Nintendo: My Plan

I know what you all want to know. You want to know what I'd do if Tatsumi Kimishima woke up tomorrow and announced that he'd had enough of running Nintendo and named me his successor. You're only human, of course you're thinking that. I've thought about it too. In fact I've thought about it so much that I've felt the need to write down exactly what I'd do.

The first thing I'd do would obviously be to get a full briefing on exactly what the NX is. It's Nintendo's next console but nothing beyond that (and that Nintendo have been patenting some really weird tech concepts over the last year or two) is known. For the purposes of writing this I'm assuming it's what I think it should be, a home console with portable functionality. Basically something that's not dissimilar to the Wii U and gamepad setup, but with the gamepad capable of operating away from the console, playing parts of larger games, or mini games or full smaller scale games.

I'm pretty sure this won't be what Nintendo do in reality. They're too strong in the dedicated handheld market to step away from it in this fashion. But doing as I've suggested would allow them to cut down on developmental costs, developing games for both home and portable devices at the same time. Every title would be a home console release and a handheld release. The biggest negative would be that there'd be no dedicated handheld console to buy, although a gamepad only purchase option could maybe be worked out for a year or two after the NX release. Probably two.

The next thing I'd do would be looking at the games in development. That again leads to a lot of assuming, mostly about what's in development and how close to being finished it is. I'll detail that below. A list of fictional game releases is the main reason this is getting written.

After that I'd do a slight rejig of the development side of Nintendo. The main development unit the company has is Nintendo EAD (Entertainment Analysis & Development), which is split into five groups, each one focusing on one of the company's main IPs and (usually) a handful of minor ones. This is the place that, generally speaking, produces the company's best games and seems to employ the most talented workers. I'd add another two groups and hire new employees to spread across EAD in its entirety. I think this would make development quicker and give some of the more talented employees the chance to take on bigger roles, what with their being more available. Shigeru Miyamoto would remain the general manager of EAD while deputy manager Katsuya Eguchi would be made general manager of a new division.

This new division would be Studio Iwata, a name chosen partly for a laugh, partly because it has a nice ring to it and partly because it's the sort of name I think Nintendo could actually go with IRL. The purpose of Studio Iwata would be to give larger roles to mid-level employees from the various groups of EAD and Nintendo's various subsidiaries. It would be designed as a "developmental" development team (see what I did there?). People with experience of working on larger games in "lesser" roles would lead a team consisting of talented low-level people brought in from other studios and some new hires. It would be designed as a place to put developers who show promise so they can learn their craft in a low-pressure environment before being moved to more high profile studios. Why would it be low pressure? Because the team would focus on lesser games like the Mario sports and Party titles. Not only would this provide the teams with experience but it would get some fresh ideas into some series that are pretty stale.

The final thing I'd do with developer setup would be to buy or enter into exclusivity deals with some studios. This is something Nintendo hasn't really done a lot of over the past decade. It saves them money but it also leaves them reliant on too small a batch of people. Buying or entering into exclusive deals with developers who have a record of doing good work would mean more people to work on Nintendo IPs and a regular source of exclusive third party games to pump up the NX release schedule.

I'd target Platinum for this first. They're the most obvious one to go with because they've actually stated they want to be a second party developer for Nintendo. 2013's Wonderful 101 and 2014's Bayonetta 2 were both Nintendo exclusives. The latter was a big success, relatively speaking. Hideki Kamiya, Platinum's main man, has said that he'd like to make a Wonderful 101 sequel starring Wonder Blue. Offering him the chance to do that would probably help a Platinum-Nintendo deal happen even quicker.

After that I'd go for WayForward, Shin'en Multimedia, Good-Feel and Yacht Club Games. The latter is probably the most fanciful of the four because their one and only game has been a huge success and they'd likely enjoy retaining their autonomy. But this is all about an ideal situation, and it's not impossible. Maybe the Yacht Club lads would be won over by the chance to play with Nintendo IPs while being encouraged to produce a Shovel Knight sequel (after they've hit their existing DLC commitments, natch). Having those sequels (though not the already announced DLC, obvs) be exclusives would be a pretty sweet deal for Nintendo.

All of which would give me fifteen development studios to utilise: Nintendo EAD, Studio Iwata, 1-Up Studio, Intelligent Systems, HAL Laboratory, Monolith Soft, Nd Cube, Retro Studios, Creatures Inc, Next Level Games, Platinum, WayForward, Shin'en, Good-Feel and Yacht Club. That's a nice selection of places to spread work across without overworking any one place or rushing teams.

With this done I'd start assigning games to studios. This is another thing I'll detail below but this is probably the best time to acknowledge that it's yet more guesswork because there's no way of knowing how close to release any Nintendo game is until about a month before it's due for release (they aren't shy of a last minute postponement). I'd give games to studios I feel are the best fit based on previous work and importance of the title in question. I'd also be trying to keep major titles spread out so that there are frequent releases for the NX. The likes of Mario Galaxy and Zelda would be things for EAD, for example, while Future Build would be on the Mario Party 11s of the world. I'd be making use of Bandai Namco for things like Smash Bros though, because they did such a strong job with the most recent instalment.

Games in development for the NX would need to have DLC and Amiibo functionality be big parts of them. In 2015 Amiibos were incredibly popular, simply as collectible figures as much as anything else. Towards the end of the year it seemed far easier to find previously rare figures, which means Nintendo got their act together on the alleged supply problems but also hints at Amiibo not being as popular as they had been a few months earlier. If that's true I think part of the reason for it has to be that they don't really do that much in a lot of Nintendo games. Not that many people are going to want to buy Amiibo just to have a complete, or semi-complete, unopened collection. In order for Amiibo to remain attractive purchases they have to unlock extra content in games.

Which is a simple thing to type but quite hard to gauge in reality. Lock too much content away behind Amiibo figures and you isolate people who don't own any. You also risk being accused of ripping people off by forcing extra purchases to get a complete gaming experience. There needs to be enough DLC attached to any given Amiibo to make buying it worthwhile but not so much that it feels as though the content should be available as part of the main game. This is actually a topic I think I'll go into more detail on in a separate post. For the purposes of this discussion I'll say that this is a balance each development team would have to find with every game they develop, and obviously some games would be better suited to it than others. For example, tapping a Mario Amiibo into Splatoon could unlock a Mario hat, dungaree top and boots, and maybe a new weapon (*cough* F.L.U.D.D. *cough*). That's the sort of level that Amiibo work well on.

With this focus on Amiibo in mind I'd have a new game developed that focuses on them. I'd want Lego Dimensions to be the inspiration. In case you don't know that game comes with three Lego figures and an item that allows them to be scanned into the game. Lego has released a variety of tie-in sets offering additional characters and vehicles, each of which also opens up a new level to play. It's similar to the Skylanders model but the game seems better made. That approach with Nintendo IP applied would be a solid NX title and something that gives value to the figures. This is another topic that probably warrants its own post."Lego Dimensions with Amiibo" is fine as a summary for now.

Of course, there would be future Amiibo lines too. Those will be covered in the fictional release schedule I'm obviously building too. For clarity I'll say here that every main game released would get a suitable number of Amiibo tied to them.

Then there's downloadable content. This has been one of Nintendo's strengths as a company over the last year or so. They've supported the games that warrant DLC and only charged money for those with established player bases. Mario Kart and Smash Brothers are the main games they've released paid DLC. People know what they're getting from them and will be willing to pay for additional arenas and characters. Splatoon has had nothing but free DLC, which is sensible as its Nintendo's first new series in over a decade and its initially been very popular. Free DLC keeps people playing the game and therefore talking about it.

Games like Smash and Mario Kart should never offer anything but paid DLC because they start off as large games anyway. Anything offered for them after the release should be considered a bonus (which is the right way to do DLC). So the next entries in those series would be developed with that in mind. I'd want Splat2n (hilarious name, no?) to offer six or seven months of free downloadable extras in the form of extra courses and weapons before switching to another six or seven of paid extra content. By that point I think the game would be established enough for paid DLC to not be unreasonable.

The sort of DLC I'd want developed would mostly be courses and weapons, but I'd want something far grander for the Legend of Zelda and Metroid Prime series. Those are ideal as MMO games. They're an RPG and an FPS respectively, the two biggest genres in MMO. The trouble with each is that you play as an established character, somewhat difficult for taking things online because you can't have everyone playing as Link or Samus. I'd want online content developed for each which works separately from the main game, having you start out with a new character that you create yourself. They could be set after the conclusion of the single player campaign and you could begin in or on a completely new region or planet. Complete a short solo mission or two as this new character (a handy opportunity to introduce any additional mechanics for online play) and then go online. I like this as it stays true to the histories of the series by retaining established characters and stories while making use of the big worlds created for online play.

Then, and only then, would I start preparing announcements for the public. There'd be a Direct in early February (fronted by everybody's fave Reggie Fils-Aime, natch) going over the Wii U and 3DS release schedule for the rest of the year and then E3 in June (that would be as it currently stands, with the addition of a Pokémon Z in November and some dates for things like Zelda U and Pokken Tournament). For the record, I really enjoyed the Nintendo World Championship the night before E3 last year so I'd bring that back. I wouldn't tie in any announcements to it though. That was a mistake: it ended up overshadowing what Nintendo did at E3.

Before I transition into simply reeling off release schedules I'll talk about what I'd want for the NX as the Big Boss™ of Nintendo. I've already touched on it being both a home and portable console. In addition to that I'd like it to have backwards compatibility for Wii U games (thought they obviously wouldn't be portable) and, if possible 3DS. I'd want a solid eshop at launch, with at least one key title from each of the company's franchises available. I'd also try to entice back third party support outside of companies which will always develop for Nintendo, such as Sega and Capcom. Here I'm thinking of the likes of 2K Sports and Activision. I personally don't care for either that much and I don't think either company having their games on the NX would be enough by itself to convince anyone to buy a console, but those games along with the various Ninty exclusives could be enough.

My direction for Nintendo as a company would be to make the NX the best console they've ever had, with a strong line-up of enjoyable games featuring iconic, recognisable characters, many of which can support a stream of DLC across a number of years, keeping people playing. Having a successful home console is what Nintendo needs more than anything. The theme park deal and move to mobile gaming is important and a positive thing (though nothing I'll be covering in my fantasy lists below) but the video game market is what supports such things.

Also, I'd keep the name NX. Because I've gotten use to it, can't think of anything better, and think it works well enough for what I'm doing here.

So... the NX launch would be revealed at E3 in June. I think holding off the launch until summer 2017 would be the best thing for Nintendo in the long run. It would give them another six months to get a solid launch line-up together rather than scrabbling to have everything finished as I feel they're going to have to in reality. They rushed the Wii U launch to a large extent and the console has been paying the price ever since.

This said I don't think a summer 2017 launch would really work considering how long they've been touting the machine as in development. Winter 2017 would be too far away for a reveal at this year's E3, and the machine has to be announced at this year's E3 because it's been a mystery for too long. If it doesn't get revealed sometime during 2016 (and E3, as the centre of the gaming calendar, is the obvious place to do it) people will begin to question what Nintendo are doing with it.

All of which is to say that if I were in charge I'd go for a late November or early December 2016 launch for the NX. That would give Nintendo a big new system to push at Christmas. The trouble with doing it this soon is that there aren't that many games I feel could be reliably (and realistically, for the purposes of this writing) ready in time. Pikmin 4 was said to be nearly complete last year so that seems like a safe choice. By the time the launch rolled around it would have been six and a half years since Mario Galaxy 2, easily enough time to get Mario Galaxy 3 ready. It would have been three and a half years since Animal Crossing: New Leaf, again enough time for a sequel to be fully prepared. Retro Studios have been working on something secretive for a while now. For the purposes of this writing I've assumed it's Metroid Prime because that seems most likely. Project Giant Robot has been mentioned on and off for a few years now. If it's not ready for release by now it's probably not a good enough idea to work so I'd have it finished off and put out as a launch title. Let it succeed or fail and make use of years of work.

That's five games. Not enough to a launch a console with by themselves but a good core to build around. I'd flesh things out with games that could be quickly developed from scratch and offered at a cheaper price than the bigger games. Studio Iwata's first game would be Mario Golf. Platinum could put together Wonderful 102 (Wonderful 101 is so unique in its presentation that seeing that engine again with just a few new assets would be a satisfying experience). 1-Up Studio would be tasked with producing Captain Toad 2.

Which takes us to eight games. Street Fighter V would be nice as a launch game for the NX but it's a Playstation exclusive so can't even work within a fictional line-up like this. What could work is "masterpiece" editions of Pokken Tournament and Legend of Zelda U (which would have come out on the Wii U by late summer at the latest). For Pokken Tournament that would be the Wii U edition with the option to buy or download any DLC already released plus two or three version exclusives that would never make it to Wii U (because I'm a big ol' Pokémon nerd I'll say that Shiftry, Darmanitan, and Goodra would be excellent inclusions that are unlikely to make it to any finished version of this game and would be fun as exclusives). For Zelda U this would be a newly created area (if Nintendo started working on this for an NX port now it could totes be ready, whatevs!). This would not be the Zelda game with the MMORPG stuff I mentioned above though. That would be a later entry in the series.

That takes the total number of launch games from Nintendo to ten. With third party games (I'd definitely encourage Playtonic to develop an NX version of Yooka Layla for launch, for example) and the eshop content I think that would be a good initial line-up for the NX (and I'd also announce game releases through to Splat2n in May 2017). It's at this point that I'll switch over to the list format and lay out every first party title I'd have developed for the NX through to Christmas 2019. I'll be mentioning who developed each and a month for release too (assume lesser studios have helped on EAD titles). Because lists are how I roll. I'll begin the lists with the order in which I'd reveal the NX games. Because I'm into lists...

NX launch line-up revealed at E3

Preceded by chat about the console's general functionality and capabilities , as well as a montage of games in development for the NX. This would feature everything below (except Mario Galaxy 3) and Amiibo World, F-Zero Infinity, Mario Kart 9, Paper Mario, Splat2n and Super Mario Bros 4.

Pikmin 4

Pokken Tournament: Masterpiece edition
Project Giant Robot
Mario Golf
Captain Toad: Treasure Hoard
"Any and all non-Nintendo games"¹
Animal Crossing: New Horizons
Wonderful 102
Legend of Zelda: Secret of Mudora: Masterpiece edition
Metroid Prime IV: Awakening²
Mario Galaxy 3

And before we go further here's a key that helps make the stuff below slightly clearer:

White for software releases
Red for DLC releases
Blue for Amiibo releases
Green for hardware releases

2016

Releases

Animal Crossing: New Horizons (EAD, December)³
Animal Crossing: New Horizons Amiibo (December)
Captain Toad: Treasure Hoard (1-Up Studio, December)⁴
Legend of Zelda: Secret of Mudora: Masterpiece edition (EAD, December)⁵
Mario Galaxy 3 (EAD, December)
Mario Galaxy Amiibo (December)
Mario Golf (Studio Iwata, December)
Metroid Prime IV: Awakening (Retro Studios, December)
Metroid Prime Amiibo (December)
Nintendo NX console (Nintendo hardware team, December)⁶
Pikmin 4 (EAD, December)
Pokken Tournament: Masterpiece edition (Bandai Namco, December)
Project Giant Robot (EAD, December)⁷
Project Giant Robot Amiibo(December)⁸
Wonderful 102 (Platinum, December)
Wonderful 102 Amiibo(December)

2017

February  2017 Direct

Hype... F-Zero Infinity and Paper Mario.⁹
Announce work on... Super Sma5h Bros¹⁰.¹¹
Announce... Mario Part 11 August release, Amiibo World August release and Mario Kart 9 July release.¹²

Releases

F-Zero Infinity (Shin'en Multimedia, February)
F-Zero Infinity Amiibo (March)
Captain Toad Amiibo (March)
Paper Mario (Intelligent Systems, April)¹³

May 2017 Direct

Hype... Splat2n.
Announce... Details of Nintendo's E3 schedule and how the Nintendo World Championship will work, ending on a Super Sma5h initial roster trailer.¹⁴

Releases

Splat2n (EAD, May)¹⁵
Splat2n Amiibo (May)

E3 2017

Hype...Mario Kart 9 and Amiibo World.
Announce work on... Mario Maker 2, Advance Wars X, Fire Emblem , Mario Baseball, Hyrule Warriors II, Star Fox, Bayonetta 3, and Xenoblade Chronicles III.
Announce... Super Mario Bros 4 September release, Metroid Prime DLC September release, Shovel Knight II November release, Luigi's Mansion 3 October release, Mario Kart 9 DLC December release, and Super Sma5h Bros December release.

Releases

Mario Kart 9 (EAD, July)¹⁶
Mario Kart 9 Amiibo, wave 1 (July)
Paper Mario Amiibo (July)
Amiibo World (EAD, August)¹⁷
Mario Party 11 (Studio Iwata, August)

September 2017 Direct

Hype... Super Mario Bros 4.
Announce work on... Yoshi's Loose End, Kirby: Dream Cacophony, and Pilot Wings.
Announce... A new Sma5h character everyone's desperate to see¹⁸.

Releases

Metroid Prime DLC (Retro Studios, September)¹⁹
Super Mario Bros 4 (EAD, September)²⁰
Luigi's Mansion 3 (Next Level Games, October)²¹
Shovel Knight II (Yacht Club, November)²²
Legend of Zelda: Dungeon Maker (EAD, November)
Mario Kart 9 DLC (EAD, December)²³

November 2017 Direct

Hype... Super Sma5h Bros.
Announce... The final Super Sma5h Bros character or characters available on the disc and-or some sort of exclusive content deal.

Releases

Super Sma5h Bros (Bandai Namco, December)
Super Sma5h Bros Amiibo, wave 1 (December)
Luigi's Mansion 3 Amiibo (December)

2018

February 2018 Direct

Hype... Changes to Splat2n DLC.
Announce work on...Wario World.
Announce... Metroid Prime DLC August release, Mario Baseball March release, Advance Wars X April release, Pilot Wings July release, Bayonetta 3 June release and Super Sma5h Bros DLC May release.

Releases

Splat2n DLC (EAD, February)²⁴
Mario Baseball (Studio Iwata, March)
Advance Wars X (Intelligent Systems, April)²⁵
Super Sma5h Bros DLC (Bandai Namco, May)²⁶
Super Sma5h Bros Amiibo, wave 2 (May)
Bayonetta 3 (Platinum, June)

E3 2018

Hype...Pilot Wings and Metroid Prime DLC.
Announce work on...NX-Go²⁷ (acknowledging it will be ready for December at this point), Metroid: Initiation, Pokken Tournament 2 and Super Mario 3D World 2.
Announce... Super Mario Maker 2 November release, Kirby: Dream Cacophony August release, Splat2n DLC August release, Yoshi's Loose End September release, Xenoblade Chronicles III November release for Japan, Hyrule Warriors II October release, Mario Kart 9 DLC November release and Star Fox December release.

Releases

Pilot Wings (EAD, July)²⁸
Kirby: Dream Cacophony (HAL Laboratory, August)²⁹
Metroid Prime DLC (Retro Studios, August)
Splat2n DLC (EAD, August)
Yoshi's Loose End (Good Feel, September)
Bayonetta Amiibo (September)
Yoshi's Loose End Amiibo (September)

September 2018 Direct

Hype... Super Sma5h Bros DLC and Mario Maker 2.³⁰
Announce work on...Wonder Blue, Mario Soccer and "New IP".
Announce... Metroid: Initiation December release, new Pokken Tournament 2 characters, Fire Emblem February release for Japan, and that new Sma5h DLC is available straight after the Direct.

Releases

Super Sma5h Bros DLC (EAD, September)
Super Smash Bros Amiibo, wave 3 (October)
Hyrule Warriors II (Omega Force, October)
Mario Kart 9 DLC (EAD, November)
Super Mario Maker 2 (EAD, November)³¹
Xenoblade Chronicles III (Japan only) (Monolith Soft, November)³²
NX-Go (Nintendo hardware team, December)
Metroid: Initiation (WayForward, December)³³
Star Fox (EAD, December)³⁴

2019

February 2019 Direct

Hype... Splat2n DLC.
Announce work on...Wave Race and Donkey Kong Country: Exotic Continent.
Announce... Pokken Tournament 2 July release, new Pokken Tournament 2 characters, Wario World March release, Metroid Prime DLC April release, Super Sma5h Bros DLC May release and Xenoblade Chronicles III July release for the rest of the world.

Releases

Fire Emblem (Japan only) (Intelligent Systems, February)
Fire Emblem Amiibo (Japan only) (February)
Splat2n DLC (EAD, February)
Wario World (Yacht Club, March)³⁵
Metroid Prime DLC (Retro Studios, April)
Super Sma5h Bros DLC (EAD, May)
Super Smash Bros Amiibo, wave 4 (May)
Xenoblade Chronicles III (rest of the world) (Monolith Soft, June)

E3 2019

Hype... Pokken Tournament 2.
Announce work on... The final Metroid Prime DLC update, Super Mario Universe, Pikmin 5, and Legend of Zelda: Brotherhood of Eleven.³⁶
Announce... Wonder Blue September release, Mario Soccer August release, Wave Race August release, Mario Kart 9 DLC September release, "New IP" game October release, Fire Emblem October release for the rest of the world, Donkey Kong: Exotic Continent November release, Super Mario 3D World 2 December release, and Pokémon Generation VII November release.³⁷

Releases

Pokken Tournament 2 (Namco Bandai, July)
Pokken Tournament Amiibo, wave 1 (July)
Wario World Amiibo (July)
Final Splat2n DLC (EAD, August)
Mario Soccer (Studio Iwata, August)³⁸
Wave Race (EAD, August)
Super Mario Kart 9 DLC (EAD, September)
Wonder Blue (Platinum, September)
Fire Emblem (rest of the world) (Intelligent Systems, October)
Fire Emblem Amiibo (rest of the world) (October)
Wonder Blue Amiibo (October)
"New IP" game (EAD, October)³⁹

November 2019 Direct

Hype... Pokémon Generation VII.
Announce... That Super Sma5H Bros DLC is ending and that the final characters are...⁴⁰

Releases

Pokémon Generation VII (Game Freak, November)
Donkey Kong Country: Exotic Continent (Retro Studios, November)⁴¹
Donkey Kong Country: Exotic Continent Amiibo (November)
Pokken Amiibo, wave 2 (November)
"New IP" Amiibo (November)
Super Mario 3D World 2 (EAD, December)
Final Super Sma5h Bros DLC (EAD, December)

2020 and beyond

Legend of Zelda: Brotherhood of Eleven (EAD)⁴²

Final Metroid Prime campaign (Retro Studios)⁴³
Final Mario Kart 9 DLC (EAD)⁴⁴
Super Mario Universe (EAD)⁴⁵
Pikmin 5 (EAD)
So there we go⁴⁶. That's a schedule I think we can all agree would make Nintendo's NX the greatest console on the planet.

***

Footnotes

¹ This is pretty broad, I know. It's designed to encompass anything that's not a major first party title. It would probably be fairly sports games-heavy.⁴⁷

² This would be presented as the final game of the line-up, cutting back to the presenter (probably Reggie⁴⁸) who'd talk for a bit before doing a Columbo-esque "One final thing..." and revealing the real last game: Super Mario Galaxy 3.

³ Why don't you try coming up with an authentic-sounding Animal Crossing subtitle? They've already done New Leaf, and that's clearly the best the series will ever get in the subtitle department.

⁴ Yeah, I'd give it a subtitle rather than go with a bland 2. Captain Toad deserves better than a numbered sequel. That and this launch line-up is already numbered sequel heavy...

⁵ I got tired of referring to this as "Zelda U" so I decided to go with Secret of Mudora to keep myself interested. I chose that because the most recent trailer had a book attached to Link's waist. I've seen speculation that it's the Book of Mudora, which I like so I've used it here.

⁶ Obviously.

⁷ Yes, I'd keep the Project Giant Robot name. It's daft and catchy.

⁸ This would be a good opportunity to do something a bit different with Amiibo. Maybe each figure could come with interlocking part, maybe some spares, and different robots could be built. This isn't some random though, it's been said that the idea of the game is that you make your own giant robot (hence the title) and fight other robots. Seems ideal for a Transformers-esque line of Amiibo.

⁹ "Hype" under Directs and E3 shows refers to games that would be focused on, or hyped, during the presentation. The idea is that a Direct or E3 show would create interest in them and explain their key features shortly before release to drum up interest. If there's more than one (and there frequently is) then they're listed in the order they'd be shown in.

¹⁰ For the record I like the idea of the Sma5h trailer starting with all the usual suspects being introduced one by one for an increasingly rowdy fight scene, culminating with one of them (probably Mario, because he's Mario) getting knocked into a puddle of ink, standing up, flicking it off his shoe, and then getting inked by... Inkling Boy and Inkling Girl. Although the reveal of those characters being in the game is probably best saved for E3.

¹¹ Fairly self-explanatory I'd have thought. These sections are where new titles would be announced. This isn't an announcement that work's beginning: I've written this assuming that by the time I'm ready to announce a game work's been going on it for a while. Again, these are always listed in the order of reveal.

¹² Another pretty obvious bit, I like the idea of closing every presentation with upcoming releases. These too are listed in reveal order. All release dates given are universal unless stated otherwise because that's something Nintendo really needs to get their act together on.

¹³ Sticker Star came out in 2012! This is easily long enough for a new game to be developed. I'd want it to be more similar to the style of the first two games though. Sticker Star was okay, and the sticker mechanic was strong, but Paper Mario is at its best when you're getting party members every so often.

¹⁴ I've not mentioned Nintendo World Championships after this but I'd keep them as a feature the night before E3 kicks off. It's a good way to hype upcoming releases. With no more May Directs I'd instead announce details of them through YouTube trailers⁴⁹.

¹⁵ I'd want this to be an expanded version of the first game. More multiplayer maps, a few more ranked modes, and more weapons. Single player warrants being a bigger deal in the sequel too. I might even ask the development team to include some single player content in DLC updates.

¹⁶ This would continue the emphasis on non-Mario characters we saw in MK8. I don't think I'd want it to be taken to the extreme of Smash Bros but I'd want it to feel more like "Nintendo Kart" than Mario Kart.

¹⁷ I've never been a big fan of the Wii Sport-esque games but I realise they're popular. I'd want this to appeal to that market. Somehow. It feels like it could work as it would probably end up being pretty mini game-heavy and would be tied to Amiibo, which can appeal to non-gamers.

¹⁸ Like Professor E Gadd.

¹⁹ This and all subsequent Metroid DLC would be an online campaign and a single player campaign, probably linked.

²⁰ I'd want a better title than this. I used it because it's evocative enough for what I'm doing here.

²¹ This would be released as close to Halloween as possible because that's such an obvious Marketing Thing™ to do.

²² I'd pay Yacht Club for exclusivity, to be clear, that's why I'm listing it here.

²³ This and all subsequent Mario Kart 9 DLC would consist of two new cups (consisting of four tracks each) and three (or possibly four) new characters. Diddy Kong and Kamek would be two characters I'd push for⁵⁰.        

²⁴ Up until this point Splat2n would have been receiving free updates with the same degree of regularity as the first game. That would end in July, DLC becoming paid in August. Every few months there would be a trailer hyping upcoming DLC. Players would pay at any time during this period and receive all the DLC shown in the trailer, dished out over a few months.

²⁵ Another bit of solid naming, no? This would be marketed more as an on-the-go title for the NX. Maybe there'd be a reason for that revealed at E3... who knows?!

²⁶ This and all subsequent Super Sma5h Bros DLC would consist of some new fighters (probably no more than three at a time) and related stages.

²⁷ The NX-Go would be a gamepad-only purchase option. The components required for TV-play wouldn't be in the box. It would be able to play all games in full, though possibly via downloading "chunks" of each because memory. I'd do this as a cheaper purchase option and as a way of staying relevant in the portable market.

²⁸ Without any major summer game Pilot Wings would get a main event push.

²⁹ I hate Kirby games. I'd release one just because people would buy it and he'd be a character in Sma5h. He is the most boring character Nintendo owns and I'm frequently disgusted that they didn't faze him out when they had the chance.

³⁰ Hyping MM2 in addition to the Sma5h DLC allows for a swerve at the end of the Direct where it's revealed that Sma5h DLC is actually ready.

³¹ More level skins, more blocks, more enemies, more everything.

³² Another game designed to be massive and unrelated to other games in the series.

³³ This would be a side-scrolling Metroid game. Y'know, like the early Metroid games everyone raves about? Developed by WayForward because they're great at side-scrolling stuff, they love 90s Ninty, and they've said they want to work on a Metroid game of this type. Seems like an obvious move to me. The game would be pushed as a good on-the-go purchase to go with the NX-Go, probably getting a bundle deal.

³⁴ This wouldn't be a reboot or a remake, this would be a sequel to the Star Fox Zero due out later in 2016. A common and entirely fair complaint about the series is that it's repetitive with the locations it uses. I'd want this game to introduce new planets and new characters to go with its new story. The only bad part of this is that there wouldn't be a Star Wars film coming out to get people hyped about spaceships shooting at each other.

³⁵ Quite like the idea of a Wario game made up of remixed stages from 2D Mario games where you can get Wario's hat power-ups from the first two Wario Land games. Let's say this would be that.

³⁶ These software release would have been in development since the NX launched (before in the case of the LOZ game because the team will be finished on the Wii U game before the NX launch). They could be sprinkled across the 2020 release schedule or saved for the Christmas period and released for The NX's Strongest Christmas Since Launch™. Personally I like the idea of doing Pikmin 5 in spring, Super Mario Universe in summer, and the Zelda game for Christmas.

³⁷ Main line Pokémon games are never announced far in advance. It's completely normal for Nintendo to just rock up at E3 and be all like "Hey, guys, we're dropping a hot new Pokémon gen in five months, don't even worry about it."

³⁸ I've used "soccer" for ease. I'd probably have it released as Mario Football outside of the US and Canada.

³⁹ I've been referring to this as "New IP" because I don't know what it would be. I'd be asking EAD to start on this in January 2016. They should have something worthwhile to show  after three and a half years.

⁴⁰ I think we can all agree Professor E Gadd being amongst the final characters announced for Sma5h would please everyone. No, of course not. I do quite like the idea of putting in Judd from Splatoon because he'd play differently to any Inkling characters that could go in, but it's likely he'd have gone in before this point if he were going in at all. Let's say one of the real final characters would be Geno. Because everybody wants Geno in a Smash game.

⁴¹ Not a great title, no. But are you telling me Tropical Freeze is?

⁴² Good working title, no?

⁴³ Check out this DLC support. Over three years since the game's release and it's still coming.

⁴⁴ And here too!

⁴⁵ This would be the follow-up to Mario Galaxy 3. It's possible it would end up being Mario Galaxy 4 if the whole Universe thing seemed too grand. Or if we wanted to save it for the NX's replacement.

⁴⁶ Although it's not all I could write. I didn't touch on the incredible things I'd want to see from a Captain Toad sequel or (probably more significantly for something detailing how I'd run Nintendo) the fact that Nintendo are developing mobile games⁵¹, for example.

⁴⁷ I hope you're prepared for footnotes...

⁴⁸ I'd be giving Reggie a big push in Directs and at E3, the man's gold.

⁴⁹ And while we're on the subject of YouTube videos... I'd use those to announce aspects of games being developed, like new characters and whatnot. I could have put YouTube trailers into this schedule but it would have been a step too far.

⁵⁰ Not Professor E Gadd here. He has no place in a racing game.

⁵¹ This could very much be its own post though. Just saying.