Looking Back On Nintendo In 2015

This was a hard, long year for Nintendo. There were stumbles along the way, including the tragic loss of its president, but there were also victories that demonstrated that Nintendo was thinking long-term and that brighter days may be ahead for the company.

Let's take a look back at Nintendo's triumphs, mistakes, and tragedies in 2015.

A Weak Year For The 3DS

The company released yet another 3DS model in February, and in keeping in spirit with the name confusion surrounding the Wii U, decided to call it the *New* Nintendo 3DS.  You also had to own a charger from your old 3DS or buy one separately since it didn't come with the unit. The only exclusive incentive to buy the system was Xenoblade Chronicles 3D, a respectable port of a great game from 2010 (a port of the Binding of Isaac: Rebirth was recently added to the list of New Nintendo 3DS exclusives as well). Certain 3DS games are improved a great deal by the new analog nub, particularly Majora's Mask and Monster Hunter 4, but it's hard not to be disappointed by the lack of enticing exclusives for the device.

Even setting aside the lack of incentives for the New 3DS, it's been a pretty weak year for Nintendo's portable gaming device. While 2013 and 2014 carried fantastic games like Persona Q, Fire Emblem: Awakening, Animal Crossing: A New Leaf, Pokemon X&Y, The Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds...2015 didn't have much. An extremely nice port of Majora's Mask, Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate, SteamWorld Heist, but that's about it as far as must-play 3DS games go. Bummer.

Splatoon Impresses

Reactions to Splatoon's introduction were mixed thanks to its limitations on player communication and lack of traditional multiplayer features (a kill/death ratio tracker). Still the game showed potential that was eventually more or less realized when it was released, offering players a fun and quirky family-friendly game that has them fighting foes with paint and swimming around in the stuff as a squid. Brian Shea reviewed Splatoon and found it to be a promising new IP from Nintendo, though the game's offerings were pretty scant at release. Nintendo's impressive support of Splatoon with a steady influx of free DLC has helped fixed that lack of content. Hopefully the game's impressive sales and its passionate community will culminate in a strong sequel.

Club Nintendo Closes

Club Nintendo, which rewarded frequent purchasers of Nintendo games and hardware with points that could be used to buy more Nintendo merchandise and downloadable games, was shut down to make way for its replacement, the account-based My Nintendo. Hopefully this new system will make managing game licenses for Nintendo devices less of a pain while still giving users loyalty rewards.

Nintendo Gives A Weak Showing At E3

Not even a cool puppet sketch starring three of Nintendo's most popular personalities could hide that the presentation was lacking. Sure we got to see footage from Platinum Games' take on Star Fox and from the very weird yet compelling Shin Megami X Fire Emblem, but Metroid fans were left out in the cold by the first-person shooter spinoff Metroid Prime: Federation Force. The lack of reassurance on the Amiibo supply issue was also disappointing (more on that later).

Of course, the biggest surprise of Nintendo's E3 presentation was how Super Mario Maker went from being an interesting little tinker toolset to a game that countless people wanted to play immediately.

Nintendo NX Announced

Back in March, Nintendo revealed they were working on some new hardware under the codename of "NX." So what is the NX? Good question. At the end of the year, we still don't have any concrete answers as to whether it's a next-gen console meant to compete with the PS4 and Xbox One, a handheld device, or a combination of the two. Whatever it is, there are reports that software development kits for the device have started arriving on developers' steps.

The Death of Satoru Iwata

The death of Nintendo's president in July came out of nowhere and unleashed an outpouring of grief and tributes from the game industry. Iwata was a brilliant man, someone who had worked on the likes of Super Smash Brothers and Pokemon, before going on to become the President of the company in 2002.  Beyond his acumen as an executive, Iwata was adored for his personality and genuineness, having halved his salary twice to make up for Nintendo's loss of sales during his tenure. A passionate innovator and gamer, both the loss of Iwata and the wonders of his accomplishments will loom over this industry for a long time to come.

Super Mario Maker Rules

This year was the 30^th anniversary of the original Super Maro Bros. What better way to celebrate that event than by building your own Mario levels and subjecting total strangers to their horrors! Super Mario Maker is more than the dinky toolset you might mistake it for. It serves as a doorway to nostalgia, a chance for people of all ages to create terrifying, hilarious, and meticulously constructed levels and share them with an audience. Kyle Hilliard probably said it best in his review of the game:

"Super Mario Maker is simple without being shallow and dense without being overwhelming. Its capabilities are limited compared to other creation games (you can only make platformer levels) but I never felt like I hit a wall in terms of creativity, and was consistently surprised by the work of others. Super Mario Maker will only grow from this point forward, but it already feels like the complete, 2D Mario creation tool we've been dreaming up since the first time we bounced off a koopa's shell."

Zelda and Star Fox Zero Delayed

It's not exactly a surprise when Nintendo delays a game and it's often for the better, giving developers more time to work out the kinks and polish the experience to their standards. However, for owners of the Wii U looking for an excuse to dust off and turn on the console they dropped hundreds of dollars on, those delays still suck.

The Wii U's Mature Games Land With a Thud

Both Devil's Third and Fatal Frame: Maiden of Black Water made it stateside this year, games meant at least partially to draw an older audience to the console. Fatal Frame received a chilly reception while Devil's Third...well, you have to see it to believe it. To make matters worse, the Wii U lost exclusivity over one of its more interesting M-rated games, Zombi U, when Ubisoft released the game as a downloadable title for PS4 and Xbox One in August.

Nintendo Goes Mobile

One of Iwata's last achievements as president was pushing the company in the direction of the mobile market. In May, the company announced they were teaming up with DeNA to create and publish five free-to-play games for mobile devices by March 2017. Nintendo has long held out on making any games for smartphones but the decision to do so now suggests that they're thinking about the future in a way that might benefit the company--as long as the monetization mechanics aren't poorly implemented or predatory. None of these games have been released or even described in detail, but it'll be fascinating to see how things play out in the mobile market for them.

Amiibo Fever Continues 

Amiibos continued to sell like hotcakes in 2015, with retailers unable to keep up with the demand by customers, quickly leading online merchants to start selling them on online marketplaces like Amazon and Ebay at absurdly high prices. Hopefully future waves will be in higher supply so people don't have to pay an arm and a leg just to own a cute Kirby figurine.

Nintendo Gets Wild and Wacky With DLC

Nintendo games had quite a bit of downloadable content this year, sometimes free, sometimes paid. Monster Hunter 4 Ultimate gave players a plethora of armor and costumes for their feline sidekick while Splatoon received maps and guns at no cost to users. Super Smash Brothers probably received the most notable DLC this year, allowing players to purchase playable characters like Mewtwo, Ryu, and Cloud Strife!? The latest Nintendo Direct also revealed that early next year players would be able to buy Corrin, the protagonist in the new Fire Emblem, and even Bayonetta. 

Onward and Upward?

While its output of games hasn't been as impressive in the years behind, Nintendo's decisions to create titles for smartphones and tablets (and probably a new console) as well as taking advantage of digital distribution platforms to make money and create goodwill with fans points to Nintendo playing the long game. It's a time of uncertainty and tumult for the company, but with several great-looking titles slated for release next year (Fire Emblem:Fates, Star Fox Zero, and Zelda) and promising plans for the future there's a good chance for Nintendo to shine brighter than ever in 2016.