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Reggie Fils-Aime

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime generated plenty of memes during his time with the company, including a line from the very first US Nintendo Direct. For those who hadn’t already owned a 3DS or weren’t thinking about picking one up, he had a simple question to those consumers: “What’s wrong with you?” You can check out that clip here.

Former Nintendo staffer Krysta Yang shared some insight into that moment during an episode of the Kit & Krysta podcast. It wasn’t just a throwaway line as the team working on the Nintendo Direct had some discussions about it. However, they felt that the envelope needed to be pushed a bit and wouldn’t be out of character for Reggie to say, so it was ultimately approved.

One of the high-profile events at this year’s PAX West was the presence of former Nintendo of America president and chief operating officer Reggie Fils-Aime, who presented a keynote address to a room full of fans. As this year marked my first time attending PAX, I couldn’t miss the opportunity to hear him speak in-person – after all, you never know when that next bit of interesting Nintendo history might be revealed, right?

Smash Bros Mii Fighter Reggie

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has spoken about the memorable reveal trailer for the Mii Fighter in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate for Wii U / 3DS.

Nintendo has had many special moments in its online presentations over the years, but this one in particular stood out. In it, Reggie went into battle with late Nintendo global president Satoru Iwata, complete with punches and headbutts. The fun video was a way of introducing fans to the idea that they could use any Mii character they create as a fighter in Super Smash Bros. for Wii U / 3DS.

Nintendo PlayStation Xbox controller

Accessibility has become a more prominent topic in the gaming industry, and we’ve seen Microsoft in particular make a push with initiatives like its adaptive controller. Interestingly, there were plans – at least at one point – for a new kind of controller that would work across Nintendo, Xbox, and PlayStation hardware.

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime shared that news in an interview with Inverse. He said the Xbox adaptive controller was being used “as a jumping-off point to create something that would be platform-agnostic and adaptable by any consumer.” The Nintendo / Xbox / PlayStation controller was happening three years ago, though Reggie isn’t sure if it’s still in development.

wii u two gamepads

Something Nintendo originally said would be possible with the Wii U was using two GamePads at a time. Unfortunately, that only ended up being an idea since we never actually saw it implemented with any type of game or experience.

Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has now offered insight as to why we never saw the use of dual GamePads. Speaking with MinnMax, he pointed to the fact that Wii U had a low install base and Nintendo was never able to move forward with a game that would justify such an experience.

nintendo labo sales expectations

Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime has said that he thought Nintendo Labo would be a bigger success than it turned out to be.

Speaking with CNET, Reggie noted that the product line “did well” globally. However, it seems Nintendo had higher expectations.

The NES Classic Edition, a miniature replica of the NES with thirty games, came out in 2016 followed by a SNES version the following year. Some have hoped that Nintendo could try out something similar with other systems like the N64 or even the Game Boy, but we haven’t seen anything like that. Former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime believes we won’t see anything like it again.

Reggie was asked about the possibility of more miniature systems while speaking with CNET. In his view, it’s not something Nintendo will revisit. Reggie believes Nintendo should instead pursue more N64 titles for Nintendo Switch Online as well as the addition of GameCube and Wii.

nintendo online play reggie fils aime

Many recognize that Nintendo has been slow to adopt online play. It wasn’t until Mario Kart DS with the Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection that the Big N tried its hand at multiplayer over the internet, and even then things were rather limited. Nintendo has provided increased functionality since then, though you could still argue that it’s behind the competition.

During an episode of the GeekWire podcast promoting his new book, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime was asked if he has any regrets / lessons learned when it came to the company not pursuing online multiplayer more aggressively. One interesting note is that this was apparently “an area that the Americas and Europe constantly was trying to educate the company in Japan about the value of online play, investing in the online infrastructure which needed to be done in order for the experience to be a positive one”.

Reggie Fils-Aime F-Zero thoughts

Nintendo has many franchises that it supports, but F-Zero is one IP that’s been neglected for many years. F-Zero Climax on the Game Boy Advance – which only released in Japan – was the last entry in the series, and it came out way back in 2004. You have to go back to the GameCube in 2003 as the last home console title with F-Zero GX.

Reggie Fils-Aime retired as the president of Nintendo of America back in 2019, but he was around for all of those years that F-Zero went on hiatus. In an interview with GamesBeat, he shared his own thoughts as to why the franchise has been “abandoned”.

To say the least, Metroid: Other M was a different take on the classic franchise. Nintendo handed primary development off to Team Ninja, the team behind Ninja Gaiden. The title also took on a greater story emphasis compared to past entries. Ultimately it earned a mixed reception.

As it turns out, former Nintendo of America president Reggie Fils-Aime initially had very high hopes for the title. On the latest episode of Kinda Funny Gamescast, he singled out Metroid: Other M as the game that didn’t hit the mass market the way he originally expected.


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