Feature: What to expect from Nintendo in 2016?

Year 2015 it was not easy for Nintendospecifically if we talk about the Wii Ua wonderful platform that did not have the reception that the brand would have expected, thus falling far short of the overwhelming success of its predecessor.

2014 It was a crucial year for the platform, and although by then it already had exclusives as wonderful as Super Mario 3D World or Pikmin 3, the big N console was preparing its best cards trying to make a strong comeback with games of the stature of mario kart 8 Y Super Smash Bros. the two intellectual properties that always made their predecessors shine. Contrary to what investors would have thought of him, though there were interesting spikes and good amount of sales of the aforementioned titles the number of Wii U consoles reaching consumers fell far short.

That’s how it started 2015, with a console that not even with its biggest exclusives managed to establish itself like its predecessors. It was a year in which we saw a Nintendo that took much more calculated steps and without wanting to risk having super productions to fall short in sales given the limited presence of the platform in the homes of the players, preferred bet on much smaller developments and some of their new equipment. splatoon is the greatest example of it, a title “small”so to speak, but not inferior in quality to what the brand has accustomed us to, consolidating itself as a fun and addictive experience that, especially in the Japanese market, consolidated itself as a phenomenon in the industry. Remasters Y ports What The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask 3D Y Xenoblade Chronicles 3D came to enrich the catalog of 3DS while strong workhorses for the portable in the east as Yo Kai Watch They finally came to our region to try their luck. We can’t ignore that super mario maker also resulted in a success for Nintendo’s home console, which also showed us its potential with games as strong as Xenoblade ChroniclesX who arrived to close a very difficult year for the brand.

We can’t also deny that 2015 was quite a painful year for the big Na closing with enough games mediocre What Chibi-Robo Zip Lash, Animal Crossing Amiibo Party, Mario Tennis Ultra Smash Y Devil’s Third quite tarnished the image of the brand in the eyes of fans, who were always used to seeing high ratings among Nintendo’s first party games, and now we come across a huge number of well-founded negative reviews that made us wonder what is happening to Nintendo?

The unfortunate death of the president of Nintendo who saw the greatest successes of the company, Satoru Iwata, it was a very sensitive loss for the brand and that surely also influenced its destabilization that would lead to the bad steps that we mentioned in the previous paragraph. Without having a clear way of how to communicate with consumers, Nintendo once again chose to follow the tradition of nintendo directbut what can we expect now from these broadcasts that have no longer had the big announcements and reveals that they used to?

2015 is over and a crucial year begins for the brand in which we have very little certainty about what is to comebut we are sure that there will be so many changes and proposals that it could be one of the most important years for the big N in a long time. Unlike other lists like PlayStation where we have a good list of releases already announced in the case of Nintendo we will go more to the side of the analysis and the predictions having very few cards on the tablethat on the one hand is very exciting because of what could await us and that we may not even imagine.

The most important E3, Nintendo’s return to the stage with NX?

We are almost sure that this first half of the year Nintendo will announce the successor to the Wii Uand although we still don’t know what its concept is about – many point to a hybrid between home console and portable – the brand has shown us over the years that the innovation it is one of the main guidelines when developing your hardware.

No one can deny the emotion what it means to know a new console and we must accept many that especially if it is about Nintendo there is a feeling that is very special because of the same legacy of the Japanese company.

When is the Nintendo NX going to be revealed? It can happen as happened with Sony and Microsoft in 2013 that anticipated much to E3 to give the announcement and we are not surprised that out of nowhere a Nintendo Direct is prepared to reveal the first details of the platform, despite this, the brand will face its ultimate test at E3 2016.

Nintendo’s moment for E3 is so important that perhaps it will mean the return of the brand to the spotlight of its own conference at the eventa live broadcast that brings together the media and shows the world the final design of the console, its main features and most importantly: its launch line-up.

To not make the same mistakes what happened to Wii U the brand must be very clear when specifying that it is a completely new platform –for which the selection of a suitable name will be very important– and that will have very strong proposals both from the internal teams of Nintendo as well as from third parties with whom there must be a strong search for support.

Although we do not know at what point Nintendo drops the bomb of the official announcement of NX It will be perhaps one of the most important news of the year and we think that for Black Friday 2016 maybe the console is on the market at about $350 maximum to be competitive with the competition.

Continue to strengthen the Amiibo platform

The amiibo they have gradually become an important pillar for Nintendo’s sales and although not all of them have the same popularity, we will surely see this platform strengthened with regular waves of figures throughout the year.

In addition to the presence of the latest figures related to Super Smash Bros., it is very possible that most of the important releases of the year are accompanied by these figures that are compatible with both the Wii U like with him Nintendo 3DS.

The resource of remasters and classics

If Nintendo is already closing the Wii U cycle –perhaps even the 3DS too– one resource that remains so as not to let sales die on both platforms is make use of classic games both in Virtual Console format and in the form of remastered What The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD Coming soon to Wii U, what other surprises of this kind await us? (Did someone say Metroid?)

Knowing and serving new markets

The one that does not evolve dies, that simple. We are facing a year in which we will see a strong evolution of the brand and its expansion into new markets. The fact that Nintendo enter the mobile gaming market can mean permanent changes in its philosophy and in its way of working.

Today, for example, it is easy to see how on the Nintendo 3DS there are more and more free-to-start games or free-to-play which are precisely the ones that people are playing, and you realize it as easily as when you go out to do streetpass and you realize that those types of games are the most popular among the people you meet.

Whether we like it or not, practices such as the use of free-to-play models will gradually permeate even the console market. –including the one that is about to be released– and Nintendo will continue throughout 2016 experiencing with this new approach to the way you distribute your titles.

In addition to your entry to mobile market and the use of the aforementioned business models, Nintendo will also enter other markets like the one it intends to reach with its QOL platform (quality of life) of which we may have details very soon.

the games we look forward to

Though little is confirmed regarding the nintendo releases here we list some of its main titles:

The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess HD

The game that we saw go through the GameCube and the Wii will now also be released on Wii U complete with a new amiibo.

The new The Legend of Zelda

Not every year a title of the beloved Nintendo franchise is released, so with the fact of having a new The Legend of Zelda we can be very happy and think that 2016 will be a great year. Although we’ve joked about it not coming out for Wii U, it’s very possible that this title will bid farewell to Nintendo’s current home console and welcome NX assuming it’s compatible with both platforms.

Pokken Tournament

In the year that we celebrate 20 years of Pokémon, our Wii U will be filled with the action of this fighting game from the experts in the genre, Bandai Namco. Bet almost sure that it will be enjoyed by his fans.

Title celebrating the 20th anniversary of Pokémon

Nintendo can’t pass up the opportunity for a Pokémon series-related release, much less in this year that marks the franchise’s 20th anniversary. It is very possible that we will see a new canonical installment of the series for 3DS.

Mario & Luigi: Paper Jam

The Mario and Luigi RPG returns in a crossover with Paper Mario, which also returns to its origins as an RPG. To start the year as it should be next week we receive this title on our 3DS.

starfox zero

Perhaps this title is the strongest bet in the Wii U catalog of the year. Hand in hand with Platinum Games and the care of Nintendo, it is difficult for us to owe the return of this series to the consoles of the great N.

The games that could be announced for NX

Also we speculate a little with what Nintendo can show us at E3 or in a broadcast related to its new console, games that could be ready as soon as the launch of the platform or in its first months of life.

Tech demo of NX technology

just as we had Wii Sports with the advent of the Wii and nintendo land With the Wii U coming to showcase the console’s capabilities and innovation, it’s certain that we’ll have a similar product related to the Miis or iconic Nintendo franchises to serve as the starter game for the NX and showcase its capabilities. We envision a simple game that comes bundled with the first consoles to hit the market.

metroid

How long have we been waiting for a new adventure related to space bounty hunter Samus Aran? We hope that 2016 will finally be the year of Metroid, and we are talking about something more than the 3DS spin-off that we do not have to despise either.

Super Mario Galaxy?

A Nintendo console cannot be complete without a new Super Mario game, we let our imagination run wild and we think that a new Mario Galaxy awaits us with the premiere of the new Nintendo console, it is worth dreaming!

Pikmin 4

Will Miyamoto bet on the Pikmin series again? It does not seem completely unreasonable to us that it came out, what do you think?

Animal Crossing

Not even for NX, maybe for Wii U. A new Animal Crossing could come to Nintendo’s home console, they already have all the assets in HD that they made for Amiibo Festival and that could be reused in a complete game of the series that will conquer us with its addictive formula.

…………………….

A great year for Nintendo awaits us, especially a decisive one in its history. The announcement of its new platform and its respective games will undoubtedly be the center of attention in the industry. What do you most expect from Nintendo in 2016?