Around a year ago I was sitting with the new Wii Zapper in my hand and wondering where the hell Nintendo would go next: Link's Crossbow Training was playing on the TV and I had an unfortunate sinking feeling that this was the beginning of something horrible.

Mario is the leading star of the company: slap his fat mustachioed face on a game and you have pretty much got half a million sales right there. There's almost no pie in the videogaming world that Mario hasn't had his pudgy finger in at some point. Racing fanboys have Mario Kart, RPG fanatics have the Paper Mario games, he's the star of a collection of party games that the whole family can enjoy, he plays football, fights, heck, he even dances on the odd occasion. And then of course he takes time out of his busy schedule to star in the platform games that made him famous.

So, with the Zapper staring at me from my clenched fist, there I was panicking that the same thing was going to happen with my beloved Zelda. Samus Aran excepted, Link is about the coolest character Nintendo have got, and his face on a package, unlike Mario's, promises quality every time -even if the sales figures are not as good.

What I feared was coming next would be overkill games like Link's Triforce Tennis, Bomberman: Link Edition, Link's Bombchu Bowling Alley and Link and Zelda's Horseriding Challenge. Shudder.

Thankfully, these horrors never materialised to haunt my sleepless nights with visions of Link's baby-blue eyes staring soullessly at me from the cover of an identikit sequel to a game no-one bought. However, something a little worse has happened: underkill.

Next from Nintendo, the Zelda themed Wii Fit: Goron Gymnastics...

It's a common argument that Nintendo has forgotten "Hardcore" gamers with its new shift towards the casual market, and to some extent it's true, but the wider truth is that other companies have stepped up to the mark with content like No More Heroes, Okami, Zack and Wiki, HOTD: Overkill, Madworld, Mushroom Men, Silent Hill, and Umbrella Chronicles to name but a few. So there's not that much of an excuse for this "Hardcore" to neglect the Wii on the basis that there are no games for them. Note with interest that the above are all system exclusive (bar Okami) so there's obviously a demand and the requisite service.

The real issue for gamers who bought the Wii specifically as a Nintendo console is that we are being undersold on classic franchises that we bought the machine for. It's been three years and still no word on a new Pikmin: Starfox has somehow gone AWOL -though after the digital abortion that was Star Fox Assault, who can blame them? The "real" Pokemon RPG that everyone has been craving since 1999 has been glossed over, presumably for next time round; Kid Icarus is repeatedly rumoured but no details have ever come to light; Mario Tennis, which would be a perfect new addition to the library is limited to the "New Play" series of rehashes and Donkey Kong, the guy who arguably started Nintendo in the business, is only to be found on his Bongos in a game no-one bought.

Now, I believe in quality over quantity, and I am also a firm advocate of trying things that are new. But I've played Resort to death, I got my Wii Fit age to below 30, I composed beautiful symphonies in the Jam mode on Wii Music and I am officially unbeatable at Wii Play Pool. Now I want to blast the living daylights out of the reincarnated Andross in a new Starfox game and command my legions of carrot-like followers against Giant Enemy Plants in Pikmin 3. Too much to ask?

I love the Wii, there are plenty of reasons to adore it and keep it in pride of place in your living room or bedroom, yet I can't help but feel that Nintendo hasn't somehow let me down in the last 12 months as far as big new games are concerned. It's all well and good saying "Wait til E3: we'll blow you away" but everyone always says that, and I'm left feeling not even slightly windswept, let alone blown away. Other companies are working hard to deliver the goods for a small but vocal minority: are you, Nintendo?

- Iun Hockley
N-E Staff Writer