Summary
Nintendo has a lot of franchises under its belt, and two of them have already become roguelikes. The first one wasPokemonviaPokemon Mystery Dungeon: Red Rescue TeamandPokemon Mystery Dungeon: Blue Rescue Team. There were many sequels after, but thentheZeldafranchisegot a chance viaCadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer Featuring The Legend of Zelda.
Which Nintendo franchise should be next? It seems fitting to test out long-dead franchises with a roguelike revival, as that’s the hot genre right now, but the popular franchises could equally profit. Could Nintendo revolutionize the genre? Let’s dive deep and find out.
Fire Emblemwould be an easy franchiseto turn into a roguelike. The series began on the NES in 1990, and there are over a dozen main titles, not to mention spinoffs, each with at least twenty or more heroes to play as. Villains could be added to the rosters as well for a more balanced run.
While most main characters use swords, there are plenty of secondary characters that would fill up the roster with bows, lances, axes, and even magic books. It would be an easy home run for Nintendo, withWarriors: Abyssbeing its closest template to mirror. Maybe Koei Tecmo/Omega Force could even team up with Nintendo to make it like they did withFire Emblem WarriorsandFire Emblem Warriors: Three Hopes.
Kirby is one of the more versatile characters under Nintendo’s reign. Kirby has starred in racers, a pinball game, a golf game, and so on. There is almost no genre he hasn’t dipped his pink toe in except roguelikes, which would work well withKirby’s Copy ability.
InKirby’s Dream Land, the first game, Kirby couldn’t use his Copy abilities, though.Kirby’s Adventure, the sequel, is where the mechanic was introduced, and the rest is history. The roguelike could be similar toRogue Legacy,where players could begin with a Copy ability, like Sword or Bomb, and then have Kirby choose another upon restarting.
NES Remixbegan as an experiment on the Wii U wherein players would go through classic NES games to play mini-games in short bursts. Some titles includedDonkey Kong,Excitebike,The Legend of Zelda, and so on. The goal changed from challenge to challenge, and it was a great idea to get an officialrom hack collectionfrom Nintendo.
They made a sequel on the Wii U and a collection on the 3DS, and that has been it since 2014. Taking theNES Remixconcept and applying it to a roguelike would be wild but brilliant. Every room could take players into a new game from the NES. Nintendo could also randomize characters and change gameplay between runs. Maybe the game could alternatively feature Captain N from the 80s cartoonCaptain N: The Game Masteras he relives his favorite NES games in an isekai scenario.
ThePikminseries changes heroes between games, but they mostly feature explorers gathering materials via plantlike creatures called Pikmin. There have been manyvarieties of Pikminover the years, like ones made of rock or others made to glow in the dark. The overall gameplay style can be likened to RTS games.
APikminroguelike could feature dungeon exploration wherein players would gather Pikmin as they descend into the bowels of a new planet. They can take back materials that will upgrade the suit and gadgets players can use on the next run. In death, Pikmin will be lost, only to be gathered again on a new run. It’s almost the same gameplay style as the main games except with the focus being underground, and this is, of course, just one idea.
Super Smash Bros.would probably be the Nintendo series fans would want to see the most turned into a roguelike. It’s kind of a cheat because Nintendo could use characters from all of their major franchises. Players could unlock or buy characters similar to theFire Emblemidea, wherein this roguelike would be heavy on the action.
Nintendo could even ask their third-party allies to donate characters. Imagine playing asSora fromKingdom Heartsor Solid Snake fromMetal Gear Solidin a roguelike setting. This could even just be the story mode attached to the nextSuper Smash Bros.,which will probably happen sometime on the Switch 2.
Mario, as a character, wouldn’t work as a hero in a roguelike. Yes, players are used to seeing him dying a lot and then reviving with a 1-Up, but it just wouldn’t make sense to put him through the torturous cycle of a roguelike. Wario, on the other hand, would be perfect.
TheWario Landseries mostly features the titular anti-hero raiding caves or other levels for treasure. Sounds like the perfect roguelike setting, which could follow theSpelunkystyle of mechanics. More villains could join Wario, too, to offer more gameplay styles between characters, including Waluigi, Bowser, Captain Syrup, and so on. A rogues gallery ofMariovillains for a roguelike misadventure.
