Look, it’s no secret that there are plenty of AAA video games that have come out in the last several years that haven’t “lived up to the hype” or haven’t been at the “level of quality” that fans expect. Even the games that are “overall good” still have issues due to bugs, optimization woes, and so on. But for Nintendo titles, their first-party lineup has been solid for a reason, and it’s a reason that fans know well. They don’t rush games out, and Nintendo of America President Doug Bowser reiterated that recently.
During an interview with Inverse, the Nintendo of America head had this to say about how Super Mario Bros Wonder became another great example of their desire not to rush things:
“I’m always careful not to comment on the part of the developers, but in general, what Mr. Tezuka noted was that very early on in the development cycle, he really did want to give the team the freedom to explore a variety of ideas. The result was a lot of unique and creative ideas they could think about without the pressure of a deadline or the pressure of, ‘How do I actually bring this to life?’
One thing with Nintendo development is we don’t pressure our teams to deliver within a certain window. If they need more time, they’ll take more time. And the reason for that is our players have an expectation of the quality that our games will bring. We want to make sure we respect that and deliver those wow moments.”
The results speak for themselves. Super Mario Bros Wonder (watch for our review!) is hailed as one of the best games of the year, Pikmin 4 took its sweet time and is the best-selling game of its series, and Tears of the Kingdom kept getting delayed but when it came out was stated to be one of the best video games ever. So, in conclusion? Nintendo knows what they’re doing, and others should emulate that.