A Link to the Wrong: Nintendo's Problems

Nintendo's current situation has been well documented for months now.  The Wii U is currently the worst selling console on the market and despite incredible sales, the 3DS is not selling enough to make up for the Wii U's dismal sales.  A part from those points, third-party publishers this side of the Pacific are abandoning Nintendo and their systems like they are a sinking ship.  The talk surrounding Nintendo is in such an ugly place that an article that either praises or dismisses the Wii U is front page news on any video game website every week.  As an avid fan of Nintendo, I personally do not like the battle between positive and negative press flying around all mediums of communication.  Even if the Wii U does not pan out, Nintendo has an enormous amount of money saved from their successes like the Game Boy, DS and Wii to support themselves into the future.  Another point, the Wii U is only in its second year on the market.  There is still time for Nintendo to turn things around with the system.  The 3DS is a prime example of the possible turnaround that could happen with the Wii U.  With all that said, Nintendo's current situation is entirely their fault.  While the marketing for the Wii U has been a mess since the very beginning, it is not the main cause of their situation.  There are a good number of issues that Nintendo as a company has not been aggressive in tackling or have avoided altogether which have created this perfect storm.  These issues are not independent to one of Nintendo's systems; they involve Nintendo as a whole.

1)  No Party for Third-Parties

Nintendo's problems with securing third-party support has been an ever-present issue with their systems since the days of the Nintendo 64.  One would expect this issue to be solved sometime between the three console generations since the N64.  Funny enough, it has only gotten worse.  Third-party support outside of Japanese publishers and Activision is nearly non-existent.  Even Ubisoft, which has been a big supporter of Nintendo products the past couple generations, is severely cutting back their support aside from downloadable titles and yearly Just Dance installments.  Third-party publishers seem to be moving away from Nintendo products because they believe they cannot make a profit on them.  That impression is not one Nintendo should continue to let foster.  The Big N has shown off some of the partnerships they have forged with Japanese companies like Sega, Atlus and Tecmo Koei, but Nintendo needs to make strides with the publishers in which they have had problems enticing in the past.  First-party games, no matter their great quality, can only take you so far.  Third-party games are needed to pad out the times where there are a lack of first-party titles.  Better for Nintendo to aggressively seek fixing this issue now rather than let it fester any longer as it will be hard repairing these relationships later.

2)  Stalling with Online Multiplayer

Nintendo has dabbled in online multiplayer with games like Super Smash Bros. and Mario Kart.  Compared to the efforts of their competitors, Nintendo's efforts have been lacking.  More games in their portable lineup have received online multiplayer to great success.  These portable games show the great potential of Nintendo-crafted online multiplayer.  Now Nintendo just needs to start adding an online component to games that should have it.  The lack of online multiplayer in games like Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U, Super Mario 3D World and Pikmin 3 is a missed opportunity in this writer's honest opinion.  Personally, I am a huge advocate for local multiplayer, but those days have been replaced by playing with others without leaving the comforts of your home.  Nowadays, online multiplayer is expected to be included in most games.  Nintendo does not need to add online multiplayer to all their games, but they need to start adding some sort of online component to those which already include local multiplayer.  I have had great times playing games like Nintendo Land, New Super Mario Bros. U and Super Mario 3D World with my friends locally.  Just imagine being able to recreate that fun at anytime without the hassle of trying to gather a group of people every single time you wanted to play some multiplayer.

3)  Stuck on Gimmicks

Nintendo has never been a powerhouse when it comes to graphics.  Their strength has always been gameplay, but sadly the world has become obsessed with the amount of polygons you can cram on a screen.  It is hard to communicate gameplay without giving people the game to actually play.  Case and point, Super Mario 3D World.  Upon first impressions, everybody thought 3D World would just be a up-scaled port of 3D Land.  Once people got their hands on the game, their opinions completely changed for the better.  Nintendo combated this superficial obsession with cutting-edge graphics by introducing unique gimmicks to their consoles and games from the two screens of the Nintendo DS to the motion controls of the Wii.  Nintendo's focus on gimmicks did pan out with the DS and Wii, but they have become a little too reliant on gimmicks to push their games and consoles.  Gimmicks work only when you design games that take advantage of those gimmicks in new and creative ways.  In the Wii U's case, Nintendo has not made any games that truly take advantage of the hardware within the Wii U Gamepad which has caused it to backfire on them.  Gimmicks are not a bad thing, they just become tiresome when you rely on them far too much.  If Nintendo is going to stick with using gimmicks to separate themselves from the competition, they need to be more careful in adding gimmicks that truly institute creativity and innovation rather than just adding gimmicks for the sake of having them.

4)  Wanted:  New Blood

It is hard to think of the last new franchise Nintendo introduced on such a large scale.  You would have to go back to 2006 with the introduction of Wii Sports.  In all honesty, nobody thought Wii Sports would spawn into a franchise which would include Wii Play, Wii Fit, Wii Music and Wii Party.  Looking at that fact, it has been eight years since Nintendo last introduced a major franchise.  Nintendo has introduced new IPs such as Rhythm Heaven, Professor Layton, Pushmo/Crashmo and HarmoKnight, but they all have been confined to handheld or downloadable space instead of major releases on their consoles.  Although it is only one game, there is hope in the mysterious new IP Shigeru Miyamoto is currently working on.  Hopefully, the possible success of this unknown game could spur Nintendo into taking more risks in developing games outside their comfort zone of Mario, Zelda and Pokemon.  Nintendo can even dive into their back catalogue and make new entries in series such as Star Fox, F-Zero, Earthbound or Metroid to alleviate some of the franchise fatigue affecting their most relied upon series.

Launch Station: Pokemon Conquest

There are certain crossovers that you do not think will ever happen.  Well nobody saw Pokemon being mixed with a feudal Japanese setting and historical figures.  First released in Japan as Pokemon + Nobunaga's Ambition, many people including yours truly had their doubts that Pokemon Conquest would make it to our shore.  Well Nintendo must have saw the incredible amount of interest the game got when it was announced in Japan that they decided to bring it over to North America.

Pokemon Conquest is a crossover between Nintendo's Pokemon franchise and Tecmo Koei's Nobunaga's Ambition series.  Pokemon Conquest is a turn-based tactical strategy game much like the Final Fantasy Tactics games.  The player takes control of a young Warlord linked with a Eevee on a quest to conquer and unite the Ransei Region.  On your way to completing your quest, you will befriend Pokemon and rival Warlords to build your forces and fight the evil Warlords that currently rule the Ransei Region.  The battles in Pokemon Conquest are 6-on-6 turn-based skirmishes that will have you on your toes as you choose the right Pokemon for the every-changing battle conditions.  Every Warlord both friend and foe has a special ability that can be used to boost their Pokemon's powers, which can turn the tide of battle when in a tough spot.

The more I read up on and talk about Pokemon Conquest, the more I want to go out and buy it.  The Pokemon franchise has been taken in so many different directions with so many lacklustre spinoffs that many fans including myself have strictly stuck to the core RPGs.  Pokemon Conquest looks like the best Pokemon spinoff in ages.  It has incredible potential to sell very well as there are millions of 3DS and DS owners.  If you are a fan of tactical strategy games or Pokemon, Pokemon Conquest is game that will definitely find a home in your DS.

Launch Station: Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir

Each year there is a Friday the 13th and each year something be it a movie, CD, book or even video game tries to capitalize on this superstitious date.  This year only one game is capitalizing on such a fantasized date, Nintendo and Tecmo Koei's Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir for the Nintendo 3DS.

Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir is a portable spinoff of Tecmo Koei's popular survival horror series Fatal Frame.  Spirit Camera uses the Nintendo 3DS's augmented reality features to create a survival horror game like no other.  Spirit Camera comes packaged with a notebook known as the Diary of Faces.  Players use the notebook in junction with the 3DS camera, which serves as the in-game item known as the Camera Obscura.  Spirit Camera has three main modes that use the 3DS camera and the Diary of Faces in different ways.  The first mode is the Story Mode, which has the players exploring the interactive pages of the Diary of Faces finding hints and fighting spirits transposed on the environment around them.  Your main goal in Story Mode is to fight off the Woman in Black and other spirits before they steal your face.  The second mode is Haunted Visions.  Haunted Visions contains three different camera challenges that test your skills with the camera.  The third and final mode is Cursed Pages.  Cursed Pages has you participating in four minigames that use characters and settings from the main mode such as a game of hide-and-seek with a ghost you meet in the Story Mode.

The 3DS's augmented reality features have more or less been used as a gimmick up to this point in the handheld's life.  So it is refreshing to see a game finally come out that utilizes this unique feature of the 3DS.  While I personally am not that excited to pick up Spirit Camera: The Cursed Memoir as I am not a huge fan of survival horror games outside Resident Evil, I can see other gamers looking for a good scare gravitating to this game.