The problem with the Advanced Wars series is that it was never really that popular, and neither was Battalion Wars. So the Nintendo Wars series is practically dead now. Fire Emblem was on its way to the same fate, had Fire Emblem Awakening not been the runaway success that it became. Honestly, dating sim elements and waifus would probably be the only way I see of saving the Wars series from death.
I disagree. Maybe it was limited to the UK or my circle of friends, but I remember Advanced Wars 1 and 2 being everywhere when they came out.
Fire Emblem was very obscure, but when they started getting popular was also when Nintendo started censoring them like crazy and some people, myself included, didn't play the games because of that.
Nintendo doesn't make new F-Zero, Metroid, and Starfox games because they can't crowbar in their latest controller gimmick without ruining the gameplay. Starfox 64 came with a rumble pack. I never played the WiiU version but I'm told it's a mess of broken controls and Starfox Command had that stupid touch screen stuff forced in.
Nintendo could easily make a new Wars game. It could be done cheap too. There was an Xbox 360 Arcade game called Commanders: Attack of the Genos that was basically a 3D Wars game. Yeah, it wouldn't be Smash Bros level of popular, but then nothing really is.
I see a lot of A-loggers who call new Battletoads SJW because they covered up the Dark Queen. The artstyle isn't amazing (no shading at points, and it's not that smooth), but the complaints against this game are ridiculous.
It's more than just the Dark Queen. It's like how people focused on time it takes to unlock Darth Vader in Battlefront 2, the "my face is tired" line in Mass Effect Andromeda, or the tree you couldn't plant in Fable. It's not that one complaint that matters, it's focused on because it's emblematic of the games flaws. I think you know this.
No one wants a shitty, watered down, calarts Battletoads game. People remember the arcade game, or even the Snes version.
It's not unreasonable to ask that a new game be at least as good as something made 25 years ago.
But let's be generous. Let's say that the 90s attitude and high detail pixel art is out dated. What should they do instead? It's not as if there was an Xbox Arcade game that did better on a small budget.
And now I feel old realizing that Castle Crashers was made 10 years ago.
Another great game to consider is Battle Circuit
Battle Circuit is great. The last of the classic beat 'em ups.