In all their years of console and game making, it's obvious they made some mistakes in terms of what types of games to release, when to release them and various things regarding the design and features of their consoles. So what things do you think they did wrong?
In my opinion, here are some things I think Nintendo messed up on:
1. Not focusing on online play soon enough. Maybe it's a Japanese thing since the internet is somewhat less important over there, but if Nintendo were on top of things, they'd have added online functionality to at least the Gamecube, and ideally even the Nintendo 64.
Instead, they stuck with somewhat stupid gimmicks that had little appeal outside of being novelties (like Game Boy connectivity, or the DK bongoes or various other things) and lost the market for online games to their competitors.
2. Pushing Dragon Quest too much. They should have accepted that outside of Japan, Final Fantasy was beating it by a massive margin and concentrated on that series instead. But no, they keep releasing more and more Dragon Quest games outside Japan and let the more popular franchise end up on the Playstation. Just admit it Nintendo, Westerners don't want Dragon Quest.
3. Wii Music. Should have been obvious that a game with no real focus wasn't going to be a system seller. Obviously not for Nintendo. From what I hear the game's problems came from two things, it didn't have a real main mode/gameplay engine (Nintendo probably forgot that people don't play the likes of Rock Band/Guitar Hero to make their own music, but to play along to already existing stuff), and lacklustre content (admittedly, it's not easy to make a music game if you're not in the music industry due to rights, but they could have made up for it by including tunes from Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, etc).
4. A lack of good games in 2008 for the christmas season. Wii Music was a bust (due to being a poorly made game), and I'm not sure what the other system sellers were meant to be. Animal Crossing City Folk? Maybe a bad idea for a home console game. Wario Land Shake It? Was never going to sell consoles (no offence, the series is good, but it's not exactly killer app material)
5. Not releasing a 2D Mario game between Yoshi's Island and New Super Mario Bros. Self explanatory.
6. Going a bit too 'kid friendly' in the Gamecube era. Yes it had the most 'mature' third party games, but you have to admit for about half its lifespan Nintendo was basically making every mainstream series bar Metroid for kids and fans of cute things first and foremost. Super Mario Sunshine is good, but the marketing was terrible and made it look like a 'kids' game with no adult appeal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnNaJ-RzLrI
As for The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker, it was a great game, but probably not what the Gamecube needed. If it'd had came out as a second Zelda game on the console, great. Maybe as a Wii title it would have done a bit better. But when Nintendo was competing with companies boasting about how all their games were 'mature' and painting Nintendo as a kids company or outdated? Toon stylings didn't help Nintendo's case.
7. The 3DS's launch titles. Really, relying on third parties is probably the worst idea you can think of for a console's launch, because they both have to be confident enough to release games for a console with no guaranteed user base and have the game ready by the release date. First one's the killer, it's like making an empty forum and expecting people to start posting in it without there being any content to draw them in to begin with. I also think Nintendo was naive and expected the DS brand to basically sell the system without games...
Should have waited about three months and released with at least Ocarina of Time 3D as a launch title, maybe with Mario 3D Land out there as quickly as possible. Would have nicely mirrored the DS too, which launched with Mario 64 DS with New Super Mario Bros coming quite shortly afterwards.
So what mistakes do you think Nintendo made in the past, and how could they have fixed them?
In my opinion, here are some things I think Nintendo messed up on:
1. Not focusing on online play soon enough. Maybe it's a Japanese thing since the internet is somewhat less important over there, but if Nintendo were on top of things, they'd have added online functionality to at least the Gamecube, and ideally even the Nintendo 64.
Instead, they stuck with somewhat stupid gimmicks that had little appeal outside of being novelties (like Game Boy connectivity, or the DK bongoes or various other things) and lost the market for online games to their competitors.
2. Pushing Dragon Quest too much. They should have accepted that outside of Japan, Final Fantasy was beating it by a massive margin and concentrated on that series instead. But no, they keep releasing more and more Dragon Quest games outside Japan and let the more popular franchise end up on the Playstation. Just admit it Nintendo, Westerners don't want Dragon Quest.
3. Wii Music. Should have been obvious that a game with no real focus wasn't going to be a system seller. Obviously not for Nintendo. From what I hear the game's problems came from two things, it didn't have a real main mode/gameplay engine (Nintendo probably forgot that people don't play the likes of Rock Band/Guitar Hero to make their own music, but to play along to already existing stuff), and lacklustre content (admittedly, it's not easy to make a music game if you're not in the music industry due to rights, but they could have made up for it by including tunes from Mario, Legend of Zelda, Pokemon, etc).
4. A lack of good games in 2008 for the christmas season. Wii Music was a bust (due to being a poorly made game), and I'm not sure what the other system sellers were meant to be. Animal Crossing City Folk? Maybe a bad idea for a home console game. Wario Land Shake It? Was never going to sell consoles (no offence, the series is good, but it's not exactly killer app material)
5. Not releasing a 2D Mario game between Yoshi's Island and New Super Mario Bros. Self explanatory.
6. Going a bit too 'kid friendly' in the Gamecube era. Yes it had the most 'mature' third party games, but you have to admit for about half its lifespan Nintendo was basically making every mainstream series bar Metroid for kids and fans of cute things first and foremost. Super Mario Sunshine is good, but the marketing was terrible and made it look like a 'kids' game with no adult appeal:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NnNaJ-RzLrI
As for The Legend of Zelda The Wind Waker, it was a great game, but probably not what the Gamecube needed. If it'd had came out as a second Zelda game on the console, great. Maybe as a Wii title it would have done a bit better. But when Nintendo was competing with companies boasting about how all their games were 'mature' and painting Nintendo as a kids company or outdated? Toon stylings didn't help Nintendo's case.
7. The 3DS's launch titles. Really, relying on third parties is probably the worst idea you can think of for a console's launch, because they both have to be confident enough to release games for a console with no guaranteed user base and have the game ready by the release date. First one's the killer, it's like making an empty forum and expecting people to start posting in it without there being any content to draw them in to begin with. I also think Nintendo was naive and expected the DS brand to basically sell the system without games...
Should have waited about three months and released with at least Ocarina of Time 3D as a launch title, maybe with Mario 3D Land out there as quickly as possible. Would have nicely mirrored the DS too, which launched with Mario 64 DS with New Super Mario Bros coming quite shortly afterwards.
So what mistakes do you think Nintendo made in the past, and how could they have fixed them?
