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It’s happened before. It might happen again. Time to make it official.
For months Nintendo fans, and the entire games industry, have speculated about Retro Studios’ next project. With the company laying low since 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns, the timing is right for Nintendo’s trusted western developer to unveil its next game. Rumors and theories were running rampant, ranging from Star Fox and Zelda to a return to the Metroid Prime universe.
Yet no one was quite expecting the suggestion that the company was in fact preparing a crossover between the worlds of Fox McCloud and Samus Aran. The notion of these two worlds colliding seemed insane. And yet... not so insane. Rumor or not, the idea that Nintendo’s different universes might interact is plausible. We’ve been seeing this sort of thing for more than a decade - and characters like Mario, Samus and Link fit together better than one might expect. In fact, it’s probably time that Nintendo adopt this practice more formally. It’s time these creations, despite their disparate gameplay experiences, to guest star more often. The only thing more powerful than Nintendo’s vast array of IPs is a scenario in which they can co-exist.
We’ve seen subtle winks and nods to Nintendo’s shared universe for a long time. Mario and Donkey Kong seem to have their own lives and supporting casts, yet frequently interact, particularly when it comes to sports - or jumping over barrels. And we’ve seen plenty of cameos over the years, from R.O.B. in F-Zero GX to Mushroom Kingdom enemies in Link's Awakening to characters that strongly resemble Mario and Luigi in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The references, hints and clever winks could fill a book. Which simply begs the question - why not let the characters interact formally?
This isn’t to say Kirby has to be playable in a Metroid game, or that we simply must see Link piloting a ship in the next installment of Star Fox. These games have specific aesthetics and gameplay ideas, and forcing too much interaction would no doubt corrupt what makes each one unique. Yet there’s nothing saying Nintendo can’t let them interact or acknowledge they’re able to run into each other. Let the fun cameos be bolder. Let the Easter Eggs be more entertaining. Give Nintendo fans, who tend to embrace the publisher’s vast catalog in a fairly comprehensive manner, more of what they crave. Don’t be shy. Have fun with a legacy that has been developed for more than 25 years. It’s not as if we’re dealing with startlingly realistic concepts. The Zelda and Mario universes are insane enough, packed with bizarre characters and ideas. What are a few more in the stack?
That’s why, as insane as the idea of a Star Fox/Metroid crossover might be, it’s not as untenable as you may think. The resistance to such a notion doesn’t seem to focus on the actual concept, but whether the two franchise’s different gameplay styles can accommodate one another. Star Fox is a fast, energetic, third-person aerial shooter, often on rails and often featuring over-the-top action. Metroid is the opposite of just about all of those things. In fact the only thing it has in common with Star Fox is that players need to shoot things, sometimes in space. Samus Aran’s isolated, cold, slow-paced adventures couldn’t be farther from Fox and friend’s quest to stop an evil space monkey.
Yet that reconciliation might be where a considerable amount of innovation can come from. Nintendo is often chastised for leaning on its familiar franchises and strictly operating within those franchise’s boundaries. There is no realistic or sensible way to suggest the company should abandon its iconic characters. They are responsible for billions of dollars in sales, and have single-handedly propelled the publisher’s unique hardware for close to three decades. But, in addition to more traditional installments of Mario and Zelda, what if the company looked to joining and sharing these worlds as ways to explore new ideas, both in terms of franchise and gameplay design?
Sure, it’s insane sounding. But so was the idea that all of Nintendo’s heroes and villains would join together for a fighting game. The thought of Mario’s Mushroom Kingdom banding together to race in go-karts was a little crazy too. Now we’re at the point where Samus Aran and Fox McCloud could team up to save the galaxy, and while we pause at the thought of this, Pikachu is preparing to join forces with Japanese warriors. At this point the barrier to a full, formal, shared Nintendo Universe has about a thousand cracks in it. Nintendo might as well embrace it, allowing developers both internal and external the ability to experiment a bit more, while still giving millions of fans around the world what they want.
And, you know what, if a little hand-wringing and compromise can get us our Zelda/Fire Emblem team-up, we’re not going to complain. Let’s see what one of the world’s greatest game publishers can do when it kicks down a few doors and experiments with some of the greatest game franchises in history.
For months Nintendo fans, and the entire games industry, have speculated about Retro Studios’ next project. With the company laying low since 2010’s Donkey Kong Country Returns, the timing is right for Nintendo’s trusted western developer to unveil its next game. Rumors and theories were running rampant, ranging from Star Fox and Zelda to a return to the Metroid Prime universe.
Yet no one was quite expecting the suggestion that the company was in fact preparing a crossover between the worlds of Fox McCloud and Samus Aran. The notion of these two worlds colliding seemed insane. And yet... not so insane. Rumor or not, the idea that Nintendo’s different universes might interact is plausible. We’ve been seeing this sort of thing for more than a decade - and characters like Mario, Samus and Link fit together better than one might expect. In fact, it’s probably time that Nintendo adopt this practice more formally. It’s time these creations, despite their disparate gameplay experiences, to guest star more often. The only thing more powerful than Nintendo’s vast array of IPs is a scenario in which they can co-exist.
We’ve seen subtle winks and nods to Nintendo’s shared universe for a long time. Mario and Donkey Kong seem to have their own lives and supporting casts, yet frequently interact, particularly when it comes to sports - or jumping over barrels. And we’ve seen plenty of cameos over the years, from R.O.B. in F-Zero GX to Mushroom Kingdom enemies in Link's Awakening to characters that strongly resemble Mario and Luigi in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. The references, hints and clever winks could fill a book. Which simply begs the question - why not let the characters interact formally?
This isn’t to say Kirby has to be playable in a Metroid game, or that we simply must see Link piloting a ship in the next installment of Star Fox. These games have specific aesthetics and gameplay ideas, and forcing too much interaction would no doubt corrupt what makes each one unique. Yet there’s nothing saying Nintendo can’t let them interact or acknowledge they’re able to run into each other. Let the fun cameos be bolder. Let the Easter Eggs be more entertaining. Give Nintendo fans, who tend to embrace the publisher’s vast catalog in a fairly comprehensive manner, more of what they crave. Don’t be shy. Have fun with a legacy that has been developed for more than 25 years. It’s not as if we’re dealing with startlingly realistic concepts. The Zelda and Mario universes are insane enough, packed with bizarre characters and ideas. What are a few more in the stack?
That’s why, as insane as the idea of a Star Fox/Metroid crossover might be, it’s not as untenable as you may think. The resistance to such a notion doesn’t seem to focus on the actual concept, but whether the two franchise’s different gameplay styles can accommodate one another. Star Fox is a fast, energetic, third-person aerial shooter, often on rails and often featuring over-the-top action. Metroid is the opposite of just about all of those things. In fact the only thing it has in common with Star Fox is that players need to shoot things, sometimes in space. Samus Aran’s isolated, cold, slow-paced adventures couldn’t be farther from Fox and friend’s quest to stop an evil space monkey.
Yet that reconciliation might be where a considerable amount of innovation can come from. Nintendo is often chastised for leaning on its familiar franchises and strictly operating within those franchise’s boundaries. There is no realistic or sensible way to suggest the company should abandon its iconic characters. They are responsible for billions of dollars in sales, and have single-handedly propelled the publisher’s unique hardware for close to three decades. But, in addition to more traditional installments of Mario and Zelda, what if the company looked to joining and sharing these worlds as ways to explore new ideas, both in terms of franchise and gameplay design?
Sure, it’s insane sounding. But so was the idea that all of Nintendo’s heroes and villains would join together for a fighting game. The thought of Mario’s Mushroom Kingdom banding together to race in go-karts was a little crazy too. Now we’re at the point where Samus Aran and Fox McCloud could team up to save the galaxy, and while we pause at the thought of this, Pikachu is preparing to join forces with Japanese warriors. At this point the barrier to a full, formal, shared Nintendo Universe has about a thousand cracks in it. Nintendo might as well embrace it, allowing developers both internal and external the ability to experiment a bit more, while still giving millions of fans around the world what they want.
And, you know what, if a little hand-wringing and compromise can get us our Zelda/Fire Emblem team-up, we’re not going to complain. Let’s see what one of the world’s greatest game publishers can do when it kicks down a few doors and experiments with some of the greatest game franchises in history.