So Dillon's an assist trophy. Huge waste.
I don't understand Nintendo. They have this game series that sells systems (other than Pokémon. Other than Mario Kart). This game series is powered by characters and things from other game series. It seems logical to me that for every Luigi's Mansion, Kirby Mass Attack/Canvas Curse, Mario Sunshine, Super Paper Mario and WarioWare, they would want to create completely new protagonists to go with the completely new everything else. They could kick off a new IP every time they send a new gameplay idea on its maiden voyage. That way, next time a Smash Bros. comes around, there would be loads of new material for playable characters to get people excited about. They're obviously not out of game ideas or creativity--even Kid Icarus Uprising could have been, aesthetically, anything else, although that one gets a free pass on this because KI was barely anything before and now it's a lot of things. They just have no faith that anything they make will sell unless they paint it the same as something that already has. Dinosaur Planet and Prince Fluff's Yarn will tell you.
Maybe for some of those, they're right, but what's the real difference between the perception people would have of Nintendo? You already have to watch trailers and Nintendo Directs carefully to tell if they're half-assing something. Nobody was expecting Game & Wario to be a new WarioWare, or Wario Land, or Super Mario Land. The brand recognition that "this is a game with Wario in it" changes almost nothing from what "this is a game Nintendo made" would be if they didn't use existing properties all the time. Their reputation is making reliably good games and sometimes making Yoshi's New Island. I don't think that would be very different if they used new paint on their new concepts.
Sorry, long thoughts. Rip in peace Dillon, still nothing can ruin Greninja and Little Mac being here.
