Nintendo - Innovators Stuck in the Past

If you’ve clicked onto this post, it’s probably more than likely that you’ve heard of Nintendo before.  One of the longest-running gaming companies in the world, Nintendo remain the strange outcast of the gaming family, left out of any conversation that involves PlayStation and XBox.  Nintendo’s innovation focuses on a very different area than that of the “Big Two”, where innovation often comes in the form of introducing something different to the industry, rather than on improved graphics to mirror realism as seen by the achievements of both the PS5 and the XBox Series X.

And no, the title of this blog is not clickbait in any way.  I fully believe that Nintendo are a company that rely so heavily on the past that it can be off-putting for some consumers, and this is a conclusion I will be backing up heavily throughout.  In the next 2500 words or so, I’ll be looking at Nintendo as a company as a whole, trying to ignore the differences between them and other major players, looking only at the strategies the company have deployed mainly in the last five years.

A lot of people in my generation will associate Nintendo with their childhood, and the same really applies to me.  When I was in Primary School (between the age of 5-11), the Nintendo DS was one of the biggest consoles amongst children that age.  Games such as Mario Kart, and *New* Super Mario Bros were talked about endlessly at school, and on the last day of term, I have a distinct memory of 8 of us joining forces to race against each other on Mario Kart local multiplayer.  These were truly great times, and the kind of experience you just don’t get anymore.

Nintendo consoles have been a constant in my life since the DS when I was young.  Me and my sister got a Nintendo Wii at Christmas, and we sank hours and hours into Mario Kart Wii, and Wii Sports.  I actually didn’t get a Wii U, although the less said about that console the better (it is an unavoidable topic that must be brought up later however), but do have a Switch , which I use rather infrequently as my attention is more drawn towards my PS5.  Many of Nintendo’s main franchises remain my favourite, and I’ve previously discussed my love for Zelda.  This is a company whose games and consoles I have grown up with, so I am not a Nintendo hater by any means.

But enough about me, let’s look at Nintendo themselves.  Formed in 1889, Nintendo Karuta, as it was initially known, was a company that made and distributed handmade playing cards, before starting to transition in the late 1960s and 1970s into gaming.  In 1981, they released the world famous Donkey Kong, introducing the world to one of the most beloved games characters in the world, Mario (who was initially called Jumpman when the game came out, an original name for sure…).  Donkey Kong was a huge hit for this new Nintendo, and four years later they would release the Nintendo Entertainment System (or NES for short) in America.  The NES would birth The Legend of Zelda, and Super Mario Bros, two of Nintendo’s most beloved franchises.

Following on from the huge success of the NES, Nintendo developed their first handheld console, the Gameboy, and the SNES (Super Nintendo Entertainment System).  This would begin Nintendo’s strategy of releasing a handheld, and a mainline console at the same time, a trend that would continue until the release of the Switch (some would argue that the Switch acts as both, and therefore the strategy hasn’t changed, but I’ll leave you to decide where you stand on this point).

The next five year period (lasting from 1993-1998) saw Nintendo release the Nintendo 64 as a mainline console, alongside the Virtual Boy, and the Gameboy Colour.  It was in this era that the first Pokemon games were developed and released, and these proved to be a huge hit, selling 31.37 million units!  The Nintendo 64 was also home to some of the biggest Nintendo titles of all time, namely Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, and GoldenEye 007.  This was where the Golden Generation of Nintendo began, and Nintendo would strive on from this era with huge confidence as a unique seller in the gaming industry.

The new Millennium would see a new era, with the Gameboy Advanced and the GameCube hitting shelves in 1999.  I firmly believe that the GameCube was a hugely under-rated console, and this was reflected in its sales, managing just 21.7 million sales in its 6 years of production, which was significantly lower than its predecessors.  I remember playing Mario Kart: Double Dash on my Uncle’s GameCube (a lot of my interest in gaming has come directly from him so shout-out Uncle Stephen, what a guy), and absolutely loving it, as well as The Legend of Zelda: The Windwaker.  This would be a largely forgotten era, but only because of how iconic the next one was.

2004-2009 was the GOAT of the console generations for Nintendo, as it was here that they would release the Nintendo DS and the Nintendo Wii, two consoles that showed the full nature of Nintendo’s ability to be HUGE innovators in the gaming industry.  The Nintendo DS remains one of my favourite consoles that I’ve owned, with the two screen set-up and my first experience with a touch screen.  And the Wii was a marvel.  Playing tennis with a swinging controller, and trying not to smash the face of the person playing beside you was an experience we hadn’t seen before.  I only have happy memories when I think about these consoles, and I’m sure Nintendo do too, as combined these consoles sold a disgustingly high total of 255 million units!

The next era saw innovation go further, but not to a high degree of success.  Between 2010-2016, Nintendo released the 3DS and the Wii U, to a varying degree of success.  The 3DS was a really interesting piece of technology, with the top screen having the ability to display 3D picture without the use of 3D glasses.  This was a nice feature, although the release of the 2DS in 2013 showed that, in reality, this was often more of a gimmick than anything else.  I got a 3DS myself, and I found myself only ever using the 3D picture on odd occasions.  It was more the games that were released on the 3DS, than the innovation itself that attracted me to the console.

The Wii U on the other hand, was a total disaster for Nintendo, and it remains the worst selling Nintendo console of all time.  The design was clunky, and it was a largely uninspiring successor to the Wii.  At the time of its release, the Wii U was coming out a year before the PS4 and XBox One, and the attitude of the industry had changed.  More younger gamers were looking for the best quality graphics, and great multiplayer features, over “cute” games.  Nintendo had to ensure that their next console would see a bounce back, and against all odds, they delivered.

The arrival of the Switch in 2017 proved once again that when it comes to innovation in the industry, Nintendo remain the boldest when it comes to the hardware they release.  The Switch is a 2-in-1 console, where you can play it as a handheld console, and as a console plugged into  your TV.  The technology behind it is astounding, and this bold move paid off, with Nintendo selling 55 million units before March 2020 (and I know for a fact that during the lockdowns here in the UK the Switch was selling like hotcakes.  You couldn’t get one anywhere).  

After that overly long history lesson, it might seem as though my leading statement is just totally irrelevant.  So far, I have demonstrated to you that Nintendo are some of the best innovators in the gaming industry, with a bold two console strategy and consoles that no other company had ever dared to release to the mainstream market.  But that’s not where the issue lies with Nintendo.  I feel that one of their biggest issues has been slowly creeping in over the last 15 years or so, and my hope is that you understand the point of view I will be taking.  

None of the criticisms I’ll be making will be levelled towards the graphics of Nintendo’s games, or anything of that nature, as I feel that Nintendo occupy a unique space in the industry where “realistic graphs” just aren’t part of Nintendo’s ethos.  They’ve always developed games with a really vibrant and fun art style, something that sets these games apart from others.  Most of my criticism comes from looking at the franchises Nintendo own themselves, and what they’ve done with these franchises.

Currently Nintendo have fourteen mainline franchises that they produce games for.  These are Mario, The Legend of Zelda, Kirby, Super Smash Bros, Animal Crossing, Fire Emblem, Kid Icarus, Metroid, Pikmin, Punch-Out, Splatoon, Star Fox, Pokemon, and Xenoblade Chronicles (for comparison Sony have produced over 30 first party franchises in the same time period).  Mario as a franchise could be sub-categorised into many further franchises, as could Pokemon, and for a period of time we would get a new Mario or Pokemon game every year.

I want to focus specifically on the release strategy of The Legend of Zelda since the Nintendo 3DS, which for me highlights the biggest issue that Nintendo has, and that is their over reliance on remasters or remakes.  One of Nintendo’s greatest weaknesses is that their consoles don’t provide any sort of backwards compatibility, a feature that is highly prevalent on PlayStation and XBox.  Simply put, it’s pretty much an industry standard these days, and provides players with experiences they may have missed out on in previous console generations.  Nintendo recently have become the masters of charging between £50-£60 for remasters of games that came out on the previous Nintendo console.

For me, the best example of this comes from the 3DS era of Zelda, where the following Zelda games were released: Ocarina of Time 3D, Majora’s Mask 3D, and A Link Between Worlds.  Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask are both remasters/remakes of the beloved N64 titles that came out in the late 90s, and A Link Between Worlds, which while it is an original title in the franchise, largely acts as a remake of A Link to the Past, following almost every major story beat that A Link to the Past had to offer.  In my view, then, it feels as though there wasn’t a single original title released on the 3DS.  This might be harsh from me, and I’m interested to hear your thoughts  

 At the same time, the Nintendo Wii had two original titles on it: Twilight Princess, and Skyward Sword.  These were two huge titles in the franchise, both having a varying degree of success, but this ultimately meant that the 3DS was starved of original titles (I should add that having Ocarina of Time on the 3DS was quite simply superb, and it allowed a new generation of fans to appreciate quite possibly one of the best games ever made).  Skyward Sword was a true innovation in the Zelda franchise, where the motion based controls were designed to make the player feel as though they could truly play as Link.  This was a move that was risky, and didn’t necessarily play out the way Nintendo would have hoped, but the willingness to try something new was something that can’t go unnoticed.

The Wii U was a bit all over the place when it came to Zelda releases.  Up until the very end of its lifespan, not a single original Zelda title had been released on the Wii U, with the only other releases being “HD” versions of Twilight Princess and The Windwaker, both of which were charged at full price, and released just 10 years after the original came out.  It sounds awfully familiar now that I think about it, doesn't it Naughty Dog…?

It would be when Breath of the Wild released, that we would understand why it had been such a long wait for a new title, with the game releasing on both the Wii U and the Switch, it was arguably one of the best open world games ever made, and once again, showed Nintendo’s intent to continue innovating within their franchises (we’ve seen this also with Mario Odyssey and Pokemon Legends: Arceus, two fresh and new ideas brought to age-old franchises).

The size of these new entries has meant that Nintendo’s usual fast entry schedule has had to slow down, with Tears of the Kingdom coming out in 2023 signifying a six year gap between new iterations into the Zelda franchise (I am deliberately ignoring Hyrule Warriors, as this is not a mainline entry in the The Legend of Zelda franchise).  In between times we have seen a remake of Link’s Awakening (this is an example of a true remake of an old game), and a remaster of Skyward’s Sword, both of which were sold at full price.  I personally am not a fan of this, and therefore, if we look at the last ten Zelda releases, there have been just four original releases (and I’m including a Link Between Worlds in that number).  Please bear in mind that all of these games have been releasing at full price, so we’re looking at 40% new releases, to 60% remakes or remasters.  Stuck in the past?  I would argue there is an over reliance on the past.

The same can be said with Mario, looking only to the Switch to see that there has been one original mainline release, alongside a new Mario Kart and Mario Party, accompanied by a port of Super Mario 3D World, and the controversial limited release of Super Mario 3D All-Stars which included ports of Super Mario 64, Super Mario Sunshine, and Super Mario Galaxy.  I would argue that on other consoles, these are the types of games that would be available on a collection of older games available on a subscription model (looking at the catalogue of PS1, PS2 and older games available on the PS Plus system).  Nintendo do have a similar feature available through their Nintendo Online system, however this is way behind other similar ideas in the industry.

Overall, I think as consumers, we don’t call out companies on some of the extortionate prices that we see for remasters or remakes, and with Nintendo, the reliance on these to get through dry patches in their release schedule is something I feel shouldn’t be ignored.  There are rumours that Nintendo will release Twilight Princess HD and The Windwaker HD onto the Switch at some stage, which I personally would love, however I feel that these games should be available automatically from the Wii U on backwards compatibility.  Those who own the game from the Wii U should have the ability to play those games on the Switch - the technology isn’t overly difficult, nor new, and it means that those who have the games on the Wii U don’t have to buy the same game on the Switch for a second time. This practice needs to stop.

As for Nintendo themselves, I think it’s clear that they remain some of the biggest innovators in the industry, constantly pushing the boat out on their new releases as they explore just what’s possible with the technology we have access to today.  But their incessant need for releasing remasters and remakes gives me the impression that in some ways, they are a company somewhat stuck in the past, always looking to cash-in from some of their most popular games in history.  Therefore, I feel that the title of this post is entirely justified by the points I’ve brought forward to you.  I look forward to seeing what crazy and ground-breaking ideas Nintendo come up with next, but I ultimately hope that we start to see less of the full-price remaster releases in the future, with the next console supporting backwards compatibility (please Nintendo please).