... And characters is that they DO exist, and have done since the days of the NES.
The key point to remember is quite simply that most new games and characters just don't become proper series due to failing miserably in sales and overall popularity.
Think about it, let's look at the new series that have done quite well recently (from Nintendo)
Animal Crossing (in the West, since it was a Gamecube era series over here. In Japan, it had a Nintendo 64 game)
Wii (series in general)
Pikmin
Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents
Golden Sun
But then we have those that didn't do well at all:
FlingSmash
Doshin the Giant
Odama
Glory of Heracles
GiFTPiA
That did average
Chibi Robo
Another Code
1080°
Wave Race
Custom Robo
And those are just some of them. Nintendo has published and made all kind of obscure games, many of which never left Japan and never got the chance to be a franchise. Back in the old days we had a series called 'For the Frog the Bell Tolls'. Anyone remember that? Thought not.
Heck, for that matter, if it wasn't for Smash Bros, I don't think many would still care about the Ice Climbers series. As for Balloon Fight, I bet few people care about the Balloon Kid sequel, and the poorly did game starring Tingle from the Legend of Zelda series.
For more modern examples, remember Geist and Eternal Darkness? They never exactly caught on, did they?
I think a lot of people just fail to realise that Nintendo aren't hesitant to make new series and one offs starring lesser known new characters, it's just most fail so miserably no one's ever heard of them. Those who complain Nintendo is 'milking' series should you know... look for some of these more obscure games and series Nintendo makes (even on import sites) and actually try them.
Anyone agree?
The key point to remember is quite simply that most new games and characters just don't become proper series due to failing miserably in sales and overall popularity.
Think about it, let's look at the new series that have done quite well recently (from Nintendo)
Animal Crossing (in the West, since it was a Gamecube era series over here. In Japan, it had a Nintendo 64 game)
Wii (series in general)
Pikmin
Ouendan/Elite Beat Agents
Golden Sun
But then we have those that didn't do well at all:
FlingSmash
Doshin the Giant
Odama
Glory of Heracles
GiFTPiA
That did average
Chibi Robo
Another Code
1080°
Wave Race
Custom Robo
And those are just some of them. Nintendo has published and made all kind of obscure games, many of which never left Japan and never got the chance to be a franchise. Back in the old days we had a series called 'For the Frog the Bell Tolls'. Anyone remember that? Thought not.
Heck, for that matter, if it wasn't for Smash Bros, I don't think many would still care about the Ice Climbers series. As for Balloon Fight, I bet few people care about the Balloon Kid sequel, and the poorly did game starring Tingle from the Legend of Zelda series.
For more modern examples, remember Geist and Eternal Darkness? They never exactly caught on, did they?
I think a lot of people just fail to realise that Nintendo aren't hesitant to make new series and one offs starring lesser known new characters, it's just most fail so miserably no one's ever heard of them. Those who complain Nintendo is 'milking' series should you know... look for some of these more obscure games and series Nintendo makes (even on import sites) and actually try them.
Anyone agree?