ARMS

A Facebook group petitioning Lanky Kong as a playable character. It's... not a bad idea.

Honestly, Nintendo's ability to make major IPs has declined since the end of the N64 generation. Pikmin, Splatoon, and now this just get less and less appealing.

If this is the best they can come up with now, I can only hope that they'll make something outstanding after this, or fear for how lower things will go.

Well, it has to get the most money from the donation drive to make the main stage at EVO. And even if it manages that and becomes reasonably popular there, "fighting games will change drastically to compete" seems like a bit of an extreme prediction. They've had friggin' Mario Kart DS at EVO before. >_>

Pikmin I can see being less popular than the usual Mario, Link, and Pikachu. But Splatoon? I think you're severely underestimating just how popular that game is.

Nintendogs, Brain Age, Wii_, Mii would say otherwise. Especially Mii, since that managed to stick around.

ARMS is making quite a bit in terms of donation votes, actually...

edited 24th Jan '17 10:08:28 PM by NoLimit

@Waxing: Splatoon sold 4.6 million units on a console that only had 14 million in the wild. In terms of attach rate, that's absurd. And you realize that, in objective numbers, that's far more than any Metroid game, and more than half of the Zelda games, right? It even did well in non-shooter demographics like Japan.

Personal opinion and objective fact are two different things.

edited 24th Jan '17 10:57:36 PM by burnpsy

You also have to consider that our standards and expectations as youths were much lower and easier to appease. Case in point, for a game to be considered triple AAA material today, it'd either better be the most innovative concept seen in ages with tons of replayability, or have a killer multiplayer mode. Oh, and if it's less than 20 hours, most people will automatically lower it's worth and consider it overpriced.

Back then, we were actually ok with singleplayer games with roughly 10-15 hours of playtime total and little to nothing in the way of a new game+.

There's also the possibility than an IP can enjoy an upswing in popularity e.g. Fire Emblem.

Those aren't major IPs.

I'd argue Wii and Nintendogs were, at least.

Maybe not nowadays but at the time both were the Killer App for their respective consoles.

Why not? They were selling 20+ million, and Miis are now a permanent staple of Nintendo that ended up being their first foray into mobile.

Yeah, gonna call shenanigans on not counting those. Again, objective numbers. They were big. So what if they leaned more casual?

Nickelback sold millions. Are they considered a great band?

By millions of people, probably.

Can I ask what your point is? Nintendo aren't going to be doomed if they continue making successful games that you, personally, don't like. As hard as this seems to be for you to comprehend, your opinion is not the be all end all.

They're not bad live.

Perseus nailed it here. These were appealing, major new series at each of their respective releases.

So they're doing well in that regard, just not to you personally. And that's okay.

Pretending they're not big isn't.

Also, swapping between a franchise being "major", "appealing", and objectively "good" as a conversation goes on is a good way to lead it in circles.

Alright, let me clarify then.

Pikmin, Splatoon, and Arms are all major franchises. Just like Mario and Zelda.

The major franchises since the N64 era have grown less and less appealing. Pikmin has a cute concept, but doesn't match up with Mario and Zelda. Splatoon has cool concepts but in spite of being one of Nintendo's best online efforts, was quickly killed by Overwatch as its online options are still rather barebones. Arms just has no depth whatsoever.

And just because games like the Wii series sell well, that doesn't make them major, especially since they're tied to a certain console and won't be seen again aftewards.

edited 29th Jan '17 4:09:32 PM by WaxingName

So, Nintendo is doomed. What else is new?

edited 29th Jan '17 4:35:34 PM by RAlexa21th

Saying any game, a fighting game no less, has no depth months before release and before actual FGC players can test it for themselves reeks of ignorance to make a point :/

Plus, Pikmin and Splatoon were both great hits. Splatoon was one of the best selling games the year it released IIRC, and Pikmin still has a base of dedicated fans. Comparing them to other I Ps does not prove your point.

Pikmin isn't major. At all. Lower mid-tier at best, and only because Miyamoto likes it. Splatoon 2 is major though and has a very good shot of outselling Breath of the Wild and Mario Odyssey in the long run. The touch and motion era games didn't last to the 3DS/Wii U, but they were extremely popular games that were both excellent and sold a ton. Certainly far more important than the likes of Metroid or Kirby. Nintendogs is still bigger than those two, and Miis speak for themselves.

As for ARMS, I don't think it will be big, but Pikmin tier should be easy. Hands on impressions have indicated it has plenty of depth, and Nintendo will market it, so what truly determines its success will be its content (single and multiplayer) and post-launch support (free and paid fighters, maps, modes, etc.). If it nails those, and the mechanics catch on with some sort of crowd, it will be a hit.

@Waxing: Splatoon was killed when Overwatch was released? What, you mean there isn't a sizable player base anymore? Unless you have the numbers to showcase this claim, I've got no choice but to assume you are making that up. As someone who's been at this game since launch with 900+ hours to boot, I feel safe in saying the player base is very much alive.

Anyway, back to the ARMS discussion; do the characters provide unique stats (IE. does one character have faster arm movement or hit harder than others?) or are they simply cosmetic?

edited 29th Jan '17 6:23:34 PM by OrionAurora

From what I've seen they all have unique stats and at least three unique arms, though the arms can be shared among other fighters.