I've seen a lot of people make a lot of speculation about Retro. Maybe that's the wrong word. People have been making a lot of suggestions at Retro. Many want a new IP out of Retro, many others want everything from Zelda to Ice Climbers to Metroid to Star Fox. This may seem like a pretty diverse selection of suggestions but I've noticed a pattern in the condescending things people say after a studio has made a sequel to a critically acclaimed game that sold 6 million copies plus a 3DS port that sold another million while the sequel they've spent 3 years on hits the market. The suggestions are either "New IP" or a revival of a franchise that's older than Rare's Donkey Kong Country franchise. No one's saying "Retro should do Pokemon", "Retro should do Pikmin 4", "Retro should do Smash Brothers" or "Retro should do Animal Crossing."

So I have a question then. Let's assume that eventually Retro is done with Donkey Kong Country. They did a Metroid Trilogy, they'll probably do a New DKC Trilogy and then move onto the next game which, assuming it does well, they also make 3 of. If you make the rule that the franchise has to be newer than the one they previously revived, DKC circa 1994, what franchise would you have them do? Quick note, franchise can not simply be a revival or a 3D conversion. Spin offs count, so do non mainline franchises like Mario Party. DKC and Mario were both spun off Donkey Kong Arcade. Warioware counts. Paper Mario counts. Banjo would count if they had the IP but they do not. I'm not going to consider it as such but you can if you like.

That all established I'd put them on Paper Mario because that series hasn't been good since Thousand Year Door but that game was the best. I'd hope that Retro would be able to better gauge where the appeal lied in those games and make sure to get the personality and world right. It can't just be a sterile boring walk about like the 3DS game. I don't really feel their writing staff is up to par (Cranky is totally not cynical enough) so I'd have them get Leigh Loveday away from Rare if possible (what is he even doing still working there? They make sports games that don't need writing! Unbelievable waste of talent. He wrote the Banjo games you know!) after which I would have total confidence in it turning out great and not being shit like Sticker Star. That game was shit.

What would you have them do? Remember, franchise newer than 1994, spin offs and side franchises like Mario Party need apply.

Crash Bandicoot for Sony, man.

Now I'm disappointed because that won't happen. Double Helix, I choose you!

The stipulation of after 1994 makes this really hard, because within the context of Nintendo I can't think of a single goddamn series after 1994 that isn't being done well already. I guess Wario Land fits those stipulations but I don't really care about those games. Literally everything I want them to do other than "something original" is from before 1994.

If subseries like Donkey Kong Country count as long as that subseries isn't older than 1994 then the only thing I can think of is Metroid Prime, which I think goes against the point of the question.

I want them to do a Fortune Street game.

Metroid.

Prime.

They made Metroid Prime. Let them revisit it. It'll be great.

I suppose I would play a Retro Pokemon game, but that series gets way more love than most as it is. Other than that, I don't think there's any series past that year I would pick for them. A lot of those newer franchises have had games recently, or have upcoming games already. There's some older stuff that we haven't seen in like a generation.

@steamrickroller: YES.

That won't happen either. Double Helix belongs to Amazon now.

Tupac.