Article Thursday: Nintendo and Reboots - Will Nintendo Reboot Themself?

Published on 4/12/2012 7:53:08 PM by Rial Johnson

Label: Undefined

Category: Undefined

Home > Article Thursday: Nintendo and Reboots - Will Nintendo Reboot Themself?

We recently saw the release of Kid Icarus: Uprising.  It is definitely a must-have for all 3DS owners.  No joke.  The game is really amazing.  The gameplay, controls, story, graphics, music, everything.  However, for those who don’t know, Uprising is the third in a series.  It’s been 25 years since the release of the first Kid Icarus game on NES (referenced many times in-game).  Nintendo also released a sequel to the game a few years after, though many didn’t play it as it was incredibly similar to the first.  However, Uprising is seeing outstanding success.  What did Nintendo do?  They gave the Kid Icarus series a reboot.  And the sales went through the roof.  With this in mind, what could other reboots do for Nintendo, and more importantly, what could other reboots do to Nintendo? First, let’s start with the obvious topic: Which Nintendo series needs a reboot?  The most popular ones that will come up are most likely Star Fox, Earthbound, and F-Zero.  Others might include games such as Ice Climbers.  Star Fox saw 64 3D on the 3DS last year, so fans got to relive their childhood experience, and it also gave new gamers a chance to play.  Unfortunately, for Nintendo fans, that’s not good enough.  Current rumors tell of Retro Studios working on a new Star Fox game for the Wii U (which I think would be fabulous).  But will the fans dreams come true?  Or will Nintendo fail them once again? That’s not saying that Nintendo fails its fans often.  Well, they might.  But what is important is that majority of the time, they don’t.  Nintendo provides an excellent experience with every game they release.  After all, it is the reason they release it in the first place. Now, say Nintendo did release a new Star Fox game for the Wii U.  Assuming the Wii U sees success at launch, the sales would be unbelievable.  The ratings would be oh-so-high.  The game itself: astounding.  As seen with Uprising, a reboot of such a beloved franchise would prove popular.  And to think, Kid Icarus isn’t a well-known series.  (At least, it wasn’t before the latest game came out.)  And look at the success.  Now imagine a reboot of an even more popular franchise.  The sales could be phenomenal.  I can literately see the 98/100 or 99/100 ratings of a possible Star Fox or Metroid reboot. But could too many reboots, in essence, bring Nintendo to reboot themself?  This is the only thing that worries me.  As of late, many fans have been begging for reboots of beloved series they knew as kids.  However, as fans, we know that they can’t and won’t listen to every one of our requests.  This is what makes Nintendo a great gaming company.  They know what to give us.  They know what not to give us.  Don’t get me wrong: I would love a reboot of Star Fox or Metroid.  Maybe even Earthbound.  But no more, not for at least a good 5-10 years.  All we can hope for is more and more reboots, but yet an amount at which Nintendo won’t be obsessed with creating them and in turn, rebooting the company that made it a success.

About the Author: Rial Johnson

Rial Johnson founded Nintendo Castle in 2011 with hopes to build the largest collection of Nintendo walkthroughs, guides, and content on the web. He is an avid gamer with a special place in his heart for Nintendo, but often finds himself writing about games more than actually playing them. You'll likely see him around Nintendo Castle and on social media, mostly managing the front-end content of the site.