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Why Do We Purchase Nintendo's First Party Franchises?

It's no secret that Nintendo's first party franchises are the company's bread and butter. Even though it's seeking a revival this generation, third party support has never been a reason to purchase the Big N's platform post SNES era. But that's alright. No competitor has an equally strong line-up and Nintendo has proven time and time again the worthwhile tweaks to a familiar series will keep it relevant for years and even decades.

But what makes these franchises so timeless? Why are people willing to continue buying Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Pokemon games? Are the concepts well executed? The characters unforgettable? Or is it simply because the games are free of nerve wracking glitches, a problem plaguing so many AAA games nowadays? Have your say below.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Since the N64, Zelda and Mario have only failed me once in giving me a game I never wanted to play again. For Mario it's Sticker Star and for Zelda it's FSA. A few series like Star Fox and Metroid just aren't for me, but I can always trust the other first party titles, compared to the 3rd party titles, which, more often than not, disappoint me. In fact, if you consider Rare a 2nd party development team, Okami is the only non-fighter 3rd party game I enjoyed. I spend months of researching before buying non-first party titles because...I just don't trust them. Been looking into Kid Icarus for a long time and Zack and Wiki for over a year now.

Fact is, I just cannot waste time and money buying games I won't play again. I'm a college student on a low budget eating ramen noodles from a cup in his empty apartment in a struggling economy. Suffice it to say...funds are low. In terms of solo player centered games, if I don't replay a purchased game 10 times within 2 years of getting it, I consider it a waste of money. When it comes to purchasing games, I need to be able to trust my purchase.
 
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For me it's probably advertising. If that sounds weird, allow me to explain. The first Nintendo game's I ever played I bought because I heard about them and wanted to play them because the seemed cool. I only played one non-first party game (Spyro), and even then I only played it for a bit before it felt too mundane to continue. After that the only non-first party games I owned were a few Final Fantasies for the DS. Otherwise, I stuck to Pokemon and Legend of Zelda. Mario honestly never did it for me, and neither did Star Fox. I have yet to play any Metroid games.
I got Kid Icarus: Uprising and loved it, so if they come out with another sequel, I will not hesitate to buy it. But the reason I bought it in the first place? Advertising. It is the second non-first party franchise I will eagerly follow. The only other games I'm considering buying right now are Okami and Metroid, and not even because of advertising-- it's on recommendations from friends.

If that was TL;DR or if none of it made any sense at all, allow me to summarize: I think that the only reason we don't tend to buy non-first party games is because of poor advertising. If the word was out there a bit more, they could potentially compete a lot better with first-party games. I may be wrong, however-- the pattern I'm observing may just be a correlation that applies solely to myself, and not to others.
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
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Simple: because they're fantastic. Sure, Mario and Zelda hit a stumbling block in the GameCube era (especially Mario) and Metroid saw a pretty lackluster story with its second outing on the Wii, but Nintendo has never delivered us a truly terrible title from these three iconic franchises. I'm aware there are more first party Nintendo franchises in existence, but the three previously mentioned are the moneymakers. Nintendo almost always provides quality titles, even if they're not the best they could have been, so there's always reason to keep coming back for more. I know I can't wait to see what Nintendo has in store for us with those three franchises on the 3DS and Wii U, because whatever it is, it's going to be great.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
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We continue to buy Nintendo's first party franchises because of nostalgia. Some of us are new to the series and thus buy them on a whim. But, speaking from my point of view, I can say I continue purchasing LoZ and Mario titles merely because of memories of the past - and hopes for the future. Yeah, you understood that correctly: I'm saying Ninty's first party entries as of late have been little more than generic stuff I put in the oven, painted with "THE LEGEND OF ZELDA" or "SUPER MARIO BROS".
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
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Hylian Champion
Speak for yourself, buddy. I buy them because they're always good. (Except for Sunshine.)

Yea, shouldn't removed the "we" and put "I" lol. Although, I don't get most of the hate about Sunshine bar FLUDD which killed levels for me. Flipside, I don't get the rave about new Zeldas or new Marios - they feel like conglomerations of various concepts, with new control style slapped on to me.
 

JuicieJ

SHOW ME YA MOVES!
Joined
Jan 10, 2011
Location
On the midnight Spirit Train going anywhere
Yea, shouldn't removed the "we" and put "I" lol. Although, I don't get most of the hate about Sunshine bar FLUDD which killed levels for me. Flipside, I don't get the rave about new Zeldas or new Marios - they feel like conglomerations of various concepts, with new control style slapped on to me.

Galaxy 1 & 2 were the best Mario games since SMB3 -- arguably better -- and Skyward Sword (whether or not you agree) was a huge step in the right direction towards bringing Zelda back to where it was in the SNES and N64 eras. :I

Edit: Sunshine isn't a bad game per se, but its camera, controls, and level design were WAY under par for what Mario had been known for. (I know 64's controls suck nowadays, but they were revolutionary at the time.) It's easily the weakest AAA Super Mario to date.
 
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DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
But, speaking from my point of view, I can say I continue purchasing LoZ and Mario titles merely because of memories of the past - and hopes for the future.

I have to admit, in the case of Mario lately, this is true for me.
 
Joined
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Location
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The only reason I bought a Wii was Zelda. SMG 1 and 2 are also incredible games. DKC Returns was fantastic. Oh, and Skyward Sword is pretty good too.
My point is, I continue to buy Nintendo 1st party games because they are f'ing amazing.
I've questioned a lot of the decisions made by the big N recently, like the Wii U for example, but the one thing they have done right, consistently since the 80s, is creating high-quality Mario, Zelda, and Metroid games. This is a very rare thing in the entertainment industry. Most movie franchises, TV shows, music bands, etc... after a while they just stop trying because they know that they can still make money by selling garbage (Die Hard 5, anybody?). People hit their creative peak, they make tons of money, and they just stop trying. The game developers at Nintendo, led by Miyamoto, are the exception to that rule. Their standards continue to be ridiculously high (for the most part). In my opinion, their games are better now than they ever have been (ok, credit technology with some of that).

During the past 20 or so years, Nintendo took the character of Mario and shoved him into a million other titles. I remember when Super Mario Kart first came out; I thought it was clearly just Nintendo trying to make a quick buck by shoving Mario into some stupid racing game. To my surprise, the game was fantastic, and so was Dr. Mario, and Mario Tennis, and Super Smash Brothers, and Mario RPG, and Paper Mario.. heck, even Mario Golf for the GBC was one of the most addictive games I have ever played. Mario now has a legacy of being associated with high quality games for 25+ years. Nintendo is proud of their original mascot, and they don't take him for granted.

And no, I'm not a fanboy. I don't own a 3DS or a Wii U. But I do love me some Mario and Zelda.

Phillers
 

Dan

Joined
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V2 White Male
Well I think it's a mixture of things. Firstly a lot of people grew up with Nintendo, especially in the states and Japan. Those people will keep on buying their nintendo games I believe sort of for the nostalgia and because they are familiar with the franchise. Sort of how sonic fans still buy sonic games even though they run onto forums and pull their hair out compalining how much it sucks and they will never buy a sonic game again. ;p Let's face it nintendo has more than likely been in all our lifes, I myself never had a nes, snes n64 growing up, but I still had the portable Nintendo systems.
Nintendo games still most of the get great reviews too, so... of course people will still buy first party nintendo games. Besides what else would they purchase on their wii, Party mania 56. :right:
 

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