This man’s jaw has been stuck like this for years.
Nintendo is in an unusual position. The company began over a century ago when its first available products were cards used for gambling. Which is appropriate, as the kanji used in Nintendo’s name literally means, left in the hands of the gods. Its fortunes allowed it to progress into selling toys, then subsequently, arcade machines akin to claw and model dispensers. Thanks to the business philosophy of Hiroshi Yamauchi, their economically conservative business practices allowed them to move into fields that it otherwise would never have gone.
Then it went into the selling of electronic gaming with the Famicom and history was made. With each generation its systems emphasized affordability and mingled at times with durability. Case in point; see the Game Boy that survived and was still operational after being caught in an explosion in Iraq. Using readily available technology, it enabled Nintendo to create a system that would give the company a guaranteed profit. In addition, it enabled some developers to be able to create excellent and, in some cases, timeless games that existed on the Super Nintendo.
This, and some strong handed, some would say draconian, tactics were used to ensure that Nintendo was able to maintain a competitive edge. The most infamous of these were the Nintendo Seal of Quality that it used on many NES cartridge boxes. In time, it ended up being more for show than an actual show of quality. In spite of these, it allowed Nintendo to remain the uncontested leader in the video game industry, seeing any attempts from competitors Sega, NEC, Atari, 3DO, and SNK to usually end up as either a niche or a failure.
The amazing technicolor bleu cheese wheel!
It was not until the advent of the PlayStation did Nintendo’s seemingly unstoppable force meet its immovable object. The biggest coup d’état was when Squaresoft, long time supporter of Nintendo, defected and began to release exclusives on the competing system with its flagship game Final Fantasy VII, along with a slew of other games that still remain well regarded to this day. Mr. Yamauchi was not pleased, to put it mildly. It would be decades before he would even speak to Square after their many failures of the earlier 2000s, but that is another story for another time.
It should be noted that it was here that Nintendo’s ideas, especially for controllers, began to show up on other systems. Sony emulated the Super NES controller button layout, then the vibrator functions. A trend that Sony and Microsoft continue to this day.
Despite this, Nintendo and the N64 still held its own against the steady, but gaining, momentum of the PlayStation, and the floundering Sega Saturn. Part of this was due to the innovative, if not unusual control design. It would be a staple of Nintendo’s genius, or madness, depending on who is asked, for years to come.
The latest in space wasting technology!
It was not until the next generation did Nintendo realize that it needed to move out of its comfort zone. True, Sega’s Dreamcast had great potential, however, internal problems, lack of funds, and lack of communication between the Japanese and American branches of Sega sunk the system that should have flown. To complicate matters, when computer company Microsoft threw its hat into the ring with the bulky and cumbersome Xbox and Sony’s second iteration of the PlayStation came along; Nintendo found itself facing competition that had more funding from their parent companies, more influence, and more games. Well, games for Sony. There were few games of note on the original Xbox.
The Nintendo GameCube, as still following the same pattern of affordability and durability, still turned a profit, but could never hope to match the numbers the PlayStation 2 did with games that sold many millions of copies. It did do respectably, but Nintendo still had come to the understanding that they needed to change their tactics if they wished to survive, as previously stated, the Xbox and the PlayStation 2 had parent companies with no vested interest in games. Nintendo was a game company. Plain and simple. If they failed on the game front, they were out of the business.
One of the few that could not figure out how the Wiimote worked.
Thankfully, they were able to capture lightning in a bottle with the Wii. So, for the majority of the Wii’s life, it was the undisputed champion of sales. With the simple use of the Wii Remote, it allowed an even more simple interface to make gaming more accessible. Millions upon millions suffered wait lists to get their hands on it. It expanded the gaming audience like nothing else had done before. The success it earned, however, would not last.
The further into the generation, Sony and Microsoft had corrected their respective courses and had made headway with longer lasting changes that would work for the gaming public. Nintendo, on the other hand, allowed shovelware, the likes that had never been seen since Barbie on the NES, to completely overrun any possible headway dedicated third parties might have been able to build. Add to this frustration that it seemed that only Nintendo games were capable of being sold on the system. Support from developers dried up and Nintendo found their lead evaporating like the dew to the morning sun.
Not dead yet! Maybe? Kinda? Sorta?
As if the gods themselves had withdrawn their favor, Nintendo’s latest system, the Wii U, had squandered the chance to capitalize on the head start it had over Microsoft and Sony with the Xbone and the PS4, both of which had their own problems that could have been taken advantage of. Now, the PS4 and the Xbone have taken a lead over Nintendo and many have been clamoring, wrongly, that Nintendo should cash in their chips and do as Sega does now.
It is ironic to note that both Sony’s and Microsoft’s attempts to copy Nintendo’s tactics with the Wii with the PS Move and the Kinect were met with apathy and downright scorn, respectively. It probably shocked Sony and Microsoft into realizing that copying Nintendo was not in their best interest. Perhaps the other companies have learned what they could and have moved on to develop their own ideas? Of course not. That would be responsible and prudent. Just need to wait for another profitable idea to copy. That is how business works, after all.
Despite all of this, Nintendo still has two advantages that the other two companies do not. Their systems always turned a profit, with the exception of the Wii U, and their characters are easily recognizable.
There would never be a Mario game on a Xbox, nor a Zelda game on a Sony system. And gamers should be grateful for this. Imagine the corporate meddling! The bleak and banal backgrounds comprised of only gun metal grey and dog turd brown! The DLC that gives the option to jump over the pits for the low, low price of two US dollars!
Go Go, Nintendo Rangers?
As previously stated, Nintendo is a gaming company. They make games. Games that have a simple interface, are colorful, and are, above all, fun. Is it ever a wonder why there have been 9 Mario Party games with a 10th on the way? The same can be said for the Mario Kart games. There is also an evergreen quality about Nintendo’s franchises that, even in their less than successful iterations, still hold a place of fondness in the minds, if not hearts of gamers. Barring a few exceptions, of course.
The bottom line is, Nintendo was able to cultivate much of the current innovation from the experiences they crafted back in the NES to today. Dare the people imagine what a world would be like without them? Without Mario?
Gaming, for one thing, would have died out as a fad and the hobby that many enjoy today would have either gone to different paths or not found their voices with the medium. Nintendo has inspired more than one generation of gamers and to think it is time to let it go and move on is akin to madness.
If E3 has proven anything, that Sony and Microsoft can be even more risk averse than Nintendo has with their heterosexual military man-death shooters, allegedly open world man shooters, and murder-death-kill simulators that attempt to be serious while all sporting the same ugly, pasty, and stubble faced white guys that have all the personality of a turnip as they are supposedly located in a power suit of armor the size of a mac truck, stabbing other hideous and nondescript white guys on Planet X!
In conclusion; if Nintendo dies, one of the most important parts, if not the most important part, of the industry dies with it.
