Terrible puns aside, in a recent Nintendo Direct broadcast, Nintendo announced a new Legend of Zelda game for the 3DS that “takes place in the same world as A Link to the Past.” The game uses a polygonal take on the top-down perspective and art style of the SNES classic, takes advantage of the 3D capabilities of the system using vertical dungeon design, and adds an interesting mechanic where you can become a wall drawing that can move along walls to cross gaps, round corners, or just get a different perspective of the area.
The game looks promising, but what does it say that Nintendo is directly tying this game to a specific successful entry in the franchise? Is it not enough that this is a Zelda game (putting most Nintendo fans on board automatically) that they have to pull a desperate move to tug on the nostalgic parts of our brains to bring in more sales?
The other big announcements from the broadcast included a remake of a reboot of the Donkey Kong Country franchise and the long awaited release of Earthbound on the virtual console platform. Interestingly enough all of the announcements seemed to revolve around SNES games. Is Nintendo stuck in the past and unable to move forward with new franchises, forever doomed to rely on our nostalgia with well-worn characters and gameplay formulas?
As a Nintendo fan, I have noticed this trend as well. Instead of taking risks by coming up with brand new game ideas, Nintendo seems to be obsessed with playing it safe by updating tried-and-true classic games for modern hardware. When the 3DS orginially came out, I remember that many of the major release titles were actually just old N64 games with better graphics and 3D stereoscopic vision. The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Star Fox 64 were two such games. These games were great for the N64, but why do we need to experience them all over again on the 3DS? Why can’t Nintendo create new worlds and new characters for the 3DS as they originally did with N64? I agree with you that Nintendo seems to be stuck in the past. This nostalgic approach may be a huge cash cow for Nintendo, but I am thinking that Nintendo’s audience must gradually be getting tired of all these mediocre titles.
Probably the most innovative Nintendo title I’ve heard of recently is Lego City Undercover. However, Lego City Undercover isn’t even developed by Nintendo. It’s developed by TT Fusion. Also, you could argue that it’s nothing more than a highly sophisticated clone of Grand of Theft Auto for children. Nintendo needs to stop focusing all their efforts on silly hardware gimmicks and start doing what they used to do best: create original game franchises that are fun to play. I always admired Nintendo for focusing much more on the mechanics, aesthetics, and story of games than on the technology. However, now-a-days, Nintendo seems to investing everything into technology without any real substance. I miss the Nintendo of old.