14 DAY TRIAL // Video game publisher Nintendo says that it is constantly revisiting the same franchises on all of its platform mainly because fans of the company are always asking for more content featuring favorite characters like Mario and Link.
Bill Trinen, a director of product marketing at the company, tells Gamespot that, “in a lot of the cases, if you've got an idea that's really fun and really interesting, pairing that with, for example, Mario, then that takes a fun and interesting gameplay mechanic and puts it with a character that makes it instantly appealing to a very wide range of people.”
The process involves much less risk than simply taking a good idea and creating an entirely new game world to accommodate it and then asking players to understand and accept it.
Trinen adds, “the other approach is, as you frequently see with Nintendo Directs and announcements like this, when we do announce something like a new Yoshi's Island, there's a tremendous fan reaction to that because they want it.”
A limited number of characters have been so successful for Nintendo that the company is unable to leave them behind without incurring the wrath of its core audience.
During a recent event, the publisher announced that it was launching a new Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past title on the 3DS, which might be the first true sequel that the series has ever seen.
More Mario titles are also coming to the handheld and the Wii U is also getting a new Luigi-themed expansion.
Nintendo has said before the launch of its new home console that it wants a more diverse line-up of games, but so far, internally-developed titles seem to have driven sales.
The performance of the Wii U has been somewhat disappointing and a price cut is expected to take place later during 2013.