Smashed

If you haven't heard, Nintendo recently announced that there will be a new Super Smash Bros. game coming out for the Wii U and Nintendo 3DS. This could potentially, I think, be bad.

You may be wondering how this could possibly be a bad idea. Two platforms, more sales for both, right? Not necessarily. See, the problem is this: the Wii U is selling pretty poorly right about now. I personally think this is because it doesn't really have any big blockbuster games on it. There's no new Legend of Zelda game, there's no new Metroid game, there's no new Mario game. The 3DS on the other hand has loads of big games on it. Animal Crossing: New Leaf, Fire Emblem: Awakening and Luigi's Mansion: Dark Moon are just some of the huge hits on the handheld. Not only that, the newest Pokemon game, Pokemon X and Y, is launching in October. That game is guaranteed to be one of the best selling games for the system. Basically what I'm saying is that the 3DS doesn't need a big game like Smash Bros. on it.

I, like many people, am probably going to buy the Wii U just for Smash Bros. But because some people already own a 3DS, they are going to be more likely to buy the game for that instead. It comes down to the difference of Nintendo getting 40 dollars for selling one 3DS game or getting 460 dollars for selling a Wii U console and a copy of the game. Now, it might seem like a bit of an unsavory thing to do, making consumers buy a system to play one game, but Nintendo isn't exactly in the most steady financial shape at the moment.

Now, I'm sure their will be positive things, like connectivity between the platforms and whatnot, but I don't think that outweighs the fact that Nintendo had a real chance to bolster the sales of the Wii U and totally whiffed on that chance.