Nintendo, home to that plumber who doesn’t do any type of plumbing at all (Lazy Ass), is perhaps the thriving powerhouse that it was 25 years ago. Sure they don’t have the same status in the minds of some but there’s no doubting that Nintendo is still going on. Need further prove? Need I have to remind you of Nintendo’s once great rival, Sega (or should I say Sammy-Sega). So yeah it’s pretty safe to say that despite the Virtual Boy, despite the Wii and the Wii U, there’s no sign of the “Big N” stopping any time soon. But I tend to find myself wondering what would happen if Nintendo went the route of Sega. What if Nintendo dropped out of the hardware business and suddenly Mario & crew were out on the streets and looking for a home. Could you image how GREAT that would be for the gaming industry? Wait, what did I say? Why did I say Great? Well read on my friends and i’ll let you peer into my thoughts. So as you know we have the Wii U now, Nintendo’s latest but definitely not it’s greatest console as that honor in my mind still belongs to the SNES.
Now the Wii U has captured the minds and hearts of the Nintendo folk but we knew that was going to happen. But for the rest of us, the Wii you is some what disappointing. But one wonders what exactly happened, hardware wise. Was it the result of Nintendo wanting to beat Microsoft & Sony to the market with their Next-Generation console. Key word there is next-generation and I’m sorry but I hardly find the Wii U truly next-generation. Sure it has high definition output, something that Wii should have had and we got perhaps a 1.5x power upgrade over the current generation PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. That upgrade is so minor that you have to wonder what’s going to happen with the Wii U when Microsoft’s and Sony’s consoles are released later 2013 / early 2014.
So you gotta wonder what Nintendo was thinking, or were they actually looking towards the future. Or perhaps they have the same plan that they had with the Wii; confuse consumers with gimmicks.On that topic you have to wonder if Nintendo is merely resting on their laurels? However, what if Nintendo didn’t release the Wii U. What if they just dropped hardware all together or for the sake of this article, what if they just stopped home consoles but kept their handheld market ,a market I might add that has added pressure from the Sony Vita and tons of tablets and smart phones. But that’s an article for another time, so let’s focus here. What if Nintendo decided that they would have more of an impact by putting their franchises on other consoles. What if suddenly we were able to play Zelda, Metroid, Super Mario Bros., Pokemon, F-Zero and all of Nintendo’s heavily hitters on multiple platforms? Couldn’t you see that? Surely this is simply the best idea you’ve heard in a long while?
Let’s be honest here, the amount of exclusive titles for consoles is dropping and has been for some time. Sure there are those A+ titles that will remain to their respective console for the foreseeable future Mario, Halo, Uncharted, but what if it happened? I truly believe that this would give Nintendo back the edge they need to go for the throat. Instead of focusing on both software and hardware they can simply focus on the software end and rely on the infrastructures that are already in place. Playing Mario or F-zero on the Xbox 360 for example and suddenly you can an invite to play co-op or join a party to chat it up with your friends while you continue to play your game.
Not only that but it would also allow Nintendo to not only work on collaborative efforts but it would allow them to introduce gamers who don’t own a Nintendo console to experience the Nintendo franchises, Playing Mario on the go on your smartphone or tablet, playing a co-op Dragon Quest game or speeding down a futurist highway in F-zero with friends. I truly think this is an awesome concept and one that many gamers, even the most jaded and skeptical, would love to see come to light. The question is will it. Unlike Sega (R.I.P Dreamcast) Nintendo not only has tons of cash but they have a massive catalog, two things that simply serve to keep Nintendo doing what it does best with less consequences that Sega had (32X, Saturn, GameGear).
Wouldn’t you like to see Nintendo go 3rd party? I know I sure would.
