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4. Castlevania
Nintendo missed out on something last generation that was truly special. It missed out on a title from a long lineage of games that actually began on a Big N system. Castlevania was a namesake among Nintendo followers in the ’90s, calling the NES and SNES its home for quite some time. The series also went on to grace the N64 with its first 3D game, but then was appallingly absent from GameCube and Wii. Sure, Castlevania became synonymous with DS, but when Castlevania: Lords of Shadow showed up on 360 and PS3, Nintendo missed out, and missed out big time.
Castlevania is such a marvelous franchise that tells a grand tale; it’s the ultimate depiction of light versus dark, good triumphs evil story. It’s more than its thematic narrative, though. Castlevania is a strong game that is a bit of a hybrid, blending various elements of action, adventure, platforming, and brawling. It takes these four parts to create a single, solid piece of work that never forgets its identity. Nintendo and Castlevania were once a delightful couple until there was a harmony of dissonance among the two (yeah, I did that, big deal). At the same time, Castlevania feels foreign when it’s on any platform that doesn’t have the Nintendo stamp of approval. The problem, however, has been since the PS2 era; Castlevania’s graphical prowess has not been attainable by a Nintendo system, but the landscape has changed now. And considering the Big N’s support of the series on its portable systems, it would make great sense to have Castlevania back on its console of origin. It’s been far too long.
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
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…
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.
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.
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.
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).