Nintendo lives off fads

The Wii

Amiibo's

Pokemon Go

Miitomo

Super Mario Run

NES Mini (it's not even a real NES, it just emulates the games and has a limited catalog)

Nintendo is STILL yet to show a competent online service free of friends codes comparable to PSN, XBL, or Steam. Voice chat and friend messaging is still NOT standard in 2016, I was doing this in 2002 on XBL, holy sh*t brahs.

Zelda which has been in the making for what seems like forever, is their FIRST full scale game on what one would consider next gen (7th gen standards).

The Wii U had a bunch of safe sidescrollers not even an exclusive Zelda, nor an F-Zero or Metroid. Why? Effort.

Remember people waited a year for the PS4/Xbox One to come out despite the Wii U launching and being the first new console after a long gen 7. Not even the first HD Nintendo console could spark the masses (both outsold Wii U in their first year despite Wii U having a year headstart), why should we believe The Switch will when it's not bringing a Wii like gimmick to the table?

Nintendo is about minimum effort for maximum gain and it's sad, hope they don't think The Switch is guaranteed to catch on. It's not.

Despite all the fads, they still have the best first party franchises/games.

They do?

Yes. Nintendo games are better than whatever it is you like the most.

I think so, their franchises are renown and well known.. and span back 30+ years.

List these "awesome" Nintendo comes that have come out from 2012 (Wii U launch) till now.

I'm talking present day Nintendo.

Yeah, they have a few good games but to say they blow away the competition today is insane. Nintendo is still playing catch up.

Look how poorly supported the Wii U was overall, it's the first Nintendo console to not have an exclusive Zelda.

List your favorite games and game companies first.

Yeah it helps them get by. But I don't care if Nintendo starts selling hotdogs as long as they continue making games I like.

I'd like to see a better Nintendo, but I can't really complain either.

Sega

NIntendo (pre-Wii)

MS

EA

Square

Epic Games

Sierra

THQ

Capcom (they're kind of suck now though)

Platinum

Team Ninja (with Itagaki)

are some of my favorite companies.

@charizard1605 is this lock worthy? There's no real discussion, just mindless Nintendo bashing.

The Wii is such a fad, that it still sold over 100 Million Units, NES Classic is a fad that Nintendo can't keep up with demand, Super Mario Run is such a fad that it just came out a day ago LOL! As for MiiTomo? LOL that wasn't even a game, just a social app that was pointless. As for Zelda? 7th gen standards? Stop believing in PR Marketing BS, because Zelda is as much an 8th gen game as Left 4 Dead 1 and 2 were 7th gen games despite using a 6th Gen engine.

During the Wii/DS and Wii U/3DS eras, I somewhat agree with that, but there have been some phenomenal games to back them up, like Xenoblade Chronicles, Mario Kart DS, Fire Emblem Awakening, Super Mario Galaxy 2, Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, and Advance Wars Dual Strike.

Wii U/3DS did not end up being a fad like the Wii, the Wii U was a failure and the 3DS wasn't popular for the 3D effect and had a really rough start so I disagree with those systems.

On the smartphone side of things, I do agree with Pokemon Go being a fad, but I see it more as a marketing device since it's not a good game IMO.

The Switch is well-received so far not because it's a fad, but rather because it is just better in concept and looks to be correcting a lot of Wii U's mistakes. Whether or not this remains true in the future is questionable, but it looks to be at a great start so far.

And yeah, Nintendo does have the best 1st party, thought that's not saying a whole lot lol.

And yet Nintendo is amazing. Please release Advance Wars Nintendo, we love thee.

Your list makes you seem like a internet parrot who likes what popularity dictates.

Nintendo expected the tablet craze to be the driving force behind the Wii U.

Hell, an Nintendo employee expected the Wii U to sell 100M + units.

The casuals had their Ipads and Iphones and were like, "I'm good".

Fads and good games

lol, yeah.

That's why I acknowledged that it was a failure, it was implemented terribly. No one wanted to use a cheaply made controller that isn't portable.

I do agree that Nintendo was arrogant with the Wii U after the Wii's success which is part of the reason why it sold so poorly. The casuals only cared about the Wii and aren't as loyal as the hardcore fans. Switch looks to be bringing those folks back.

The hardcore fans feel burned, the Wii U did not deliver overall in its lifespan. It's game library output is insanely low.

The Wii U tried to aim at the hardcore gamers once Nintendo realized the casual boom was over, but it was too late. Most jumped ship to Playstation, Xbox, or PC and those have much more developed infrastructures than what Nintendo offers. Why would people take the risk when the competition already offers everything? Mario Kart 8 nor Smash moved many Wii U units indicating that Nintendo's games don't have as much as appeal as they did in the past. Zelda Wii only sold 4 million units on an install base of 100m+ (the Wii), this was a flagship title.

Nintendo also has been out of the spotlight when it comes to big 3rd party games, think Bioshock, GTA, FIFA, Mass Effect since the Wii.

The casuals also left them, they never cared about the Wii. The Wii was the "hot" item to have in the media and people bought them similar to the reasons people buy a every new Iphone, because everybody else has one. The Wii's games sold to actual console sold ratio was atrocious. Once Wii Sports got old the Wii was tossed in many closets to never to be seen again.

All this ='s Wii U's sales.

@brah4ever: Smash and Mario Kart Wii U dont have much appeal yet theyre some of the most popular games this gen even with such small install bases? We dont even need 3DS to swat down such fly pestering.

Wii U sold less than 15 million, appeal my a*s.

@brah4ever: And yet they prevailed? Yet Nintendo games on Wii U sold good. Someone bought them. Someone made Nintendo proud.

Wii U has a higher game attach rate than Xbox One or PS4.

Probably because Wii U owners are game starved and have nothing else to play. It's the same effect but opposite factor effecting PC gaming. With PC, there is too much to play, so there is sometimes a lower player base on multiplat games compared to X1 or PS4.

It's all about saturation levels.

@FireEmblem_Man: Not yet, I kinda wanna see how deep they dig lol. It's amusing

Makes you wonder why they didnt buy no 2016 games then. There goes that weak theory.

Yeah, the Wii U has a miserable first party output compared to its predecessors.

The Wii U really didn't have an identity or focus, Nintendo's games were all over the place and were few and far between. Third parties hated it and thought it was a useless endeavor since it was difficult to develop for.

Mario Kart 8 sold really well given the circumstances, but wasn't enough to draw new folks in like you said. Skyward Sword did have low sales given the install base, but you could make the same argument regarding some of Sony's titles on PS4.

Agreed about them being out of the third party spotlight, but the fact that Bethesda, who laughed at the Wii U and haven't touched a Nintendo system in years, are heaping praise for it. I can see the Switch turning this around. Yes, I understand they abandoned ship with the Wii U, but that system was doomed from the get-go. Can't say the same about Switch.

I feel the same way about Wii Sports, it's a shallow game that doesn't have long-term appeal. January will be the true answer as to whether the Switch is a fad, but the rumors and advertising appear to say otherwise so far.

If you are not intelligent enough to find Nintendo games and their review scores, no one should waste the time it would take to make a long post like that.

@bowserjr123: People still play Wii Sports to this day. Youll see people pulling it out the closet to relive the glory days. They be like Wii U what? Its plays Wii Sports? What is this sorcery you speaketh of!

Okay, just checking! So far the OP is very lulz-worthy! I don't think he understand of the term "fad"

Xenoblade X is easily my game of this generation. Nothing fad about that game.

@brah4ever: Oh you are your favorite BuzzWord, fad! You also know nothing on why the NES Classic is selling

Oh hardcore gamers, which nothing stops not even contradictions, have been completely silent on the NES Mini sales blow-up.

Is the NES Mini sales about CASUAL GAMING?

They do not even dare go there. The games on the NES Mini are REAL GAMES. They are HARD GAMES too.

NES Minis are selling because of one thing: arcade classic Old School Gaming which is unavailable today in new games.

NES Mini is not selling because of marketing. There is no marketing.

NES Mini is not selling because of nostalgia. The console is going to kids.

NES Mini is not selling because of casual gamers. The games are very hard!

NES Mini discussion is only about the supply, but no one wants to talk about the demand.

Discussing the demand of the NES Mini will lead people to conclusions that are found on this webpage.

Nintendo keeps rejecting these conclusions to their detriment.

When the Wii sales blew up, was that a rejection of Gamecube-esque Nintendo? No! Nintendo thought it was about the marketing and ‘casual’ step up games.

When the New Super Mario Brothers DS and Wii completely stomped and destroyed 3d Mario, when NSMB Wii made Wii sell 4 million units in United States in December 2009, still an unbroken record, Nintendo’s reaction was: “We gotta make 3d Mario more like 2d Mario.” Hence the Super Mario 3d Land and 3d World which the market again rejected. Iwata pinned his greatest forecast on the 3d Mario ‘with 2d Mario stuff’ of 3d World and got royally shellacked.

With the NES Mini selling everywhere and people camping out for it, what will Nintendo’s response be? Will Nintendo finally realize that their current talent is crap? That no one likes them anymore? That people think Nintendo modern games suck? That people like Nintendo only due to Classic Nintendo, and not due to what they make today?

And where are the hardcore gamers? The NES Mini is the most hardcore game system out there. Yet, they are completely silent. Hypocrites all!

I called Pokemon a fad, 20 years ago. Nintendo has been laughing in my face on their way to the bank ever since.

Thing is though, the fad that's the systems capabilities don't really define the system as much, when I look at Switch all I see is a large beefy handheld. Whether the controllers detach is of no importance to me. The ability to play games on go or on the TV is cool though.

What? You might want to re-read what I wrote and the context in which it was written.

@The_Stand_In: I did, it doesnt explain why even though Wii U owners had nothing to play in 2016, the games that did release didnt sell good. How do you explain 2016's releases poor performances?

Donkey Kong Tropical Freeze, Bayonetta 2 and Xenoblade Chronicles, but yeah thats pretty much it, I agree with OP, ever since the Wii Nintendo has mostly been living off of fads, they haven't released as many quality games as they did back with the Gamecube (let alone N64 and SNES), which is a shame because in terms of first party Nintendo's quality is unmatched, Sony and MS first party games are TRASH in comparison to the likes of Metroid, Zelda and yes even Mario, too bad there is just so very few of them, especially to justify spending money on an entire system, I really think Nintendo should just go software and leave the console market, Pokemon GO has shown that Nintendo doesn't need hardware to succeed but instead pump out more quality games and take advantage of their franchise, and Pokemon GO wasn't even a good game! just IMAGINE what they could accomplish with a proper Pokemon MMORPG, I would be willing to bet the sales would exceed World of Warcraft! Their machines (while original and creative) just doesn't serve anything beneficial to gamers anymore, Nintendo doesn't need hardware, they can profit just as much or even MORE if they release their games on multiple platforms, especially on more popular platforms like smartphones, tablets and PCs.

Fad or not, Nintendo has their own niche in the market carved out and it's where they want to stay because they dominate it. It's also an affordable, higher profit margin market as well.

@Dark_sageX: The only thing Pokemon GO proved is that it helps sell 3DS's and Pokemon games like crazy. Try to find a 3DS right now on the internet.

The same could have been accomplished by developing a peripheral for smartphones or tablets, specifically a controller dock and a mini HDMI to HDMI cable to plug it on your TV, honestly I think Nintendo would have benefited more had they developed quality games on IOS, Android and Windows, Pokemon GO was such a bad game but even that game earned nintendo millions in profit, isn't that game the ultimate proof that Nintendo doesn't need hardware to sell their games and generate a massive amount of profit?

@Dark_sageX: Nintendo is benefited more if they do both. Trying to rig a phone up like a octopus would have complicated and scared people away. Why you think Apple hasnt done so yet.

And i dont see how Pokemon GO was a bad game and i dont even like mobile games. That game was sweet and got people outside and moving. Sure its no masterpiece, but you cant name a game on mobile that is.

@FLOPPAGE_50: "Despite all the fads, they still have the best first party franchises/games."

Maybe during the NES/SNES days?

Surprisingly it had a kind of opposite effect, people played Pokemon Go didn't sublimate their need to pick up a Nintendo device, instead it seemed to cause people to go pick up Nintendo 3DS handhelds instead. Pokemon Go's popularity caused a noticeable uptick in 3DS sales performance. A bit baffling if you ask me, but I guess it just did a great job giving Nintendo more positive name brand recognition, maybe it made people who've ignored Nintendo in recent years kind of bring back those warm fuzzy feelings of when they had better times with Nintendo, who knows, but people just decided to upgrade to a proper Nintendo device on their own accord.

I get what you're saying though, and honestly I think that's almost the only course Nintendo has left depending on what happens with the Switch. But Nintendo putting their games on a iOS/Android store is different than them making a meatier dedicated handheld system with proper 1st party and 3rd party support. The games are going to be different. There won't be the same kind of third party support.

Nintendo got pretty good 3rd party support on DS and 3DS from Japanese developers. Sony has no successor with the Vita so I'm hoping Japanese developers there come to support the Switch more too. But again, like you said, about the mobile market, I know smaller Japanese developers too are moving more and more in that mobile direction, I'm hoping the kind of Japanese 3rd party support I want for the Switch is still there and not going to skip on it to develop for mobile.

@PSP107: Smash Bros wasnt around then. But they were then too.

They also have Pokemon Sun/Moon. And other amazing first party software.

That doesn't make any sense, because the system has tons of games, both retail and digital to choose from, despite the lie all trolls like to use: "x system has NO GAMEZ".

It probably has more to do with Xbox One and PS4 being used for things other than gaming, and that casuals don't buy or play many games. Most of the people on my fl's only play a couple games per year, and use their systems as streaming devices.

Wii U was marketed to hardcore gamers and that's part of the reason why it failed.

The 3DS is absolutely brilliant. I think Nintendo are a fun company. They have novel ideas that dont always work but I'm always interested to see what they will do next.

@charizard1605: Its about Nintendo, don't worry, its going deep.

Nintendo relies on the strength of its IPs.

Fads or not, it doesnt change the fact that the stuff they make have high production values, and are generally excellent. While avoiding typical trends that are plaguing the gaming industry. I play Nintendo games because I dont like what the others offer.

RPGs: I play Pokemon because I dont like pre-defined protaginsts (**** The Witcher and 99% of jRPGs), I dont like Action RPG combat, I dont like Open Worlds that are Open for the sake of being Open.
TPS: I play Kid Icarus Uprising, because Health Regeneration is pure unadulturated cancer, and cover based shooting is even more insulting oh and so is piss poor enemy variety and the game dictating what guns you should use at every point.

Basically, I stuck to Nintendo, not necessarily because they were great, but because everyone else in the AAA industry put the bar so low. I mostly moved on to AA and indie devs.