How would you end one of Nintendo's franchises

[RatRace123]

Mario- Bowser manages to win. And not win like in Paper Mario where he merely knocked Mario off the monkey bars forcing him to start climbing up again. I mean win in the sense that Mario gets beaten really badly and has to stay in hiding for years to recover his strength and nerve, and all that time the koopa forces take over the mushroom kingdom.
But Bowser realizes that life in victory is boring, and when a new threat draws Mario out of hiding, he gladly joins his old foe in defeating it.
But in the end Bowser must pull a heroic sacrifice to save the Mushroom Kingdom and his own clan. His inspiring act of bravery finally draws the endless conflict between the Mushroom Kingdom and the Koopas, and they try to find a common ground and live together as both their kingdoms rebuild.

Zelda- We have a LoZ set in the future, and Link comes close to defeating Ganon, but he sends Link back in time, back to the very beginning where he must team up with all his past selves and gather an army of Links to fight back Ganon, who also tries recruiting an army of his past selves as well as combine the forces of all the Zelda villains since then.
Going throughout the time periods, the Links gather their strengths and even manage to rescue a few Zeldas and recruit them into the army.
The game ends in the fields of Hyrule, of the time period of the Next Link after the future Link whom we play as in this game. Ganon plots to kill future future Link and rule this time period. And it comes down to an all out battle as the army of Links and Zeldas versus Ganon's army of basically every evil Zelda thing ever.
Eventually the forces of good triumph over the forces of evil and yadda yadda. It still leaves the story open but basically it makes sure that there's not really much left to go to after this.
Oh and the CDI Links and the one from the 80s Cartoon also appear.

 

[Zhadramekel]

End Pokemon by having an in-game PETA-like organization that brainwashes everyone into thinking that capturing animals in tiny balls and making them fight each other is actually a bad thing.

So basically an honest Team Plasma?

 

[Batou667]

How I would kill a Nintendo franchise (hypothetically)

Well, let's start with Mario. I suppose I'd try to slowly milk the franchise to death by releasing incremental updates and countless re-releases, while only making true sequels (disappointing ones, mind you) once in a blue moon. Surely the fans wouldn't stand for that! If I really wanted to hammer the nail into the coffin, I suppose I'd make Mario star in half-assed games that also feature his has-been nemesis, Sonic.

Zelda: I suppose first I'd make the franchise a laughing-stock by licensing the IP to CD-i, then I'd lose half of the existing fanbase by making Zelda cel-shaded, and then I'd annoy the fans by drip-feeding them nothing but graphical updates and re-releases for the next 10 years. (Maybe we should release an alternate-reality game where Zelda is a girl?)

Metroid: Easy, I'd whore out the IP and let them give her an annoying voice.

Perfect Dark (and also Rare, the only 3rd Party dev who ever did anything good for us) - I'd probably do something crazy and impulsive, like let them jump ship to one of our biggest competitors.

Yup, purely hypothetically, I'd do something like that.

OH, WAIT.

 

[Worgen]

I would end zelda with zelda, link and gannon teaming up to take out the goddesses, like half the game would be the standard zelda game but then the other half would be them realizing they are playing the same roles over and over and being manipulated by the goddess so they set out together to deal with her to stop the cycle.

That would actually be pretty epic. It would give all three main characters the chance to grow outside their archetypes by taking up a common cause.

Yeah, I would even have the point when they find out they are just puppets in a never ending cycle be the point when link gets a voice, since that is the point when he is not just a player character, he becomes his own character, maybe even make him aware of something directly controlling him, that isn't just the goddess. Hmm, that would be really interesting, having him trying to find a way to escape the players control but having to be really subtle about it so they player doesn't realize he is trying to break it.

 

[Brandon Murnane]

for pokemon: come out with a colossal game that has all the regions up to date. customize your own character, so YOU are in the story. call it pokemon Spectrum. you pick a region to start out in, and as you beat your starting region, you travel to the next one over, and go full circle through all the regions. you take down an organization called (whatever) that has a branch of power in each region. after collecting all 8 badges and defeating the branch of power in that region, you face the regions elite 4. after doing this for all 5 regions, collecting all 40 badges, beating all 5 branches of power, and beating all the elite 4 groups, you then take on the evil organizations leader, and main branch of power. after finally shutting down this super organization, you face a group called The World Elite 4. the 4 best trainers in the world, plus the world champion. and to really make the game worth it, make it hack proof. no cheats for rare candies, 9999 everything, etc;

finally fulfill your dreams. become THE champion.

 

[CrystalShadow]

To end Zelda (not saying I'd want that all), I would have the game be about the last Link who has memories and abilities of all the past Links. As for the baddie, it would have to be Ganondorf so we could finally kill him off permanently and maybe wishing for the Triforce never to be used again. While I'm at it, re-unite the split timeline. Also, imply that Link actually gets some from Zelda.

Gannon has died permanently at least twice. Problem is they just make a prequel/alternate timeline and start all over again.

I think it's high time Link had a heroic reincarnation as a female.

Lol. I've had an idea for about 10 years now, but a combination of lazyness and fear of being sued has prevented me ever trying to build it.

I called it "The missing link". Originally it was partially involved with a plot that connects Ocarina of Time to Wind Waker. (In other words it's related to the opening of Wind Waker in which the hero never shows up, and the people beg the goddess to do something. - As a result it would end with the entire world being flooded.)

That storyline issue aside, I wanted to design it as a 3-part game, in which the first part you play as Zelda, trying to figure out what's happened to the hero she keeps having dreams about.

Also, Hyrule is at war with another kingdom, and you have to spend most of the game disguising yourself to avoid anyone realising you're the princess. (People's reactions vary depending on what you're wearing)

(I figure you start with her in the castle, and go around doing the usual weird stuff Zelda games seem to start with.

Just to mess with people, zelda has sword-fighting lessons, but doesn't actually use a sword at all during the game outside of the lessons themselves.)

So zelda goes through a series of dungeons trying to find clues and information about where this hero has gotten to... (Like each dungeon has a sage of some kind with the ability to help answer such questions)

(She has to sneak out of the city in disguise to make this happen)

You get through about 4 dungeons... And in the last one you get captured.

Next part... You now get to see what happened to Link. You start out in a typical way, but almost immediately get captured by the army, and taken to the other kingdom.

You manage to escape, fight your way through a couple of dungeons, and end up in the same dungeon zelda ended up in. (Both these sections overlap, so you see the same dungeons from different angles, and in different orders...)

You defeat the boss in this dungeon and rescue Zelda...

And then you get into the 3rd section of the game which is a 2 player coop setup. Which you can play as either zelda or link, (or obviously both with two players)

Note that I came up with this idea before 4 swords existed.

Anyway, the remaining dungeons are all coop, and Zelda & link have quite differing abilities, so you have to solve puzzles together, one player can only get into certain areas, while the other can only get into others, and so on...

Dungeons aside, the war going on alongside this escalates, and everything goes pretty badly, and you end up with most of the world being more or less destroyed, though link and zelda survive - along with some others, and this then more or less ties together with the plotline from wind waker.

But anyway... As much as I like the idea, I'd rather not get sued.

At times I've tried to figure out if there's any way I could adapt the idea, but I think it's too tied up with the way the Legend of Zelda series is set up to really hold much meaning if it diverges enough to not look like an obvious rip-off.

Anyway, I just thought it was somewhat amusing.

 

[mireko]

Mario: It turns out that all the characters are Mario wearing different wigs, hats, costumes and shells, and that he's been driven insane by living on a secret prison asteroid just past the moon. In the end, he does cocaine and fights a bear.

Zelda: Everyone plays a stupid flute.

Metroid: Samus finally completes her quest to kill Hitler in the past, and through some political trickery (and futuristic technology) installs herself as the ruler of Europe.

Pokemon: POKEMON BACKWARDS IS NOMEKOP.


(I may not have played all of these games)

 

[Manji187]

You know Old Snake from MGS4?

That, except with Samus Aran.

That's gonna be one tough old hag xD.

 

[Baron von Blitztank]

Best way to end the Mario series:

Toad: Mario! Bowser has kidnapped Princess Peach again! You must rescue her!
Mario: You know what? Fuck this! How about you rescue her and then tell that stupid whore that she's on her own from now on! I am fucking done with this!

*Mario punches Toad in the stomach, goomba stomps him in the balls and then leaves to return to reality*

 

[bluegate]

I would end zelda with zelda, link and gannon teaming up to take out the goddesses, like half the game would be the standard zelda game but then the other half would be them realizing they are playing the same roles over and over and being manipulated by the goddess so they set out together to deal with her to stop the cycle.

This would make for a very interesting plottwist indeed... I would love to see something akin to this happen.

 

[Smeggs]

Link, the young man who has grown up as the prince of a vast kingdom.

Finds himself in a mismatched friendship with a street urchin named Zelda.

Turns out Zelda is the last in an ancient bloodline of nobility that once ruled the lost land known as Hyrule.

Dark forces attack Link's kingdom, destroying everything in an attempt to capture the triforce holders.

Link and Zelda manage to escape with the help of Link's father the king after he gives them a crytpic message.

ALL ADVENTURE FITS HERE.

Eventually Link and Zelda find the ancient land of Hyrule.

After a massive series of story, you have found out the dark force is none other than Ganondorf.

Cue final epic fight scene on top of a partly collapsed tower of Hyrule castle.

Call upon the Godesses using the Triforce fragments you found, the Goddesses send Ganondorf to the void and then shatter the Triforce permanantly, the power of the objects returning to them.

/Zelda.

Or something like that. That's the first idea that came to mind.