What Nintendo should do...

[Thorn84]

Nintendo isn't going anywhere any time soon.  But I agree with shenske.  I've had that same exact thought multiple times!

I also think it would be cool if they were to re-release carts as compilation carts.  Imagine an NES Cart with Legend of Zelda and Zelda II on one cart.  Or all 3 Super Mario Bros.  Or Limited edition, special box, blah blah, but I really think people would buy those up like crazy.

[TDIRunner]

I truly don't get all the "Nintendo is killing themselves" that people give out.  Wii was the top selling console of its generation.  Their games are still just flat-out fun.  Yeah, so-called "Hardcore Gamers" have went to PS3 and 360... but in my mind, FPS and sports titles does not define "Hardcore gaming"

Ah well, to each their own I suppose.

The Wii was the best of its generation because it was designed to NOT compete against the competition.  It was so different from the PS3 and 360 that most people bought one in addition to either the PS3 or 360.  That was the first generation where it was extremely common for most people to have at least two of the current gen systems.  You could argue all day about whether the PS3 or 360 was the best.  But the Wii was so different you couldn’t compare it.  Basically, after the less than stellar Game Cube, Nintendo saved itself by reinventing the wheel.

With that said, once the PS3 and 360 added their Move and Kinect add-ons, the Wii lost a lot of its uniqueness.  This is even more apparent in the current gen systems as the Wii U just doesn’t stand out against the competition.  The current sales tell it all as the PS4 and Xbox One EACH sold more consoles in their first few months than the Wii U did in its first year.  As a huge Nintendo fan, this pains me to say it, but unfortunately that’s how I see it. 

[Bear78]

i do think they should make a 3DS/DS player for the wii U.

This!  I can't believe they haven't done this.  It seems like a no brainer.  There is already a huge software library for the DS and a growing one for the 3DS.  They have done this in the past with the GB Player on the SNES and the GBA player for the GameCube.  Hell, I'd buy a WiiU just for this functionality if they had it.

[TDIRunner]

i do think they should make a 3DS/DS player for the wii U.

This!  I can't believe they haven't done this.  It seems like a no brainer.  There is already a huge software library for the DS and a growing one for the 3DS.  They have done this in the past with the GB Player on the SNES and the GBA player for the GameCube.  Hell, I'd buy a WiiU just for this functionality if they had it.

I agree with this as well.

It brings up another point I forgot to make.  Say what you will about Nintendo's direction in the console market, but they definately have the portable gaming market figured out.

[KalessinDB]

I truly don't get all the "Nintendo is killing themselves" that people give out.  Wii was the top selling console of its generation.  Their games are still just flat-out fun.  Yeah, so-called "Hardcore Gamers" have went to PS3 and 360... but in my mind, FPS and sports titles does not define "Hardcore gaming"

Ah well, to each their own I suppose.

The Wii was the best of its generation because it was designed to NOT compete against the competition.  It was so different from the PS3 and 360 that most people bought one in addition to either the PS3 or 360.  That was the first generation where it was extremely common for most people to have at least two of the current gen systems.  You could argue all day about whether the PS3 or 360 was the best.  But the Wii was so different you couldn’t compare it.  Basically, after the less than stellar Game Cube, Nintendo saved itself by reinventing the wheel.

With that said, once the PS3 and 360 added their Move and Kinect add-ons, the Wii lost a lot of its uniqueness.  This is even more apparent in the current gen systems as the Wii U just doesn’t stand out against the competition.  The current sales tell it all as the PS4 and Xbox One EACH sold more consoles in their first few months than the Wii U did in its first year.  As a huge Nintendo fan, this pains me to say it, but unfortunately that’s how I see it. 

In some ways I can see what you're saying here, but the Move/Kinect argument, srsly?  The Move faded into irrelevance faster than you can say that sentence, and the Kinect barely did any better.

But like I say, I suppose I can see your take on things there.  I'd argue that 6th gen, PS2 just owned face (in part, possibly large part, because of the DVD player bit -- it was the cheapest DVD player you could get for a long time) rather than the Gamecube not doing great, but that's all kinda questionable anyway.

[wiggy]

there's way less money in hardware (if any at all) than in software.  No money to be made on old snes carts, so no reason to produce a piece of hardware.

[Beastman1975]

Nintendo should do a lot of things that they don't do.

I think that they hate money.

i hate this argument lol . nintendo is the only company that makes a profit off their systems on day 1 , even if they are in 3rd place on sales they are making money playstations and xbox's are sold at a loss for the 1s couple years at least usually, that being said i agree with shenske , i would but rereleases of old games /systems in a heartbeat, hell if they could put all oldschool marios on Wii u set id buy it . same with metroid , zelda, get 3rd party involved and release whole series of games id buy it .

[Ozzy_98]

Imagine an NES Cart with Legend of Zelda and Zelda II on one cart.  Or all 3 Super Mario Bros.  Or Limited edition, special box, blah blah, but I really think people would buy those up like crazy.

Super Mario bros multicart?  You mean like this? http://callanbrown.com/index.php/super-mario-all-stars-nes-multicart
I didn't think SMB used a mapper at all, so not sure how MMC3 interferes with it. You may need a customer mapper for all 3.  Or buy the snes cart.

Zelda 1 and 2 both used mmc1. So should be able to use the same tricks to make a Zelda multicart. 

[Blumpkin]

Nintendo should do a lot of things that they don't do.

I think that they hate money.

i hate this argument lol . nintendo is the only company that makes a profit off their systems on day 1 , even if they are in 3rd place on sales they are making money playstations and xbox's are sold at a loss for the 1s couple years at least usually, that being said i agree with shenske , i would but rereleases of old games /systems in a heartbeat, hell if they could put all oldschool marios on Wii u set id buy it . same with metroid , zelda, get 3rd party involved and release whole series of games id buy it .

I don't know about Microsoft, but I do know that the money lost from a PS4 sale is immediately recouped by the sale of a game and subscription to PSN. It doesn't take a year for Sony to make back their money, they usually make it back in the same transaction that the system is sold.

If Nintendo depends on making a profit from hardware sales then they're doing it wrong. The strength of a hardware developer comes from the software licenses that it gets. Nobody is making games for the Wii U, therefore it's not doing well. Nintendo can't depend on the longevity of their own intellectual properties alone. They need third party support. Third party support that they've shooed away over the last 25 years. Reaching as far back as the NES, Nintendo lay such heavy restrictions on software publishers that they were all too happy to leave for Sony and eventually Microsoft given the choice.

If you look at hardware sales for Nintendo consoles, you will notice a steady decline in sales with each generation. The only exception was the Wii. The Wii was a crazy anomaly for a wide range of reasons, but now it's back to normal operations at Nintendo.  

[sheep2001]

That can't be true.  The amount of shovel ware on Nintendo  consoles over the last few years is ridiculous.  If anything they need to be MORE choosy about what they license.

[JakeHC]

Nintendo should just release a range of SNES games already.

I would love to be able to play Illusion of Gaia, Terranigma etc without paying 100+ for a cart. Prices are worse for PAL territories.

Chrono Trigger was a smash for me, but if they dropped like 30 of the RPG titles on me my collection would grow immensely.

[kingjohn3]

They dont need to try to out power the competition although a little more juice wouldnt hurt. Innovative gameplay isnt what a true gamer wants, they want to play games. Dont tie us down with gimmicky controllers but give us fun games with incredible graphics and a great story that can be played with a normal controller that has worked for going on 3 decades. I understand the need for change but not for the sake of change. Let the innovation be IN the game. Too much thinking make Hulk MAD!!

[Thom Grayson]

Considering I've talked to REAL-LIFE people who've told me that 'the Wii U is just another stupid special controller for the Wii, like the balance board', I think Nintendo may have a marketing problem.

I think this may be because a lot of their customers that jumped on with the Wii weren't traditional gamers, so they thought 'accessory' instead of 'successor' when they saw it.

Then again, poorly informed middle-aged people I happen to know can't be SOLELY responsible for the disappointing sales of the Wii U

[scarmullet]

What Nintendo needs to do is focus on getting Wii Us into homes...they need a massive viral marketing campaign...bring back the Wii would like to play guys...push the system...go Genesis on the competition.

"Hey kids, Wii U has Call of Duty Ghosts at 1080p and 60fps...Xbox One Doesn't." something to that regard.

A major price drop may help this getting into homes thing. One way they will have to do that is drop the gamepad as a requirement and bundle the console with a pro controller instead. I've seen the Gamepad priced at $150 alone...so if they drop it, they could theoretically drop the price of the console to $150 USD. I currently think Nintendo may do this in the near future. No game requires just the gamepad...except Nintendoland, Game and Wario, and ZombiU...and the ones that did before have been patched so they can be used with the pro controller. The main screen can be navigated with the pro controller or a wii remote....it seems like they are phasing out the gamepad in usefulness before dropping it entirely.

[tiktektak]

I don't want to destroy some dreams here but Nintendo will never release anything on cart anymore. It wouldn't be worthwhile for them considering how little a Virtual Console release costs them. Especially since we should never forget that only a little minority would be interested in physical carts today namely us collectors. Not the million copies buying majority Fifa and CoD players....