*DISCLAIMER* The following is purely an opinion piece. I do
not claim to know what the real plans are that any video game companies
mentioned in this article have planned for their franchises.
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Welcome to Custom Picks, a series of speculation articles
about different games for companies to release. Nintendo, Sega, Capcom,
Ubisoft, Square-Enix; if they have games everyone is waiting for, those games
are up for discussion.
With Nintendo’s NX a little under a year away, everyone is
speculating about what they are going to do next. Everyone has ideas about what
their next console should be capable of and everyone says they need to have
more third-party games, more first-party games, revivals of old franchises, and
new IPs. But when it comes to exactly what games should be on there, fewer
people are willing to say exactly what.
So, the first few articles in Custom Picks will be about
Nintendo and what possible games they could release to get gamers excited about
the NX, and maybe revive some old franchises along the way.
One of the older genres of video games that are still
popular today, role-playing games are one of the kinds of games that players
look to for engaging stories, complex characters, and deep mechanics, and
Japanese RPGs carry a unique set of aesthetics and gameplay quirks that
differentiate itself from western-made RPGs. From quirky anime-styled
characters to turn-based combat and stat and menu management, the unique
elements of JRPGs attract fans all over the globe waiting for the genre’s next
big hit.
Nintendo has had a lot of popular series in this genre, most
recently with the Xenoblade Chronicles games, fans have stated that they want
to see some of Nintendo’s other series get this attention, from The Last Story
to Golden Sun to EarthBound. Others want to see Nintendo collaborate with other
studios like Square-Enix, Mistwalker, or Atlus to create a crossover with their
properties or a completely new game.
So, what first-party or third-party titles could fit this
category?
First Party Titles – Xenoblade Chronicles NX & Golden
Sun NX
Reaching a worldwide audience as a result of the Operation
Rainfall campaign, Xenoblade Chronicles is one of the most recent hit series
for Nintendo. The first game for the Wii was a cult hit, generating enough
attention for its protagonist Shulk to be added to the roster for Super Smash
Brothers 4. The sequel, Xenoblade Chronicles X, carried that hype over to the
Wii U and it became one of the best games for the console. Having this continue
as a regular series instead of just dropping into obscurity like several other
Nintendo RPGs would cover a genre niche in Nintendo’s NX lineup with at least
one game that fans would really anticipate.
Though speaking of games dropping into obscurity, one of the
Nintendo games most requested for Nintendo to give a revival is Golden Sun. The
Golden Sun series, which had two games for the original Nintendo DS and one
game for the 3DS, engaged players with its interesting story and unique
mechanics utilizing the characters’ special abilities to manipulate their
environment. The fact that several Smash Brothers fans like to add Isaac from
the first two games into their fan-made Smash rosters shows how popular this
series still is. As Nintendo reviving any of their beloved series would hype a
crowd up, a Golden Sun sequel would be the best JRPG to accomplish this effect
with.
Third Party Titles – Final Fantasy Classic Reborn & Shin
Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor 3
A lot of people see the dawn of the PlayStation One back in
the mid-1990s as the day Nintendo lost their grip on the home console market
and one of the big factors for this was the game Final Fantasy VII. Released in
1997, Final Fantasy VII was originally supposed to be a Nintendo 64 title, but
the limited space on their cartridges made them switch to the PlayStation instead. Up
until that point however, Nintendo and Square were big partners with several of
their earlier games seen on Nintendo consoles.
As much as gamers would want Final Fantasy VII or any of the more recent Final Fantasy games to come over to Nintendo's consoles, it seems unlikely to happen. Before Super Smash Brothers 4, when Cloud was added to the roster via DLC, the later FF games were regarded as strictly Sony territory and from all companies involved may still hold this attitude. Unless Nintendo and Square are planning a big surprise by bringing over a more modern title, it seems more likely that Square games for the NX would take more cues from the classic games in the series (meaning I-VI). While Sony
remains the platform for the modern style FF titles, Nintendo can
be the platform for their classic style titles.
Pulling away from Square, we look at another recent JRPG
titan, Atlus. Being a sub-studio for Sega hasn’t slowed down this developer as
series like Shin Megami Tensei and its sub-series Persona and Devil Survivor
show they can still put out quality games. While Persona 5 may be hard to get a
hold of, with it being a PlayStation exclusive, Devil Survivor 3, which so far
has been exclusive to Nintendo handhelds, has the potential to become just as
big of a series. With the right amount of marketing and hype, along with the quality storytelling and engaging gameplay usually found in Atlus RPGs, this can be a game for people to get excited about just like PlayStation fans get excited about Persona.
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What did you think of these Custom Picks? What Japanese RPGs
would you add to Nintendo’s lineup? Make your voice heard in the comments below
and thanks for coming.
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