Nintendo's Need for Gaming Historians

So my disappointment in Sony and Microsoft persists throughout this new generation of gaming because they have once again refused to even offer the opportunity for full backwards-compatibility or made a proper effort towards video game preservation; which has become a growing movement as technology improves and we are suddenly seeing many games fall behind as the industry progresses. Even recently, Sony has doubled-down on their attempts to erase the past by closing their digital stores in older consoles later this summer.

The third gaming giant is Nintendo, whose history is a little different and therefore has to be criticized a little differently. Criticism is warranted, but…just not as much.

Nintendo has always been one to go on its own course of hardware and software development. Nintendo makes the most unique games, takes the greatest risks, makes the biggest gambles, and almost never does the same thing twice---even if the names of their hardware can be similar. Because of this Nintendo has seen the highest of highs (the NES era, the masterful dominance of handheld gaming until the smartphone era, the Wii era, the Switch’s current record-breaking run) and the lowest of lows (Virtual Boy, Gamecube being outsold by PS2 6-1, the rough WiiU era) while still maintaining a core fanbase that has remained loyal, even when they are at their angriest.

Myself included.

I love Nintendo, but I admit it can be very VERY hard to support them with some of their decision-making habits.

With the world of gaming suddenly seeing more and more complications in linking itself to its past, and we are seeing physical AND digital games disappearing and at complete risk of going extinct at the mercy of the main gaming developers, the video game preservation movement has also gone after Nintendo. Nintendo used to have a wildly successful and spectacular Virtual Console service during the Wii era, which allowed you to purchase old games not only from their past, but the past of other consoles like the Genesis and even Commodore 64 and Neo-Geo.

However once we hit the WiiU/3DS era, their focus on Virtual Console and bringing back older games and making them playable started dwindling. Then came the Nintendo Switch, and Nintendo decided to scratch the concept altogether, replacing it with the monthly service of having a group of playable older titles online. One can argue that this ultimately would be better than Virtual Console, since the service can transfer itself from the Switch to whatever future console happens next, and you wouldn’t have to purchase the same old games over and over again (which…could also be resolved if Nintendo had a more organized online purchasing system, but that subject is for another day). But, we still aren’t seeing the giant list of available older games that we saw during the Wii days----and the Switch is four years in.

Nintendo can easily charge double for its online membership, but if they were to finally give us Gamecube, Nintendo 64, Game Boy, Game Boy Advance, Sega Genesis, Sega Dreamcast, and MORE games from the NES/SNES era, it would be worth every single penny. This is all also entirely feasible, as the Nintendo/Sega relationship remains strong, and of course Nintendo’s first-party heavy lineups in each console allows for the Big N to have access to plenty of titles to justify a higher price tag. This can happen this year, Nintendo is sitting on a gold mine and they haven’t utilized the potential of the Switch.

But we aren’t here to discuss the games that CAN be moved to the past and future, we are talking about the games that at its current iteration CANNOT.  

We are talking about the Virtual Boy, the Nintendo DS, and the Nintendo 3DS---with a slight extent handed to the original black-and-white Game Boy titles and some of the motion-crazy games of the Wii era.

Within the handhelds alone we have literally hundreds of great games at risk of just disappearing entirely as the hardware gets older and there’s no new hardware to replace it. There are hundreds of great ideas, great gameplay features, wonderful stories, and other unique functions that cannot be properly transferred to the Switch as they are. Whether it’s the multiple screens (DS, 3DS), red lines of death (Virtual Boy), extensive motion-control functions that aged poorly (Wii/WiiU), or very dated graphics (Game Boy), the only way to bring these games in particular to the Nintendo Switch, Switch Pro, and beyond, is to straight-up remake them.

Of course, if it’s a third-party game, its up to the company as to whether or not they want to bring it to modern audiences. Some have done a good job (Square Enix), and others have done extremely poorly (Konami). Then there’s Nintendo’s games of course. Nintendo also notoriously is extremely stingy on giving their IPs to other companies, so of course we are depending on Nintendo themselves to whether make the remakes and remasters themselves, or every once in a while, see them actually give an older game to a developer to work on (Grezzo has been trusted for a decade to remaster older Zelda games).

I propose an idea to Nintendo, let’s call it the Nintendo Historical Society.

The NHS will be strictly and solely responsible for bringing as much of Nintendo’s past software as possible to present day. This group of gaming developers (whether in Japan, or North America, or both) will not only be fully in charge of the Nintendo Switch/Nintendo Switch Pro Online services and the games they will contain, but will also dig all over the company’s extremely creative and extensive past to remake, remaster, reconfigure old games from the handheld era---while even remaking older console games that could benefit from a nice touch up (Donkey Kong Country trilogy), or fewer motion controls (Mario Strikers Charged on the Wii).

NHS can become the salvation for older gaming enthusiasts and game collectors everywhere, while providing Nintendo with more first-party software to release. With hundreds of games in Nintendo’s past to choose from, they will never run out of software to produce or to re-introduce to gamers via the Switch Online service. They can create upgraded collections of a particular series in need of high-definition love, like the Wario Land series from the original all the way to Wario Land: Shake It (which we could call Wario Land 6) or even the infamous Paper Mario trilogy (before the series went in…..strange directions).

Then there are Nintendo classics stuck on handhelds like Mario Kart DS/Mario Kart 7, New Super Mario Bros./New Super Mario Bros. 2, Yoshi’s Island DS, Animal Crossing: Wild World, the Mario and Luigi RPG series and those intriguing Zelda titles that relied heavily on touchscreen functions like Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. Each of these games were grand in their own right but require a ton of reconfiguring so they can become compatible with whatever Nintendo console is being sold.

Even though Nintendo isn’t keen on collections, there are plenty of strong potential collections here; the Mario Kart Handheld Trilogy, the Mario and Luigi Trilogy, Professor Layton Collection, Defeated Hero Zelda Trilogy (Oracle of Ages/Seasons, A Link Between Worlds), Kid Icarus Trilogy (last two were on handhelds and rife with technical limitations despite their quality), etc. This also doesn’t even include all the potential collections of handheld/motion-control games from third-party companies (Dragon Quest on the DS, the older Final Fantasy games).

They will also lend their services to help out other developers in remaking certain third-party games that have been found in the Nintendo touchscreen handhelds; whether it be Konami’s handheld Castlevania games, or Level-5’s Professor Layton series. This not only can strengthen relationships with Japanese developers, but will also add depth to Nintendo’s non first-party list of games, especially when the company continues to create hardware that doesn’t quite match up to that of Microsoft and Sony in terms of graphical power and memory.

With the Nintendo Historical Society, Nintendo can create a division of gaming that not only pushes forward the concept of video game preservation, but also taps into hundreds of games and tons of unmet potential that stems from these older games that are stuck in the one console or handheld it was released for. Whether its classic Zelda gameplay collecting dust, or masterful Mario sports games that are in need of fixing and remastering, the NHS can be the go-to for all fans seeking remakes, seeking new collections, or seeking additions to a growing online retro gaming service. Under this proposal, the main development teams can remain focused on the future of their games, while this NHS group focuses on Nintendo’s rich past. I’m sure Nintendo wouldn’t want to waste their main talented employees on remastering an early 2000s handheld game like Metroid Fusion or Golden Sun, but if there’s a dedicated group of developers already in charge of retro games, they don’t need to worry.

No company has a richer and deeper history of gaming than Nintendo, and its time they create more labor to explore the arsenal of ideas and great experiences of the past that need fixing in order to translate properly to modern day gamers, whether it be new fans or long-running ones always craving new AND old Nintendo magic.

Video game preservation is important, its crucial to the health of the gaming industry. With Nintendo having a tougher task of bringing its entire arsenal of past projects to the ninth generation of gaming, something like the Nintendo Historical Society would be beneficial to everyone involved, from the consumer to the company itself.

And yes, this is potentially just a way for me to finally get my remastered edition of F-Zero GX.