Name some recent Nintendo games that don't hold hands.

People these days complain that Nintendo has far too much hand-holding in their games. However, what are some recent Nintendo games, that you feel do a good job of actually letting the player figure things out?

Xenoblade on the Wii. There is an arrow that points you in the right direction but you still have to explore. Also, the battles can get really hard if you don't properly strategize or are too under leveled.

Best JRPG made in years.

Just look at the last Nintendo released on the Wii U. Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze.

Actually, going further, Super Mario 3D Land, Pikmin 3, and New Super Mario Bros. u all don't hold your hand.

I guess platformers might not count? Too simple? No exploration element? If so, Pikmin 3 would be their last. They drop you in the world, you go explore.

To be honest, I don't think many Nintendo games handhold. The only one that gets criticised is the Zelda franchise, not Nintendo franchises as a whole.

Paper Mario Sticker Star, and The Wonderful 101.

Mario Golf. The tutorials are there if you want, but it doesn't drag you through anything but maybe two or three popups during your first round.

The Wonderful 101? LOL

And the fantastic pikmin 3.

What's so funny? Have you even played The Wonderful 101? That game does not hand-hold.

Yes, I was laughing because it does the opposite of hand holding.

Hence the "And" in my post.

Metroid Other M during the fps parts. They hold your hand in every way except those parts. I was stuck in a part where I had to look at some animal on the ground for like 2 hours. I thought the game glitched.

Like others have said, there are lot of recent Nintendo games that do not hold hands.

Good responses guys. Most people would argue the exact opposite. I once had someone ask, "If Nintendo doesn't handhold, than why do they have the super guide? Your views don't hold up to slight scrutiny".

Link Between Worlds, Xenoblade, Fire Emblem Awakening.

Super guide allows the exact opposite, it allows the developers to make the game harder, and for the wimps to use super guide if they can't handle it.

Also, it's optional. Anything optional isn't hand holding. Hand holding by my definition is forced tutorials that take a long time to teach you how to do things (or simply annoying simple tutorials/hints throughout the entire game (e.g Naive in Ocarina of Time)).

I think Xenoblade is the last that I played with no hand holding. It has good tutorials to give you the basics, then let's you build on that and discover new ways and secrets on your own.

I think in general it starts with the trend of the hipster gamer crowd that seems to think that because the nes difficulty has gone the way of the dodo and the advancements in game length and skills that have led to different values of what should constitute failure is some kind of sign of the gaming apocalypse, and means we must all be casuals since we do not agree with them that a crash is unavoidable.

Now take that attitude and apply it to their view of Nintendo which must be a kiddie system( which is ironic considering they are the first to go pew pew and bemoan the prevalence of first person and third person shooters) and seeing super guide without ever playing the games to realize its an extra feature that really only applys to the young and extremely unskilled ( in fact I have never seen it while playing games with it) and just go " oh, now you don't even have to play the games, more proof that everything that is not indie or from 1986 is shit and obviously everyone should share this view, and if they do not its because they are casuals that could not play without this hand holding crap".

And I think that is it in a nutshell.

Super Mario Galaxy would be a good game that doesn't make you beat it easily. Sure there are tutorials, but there aren't any hint or guide systems like the sequel. And many of the comet missions get really hard if you suck at this game. Unlike the sequel, this game doesn't have hint TV's, 1-UP boosters, comet mission handicaps, and cosmic guide. This can be argued to be even harder than its true predecessor Super Mario 64 and Super Mario 64 DS.

@mattykovax: You hit the goddamn nail on the head. I absolutely HATE the mindset that only indie games and old games are ones you actually play. Anyone who does even a slight amount of research on games that aren't completely mainstream can find that there are plenty (and I mean PLENTY) of worth while, gameplay heavy games out there.

EOIV.

• Wonderful 101 (Technically made by Platinum though)
• Pikmin 3
• Kid Icarus: Uprising
• New Super Luigi U (Hell, I'd even say New Mario Bros. U the games don't hold your hand; just in the case the difficulty scales at a consistent pace and doesn't get 'tough' till (big shocker) the later worlds.

I feel like Nintendo needs to make the hand holding and long tutorials optional. They aren't there for experienced players and I feel like it would be simple to turn that kind of stuff off.

Mario 3D World is a bastard in later stages. And that game just never seems to end. Every time you finish a bonus world, a new one pops up. It's insane how much content is packed into that game.

Well, that's news to me that people think Nintendo hold hands through many of their games. The only games I recall doing it, and it get's downright annoying how much pampering is done, are the recent Zelda games. Most of their other games simply give you a brief tutorial then allows you to dive right in....

I thought it was mostly optional. As I have said I have both NSMBU and luigi u and I never even knew about superguide until I hear Mike from cineamassacre bitching about it.

Mike was bitching about the superguide from 3D World, though I'm pretty sure it works the same way as it does in any other Nintendo platformer.

I never really understand the bitching about the super guide either though. It's completely optional, and using the superguide makes it so you can't really collect stars, and thus makes it so you cannot reach every optional level. There IS incetive to not use the thing if you are actually playing the game in a hardcore fashion.

Even if you use the super guide, it's no less hardcore than using the warp whistles and p wings to beat SMB3 in like 30 minutes.

SKYWARD SW-*missile to the face*

I think A Link Between Worlds is probably the best recent example, especially since Skyward Sword before it was hand-holding for about 4 hours at the beginning.