nintendofreak247

I've been observing Nintendo's techniques when it comes to marketing the Nintendo 3DS and Wii U lately, and in the wake of Nintendo's failure to meet expected Wii U sales, ideas have been dawning upon me as to how Nintendo can revamp their marketing strategies and hopefully make the Wii U a success.

Recently, Nintendo's Wii U marketing has been a tad casual. It focuses on families (mainly with younger children). In practice, there isn't necessarily anything wrong with this. However, Nintendo has been failing to tap into the hearts of the veteran gamer. The gamer that's been playing their consoles since back in the 80's and 90's. Most gamers have a warm spot in their hearts for Nintendo, since they've been a part of our lives for so long.

What I'm proposing here is that Nintendo has a hidden ace-in-the-hole that they haven't decided to tap into for some reason: the nostalgia factor. The inducing of warm, fuzzy feelings in one's heart from remembering good times in the past. Good times playing Super Mario Bros. 3 on NES or Ocarina of Time on N64. These are cherished memories for many people.

Allow me to cite this video as an example of the nostalgia factor executed masterfully:

Not only does this fan-made commercial remind you of past games (and past memories), it shows you Super Mario Galaxy, and you feel like you're being reintroduced to an old friend after several years. And you want to get to know them all over again. Because that's what the nostalgia factor does. It tugs at your heartstrings and makes you yearn for what once made you happy.

Now then, onto how the nostalgia factor can potentially aid Nintendo in this dismal time. The Wii U is a fantastic console. It's set up to have some fantastic games throughout the course of the year. The only problem is that consumers, for some reason, seem to see the Wii U as something that's detached from it's older console brothers. The key in luring the gamer demographic for the Wii U is reintroducing them to the Wii U with a heavy dose of the nostalgia factor.

Film commercials showing children playing older Nintendo consoles like the NES in a 1980's setting, then maybe segue into newer consoles as time goes on, showing the children getting older along with the consoles, and finally stopping at the Wii U. Start with something like the original Legend of Zelda for NES when the commercial starts, and go through the games such as Link to the Past, Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker & Twilight Princess until it stops at the new Zelda for Wii U.

Another possible way to do this is by reintroducing the businessmen from the original commercials for the Wii. Here's an example of them in action:

These commercials were done extremely well, displaying what you could do with the Wii, and showing gameplay at the same time. Not only that, but they were very popular back when they were shown, and got people talking about the Wii. What I think is that they could bring these two back, driving in the same little car with the same music. They get out of their car, go up to somebody's door, say:

"Wii would like to play...with U."

They then hold up the Wii U GamePad, and showcase something like Super Smash Bros. for Wii U. The concept is genius in my opinion, and I think something like that would really make some buzz around the Wii U.

What do you guys think?

Well, here's some of my bundle ideas that are actually realistic.

Super Smash Bros. Bundle

Black Wii U (64 GB) (Red Smash Bros. logo on the console)

Super Smash Bros. for Wii U (Physical copy)

Black Wii U Pro Controller

Free download code for Super Smash Bros. (N64)

$269.99

Super Mario 3D World Bundle

White Wii U (32 GB) 

Super Mario 3D World (Digital copy)

Super Mario Bros. (NES) pre-installed

Red Mario Wii Remote Plus

$249.99

Mario Kart 8 Bundle

Black Wii U (32 GB)

Mario Kart 8 (Physical copy)

Super Mario Kart (SNES) pre-installed

Wii Wheel peripheral

$249.99

Nintendo needs to go back to the days when they made commercials like this:

All the hate the 2DS is getting is so perfectly ignorant.

You don't have to buy one. It's another option, not an upgrade.

While people are laughing about how silly the 2DS looks, Nintendo will be laughing all the way to the bank.

Wii U

• Rayman Legends will most likely sell best on Wii U, and the Wii U version will be the preferred version in comparison to Xbox 360 and PS3. This will reinforce Ubisoft and Nintendo's relationship. (This one came true.)
• The Wonderful 101 will get good reviews, but it will only sell fairly well. It won't be a system seller, but people will regard it as one of the Wii U's best games.
• Sonic Lost World will be received as well as Sonic Colors was, and it will sell a good amount.
• The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker HD will sell decently, and get good scores.
• The Legend of Zelda for Wii U will be revealed at E3 2014.
• Watch_Dogs will sell better on PS3 and Xbox 360, but I expect the Wii U version's sales to be on par with the sales of the PS4 version. It will sell fairly well on Wii U.
• Super Mario 3D World won't be a system seller like New Super Mario Bros. U was, but it will obviously sell well, thanks to its release date during the holiday season. It will be just as well-received as the other recent Mario titles, but critics will view it as more of the same.
• Mario Kart 8 will be a system seller, and it will move a decent amount of Wii U units. The online interactions within Mario Kart 8 will be seen as a big step-forward for Nintendo games. DLC will be introduced over time.
• Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze will be received even better than Donkey Kong Country Returns was, and it will sell well.
• Wii Fit U won't sell as much as the original Wii Fit or Wii Fit Plus, but it will garner attention from the casual crowd, and get more of them interested in Wii U.
• X will be well-received by JRPG fans, and will sell rather well. It will be regarded as one of the Wii U's best games.
• Mario & Sonic at the Sochi 2014 Olympic Winter Games will probably have sales on par with Mario & Sonic at the London 2012 Olympic Games, if not less. It'll get decent scores.
• Super Smash Bros. for Wii U will be the big system seller for Wii U, which is no big surprise. It will move several units, and make Nintendo doomsayers keep quiet for a while. DLC will be introduced over time.
• Bayonetta 2 will sell pretty well. Review scores will be good, and it'll be praised by fans of the series. It won't sell extremely well though, and will be regarded as a cult hit.
• Wii Party U will do well with the casual crowd, but it'll mostly go under the radar for other gamers.
• If Nintendo knows what's good for them, a new Metroid title for Wii U will be announced or hinted at by E3 2014.

Wii U Virtual Console

• The introduction of the 'Onett Times' community on Miiverse is probably building up to Nintendo of America's eventual localization and release of Mother 3 on either the 3DS or Wii U eShop. 3DS eShop is more likely.
• Another possibility is that Nintendo will release the original Mother for NES as EarthBound Zero on the Wii U eShop.
• Nintendo 64 games will be available on the Wii U eShop by either Holiday 2013 or the first quarter of 2014.
• The first eShop GameCube title will be released for Wii U within the second half of 2014.
• This title will probably be one of the GameCube's launch titles, such as the original Pikmin or Luigi's Mansion.

Nintendo 3DS

• The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds will sell very well, and will be regarded as one of the best portable Zelda titles to date.
• A Link Between Worlds will more than likely be followed by The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D. I predict a reveal at E3 2014, and a release during Holiday 2014.
• Pokemon X and Pokemon Y will do for the 3DS what Pokemon Diamond and Pokemon Pearl did for the original Nintendo DS. It will be a worldwide phenomenon, and sell 3DS units for a long time.
• Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS won't sell as much as the Wii U version of the game, but it will sell well, thanks to the amount of 3DS systems that will be sold by this point. DLC will be introduced over time.
• Mario Golf: World Tour will probably sell just as much as Mario Tennis Open did. It will more than likely go under the radar over time, but it will be received well-enough.
• Professor Layton vs. Ace Attorney will be well-received by fans of Layton and Wright alike, and will encourage the future releases of more Japanese 3DS titles.
• Bravely Default: Flying Fairy will sell a decent amount, but not a whole lot. It will be well received.

Nintendo 3DS Virtual Console

• Game Boy Advance titles will be introduced by the end of the year, or early 2014.
• Pokemon Red and Pokemon Blue will be released at some point during 2014.
• There is a chance that Mother 3 will eventually be released on the 3DS Virtual Console.

Other Things

• Miiverse will be introduced on Nintendo 3DS by the end of the year. It will also have a dedicated smartphone app by early 2014.
• Gameplay video sharing on Miiverse will be introduced around the release date of PlayStation 4, or to be more simple, in Holiday 2014.
• At some point during 2014, Nintendo 3DS and Wii U eShop accounts will be linked.
• The eShop will be accessible on PC and smartphones by the end of 2014. A dedicated smartphone app will be introduced in time as well.

Any thoughts?

The Wii U is going to have Super Smash Bros.

Wanna know what Super Smash Bros. does?

It sells. A lot.

The Wii U will be just fine.

Even if this rumor states that there's no fee for used games, it still says that trying to play the game on a second console disables the authentication on the original console. That still means that friends can't try games without screwing the original owner over; basically the same thing.

The console's only been out for six months, calm yourself. It has plenty of years ahead of it, and in any of those years, there's a decent possibility that a Tales game will come out. Nothing's set in stone just yet, positive or negative.

This is in no way a confirmation that there'll never be a Tales game on the Wii U. It just means that there aren't any plans to develop one at the moment. Hideo Baba said that there aren't any plans to develop Tales for other next-gen consoles at the moment either, so this doesn't only apply to the Wii U. However, we'll more than likely see a Tales game on these consoles in the future.

GHIRAHIM



Special Move (Neutral): Spawn Red Spearheads
With the press of a button, Ghirahim snaps his fingers and a floating red spearhead appears around his head. Ghirahim can summon three of these at once. After summoning them, the player swipes in the direction they want to fling the spearheads on the touchscreen. This can work on both Nintendo 3DS and Wii U.

Special Move (Up): Teleport
Once again, with the snap of his fingers, Ghirahim vanishes in thin air. One second later, he reappears in a location determined by which way the player moves the slide pad. This move is similar to Meta Knight's Down-B move in Brawl. It can be used as both an offensive and a defensive move, as players can tap A at the right time to make Ghirahim attack upon reappearing.

Special Move (Down): Sword Plunge
Ghirahim pulls out two swords, teleports upward, reappears slightly closer toward whichever direction he was facing and then stabs the ground with the blades. This move can be charged to dealt massive damage on immobilized opponents.

Special Move (Side): Sword Dash
This move is meant to be charged, like Luigi's side move in Brawl. Upon finishing the charge, Ghirahim charges in whichever direction he is facing and attacks the first opponent he meets with his sword. Ghirahim's running distance for this move is about the length of three characters standing shoulder to shoulder.

Final Smash: True Form



Upon activating a Final Smash, Ghirahim envelopes himself in a starburst of light and reappears in his true form. In this form, Ghirahim deals a significant amount of damage and wields the enormous sword he used in his final battle. Think of Wario Man from Brawl but with a more serious tone. After twenty seconds, Ghirahim reverts to his original form.

Taunt 1: Tongue
Taunt 2: Random Phase of Ghirahim Dance (0:17 in this video: The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword - Ghirahim Boss Battle 3 - YouTube)
Taunt 3: Licking his sword blade (menacingly)

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Something else that Super Smash Bros. 4 will have to utilize is downloadable content. The Nintendo 3DS is scheduled to begin supporting DLC very soon, so the Wii U will definitely support it as well, and probably in greater numbers. When it comes to Smash Bros, DLC opportunities are endless, but here are a few examples:

1) New Characters
One of the best things about Super Smash Bros. is pitting characters who would most likely never meet in mainstream games against each other on the battlefield. Since Melee, fans have found making character wishlists to be one of the best parts about speculating the sequels. Well with DLC, you wouldn't be restricted to the original roster anymore if one of your preferred characters didn't make it in. Granted that not every character would make it in, but DLC could allow for third party characters such as Mega Man or Rayman to be included for a small price such as $0.99.

2) New Stages
As the game's lifespan expands, new games will come out featuring more iconic locations that would seem fitting for a Smash Bros. game. Too bad they can't be in it, right? Wrong. With DLC, stages can be downloaded to keep up to date with the current Nintendo games.

EXAMPLE) Super Smash Bros. 4 comes out in 2013. A new 3D Mario platformer comes out in late 2013 or 2014, featuring new locations that look ideal for Smash. Nintendo, being the awesome company they are, put new stages up for sale in the DLC service for a price such as $1.49. Players are ecstatic.

3) Music Packages
Not exactly essential, but it could be fun for any people who thrive to collect everything. Once you've heard every remixed track in SSB4, you could opt to download more tracks to fight with on stages both local and online. A package of ten songs could cost $.49.

EXAMPLE) A new Legend of Zelda game for Nintendo 3DS comes out with extremely memorable music, five months after the release of SSB4. Nintendo puts a package of ten songs from the game in a single package for players to use however they want.

All of these ideas have been for the Wii U though, because I think Nintendo would handle pricing in the Nintendo eShop differently. I can imagine Nintendo taking a new character like Mega Man, taking five popular songs from his games, adding a new stage based on a Mega Man locale and putting it all together in one package for anything from $6.99 to $9.99. I know that the eShop is pricey, but thats a realistic depiction of how they would probably approach it. Opinions?