Mention Nintendo on any online forum and usually about half the replies are from people lambasting the hell out of the company. Every time Nintendo releases a new system angry gamers and video game journalists alike predict their downfall. The N64, Gamecube, DS, 3DS, Wii and Wii U were all, at some point, labelled terrible systems that were going to sink the company by the geek chorus.
What’s going on here? What about this mild-mannered Japanese game company makes people so damn mad? Why has there been a palpable sense for at least the past 20-years that a large portion of the gaming community just really, really wants Nintendo to fail? This Nintendo fan has a few ideas why…
Okay, even I didn’t buy this one…
Nintendo’s Burned Us All Before
Over the past three decades Nintendo has released a dozen different gaming systems (and that’s not even counting all the minor revamps to its handheld machines). If you’ve been at this gaming thing for any length of time, there’s a very good chance you’ve purchased at least one Nintendo product you just didn’t care for that much. Maybe it was the N64 with its lack of games, or the underwhelming Gamecube, or, God forbid, the Virtual Boy.
Point is, Nintendo’s been around so long, and released so many systems that they’ve simply had more opportunities to disappoint people than a company like Microsoft, which has only released two (very similar) consoles.
Nintendo Fandom’s A Religion
Often the most rigid, uncompromising atheists are people who were once pretty serious believers. When you reject something you once deeply believed in and cared about, you have to reject it completely and utterly lest you backslide. There’re no shades of grey — the world’s black-and-f–king-white.
Well, Nintendo fandom is the closest thing to a religion the gaming world has. Nintendo has it’s own deities (the trinity of Miyamoto, Iwata and Reggie) and its holy tenants of game design, and when a person rejects Nintendo, they reject it hard. Ex-Nintendo fans don’t even want to hear about a promising new game from the company lest they find themselves tempted to buy a Nintendo system again.
No! No more cake and princesses Mario! Grow up! I want adult stuff! Like blood and boobs and uh…car payments!
Nintendo Refuses To Mature With Its Fans
One of the most cited grievances against Nintendo is that “their games never change”. This isn’t really true. Take the Mario series — Mario 3 and Mario World added world maps and a ton of extra complexity, Mario 64 went 3D, and hell, you went to outer freakin’ space in Mario Galaxy.
But really, it’s usually not gameplay the critics are upset over when they say, “Nintendo doesn’t change” — it’s the stories the company tells. Nintendo see themselves as toy makers, not storytellers. They’re going to keep perfecting and refining their toys, but they’re never going to change the tales they tell. Mario will always save the princess, Link will always fight Ganon for the Triforce. This can be incredibly frustrating for long time fans.
People want Mario, Link and Samus to grow and mature along with them. A gamer who first discovered Mario when they were six in the mid-80s is now probably in their 30s with a family and real-world concerns, and yet Mario still only cares about cake and princesses. But hey, there’re still six-year-olds waiting to be introduced to Nintendo’s franchises, and much to the chagrin of long-time fans, Nintendo’s always going to side with the six-year-olds.
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Nintendo the hardware make is going to kill Nintendo the game company.
People just like to have something to hate. I personally love Nintendo and hope they succeed.
Sega does what Nintendon’t.
How did I miss that one?
This article reminds me of why nintendo haters are so hard to take
3ds number 1 platform in the world, fastest selling platform so far ever, and doing amazing after a slow start
wii u has started better than most consoles and we really are going to doom it again? do people want to learn?
And before and after people call nintendo childish
they just put out a frickin hardcore hard as nails srpg called fire emblem awakening
metacritic – 92
I the reason I’m very meh on nintendo, is their disregard for the third party publisher. They created systems that are outdated at launch, and ports either don’t come or are worse. The wiiU will have the same problem as the wii once third parties start developing for next gen. I don’t want to buy another system for a handful of first party exclusives. The wii had 5 games I wanted to try before buying it, and I bought it late in its cycle. Mario Galaxy 1 and 2, Mario Kart, Skyward Sword (which I didn’t care for), and Donkey Kong Country Returns
I think Wii U will do a little better for third party stuff because almost nobody is ready for next-gen. As in, like 90% of the industry. Nobody outside of the mega publishers (Activision, EA, Ubisoft) and companies who’s entire thing is creating graphics engines (Crytek, ID). It’s going to take another couple years before “next gen” is fully embraced.
If your life is gaming, Nintendo is probably not for you. If you want gaming to be part of your life, Wii is perfect. I grew up on NES, 64, etc. now I play Mario Kart with my five year old son and wife one night a week. Being hypercritical of a gaming platform seems to contradict the main utility of any gaming platform: amusement. There is a great big world out there beyond these FWP.
I don’t want Nintendo to fail but I wouldn’t mind seeing them stumble. Their constant nearly assured success has made the company complacent and lazy. When people are willing to shell out cash for 20+ year old games running in a half-assed emulator and will pick up the next Mario or Zelda title without thinking twice there’s very little reason to do anything new. I can’t even think of a Nintendo franchise that originated in the past 15 years other then Pikmen and Wario Ware and they certainly aren’t making anything I’m interested in anymore.
I don’t play it that much anymore, but Gamecube is my favorite console with my favorite games. Melee and Metroid: Prime. Not to mention Medal of Honor: Frontline. Coincidentally they all begin with “M”.
And if I could, I’d use the GC controller for everything.
Well, I guess “Melee” is really Super Smash Brothers: Melee.
Does Friday the 13th count? Admittedly I got over it when I was 10, but still.
I think the thing for me that eventually drove me away from the big N is the maturity thing but more importantly the lack of third party support. Nintendo makes great games, but there isn’t enough that come out on a regular basis to invest in a new system. Also, another not listed here is when is the last time they came out with a successful new original property? Pikmin?
This.
And how many properties have they murdered for no good reason? We might never see another Metroid because it’s not “family-friendly” enough now and “Other M” didn’t sell a bajillion copies.
They came up with a number of new properties last generation — Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Nintendogs, Brain Age — they just weren’t for us. Hopefully this generation has some non-casual original stuff — it seems like they’re looking to make Xenoblade into a full-on franchise, and Miyamoto has said he’s working on something original.
“Mention a non-Nintendo game in front of somebody from Nintendo, and they invariably pretend they’ve never heard of it while making wanking gestures.” LOL I’d love to see Reggie do that. And I would pay money to see Miyamoto do it.
Anyway, I can’t argue with many of these points. I wouldn’t say I’ve ever been “burned” by Nintendo, even though I wished the N64 and Gamecube had more games, and I wish the Wii was HD-capable, and I wish the Wii U was capable of upscaling Wii games… but those are just shortcomings, whereas to feel “burned” would require a console to be a complete crap machine. Luckily I never bought a Virtual Boy. And the “religion” thing, I’d say I used to be something of a zealot, and now I’ve moved past that to a place of dispassionate reverence and moderate frustration; but I haven’t rejected them, let alone rejected them hard. But that’s just my own experience; those are still very good points, as are the others I didn’t mention specifically. The Big N is a wild goose.
I’m one of those (barely) thirty-something gamers that has been with Nintendo since day one when I was introduced to Mario at a friend’s house. I did chores, saved up and bought the Nintendo set with the gun and Robbie the robot. After one week I took Robbie back but got the system with just the duck-hunt gun. LOL And yes I didn’t fall for Virtual Boy either.
I agree with most points made here and in honesty, I think I’ve always enjoyed Nintendo because they just enjoy playing, whether Mario “grows up or not” doesn’t matter and I think most gamers feel the same. What Nintendo always seems to be about is ‘play time’ and having fun. It’s scary to use the phrase, “I’ll never grow up” but with Nintendo I don’t. In fact it was Super Mario Galaxy that made me fall in love all over again with that dang little plumber, ROFL!
I even remember when ‘test driving’ SMG in the store I was honestly enjoying myself and thinking right to the Mario screen character: “There you are little buddy…where have you been for so long? You went all paper/Yoshi/baby/etc. and all that ridiculous side bar adventures. And here you are, you came back to me. It’s good to see you again. Let’sa go!”
Yes, I did not use my out-loud thinking voice during that dialogue in the store. You’re welcome.
I’ve largely stepped away from Nintendo because, well, they’re a toy company. They’ve always been a toy company, they’re always seen themselves as a toy company, and that is not going to change until being a toy company becomes incredibly unprofitable.
That said, things are looking up. Going full bore into the indie scene and throwing open the Wii U to Unity developers is… fascinating, to say the least.
I admit that, for a while at least, I was one who felt jaded about Nintendo after a certain point. Sometimes I admit that it was just because I felt like nothing different was ever being done because Mario was always Mario, Link never had new goals, etc. After playing the Wii for the first time, though, I realized that that was all dumb, though I won’t act like I’m suddenly back to being their biggest fan. It still feels like they were able to balance mature and kid content better back during the SNES days, but maybe that’s because I was a child then and not an adult (sort of) like I am now.
If nintendo had more third party games People would shut up. Consoles are like computers nowadays. Only the hardware improves slightly and the chassi design changes. Other than that PS3/360 is a lot alike each other which makes them boring. The exclusives is the only thing that directly makes a difference.
Whats wrong with Cake and Princesses? Cakes are delicious and Princesses have boobs too!