Just curious, after all of this NSMB2 talk. How much is too much? Can a good thing ever become bad? Do you lose anything by playing every other entry? Are most of the complaints coming from a vocal minority, or is franchise fatigue a common sentiment?

Assuming reasonably similar (series average) quality and length from entry to entry, are there any Nintendo (or other) franchises that you could conceivably buy and enjoy EVERY year?

I'll say 2D Metroid. Right into my veins. Definitely not Zelda, though. It takes me, like, a year to play through each one.

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I think annual updates are holding sports games back severely.

@Jargon

I talked to EA about doing this with a NASCAR game. They told me (like other sports have Player's Associations) that there needs to be an individual contract with EVERYTHING. Drivers, sponsors, teams, tracks, announcers, etc. Just, crazy. I was like "could you guys release, like, NASCAR Wii, and just have a subscription, or something, or a downloadable year every year? We could get new paint schemes, drivers, any changes, whatever. We'd have to buy one disc, saving you guys money on production, and then we could still pay, I dunno, $20 or something for all of the new stuff." One lady really liked my idea, and demanded I gave my email address to her. I never heard from her again.

As with football though, yeah, NFLPA is only good for like one year, I think. You wouldn't be able to have any College guys in there at all, neither name or likeness. Heck, Tecmo Super Bowl III didn't have ANY Rookies named in it. WR Niners (JJ Stokes), anyone?


@WrathOfSamus777
@Paperclyp

Are you guys even sports fans though? For someone who ISN'T a sports fan first (not a "sports game fan"), it doesn't make any sense to them. By that token, I feel that the opinions of people who AREN'T sports fans towards sports games don't matter.

I mean, you wouldn't/don't understand. Just like I'm severely unqualified to talk about FPS games, those who aren't familiar with sports have no right to tell me how the backup linebackers don't matter. To a sports fan (a REAL sports fan who unquestionably buys a "new" sports game each and every year), these things matter.

I can see adding (ideally free) DLC to expand upon a game and add to its longevity but not a NEW game. Games that could benefit: Nintendoland, Animal Crossing, and Mario Kart.

@Mr_Mustache I think Layton was a bit more spread out in Japan, it's just that we got the first one late and it was a rush to keep up after that? We still don't have the 3DS game though, and Japan got it at launch. It's coming out soon however, and we will FINALLY be caught up!

@Mr_Mustache
I used to be a HUGE sports fan, mostly basketball and football, and I used to play a lot of sports games when I was younger. I spent a lot of time playing Tecmo Bowl and the first two years of NBA Live. Also the first five years or so of Madden were pretty special. I still like sports, but I'm not the sports junkie I used to be. I still like golf and tennis games. I was seriously thinking about buying a Tiger Woods game for my Wii, but it just seems pointless when another version is going to come out in a matter of months that will most likely be better. And so I end up not buying any version.

@WrathOfSamus777

Well.. I dunno, thats kind of a weird approach. With that, you'll always be waiting, ya know? If you're SET on doing that, you should hop in somewhere, and just skip a year. If you're always holding out for the best, I mean, you're never gonna buy anything, like you aren't.

But what if you choose the wrong year? What if you were staggering your Madden purchases and you ended up with 04 and 06? That means you would've missed out on 05, probably the best one theres been, and you'll also miss out on 07, another great one. 08 was kinda stinky. Me, I just buy everything. Its not that much, and unlike you (and a lot of people here), I AM a sports junkie. I watch every Bills game, every football game I can, I go to games, I study rosters, I go to training camp, I buy jerseys. You know..stuff like that!

I hear ya though.

@Mr_Mustache
I know, I am always waiting, that's what I'm saying. That's why I never buy one of their games because I always think that next year's might be better so I wait because I want the best!

With Tecmo Bowl, we got two games on the NES and two on the SNES. That was it. Then the franchise went dormant because 3D games got huge and Madden started getting really popular. Those are probably the funnest sports games I've played.

And Punch-Out too. Those might be the only sports games that are on par with Tecmo Bowl for me.

Absolutely I'm a sports fan. I watch an embarrassing amount of football and basketball especially.

The idea of yearly installments are a joke for those games, particularly Madden and NCAA. They don't fix (what I consider to be) fatal flaws in the games. The secondary play in NCAA for instance is just irritating as hell. There's no vertical component to the passing. If you've got a guy wide open in a gap in the zone with a linebacker splitting the distance between the QB and the receiver, it's risky to throw it to that player (who's seriously WIDE OPEN) because your QB will chuck it right to him. Try to put some touch on the ball and you'll just lob it up for anyone.

Similar issues with deep passing, with corners or safeties covering one guy (not looking at the QB), you've got a guy wide open down the sidelines, but somehow the DB uses ESP the second the ball leaves the QB's hands and, with incredible recovery speed, will get there in time to break up the pass or pick it off.

Not to mention they still haven't fixed mario running, something 2K had solved years ago.

There's no incentive for EA to improve how their football games actually play. They sell like hotcakes if they keep it mostly exactly the same, throw in some gimmicky follow the star from high school on up mode and call it a day.

It really sucks. Give a talented developer like two or three years to make a brand new football game, then I would be excited.

Now, the NBA 2K series has been damn good in recent years, but I still think they're just making marginal improvements at this point. If they'd charge you $15 or something for a yearly roster update, skip a year or two to really improve their engine, and I'd be WAY more likely to buy their games.

Unfortunately for me I'm in the minority. People get caught up in the before the season starts hype, buy their yearly edition as a part of that, and we get these boring updates every year.

@Paperclyp

Hmm, is that on the Wii? I've had trouble with touch on the Wii. I usually just chuck stuff all over. Now, on the GC, I could pretty much put right on the button, or set it firmly in a bicyclist's basket if there were one out there. And with Madden, I just played the AFC Championship game and forced NINE (9) turnovers, probably the most I've ever done. 7 INTs.

Wow, thats weird that you're experiencing that DB makeup speed. On the games that I play (new or old), if the WR has position, I'm pretty much hosed defensively.

I dunno. I don't know what to say. (Other than I'm perfectly fine waiting for the Wii U Madden. I guess that says something?)

None. Too much of anything is a bad thing.

NO

Can you guys think of annualized Japanese franchises? Dynasty Warriors, I guess. Mario Party, back in the day. Mega Man, before he was put out to pasture...

Yakuza?

@Zero
But you can only isolate the annualization question by assuming that ideal scenario.

@Robknoxious1
I consider 2D and 3D Mario to be different franchises completely. Ditto for 2D, 3D, and AoL Zelda.

Most of my games are left to rot on the shelf, so I would never want any game to be annualized. 2 years is pretty much the magic number to me. A simple game might be annualized or get annual upgrades I guess.

KING OF FIGHTERS '13

@Stephen

Oh.

@gtarrant

New levels have already come in DLC format in Super Mario Advance 4, and DLC levels are planned to happen for NEW Super Mario Bros. 2 - and probably for NEW Super Mario Bros. U as well. Never say never!

@kriswright

Oh ha ha, Animal Crossing. I get'cha. You know what needs to *stop* getting annualized? Sonic. But that's SEGA, not Nintendo.

None, really. One of my favorite new franchises this gen was Professor Layton, and by the fourth game I was feeling a bit burnt out on it. I'm not sure if I'll pick up Miracle Mask right away or not. I can tell they're still quality games, but they just come out too frequently for my tastes. I'm trying to think of one that I wouldn't mind being annualized, and I can't think of one. Ditto for thinking of one that is annualized that I'm glad it is.

I feel like a lot of Nintendo franchises wouldn't benefit from annualization, but could benefit heavily from DLC.

A new cup or two in Mario Kart every year/2 years. Challenge packs for Super Mario games. Difficult new gyms/areas in Pokemon games. New characters/maps in Smash Bros. New minigames in Mario Party. New opponents in Punch-Out once a year.

If they're not going to annualize any of these titles, then why not get some small teams together to produce content for the games throughout the generation? The only thing would be that I'm not sure if it would generate any buzz towards new purchases. Maybe it'll help keep those games relevant as the years go on.

@Mr_Mustache

No, I've actually never played the Wii version of any sports game. These are Xbox and PS3 versions, 2012 editions are the most recent I've played. And I'm talking when I'm on offense. It would be nice if the game gave me that makeup speed and ESP on D, but I too am hosed if the computer gets a dude wide open.

Everything, if it's made well and advances the franchise with each instalment. However back on planet earth that will never happen.

I still think DLC is the answer to a lot of these games. Do I want to buy a Family Feud game once a year? You Don't Know Jack? Not really. But I'd absolutely buy expansions. Same thing for any game that doesn't change it's mechanics year to year.