With the new Donkey Kong game, Nintendo now has 13 active first-party franchises

Kotaro

Kotaro

Member
Nintendo active 1st party IPs:

1. Mario (including many sub-series: main series, Kart, Party, 2D platformer, RPG, Paper, Sports, etc)
2. Zelda (including Hyrule Warriors)
3. Pokemon (including Detective Pikachu)
4. Animal Crossing
5. Smash Bros
6. Metroid
7. Donkey Kong
8. Kirby
9. Splatoon
10. Pikmin
11. Fire Emblem
12. Xenoblade
13. Luigi Mansion
14. Tomodachi

What franchise should Nintendo re-activate next? Kid Icarus, Starfox?

Out of curiosity, how many active first party franchises do Sony and MS have?

EDIT: Added Tomodachi as pointed by Bridges Bridges
 
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Kid Icarus has a lot of potential because it's not locked to one genre.

the first game was a vertical 2D platformer, the 2nd game was a more traditional 2D platfomer with more open levels, the 3rd game 3rd person shooter/rail shooter mix.

so they could go many routes with it... maybe a linear action adventure with shooter and melee combat elements?
maybe a direct sequel in terms of design to Uprising?
maybe a 3D platformer?

the possibilities are many
 
14

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TexMex said:
You phrase it like Donkey Kong was inactive until now.
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I meany Tropical Freeze is 11 years old.
it's still weird to me that nowadays a series can get no sequel for more than a decade, and it's debatable if it's an active or inactive series 🙃...

I guess the bloated development times of modern games just make people expect a new game to take this long.

imagine if Mario got Mario World as an SNES launch game, and then not a single new title until Sunshine 😳
that's the timeframe we're talking about here.

this is the longest break between new DK releases ever. the longest one before that was the gap between Donkey Kong 3 Dai Gyakushu and Donkey Kong Country. that gap was 10 years, and they rebooted the franchise essentially due to the large gap.
 
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UltimaKilo said:
Eternal Darkness reboot would be amazing.
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Nintendo do need, mature, dark theme game. I hope The Duskbloods is successful so that It can become a franchise and open up more Nintendo-From Soft projects. Mature, darker theme Zelda would be glorious.....or even better Nintendo should just buy From Soft and promote Miyazaki as one of their board directors
 
Potentially you could also add others like Famicom Detective Club, Warioware and Endless Ocean. So there's more than 13.
 
Kotaro said:
What franchise should Nintendo re-activate next? Kid Icarus, Starfox?
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Since they've given up on making proper non roblox/minecraft Zelda games,

i'd love a new game of starfox adventures, mix in the on rails space segments too and you'd really have something special, a cross between Zelda and Ratchet n Clank.

(Also just give us Starfox Adventures HD already)
 
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I understand the logic behind not considering Tropical Freeze re-release, Donkey Kong Returns HD re-release and Mario vs Donkey Kong remake as "active" Donkey Kong titles, but on the other hand, you have more Donkey Kong games than other franchises on the Switch, so I'd consider it to be a bit "in between" being dormant and active.

And aren't Professor Layton and Another Code kind of first party-ish ?
 
Woopah said:
Potentially you could also add others like Famicom Detective Club, Warioware and Endless Ocean. So there's more than 13.
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Endless Ocean is by external developer, I'm not even sure that Nintendo own or co-own the IP

Warioware is such minor series, in term of sales, I think it should just be categorized under Mario franchise. Luigi Mansion on the other hand has become a major franchise that it deserves to be on its own. (LM3 already sold 15 million on Switch as of one year ago)
 
Nintendo the party of innovation my foot

You'll get more innovation and more brand new IP's from SONY or Xbox In-House teams even though they'll get little credit for it
 
Team Andromeda said:
Nintendo the party of innovation my foot

You'll get more innovation and more brand new IP's from SONY or Xbox In-House teams even though they'll get little credit for it
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It's true that Nintendo rarely introduce new franchise. But that doesn't mean they don't innovate in term of gameplay, even between Zelda BOTW and TOTK, there are tons of innovation and different variety in gameplay.

Building new IP/universe is expensive and takes time
 
I'd like another Wave Race or Pilotwings.

Maybe ARMS could be more successful if it got another entry during a quieter time in the release schedule. Same with Astral Chain.
 
Kotaro said:
Endless Ocean is by external developer, I'm not even sure that Nintendo own or co-own the IP
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Lots of the franchises you listed there are done by external developers. Collaborating with external companies is how Nintendo has worked for decades.

Pretty sure Nintendo owns more of Endless Ocean than they do of some of the franchises you list there.

Warioware is such minor series, in term of sales, I think it should just be categorized under Mario franchise. Luigi Mansion on the other hand has become a major franchise that it deserves to be on its own. (LM3 already sold 15 million on Switch as of one year ago)
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It is more minor in sales, but I'd say Warioware still stands apart as an IP with its own, seperate set of characters.
 
Baemono said:
I understand the logic behind not considering Tropical Freeze re-release, Donkey Kong Returns HD re-release and Mario vs Donkey Kong remake as "active" Donkey Kong titles, but on the other hand, you have more Donkey Kong games than other franchises on the Switch, so I'd consider it to be a bit "in between" being dormant and active.

And aren't Professor Layton and Another Code kind of first party-ish ?
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Who owns Professor Layton IP? Nintendo or Level-5
 
Woopah said:
Lots of the franchises you listed there are done by external developers. Collaborating with external companies is how Nintendo has worked for decades.

Pretty sure Nintendo owns more of Endless Ocean than they do of some of the franchises you list there.


It is more minor in sales, but I'd say Warioware still stands apart as an IP with its own, seperate set of characters.
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Nintendo owns all those IPs in my list, 100% all of them

Endless Ocean is such minor series, it's not even registered on Switch best selling list,
 
Kotaro said:
Nintendo owns all those IPs in my list, 100% all of them

Endless Ocean is such minor series, it's not even registered on Switch best selling list,
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Nintendo definitely doesn't own 100% of Pokémon. In simple terms they own a third of it (in reality it's a bit more complicated than that.

Likewise I believe there's some sort of shared ownership with Fire Emblem, Kirby and Smash Bros.

Endless Ocean isnt big, but it's still a first party game that got a new entry last year. So I would say it's active.
 
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Kotaro said:
Odyssey 2017
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Wonder.
Woopah said:
Nintendo definitely doesn't own 100% of Pokémon. In simple terms they own a third of it (in reality it's a bit more complicated than that.

Likewise I believe there's some sort of shared ownership with Fire Emblem, Kirby and Smash Bros.

Endless Ocean isnt big, but it's still a first party game that got a new entry last year. So I would say it's active.
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Yes they own a third of it outright but as you said it is more complicated than that, with a close relationship with Hal and Creatures that have legal implications.

Nintendo do have exclusive rights for Pokemon games and only Nintendo decide which platform Pokemon appears. The deal with Pokemon Go was negotiated by Nintendo.

Smash Bros Nintendo own 100%.

Good thread! There are a lot more than 13 active franchises however.
 
apple_of_enlightenment said:
Wonder.

Yes they own a third of it outright but as you said it is more complicated than that, with a close relationship with Hal and Creatures that have legal implications.

Nintendo do have exclusive rights for Pokemon games and only Nintendo decide which platform Pokemon appears. The deal with Pokemon Go was negotiated by Nintendo.

Smash Bros Nintendo own 100%.

Good thread! There are a lot more than 13 active franchises however.
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If I remember correctly, Pokémon ownership is split three way between Nintendo, Game Freak and The Pokémon Company.

Then ownership of The Pokémon Company is split three way between Nintendo, Game Freak and Creatures.

For Smash Bros., the copyright is written as "© Nintendo / HAL Laboratory, Inc." so that makes me think HAL has some sort of stake in it. But I'm not 100% sure.
 
Kotaro said:
Nintendo active 1st party IPs:

1. Mario (including many sub-series: main series, Kart, Party, 2D platformer, RPG, Paper, Sports, etc)
2. Zelda (including Hyrule Warriors)
3. Pokemon (including Detective Pikachu)
4. Animal Crossing
5. Smash Bros
6. Metroid
7. Donkey Kong
8. Kirby
9. Splatoon
10. Pikmin
11. Fire Emblem
12. Xenoblade
13. Luigi Mansion
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Personally on your list I would swap Mario Kart and Luigi's Mansion. Luigi's Mansion is more of an off-shoot Mario series game where as Mario Kart has become it's own beast.
 
Ozzie666 said:
A traditional Starfox title in the N64 mold would be excellent.
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This'd only work if they took it off rails in my view. Maybe sandbox style maps where you have activities in the air and on the ground?

I think the on rails shooter is so dated and a product of the tech at the time.
 
Kotaro said:
It's true that Nintendo rarely introduce new franchise. But that doesn't mean they don't innovate in term of gameplay, even between Zelda BOTW and TOTK, there are tons of innovation and different variety in gameplay.

Building new IP/universe is expensive and takes time
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Yeah, open world gaming is something we haven't seen before...

It's to SONY credit and even Xbox that they not only milk their classic IPs but also make new ones while we get endless sequels to Mario and Zelda from NCL
 
Woopah said:
Bayonetta 2, 3 and Origins are first party games, so I can see the logic in including it. The IP itself is still owned by Sega though.
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is it first party then? if the IP holder is a 3rd party company and the developer is also a 3rd party company? it's more like 2nd party, with Nintendo funding the games, no?
 
Mhmmm 2077 said:
is it first party then? if the IP holder is a 3rd party company and the developer is also a 3rd party company? it's more like 2nd party, with Nintendo funding the games, no?
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There is a debate on whether the whole concept of 2nd party exists or not.

Like how would you classify Bayo 3 and Mario + Rabbids ? The latter is obviously a 3rd party game, but made with 1st party IP
 
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