How to save F-Zero and four other dead Nintendo franchises – Reader’s Feature-GameCentral-Entertainment – Metro

Would F-Zero work on Switch 2? (Picture: Nintendo)

A reader makes suggestions on how to revive five of Nintendo’s less prominent franchises, including Star Fox and Chibi-Robo!

I read the Reader’s Feature the other week about the games Nintendo should have ready for early on in the Switch 2’s first year and I pretty much agreed with all of it, even if I’m not sure all of them will make it.

Inspired by that, I began to think about how Nintendo would tackle other franchises on their new console and how the Switch has seen them rejuvenate so many of their biggest games, with everything from Zelda to Kirby getting their best entries ever.

But what about those other franchises that are either dead or dying, and which Nintendo doesn’t seem to know what to do with? Well, I’m sure they know better than me, but I tried to come up with some ideas anyway.

There are some easy ones I chose not to include, like Pokémon (upgrade the tech to something from the 21st century), Wario Land (get the Pizza Tower people to do it), and Paper Mario (make it a role-playing again) but these others are going to be a bit more complicated to get right…

Chibi-Robo!

Nintendo have a lot of mostly forgotten franchises that often only get one or two entries, and yet somehow Chibi-Robo! has had five, despite none of them being very good (judging by reviews, I haven’t played them all) or seeming to be very popular. I think the central problem is it never had a very clear premise. Chibi is a little robot that is obsessed with cleaning up? That’s not much to get your teeth into.

My suggestion is to turn it into a full-on Metroidvania, make it much faster paced, and have it like Ōkami where instead of adding colour to the world you’re cleaning it up. Add in some gameplay similar to PowerWash Simulator and you’ve suddenly got a proper premise.

Donkey Kong

There seems a good chance that this will be one of the first games for the Switch 2, the equivalent of a new Super Mario game at launch. If this is true, I’m very excited to see what Nintendo will do but I wonder if it has something to do with the remake of Mario Vs. Donkey Kong.

A game where you were playing as both Mario and Donkey Kong would be great, especially if it took in stuff from DK’s previous games (the non-Rare ones, ideally). Maybe you could make your own skyscrapers and scaffolding and defend it from each other? Or be competing to get to the top of the level? There’s so much that could be done in a more competitive Super Mario game.

Star Fox

This franchise has been limping along since the N64 days and all because Nintendo keeps trying to overcomplicate things. Just make it Rogue Squadron but with the Star Fox crew. Those games were popular and reasonably involved, with a story and everything. You could still have linear levels too, modelled after old 2D shooters, which would be quite the novelty nowadays.

I’d also suggest adding a roguelike element to it. I thought of this while looking at the maps for the first two games and I think it’d work very well. The problem with the early games is that you could complete them very quickly and while there was replayability a randomised element would add even more.

F-Zero

I think there’s two approaches here, the first being to make it a serious racing sim. I don’t mean grimdark but a tone and complexity of racing to distinguish it from Mario Kart. Sony clearly isn’t going to make any more WipEout game so the field is open for F-Zero.

The alternative is something I’ve heard a few people suggest, which is to lean on the idea of Captain Falcon being a bounty hunter. Have an open world with lots of racing but have him chase down perps instead of just the number one spot. Also, explain what exactly he’s captain of.

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Advance Wars

I love these games but the remake didn’t do very well, so I’m worried that might been the last we’ve seen of it. Nintendo has already tried the real-time strategy angle with it, so there’s no point suggesting that, but I am playing Unicorn Overlord at the moment (great game!) and I think something like that would work very well.

It could be kind of a cross between that and Total War, where you have an overworld map where you’re doing grand strategy and then battles are carried out in the usual manner. Add in a more complex story and 3D graphics and I think you could make something that’s more appealing to non-fans.

By reader Gaston

The reader’s features do not necessarily represent the views of GameCentral or Metro.

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