ひげ
Where does Nintendo go from here? Honestly, other than just getting more powerful hardware, what happens now? After Metroid Prime 4 and maybe Mario Odyssey 2, how can they possibly expand on their franchises without just porting the games with a little bit of new content (which is something they were already doing to begin with)? All of Nintendo's games are so massive right now that I can't actually imagine them making games that are more grandiose. How do you follow up something like Smash Ultimate or Tears of the Kingdom?
I'd love to see the next Zelda and the next Smash take a step back (maybe another old Zelda remake or some 3DS remake ports, and then a Smash game with less characters but totally revamped movesets) while something else that's at least relatively fresh makes its way into the limelight. Whether that's a new IP or a game like Star Fox or F-Zero, or hell maybe even Kid Icarus or Ice Climbers getting a new, modern game.
I think that would be much easier for them to pull off than trying to make something bigger than Tears of the Kingdom... Unless it takes them 10+ years I just don't see how it is feasible. The game is insane. Smash Ultimate has, what, 90 characters? Porting it and adding more is something I'm sure Sakurai doesn't even want to do. Mario Kart 8 will basically have that problem when its expansions are all released as well.
Oh, I guess another Kirby game in the style of Forgotten Land is a definite.
>How do you follow up something like Smash Ultimate
Honestly at this point Smash is done, especially without Sakurai. Either port it forever with new addition. I mean, there's still fun modes missing, more 1P content, potential new characters and like a handful of stages that didn't make the cut
But yes, at this point, it's probably better to branch out into something different
>or Tears of the Kingdom?
Shelve it and make something new like they always did
@beardalaxy At this point, Sakurai would probably kill himself, if he was asked to make another Smash game. You can clearly tell that each entry has been more stressful than the last, yet he doesn't trust anyone else to direct the series. I mean, he could just make an enhanced port for the next system, but he seems to be a perfectionist. Honestly, his new YouTube series is just a sign that he's unofficially semi-retired, even though the YouTube series is just a hobby.
As for Zelda, I don't know how they are going to make consistent releases if they keep going the open-world route. They could scale back, but how much? Fallout and The Elder Scrolls seem to have ~10 year gaps between releases. Zelda, on the other hand, tends to have 2 releases per console/handheld. Maybe they can release traditional Zelda games in-between. I would like them to use the engine for the Link's Awakening remake and make a few 2D games because I think 2D Zelda has some charm that is missing in the 3D games.
Star Fox and F-Zero, while beloved franchises were (let's face it) merely tech-demos. They were made to show off the power of the SNES and Super-FX chip, which can explain why Nintendo has serious writer's block with them. However, given the recent interviews with people like Giles Goddard and ex-Retro Studios employees, one can hope than some random gamedev with some connection to Nintendo can actually pitch an idea and have it greenlit.
Kid Icarus was created by some no-name Nintendo employee (he doesn't seem to have a Wikipedia article and I don't know if he works for the company anymore). It had one GameBoy sequel and was later picked up by Sakurai.
Ice Climbers only had one game. It's only remembered because of Smash. Otherwise, it's up there (or down there) with Balloon Fight, Gyromite, Stack-Up, Urban Champion, all the NES sports games, and all the other early NES/Famicom games, back when developers were throwing shit at the wall just to see what sticks, basically what Atari was doing before them.
Anyone interested in vidya console space futurism should listen to this recent Phil Spencer interview/podcast. I wouldn't be surprised if he's lying or exaggerating, but there's some very truthful insights regardless: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yKwfEQ1eEyM
One very important quote, which applies to Nintendo now more than ever:
"We lost the worst generation to lose in the Xbox One generation, where everybody built their Digital Library of games. ...This idea that if we just focused more on great games on our console that somehow we're going to win the console race. ...90% of the people every year who walk into a retailer to buy a console are already a member of one of the three ecosystems and their digital library is there."
Switch 2 NEEDS to be backwards compatible, if it is they get a billion console sales for free. Keeping the evergreen titles like MK8 and Smash Ultimate into the next generation will be fine, the games run well and don't need much more than online servers. Hell, make them free to play or bundle them with the subscription, along with Splatoon 3. They need to focus on keeping their audience, they're not going to convert anyone for Switch 2.
For AAA in general, I imagine/hope/pray they move from bloated dev cycle towards quicker releases with smaller scope. Xbox is definitely feeling it, I imagine Sony is next. Nintendo currently makes a LOT of smaller games (like Luigi's Mansion 3 or nu-Paper Mario) and it'd be more comfortable for them to focus on that style. I'm hoping audiences are more comfortable seeing things like Bowser's Fury releasing for $30 twice a quarter (instead of being bundled with a Wii U port for $60 total).
I don't see them going all-in on the live service model, they haven't been able to nail it outside of the mobile space, and people are still buying their big releases. But the big releases aren't evergreen, and that's an issue when they're duds.
