Someone emailed this link to me with no text. I suppose they wanted a response. Very well.
However, I wanted to hone in on one particular aspect of the article, the idea that Nintendo has left behind its older fans. I do feel that Nintendo has left behind its older fans and from what I see on the comments page to Jim’s article, it seems obvious that I am not alone.
What goof juice is this? Nintendo already were leaving behind their older fans especially those fans who bought the NES and SNES. The N64 and Gamecube installed base just kept shrinking.
There hasn’t been a new 2d Mario in, what, fifteen years?
Nintendo is actually regaining fans they have left behind. New 2d Marios attract those who bought the SNES and NES. The simpler games such as Wii Sports is regaining those fans that got left behind on the NES when Nintendo stopped making gameplay simple games like the NES sports games. It is not a mistake that Wii Sports Golf is using the same exact golf courses found in NES Golf.
Did this writer miss the Virtual Console or something? Why have a Virtual Console if not for older fans?
What about Punchout Wii? That seems to be a game made for ‘older fans’.
The Expanded Market is not just brand new gamers. It was gamers who drifted away from gaming. They could have drifted away since Pong, or Atari 2600, or NES, or SNES, but they did drift away. Nintendo definately wants them to come back.
Look at Mario Kart DS and Mario Kart Wii sales. You can’t pin all those sales numbers on new gamers. Many gamers are returning and are getting those type of games.
So this starting premise isn’t correct. The old fans of Nintendo are not fans of N64 and Gamecube games. Old fans of Nintendo are SNES/NES/ Nintendo Arcade gamers. I remember playing Popeye when it came out in the arcade. Do you?
Many Nintendo supporters however, will counter this allegation by saying that Nintendo needed to shift its focus away from its base in order to achieve the widespread success that the Wii has given them.
Nintendo’s “base” was rapidly shrinking. The declinine install base of NES to Gamecube clearly shows this.
The real question is whether there was any ‘base’ to really appeal to.
Apple and Nintendo are both similar companies, not only because they make consumer electronics, but because both companies rely heavily on perception and buzz as a large part of their business strategy.
Oh God no.
The similarity between Apple and Nintendo is that they are focused on the user-experience.
Nintendo has made or been associated with a number of silly and stupid ideas far earlier than Miyamoto’s “performance” at E3 2008 made one of the genius’ of the gaming world look like an idiot. The Power Glove, R.O.B., the Virtual Boy, etc are three prominent examples that come to mind that, especially with the advantage of hindsight and freed from the hype of the time, should have been recognized as being ridiculous, silly, and a piece of electronics that either did not work the way it was “supposed” to (in the case of the Power Glove) or was simply too limited to accomplish what it set out to do (i.e. Virtual Boy). Yet at the time, these were all products that were given more than the benefit of the doubt and even now, these failures are allowed viewed in a “fond” light and a “cute” entry in the encyclopedia of Nintendo history. This is what a hardcore fan base allows you to do: get away with potentially business-killing screw-ups.
Why doesn’t he apply that last line toward the billion dollar losing consoles that Microsoft and Sony have made?
This guy doesn’t know what he is talking about. Power Glove was made by Mattel, not Nintendo. R.O.B. absolutely was a great business success as it fooled retailers to think the NES was a ‘toy’ rather than a ‘video-game console’ which was very important after the crash. And while the Virtual Boy was quite a failure, it shows that Nintendo fans do not buy whatever comes out of the company.
For all of its success, Apple has made its fair share of screw-ups too. In the years prior to the iMac and iPod’s success, Apple was in quite possibly the most pathetic position that a company could be in (it had to accept a “bailout” from Bill Gates, who made a hilariously booed appearance at the 1997 MacWorld Expo in which this was announced).
This is just not true.
Microsoft was caught stealing Quicktime’s code because they were struggling to get Video for Windows to work. The outcome was that Microsoft had to pay a $150 million dollar investment in non-voting stock in Apple, continue producing Office for Mac, and make a public endorsement of the Macintosh platform.
Ultimately, this outcome ended up being very good for Microsoft. Investing in Apple before their stock exploded allowed Microsoft to sell the stock for twenty times more than what they purchased it for. Microsoft never loses money selling software on the Mac. Mac users are more notorious for actually paying for their software unlike on Windows.
Saying Microsoft ‘bailed out’ Apple is completely untrue. Microsoft got caught in a crime, their hand got caught in the Quicktime Cookie Jar code. And they paid dearly for stealing Apple’s code.
Yet Apple was still loved and supported by a large hardcore fanbase that saw it through the hard times. This is exactly the case with Nintendo, which hit a low point during the time of the N64 and GameCube, but was still supported by its fan base.
To be blunt, the N64 and Gamecube were carried by children, not ‘hardcore gamers’. Sorry dude.
In the same way, most customers of the GBA were children. There is a reason why Sony and Microsoft marketing keep joking that Nintendo’s latest offering (whatever it would be) is just trying to appeal to the Pokemon crowd. Gamecube was called a ‘kiddy console’, for better or worse.
One thing that separates Apple and Nintendo however, is that Apple has never given up, left behind, or even given the impression of caring less about the importance of its hardcore.
This guy doesn’t know Apple fans. Many Apple fans are not too happy about Macs becoming more popular. When they heard that Apple wants to start selling Macs at Wal-Mart, they blew a gasket.
Hell, consider the fact that Jobs has been investigated by the SEC for a variety of questionable financial activities and the public and investors are still in love with him and his products.
Why would anyone not like someone or something just because they are being investigated? Investigated is not evidence of guilt. People get investigated all the time.
In contrast, once Nintendo found success with the Wii, they have continuously failed time and time again to satisfy the expectations of a good portion of its fan base.
I know! Those sales of Mario Kart Wii are really bad, worse than Double Dash!
The fact is, Nintendo will churn out a failure sometime in the future: it is statistically impossible that this will not happen. Nintendo, with its actions with the Wii generation, have proven that it is the business equivalent of the unpopular geek who gets a shiny new car, gets invited into the popular crowd, and then dumps all of his old D&D geek friends. In all of these movies and TV episodes, the popular crowd eventually dumps the kid when he/she has outlived his or her usefulness and end up crawling back to his old friends. Will we still welcome Nintendo back when the popular crowd has thrown it under the bus? When Nintendo reaches that low point, will we still be willing to give them that leeway?
It is funny that these writers have the same dream: desiring Nintendo crawling on their hands and knees to them and begging forgiveness. “Forgive me, Hardcore Gamer, for carousing with the casuals.” Will we forgive Nintendo or not?
It is like I am overhearing a conversation of teenage girls. “When he gets tired of his new girlfriend and comes crawling back to me, will I be able to forgive him?” “Listen girlfriend! He has showed that he has no class! You need to meet new boys. I hear that Xbox 360 fellow has a big processor and some mighty fine graphics.” “Ooohhh!” she giggles.
Everyone knows that the best selling N64 and Gamecube games are the Mario, Zelda, Metroid, Smash Brothers, and Paper Mario ones. Yet, sequels to these games do not satisfy the hardcore.
The hardcore are reminding me of the spoiled older sibling when the younger sibling is born. Now, the child is no longer an ‘only child’. Attention is going to be divided.
I can understand if Nintendo is no longer making the games you want. But I find it disturbing that people’s happiness depends on whether a corporation coddles them. Take a hint from the Expanded Market and get a life.
You have two other consoles that appeal directly to the ‘hardcore’. Why must all three consoles do so? Are they so selfish that ALL GAMES must cater to their taste?
They should look at things from the Expanded Market’s perspective. We see only part of one console trying to appeal to us. The other two have nothing to appeal us to. And despite this small sliver of attention, the hardcore are bawling their little heads off.
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