Now that the dust has well and truly settled on this years E3 we’re in a better position to put together some abject opinions. With the original glitz worn off we’re left with the hardcore reality of what we as gamers are going to be playing (or avoiding) for the rest of the year. There’s a good argument that of all the companies and developers present at the Los Angeles Convention Center this may be Nintendo’s most important expo ever. It’s no secret that the Wii U hasn’t done much of the business it needed and while the hugely successful sales for Mario Kart 8 may have staved off the headman’s axe temporarily it left no space for complacency lest Microsoft and Sony widen the gap even further.
What the company, that has been making video games since the 1970’s, has in abundance is a wealth of familiar and very popular characters. This is a fact that is not lost on the company’s most influential figures and developers. There’s a joke during this years Nintendo demo where affable COO Reggie Fils-Aime deflects a cynical journalist who bellows ‘oh let me guess, another Mario game’. In fact, there is no Mario game (though he’s very present during the trailers for Super Smash Bros.) but the joke could equally be made of any number of Nintendo characters, from DK to Samus and Link to Luigi. We all want to see our favourite characters doing new and exciting things but what seems to be happening to Nintendo, previously one of the most creative forces in gaming, is something like idea fatigue.
I am not going to argue that these games are not good. Clearly there is too much talent within Nintendo and their collaborating studios to pass out completely shoddy products. My fear is more Nintendo’s over reliance on its stock roster and recycled ideas. Most notable from their E3 presentation (which wasn’t a sequel) is the new Yoshi’s Wooly World. Yes it looks cute and yes it looks fun, but on paper this is only Kirby’s Epic Yarn but with a different A-list Nintendo star. Not only that but the gameplay seems only to be an enlivened version of 1998’s Yoshi Story, which in turn was inspired by the successful elements from the SNES’s Donkey Kong Country series.
We were also treated to not one, but two new Legend of Zelda games. As a fan that’s exciting news but any cynic could worry that a successful series is being milked, hard, in an attempt to drag over stubborn fans to their flagship console. This niggling doubt is further compounded when you consider that one of these LoZ games is actually a Dynasty Warriors hybrid. This is publisher Koei’s most successful series which has spawned an almost uncountable amount of sequels and spin-offs. Not all of these are very good.
The list goes on as Toad, that noisy little mushroom, gets his own staring game in Captain Toad: Treasure Tracker. Even a brief look at the title is just like a stroll down nostalgia lane and bets are that’s exactly what the developers wanted. The game play itself is said to be more puzzle based than other Nintendo titles but in terms of mechanics it doesn’t look far off a mix between Super Mario Galaxy and Polytron’s excellent Fez.
It’s not that these games can’t be good or don’t utilise their own type of creativity. The issue is that familiarity can breed contempt. Knowing two thirds of a game before you turn it on can be comforting or boring. Remember in Super Mario Sunshine when they did the a cappella version of the Mario theme tune? It was great right, but you already new the tune. In many senses Nintendo is impinged by its own previous success. This is not an issue that Microsoft or Sony have to worry about. Even their most successful franchises can only appear a number of times before they either stop or diversify away from all recognisability. Mario, on the other hand has appeared in around 200 games. A look ahead at Nintendo’s future releases make it obvious that this could continue to be a problem. Including ports, reboots and totally new games we might be looking at five new Mega Man games in the next two years.
But Nintendo is a great company and I think always will be. No one could accuse them of negligence or apathy but rather a current priority for commercial success. Whether that’s an issue or not is how you look at it. The truth is that new games away from stock roster will appear as the years roll in. The heightened profile given to upcoming new title Splatoon is a sign that Nintendo are willing to put their weight behind other projects. No doubt what needs to be found for Nintendo is a balance where the old and the new exist, with equal emphasis, on Nintendo’s priority list. The world will always need Mario, Link, Yoshi and the rest but if Nintendo wants to stay relevant they want to be sure they aren’t herded into a cul-de-sac.