How Nintendo Ruined its Western Studio | Gaming History

[@ShadowEl]

It's worth noting regarding Pokemon Puzzle League that, from what I've read, NST did very little development work on it. Nintendo had already developed Panel De Pon 64 but decided to scrap it, and Nintendo of America decided to salvage it as a Pokemon project so NST in collaboration with 4Kids Entertainment reskinned Panel De Pon 64 as Pokemon Puzzle League.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

oh that's interesting to hear. Might be a video in itself to explore in the future. Thanks for letting me know!

[@BLAMigator]

So basically, it's the same as what happened to SEGA during the Saturn era.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Pretty much, but at least this was the one small instance of Nintendo screwing up unlike Sega haha

[@GANONdork123]

Seems to be a pretty common thing for Japanese game companies.

[@vianabdullah2837]

They recently developed F-Zero 99 and the Mario vs. Donkey Kong remake. Their first full games in a while.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Yeah but one is an asset flip and the other is just a graphical upgrade (not sure if they reused the code or not). I think the idea is a brand new game from there made from scratch

[@Mer.Saloon]

I hope F-Zero 99, Bowser's Fury, and Mario vs DK is a good sign of the studio reviving.

[@Reoko77]

Im glad someones talking about the NST nintendo. They always get overlooked. I do agree with you on the fact the reason they failed was on both sides. Going overbudget on a mid game when at a time your just recovering from the lackluster sales of the gamecube would put things in perspective for the jpn side. Hey, if you gotta retool your game into something else to salvage whats there and it plays better, then i'd say thats a good thing. But on the other side, the jpn team not treating the west like equals for years would produce mid results. If they at least gave them some more good brand names to work on, it definitely wouldve helped on morale. Gave em star fox, f zero or some other IPs you haven't touched in years like star tropics. If they worked more closely with them instead of treating them like a 3rd party, things wouldve been better. Its a shame cause everyone lost in this. All that potential lost. Hell, maybe working more closely with them couldve helped the wiiu get better games out on it. Its a damn shame the missed potential this couldve had.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Honestly if they got Star Fox at that time instead, they probably could have worked some serious magic. A real shame

[@therealjaystone2344]

Next Level Games is gonna be next on the list

[@BlueAmpharos]

0:33 I was excited for Project Hammer when it was announced:(

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Yeah same. Could have become a robust action game if it got proper love i'd think

[@terrysyvertson9205]

Basically they let it happen because they wanted it to happen

[@sahahorria]

That's right what I was thinking. Nintendo top brass are extremely cunning people, hence their success.

[@STARSVeteran]

I’m getting deja vu from Black Mass.

[@ArmaBiologica35]

Supposedly they were also gonna make a Nintendo 64 adaptation of Hatty Potter and the sorcerer's stone that was more based on the book than the movie.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Yep. A big shame that never happened

[@elio7610]

i am surprised it even still exists after all that.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

I mean someone has to be dev support and a master of porting games

[@PrimeStarStudios]

As much as I love Nintendo, I can't in good faith defend them here. They basically screwed over a studio that had hidden potential! Man, that sucks....

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Yeah for as good as Nintendo is, it sucks that they fumbled this hard here. Hopefully NST one day recovers.

[@PrimeStarStudios]

@@TheObsessiveGamer Same here, man! We can only hope.

[@AlkoholOgerLeonElektronik67]

9:58 Smoking in office 💀

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

A lot more of a norm in Japan then you think... at least back then. No idea about now.

[@LobotomyTC]

Japan is way cooler than us about that.

[@D_RoeVS]

Smoking that loud before things get loud. Real

[@Shaqazooloo0]

I think things might be starting to look up for them now though, having recently done F-Zero 99 and the Mario Vs Donkey Kong remake. Still small projects but now that Nintendo has a new in-house porting studio and shiver entertainment we might see some more stuff from NST now.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

It's better than before ngl but it's still just an asset flip in one instance and the other a graphical update. Until I see them making a whole new game I can't say they have recovered yet. Hopefully your theory is correct though. Nintendo needs a bigger western presence

[@masterluisYTV]

Very nice video! 💯 i am still waiting for that project hammer game

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Thanks! I don't think it's worth waiting at this point lol

[@napoleonfeanor]

You know, spending sooooo much on cut scenes before having a fun gameplay?

[@ShadowEl]

Nintendo wanted a Western game...so they made it the western AAA way! lmao.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Which is kinda odd for NST to do since they usually were gameplay first in all their other project.

[@napoleonfeanor]

@@ShadowEl It wasn't as bad back then. Companies still made gameplay before paying for cut scenes. That is really stupid.

[@DylanYoshi]

​@@napoleonfeanor Your logic makes no sense. The video outright states that the cutscenes were outsourced to a completely different company, which would allow the internal team to focus on the gameplay. The cutscenes should have had no impact on how the game played. And it's not like having a lot of cutscenes means that the gameplay is bad regardless. The Metal Gear Solid series is infamous for how many cutscenes it has, and its gameplay is pretty consistently awesome.

[@napoleonfeanor]

​@@DylanYoshi​I said they spent the money for it before they had the proper gameplay. Especially Nintendo doesn't tolerate this as they focus on gameplay first. Metal Gear also had the gameplay first as it is a series. They just needed some changes for new games because the formula was already good. I also think the later games had cut scenes overkill.

[@mekman4]

This makes me painfully sad. It’s misery to hear about Nintendo and Sega’s cultures clashing. It would be an entirely different image in the real world. Wow. Toxicity only telegraphs the myth of harmony and hegemony in the tech sector. Edit: If someone is rude to one, they are rude to all, especially behind _closed doors._

[@Gewehr_3]

People from Washington are very sensitive, Im not surprised they started crying racism after Nintendo Japan cracked down on them for a subpar product. Project hammer looked awful.

[@fernie-fernandez]

Now imagine the case for MicroSoft & Valve…

[@Vulpas]

Yep, I laughed at that part.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Project Hammer may have looked mediocre, but I do think Nintendo HQ could have massaged it into a proper action game.

[@Vulpas]

@@TheObsessiveGamer I highly doubt it tbh. I saw no potential there.

[@Detective_L]

I can see why Nintendo grew nervous with Project Hammer because the game looked awful and would have joined the endless sea of shovelware the Wii gets. They should have refocused the gameplay by adding more things to do or different ways to attack instead of swinging your arm hundreds of times etc instead of scrapping it entirely.

[@danieljimenez1989]

This video completely overlooks the fact that NST developed F-Zero 99. So they're not rotting.

[@OrchidEleven]

that's insignificant in the scheme of what the video is talking about

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

F-Zero 99 while it was "developed" by them, just know that it literally just the SNES game that they took, ported it (as they are the king of porting), and updated it (as they also are the king of that) to have mass multiplayer. This was not a new or original project and thus still fits exactly what i'm saying

[@danieljimenez1989]

@@TheObsessiveGamer F-Zero 99 is not a port of F-Zero for the SNES, there's no code from F-ZERO in 99.

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

@@danieljimenez1989 the code may have been rebuilt but the assets all have been carried over. It's still using something as a basis. Not something that they built from the ground up

[@mozydiaz8296]

@@danieljimenez1989 When you look at it it's exactly the same game 🤣🤣

[@JC-uq5ki]

You can see NST was just supposed to be a western wing of nintendo that was just supposed to be relagated to being western localization support and PR. Soon as they started trying to make there own game thats when nintendo had to squash there dreams.

[@garlandstrife]

Nintendo ALWAYS self sabotages their Western studios.

[@user-be3qc7re9o]

I wouldn't be too sure about that. They are working with Next Level and Retro.

[@therealjaystone2344]

@@user-be3qc7re9oafter battle league, I doubt the studio will last

[@garlandstrife]

@@user-be3qc7re9o it’s just a matter of time.

[@peluquin98]

​@@user-be3qc7re9o its been like 7 years since metroid prime 4 logo was revealed ☠️

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Retro and NLG seem to be doing well though

[@BlueAmpharos]

0:23 If by "Hit" you mean the multiplayer, and not the single player with two bosses being fought over and over with minor changes

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

We remember it for its multiplayer mainly :P (I still didn't mind the single player much either)

[@Adamtendo_player_1]

I’m a Nintendo fan and defend them a lot but I can’t defend them here.

[@napoleonfeanor]

Didn't the Gamecube sell better in the West?

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

yeah, but next to the PS2 and Xbox....

[@jess648]

project hammer looked like s pretty average action game for the time minus motion controls

[@jess648]

>a good chunk of resources was spent on outsourcing cutscenes lmao truly a sign of a lost hidden gem that never got made

[@EulonythMods]

Pokemon puzzle league was trash tho

[@TheObsessiveGamer]

Whatever you may feel about it, it is still nostalgic to many, so it stands haha

[@zerobyte802]

Yeah well now they’re about to return the favor by SweetBaby-ing up the place like the rest of the gaming industry.

[@Bored_Barbarian]

Basically racism. Ouch. 😢

[@Vulpas]

waaaaah

[@Vulpas]

Based Nintendo, they should have stayed racist.

[@NitwitsWorld]

Bruh…… 😂