Nintendo Plans To Create More Spin-Off Titles Between Main Releases

[Brittany Vincent]

Nintendo Plans To Create More Spin-Off Titles Between Main Releases

Iwata and Miyamoto plan to expand Nintendo licenses to allow more releases.

Nintendo's decades-old strategy of sparse first-party-title releases may soon be drawing to a close. At a recent financial results Q&A [http://www.nintendo.co.jp/ir/en/library/events/141030qa/03.html], Nintendo President Satoru Iwata and General Manager of Nintendo EAD Shigeru Miyamoto expressed their desire to release games starring Nintedo IPs more often, and the wish to extend the life of pre-existing games utilizing DLC.

Iwata headlined Nintendo's DLC strategy. He feels that with the release of only maybe one or two major titles per IP (Mario, Zelda, Mario Kart, etc.) that Nintendo should strive to extend the life of those products with DLC as they have recently done with Mario Kart 8.

Miyamoto showcased another strategy involving spin-off games as well. He believes that collaborating with second or third-party designers to release smaller-scale games utilizing Nintendo IPs that would concentrate on being smaller-scale than their main series entries, but still enjoyable. He pointed to the recent success of Hyrule Warriors as an example of how this plan could work out.

In any case, 2015 could be shaping up to be an excellent year for the Wii U. With the release of Hyrule Warriors and this announcement, players may be seeing something that has only happened very sparingly since the disaster of the Phillips licensing deal in the early '90s: the licensing of Nintendo characters and franchises to third party developers.

Source: Siliconera [http://www.siliconera.com/2014/11/06/nintendo-create-spin-games-fill-software-gaps-says-miyamoto/]

Permalink

 

[Guffe]

So what's going to happen next?
Link teaming up with the four horsemen (Darksiders)?
Samus fighting the Covenants and Fludd?
Fox McCloud and/or Donkey Kong teaming up with Kratos?
Lloyd Irwing and Shulk teaming up with the FinalFantasy crew?
Kirby eating Slenderman?
Captain Falco joining a team in Madden?

This is madness I tell you!!!
//sarcasm

Well seeing how well Hyrule Warrior turned out, this might get interesting!

 

[JoJo]

Could be fun, while I'm not suggesting that Mario Kart and co should become a yearly milking machine like some certain other IP's, there was six years between the release of Mario Kart Wii and Mario Kart 8 and a similar gap between Brawl and SSB Wii U. Series have come and gone in less time than that, wouldn't hurt to be a little more active.

 

[Alex Baas]

So what's going to happen next?
Link teaming up with the four horsemen (Darksiders)?
Samus fighting the Covenants and Fludd?
Fox McCloud and/or Donkey Kong teaming up with Kratos?
Lloyd Irwing and Shulk teaming up with the FinalFantasy crew?
Kirby eating Slenderman?
Captain Falco joining a team in Madden?

This is madness I tell you!!!
//sarcasm

Well seeing how well Hyrule Warrior turned out, this might get interesting!

I kinda want all this now.

 

[The Apple BOOM]

What I heard is.. we're going to start selling you parts of games and calling them spinoffs to charge you more.

What I heard is... I'm too jaded to see the evidence that Nintendo makes actual quality DLC on par with the old expansion packs from the 90's.

 

[go-10]

I wouldn't mind seeing Star Fox and Metroid teaming up or Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei...
...
...
...
yeah what?

 

[Baralak]

I would gladly pay for Hyrule Warriors: Empires.

Maybe Link returns to Soul Calibur?

Maybe a new Metroid game by the guys behind Wolfenstein: The New Order?



Know what I'd like? A new Pilotwings. Seriously. There's only been 2 games on the series. One on the SNES, the other a launch 3DS title.

 

[SonOfVoorhees]

Does Mario need anymore spinoff games?

 

[vid87]

I'm a bit hesitant since, while Hyrule Warriors was well-received, this is the same model that gave us Other M, but maybe if they're a bit more careful about who they farm out to we could get some interesting things that point tradition-bogged franchises in new directions.

 

[DrOswald]

What I heard is.. we're going to start selling you parts of games and calling them spinoffs to charge you more.

What I heard is... I'm too jaded to see the evidence that Nintendo makes actual quality DLC on par with the old expansion packs from the 90's.

Yup..pretty much that I';m afraid.. I always assume companies will take the low money grubbing road... rarely have I been proven wrong.

Well, so far, Nintendo has a pretty good record with DLC. Games launch in a decidedly complete state and DLC is value for money. Take the MK8 dlc, which basically will add 50% more content to the game for 20% of the cost of the base game. That is better even than the old expansion packs.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

I expect the Duck from Duck Hunt to fly pass pipes from Mario Games.
I expect Wolf Link from Twilight Princess to be in the next Okami game.
I expect Mario to be in Braid.

And I expect my expectations won't happen.

....

I also don't expect Samus to be a DLC skin for Bayonetta or the Spanish Inquisition.

 

[Baralak]

I expect the Duck from Duck Hunt to fly pass pipes from Mario Games.
I expect Wolf Link from Twilight Princess to be in the next Okami game.
I expect Mario to be in Braid.

And I expect my expectations won't happen.

....

I also don't expect Samus to be a DLC skin for Bayonetta or the Spanish Inquisition.

Samus is already a skin for Bayonetta. It's not a DLC, though. You can even hit a button to raise and lower the visor. Yes, the armcannon works. It's in Bayonetta 1 and 2.

 

[Jacked Assassin]

I expect the Duck from Duck Hunt to fly pass pipes from Mario Games.
I expect Wolf Link from Twilight Princess to be in the next Okami game.
I expect Mario to be in Braid.

And I expect my expectations won't happen.

....

I also don't expect Samus to be a DLC skin for Bayonetta or the Spanish Inquisition.

Samus is already a skin for Bayonetta. It's not a DLC, though. You can even hit a button to raise and lower the visor. Yes, the armcannon works. It's in Bayonetta 1 and 2.

Proof I didn't expect that at all.... On the bright side I was thinking if she was it would've been Zero Suit Samus turning Birthday Suit Samus just because its Bayonetta.

 

[xaszatm]

I'm a bit hesitant since, while Hyrule Warriors was well-received, this is the same model that gave us Other M, but maybe if they're a bit more careful about who they farm out to we could get some interesting things that point tradition-bogged franchises in new directions.

Well, Other M's problems (the bloody story) wasn't really the fault of Team Ninja. That was all that one guy from Nintendo. There are a bunch of interviews with Team Ninja wanting to go in a different direction but it was stopped. Besdies, we still haev Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei (no, that isn't vaporware. No I don't care what you say it's coming out soon damnit) to look forward to. Besides, the type of DLC they have been doing with Mario Kart and Hyrule Warriors has been pretty great in comparison to the most other DLC.

 

[xaszatm]

I would gladly pay for Hyrule Warriors: Empires.

Maybe Link returns to Soul Calibur?

Maybe a new Metroid game by the guys behind Wolfenstein: The New Order?



Know what I'd like? A new Pilotwings. Seriously. There's only been 2 games on the series. One on the SNES, the other a launch 3DS title.

Pilotwings 64 dude, Pilotwings 64. Turn in you gaming badge

I would be interested to see how western developers would handle a Nintendo IP (I don't really count Retro as Metroid is pretty western anyways and Donkey Kong hasn't been held by a Japanese company for its most famous entries).

 

[CaitSeith]

So what's going to happen next?
Link teaming up with the four horsemen (Darksiders)?
Samus fighting the Covenants and Fludd?
Fox McCloud and/or Donkey Kong teaming up with Kratos?
Lloyd Irwing and Shulk teaming up with the FinalFantasy crew?
Kirby eating Slenderman?
Captain Falco joining a team in Madden?

This is madness I tell you!!!
//sarcasm

Well seeing how well Hyrule Warrior turned out, this might get interesting!

Because of real-world intelectual property rules, those are very unlikely. But they really have to make sure of having strict QA over the second and third-party designers, or else we'll have another case of Hotel Mario or Zelda CDi.

 

[vid87]

I'm a bit hesitant since, while Hyrule Warriors was well-received, this is the same model that gave us Other M, but maybe if they're a bit more careful about who they farm out to we could get some interesting things that point tradition-bogged franchises in new directions.

Well, Other M's problems (the bloody story) wasn't really the fault of Team Ninja. That was all that one guy from Nintendo. There are a bunch of interviews with Team Ninja wanting to go in a different direction but it was stopped. Besdies, we still haev Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei (no, that isn't vaporware. No I don't care what you say it's coming out soon damnit) to look forward to. Besides, the type of DLC they have been doing with Mario Kart and Hyrule Warriors has been pretty great in comparison to the most other DLC.

Makes me wonder now what a full-fledged Mario title would be like with DLC - instead of releasing a clone every other year of the same iteration with only new maps and power-ups, they can keep to one game and introduce all that other stuff gradually. On the other hand, with Smash Bros. you have to own two versions of the same game just to get Mewtwo. It's nice for the faithful, but kind've trolling everyone else who's been waiting for him for years (I remember people being pissed when Marvel vs. Capcom 3 didn't have Megaman X so the developers just made him an alt skin for Zero).

 

[Hairless Mammoth]

I'm a little skeptical on this. Nintendo might be one of the swellest companies out there, games or otherwise, but they can still pull some moves that are either customer unfriendly (Wii codes, that Pokemon 2-pack that costs as much as both games) or plain stupid (see: Wii U launch window advertising or, yes, the Unholy Triforce deal with Philips). They could get a model going with outsourced devs making ports/remakes and spinoffs, while the main teams are making the polished rare main titles Big N is known for, or it could hurt the reputation, if one of those spinoffs is terrible. They will have to have at least a few big shots expending extra effort to watchover the 3rd parties, to make sure they don't make another Hotel Mario or Wand of Gamelon.

I'm a bit hesitant since, while Hyrule Warriors was well-received, this is the same model that gave us Other M, but maybe if they're a bit more careful about who they farm out to we could get some interesting things that point tradition-bogged franchises in new directions.

Well, Other M's problems (the bloody story) wasn't really the fault of Team Ninja. That was all that one guy from Nintendo. There are a bunch of interviews with Team Ninja wanting to go in a different direction but it was stopped. Besdies, we still haev Fire Emblem X Shin Megami Tensei (no, that isn't vaporware. No I don't care what you say it's coming out soon damnit) to look forward to. Besides, the type of DLC they have been doing with Mario Kart and Hyrule Warriors has been pretty great in comparison to the most other DLC.

Yes, Sakamoto was the one in charge of Other M. He wanted to be a part of everything, even the English localization. The wooden acting was because a non-English speaker was the voice director and wanted his culture's way of showing badassness by being boring to be used. He was also forced Team Ninja to only use the wiimote, in hopes they could come with something unique of out the challege, because the team working on the NES original faced a challege because of technical issues and they created the ice beam as the solution. Team Ninja did the best they could, but it's hard to cook a full Thanksgiving dinner when you're out in the woods with a few dried twigs, some berries, and a dead crow.

I guess the lesson there is Nintendo, as a whole, better watch they entire dev process, if they start handing out their IPs to a lot of third parties. Capcom's Zelda GB/GBA games were good, and Hyrule Warriors seems to be a hit. But Nintendo better set up a good cross check system to watch over each other, to make sure they don't get another Other M.