Supreme Overlord
Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair!
- Pronouns
- he/him
Over its many years in operation, Nintendo has amassed sundry Intellectual Properties, myriad franchises in actuality or in potential, but with this massive collection of assets presents potential issues: the vast number of these properties leads some to languish in their unmet potential or others to begin to feel stagnant.
Recent statements indicate that Nintendo is taking steps to further expand its internal game development infrastructure, but this alone is unlikely to alleviate these woes entirely.
Likewise, there are any number of developers who could be available to put a new spin on one of these dormant or stagnant franchises. These, especially, include indie studios, though this exercise won’t turn away suggestions of other sorts.
From Nintendo’s vast portfolio, what property do you think might benefit from being worked on by one of these companies, whether because of dormancy, or stagnation, or just the existence of a brilliant opportunity? Why have you selected this property, and what makes this company a good fit for it?
The most interesting suggestions will be those that take a property and put a new spin to it, but keep in mind that any reinvention should be tied to elements already seen within the property to this point. Any franchise will have core elements of what makes it itself, and that should be captured in this exercise. Therefore, a massive shift from what has come before, while preferable, should detail the elements that connect it to precious games, whether that be a focus on platforming or shooting, exploration or snappy point-to-point gameplay.
Therefore, the task is thus: Determine what property might benefit from being worked on by which development studio – especially indie studios, but not necessarily exclusively – and what makes this partnership especially interesting or poignant. Explain in some form what this new take on the property might look like, and detail how it connects to aspects previously seen in the franchise, to some core already present within the series.
[Postscript: Many of the various thoughts in here have been bouncing around in my mind, disconnected and unrefined, for some time, but the thought to solidify them and create this thread came together in conversation with Dardan Sandiego in the Nintendo General Discussion threads]
Patch Notes:
Ver1.5: Placed Example inside spoiler tags
Recent statements indicate that Nintendo is taking steps to further expand its internal game development infrastructure, but this alone is unlikely to alleviate these woes entirely.
Likewise, there are any number of developers who could be available to put a new spin on one of these dormant or stagnant franchises. These, especially, include indie studios, though this exercise won’t turn away suggestions of other sorts.
From Nintendo’s vast portfolio, what property do you think might benefit from being worked on by one of these companies, whether because of dormancy, or stagnation, or just the existence of a brilliant opportunity? Why have you selected this property, and what makes this company a good fit for it?
The most interesting suggestions will be those that take a property and put a new spin to it, but keep in mind that any reinvention should be tied to elements already seen within the property to this point. Any franchise will have core elements of what makes it itself, and that should be captured in this exercise. Therefore, a massive shift from what has come before, while preferable, should detail the elements that connect it to precious games, whether that be a focus on platforming or shooting, exploration or snappy point-to-point gameplay.
Therefore, the task is thus: Determine what property might benefit from being worked on by which development studio – especially indie studios, but not necessarily exclusively – and what makes this partnership especially interesting or poignant. Explain in some form what this new take on the property might look like, and detail how it connects to aspects previously seen in the franchise, to some core already present within the series.
For a quick example, we’ll look at Kid Icarus.
Now, Kid Icarus has seen a relatively recent addition with Uprising, just within ten years from the present. Uprising looked like a radical departure from previous games. Where the series had previously been a two-dimensional sidescrolling affair, Uprising turned it more into a rail shooter. While a radical departure from previous games, it at least maintained shooting, obtaining upgrades, and discovering secrets, as well as some manner of flight, in addition to the trappings of a pseudo-Greek mythological setting.
I am of the opinion that Uprising should be brought forward to new hardware, but it should not stop there. The series presents a real opportunity for Nintendo, with real potential to be a main series for them, with Pit’s apotheosis into the pantheon of Nintendo mascots.
Now, Sakurai, who led development on Uprising, has indicated he probably will not be involved in a new one, and that such a game would be incredibly difficult to create. Another shift for the next game might sidestep some of these specific difficulties and lessen comparisons, allowing this new game to stand on its own merits.
I’m not necessarily suggesting this team should be given a game within this franchise, as I await with great interest whatever they might put out regardless, but Supergiant Games makes an easy example, given their newfound fame from the similarly Greek myth inspired game, Hades.
With this game, Supergiant has already conducted research on the myths and delved into the process of creating a world steeped in their iconography and lore. Furthermore, this carries over into the characters they put together, which have seen great praise. As Uprising is also largely known for its own take on characters, both mythological and new, this presents an opportunity for that skill to carry over, where this new addition to the traits of Kid Icarus can be expanded upon and worked with.
But they have also shown proficiency in other areas that can tie a new spin on the franchise to its older days. If shooting, upgrades, and secrets tie Uprising to the series’ previous entries, so too can they do the same here. This leaves some manner of flight implementation, which I expect could be included well, and platforming, which might be a bit trickier if in an isometric view. In all, Supergiant seems well-equipped to put together an new entry in the Kid Icarus franchise which has strong ties to previous games, incorporating some form of many elements which have been common throughout, even working in the newer focus on characters, though platforming might not be a strong point for the second game in a row.
A fast-paced top-down/isometric action/adventure/exploration-based game in Supergiant’s basic style, using points in which they have already shown proficiency and providing the opportunity to experiment with other classic aspects, provides the team an opportunity to create a strong new entry in Nintendo’s classic franchise.
Have at it, Fam. Regardless of whether you think a given studio should devote resources to one of these games, what Nintendo property do you think could be revitalized through the efforts of which (particularly if indie) studio? What new take would they put on this project, and how would it tie to the identity given the franchise in previous games?
[Poster’s note: Hekate and Nyx get a bad rap and should be misunderstood buddies of darkness, two droll and dry-witted goth gals oozing style or some such]
Also, Cerberus is a good boy, and we need to be able to pet him.
Now, Kid Icarus has seen a relatively recent addition with Uprising, just within ten years from the present. Uprising looked like a radical departure from previous games. Where the series had previously been a two-dimensional sidescrolling affair, Uprising turned it more into a rail shooter. While a radical departure from previous games, it at least maintained shooting, obtaining upgrades, and discovering secrets, as well as some manner of flight, in addition to the trappings of a pseudo-Greek mythological setting.
I am of the opinion that Uprising should be brought forward to new hardware, but it should not stop there. The series presents a real opportunity for Nintendo, with real potential to be a main series for them, with Pit’s apotheosis into the pantheon of Nintendo mascots.
Now, Sakurai, who led development on Uprising, has indicated he probably will not be involved in a new one, and that such a game would be incredibly difficult to create. Another shift for the next game might sidestep some of these specific difficulties and lessen comparisons, allowing this new game to stand on its own merits.
I’m not necessarily suggesting this team should be given a game within this franchise, as I await with great interest whatever they might put out regardless, but Supergiant Games makes an easy example, given their newfound fame from the similarly Greek myth inspired game, Hades.
With this game, Supergiant has already conducted research on the myths and delved into the process of creating a world steeped in their iconography and lore. Furthermore, this carries over into the characters they put together, which have seen great praise. As Uprising is also largely known for its own take on characters, both mythological and new, this presents an opportunity for that skill to carry over, where this new addition to the traits of Kid Icarus can be expanded upon and worked with.
But they have also shown proficiency in other areas that can tie a new spin on the franchise to its older days. If shooting, upgrades, and secrets tie Uprising to the series’ previous entries, so too can they do the same here. This leaves some manner of flight implementation, which I expect could be included well, and platforming, which might be a bit trickier if in an isometric view. In all, Supergiant seems well-equipped to put together an new entry in the Kid Icarus franchise which has strong ties to previous games, incorporating some form of many elements which have been common throughout, even working in the newer focus on characters, though platforming might not be a strong point for the second game in a row.
A fast-paced top-down/isometric action/adventure/exploration-based game in Supergiant’s basic style, using points in which they have already shown proficiency and providing the opportunity to experiment with other classic aspects, provides the team an opportunity to create a strong new entry in Nintendo’s classic franchise.
Have at it, Fam. Regardless of whether you think a given studio should devote resources to one of these games, what Nintendo property do you think could be revitalized through the efforts of which (particularly if indie) studio? What new take would they put on this project, and how would it tie to the identity given the franchise in previous games?
[Poster’s note: Hekate and Nyx get a bad rap and should be misunderstood buddies of darkness, two droll and dry-witted goth gals oozing style or some such]
Also, Cerberus is a good boy, and we need to be able to pet him.
Patch Notes:
Ver1.5: Placed Example inside spoiler tags
Last edited:
