5) Star Fox – Last seen on a non handheld console – October 25, 2004 – Star Fox Assault
Star Fox began it’s illustrious career on the SNES back in 1993 and continued its success onto the N64 in 1997 with Star Fox 64. Both of these titles were critically praised and financially successful. Star Fox 64 was even remade for the 3DS in 2011. That’s where the charm end though, Rare took over the mantle for Star Fox in 2002 and took Fox McCloud out of his ship and into a role playing genre. This didn’t stifle sales though and Star Fox Adventures went on to become one of the fastest selling games on the GameCube. Many fans felt that this departure was detrimental to the series, and Star Fox Assault went back to the basics. Nintendo called Namco in to make this 2005 game which put McCloud back into his Arwing but still kept some of the on foot levels. McCloud has been silent since then, popping up as a cameo here and there in Nintendo’s other games, but never given a title all to himself again. The WiiU seems the perfect console to resurrect Fox McCould. The game-pad could be the control board for your ship as you fly around with no HUD on the screen. It would look like you’re actually flying as a fox. Nintendo should make this game in house though as it seems when they port it out Fox does things that he shouldn’t.
4) F-Zero – Last seen on a non handheld console – August 25, 2003 – F-Zero GX
F-Zero began it’s tenure as one of Nintendo’s top racing games on the SNES on November 21, 1990. The game was critically and financially successful which allowed the franchise to race onto the two following Nintendo systems as well: F-Zero X for the N64 and F-Zero GX for the GameCube. The successors also did very well, F-Zero X sold over 383,642 in North America alone, and F-Zero GX was touted as the best racing game on the GameCube. It makes one wonder why Nintendo only sticks with Mario Kart as it’s racing game when they have such a successful one waiting in the wings. Hopefully Nintendo will dust off this driving franchise to give new life to it’s fledgling WiiU console.
3) Kid Icarus – Last seen on a non handheld console – July 1987 – Kid Icarus
One has to feel sorry for Pit, he’s only had one console game all to himself, the remaining games in the franchise went to the GBA and the 3DS. This seems like a sad tale for this character, and it is. He has the potential to be the next Zelda, yet Nintendo won’t use him as such. Why wouldn’t they craft a Greek Mythological RPG using Pit as the protagonist and have most of the dungeons be vertical ones, just like the levels in the original game. Conceivably this could be Nintendo’s Dark Souls, the original Kid Icarus game was extremely punishing, so why not bring that along to this generation and make an RPG that people will clamor for?
2) Metroid – Last seen on a non handheld console – August 31, 2010 – Metroid: Other M
This franchise seems to be the red headed stepchild of Nintendo franchises, for some reason the top guys at Nintendo have no idea what to do with Samus. Metroid was released on the NES August 6, 1986 and was met with financial and critical success, which allowed Samus to travel to the SNES in Super Metroid. To fans all around the world, this is the perfect Metroid game, it’s an RPG that doesn’t follow the standard RPG rules and makes all the backtracking fun. This pinnacle of Metroid was released on March 19, 1994 and fans have been hungering for a game similar to this perfect specimen. After the SNES release, Nintendo threw Metroid to the handheld world until they gave Retro Studios the blessing to make Metroid Prime. November 17, 2002 was the day that Retro released their game, and it was met with large sales and critical acclaim. Retro continued its trilogy in 2005 then jumped over to the Wii in 2007. All of these games were well received and made Nintendo some serious cash. That money must have went to Nintendo’s head though, for some reason they thought it was a good idea to hand the Metroid reigns over to Ninja Theory for Metroid: Other M. Other M did not do well either critically or financially. There we complaints on the controls, the story, and even Samus’ new beauty mark. All in all, everyone gave this entry a “thumbs down.” What’s next for Metroid? Nintendo seems to be mum on the subject, but fans of the series hope for a return to the 2D roots of Super Metroid. Nintendo should focus on 2D high definition graphics on the WiiU while taking the map and inventory slots and placing them onto the game-pad, toss a great story in there and you have a hit on your hands.
1) Earthbound – Last seen on a non handheld console – August 27, 1994 – Earthbound
Nintendo has made their RPG series a Holy Grail of sorts, teasing people with a possible port of Mother 3, saying the the Wii Virtual Console will get the game then cancelling and so on. Thankfully, Nintendo fulfilled one promise earlier this month, and released Earthbound onto the WiiU’s Virtual Console which should help see a boost in console sales. This game does deserve a new iteration. Ness and Lucas graced 2008’s Smash Brothers Brawl and looked amazing in 3D, so there should be no reason why a Mother 4 is not in production for the WiiU. This dream may come to fruition though, if the Virtual Console of the game sells well and if Nintendo manages to purchase Atlus in the coming days, there should be no reason why Atlus and Shigesato Itoi can’t team up and give fans what they’ve been waiting for for decades.
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