What do YOU think? Has Nintendo betrayed their fan base?
Firstly, let me quickly apologize for the useless 2 minutes of nothing at the end of the video. I have no idea how it got there, but I figured it wouldn’t be a huge issue for you guys.
Just so you all know, this is going to be a 2 part article. After you read it, I encourage you to leave as many hateful (or nice!) comments as you wish, telling me how wrong (or right!) I am. I’ll sculpt my next article, which will go up this Sunday, around your responses, and finish off any points I left bare in this one. Like before, there’s a textual summary past the break if you need to read up on anything! Enjoy!
When the Wii hit the market in late 2006, it took the world by storm. The system flew off the shelves like hot-cakes, and Nintendo was sitting pretty. Why, then, do so many people consider the Wii as a betrayal by Nintendo? What is it that Nintendo did that made so many people leave the company for other systems? The most common answer I get is that Nintendo is focusing more on “casual” games now than “hardcore” games, or that they aren’t putting out as many quality titles as they used to. Not sure where these people were coming from, I decided to do a little bit of research. What I found out is that Nintendo has actually released MORE titles on the Wii than every other console with the exception of the NES.
Back in the late 80s and early 90s, Nintendo released a total of 87 games published under their name for the NES. As time progressed, they actually released fewer and fewer games, with only 66 for the SNES, 62 for the N64, and 59 for the Gamecube. So, let’s first assume that Nintendo has indeed released fewer games than ever before with the Wii. Why is now the time to start hating? They jumped down 20 entire titles from the NES to the SNES, so why wasn’t there hate back then? And between the SNES, N64, and GCN, they jumped down another 7 titles. Again, where was the hate back then? Sure, Gamecube may have received a bit of it, but not nearly as much as the Wii seems to be getting. So what gives?
I’m not sure, but the best part about that whole argument is that Nintendo has actually released the most games this generation than they have since the NES, with a total of 70 Wii/Wiiware releases. Now, okay, that’s not the whole part of the argument. Many people will bring up the quality aspect. Maybe it’s just that Nintendo has put out worse quality titles than ever before! Let’s take a look…
Going down the list of games, there really aren’t too many you could call “bad” games., Play, Wii Music, Link’s Crossbow Training, My Pokémon Ranch, chess and Wii Fit/Wii Fit Plus are all you could really consider pure cash-ins, and you know what, you’d probably be right if you said it. That makes 7 almost purely cash-in games, so take that off of the total 70 and it comes to 63.
Now let’s look back at the system that most people consider to be Nintendo’s best; the N64. How many Nintendo games on this system were of poor quality? A lot more than you’d think, probably. Mischief Makers, Hey You, Pikachu!, 3 Cruis’n USA games, True Classics Country Club Golf, and Mickey’s Speedway USA were are sub-par games and released by Nintendo. That means 7 off for the N64 as well, putting its total at 55.
Of course, there is another set of games that I’ll take off as well, just to prove my point further. The New Play Control! Series of games don’t really count towards a final score because they aren’t technically Wii games, but rather ports of GCN games to Wii. All in all, there were 7 New Play Control! titles counting Metroid Prime 1 and 2 as separate games, which drops the Wii all the way down to a measly 56.
So, what else can be taken off from the Wii’s score? If all cash-in and poor quality titles are gone, Nintendo’s Wii library vs. the Nintendo’s N64 library is a pretty even match-up, so that certainly can’t be the reason that people consider Nintendo’s actions a betrayal, especially when the Wii still has a good couple of years left in its life-span.
The next accusation people would throw Nintendo’s way is that they aren’t making new games, and that they’re just remaking the same generic franchises that they always have. This is another one of those things that makes me raise an eyebrow; I’m curious as to whether or not these people are paying attention to the Art Style games that are not only published by Nintendo, but co-developed as well? And the Excite series? Or Endless Ocean? Or the revival of the Wario Land series? Or Even Wii Sports and WIi Sports Resort! The list really does go on and on. Though, maybe that’s a point within itself. When Nintendo takes the time to make these new games, they go all but unnoticed! Either way, it’s a shame that people don’t pay better attention to these things, as they all are really fun games.
So, here’s my question for everyone here; Do you think that Nintendo has betrayed its fan base with the Wii? Do you agree with all my points, or do you think some of them are a little stretched? Leave your comments in the comments section below, and feel free to yell at me or praise me or whatever! I’ll be monitoring your responses heavily, and part 2 will be based almost directly on what you say!
————————–
Also, I’d like to take a quick moment and highlight my favorite responses to last week’s article (which was one of my favorite to write so far!):
By umb on Feb 14, 2010
I hope Alison and Gary are romantically involved, it gives us nerds hope.
My favorite gaming couple is by far Midna and Link in Twilight Princess. It started out with Midna and Link barely tolerating each other. As time progressed they grew together, helping each other and fighting evil together. When Link thinks that she died in the final battle, you know that his heart was just pulled out of his chest. This might just be my interpretation, but when he sees her after she returns to her true form he knows that he loves her. Finally in the bittersweet ending, Midna has to return to her world leaving her love behind. They know that they will never see each other again and it added a mature depth new to the series. It also goes beyond the clique Link and Zelda couple.
By Patrick on Feb 15, 2010
Wasn’t expecting to see Little Mac and Doc Louis on there, but it made me smile.
Let me think of some others….. er……
The Boy and His Blob
Diddy and Dixie Kong
Phoenix Wright and Maya Fey
By 357 Lobster on Feb 16, 2010
Lol at Doc and Mac! I like Frank West and Isabella from Dead Rising, Travis and Silvia is a good pick, and Olimar and Louie from Pikmin 2.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Thanks again for the comments, guys! Definitely hope to see you back here next week!
