Advertisements
I understood exactly how the 2D Mario gamer felt in being left out for so long. I just didn’t experience the full force of it because I like 2D Mario and was content in replaying Super Mario Bros. 3. At least that was what I told myself before Super Mario Bros. 5 released. Arcade games, Arcade companies. Real consoles. The Sega Genesis is one of the greatest machines known to man. It has Sonic, Gunstar Heroes, Street Fighter, Shining Force and so many other wonderful games to play. The SNES is no slouch but I definitely favored my Genesis a bit more than my SNES due to it having great pick up and play games that delivered what Nintendid and Nintendidn’t. Sega isn’t strong enough to release another console and may never enter that market as manufacturer again. I wish that they would have created a hand held. Sega listened to us, but they listened to us and everyone else a bit too much. Looking at their actions, Sega always thought too much about how other people thought of them. They were a deeply self-conscious company, very little self confidence despite all of the wonderful ability and wonder they could create. Without them Nintendo was given another card to slack off a bit and do their experimentation thing. Nintendo feared them in the way you fear the quiet kid at school. They’re not going to do much until you push them.
.
To get back on track, I feel more slighted than I did when Nintendo started reskinning their key franchises on top of their experiments and started giving them names like Zelda. With the exception of the VirtualBoy, Nintendos handheld lines always have always featured tight controls, good battery life, improved visuals (not just graphics but the ability to see), a solid focus on gaming and improvements to the multiplayer experience. We went from using 4 AA’s, a 3 foot cord, and a brick with a green monochrome screen to a clam shell SNES controller with a screen and an insane focus on multiplayer. I don’t know of any Gameboy games that let you play an 8 player game with one cartridge without huddling around football player style. The DS could send game demos and other ways to taste the experience. Nintendo’s latest cooking software for the DS allows me to send recipes or part of a current recipe to other systems so that anyone paricipating with me can have their own view of the instructions. At the beginning of the DS life there was Meteos and not much else. I bought Meteos because nothing else was around, I stayed because it somehow channeled Smash Bros. gameplay in a form that would not be proper to describe as Tetris like. I don’t see anything remotely fresh like an anti-Tetris, multiplayer experience coming from the 3DS.
.
I see sequels to games that I’d rather play on the DSi that gives me more than 10 hours of battery life. I’ve played with the display 3DS’s and a co-workers machine and it is not impressive. The d-pad is in a horrible place, the top screen looks plain weird for not being symmetrical with the bottom screen. The 3D is the biggest gimmick since the ability to play movies on a game console. It may add more than movies have in the long run but when Nintendo mandates that every game must be playable in 3D you kind of lose all faith in any type of interesting 3D gameplay coming from an Atlus or 5th Cell. 2D arcade games will not sell anyone on the system since the hardware was not designed for it. 2D games feel best when played with a d-pad. How can you enjoy using the 3DS’s d-pad? It’s going to be the thing that people will complaint about once they get tired of tearing into 3D. The PSP has the analog nub that should’ve called in sick and nintendo has the awful placement of the dpad. It’s like they tossed it on there at the last second because they forgot to add it to their system.
I’m starting to understand that the gamecube approach is extending to more than just the graphics. The gamecubes dpad was too damn small. Nintendo is the only company with the rights to make a real dpad but they decide to troll gamers and the entire industry by making their dpads a joke on systems that aren’t focused on the needs of the gamer. With the exception of the virtual boy, every true consumer focused Nintendo system has had a d-pad positioned well for gameplay. Even the Wiimotes slightly awkward, above the B button position is fine by my standards.
.
Things wouldn’t be so bad if Nintendo wasn’t the only company that made real handheld system. I have no faith in that portable PS3 releasing late in the year. I’ve only gotten into the PSP due to Disgaea, Half Minute Hero and Kingdom Hearts (I’m addicted, it’s so bad, the flipside of current Zelda but I’m addicted. Leave me be). I’ll only be grabbing the 3DS for Pokemon, Advance Wars, and Fire Emblem (if they ever release one that isn’t a remake). It’s going to suck that I’m going to have to pay $250 plus tax just to play the next installment of a few good games just because Nintendo wants to force their love of 3D down evryones throats.
I’ve always played console games in every generation. There is always a game on most major systems that appeal to me. If it’s not Sega and I was spending the money on the system then I waited for 5 good games or for one flipping amazing one. I bought the gamecube for Smash Bros. alone. Handhelds are different, they’re the meat and potatoes of my gaming life. I can’t live without them. I feel abandoned. I see opportunities for Nintendo to fix a few major problems with the 3DS in a future hardware revision but as VGCats put it, the core will still be a turd. Most of the 3DS market will be home console games in the palm of your hand. I doubt we’ll get many adventurous games like Kirby Canvas Curse, Infinite Space, Meteos, and nearly every game with a 60 or higher Metacritic score (I like a few games that everyone hates). I really hope that i’m made to look stupid in the future and that 3DS really can offer a significant continuation of the DS for me. In my not so humble opinion, the DS is the best system that Nintendo has released since the SNES. “It’s such a sadness that Nintendo thinks that we’re playing gamecube games on a damned handheld.”
Not sure what you mean by Sega not making a handheld. They did make the Game Gear.
Nintendo views the video game business like Star Wars. Star Wars came out when Shigeru Miyamoto was 25 and when Iwata was 18 (I believe). Nintendo is going about video games to keep trying to recreate the phenomenon of Star Wars, of the ‘surprise’ and ‘wow’.
This is not the reason why Star Wars was a hit. Both Miyamoto and Iwata were kids then so how could they know? The reason why Star Wars was a hit, and hated by critics, was because it made movies ‘fun’ again. The movie very clearly has heroes and villains and an ‘epic universe’. The movie excited the imagination.
I think all Nintendo misfires in the market can be boiled down to them misunderstanding Star Wars.
What is 3d output? It is ‘special effects’. Does it change the gameplay? No. But it certainly raises the cost of the system, the games, and fries the battery life. The mass market is rejecting 3d movies (this is why you don’t hear any stories about 3d movies today because the news is bad).
What is more worrisome is Yamauchi’s stupid idea of trying to get Nintendo into the movie business. Hollywood should be Nintendo’s number one enemy. The fact that Nintendo is trying to make an alliance with Hollywood is as insane as Nintendo trying to make an alliance with Microsoft.
Advertisements