A New Legacy: Nintendo acquires Midway timeline

[Jaiken]

It is early 2003 and Midway is about to shutdown Midway Games West, company with the name associated with the old Atari, until a certain Mustached Plumber buys their parent company.

Premise: Nintendo decides it wants to acquire a company that has these qualities:
1) Good arcade multiplayer action: Gauntlet
2) Game company that can make traditional sports games
3) Developers that can make games that appeal to older audiences.

Crossroads with this timeline:
1) Nintendo is at a crossroads to decide to make violent video games associated with its name like Mortal Kombat or will they keep to their name sake.
2) The Nintendo Revolution (Wii) will deter some Midway developers from staying with Nintendo and move to seemingly greener pastures.

This timeline will be determined by voter polls and what direction Nintendo will take in this timeline.

Note: Sega has been bought by Sammy Corporation as in our timeline and Microsoft has already bought Rare.

 

[Nivek]

1) Good arcade multiplayer action: Gauntlet
2) Game company that can make traditional sports games
3) Developers that can make games that appeal to older audiences

Thanks for reminding me they were the gauntlet guys but damn Midway truly collapse once was mortal Kombat and nothing else

 

[Otakuninja2006]

They should keep everything and branch out into more mature games, surely will help them out during the 7th generation(aka the last great gaming age, note that I'm only 16....)

Thoughts on this @TheFaultsofAlts?

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

I think Nintendo should keep the more adult content of Midway intact. After all, if the Wii garners a casual market with both its gameplay and the Virtual Console feature, then maybe they can gain new Mortal Kombat fans in the 2010s.

However, I have an alternate idea on keeping MK intact: Have it be the one Nintendo IP that they allow on competitive hardware like what Sony and Microsoft have. This way, they can give the existing Mortal Kombat fanbase the blood and gore they like, give Sony and Microsoft a taste of humble nostalgia, and allow themselves a cut of PlayStation or Xbox profit.

I'm not kidding, either. If we make Mortal Kombat a multiplatform title despite being owned by Nintendo, it could be something good for the future of the franchise.

 

[Jaiken]

Thanks for reminding me they were the gauntlet guys but damn Midway truly collapse once was mortal Kombat and nothing else

Gauntlet is the game series that I remember Midway for; however, with this acquisition Nintendo will own:

Gauntlet
Gauntlet Dark Legacy
Mortal Kombat
CarnEvil
Primal Rage
Rampage
NBA Jam
NFL Blitz
Spy Hunter

These games are the ones that I believe will bring benefit to Nintendo.

I think Nintendo should keep the more adult content of Midway intact. After all, if the Wii garners a casual market with both its gameplay and the Virtual Console feature, then maybe they can gain new Mortal Kombat fans in the 2010s.

However, I have an alternate idea on keeping MK intact: Have it be the one Nintendo IP that they allow on competitive hardware like what Sony and Microsoft have. This way, they can give the existing Mortal Kombat fanbase the blood and gore they like, give Sony and Microsoft a taste of humble nostalgia, and allow themselves a cut of PlayStation or Xbox profit.

I'm not kidding, either. If we make Mortal Kombat a multiplatform title despite being owned by Nintendo, it could be something good for the future of the franchise.

I am not too sure Nintendo would want Mortal Kombat to be multiplatform. This would help add more appeal to Nintendo's Wii Eshop in Western territories.

With Nintendo acquiring Midway their relationship with Western Developers should benefit, right?

 

[Otakuninja2006]

The game also wouldn't fly in Japan due to their laws

WHAT laws?

 

[Jaiken]

WHAT laws?

My mistake, I have corrected it. Mortal Kombat isn’t banned in Japan but isn’t liked culturally over there.

 

[Nivek]

My mistake, I have corrected it. Mortal Kombat isn’t banned in Japan but isn’t liked culturally over there.

I just wasn't that big, taking away the gore the game was just western Street Fighter 2 and maybe the focus on Chinese heroes might have off put japan a little(the closer to a Japanese is an anti-heroic spirit) is just Japan have other food choices than an hamburger. or like why want a hamburger when you can get sushi(sf),sashimi(VF),etc.

 

[Jaiken]

I just wasn't that big, taking away the gore the game was just western Street Fighter 2 and maybe the focus on Chinese heroes might have off put japan a little(the closer to a Japanese is an anti-heroic spirit) is just Japan have other food choices than an hamburger. or like why want a hamburger when you can get sushi(sf),sashimi(VF),etc.

Any franchises owned by Midway do you see going well over in Japan? Only one I can think of is Rampage which is just a fine distraction.

 

[Otakuninja2006]

Ok.......

 

[Nivek]

Any franchises owned by Midway do you see going well over in Japan? Only one I can think of is Rampage which is just a fine distraction.

Gauntlet as Japan's love of fantasy would help, there no other franchise? that's very sad.

 

[Jaiken]

Gauntlet as Japan's love of fantasy would help, there no other franchise? that's very sad.

Yeah, I am not seeing any other franchise that helps besides Gauntlet. This acquisition will bolster Nintendo’s Western footprint, but I hardly seeing any big splashes in Japan.
To spoil, acquiring Midway will help Nintendo’s relationship with western developers and will snowball to some early acquisitions.

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

That, and maybe we'd get a StarTropics revival, or at least a Japanese localization of the NES titles.

 

[Jaiken]

Among the school playgrounds rumors spread that Nintendo will be acquiring Midway Games.

Kid 1: I am telling you Nintendo will be for adults!
Kid 2: No way. Nintendo is for babies, they would never get a game like Mortal Kombat.
Kid 3: My mom said if Nintendo starts selling Mortal Kombat they should tone it down.
Kid 1: That would be lame either you keep Mortal Kombat the way it is or don't keep it at all.

Video game websites start gathering more information on what caused this sudden change in Nintendo to acquire such a company that doesn't fit it's brand image.

All eyes were glued to E3 of that year when Nintendo's spokes person Bill Trinen hit the stage.

Bill Trinen: "I know many of you have questions and the answers will come in due time, but what I can tell you is this. We at Nintendo want to provide the best experience for all gamers of all ages, not just kids. Those that play sports, arcade games, multiplayer games and games of all sorts are welcome under our company.

That is why we are announcing our acquisition of Midway Games and their expertise in Western Game development to our portfolio, any questions?"

An IGN reporter stands up. "What pushed Nintendo to attempt to change its brand image? You know many families won't like Mortal Kombat being under the same roof as Yoshi and Kirby."

Bill Trinen responds: "We are committed to bringing every type of gaming experience to Nintendo consoles, but we know that if we don't adapt to the gaming market and its needs then we will be left in the dust. Gamer's wants and needs are needed not just for profits, but for brand image and customer loyalty."

As Bill Trinen leaves the stage, Nintendo's higher ups are deciding what to do with Mortal Kombat and their brand image.

Kid 1: Will I be able to perform a fatality on Donkey Kong?

 

[TheFaultsofAlts]

This is actually a nice chapter in the story.

 

[Nivek]

As Bill Trinen leaves the stage, Nintendo's higher ups are deciding what to do with Mortal Kombat and their brand image.

Not a bad start, waiting to see how things would unfold later

 

[Nivek]

Yeah, I am not seeing any other franchise that helps besides Gauntlet. This acquisition will bolster Nintendo’s Western footprint, but I hardly seeing any big splashes in Japan.
To spoil, acquiring Midway will help Nintendo’s relationship with western developers and will snowball to some early acquisitions.

They could slowly try to build a fanbase if they release it even in limited/order by copies would get one, which is just something that will take time, or try to work with Tailto-Enix or Capcom for trying to push an arcade revival, it could work.

 

[Jaiken]

They could slowly try to build a fanbase if they release it even in limited/order by copies would get one, which is just something that will take time, or try to work with Tailto-Enix or Capcom for trying to push an arcade revival, it could work.

Rampage would work well as a Kaiju Battle Arena in Japan.
I see Enix helping to make a simplified Gauntlet RPG akin to Dragon Quest.
CarnEvil has some special things in store for the future that might appeal to Japanese audiences.

 

[Jaiken]

Here are my proposed names for renaming developers in Midway Games, please tell me if any better names fit Midway's developers:

NetherRealm Studios is the developer for Mortal Kombat
Sumner's Tower is the developer to Gauntlet and Gauntlet Legacy
Kaiju Productions is the developer to Rampage and Primal Rage
Jam Blitz is the developer of Midway's Sports titles
Twisted Productions is the developer of Midway's light gun (shooters) games and vehicular action games aka CarnEvil and Spy Hunter
Midway Games is a conglomerate of developers from all studios that help Nintendo with development and other tasks at the Big N's beck and call.

Nintendo will also acquire some developers that Midway was in the process of acquiring IOTL at this time such as:
Surreal Software which made Drakan: The Ancients' Gates
Inevitable Entertainment which made Tribes Aerial Assault a shooter game.

Nintendo’s in house developers

Nintendo EPD
Nintendo EPD 2
NERD
Nintendo Software Technology
Retro Studios
Brownie Brown
NDCube

These are not the final acquisitions of Nintendo.

 

[Nivek]

These are not the final acquisitions of Nintendo.

So far Nice, of course several person of Marketing and staff would be redundant, but seems much of the developers were keep safe and Sound, plus they can work on their franchise and help in other projects too