With the incredibly successful launch of Pokémon Go, all eyes are on Nintendo again. And it’s high time too. The venerable game company will announce its secretive new console, the Nintendo NX, later this year. The NX will come out in March 2017 and we already know its flagship launch title: Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. But Breath of the Wild is absolutely not going to be the only major Nintendo NX launch title. You can count on that.
Nintendo NX Launch Games: Zelda Is Just The Beginning
The last few years of the Wii U have been a dry, dry desert. Just when the system really hits its stride with the release of Splatoon, Mario Kart 8 and Super Smash Bros, Nintendo’s game pipeline dried up. Last fall, Nintendo didn’t have a flagship game for the holiday season; after delaying Star Fox Zero, it repurposed the already-released Super Mario Maker into that role. And after delaying Breath of the Wild to 2017, Nintendo doesn’t really have much of anything this holiday season… at least not on the console side.
But folks, this happened for a reason. Nintendo did not forget to keep making games. The company instead shifted its strategic focus away from the Wii U and toward the Nintendo NX. After all, one of the biggest reasons why the Wii U failed to gain major traction was its weak launch lineup. The system didn’t have a killer app at launch and after the early pipeline dried up, a long drought ensued. Nintendo learned its lesson. The company has been developing games for the Nintendo NX for quite some time in order to ensure the new console actually does have a solid pipeline. Nintendo can’t do that all on its own, but by focusing its development resources solidly on the new system, the company can encourage third-party developers to give the system a chance.
So what’s cooking? We know Nintendo is working on at least two other flagship games right now: A new 3D Mario game from the Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 3D World development team, and a new game from Retro Studios, developers of Donkey Kong Country Returns and, more significantly, Metroid Prime, which the new game could well be a return to. Beyond that, Nintendo’s studios have been quiet of late.
What’s to come of Splatoon? Is the next Super Smash Bros or Mario Kart already in the works? Is a Fire Emblem going to come to the Nintendo NX, which could be a console and handheld hybrid? All this we don’t know. But we do know that most of Nintendo’s major releases of late have been partially developed by other studios, while the home team—the first and second party developers owned by Nintendo—have been busy. Whatever they’re working on, it’s almost definitely for the Nintendo NX. So we’re not going to have a drought this time around. Breath of the Wild will be just the tip of the iceberg.
