Well, every portable system Nintendo's ever had has been cartridge based. Remember, an SD card is still a cartridge.
For years, everyone and their brother has been calling that the NX would be a hybrid home/portable console. The smart money will be correct in this case. Nintendo is getting eaten up on both ends of the spectrum ("core gamers" and mobile casual folk). They have $10B in the bank and want to live off of that for a while, rather than going the Sega route.
Let's be clear, the most valuable thing Nintendo has is their IP. They are going to be *very* careful about not cheapening their IP. The mini NES is a great move for them. The Universal Studios partnership is a great move. If I had to guess, the NX will be a dud financially, but Nintendo has enough cash to ride out the dud generations and keep trying until they get another breakout hit like the NES, Gameboy, SNES, DS, or Wii.
Yeah I guess it's not that shocking. Anything else beside cartridges wouldn't work on a handheld. And yeah people have been calling the handheld thing for a while but it sounds like it's confirmed all but officially now.
I'm kind of on a kick to play the original (now retro?) Pokemon games on a portable console—I missed out on them the first time around. I wondered if I should get an old GB Color or a DS or what. I've mostly been ignoring this urge, because the DS screen resolutions and resistive touch are garbage, and a quick online look for the older portables aren't any cheaper (due to nostaligia?).
I'm curious about whether the NX will either directly scratch my itch or get me a second-hand DS on the cheap.
I don't think Nintendo's desperate enough to just port their old games to iOS, which would probably be my ideal solution.
They have $10B in the bank and want to live off of that for a while, rather than going the Sega route. … If I had to guess, the NX will be a dud financially, but Nintendo has enough cash to ride out the dud generations and keep trying until they get another breakout hit like the NES, Gameboy, SNES, DS, or Wii.
I'm worried that they're losing mindshare among people who play games. What's their burn rate? How long can they dogpaddle? And who wants to make games for a company that's dogpaddling? Will they lose relevancy before they run out of money?
Who wants to make games for a company that's dogpaddling?
Well at least this is answerable. Basically nobody. They're hardcore dogpaddling with the Wii U, and have been for two years. Since almost immediately after launch, Wii U has had essentially zero third party support. This is not hyperbole like during N64 or GC days where you see other consoles getting cool stuff. This is pretty much a desert.
As for the burn rate, the worst I think they've done is lose about $250M in a quarter.
Are you talking about IP they can use in the future? It goes beyond individual characters. Just the design of the NES and its controller and its game cartridges are enough to make money from now, as you can see with the new little NES box. The Gameboy design is another classic they can make money from too. Do you see Sony or Microsoft using their old designs in nostalgia-stoking money grabs? Nope!
They'll probably make a new Splatoon game. Kirby's newest game is pretty good. And I don't think FE is as niche as it once was. Awakening was pretty huge.
They have more but they just don't do anything with it. They have Pikmin, Chibi Robo, etc.
But even with the core Mario they have a bunch of variations on stuff. Not saying it's been good, but they really milk those core characters into many different games.
EDIT: Actually I take that back Chibi Robo isn't Nintendo exclusive. It's just one of those devs that basically only works with Nintendo.
I was really hoping I could explore space/planets with others. I don't want like super multiplayer pvp, just like another person who can enter the zone I'm in and we can explore together.
If Kojima was still there, there would be a real Metal Gear game and they would just have some weird zombie levels on the side just for funzies, like the Ape Escape levels in Snake Eater.
Streetpass is getting another update. TLDR version:
New games(Names not final for all territories):
- Streetpass Trader(Buy and sell fake stocks based on advice from streetpass guests)
- Streetpass Slot Racer(Basic Racing game)
- Streetpass Chef/Feed Mii(Get ingredients from Streetpass guests, make dishes, ingredients appear to be based on mii colour, has a weird story link to Streetpass Quest)
- Streetpass Ninja/Ninja Launcher(Looks like a weird combo of angry birds and streetpass haunted house?)
- Streetpass Explorer/Mii Trek(Recruit friends and use the stepcount from their 3ds's pedometer to move distances, find animals, clear obstacles)
You appear to get one for free(Slot Racer or trader, your choice), and the rest come in a pack.
New feature for premium plaza owners(unsure if prior owners included, or if it comes with the new pack) - you can have up to 100 miis in your entrance, rather than the standard ten. Which would be an absolute game-changer at conventions.
Edit - and by "Is Getting" I mean, "appears to be live right now." If you already have the premium plaza from the last pack, You automatically get the new premium feature of 100 passes. Just in time for PAX!
These StreetPass change are surprisingly exciting, and though I'm not going to PAX this year, that is actually some GREAT timing!
In a nice change from the last pack, they've also focused on making the games quick to play, without making them just a re-do of grab-single-item-and-run like puzzle quest or select-single-option-while-holding-R like streetpass quest.
Comments
Huh...
EDIT: Also definitely seems to be portable.
For years, everyone and their brother has been calling that the NX would be a hybrid home/portable console. The smart money will be correct in this case. Nintendo is getting eaten up on both ends of the spectrum ("core gamers" and mobile casual folk). They have $10B in the bank and want to live off of that for a while, rather than going the Sega route.
Let's be clear, the most valuable thing Nintendo has is their IP. They are going to be *very* careful about not cheapening their IP. The mini NES is a great move for them. The Universal Studios partnership is a great move. If I had to guess, the NX will be a dud financially, but Nintendo has enough cash to ride out the dud generations and keep trying until they get another breakout hit like the NES, Gameboy, SNES, DS, or Wii.
(although they did finally add that feature for a small number of games with Wii U/3DS cross compatability)
I'm curious about whether the NX will either directly scratch my itch or get me a second-hand DS on the cheap.
I don't think Nintendo's desperate enough to just port their old games to iOS, which would probably be my ideal solution. I'm worried that they're losing mindshare among people who play games. What's their burn rate? How long can they dogpaddle? And who wants to make games for a company that's dogpaddling? Will they lose relevancy before they run out of money?
Pokemon
Mario
Zelda
The Smash brothers franchise specifically
...
As for the burn rate, the worst I think they've done is lose about $250M in a quarter.
Kirby
Donkey Kong
Animal Crossing
Star Fox
Fire Emblem
Advanced War
(others that are not as popular)
Mother
Donkey Kong isn't that strong of a franchise in the US anymore.
Mother is only known to ultranerds.
Fire Emblem is extremely niche.
Animal Crossing could go the route of pokemon: I'll concede that one.
Kirby is a pretty weak franchise these days.
Metroid similarly isn't super strong.
They have more but they just don't do anything with it. They have Pikmin, Chibi Robo, etc.
But even with the core Mario they have a bunch of variations on stuff. Not saying it's been good, but they really milk those core characters into many different games.
EDIT: Actually I take that back Chibi Robo isn't Nintendo exclusive. It's just one of those devs that basically only works with Nintendo.
And it's not Metal Gear. At all.
New games(Names not final for all territories):
- Streetpass Trader(Buy and sell fake stocks based on advice from streetpass guests)
- Streetpass Slot Racer(Basic Racing game)
- Streetpass Chef/Feed Mii(Get ingredients from Streetpass guests, make dishes, ingredients appear to be based on mii colour, has a weird story link to Streetpass Quest)
- Streetpass Ninja/Ninja Launcher(Looks like a weird combo of angry birds and streetpass haunted house?)
- Streetpass Explorer/Mii Trek(Recruit friends and use the stepcount from their 3ds's pedometer to move distances, find animals, clear obstacles)
You appear to get one for free(Slot Racer or trader, your choice), and the rest come in a pack.
New feature for premium plaza owners(unsure if prior owners included, or if it comes with the new pack) - you can have up to 100 miis in your entrance, rather than the standard ten. Which would be an absolute game-changer at conventions.
Edit - and by "Is Getting" I mean, "appears to be live right now." If you already have the premium plaza from the last pack, You automatically get the new premium feature of 100 passes. Just in time for PAX!