Whenever Nintendo talks about the ‘natural’ console cycle, people should bring up that Nintendo is not putting out any games. It is like someone talking about ‘natural’ dehydration where everyone overlooks he stops drinking water. It is like complaining of hunger when a person doesn’t eat the food in front of him.
It’s quite a cozy arrangement. After the release of Super Mario Brothers 3, Nintendo ceased putting out NES games. Aside from third party games such as Bart Simpson and the Mutant Aliens, there was no driving software on the NES, and it began to decline. Remember that the NES had a slow start and didn’t take off in America until 1988. The SNES came out at 1991. Many people were peeved at buying new hardware.
Aside from Rare’s Donkey Kong Country and other third parties, SNES began to have no games and entered decline. We were told it was part of the ‘Natural’ Console Cycle. And then we were told to buy the Virtual Boy. Woe to those who bought the Virtual Boy because it never had much games and hardly any more games came.
The N64 was keeping pace of the PlayStation in the United States until near the end when the PS1 surpassed the N64 in US sales. What caused this? Could it be Nintendo abandoning their console for the next system?
The Gamecube just languished for the last half of its lifespan. Even Zelda Twilight Princess got ported to the next system. No software came from Nintendo to support the consumers who purchased the console. Apparently, they were to be content to replay Super Mario Sunshine and Wind Waker all day. Ironically, Nintendo places the end of their consoles on second parties.
And now with the Wii, we see no main Nintendo games coming out for the system aside from the first (and last) Zelda game developed for the system. The system is just abandoned so Nintendo developers can play with their new toy.
We are rudely told this is the ‘Natural’ Console Cycle. But it isn’t. The reason why Nintendo consoles enter decline is because Nintendo stops making games for them. It is as simple as that. There is no ‘natural cycle’. The Gameboy had no ‘natural cycle’. The PS2 did not have this ‘natural cycle’. Even the Wii didn’t really have this ‘cycle’ as its hardware sales would shoot through the roof when the right game came out.
So whenever you hear a spokesman from Nintendo talk about the ‘Natural’ Console Cycle, interrupt him or her and ask, “When was the last time Nintendo released a big game for the system?” The only reason why Zelda is coming out so late is because Nintendo is so screwed up, it apparently takes half a decade to put out a console Zelda game now. Due to this long time frame, Zelda might as well skip any Cafe appearance since it would only be released at the tail end of that console’s lifespan.
“But Malstrom, Nintendo’s software must go to the new hardware that is being built. Old hardware won’t last forever.” Most certainly. But every single business upgrades their technology.
But the most important thing are the customers. Customers hate buying hardware. When they do buy the hardware, they expect games. Should the console be abandoned, like Microsoft did with the original Xbox, consumers end up very angry.
The reason why Nintendo has gotten away with this nonsensical line about ‘natural’ console cycle is two reasons:
1) Computer technology was advancing very rapidly at a noticeable pace.
2) Competition with another company’s console being released.
Computer technology was moving at a much faster pace in the 80s and 90s than it is today. What exactly can a Wii successor add outside high resoultion (which is what HD is)? Some gimmick?
Even if Microsoft and Sony were releasing a new console right around the corner (which they aren’t), Nintendo can no longer use competition as a reason for you, the poor gamer, to shell out more money to buy more hardware (so Nintendo can put out half a dozen games and then throw out more hardware in an endless cycle). Under the Blue Ocean, competition should be irrelevant to Nintendo’s plans.
Also, when Nintendo talks about the ‘Natural’ Console Cycle, ask them why a last generation machine called the PSP is outselling the 3DS in Japan. Why does this so-called ‘Natural’ Console Cycle only affect Nintendo consoles?