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How has Nintendo's output not slowed down while everyone else's has, even though they are now on modern(ish) hardware?

Example of what exactly?

You're not seriously asking me to go look up the $80 MSRP price on these Switch 2 version ports > confirm that they are indeed selling these games for $80 > than comeback to you and report it here?
 
They just should do the same as Asha and ask Copilot! Done!

Seriously though, it's been an eternity.

Donkey Kong probably also somewhat delayed the new Mario game. I wouldn't be surprised if it was originally their idea for the new Mario, but thought DK would fit better.

many Nintendo games get developed as gameplay concepts first, and then the IP is assigned to them depending on what fits.

with all the remake stuff they're doing, I wouldn't be surprised if the next Mario we get is a full remake of Mario 64 tbh.
 
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That a single scene in a game like Wukong has more geometry, textures and overall graphic detail than Nintendo`s average yearly output of games bundled together could be a reason for that.....
 
Benefits of not targeting the best in graphical fidelity, and picking art styles that work. Wish Sony and Microsoft did a better job with their IP.

That said, some of their IP like Pokemon have declined in output quality, so they do have some filler-grade content thrown out too.
 
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They prioritize cartoonish visuals. A game like Astro Bot had much lower budget than the usual Sony game.
The best game on the PS5 exclusives catalog by a long margin…

Sony should listen Shuhei

 
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The secret to maintaining a release schedule that resembles an early 2000s release schedule is to make games... That look like they belong in the mid 2000s.
 
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They didn't drop their AA and B teams by the wayside.

Imagine Sony's output if they still had companies like Japan Studio or Ready at Dawn.

Or Xbox's output if they still had a lot of their smaller guys from earlier on, even companies like Tango.
This. People on GAF will disregard Tomodachi and Pokopia but the smaller titles help fill the gaps between the big games, while still selling millions of copies.
 
By releasing 500 shovelware crap and 10 proper exclusives. Last mainline Mario was 9 years ago. A sequel to Mario Kart 8 came out 12 years later. Took almost 7 years for Zelda BOTW DLC to come out. Their output hasn't slowed down? :pie_roffles:
 
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Nintendo targets a sustainable model and has tight management. A lot of games have also been remakes.

Sony handicapped their own ability to pump modest games at the altar of the end-all, graphically intense mega-million seller.
 
Here is the thing people dont understand, Nintendo actually does not have many studios. The bulk of their games come from partnerships, something like Marvel TOKON by ArcSys and Sony XDEV...but multiply this by 10 (fun fact: one of those studios is GameFreak, they do not own that studio)

If Sony is smart they would be ringing 15 different studios around the world and start dropping cash, Nintendo gave you the blueprint...use it
 
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You're giving them way more credit than they deserve. Besides porting or mastering older games, they are on ps4 era hw.

They don't get a free pass because they're nintendo.
 
Nintendo targets a sustainable model and has tight management. A lot of games have also been remakes.
This is a misconception. Out of the 70ish games they released since January 2020, only 14 were remasters/remakes with 1 upcoming one (Starfox) and I dunno If you can count the OoT Remake. Some of them were remakes/remasters of very old games like Metroid Prime or Mario 3D All Stars, so bringing them to a new system is very justified. Nintendo does like 8-10 bigger games per year with 2-4 of them being remasters/remakes, leaving them with a bigger release every 2 months on average.

I removed the absolute ultra budget games and the F2P ones like Pokemon Unite from their releases since 2020.
2020 - 4 Remasters
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Kirby Fighters 2
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Pikmin 3 Deluxe
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

2021 - 3 Remasters

Mario Golf: Super Rush
Mario Party Superstars
Metroid Dread
Miitopia
New Pokémon Snap
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

WarioWare: Get It Together!

2022 - no Remasters
Bayonetta 3
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby's Dream Buffet
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Nintendo Switch Sports
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Splatoon 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 3

2023 - 3 Remasters, even though Metroid Prime and Kirby are remasters of an ancient games
Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
Detective Pikachu Returns
Fire Emblem Engage
Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe
Metroid Prime Remastered

Pikmin 4
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Super Mario RPG
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WarioWare: Move It!

2024 - 1 Remaster
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD

Mario & Luigi: Brothership
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Super Mario Party Jamboree
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

2025 - 2 Remasters
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

Mario Kart World
Donkey Kong Bananza
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Kirby Air Riders
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment

2026 - 1 Remaster so far
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
Mario Tennis Fever
Starfox
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
 
By releasing 500 shovelware crap and 10 proper exclusives. Last mainline Mario was 9 years ago. A sequel to Mario Kart 8 came out 12 years later. Took almost 7 years for Zelda BOTW DLC to come out. Their output hasn't slowed down? :pie_roffles:
well we have rival companies taking way longer to release their own shovelware crap, like 3 to 4 per year, so at least theyre ahead in terms of pumping more games
 
This is a misconception. Out of the 70ish games they released since January 2020, only 14 were remasters/remakes with 1 upcoming one (Starfox) and I dunno If you can count the OoT Remake. Some of them were remakes/remasters of very old games like Metroid Prime or Mario 3D All Stars, so bringing them to a new system is very justified. Nintendo does like 8-10 bigger games per year with 2-4 of them being remasters/remakes, leaving them with a bigger release every 2 months on average.

I removed the absolute ultra budget games and the F2P ones like Pokemon Unite from their releases since 2020.
2020 - 4 Remasters
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Kirby Fighters 2
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Pikmin 3 Deluxe
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

2021 - 3 Remasters

Mario Golf: Super Rush
Mario Party Superstars
Metroid Dread
Miitopia
New Pokémon Snap
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

WarioWare: Get It Together!

2022 - no Remasters
Bayonetta 3
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby's Dream Buffet
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Nintendo Switch Sports
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Splatoon 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 3

2023 - 3 Remasters, even though Metroid Prime and Kirby are remasters of an ancient games
Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
Detective Pikachu Returns
Fire Emblem Engage
Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe
Metroid Prime Remastered

Pikmin 4
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Super Mario RPG
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WarioWare: Move It!

2024 - 1 Remaster
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD

Mario & Luigi: Brothership
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Super Mario Party Jamboree
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

2025 - 2 Remasters
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

Mario Kart World
Donkey Kong Bananza
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Kirby Air Riders
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment

2026 - 1 Remaster so far
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
Mario Tennis Fever
Starfox
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave

Uh, so 20% of games isn't a lot of remakes? I'm sure it helped them keep up one game a month. Nothing wrong about it.
 
This is a misconception. Out of the 70ish games they released since January 2020, only 14 were remasters/remakes with 1 upcoming one (Starfox) and I dunno If you can count the OoT Remake. Some of them were remakes/remasters of very old games like Metroid Prime or Mario 3D All Stars, so bringing them to a new system is very justified. Nintendo does like 8-10 bigger games per year with 2-4 of them being remasters/remakes, leaving them with a bigger release every 2 months on average.

I removed the absolute ultra budget games and the F2P ones like Pokemon Unite from their releases since 2020.
2020 - 4 Remasters
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity
Kirby Fighters 2
Mario Kart Live: Home Circuit
Paper Mario: The Origami King
Pikmin 3 Deluxe
Pokémon Mystery Dungeon: Rescue Team DX
Super Mario 3D All-Stars
Tokyo Mirage Sessions ♯FE Encore
Xenoblade Chronicles: Definitive Edition

2021 - 3 Remasters

Mario Golf: Super Rush
Mario Party Superstars
Metroid Dread
Miitopia
New Pokémon Snap
Pokémon Brilliant Diamond and Shining Pearl
Super Mario 3D World + Bowser's Fury
The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword HD

WarioWare: Get It Together!

2022 - no Remasters
Bayonetta 3
Fire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes
Kirby and the Forgotten Land
Kirby's Dream Buffet
Mario + Rabbids: Sparks of Hope
Nintendo Switch Sports
Pokémon Legends: Arceus
Pokémon Scarlet and Violet
Splatoon 3
Xenoblade Chronicles 3

2023 - 3 Remasters, even though Metroid Prime and Kirby are remasters of an ancient games
Advance Wars 1 + 2: Re-Boot Camp

Bayonetta Origins: Cereza and the Lost Demon
Detective Pikachu Returns
Fire Emblem Engage
Kirby's Return To Dream Land Deluxe
Metroid Prime Remastered

Pikmin 4
Super Mario Bros. Wonder
Super Mario RPG
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
WarioWare: Move It!

2024 - 1 Remaster
Luigi's Mansion 2 HD

Mario & Luigi: Brothership
Mario vs. Donkey Kong
Paper Mario: The Thousand-Year Door
Princess Peach: Showtime!
Super Mario Party Jamboree
The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom

2025 - 2 Remasters
Donkey Kong Country Returns HD

Mario Kart World
Donkey Kong Bananza
Pokémon Legends: Z-A
Metroid Prime 4: Beyond
Xenoblade Chronicles X: Definitive Edition
Kirby Air Riders
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Imprisonment

2026 - 1 Remaster so far
Tomodachi Life: Living the Dream
Rhythm Heaven Groove
Yoshi and the Mysterious Book
Mario Tennis Fever
Starfox
Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave
And Starfox is not a remaster at all..
 
I think OP understand perfectly well why, but just wants to talk about how wünderbar Nintendo is, how he wants to have Nintendo's babies.
Fine, I'll play YOUR GAME!

Nintendo games are still low complexity, they don't need an entire work week for a small team to create one in-game model and it's not like Nintendo themselves do everything either, they have farmed out the work to others since Donkey Kong arcade.

XEHXPHc6gnLHY1WQ.jpg
 
There are a few different reasons
  • Their games focus more on art style than cutting-edge graphics, which greatly reduces the man hours required to make assets
  • They're paying Japanese developer salaries, which are much lower than those in the west
  • Their games are often limited in scope compared to normal AAA.
  • They leverage outside studios and contract companies to make many of their titles. Grezzo handles a lot of the non-mainline Zelda game, for example
  • Their system lives and dies based on their games, so they schedule releases in a way to avoid long droughts. There are constantly rumors of games being finished well in advance of being announced so they can fill gaps in their release calendar.
 
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Because Nintendo care faaaaar more about their first party than Sony and MS.

This gen both Sony and MS heavily relied on 3rd part games to fill their line up.

Switch 2 has better 3rd part support than Switch 1 but still Nintendo biggest selling point their first party games.

PlayStation used to as well but thats no longer the case.
 
Uh, so 20% of games isn't a lot of remakes? I'm sure it helped them keep up one game a month. Nothing wrong about it.
20% is downplaying the amount in absolute numbers. They still had over 50 proper releases, the remakes/remasters were just an addition to that. No other of the big 3 released anywhere close to 70 bigger games (or over 55 if you ignore the remasters/remakes), but if you want to say 20% is a lot, then okay... Sony released 34 games (MLB games included) since 2020, 6 were remasters. That's 17-18% and again, this includes MLB... minus MLB it's 23-24%.
2026 - 3 games so far
Saros
Sons of Sparta
MLB The Show 26

2025 - 6 games, 1 remaster
Ghost of Yotei
Lost Soul Aside
Death Stranding 2
Days Gone Remastered
MLB The Show 25
Midnight Murder Club

2024 - 8 7 games, 3 remasters
LEGO Horizon Adventures
Horizon Zero Dawn Remastered
Astro Bot
Until Dawn
Concord
Stellar Blade
MLB The Show 24
Helldivers 2
The Last of Us Part II Remastered

2023 - 3 games, yay no remasters
Marvel's Spider-Man 2
MLB The Show 23
Horizon Call of the Mountain

2022 - 4 games, 1 remake
God of War: Ragnarok
The Last of Us Part I
MLB The Show 22
Horizon Forbidden West

2021 - 4 games, yay no remasters
Ratchet & Clank: Rift Apart
Returnal
MLB The Show 21
Destruction AllStars

2020 - 7 games, 1 remaster
Marvel's Spider-Man: Miles Morales
Sackboy: A Big Adventure
Ghost of Tsushima
The Last of Us Part II
MLB The Show 20
Dreams
Patapon 2 Remastered
I left out the PS5 upgrades like GOTDC, DSDC or Nioh Remasters. as I didn't include the Switch 2 upgrades either. This may also be incomplete as I used the Metacritic publisher page, but the over all result won't change by much even if a handful of games are missing. 1 in 5 seems to be the standard as it is right now.
 
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What Nintendo does more than other major publishers is license their IPs to other studios for development.
It's true that they often use outside studios like Platinum Games, Mercury Steam and (more recently) Velan Studios (Starfox) but the majority of their games are by 1st and 2nd party devs...Too bad if Sony doesn't know how to contract outside work for 1st party IP...
 
Nintendo also has a lot of solid partnerships that produces a bulk of their output.

This in particular is important. Almost every major new Switch 2* release this year is from an external partner: Mario Tennis is Camelot. Pokopia is from Omega Force. Yoshi is from GoodFeel. Star Fox is from Velan Studios. Fire Emblem is from Koei Tecmo Intelligent Systems. Duskbloods is from Fromsoft.

The only possible exceptions are Splatoon Raiders, which is almost certainly an internal EPD team, and Ocarina of Time remake, which is currently a complete mystery, but could very well be Tantalus or some other external studio, given the history of Zelda remakes.

This isn't a nad thing, by the way. It's smart. This is exactly what Nintendo needs to do to keep up a solid release cadence without spreading their internal teams too thin.

* - Both of Nintendo's Switch 1 releases this year (Tomodachi Life and Rhythm Heaven) were developed house, so if you count them it's less lopsided.
 
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No DEI.
No insane "progressives" (looney tunes).
No sabotage from within.
Ignoring purple place people.
Having a tight knit unified goal of fun games.
Not having GAAS.
Not making everything 200+ hour open world games, just for the sake of it (Mario Odyssey and Zelda are not "just for the sake of it").
Releasing SMALLER MORE FOCUSED GAMES - Mario Tennis Fever, Star Fox, Splatoon, Sports Resort are not giant projects.
 
Fire Emblem is from Koei Tecmo.
This is not FE Warriors. This FE is made by INtelligent Systems which is at least partly owned by Nintendo and both have a very strong partnership. It's technically still not 1st party.

/edit this just makes me think, I dunno how booked the Warriors dev is, but we had Hyrule, Fire Emblem and Dragon Quest Warriors games... Sony should get in on this and let them do a God of War Warriors. Would be cool to see and the games are generally competently made.
 
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This is not FE Warriors. This FE is made by INtelligent Systems which is at least partly owned by Nintendo and both have a very strong partnership. It's technically still not 1st party.

Oops, yeah, this is my mistake. I'll correct it in my post.

Intelligent Systems isn't owned by Nintendo though, as far as I can tell. They're an independent studio that is a frequent collaborator with Nintendo, like Camelot.
 
Oops, yeah, this is my mistake. I'll correct it in my post.

Intelligent Systems isn't owned by Nintendo though, as far as I can tell. They're an independent studio that is a frequent collaborator with Nintendo, like Camelot.
I was always under the impression that it was at least some form of partial ownership because they co-own the Fire Emblem IP and well, they never did anything for someone else in their very long history. Surprised they never actually bought them.
 
Switch 2 is roughly on the power level of a hecking ps4 pro no wonder they can press out games like it's nothing when they operate with a power limit of that caliber with todays tools.
 
I was always under the impression that it was at least some form of partial ownership because they co-own the Fire Emblem IP and well, they never did anything for someone else in their very long history. Surprised they never actually bought them.

Nintendo seems reluctant to buy out their development partners, for whatever reason. They just keep bringing them new contracts if they're happy with their work.
 
They have around 5 titles that have 5-10m potential in them.

Pokémon Pokopia
Tomodachi Life
Switch sports resort
Kirby Raiders
Ocarina of time

They also have smaller titles with bigger sales potential than Death Stranding 2, Marathon, and Saros.
Starfox remake
Fire Emblem Fortune's weave
Yoshi and the mysterious book
Mario Tennis fever
 
The company employees almost 10,000 developers spread across the company and 11 development teams from what I could look up. They don't have massive turnover and all work under that vision of Nintendo design and philosophy. I think also they have proven they care about their teams and the people who work there. In fact if look up some more history they have not really had major turnover. I one time heard of a interview with a Nintendo of America manager briefing new marketing hires that if you came here to make stupid dumb money your at the wrong place. I think that right there helps weed out the greedy selfish individuals and give the focus to teamwork and creation as unifying principle that Nintendo is not made up of one person but everyone there. You work as a team for common goal. Kudos to them for keeping that philosophy up.
 
They have around 5 titles that have 5-10m potential in them.

Pokémon Pokopia
Tomodachi Life
Switch sports resort
Kirby Raiders
Ocarina of time

They also have smaller titles with bigger sales potential than Death Stranding 2, Marathon, and Saros.
Starfox remake
Fire Emblem Fortune's weave
Yoshi and the mysterious book
Mario Tennis fever
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Well, for one, they make more than just AAA (e.g. 3D Zelda) type projects. If every game was aiming for that scope and budget the situation would be very different.

They've also been a lot more open to share their IP with devs outside of their internal EPD teams, or even first party teams. I'm sure that has helped a lot to offset development times. These days you can never be quite sure about who is actually making a Nintendo game, despite it being based on a established Nintendo IP.
 
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