Is Nintendo Dropping Mario?

[EdwardKnoxII 0]

http://money.cnn.com/2003/11/04/commentary...aming/index.htm

 

NEW YORK (CNN/Money) – Hold on tight Nintendo loyalists: The ride's about to get a little more exciting.

 

Nintendo has always been full of surprises, but the last year or so has been pretty dull for Mario & Co. A backlit Game Boy Advance? Great stuff – and a sales phenomenon – but we all knew it was coming. Dropping the GameCube price to $99? Fantastic! But everyone saw that coming a mile away.

 

Now it looks like that lull might be coming to an end. Not all the surprises are set in stone at this point. Some are likely to be unwelcome, in fact. But they could re-ignite the buzz about Nintendo that died down a long time ago.

 

Let's start with the price cut. Yeah, it was expected, but it worked: In August, only 19 percent of the consoles sold were GameCubes. In October, the company estimates it held 37 percent of the market. With no other console price cuts on the horizon, you'd expect Nintendo to let it ride. Nope.

 

Starting in mid-November, the company will offer a new bundle pack to consumers. Four classic Zelda games - two from the original Nintendo Entertainment System and two from the N64 – as well as a playable demo for this year's "The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker" will be offered along with the GameCube for $99.

 

Here's the logic: Nintendo, as you probably know, hasn't performed well against Sony's (SNE: Research, Estimates) PlayStation 2 and has barely held its own against the Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) Xbox. But the gaming industry is starting what's loosely referred to as the mid-cycle shift these days. Essentially, that means the current generation of consoles is about to hit price ranges that appeal to a broad audience. At $99, the GameCube is the first to reach that sweet spot.

 

With its large catalog of franchise characters, Nintendo could see a big surge of interest from late buyers. After all, the people buying consoles over the next few years typically stick with what's familiar. But players looking to play a Mario game other than "Super Mario Sunshine" may be in for a shock.

 

George Harrison, senior vice president of marketing for Nintendo of America, told me Tuesday that while a new Mario game for the GameCube is still a possibility, it's definitely not certain. Nintendo game master Shigeru Miyamoto teased a crowd with footage of what he called "Mario 128" when the GameCube was unveiled in 2000, but has said little else since. Harrison said the title is still under development, but he stopped short of saying it would be a GameCube game.

 

Players will be able to get their hands on Donkey Kong, though. Nintendo is working internally to develop a new adventure game featuring the great ape. Meanwhile, Namco's "Donkey Konga" – a rhythm game played with a bongo-like controller - will be released in Japan next spring. Still unclear is whether that game will make it to the U.S.

 

The biggest surprise comes next spring, though. In August, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata said the company was working on an "unconventional" game product that would be introduced in early 2004.

 

Is it hardware? Is it software? Harrison said even he didn't know what the company had in mind. ("You can beat me, but I don't know!" is what he actually said.) However, he added, "It's not likely to be the next generation of handheld or console."

 

That shoots down a popular rumor that Nintendo will try to pre-empt Sony's forthcoming PSP by unveiling a next generation Game Boy. Still, he said, the company is taking Sony's move into portable gaming very seriously and will "take every step" to protect its market between now and the PSP's release.

 

There's one surprise you can count on Nintendo not springing on the public, though: An early release of its next console. While the company says it will bring its next generation product to market at the same time as Sony and Microsoft, it will not try to beat them.

 

It'd be pretty hard at this point, anyway. Developer kits (which let publishing partners begin work on games) for the new system have not yet shipped. And it will likely be one-and-a-half to two years from the time those go out before the new system hits streets.

[Guest FrigidSoul]

Possibly no more Mario on the GameCube but they'll have it on their next gen console.

[HollywoodSpikeJenkins 0]

There is a new Mario RPG ("Mario and Luigi") coming out on GBA. Just to throw that out.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Mario Kart DD

Mario Party 5

Mario Golf

Mario Tennis

 

Not strictly Mario games but it still shows that Nintendo isn't dropping Mario anytime soon. They are just saving the new Mario game to launch with the new Console. They learned that launching the Gamecube with no real "Mario" game was probably a mistake..

[Guest FrigidSoul]

They learned that launching the Gamecube with no real "Mario" game was probably a mistake..

They gave Luigi the ball and he fumbled it.

 

I beat Luigi's Mansion in like 6hrs personally...then I went back and got that game with the marines up in the snow base...Exterminate or something like that

[Guest subliminal_animal]

Uh, dude ... Luigi isn't a real guy. He's for fake.

 

He gets drawed like a cartoon or something.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Uh, dude ... Luigi isn't a real guy. He's for fake.

 

He gets drawed like a cartoon or something.

 

Point being? The guy was given his own game, and frankly, Luigi on his own sucks pretty badly.

[Hoff 0]

It would be nice to see them introduce a new franchise character. Mario and Link are time-tested, but old nonetheless. DK has spun off fairly well, and Metriod proved it's still a staple, but other than those, who do you think of when you think Nintendo? Mega Man, at one point, but he's been on Sony as well. I've never believed them to be a "kiddie console" (unless by that, you meant "focused on gameplay as opposed to image"), but it would be cool if the big N got a character like Solid Snake or some equally bad-ass mofo to compliment the family-friendly Mario bunch (who, as Marvin pointed out, are still prominent at Nintendo's headquarters). It'd be tough developing something, but with big developers at least willing to get back on board with Nintendo, it's worth a shot at trying something.

[Lightning Flik 0]

Yet besides those names, who for Xbox or Sony can you honestly name is console specific characters that are true to the system and actually have made the system a seller?

 

No, FF or DOA count. I'm talking ONE specific character on either of those systems.

 

Honestly, I can't. So I don't think Nintendo is in dire need of finding a "new face". I think it's more they need to find a consistant "second cast". And particularly make sure they keep them around.

 

Then again, it's the flip side for Xbox and Sony. They've got the "second cast", but don't have any "lead stars". However, it's not like they need those "lead stars" anytime soon. Because they've got a huge "second cast" to fill the gaming world with.

 

I'm so using these terms loosely, so don't bitch about it. Probably doesn't make a whole hell of a lot of sense either.

[razazteca 0]

I'm talking ONE specific character on either of those systems

Crash Bandicoot? Tony Hawk? GTA?

[LaParkaMarka 0]

GTA used to be a "lead star" for ps2, but now it's on X-Box as well.

 

Nintendo did try for a grittier, more adult line of games to compliment the kiddy stuff. That was Resident Evil, which was GC exclusive.

[Nevermortal 0]

Xbox's Mario is Master Chief.

[Lightning Flik 0]

I'm talking ONE specific character on either of those systems

Crash Bandicoot? Tony Hawk? GTA?

GTA is for more than one system. Tony Hawk has been on other systems as well.

 

Crash Bandicot is long forgotten.

 

I mean a SINGLE character that repeatedly returns for ONE platform that continually has a fanbase.

[Red Baron 0]

Halo's Master Chief

[AndrewTS 0]

Crash Bandicot is long forgotten.

He's also gotten an X-Box game (I think) and GBA game (I'm certain), don't forget.

[Skywarp! 0]

There's also Star Fox, who is getting a flight game (not the adventure game) for the GameCube.

[Guest Goodear]

Nintendo simply needs more third party support so it doesn't seem like there are months between meaningful releases for the console.

[Slayer 0]

Crash Bandicot is long forgotten.

He's also gotten an X-Box game (I think) and GBA game (I'm certain), don't forget.

Oh, I forgot allright...

[dubq 0]

Uh, dude ... Luigi isn't a real guy. He's for fake.

 

He gets drawed like a cartoon or something.

Eating paint chips again, I see...

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Nintendo might as well get out of the home console biz and ask Microsoft about becoming an exclusive in cooperation for MS not making a portable and developing an Xbox/GameBoy hookup thing.

 

Game Boy is where all the money is being made. GameCube is where it's all being lost.

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Nintendo might as well get out of the home console biz and ask Microsoft about becoming an exclusive in cooperation for MS not making a portable and developing an Xbox/GameBoy hookup thing.

 

Game Boy is where all the money is being made. GameCube is where it's all being lost.

The Gamecube is now the #2 console in the US and even at $99, they are still not losing as much money per console at Microsoft is on the X Box.

[Chuck Woolery 0]

Nintendo might as well get out of the home console biz and ask Microsoft about becoming an exclusive in cooperation for MS not making a portable and developing an Xbox/GameBoy hookup thing.

 

Game Boy is where all the money is being made. GameCube is where it's all being lost.

The Gamecube is now the #2 console in the US and even at $99, they are still not losing as much money per console at Microsoft is on the X Box.

Source?

[MarvinisaLunatic 0]

Nintendo might as well get out of the home console biz and ask Microsoft about becoming an exclusive in cooperation for MS not making a portable and developing an Xbox/GameBoy hookup thing.

 

Game Boy is where all the money is being made. GameCube is where it's all being lost.

The Gamecube is now the #2 console in the US and even at $99, they are still not losing as much money per console at Microsoft is on the X Box.

Source?

 

REDMOND, Wash.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 4, 2003--In the video game industry, momentum has a new name: Nintendo GameCube™. In just 35 days of availability at a new manufacturer's suggested retail price of $99.99, Nintendo GameCube has more than quadrupled its sales rate and grabbed 18 points of market share from its two competitors.

Sales figures gathered from the nation's largest retailers show that Nintendo GameCube effectively doubled its market share to 37 percent from 19 percent. The system now runs a strong second in the U.S. market as it challenges for leadership during the important holiday sales season

 

Source for above

 

The company loses money on each Xbox it sells, with some analysts pegging the shortfall at more than $100 per $199 console, meaning that strong sales for the platform actually increase its losses.

 

Source for above

 

You might need to google search for the cache of the bottom article, it keeps giving me an expired page notice. The article is about 8 months old. It was commonly known that Nintendo wasn't losing any money on the Gamecube when they were selling it at $199, and even at $99, I doubt they are losing more than $100 per console.