Hero of Legend
Member
Ever notice that basically out of all the companies at the moment Nintendo has the tightest relationship with falls into two publishers; Bandai Namco, and Tecmo Koei.
For Tecmo Koei so far Nintendo's worked with them on a number of exclusives, but so far this gen it's more or less only produced a small handful, though notable titles, as I illustrated in a previous thread.
So this is like Nintendo's 3rd-party relations Part 2: The Reckoning Tale of Pikachu Electric Boogaloo? :O
Anyway, let's look at today's publisher in question; Bandai Namco.
They have so far have had by far a much higher output on Wii U in terms of directly with Nintendo and even had some 3rd-party exclusives, believe it or not.
Oh and there's this bit about Nintendo trying to buy Bandai at around 2003, man that would've been something else. It's rumored IIRC that this is what prompted the Bandai Namco merger and the eventual buy-out of Monolith by Nintendo, but I'm not certain.
Anyway, let's look at the immediate examples in no real order on Wii U:
The biggest example right now is their direct involvement with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. It also of course features Pac-Man as a playable character.
This game had a large mesh of folks from the company IIRC, including Harada, some Tales folks, the like.
This was also developed by Bandai Namco. They've worked on sports games before like Famista. I'd guess that team worked on this.
Believe it or not, they also had a hand in Mario Kart 8 as shown in the credits. I'd certainly believe that it was the Mario Kart Arcade GP team that was involved. Who else?
Next is a game that while not a Ninendo IP game, does feature Nintendo IP use:
Tekken features Nintendo themed costumes such as Mario and company, Captain Falcon, Fox, etc.
Now for a couple of key exclusives:
Continuing their line of Taiko series, the series makes it's HD console debut on Wii U exclusively. Minor exception is the arcade releases and the Taiko mini-game in I believe Yakuza 5. Actually, is that staying in the western release? Huh.
Here we have Project Treasure which is a F2P loot collecting game of some sort. But the major bit is that this features Monolith's famous leading lady KOS-MOS from the Xenosaga series, and as far as I'm aware, is making her HD debut in this game officially as a playable character.
Also let's look at two arcade games:
Here's Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, the 3rd in the Arcade GP series that began on the Triforce board. This is what we say prior to Mario Kart 8's unveiling and some thought this represented what to expect from MK8. I think it's fair to say that wasn't the case.
Here's Pokken Tournament, which as the name implies is a Pokemon fighting game by the Tekken team. It was actually TPC's idea when Harada came to them to license music for a Taiko game (Taiko Wii U? That has XY music). More info about this is coming tomorrow! STAY TUNED!
Now what's extra interesting is that on 3DS, Bandai Namco I believe is the very FIRST 3rd-party company to use Amiibos period.
One Piece uses them for costumes, and Ace Combat uses them for plane decals! (Now if we can just get a Ridge Racer 3D+ with Amiibo cars and 60fps we'd be golden...).
So the big question is; what's next?
I've wondered if Nintendo should attempt at securing an IP exclusively as one of their own but still owned by Bandai Namco, just like they're doing with Fatal Frame with Tecmo Koei.
My thoughts boil down to Xenosaga, Baten Kaitos, and Klonoa. All are unused franchises right now and Monolith's ownership makes the first two very fitting, but Klonoa also fits right at home, however one can say that's just adding yet another 2D platformer, regardless how awesome Klonoa is (please put the Wiimake on the Wii U eShop Bandai Namco!).
I can't think of any development hell games Nintendo could possibly pick up ala Bayonetta 2 and Devil's Third other than Tekken X Street Fighter, but that would be a huge deal since those are two very established franchises (would GAF even survive such an announcement?).
What Nintendo does need is more RPGs IMO and having Monolith work with Bandai Namco on a new Xenosaga or even Baten Kaitos (FYI, Nintendo completely published Baten Kaitos Origins worldwide, I assume they commissioned it themselves, this likely kickstarted their major relationship). Not to mention that KOS-MOS is in Project Treasure, which to me means it's highly probable that Monolith is involved as IIRC they've in the past been involved with all of her playable appearances. This would be a first time team-up of the two for a home console game since the buy-out. All previous team-ups were on DS and Project X Zone on 3DS.
Oh yeah, there's Project X Zone too!
This is the sequel to Monolith's Namco X Capcom on PS2, and this actually got localized this time! Now with Sega joining in for the fun. But NO Sonic, Pac-Man, or Klonoa! Seriously guys?
What do you think would be an appropriate pick up should Nintendo pull a Fatal Frame with Bandai Namco? What about another crossover game like Pokken Tournament and Hyrule Warriors with Tecmo Koei? Where do you see their relationship going?
For Tecmo Koei so far Nintendo's worked with them on a number of exclusives, but so far this gen it's more or less only produced a small handful, though notable titles, as I illustrated in a previous thread.
So this is like Nintendo's 3rd-party relations Part 2: The Reckoning Tale of Pikachu Electric Boogaloo? :O
Anyway, let's look at today's publisher in question; Bandai Namco.
They have so far have had by far a much higher output on Wii U in terms of directly with Nintendo and even had some 3rd-party exclusives, believe it or not.
Oh and there's this bit about Nintendo trying to buy Bandai at around 2003, man that would've been something else. It's rumored IIRC that this is what prompted the Bandai Namco merger and the eventual buy-out of Monolith by Nintendo, but I'm not certain.
Anyway, let's look at the immediate examples in no real order on Wii U:
The biggest example right now is their direct involvement with Super Smash Bros. for Wii U and 3DS. It also of course features Pac-Man as a playable character.
This game had a large mesh of folks from the company IIRC, including Harada, some Tales folks, the like.
This was also developed by Bandai Namco. They've worked on sports games before like Famista. I'd guess that team worked on this.
Believe it or not, they also had a hand in Mario Kart 8 as shown in the credits. I'd certainly believe that it was the Mario Kart Arcade GP team that was involved. Who else?
Next is a game that while not a Ninendo IP game, does feature Nintendo IP use:
Tekken features Nintendo themed costumes such as Mario and company, Captain Falcon, Fox, etc.
Now for a couple of key exclusives:
Continuing their line of Taiko series, the series makes it's HD console debut on Wii U exclusively. Minor exception is the arcade releases and the Taiko mini-game in I believe Yakuza 5. Actually, is that staying in the western release? Huh.
Here we have Project Treasure which is a F2P loot collecting game of some sort. But the major bit is that this features Monolith's famous leading lady KOS-MOS from the Xenosaga series, and as far as I'm aware, is making her HD debut in this game officially as a playable character.
Also let's look at two arcade games:
Here's Mario Kart Arcade GP DX, the 3rd in the Arcade GP series that began on the Triforce board. This is what we say prior to Mario Kart 8's unveiling and some thought this represented what to expect from MK8. I think it's fair to say that wasn't the case.
Here's Pokken Tournament, which as the name implies is a Pokemon fighting game by the Tekken team. It was actually TPC's idea when Harada came to them to license music for a Taiko game (Taiko Wii U? That has XY music). More info about this is coming tomorrow! STAY TUNED!
Now what's extra interesting is that on 3DS, Bandai Namco I believe is the very FIRST 3rd-party company to use Amiibos period.
One Piece uses them for costumes, and Ace Combat uses them for plane decals! (Now if we can just get a Ridge Racer 3D+ with Amiibo cars and 60fps we'd be golden...).
So the big question is; what's next?
I've wondered if Nintendo should attempt at securing an IP exclusively as one of their own but still owned by Bandai Namco, just like they're doing with Fatal Frame with Tecmo Koei.
My thoughts boil down to Xenosaga, Baten Kaitos, and Klonoa. All are unused franchises right now and Monolith's ownership makes the first two very fitting, but Klonoa also fits right at home, however one can say that's just adding yet another 2D platformer, regardless how awesome Klonoa is (please put the Wiimake on the Wii U eShop Bandai Namco!).
I can't think of any development hell games Nintendo could possibly pick up ala Bayonetta 2 and Devil's Third other than Tekken X Street Fighter, but that would be a huge deal since those are two very established franchises (would GAF even survive such an announcement?).
What Nintendo does need is more RPGs IMO and having Monolith work with Bandai Namco on a new Xenosaga or even Baten Kaitos (FYI, Nintendo completely published Baten Kaitos Origins worldwide, I assume they commissioned it themselves, this likely kickstarted their major relationship). Not to mention that KOS-MOS is in Project Treasure, which to me means it's highly probable that Monolith is involved as IIRC they've in the past been involved with all of her playable appearances. This would be a first time team-up of the two for a home console game since the buy-out. All previous team-ups were on DS and Project X Zone on 3DS.
Oh yeah, there's Project X Zone too!
This is the sequel to Monolith's Namco X Capcom on PS2, and this actually got localized this time! Now with Sega joining in for the fun. But NO Sonic, Pac-Man, or Klonoa! Seriously guys?
What do you think would be an appropriate pick up should Nintendo pull a Fatal Frame with Bandai Namco? What about another crossover game like Pokken Tournament and Hyrule Warriors with Tecmo Koei? Where do you see their relationship going?
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