I remember a strange night blogging live about the worst anniversary party ever. You know, Sonic fans! But it wasn’t all bad; we didn’t know then, given that the widely leaked Switch hadn’t even been officially revealed as the NX at the time, but Nintendo fans weren’t far from playing the best Sonic game in decades Sonic Mania
As a game it was a commercial success, with initial sales encouraging SEGA to approve retail editions and Sonic Mania PlusIt’s still a go-to game on my Switch. It was when you too really Think about it, a daring thing for SEGA to do. As the IP – especially the roots of the 2D platform – was losing popularity, SEGA effectively admitted it was not right and recruited an all-star team of Indie developers with massive amounts of talent. In their ranks were those who had produced excellent mobile gates, fan games and more, and it felt like SEGA said “ok, fine, make the Sonic game everyone wants”And they did.
© NintendoThis is Nintendo Life, you’ve read the headline, so it’s clear where this is headed. Still, before sharpening the pitchforks, it’s important to recognize that Nintendo has had moments to embrace the talent that can be found outside of its own studios. The spicy title Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer with The Legend of Zelda was a case where Nintendo saw a top-notch Indie game, agreed it would be fun to bring the concept to the Zelda franchise, and it happened. It was eye-opening simply because Nintendo has often been quite careful about letting others play with their toys.
Cadence of Hyrule was eye-opening simply because Nintendo has often been pretty careful about letting others play with their toys.
We’ve also seen Nintendo allow significant third-party development teams to produce fan favorite games. You can go back to titles such as Metroid: Samus Returns from MercurySteam, or indeed Metroid Prime Trilogy when Retro Studios first ‘joined the family’, and studios like Next Level Games before they were acquired. Let’s not forget New Pokémon Snap is being developed by Bandai Namco, a company that also played a prominent role in making us Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
That said, we’re referring to smaller teams with this idea, the understaffed but passionate space of super fans who also happen to be talented artists and developers.
Of course, what we often see from these individuals and small groups are fan products, a recent example being the stunning 2D Prime. As is well known, Nintendo is sometimes so diligent in protecting its copyright that projects like this one are in permanent danger; so far someone has survived.
Whatever you think about Nintendo’s methods of enforcing their copyrights, that’s not the point here. I just dream of the day Nintendo embraces some of these talents, gives them the finances and resources they need and works with them to make a truly special game. Oh, how I want Nintendo to have its Sonic Mania moment!
Realistically, it would be surprising if Nintendo did this with something like Mario or The Legend of Zelda. Yes, we have Cadence of Hyrule, but that feels more like Legend of Zelda having a wonderful marriage to the Crypt of the Necrodancer format. Basically allowing an Indie team to create a game that develops the major Nintendo titles, like the many impressive fan efforts that come out every year, is quite another.
Still, there are dormant franchises Nintendo could approve, satisfying vocal fans while keeping the scope and budget relatively low. The will of F-zero Kid Icarus Star Fox and much more; there are indie titles that draw inspiration from titles like this and look fantasticImagine one that has the support of Nintendo. Our friends at Push Square have also been thinking about a similar topic from a Sony perspective.
I feel like it’s unlikely, but who knows – Nintendo is often full of surprises. The advent of small-scale games in dormant franchises produced by talented super fans would certainly get me excited.
Do you like this idea, or do you think it’s crazy? Please give your opinion in the comments.