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Post by Xeogred on Jan 16, 2020 18:42:52 GMT -5
For the few of us that play retro games and still stay up to date with modern releases, we've seen a lot of long lasting franchises stick around from the big hardware companies or publishers. Sometimes for better or worse, maybe some of them took a bad turn and became something else entirely along the way, or others struggle to successfully ride that fire again and repeatedly fail. If you've got a series you wished were differently nowadays, what would it be and how?
Probably easy to see this one coming. For me, it's been Star Fox, for a very long time. After the initial SNES release and the killer N64 game, it seems like Nintendo's struggled greatly on how to keep Star Fox relevant and put out quality installments in the series. There's been a few detours along the way that I enjoyed, like Star Fox Adventure on the Gamecube (it's like Zelda Lite), but still. The Star Fox world and characters were always brimming with potential to me that Nintendo's never fully capitalized on.
My solution to Star Fox is simple... Ratchet & Clank. That series is literally everything Star Fox could have been by this point. A huge sci-fi world with multiple planets to explore, a combination of platforming with some cool guns and futuristic cartoony weapons, a variety of vehicles or cool mecha, along with some classic on rails spaceship action in between the worlds and they could keep trying to change up the formula there, as the R&C has with every release. This is MONEY!
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Post by Ex on Jan 17, 2020 13:00:03 GMT -5
If you've got a series you wished were differently nowadays, what would it be and how? I can think of a lot of game series that I wish were still around. (By "series", I mean there were at least two games in each.) Just a few: Bionic CommandoEndless OceanEverblueF-ZeroFront MissionGargoyle's QuestHotel DuskKing's FieldShadow TowerTo take one of those, say F-Zero. How to resurrect? F-Zero firstly could have a single player campaign, with a story, cutscenes, boss races. (Also a standard series of cup races are available as a different mode.) Except you create your own driver character, design how they look, tweak their racing stats. You design your own hover racer. You can upgrade the hover racer with various parts, bought using money from winning races. Constantly modifying your hover racer is a big part of the game (aesthetically and mechanically). Winning races also provides experience points. So you can level up your driver to have special bonus powers used during races. There's a track editor, and you can upload your tracks to an online community. You can even design your own courses, by sequencing your tracks together. Multiplayer is local (split-screen) and online. Online allows tiered tournament modes, using standard or user created tracks. There's a battle mode, with specific courses designed for players to interfere with each other's racing indirectly. Like running over switches to change road conditions... pits, mines, launch-springs, etc., narrow raceways for knocking each other off, side-bumpers that when hit quickly alter the track layout - like changing a fork into only having one path, with the other dropping off into nothingness. I came up with all of this in three minutes. I could come up with better ideas in an hour. Why can't Nintendo? Because Miyamoto doesn't care about F-Zero: "Game Kult: After a quick survey on Twitter, one of the games French gamers miss the most is F-Zero. Nobody really understands why Nintendo hasn’t made a new one since 2004. Is there a chance we can see it back on Wii U?
Miyamoto: [eyes open wide] I am really pleased to hear Twitter’s opinion, because since the first episode on SNES many games have been made but the series has evolved very little. I thought people had grown weary of it. I’d like to say thank you very much, and try to wait by playing Nintendo Land’s F-Zero mini-game. I am also very curious and I’d like to ask those people: Why F-Zero? What do you want that we haven’t done before?" (source)
I don't know Miyamoto, maybe give a shit? You haven't done that before with F-Zero.
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 17, 2020 22:12:55 GMT -5
Thanks, you got me drooling for that amazing F-Zero concept. I've seen those quotes from Miyamoto before, maybe you shared them somewhere else awhile back. It's like him and Nintendo think Mario Kart has ALL of racing covered or something? That's fun for little local hangouts and all that, but F-Zero could be some awesome huge single player experience like you're saying. His excuse is definitely thin, I get that some companies or designers would rather constantly experiment and evolve a series, but it clearly sounds like he just doesn't care.
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Post by Ex on Jan 17, 2020 22:23:05 GMT -5
it clearly sounds like he just doesn't care For what it's worth, Miyamoto never directed or even co-directed any of the F-Zero games. He acted as "producer" occasionally, but that can mean anything. I don't think he ever really cared about the series. It's understandable that he's biased towards Mario Kart, given how much he personally cares about the Mario universe and all.
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Post by Xeogred on Jan 17, 2020 22:33:34 GMT -5
Overall, sci-fi in general seems like a very low priority for Nintendo. I hate when Zelda always dances around in it, it's not like I need a full on sci-fi Zelda (I'd take it though!), but it would be so cool if they leaned harder into it for one game at some point. It'd be so easy with Zelda using time travel... I don't think Metroid is even their third pillar anymore and that saddens me. Metroid gets better treatment than F-Zero for sure but also clearly isn't Nintendo's own favorite IP either. Kirby seems like a bigger effort than Metroid, Star Fox, and F-Zero.
Kirby fits this thread to me for sure too. In that, the NES Adventure game has always been my favorite installment by several miles. I like the GB Dream Land's, Super Star and Dream Land 3 on the SNES are solid, but I like Adventure the best by far. I guess sue me for wishing that Kirby actually reeled back the experimentation and stuck to, or at least had some main line branch, that was more of a simplistic platformer like the old days. Just show me that King DeDeDe's mad, or some evil space witch might be plotting something, and Kirby's gotta journey through 7 new world maps filled with levels and fun minigames. I'd be perfectly happy.
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Post by Ex on Jan 17, 2020 23:09:24 GMT -5
Overall, sci-fi in general seems like a very low priority for Nintendo. To play devil's advocate; Nintendo has been bankrolling the Xenosaga series for a while now. But as a first party developed thing, yeah sci-fi is not Nintendo's forte.
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Post by Sarge on Jan 17, 2020 23:36:13 GMT -5
Kirby, if nothing else, almost guarantees an 8/10 experience. The only one I didn't care for as much recently was the last one, Star Allies, and that was still a'ight. Plus, that's Sakurai's baby, he won't let it go. But yes, the NES game is still my favorite. Primo, 10/10 material for me. Ex, of your list, I'll definitely vote for Bionic Commando, F-Zero, Front Mission, Gargoyle's Quest, Hotel Dusk, and King's Field. I haven't played enough of the others to really say, but yeah, all those would be excellent. For another revival, I think we need some Castlevania back. Not Bloodstained, which was excellent, but something in the "proper" series. I'd even take a wonderful classic game revival. I wonder, though, if Konami still has the wherewithal to make something like that anymore? Actually, you know what, bring back Rygar. One of the earliest exploratory platformers on NES, and a really solid PS2 game that game out waaaaay before God of War. And while I'm thinking about the PS2, I want something from the following series: Sly Cooper, Maximo, and Ape Escape. That last one in particular. Come on, Sony, you know you want to!
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Post by anayo on Jan 18, 2020 8:56:37 GMT -5
ExYeah I'm indignant about F-Zero too. I read somewhere that the Gamecube version sold relatively few copies (140k if memory serves), so maybe that's why Miyamoto thought people were bored of it. XeogredWhile Star Fox means a lot to me because of my 90's nostalgia, I don't think the Star Fox characters or lore were very inherently interesting. I think they just served to make a 3D polygon ship game more personable. There's a part of me that's OK with seeing that stay in its era. I guess like Rob the Robot or Wii Sports. Also Xeogred: yeah I don't know what the deal is with Kirby except that his games sell really well. But they've become some samey and dull. I really liked Kirby's Adventure on NES, but when I got one of the new-ish Kirby games for 3DS it had that bland, safe feeling of the New Super Mario Bros games on Wii.
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Post by Ex on Jan 18, 2020 12:37:37 GMT -5
I read somewhere that the Gamecube version sold relatively few copies (140k if memory serves) You read an inaccurate statement. F-Zero GX actually sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. "F-Zero sold over 1.5 M copies worldwide." -Toshihiro Nagoshi (source) To contrast that, Kirby Air Ride on GameCube sold 1,172,311 copies (source). That's right, Kirby Air Ride sold less copies than F-Zero GX. But we still get new Kirby games all the time. As far as the base Kirby platformers go, I agree. I've not played a newer Kirby platformer yet that was actually better than the NES Kirby. That said, a lot of the Kirby-related side games are really good stuff. I'm talking about say Kirby: Canvas Curse (DS) or Kirby Tilt 'n' Tumble (Game Boy).
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Post by anayo on Jan 18, 2020 12:51:29 GMT -5
I read somewhere that the Gamecube version sold relatively few copies (140k if memory serves) You read an inaccurate statement. F-Zero GX actually sold 1.5 million copies worldwide. "F-Zero sold over 1.5 M copies worldwide." -Toshihiro Nagoshi (source) To contrast that, Kirby Air Ride on GameCube sold 1,172,311 copies (source). That's right, Kirby Air Ride sold less copies than F-Zero GX. But we still get new Kirby games all the time.
Thanks for fact checking me. I wasn't sure where I saw that figure.
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