Demos are a valuable tool in the game industry. Giving fans a taste of an upcoming game is a great way to build hype, as well as to catch potential flaws or areas for improvement before a release. Even so, Nintendo historically isn't the type of company to release downloadable demos, it usually asks fans to wait for the game's full release to try it out. Its attitude toward demos seems to be changing. Nintendo recently released a demo for WarioWare: Get it Together!, for instance, giving anyone interesting in Wario's next wacky mini-game romp a chance to try the game before its upcoming release.
WarioWare: Get it Together! isn't the only demo that Nintendo has released in recent history. In late 2020, Nintendo put out a demo for Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, giving fans a taste of the game's Dynasty Warriors-style combat. Similarly, when Nintendo put out a sizeable demo for Miitopia early in 2021, it reaped tons of free publicity as Miitopia players took to Twitter to share their elaborately customized Miis. So far, Nintendo has a positive track record when it comes to releasing demos. Maybe it ought to make regular demos a bigger part of the brand, offering Switch users more chances to try out games before they release.
Why Demos Would Benefit Nintendo Titles
Nintendo would be wise to make more use of demos for a few reasons. For one thing, it happens to have an excellent platform for spreading demos. Nintendo's current console is the Switch, which has sold more than 90 million units and could outsell the Wii, thereby becoming Nintendo's best-selling console. Every Switch that Nintendo has sold is a potential player that Nintendo can reach when it releases a demo. The Switch's success is partially due to a trait it shares with the Wii: It appeals to casual gamers. Switch users that don't usually play many video games could be drawn into playing new Nintendo games if the Switch advertises demos.
Beyond bringing in new fans for old franchises, Nintendo game demos are an easy way to generate a ton of extra publicity. The aforementioned Miitopia demo displayed how fan discourse can increase a game's visibility at no extra cost to the developer. Miitopia could've been a fairly obscure Switch port, but thanks to its demo Nintendo fans pushed the limits of a new Mii customizer. Every game that Nintendo makes could see similar explosions of fan discussion thanks to demos that offer a chance to experience an upcoming game and develop concrete early opinions.
Demos are also a fantastic way to get player feedback, which is a useful resource that Nintendo doesn't always make use of. Indie games love to release demos or open betas to get feedback from fans, ultimately improving themselves. In contrast, a game industry titan like Nintendo never seems to feel pressure to release demos for bold, innovative games like Super Mario Odyssey and The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild. Even though Nintendo's game quality is typically consistent enough that it doesn't need to worry much about player feedback, there's no harm in getting some comments. Regular Nintendo demos might just catch and fix a glaring flaw in a Nintendo game someday.
Upcoming Nintendo Games That Deserve Demos
If Nintendo wants to preserve its burgeoning pattern of demos, there's a couple games on the horizon that deserve them. For example, it would be fantastic to let fans try out Metroid Prime 4 once it's in a presentable state. After all the trials and tribulations that Metroid Prime 4 has faced, Nintendo releasing a demo would be a great show of confidence in the game. A demo would also give fans the peace of mind that the game is actually making good progress, and tide them over in the final months ahead of a release. Bayonetta 3 deserves a demo for similar reasons. Although its development hasn't been as complicated, Bayonetta 3 is so elusive that a demo would be a great way to satisfy doubters.
If Nintendo feels bold, it could also release a demo for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2. Even if it's a small, brief demo, only covering an hour or two of gameplay and artificially restricting fans to some part of the map, a Breath of the Wild 2 demo would rock the Switch market. Fans have been demanding Breath of the Wild 2 news for so long that a demo would more than satisfy eager Zelda lovers and highlight Breath of the Wild 2's changes. Nintendo will inevitably go into more detail about Breath of the Wild 2's mechanics soon. If it were to release a Breath of the Wild 2 demo alongside the explainer, it would vastly increase discourse around the game.
Nintendo Has Already Gotten the Ball Rolling
It wouldn't be a very drastic shift for Nintendo to start doing a lot of demos. Again, WarioWare: Get it Together! is only the latest Nintendo game to get a demo; it's been giving fans a taste of upcoming games for a while now. If Nintendo starts to release frequent demos, it'll only be building on a habit that it's started. Nintendo doesn't really have any obstacles in its way when it comes to releasing demos, either. After all, it has the final word on what does or doesn't come to Nintendo Switch. It's just a matter of assembling the necessary demos.
Nintendo has a lot of important games in development right now. For every known Nintendo game in development - from Splatoon 3 to Pokemon Legends: Arceus - there seems to be another rumored title. Fans are hopeful that everything from a new Donkey Kong game to Mario Kart 9 are in the works at Nintendo. Lots of these games happen to be well-suited to a demo of some kind. If Nintendo really is considering making demos a regular occurence, then it isn't short on potential titles to advertise.
WarioWare: Get it Together! releases on September 10, 2021 for Nintendo Switch.