Nintendo Key Franchises To Return - Eventually

If you thought that Nintendo's showing at E3 2008 was dismal, you are not alone.

None of Nintendo's landmark franchises (ie. Mario, Zelda, Metroid, etc.) returned at E3 for an upcoming title for either the Nintendo Wii or DS outside of a sports spin-off title.

However, 1up recently published a report that Nintendo is indeed working on new titles from their key franchises.

Word came form the UK-based "Edge" magazine that published a comment from an official Nintendo representative:

We have never neglected our core gamers. We still have developers working on popular core gaming franchises but we need longer to complete these games, approximately two to three years. These games are not ready to launch in early 2009 but are being worked on by all development teams.

Does this mean that we will have to wait two to three years for another Mario or Zelda title?

It wouldn't be too far of a stretch baring that we first heard word of what ultimatly led to The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess at E3 2004 and that game wasn't released until two and half years later, in 2006.

Additionally, with Nintendo's three previous consoles , there has been a total of three mario titles. The Super Nintendo, Nintendo 64, and Nintendo Gamecube each had only one official mario title per plateform.

The Wii already has Super Mario Galaxy, does that mean that will be the last Mario title we will see on the Wii?

1up's report also notes a statement made by Nintendo's President Satoru Iwata shortly after E3 2008:

If there is any perception that Nintendo is ignoring the core gamers, it's a misunderstanding and we really want to get rid of that misunderstanding by any means...however, the fact of the matter is the so-called 'big titles' need a long, long development period.

The time required to make as high of quality of games that Nintendo produces is understandably lengthy, but that means that Nintendo needs fantastic third-party support to keep Nintendo console owners happy in the mean time. That is where Nintendo failed with the N64, it again was Nintendo's downfall on the Gamecube, and it looks like history may repeat itself with the Wii.