Hello Malstrom.
It’s me who sent the Mario and Zelda experience e-mails way back and now here’s my final e-mail which will be the big finale so I’m giving it all I’ve got. I’ve been trying to get my e-mail posted since after my Zelda post but it hasn’t appeared on your blog, but I‘ve updated it to keep up with things that have happened recently. You are free to point out errors and mistakes while giving your response.
I have learned a lot from you ever since I came across your blog on what the medium of video games mean to the people who have the interest to play them and becoming the pioneers in the video game revolution. I’m seeing in the full picture that they are a community entertainment (if movies, theatres or television count) which bring individuals together to experience the content which is what the player thinks of while looking at the game overall. Videos of the NES era demonstrate this, with kids getting together in each other’s houses to play the games in a community. Shame I wasn’t around that time and in a different continent. Atari, NES and Wii (if you can count that now) are examples of how video games can be presented to the world with its consumers as happy faces instead of the geeky hobby it’s been regarded as.
Atari should be known as a pioneer of the video game revolution which made it the fastest growing company in America at the time until the video game crash, Nintendo, afterwards, had a chance to continue the revolution in an atmosphere of Japan-bashing (Back to the Future Part II is an example of this) with two games that became phenomenons; Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda along with a load of new games from various companies, adding more excitement. They next unleashed Game Boy with Tetris to enable consumers to play games on their travels which passion grew from them. Soon after, the Genesis, marketed as a cooler than Nintendo, was released with the Turbographx-16 and Neo Geo, it pushed Nintendo to release the SNES and enter a “Red Ocean” mindset. This is something that some gamers talk about when Nintendo and Sega where competing for the consumers that already had their respective systems. This has continued into the following generations (except for a little while during Wii and DS).
Soon, Sony had a big influence on video games according to blogs and other gaming sites, after been ‘betrayed’ by Nintendo, they released the PlayStation (I have the re-design as I’m a retro collector) which freed companies were free from the restrictions of Nintendo who during this time released the Virtual Boy which hurt its reputation very badly, soon came the Nintendo 64 which stuck with cartridges that Final Fantasy VII went towards the PS. With weakened arcade values, repelling controller, less RPG games and the biggest punch to the gut, Yoshi’s Story, Nintendo was deemed ‘uncool’. Despite that, I do think certain aspects of the Nintendo 64 are good; Super Mario 64 gave birth to the 3D platformers, standard four player multiplayer, 360 analouge, rumble, memory paks and the transfer pak (which started console-handheld connectivity). I believe that the only reason Nintendo was able to keep strong was because of the Pokémon phenomenon which (I experienced) brought a series of RPG games that were simplistic enough for a young audience to play, along with the popular Japanese form of media such as anime and manga. Nintendo was close but Sony came out on top.
SEGA became third-party while Sony on the other hand, released the PS2 which had DVD compatibility that helped DVD become more popular in Japan (since it was the cheapest DVD player on the market) and Microsoft entered the X-Box which allowed third parties to flourish like Sony offered them and introduced online multiplayer (which over the years has now become a joke due to the chat rooms being flooded with cuss and immaturity). Nintendo also followed up with the GameCube which was pretty much dismissed by the Industry since it was made by such a ‘kiddie company’ despite having a remake of and prequel to Resident Evil exclusively. It also brought a wireless controller, the console-handheld connectivity continued with the GBA-GameCube connection (which only had Four Swords Adventure and the GC Pokémon games to demonstrate), the Game Boy Player and finally the DK Bongos. It was thought that the once mighty Nintendo would become third party, though some changes were being made behind doors.
As Reggie was introduced, there was ‘Revolution’ being tossed around which they say will bring Nintendo back on top which the industry dismissed. Nintendo released the DS (looking like a Game & Watch) which everyone was comparing it to the Virtual Boy. The DS didn’t have a strong start because of SM64 DS which was not suitable for a handheld system for a number of reasons, that after playing for a while, my hands get ‘pins and needles’. It only took off when NSMB was released and its high sales (still selling) told Nintendo that the market for 2D Mario was still out there even though Miyamoto, the great ‘Gaming God’ openly says he does not want to make those types of games anymore. The ‘Revolution’ is finally revealed as the Wii, which may not be as a powerhouse like the 360 and PS3 but it brought some different values, motion control which the industry dismissed but some people were seeing potential in this just like I was. Now the real power was not in the motion controls but in the software design to work around the hardware of the system, that’s why games like Wii Sports, Wii Play, Mario Kart Wii and Wii Sports Resort were prime examples of this in relation to their sales. You were excited as well because it has been so long that you bought a console system and were expecting new games that will take advantage of the Wii motion controls (you want a Motion Plus sword game set in a knight’s world to fight off dragons, very classic scenario I might say) with very rich content. But at E3 2008, we were bombarded with very poor content driven games and a glimpse that Nintendo wasn’t actually going to follow the revolution the Wii started. Granted that they released ‘Super Mario Bros. 5’ which helped increase Wii sales (though not so much in Japan) and made Mario popular again despite him having the voice and Bowser Jr. (The Koopalings still rock!)
Over the years, when I was following your blog, Nintendo began to stray away from the Wii’s values and resuming their GameCube era influenced software, at this time the same as you, I began to lose hope for Nintendo when they ditched the efforts and released the 3DS and unveiled the Wii U when the Wii’s potential hasn’t been truly fulfilled, but l’m still sticking with the Wii not matter what (also for the Virtual Console). Nintendo used to be seen as this great company that works hard to please its customers but now after reading Iwata Asks interviews on your site, the employees are nothing more than self-centred people who go to WORK just to express their ‘creativity’ which nobody will buy, therefore cutting the company’s profits.
Right now, Nintendo is preparing the Wii U to launch this year with a couple of games that some seem good and others that make me cringe such as Nintendo Land (Nintendo has been called the ‘Disney’ of video games but doing this is another kiddie scar waiting to happen). Even though you’re toning down your opinions towards the Wii U due to it offering different controllers and an account system, you’re free to do as you wish but I still am not concerned with it. With their 3D obsession and path to ‘creativity’, it will lead to declining sales and the investors will want answers and even changes. Iwata may seem like the man for the job, but as a developer, he is siding with the others who are not doing what they entered the business for; to please the customers. Hopefully, we might get a new president that has no developer blood and is seriously all about business which means more 2D Mario, arcade values, an action Zelda with no puzzles and more dedication to making quality games.
I’ll wrap this up; reading all your posts up to this point has made me appreciate the media of video games which are best played with multiplayer (depending on the game) and opened up more ways they can take the formula. Wii Fit was a great new innovation by taking the hard work of exercise and combine it with the entertainment of games, creating a phenomenon which you said could lead to an ‘Exercise Gaming’ sub-industry which I think would be beneficial to some people, so we’ll have to wait and see. Another thing is how simplistic the Wii makes some games, if Nintendo had just stuck with the Wii, we could see more unique ways done from Wii Sports Resort in games that would fit some of their controls. When you talk about ideas, my mind opens up to more and I think about how they could work towards improving the accessibility to gaming. One idea I have is when you talked about SD Cards for games, Nintendo could possibly‘re-release’ their earliest Wii games on SD cards (like game cartridges but if there’s enough space) for a test market (like with NES classics on GBA) and update the Wii’s system so players can transfer the data from their Wii to the data storage on the SD Card. That way, people can have more space for new games and there’ll be no loading times when playing old Wii games. Not sure if this will work but it’s something that I think can work (maybe do it with GameCube games next).
Now I would like to ask you; I know you are not keen on Mortal Kombat, but back then it was a big deal with its controversial imagery of violence and gore. Nintendo was infamous for releasing a port with censored violence and some controls issues from what I’ve heard which lead fans to choose the Sega version (which a code was needed to access the gore). I’m not sure if you know about this or not, but according to this source: http://archive.gamespy.com/articles/june03/dumbestmoments/readers/index4.shtml, in David Sheff’s book, Game Over, quoted Howard Lincoln saying that Nintendo received letters of criticism by not only gamers but parents about being set up as censors. Not sure what you think but it could probably be in there or not though I suppose you’ve read the book. Relating to this, I want to ask; was the problem regarding Mortal Kombat on the violence, the increase of “violent” games or the marketing done in the game’s style? Is there anyway it could not have bothered you as much as it does now?
Since you talked about NES and Wii tournaments, you might want to check out AVGN’s video on SwordQuest (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LWltQ9UN5vE), which held a contest for people to win ‘treasures’ from Atari but it wasn’t finished because of the video game crash. Also, in the Game Overthinker’s video: Who’s Your Daddy, MegaMan? (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M6vhiPzOhG4) Which he goes and explores the early mythos of robots and whatnot, ending up with Mega Man, kind of what you said about content in a way. On a side note, the character Casshern he mentions (who appears in Tatsunoko vs. Capcom) has the ‘V’ symbol on his head like Quick Man and according to discovered sketchbooks of Leonardo Da Vinci and a book by Mario Taddei in the video, there were plans to build a robot knight, so I’m not sure if Knight Man belongs in the robot mythos.
With your teaching, I’m going to look into more depth into games in retails (maybe in pre-owned form) or on eBay for retro ones (Final Fantasy Adventure is on my list, thanks to you) to see if they have ever lasting values for a purchase. I don’t have to think about you all the time, since one of your posts said not let anyone take away your enjoyment of a game you like. You listed some games in some of your posts and will try to check them out which I want to say; I have bought an old Game Boy (the original model even though the screen face has fallen off but I stuck it back on with tape and still works) with the five games released alongside it mentioned in a post of yours so I have to give you my thanks, I also have Metroid 2, Link’s Awakening, Kirby’s Dream Land (though you’re not big on) and Donkey Kong Land (it can be hard to see the visuals at times), I will continue to expand my collection. I might pick up Xenoblade Chronicles when I get the chance but the problem for me is that it doesn’t support Wii Motion Plus and I saw that it would be a good addition since you carry a sword in the game. This could mean that Last Story and Pandora’s Tower won’t have them as well which is a real shame. Motion controls would have flourished with these types of games. By the way, we haven’t heard from the Vitality Sensor in a long time, has Nintendo ditched it? I wanted to see more interesting stuff it could do for video games. Also I want to point out that I have bought Kirby Mass Attack which you might not have interest in but I like it for how the touch screen controls work. Yeah, it can get a bit tedious at times and I think it didn’t need the Kirby brand but it’s still a fun game (to me of course). Even after reading your articles, I have re-played SM64 and OoT, even though I know they aren’t the type of games that you would play but I still enjoy them as I have back in the day. OoT is loved by its notable fan base that some have made fan-movies out of the game’s content which I think makes it a cult classic. I don’t mind it much, so I’ll let the fans keep their passion for it. After all, I first got into Zelda because of this game. Also, you got me into studying business/financial terms so I will prepare myself for the independent life and working environment since right now, where I live, there are no jobs available.
Sorry for the long e-mail but I need to get everything out, but you’re a busy man who gets limited time on this blog. I’ll keep following you until you decide to retire and I’ll have some knowledge of what to do with myself (if I didn’t, I’d be bored as hell). Even the forum in your name is interesting by keeping me coming back for information regarding other media (TV, movies and comics).
Anyway, thanks for hearing my thoughts on everything and hope you and gaming have a bright future!
The reason why I didn’t see your email was because the user name on it sounded like a ‘get rich quick’ spam mail. My yahoo account, being yahoo, tends to get them.
I don’t have any ‘teaching’. Every discussion about video games either revolved around gamers talking about game tactics or sales numbers discussions. But business discussion doesn’t actually revolve around sales numbers. What is the marketing strategy? What are the product goals? There was little qualitative discussion. The Blue Ocean Strategy and disruption sound interesting. Let us discuss it. Why does Super Mario Brothers still sell? Why is Mega Man still interesting?
I don’t believe all the discoveries of gaming come from ‘Game God’ developers. The players, themselves, have collected wisdom. We have a unique perspective in this gaming revolution. We all love gaming. Discussing it in different ways will not have us love gaming any the less.
In response to what you said…
-About Mortal Kombat and the 16-bit generation:
This is a good reason why I dislike the Red Ocean ’16-bit war’. The 16-bit War climaxed in the United States Senate. Nintendo deliberately fished around Sega’s games to U.S. Senators hoping they would use the force of law against Nintendo’s competitors. One senator bit. His name is Democratic Senator Joseph Lieberman (now independent) from Connecticut. The U.S. Senate actually had hearings on ‘violence in video games’. In some ways, I look back fondly at those times because in times of peace and prosperity the Senate can waste their time on matters like this. Mortal Kombat eventually became the focal point of attention in large part due to its popularity in the arcades.
Why did Nintendo use the U.S. Government against Sega? I think it is because the U.S. Goverment almost destroyed Nintendo’s American business during the 80s. Through these trials, Nintendo had developed a very strong legal team. Howard Lincoln, Vice President of Nintendo, was a lawyer as well.
Instead of the U.S. Government destroying Sega, Sega came out smelling like a rose. The solution to ‘violence in video games’ was with the creation of the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. The ESRB would be the Game Industry policing itself (which Microsoft, Sony, and Nintendo to this day agree on). The ESRB would place a label on a game like ‘T’ which mean rated for Teen age. Just as movies had ratings (like rated R), games would also have ratings. The public accepted this. The senators lost their political football as the public moved on. And that was that.
One of Sega’s greatest contributions to gaming was the ESRB. Thanks to the existence of the ESRB, we can have games with more diverse content without fear of legal retribution. However, this didn’t stop people who thought they could get money from the Game Industry by claiming how ‘violent’ it is. This went on until, recently, the Supreme Court ruled on violence on video games and declared video games fell under Free Speech Protection. These money grubbers will probably return one day with a new charge.
However, the ESRB doesn’t mean gaming can do whatever it wants. No console manufacturer will allow XXX games on their systems due to the public hostility. This is why the Hot Coffee fiasco almost destroyed everything. The Hot Coffee incident could be interpreted by those with legal power that the Game Industry cannot police itself and that the government has to step in and do it. Wal-Mart returned every copy of the game that had the Hot Coffee scene in it. It cost Rockstar millions. I am certain the employee who left in the ‘Hot Coffee’ was not just punished but likely blacklisted by the industry. That one incident almost destroyed the protection gaming created itself from the ESRB.
I think Nintendo thought it could sell more copies of Mortal Kombat 2 without the blood by riding the public’s agreement with Nintendo and their mission of ‘family friendly’. But the Genesis version outsold the SNES version by a factor of like 4 to 1. Nintendo bet wrong. The public did like the violence and preferred to buy the game that contained it.