Why are Nintendo games so hard to replicate? Smash Bros, in particular, seems to have created and monopolized an entire genre. With a game that performs so well commercially and critically it's hard to believe that there aren't a ton of pretenders, maybe even a couple that enrich the formula! What attempts have been made? Why don't they work? And what is Nintendo's secret sauce?
I think it's a little ironic this topic would come up since the new game Rivals of Aether just went out on early access yesterday. It's a game which is simple, pixel style and replicates Smash Melee greatly. There is a great uproar over it, everyone is excited and are giving positive feedback. Though some try to call it a rip off because it seems more simplistic in style and number of playable characters, Rivals of Aether has added more mechanics to the game, bringing more to competitive play options. As time goes on maybe this article could follow it's success or failure to live up to Smash's standards. – Slaidey9 years ago
Something that really helps nintendo is the amount of polish they put into every major game they make. They have incredible amounts of detail to each game to make it better for the player. Sometomes they have to sacrifice something to get that polish (usually graphics and resolution) but they always make up for it in other ways (artstyle and consistant running speed) – Cojo9 years ago