Nintendo’s Shigeru Miyamoto has defended the many remakes of older games, saying that today’s youth don’t have the opportunity to play games that are more than 10 years old.
Nintendo has come a long way in the last decade rely on remakes of their old hits. Pokemon Let’s Go, Super Mario RPG, Star Fox, Mario vs. Donkey Kong, Paper Mario, The Legend of Zelda: Link’s Awakening – these are just some of the games that Nintendo revived in a modern guise. And this fall, Nintendo’s biggest remake to date is coming – The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of time.
Given that growing trend of relying on old games, Nintendo’s creative Shigeru Miyamoto he was asked what he thought about it and whether bringing back old games is devastating for a company that has always tried to bring something new. Miyamoto defended the processing and explained his position as follows:
“Some will say we have too many remakes, but a lot of people outgrow the games over the years and stop playing them. And younger players today no longer have the opportunity to play games that were played ten years ago. So remaking and improving them is a good way to meet the demand of that audience. And when people get to know the original games, it leads to the development of new things. That’s why we’ve been actively implementing that strategy lately.” – said Miyamoto for the Japanese magazine Famitsu.
Of course, it’s all understandable from his perspective, but the argument that younger players can’t play past hits is a bit silly, considering that it’s Nintendo’s decision to do so. Games from older Nintendo consoles are purposefully not playable for current Nintendo Switch consoles, but can only be accessed with a subscription. So it’s not that the Switch consoles can’t run them – it’s just that Nintendo doesn’t want to sell them at a cheaper price if they can already offer a more expensive remake.