Revelation 3:15-16

15 I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot.
16 So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue (spew) thee out of my mouth.

This may apply to Nintendo. They focus on gameplay so much that they are neither “cold nor hot” in certain areas. Their most inspirational efforts, in my opinion, had a decently deep story behind them, such as TLoZ: Skyward Sword. One may gain pleasure from gameplay alone, but not a great deal of inspiration.

Nintendo HAS proven itself, though. Some of the greatest humor is told through gestures and cues, and the Mario and Luigi series (among others) has this in spades. The Nintendo brand of humor is often delightsome and wonderful. But alone, and even as it is now, it is not enough. Even my favorite comedy troupe, Studio C, is too often silly and over-the-top, in my opinion. Humor is best when it brings one back to reality gently.

Most of Nintendo’s characters rarely speak, even Samus in her latest game, Metroid: Other M. This, to my mind, is actually troubling. Much of Nintendo’s library is filled with violence, albeit mostly of a silly kind. But impressionable children may not take it that way, and much of Nintendo’s audience consists of such. Bowser, for example, in Bowser’s Inside Story, delights in violence and in his anger. It is all presented in a sufficiently funny and non-realistic context to be appropriate, in my opinion. But he is hardly a good role model, and those children who try to look up to everyone for advice or follow the crowd may find themselves swayed by his poor judgement, especially since Mario and Luigi, the heroes of the game, do not talk much. Those who have moved past this will find a very enjoyable, and often remarkable game.

Am I suggesting Nintendo stop making Mario and Zelda? Absolutely not. But when Nintendo does branch out, I want it to be as natural and family-friendly as possible (*cough* plz no Bayonetta 2 *cough*).

I recently started reading more “interpretive literature”. This is literature that often does not yield much enjoyment in the short term; instead, its focus is on insight. A discerning reader will ultimately gain more enjoyment from these after he has grown in knowledge and insight. Of course, the main focus overall is on entertainment. But one cannot always see the entertainment to be found in these stories before breaking them apart and understanding them, much like in a parable. The entertainment in these stories may be subtle as well, and must be found.

What I really want is a Nintendo product that is like this. I want a Nintendo product with more artistic depth, even to the detriment of its gameplay, at least short term (I...just said that...wow.). I want to feel, to grow, and to learn, all while enjoying great gameplay. I want a Nintendo product to feel like a great inspirational movie. If Nintendo even released a product like Shovel Knight, with minimal story, but an extremely-well presented one, I would be very happy with them and would celebrate. That said, I would still like a story with greater depth. The Fire Emblem series, for example (or at least, what I’ve experienced of it) has great characters and inspirational stories (although I’m hesitant to pick up FE: Awakening for certain reasons). But that franchise is one of many, and although the FE series is definitely inspirational, the plot is often not very deep, and there is not much insight to be gained from it. Professor Layton; however, is very interpretive, to an extent. The puzzles themselves can often give insights into characters, and the insights provided are almost always (if not always) those we can apply to our own lives. However; the Professor Layton games are not "pure" Nintendo products: They were developed by Level-5. The Fire Emblem series is not a pure Nintendo product either: It has been developed by Intelligent Systems.

To the Moon is one of my favorite games. There is almost no gameplay in it; instead, its focus is on its story. And what a story it has! It is among the most wonderful stories (and perhaps is the single most wonderful story, with a matching soundtrack) to ever be featured in a video game. It is insightful, it is enjoyable, and it will likely make you cry if you are willing to feel deep emotions. I want that from Nintendo. Life isn’t all sunshine and daisies (although the next life might be ), nor is it all war, and I want Nintendo to make something deep, moving, and very applicable to this life.

Nintendo, if you’re reading this, I love you. And because of that, I want you to improve as much as you can.

supernerd117 :

That verse always comes to mind for me when I think about where Nintendo is or any other company and they don't do a good job.

On the other hand, I can kindof understand where they're coming from as I've experienced difficulties in making my stuff the best I could. It's hard to stay inspired, and to work on stuff making it the best product possible. (Waluigi time!)

One good thing to remember there though, is people are gonna hate what ya do no matter what, so you may as well do what you think is awesome and have those that follow.

Hey, isn't that what made you popular in the first place? Keep doing it!

And I don't mean by over reusing certain elements over and over and over again, (Not like Zelda has anyways, beggin yer pardon there.)


I think the key to having success in this industry is knowing what people love, and the best way to look at that, if first thinking about what you love, and then hearing out others.

I think that the most important thing is though, that they just pick a direction and stick with it. There will always be naysayers, but that's normal. (if anything, it's a problem when there are none.)


And being more innovative like you said wouldn't hurt either. A lot of indie games thrive because of that.

I almost want to say certain Mario games start to qualify.

Allow me to preface this by saying two things: First, there is no right or wrong opinion on this. Second, I prefer to try looking at both sides in every matter.

So my personal reply is, I have to disagree if you're saying poor or even mediocre gameplay is okay as long as we have a story that's good. I see where you're coming from, but I've played games like that, and while the story was enough to compel me to finish the game, I didn't really enjoy it at all. I did enjoy the cutscenes, but the game as a whole was bad.

On the other hand a game with amazing gameplay and no story at all is still a great game, and despite my love for deep stories, I'll play it again and again.


But I'd pose a question of my own here: why on Earth should we have to have it one way or the other? In any game development company the story department is a completely different group of people than the gameplay department. This means that each team can focus 100% on what they do for the entirety of the game's development proccess without detracting from one another's work. Their work never has to mess with each others work as long as the developer doesn't want it to.

So if the above is the true case for a game (watch the credits and you'll see if it is or not), why do we need to settle on building one specific aspect of the game at the expense of another? Rather we need to simply up our game and give it all we have, no matter the challenges we face. The end result will be an instant classic that will touch the hearts of many people while entertaining them for years to come.


As for Nintendo's role here, I don't really think that Mario's story is an issue since it's meant to be a simple game. Still it wouldn't hurt them to try something different with Zelda or it's other franchises. And if I'm being honest, Link's near complete lack of dialogue in every game (I say "near" simply because when you're offered a multiple choice reply to a question, you are technically making Link say something even if it isn't printed in a text box that says "Link" at the top of it) is a bit frustrating. Why must he never open his mouth? Perhaps Nintendo wants us to feel more like Link is us by not putting words in his mouth for us. Who knows?

To me, Nintendo's biggest issue is that they're out of touch with their fanbase. They've been running with an idea for around thirty years now, and they refuse to consider that maybe their idea of what we want has changed. If they would actually listen to us for once maybe we could finally get somewhere and see Nintendo claim it's rightful place as a serious contender once more instead of surviving off of the smaller crowd that doesn't want an XBox or PlayStation that much. Stop telling us to "Have faith in Mario!", Nintendo, and start having faith in your fans and showing some interest in our wants. [/rant]