Top Ten: Third Party Franchises We Want on Wii U

Everything you’ve been wanting to play on a next-gen Nintendo console, but haven’t been able to.

By Bradly Halestorm. Posted 11/07/2012 14:00 6 Comments     ShareThis

2. Final Fantasy

final fantasy 3

Final Fantasy… another franchise that began on a Nintendo system. In truth, I think a Final Fantasy of some kind, though usually a spin-off, has found its way onto every Nintendo home console. (That excludes the Virtual Boy, of course. Then again, the world’s history excludes the Virtual Boy.) Final Fantasy was at one point a household, Nintendo name, sharing its biggest games on the likes of NES and SNES. However, since the transition from 2D gaming to 3D gaming back in the day of the N64, the big Final Fantasy’s have been absent from Nintendo’s systems.

While we can certainly lament over the missed opportunities in that regard, we can make better use of our time by recognizing that Wii U could be a future home for Final Fantasy. As previously mentioned, it seems that Wii U is really looking to establish a strong Japanese foothold. It also seems that Nintendo is very interested in listening to the masses these days when it comes to localizing fan-favorite games trapped overseas. Just look at the recent Xenoblade, The Last Story and Pandora’s Tower (for Europe, anyway), as well as talks about bringing to North America Project X Zone, the Layton/Phoenix Wright crossover, and a handful of other titles.

Now, more than ever, Nintendo seems eager to introduce western gamers to eastern games. The eastern games market has been overrun in the past decade, so they could certainly benefit from this seemingly new ideology on the part of the Big N. Nintendo can make a change and a difference here, and it can do it with Final Fantasy. How great would it be to see some of the series’ most prized personalities show up on your Nintendo system? A return to its roots could be in order for Final Fantasy. And here’s hoping, if Nintendo has any brains and persuading power, that a much awaited Final Fantasy VII remake happens on Wii U. Though absurdly unlikely, I still can’t think of a better way to sell your system than to have a heavy hitter like FFVII make a resurgence on your latest console.

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

6 Responses to “Top Ten: Third Party Franchises We Want on Wii U”

  • 138 points
    MaStEr Of SaNdZ says...

    What about the Conduit? I know it had problems but, it could have a good chance to be alot better graphically and story-line wise if it was on Wii U or if the title was purchased by Nintendo and messed with by Retro

    • 156 points
      Bradly Halestorm says...

      I think the Conduit is a solid series, however, I wanted to focus on franchises that hadn’t really made an appearance on a Nintendo console ever, or at least for quite some time. Since Conduit was just last generation, I avoided it. It’s a great game, though!

      One game I wish I could’ve fit on there was the Souls series (Demon’s/Dark Souls). Now that’s a fantastic franchise that I think would really fit in line with Nintendo’s new focus on the “hardcore”. Talk about a game that is truly hardcore…

  • 285 points
    Kyle England says...

    Another writer here shares my love of Shenmue!!! I would love to see a Yakuza title on Wii U as well. Better yet… Nintendo should team up with Yu Suzuki and Sega to finally release Shenmue III on Wii U. This could also accompany HD re-releases of the first two games on Wii U with the ability to continue your save file. The possibilities… I’m almost crying.

    • 156 points
      Bradly Halestorm says...

      A fellow Yu Suzuki loyalist! There are far too many people who don’t know about Shenmue! I’m in the process of constructing an article idea for why I think Shenmue III belongs on Wii U. In the meantime, though, I agree whole heartedly with everything you said. I assume Sega is preparing a Shenmue HD release, however, as they’ve been slowly releasing their biggest titles on XBLA and PSN (Jet Grind Radio, Sonic Adventure, Virtual On, Daytona, etc.). So, I suspect Shenmue is coming. My hope is it’s released on the eShop.

  • 60 points
    Dustin Grissom says...

    So many issues with Borderlands would be fixed if all of the menu stuff was on the gamepad! It would seriously improve the game sooooo much.

  • 261 points
    JasonMaivia says...

    I would absolutely LOVE to see the Persona series come to Wii U. Persona 4 is my all-time favorite rpg ever. Persona 5 for Wii U?

    Third party games — I want them all. The Wii missed out on almost all good-quality 3rd party games. If Microsoft and Sony gamers gets something from third party companies, why not Nintendo gamers? There was no problem on NES, and there definately wasn’t any major problems with third party support on Super NES (N64 and Gamecube were largely ignored).
    It’s a shame that people moved away from Nintendo, but hopefully, we Nintendo console owners, especially those has just a Nintendo console, can be equally as excited and happy as the rest of the gaming world.

    Speaking of “world”, I’d love to see more come out of Japan. I’m not talking about your everyday action game or rpg. There’s far more, and they’re holding back so much, it’s not even funny. Nevermind the excuse about their games being “culturally different”…if games like Harvest Moon, 999, Phoenix Wright, and Persona can make it over (with pretty much all Japanese references intact), why not more?

    Niche titles have grown into popular fan favorites in past generations. I wish there were more (I’d love to have the Densha de Go/Railfan series in English).

Leave a Reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

Log In 0 points Log in or register to grow your Ninja Score while interacting with our site.
Nintendojo's RSS Feeds

All Updates Podcast
News Comments
Like and follow usFacebookTwitter Friend Code Exchange + Game with Us Join the Team!