Nintendo in 2016 may be a much different entity than in years past. These five factors, among others, may be the main reasons why that change could turn the company’s favor.
There might not be another game entity going through such a full change of policy and hardware as Nintendo, and certainly not when speaking of the big three publishers. The Big N is on their own island now with more and more water coming between them and the way other companies do business. Change can be exciting though, and with the company going through so many at once, that could make Nintendo the most exciting video game company to watch for this coming year.
With that being said, here are the top five exciting factors for Nintendo in 2016.
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The Legend of Zelda Wii U
The company has remained adamant about two things regarding their upcoming Legend of Zelda: It will be on Wii U, and it’ll only come out when it’s ready. The latter was showcased when the company basically abandoned the 2015 holiday season of triple-A titles just to implement new features and add polish to their main project. An open-world was showcased as massive, series mainstay Eiji Aonuma has promised to breach the very limits of Wii U hardware, and everything that’s been showcased so far looks decidedly Zelda and decidedly worth the wait.
Meanwhile, the former of their sticking points is their pattern of speaking that they’re currently holding firmly to, but it’s still unclear if the game will remain Wii U exclusive or travel to…
Nintendo NX
This is the question mark of Nintendo in 2016, and the source of the most potential excitement. Both the Wii U and 3DS are up in the air as far as what’s next for them almost solely because of this little mystery of a console. Newly appointed CEO of the company Tatsumi Kimishima just recently posted the company’s first quarterly report since ascending those ranks, and aimed to assure inquisitors that this NX would not replace the Wii U. This new device, he said, “It’s something unique and different. It’s something where we have to move away from those platforms in order to make something that will appeal to our consumer base.”
But, that’s it so far. There are no assurances that Wii U software production won’t slow, or of accessible accounts of games, or even of what this new contraption will do or impact. The new vision of Nintendo in 2016 revolves around this reveal and subsequent release, seemingly more so than any of the many other spinning plates the company has.
Club Nintendo Successor
Following close behind on the make-or-break scale is this successor to one of the best rewards programs to ever exist. You buy anything Nintendo, input the code, grab stuff in return: No other memberships or kerfuffle required. With the Japanese version of this new service already online, the infrastructure looks promising. The service has been renamed to My Nintendo and still seems to offer the same simplistic cycle as before, but the changes might be enough to encourage holdouts to finally give in. Their new mobile endeavors will be included within the interconnected network of supported devices, and all signs point to the company attaching your purchases to an account instead of locking them to a single piece of hardware, which has been the norm thus far. There will also apparently be several login options to fit your desires.
Depending on what changes Nintendo has in mind for the western launch sometime next year, this could be a boon for the company’s newly connected mindset. Plus, maybe there’s some possibility of integrating Amiibo down the road.
Star Fox Zero
While the three above should all turn out well enough given their proximity to the publisher’s heart, there are a lot of doubts surrounding this game supervised, and delayed out of 2015, by the legendary Shigeru Miyamoto himself. There were a lot of mixed reactions when the game came to this year’s E3, which probably leant to the aforementioned delay to – in a paraphrase of Miyamoto’s own words – deliver the best possible Star Fox experience.
The Wii U could really, really use a quality release from this long-dormant mascot too. Original games for the Wii U drive sales, and since third-party support is a myth at this point, those sales have to be driven to further heights by high quality entries. The mediocrity of past Star Fox sequels won’t cut it this time.
HD Remakes
With other companies reaching back for any title that didn’t make its first round of sales quotas for HD candidates, Nintendo has approached each of their remakes with respect and reverence. Twilight Princess and Wind Waker sold very well their first time through, and yet both will be on Wii U soon with actual, game-altering tweaks that are intended to heighten the experience. That’s part of the reason that HD remakes on the Big N’s consoles feel so anticipated: The company actually seems to care about their properties.
After Twilight Princess HD, the landscape of Nintendo in 2016 could be filled with one or two other HD remakes. Rumors have long ran wild that Super Mario Sunshine, or one of several other Mario titles, is due for an HD version, which could fill the currently vacant Summer months for Wii U, or even NX. Gotta have some launch titles for that enigma brewing.
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That’s all the excitement we can bare in regards to Nintendo’s plans next year, but what about you? Are you excited for anything in particular from the company?
