Nintendo To Get DS Renamed, Paper Mario Sequel

Thanks to CNN Money for its column interviewing a Nintendo spokesperson on the company's possible strategy for the rest of 2004. Although not giving much away, the article notes official word that: "Though the company has publicly referred to [their new handheld] system as the DS since announcing it on Jan. 20, the plan was never to use that name at retail", renewing "Internet rumors [that] have suggested that system will be called 'Nitro'." The piece also mentions the company is "already planning a second wave of classic [NES] games for the GBA, with a possible launch date of the 2004 holiday season", and elsewhere, GamerFeed confirm Nintendo has announced a GameCube sequel to Paper Mario, an N64 title which was "an RPG-like game that was based on a unique combination of 2D graphics set against a 3D background." Update: 04/02 16:02 GMT by S : GI.Biz has the U.S. Nintendo release schedule for the rest of the 2004, "with Geist, Mario Tennis, Metroid Prime 2, Paper Mario 2 and Star Fox 2 all down for release between October and December."

Comments

Re:Bah

[Doches]

Paper Mario looks a little different from Doom...and it's 2D graphics are part of the design, not an ugly cheat.

Looking to the past for the future?

[Torgo's Pizza]

This is a serious question. How long can Nintendo keep using past titles and characters as their main source of creativity? Old NES titles being ported to the GBA, sequels to previous titles. Nintendo really hasn't shown anything truly new for a while now in terms of story or gameplay. Eventually this *has* to catch up with Nintendo.

Re:Looking to the past for the future?

[Rallion]

They can keep using the same characters as long as the games keep being good. In fact, using the same characters is a damn good idea. People see it, and think, "Oh, I know that guy/girl/thing! The last game he/she/it was in was great!" and even if they don't buy it, they're a hell of a lot more likely to check it out.

And no, you can't accurately call it 'cheating,' it's just good (and practically free) marketing.

Re:Another Paper?

[metroid composite]

Am I the only one that doesn't want to see another Paper Mario? One of them was fine, but this series (Mario RPG, Paper Mario, Mario & Luigi) has showed up in a different form each time until now. Why copy off the N64 version? Why not make it different?

First, just because it's paper-style doesn't mean it can't be vastly different from the original. Second, Paper Mario had massively untapped potential. There was a claymation-type thing I saw with paper once--flat world I think it was? You had Goldfish Bowls hanging as picture frames on walls; people slipping underneath doorways; people getting crumpled up and rolling down the street (and Calvin from Calvin and Hobbes did rolling in another way, as well as turning sideways to be invisible); you had people being folded up and put into other people's purses.
Paper Mario 2 seems to be trying out some of the potential it never used, like Mario folding himself into a Paper Airplane. Hopefully that's not all Nintendo throws in.

Ah, I shouldn't be surprised. Most of the first-party sequels Nintendo has made for the GC have been sadly lacking, mostly appearing as incremental updates instead of real sequels.

Mario Kart Double Dash adds a new dimension to things, and from what I've seen is the first Mario Kart game I actually respect. Metroid Prime...that gameplay really impressed me personally and it is new. I've heard that Wind Waker has a swordfighting system that doesn't suck (and frankly OoT was downright limited; Majora's Mask is a reasonable step up with the masks but still meh). Pikmin...no comment needed. Animal Crossing was never released in the US until now.

So...where's these lacking sequels? If you're referring to Mario Party 23419 those are no longer programmed by Nintendo; Capcom is doing them IIRC.