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On Stemming Nintendo's Exclusive Game Drought

Posted by simoniker on from the gaming-throat-is-parched dept.

Thanks to Nintendojo for its editorial discussing ways to help Nintendo increase the amount of GameCube-only titles it releases. The writer notes that "...it is all too apparent that Nintendo's exclusive games lineup is very thin at the moment", and suggests one of many possible solutions: "Nintendo must figure out a way to increase the [development] capacity of Retro Studios and/or Silicon Knights. These companies must have as much depth [in amount of releases] as Rare had at the latter part of its life." How would you like to see Nintendo partnering to release more high-quality GameCube-only games?

29 of 110 comments (clear)

  1. Nintendo seems to be ok for this year by Naffer · · Score: 5, Informative

    I bought a Gamecube last December, and now own quite of few of the "must have" games. The problem that I see for 2004 is that the big first party games that everyone was anticipating are out now, and their sequals are too far off in the distance to see. For most of thise year, Nintendo is going to have to count on 3rd party developers to maintain the slow influx of quality games.

    Now I'm going to go against my bettter judgement and link to an article on IGN titled "Most anticipated games of 2004." I don't care much for IGN, but the list does include some potentially good games.

  2. It's sad because it's true. by Black+Mage+Balthazar · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I have been a long time Nintendo fan, owning every major console, and now a GBA. I have always stuck by Nintendo because of the high quality of their games, and because I couldn't really afford to have more than one system.

    Now don't get me wrong, I've played other systems. I've finished FFVII and FFX on the PS and PS2, as well as playing a great deal of Tekken and the Gran Turismo series, but I could never justify buying a PS for just these games.

    But now I realize, that I have done the same thing for a Gamecube. I have less than ten games (due partially to budget constraints), a GBA, and 1 GBA game (FF Tactics Advance). The problem I have is variety. It turns out, I have a game in almost every genre, and it's hard to play multiple games in a genre. If I want to fight, I have SCII, racing is Mario Kart:DD or F-Zero GX. Team sports is NHL 2004, while extreme sports is Tony Hawk 4. RPG is Zelda, etc. The problem is Nintendo fills a genre niche, and then moves on! Which means that if I want to play a different fighting game, well, I can't. So I get bored with the games, despite their excellent quality.

    Nintendo needs to tighten their release dates, and find developers to compete against themselves. Who can make the best action/fighting/RPG game? Nintendo wins in the end because no matter which game of two or three wins the sales wars, it's still money into Nintendo's pockets.

    I just don't want my favourite company to die.

    1. Re:It's sad because it's true. by Ondo · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Which means that if I want to play a different fighting game, well, I can't.

      While I get your point, I think that's a terrible example. The GameCube has Soul Calibur 2 and Super Smash Brothers Melee, probably the two most popular fighting games for any current console.

    2. Re:It's sad because it's true. by edwdig · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If I want to fight, I have SCII

      There's also Super Smash Bros Melee, Mortal Kombat Deadly Alliance, Capcom vs SNK, and a few other lesser known games.

      racing is Mario Kart:DD or F-Zero GX.

      There's also Wave Race Blue Storm, Need for Speed Underground, Burnout, and at least a few others.

      Team sports is NHL 2004, while extreme sports is Tony Hawk 4.

      Granted Sega dropped their sports line from GameCube after the first year, but EA releases all their sports titles for it. Acclaim releases All Star Baseball. Midway has NFL Blitz and NHL Hitz for the extreme stuff. And there's Mario Golf and soon Mario Tennis if you want more party type sports games.

      RPG is Zelda, etc.

      Well, Zelda isn't an RPG. If you want RPGs, the Cube is a pretty bad choice as their are very few, although Namco has several coming out later this year. If you want Zelda type games, there's also Star Fox Adventures and Beyond Good and Evil for starters. Both of which are really cheap.

      Nintendo's problem isn't so much a lack of games, but rather everyone just buys all the Nintendo first party games and ignores the 3rd party games. I've mostly just bought Nintendo's 1st and 2nd party games since the N64 days. Mainly because after getting the 1st and 2nd party must haves, I didn't have the time or money for many other games. So on Nintendo systems, 3rd parties get less attention and sales. Particuarlly the companies that just make crappy ports.

  3. I dont believe in Exclusive Titles by Bruha · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Exclusivity = I dont buy them unless it's for the one I own.. I'm not going to bounce around and buy 3 or 4 consoles just to play the latest and greatest games out there. I bought a Xbox and it ticks me off that the Kirby game is Nintendo only. All it serves to do is decrease the games sales potential.

    I would however appreciate limited exclusivity where the game would be ported after a fixed amount of time.

    1. Re:I dont believe in Exclusive Titles by Gr33nNight · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Decrease game sales potential, and increases console sales potential. If you want to play Nintendo created games, you *must* buy a GameCube, and thats Nintendos ace in the hole.

    2. Re:I dont believe in Exclusive Titles by Snowmit · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Exclusivity = I dont buy them unless it's for the one I own.

      I take it from this comment that you somehow think that there are people do do buy games for systems the don't own? Of course you don't buy it if you can't play it.

      The thing is that exclusives sell consoles. When I picked my console for this generation, I picked a Game Cube first because I wanted the exclusives on the Game Cube more than the exclusives on the other two systems. Every great exclusive that Nintendo puts out or that it gets company C to put out means Y more people buy a Game Cube. Then, once they have a Game Cube, they buy Z number of games, each of which gives Nintendo cash.

      --
      I have a lot of opinions about Cyborgs and Architects
    3. Re:I dont believe in Exclusive Titles by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you bought an Xbox with hopes to play games like Kirby's Air Ride, then you are a marketer's worst nightmare.

      Especially because Kirby is owned by Nintendo, the games are made by Nintendo, so every marketer would hope that someone wanting the game would know, because of their marketing efforts, that it's a Nintendo game. As a Nintendo game, like every other Nintendo game since the NES was released, it's on a Nintendo console.

      XBox owners only have a reason to complain about exclusive titles because there's a much lower percentage of exclusive titles than either of the other systems. This is exactly why the XBox was the third of the current-generation consoles I purchased (it simply didn't have enough titles I couldn't play on my PS2; the first was the DreamCast). I bought my first Cube because $150 wasn't bad and I wanted to play a half dozen or so games that had already been released (interestingly, the half dozen mark seems to be where I buy most consoles, but at $150 I really don't care as long as it has something really good). I bought the second Cube at the $99 mark w/ Zelda bundle because it allowed me to put it in the bedroom, where my gf can play Animal Crossing without tying up the TV with the rest of the consoles attached to it.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
  4. Do you remember Rare's output? by dancingmad · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I read this article on Nintendojo yesterday and while I respect the dojo, they seem to forget Rare's output at the later half its life. They had very few good games after the Nintendo 64's cult hit Goldeneye. None of their games could equal Donkey Kong Country or Goldeneye in terms of brilliance or success. I'd rather have Retro working on making Metroid Prime 2 as good as Prime 1, instead of Prime 2 plus Samus Party 3, Metroid Kart, and Ridley's Hide and Seek or Kraid's Bad Scales Day.

    --
    "There is no time, sir, at which ties do not matter," Jeeves, (Jeeves and the Impending Doom)
    1. Re:Do you remember Rare's output? by PainKilleR-CE · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Nobody's claiming that Rare made *good* games during their last years with Nintendo, they just pumped them out at a respectable rate compared to that of, say, Silicon Knights (the only game they've published in the last several years is Eternal Darkness). The trick is to keep them coming that fast, and have them be good, too.

      And the point is that unless you severely inflate the size of the company and maintain seperate development studios within the company (ie like Nintendo's several development divisions), you get crap when you increase the output. It's very easy to make games quickly when quality is less important.

      In any case, regardless of what Nintendo does right now, any game that goes into development today isn't likely to be on a shelf before the middle of next year, unless it's crap. Almost everything Nintendo could possibly do to help the Cube that involves game development has to have already been done. Anything else involving game development will probably be focused on the next console.

      --
      -PainKilleR-[CE]
  5. Where does the "DS" fit in? by Babbster · · Score: 3, Insightful

    I have to wonder if Nintendo is too busy supporting the Gameboy Advance (understandably with its monstrous installed base) and the upcoming "DS" system. Nintendo has said that the DS system will be an addition to their line as opposed to a GBA replacement. That means that Nintendo will be supporting [at least] three different consoles. This seems like an odd choice to me given the dearth of interesting Gamecube titles alluded to in this story, and it can only suck even more resources away from the Gamecube and, presumably, its eventual successor.

  6. Possible Solution by Black+Mage+Balthazar · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Well maybe more companies could do what Namco did with Soul Calibur II. You basically get the same game, but each console got its own character.

    Gamecube: Link
    XBOX: Spawn
    PS2: Heihachi

    That way, the game sells well in all three markets, and each console owner can brag to the other about the exclusive content that they got.

    (btw Link is the best ;) )

  7. Namco by Ondo · · Score: 4, Insightful

    From the article:

    "Namco is also another third party that Nintendo should try working with more. If Nintendo springs the cash, Namco could possibly give the Cube an exclusive Soul Calibur."

    Or maybe they should do what they did with Sega on F-Zero GX, and get Namco to develop a game for an already established Nintendo brand. Like, for example, Star Fox. And, while there at it, they should announce it at E3. But not this year's E3, because they'll be talking about the DS. Do it at last year's E3. That'll get the fanboys excited.

    Unless they totally forget about it, of course.

    1. Re:Namco by PyroMosh · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I realize that you couldn't have just Guessed that and that this is sarcasm, but still, I think most people don't know, here's the link to IGN's coverage of E3 last year where they revealed that Namco is developing Star Fox 2.

      --
      Touch everywhere, even when inappropriate.
  8. Open the platform by TheRealMindChild · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Open up the platform. Sell programming hardware and tools. I, for one, would line up to purchase such a thing. Then they could even still charge for publishing licenses, but here, small groups of hobbiest programmers could come up with an entire game, and use it to get finacial backing to purchase a publishing license.

    It would have more potential then the Amiga

    --

    "When life gives you lemons, don't make lemonade. Make life take the lemons back!" -- Cave Johnson
    1. Re:Open the platform by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      CounterStrike.

  9. How very odd by Snowspinner · · Score: 5, Informative

    The article mentions Namco... but Namco is doing an exclusive for Nintendo already - Donkey Konga. And they put out Pac-Man Vs. as well - a small thing, but a very, very good game all the same.

    They also mention how Squaresoft's exclusives are all on the PS2 now... which is odd, what with Crystal Chronicles out in only a few weeks.

    I really wish commentators on Nintendo would bother to at least pretend to have done any research on their articles.

    --
    Philip Sandifer's academic website
  10. Re:Clock is Ticking by BTWR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Nintendo is, at best, a HUGELY profitable company, and at worst a company like Apple - it will ALWAYS have it's loyal followers who will buy the Nintendo 256, 512, 1024 etc.

    It doesn't matter how good playstation 5 is, there will still be millions who will want to play Zelda 12. True, they may (or may not!) ever have another 50-million selling title like Super Mario Bros 3 (not sure of that exact number).

    So they're not going anywhere (despite what slashdot says every other week)...

  11. Nintendo's Plan by pwbeninate · · Score: 2, Informative

    Nintendo seems to have a strategy to target "entry-level" gamers. With N64 and GameCube they made consoles that are strictly game machines (as opposed to CD/DVD/Media Centers). It's kinda like plug-and-play. I like how they keep it simple, because it keeps the price down. It seems like developers think Nintendo is targeting too small of an audience, which may be true. Nintendo themselves mostly make games for kids, and market toward that audience (Mario, Pokemon, etc.) But now with the addition on Retro Studios they may have a chance to change that reputation. I don't know if any of you have played Metroid Prime, but it is awesome! It's just as good/challenging as the SNES version. That's the kind of game I'm looking for. I'm expecting great things from RS. One thing that Nintendo seriously lacks is good RPGs. They really need to get Square doing more for them. Crystal Chronicals is a start, but it was be nice if they do a GCN version of all of the future games. That would greatly increase their audience.

    1. Re:Nintendo's Plan by Troed · · Score: 2, Interesting

      I have all 3 consoles, and the GC gets far more play than any of the others

      Seconded, same here. The Xbox is used strictly for emulation and movie-watching, and the PS2 was bought for one game only - Silent Hill 3 ...

      --
      it's in my head
  12. Wha...? by silentbobdp · · Score: 4, Insightful

    What on earth is going wrong here? Why does every Nintendo story bring thousands of impending doom messages? The facts are these: Gamecube is whomping on XBox in Japan, just overtook them over here, and Nintendo - the company - has lots and lots and lots of __cash__ the likes of which Sega et al have never even laid eyes on. As a platform company, they aren't going anywhere.

    --
    --Moo.
  13. Re:cube lineup by BTWR · · Score: 4, Interesting

    If this "DS" portable is not to replace the GBA, it will ultimately be its rival

    I wouldn't be surprised it it turns out that the DS's release date is 1 week before the PSP. Maybe Nintendo is willing to cut a little of GBA's market in order to get into a LOT of PSP's market share. Consider this:

    Today:
    GBA = 95% of the portable market
    Others (Swan, NGPC) = 5%

    In a GBA vs. PSP war (after say one year):
    GBA = 80%
    PSP = 18%
    Others = 2%

    But with THREE systems (2 of which are nintendo) then with the $150 people have to spend on a new console, very few will buy both, and at least some will buy a DS over a PSP):
    GBA = 80%
    PSP = 11%
    DS = 7%
    Other = 2%

    So is it possible that DS is perhaps sort of like a "kamakaze machine," in that maybe it isn't meant to do well itself (although that would be nice), but it's real goal is to hurt the PSP, even if it causes its own demise? Hell, if PSP only has 10% of the game market then that's NOTHING! I mean, the Turbo Grafx 16 and Saturn probably had that much at one point!
    And let's not forget, if DS is a sucess, great. If it isn't and the PSP gets a foothold, then there's still the GBA2 coming out in a few years to hurt the PSP, since the DS has been said (over and over) to NOT be a sequel to the GBA.

  14. No need - it's not the barrier by grahamwest · · Score: 3, Insightful

    Hobbyist programmers can make their game or more realistically a game prototype on PC or Mac and demonstrate that to potential publishers. It's not hard to move a game's technology from one platform to another for most cases. Making a sufficiently compelling and graphically appealing game is pretty hard these days no matter what platform you're on. I would say that supporting this platform or that platform is only 10% of the programming effort at most. If your game is good enough you'll get funding and access to hardware. If it's not you won't get the backing anyway.

    --
    Graham
  15. Re:"DS": Nintendo to follow Sega? Trouble ahead! by Qzukk · · Score: 3, Interesting

    If this "DS" portable is not to replace the GBA, it will ultimately be its rival.

    Given that the DS's specs *seem* (is there any official word on this?) to indicate that backwards compatibility should be possible, it looks like it will replace the GBA.

    In terms of game support though, what if they arranged it so that people kept developing gba games, and some games could be made to work in a gba, but in a DS, it would use the second screen? Nintendo did this with some of the original gameboy games when the gbc came out. The GB games would still be for the GB, but they could also have a 4 color palette programmed in for the GBC to use. (granted, a second display would be somewhat more complex "optional addon" to code for, especially with mismatched processors, so this is quite unlikely to happen.)

    --
    If I have been able to see further than others, it is because I bought a pair of binoculars.
  16. Re:Hey Taco by prockcore · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There have already been a few articles this year from reputable sources saying Nintendo isnt on solid ground and needs to watch its step.

    I haven't seen any reputable sources say this.. but what I have seen is reputable sources say Nintendo has over 6 billion dollars in the bank and they aren't going anywhere.

  17. Lack of exclusives? by GaimeGuy · · Score: 5, Informative

    List of some exclusives for the Cube (some released already, some aren't released, yet.) 1080 Avalanche
    Animal Crossing
    Baten Kaitos
    Beach Spikers
    Billy Hatcher & The Giant Egg
    Cubivore
    Custom Robo
    Donkey Konga
    Doshin the Giant
    Eternal Darkness: Sanity's Requiem
    F-Zero GX
    Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles
    Geist
    Giftpia
    Gotcha Force
    Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life
    Ikaruga (Not on the other two competing consoles)
    Kaijuu no Shima: Amazing Island, a Sega Monster training game that is in the works, is a GC exclusive
    Killer 7
    Kirby Air Ride
    The Legend of Zelda: Collector's Edition.
    The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Plus
    The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time/Master Quest
    The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker
    Lost Kingdoms
    Lost Kingdoms II
    Luigi's Mansion
    Mario Golf: Toadstool Tour
    Mario Kart: Double Dash!!
    Mario Party 4
    Mario Party 5
    Mario Tennis is coming up.
    Metal Gear Solid: The Twin Snakes
    Metroid Prime
    Nintendo Puzzle Collection
    P.N. 03
    Pac Man Vs.
    PSO Episode III
    Pikmin
    Pikmin II
    Pokemon Colosseum
    Resident Evil
    Resident Evil 0
    Resident Evil 4
    You can throw in RE 2, 3, and Code Veronica, if you want, too.
    Skies of Arcadia Legends (not on Ps2 or X-box, the other two competing consoles)
    Sonic Adventure 2: Battle (not on Ps2 or X-box)
    Sonic Adventure DX Director's Cut (Again, not on Ps2 or X-box)
    Sonic Mega Collection
    Star Fox (from Namco)
    Star Fox Adventures
    Star Wars Rogue Leader: Rogue Squadron II.
    Star Wars Rogue Squadron III: Rebel Strike.
    Super Mario Sunshine
    Super Monkey Ball
    Super Monkey Ball 2
    Super Smash Bros. Melee
    Tales of Symphonia
    Viewtiful Joe
    Wario Ware for GC
    Wario World
    Wave Race: Blue Storm
    These are just the more well-known exclusives. There's more than the ones I listed.
    Yeah, I'd say that the GameCube has very few exclusive games. *rolls eyes*

    1. Re:Lack of exclusives? by DeadScreenSky · · Score: 2, Insightful

      The article is about exclusive games FROM NINTENDO. Roughly two thirds of your list is published by third parties.

      And I am pretty sure the argument was for quality exclusives, too. (Your list has a lot of B-quality and niche titles.) And I can't believe you are counting games that were released on other domestic console systems not four years ago. I personally wouldn't count compilations of games I already have owned for 5+ years, either.

      --
      There is no excellent beauty that hath not some strangeness in the proportion. -- Francis Bacon
    2. Re:Lack of exclusives? by bjb · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Wasn't Resident Evil ported to (at least) the PlayStation? I never owned a PSone or PS2, but I could have sworn that I saw R.E. on a PSone a few years back.

      --
      Never hit your grandmother with a shovel, for it leaves a bad impression on her mind...
  18. Let me think... by scot4875 · · Score: 3, Informative

    Let me think back over this last fall/summer...

    Mario Golf
    P.N. 03 (better than people gave it credit for)
    F-Zero
    Viewtiful Joe
    Rogue Squadron 3
    Kirby's Air Ride
    Mario Party 5
    Mario Kart

    And that's just off the top of my head. Every one of these games (except maybe PN03, depending on your taste) is worth owning. That's 8 exclusives, 5 of which I'd classify as AAA titles.

    On top of those are all the multi-platform games (damn, Prince of Persia was good. So was Beyond Good & Evil).

    Honestly, I haven't followed the release schedules of the PS2 or XBox very closely, since I have more than enough games to keep me very well occupied on my 'Cube and PC, so what am I supposedly missing? Grabbed by the Ghoulies? Final Fantasy: Teen-pop Edition?

    --Jeremy

    --
    Jesus was a liberal