Nintendo’s newest spot for Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS has created disgust among some fans because of confusion over the Mii fighting mode. The commercial featured members of the popular Japanese girl band AKB48, or at least their Mii avatars, fighting it out against classic characters like Mario. Unfortunately, fans misunderstood the ad, thinking AKB members were going to be playable characters.
It’s important to note that AKB will not have characters in the game; rather, the Super Smash Bros. ad was meant to show off the new feature where users can fight using their own custom-built Miis. That fact did not keep some people to vent their rage over the Internet, some calling the “new” Smash Bros. characters idiotic.
Chalk it up to a failure from the marketing team.
They’ll get another chance to promote Super Smash Bros. in the near future, though. To promote Super Smash Bros. 4 for the Wii U, Nintendo will be doing an 8-hour live stream on Friday, September 12. The stream will feature the finished version of Super Smash Bros for the 3DS, which will come out October 3. Super Smash Bros 4 will be available later in the holiday season for the Wii U. Hopefully the live-streaming event will succeed where the AKB ads failed.
Nintendo was also accused of over-commercialization with Mario Kart 8 . The game featured cars designed by Mercedes Benz in what seemed to be an obvious and somewhat cheesy product placement. Many fans of Nintendo said the company was selling out.
It might just be that Nintendo needs the partnerships to help with this difficult time for the company. Playstation and Xbox have dominated the console wars leaving Nintendo and its Wii U console in the dust. Although the 3DS has been an incredible success , the commercial partnerships might be nice to reduce marketing costs.
[Image Credit: Youtube.com]