evolution of the series after ocarina but windwaker kind of jarred things first.
I watched thi video in its entirety last night and while I did hear them talking about dark and gritty stuff some, it seemed to me like they were really more upset about the presentation and reputation the company was developing than he actual content. (He even admits Windwaker was a "damn good game."
His frustration seems to be coming more from this trend of Nintendo presenting themselves as a company that focuses its image on franchises like Mario that they have almost tried too hard to make into a child's game. ( that is paraphrasing him, but a valid point).
Go back and play Mario 64. I distinctly remember times when I was scared of stuff in those levels like bowsers laugh or just that feelin of defeat when you died and that shadow of bowser ominously consumed the screen. Now when I die in a Mario game it just doesn't feel like the stakes are as high. Yeah, they have added more games for both children and casual people ( I'm looking at you Animal Crossing and Nintendogs), but please remember people that there was a Time when Nintendo actually made many of their great franchises at the same level of quality thy do today, some of which appealed to children just as much as older people because they were marketed and had little things like box art and level design that didn't scream child's game to the consumer.
To illustrate my point, look at Star Wars. A new hope and the entire original trilogy holds a special place in the hearts of many adult and CHILDREN of he time it was released, and even more modern times. No one in their right mind would ever say Star Wars A New Hope was a child's movie, yet children absolutely loved it and could relate to it as much as adults.
this is the magic Nintendo needs to reclaim. To keep in line with the metaphor many of you are using, they have shifted from being LucasArts to Disney. While this is good and means they technically have a more diverse amount of content on their system, What Nintendo is lacking is their dedication to keeping the old "LucasArts" stuff coming in the same way. When was the last time you were scared in a Nintendo game? no seriously, think about it. I want to see them legitimately scare the crap out of us again in a game like they did with some of the older stuff, and I dare them to do it in a full 3D Mario Game.
For those of you who are relatively new to gaming, you don't get it. If you are under 20 years old, or heck even 25 in some cases you may not get it. I'm 20. I freely admit that the only NES game I've ever beaten was the original Super Mario Bros. but that was actually the one on the GBC. I've played a Link to the Past and Donkey Kong Country and Super Mario World, and Yoshi's Island from the SNES (never beat any of them though, currently working on lttp). and I distinctly remember being envious of anyone I knew who had an N64 back in the day with DK64, or Super Mario 64, or Mariokart64. And I've been exposed to even more of those games since. And the difficulty was there, there was a little bit of grit in them, but they were still stylized in many colorful ways. heck most of these games were even really kid friendly.
For people like Rich and his friend, they grew up with a Nintendo that made games that were amazing, but didn't try to shove it down my throat that it was a little kid's game. It had the elements of Mario simply put on the package and that made the point in and of itself. While Nintendo still makes many of the same Mario games and Zelda games it always has, they really haven't been balanced by maintaining a fresh supply of darker (and yes, occasionally gritty) games to go with it ( though they do it with Zelda some )
Rich then goes on to say that the Nintendo didn't grow up with his generation. I both agree and disagree with this. Yes, growing up gives people a new perspective on games, heck I even start to get nostalgia for games like twilight princess now, but Nintendo doesn't keep trying to promote any of the more mature experiences that a more adult/ older teenage gamer would enjoy and I'm not talking Call of Duty or Gears of War, I'm talking about games like Metroid or fire Emblem that require the thought process of a more developed mind of an older person to truly appreciate. Where were games like these in the masses to sit next to Mario Party/strikers/2D/3D/paper/&Luigi/kart/tennis/hoops/... see where I'm going yet? In the older days Nintendos had tons of ips they used almost as much as Mario and Zelda and now Star Fo, Metroid, Kid Icarus, Earthbound, Fire Emblem, and so on don't get brought up very often and it frustrates older people because they see these games as the IPs Nintendo could be using to engage themes and mechanics in games that older people would enjoy in ways younger people just can't. It would help create a balance to Nintendo's image that they actually kind of need right now.
I'm not saying I agree with everything in this video, but try to read between the lines and try to understand where these two are coming from, because while the company they knew and loved has changed, it really shouldn't nearly abandon them in the way Nintendo has.
Edited by lucario23, 15 November 2013 - 02:14 PM.
