Nintendo consoles may be the only way to play Nintendo games, but fortunately, Nintendo makes great games. Their business strategies are some of the most obtuse puzzles they’ve created however.

@Ethos: I think that Nintendo home consoles have always been rather supplementary since the gamecube. But if I’m being honest it was really since the N64 since the dearth of releases on that system was also pretty palpable. Though all of Nintendo’s systems contain high quality games (often times the BEST games, for me) they haven’t had a steady release of even middle-grade releases since the SNES. As a dedicated gamer, I don’t see how a Nintendo home console can really satisfy me on its own. They haven’t for a long time.

And despite the two companies’ famous falling out that precluded the original PlayStation, Sony and Nintendo consoles have made the best compliment to each other since that rivalry began.

I feel deceived! I want trolling!

It’s also worth it to note that Nintendo is much less worried about censorship and being “kid friendly” in their home market of Japan than they are abroad (especially in the US). Though they still do focus on a younger demographic, Nintendo has been a bit more lax in Japan with with adult references like the one you mention in Zelda or the infamous Birdo vibrator in the unlocalized Captain N.

One thing is that Nintendo makes games that, as I think you put it well, “child friendly” rather than childish (although there is some of that too in appropriate games). But their games can appeal to all ages and genders. And those games also appeal to Nintendo fans; like in the sense that one can be a fan of RPGs or FPS’s, Nintendo games of any category feels (to me, at least) like the others in having a Nintendo style or spirit.

Moreover, so many real video game lovers today grew up on Nintendo and/or their first system was an NES, SNES, N64, Game Boy – whatever. That gives a lot of nostalgia which they gear themselves towards. So the games which they make today remind us of being a kid playing those games which we love dearly love and were so influential towards us continuing gaming as a hobby even as adults. Tastes change and a lot of us may not primarily play Nintendo games anymore, but they’re still like mom’s home cookin’. So I think that reminder of childhood plays a role (along with the actual child-friendliness) in this perception.

That their games have been largely rehashes of the same old thing is both a positive and a negative; in that one’s nostalgia fix is always there for you, but that doesn’t hold sole and everlasting appeal; nor does it hit all the bases (like there being no new Metroid or Star Fox games in years). Look at New Super Mario Bro. U and Legend Of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds; games which look like the same dang thing you’ve gotten tired of already, but when you play them you may end up loving them for that. The “do we really need another one of these?” argument remains applicable, but I really do think that behind the obvious rehashing, there is some really good put thought into their newer games.

I’ve digressed from the “Nintendo makes games for children” topic, but I think this guy (click here) made a really good point with his C.S. Lewis quote replying to that opinion (apps. 3/4 down the page).

There is still a lot to be talked about on this topic, so I hope it gets a lot of comments about what people think of who Nintendo games are for and why, and are they for you personally. I still like them a lot, and having just bought a 3DS, I’m enjoying the new Nintendo games very much. As an older fan, I think they are answering some of my demands.