Welcome back to The Nintendo Report, where we’re donning our Doctor’s coats and stethoscopes to determine just how healthy Nintendo’s intellectual properties are. This time, we’re talking about the letter G, and well, I can tell from here that this is going to be a rough one. But we won’t know for sure until we give them a look. Let’s get started on this edition of The Nintendo Report. 

Geist

Nintendo is known for a lot of things, but horror-themed first person shooters isn’t one of them. That’s why Geist was such a neat diversion for the company. During the GameCube era, they really started dipping their toes into getting more “Mature” titles on their platforms, and Geist was one of those exclusives that while not overly successful, left an impression on many who played it. You take control of a ghost who can inhabit anything from enemy guards to dog food bowls. Why dog food bowls? Well, because apparently scared beings are easier to inhabit! Scare a dog, become a dog. Then be a scary dog to scare a person, become a person. Fun! 

Health rating: Basically dead

Geist was a great idea, but its execution wasn’t the home run they had hoped for. Not that the game was bad, just that it wasn’t as polished as the metric ton of other first person shooters and horror games coming out on other platforms at the time. To say nothing of the fact that the GameCube controller wasn’t exactly the best thing in the world for FPS games, what with that weird little C stick instead of a proper thumb stick. Still, it’s an interesting experiment that clearly has a ton of untapped potential. But it’s abysmal sales and almost complete lack of even cult level following after all these years means this game’s likely to be the only one of its kind. 

Glory of Heracles

This RPG series is another one of those games that’s hard to tell who actually owns. I’m fairly confident that Nintendo has at the very least a major stake in the brand, but it also seems Data East is involved in some way. Regardless, it’s appeared in Smash Bros., so their ownership seems strong enough for it to land here. Glory of Heracles is an RPG set in an alternate reality version of Greek Mythology. It started back in 1987 on Famicom, with a short string of sequels afterward.

Health rating: basically dead

Nintendo finally decided to bring the series to the west in Glory of Heracles for the DS. It didn’t perform very well though, and the series hasn’t been heard from since outside of the obligatory smash bros reference. It’s one of those RPG series that seems like someone out there really wants to be a huge success, but for whatever reason simply refuses to catch on. I wouldn’t say there’s no chance of it ever reappearing again, but for now, it’s pretty much on ice. 

Golden Sun

On the other hand, Golden Sun caught on just fine. It’s an RPG series that started life on the Game Boy Advance. Originally developed by Camelot, it quickly earned itself a very enthusiastic following thanks to its endearing characters, story, and very impressive visuals considering the hardware. The battles themselves have this pseudo 3D scrolling to them that looks fantastic, even today. 

Health rating: basically dead

Golden Sun is without a doubt one of the most beloved series to ever grace the GBA, and that’s really saying something. The first game and its sequel are incredibly highly regarded. Unfortunately, the third entry suffered a very different fate. The series' final entry came on the Nintendo DS, and while it wasn’t exactly hated, it wasn’t very well liked either.

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Camelot is still around, though their focus has largely been on Mario sports titles as of late. Still, one bad entry shouldn’t be enough to thoroughly doom a franchise like this, especially one that Nintendo fans are clamoring for a sequel to soo much. Sadly, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of interest from either Nintendo or Camelot in reviving this one. Hopefully that’ll change someday, as protagonist Isaac did manage to get himself an assist trophy in Smash, but that’s far from enough to consider this one still alive. 

Golf

Nintendo is actually one of the major pioneers in the Golf video game pantheon. It was their original Famicom Golf that popularized the power meter for swinging the club! It doesn’t look like much by today’s standards, but Golf really is a very important piece of video game history. It was a tremendous success in Japan, and even though it was sort of dated when it came to the US, it managed to perform admirably. 

Health rating: Okay?

Nintendo doesn’t really make golf simulations anymore, or at least not really. Nintendo followed up Golf with NES Open a few years later, but that game was technically the unofficial start of the Mario Golf series, maybe? Some people would argue that Golf actually stars Mario, but ehh, I’m not sure I buy that. (There's a whole Famicom Disk System version that actually has Mario... it's confusing) NES Open though, absolutely does. But we’ll cover Mario Golf later.  

What makes Golf not entirely dead is a different franchise entirely, Sports. Wii/Switch Sports all contain different flavors of Golf, and it’s directly based on the original NES Golf, right down to including courses from that original Famicom Classic. So no, Nintendo may not be in the market of realistic golf simulation anymore, but the series lives on in spirit. 

Good Job

Good Job is one of Nintendo’s more recent IPs, having launched on Switch back in 2020. It’s a rather funny job simulator that functions as a sort of puzzle game where you have to perform specific tasks in an office environment with little to no regard for the safety of anyone or anything around you. It’s got a great simplistic aesthetic, a fun sense of humor, and plenty of very amusing chaos.

Health rating: Too early to tell

Good Job was developed by Paladin Studio, who is very much still around. They aren’t owned by Nintendo or anything, but Good Job seems to be, so if it performed well enough. It’s entirely possible that Nintendo could commission a sequel someday. It’s hard to say how well the game sold though as that information isn’t readily available, but it seems to have earned a decent following on its own. I think it’ll resurface someday. 

Gumshoe

Back in the before times, if an even semi-successful home console existed, there was almost invariably a light gun peripheral for it. But while most light gun games of old were variations on target shooting affairs, sometimes some crazy person would try and do something completely different, and that’s exactly what Gumshoe is. This is a platformer. Well actually, it’s an auto runner from way before that term was even a thing. Your character, the titular gumshoe Mr. Stevenson, moves forward automatically, and it’s up to the player to shoot him in order to make him jump. You can also shoot the various enemies and obstacles in his way, making it a game unlike almost any other on the NES.

Health rating: basically dead

Gumshoe may be an excellent concept, and even have a killer soundtrack, but this game is TOUGH. Actually making it past the first stage can be a very daunting challenge, and audiences didn’t take too kindly to that. Gumshoe hasn’t been referenced outside of some light mentions in smash bros since its launch. No virtual console, no NSO, no nothing. This is a bummer because it’s such a neat concept that for sure could be expanded on with a modern iteration, but that ain’t happening. Yes, this is Nintendo we’re talking about, and anything’s possible, but I’d be genuinely shocked if we ever saw Gumshoe again. 

And that wraps it up for this entry in the Nintendo report. It wasn’t exactly a good one, as just about everything here is basically gone forever, but then again, this is Nintendo. You never can tell. 

Join us next time for a double letter entry as we take a look at both H and I. Will they bode better for the care of Nintendo’s IP? Find out next time!