Is Nintendo going the way of Atari?

[john9blue]

And Pokémon. Nintendo has Pokémon.

I believe the proper plural form is "Pokémans".

[Snorri1234]

[khazalid]

If their games didn't have the words "Mario" or "Zelda" slapped onto their titles they wouldn't be well recieved at all. Even with franchises backing them up, Nintendo's games are generally viewed as being inferior to those made in the N64 era. Those defending Nintendo are generally kids who never experienced Ocarina of Time or Mario64 (or kids who've never experienced other games period).

Super Mario Galaxy is better than Mario64. The only way you could consider Mario64 better is by taking into account impact. Super Smash Bros Brawl is also better than the first one.

In fact, the N64 was pretty horrible looking back at it. The controls were shit and the graphics not outstanding or anything. But what made it great was that it was so much fucking fun to play.

the n64 was an amazing console and the controllers were the best ever made imo. i cant believe that anyone suitably proficient at melee would find brawl the superior game! they have totally killed SSB now, all the skill has been replaced with instant playability as befits the new target market. twilight princess was boring as shit copared with OOT/link to the past too. that said, and having owned an original spectrum right through to the next-gen consoles, it seems to me an inescapable fact that the golden age of video games has passed. but i'd still take the wii over the triple or the 'sixty. chad got it all wrong.

[Snorri1234]

the n64 was an amazing console and the controllers were the best ever made imo.

uh...no they weren't. That shit was actually quite ridiculous. I still can't use my left thumb today because of that controller.

i cant believe that anyone suitably proficient at melee would find brawl the superior game! they have totally killed SSB now, all the skill has been replaced with instant playability as befits the new target market.

Seriously? Aside from obvious gamekillers like Metaknight the amount of training to get good at someone has become even higher. (I do play mostly stamina-battles sans items though.)

[TeletubbyPrince]

They're good financially but their games really suck. Some companies like Valve and Paradox care about what they do and what their customers want. Nintendo is pretty much just another Msoft trying to milk as much money out the console market as they can. I don't doubt that the top executives at Nintendo are really happy, but their in-house programmers who don't see a lot of that revenue are probably pretty pissed at the direction they're doing.

This is absurd. Valve and Paradox are gamecompanies who don't have their own console. The games released by Nintendo (and not other parties) are usually of pretty high quality with a few horrendous exceptions (DK barrel blast). If anything you could accuse Nintendo of releasing so few games, not releasing bad games.

Sure, they've made some silly arcade games but this is fucking Japan we're talking about. Land of the weird shit were a game about riding a metro-train around is played.

If their games didn't have the words "Mario" or "Zelda" slapped onto their titles they wouldn't be well recieved at all. Even with franchises backing them up, Nintendo's games are generally viewed as being inferior to those made in the N64 era. Those defending Nintendo are generally kids who never experienced Ocarina of Time or Mario64 (or kids who've never experienced other games period).

If you compare Mario 64 to Galaxy, Mario 64 is by far inferior. It was the first attempt at the modern Mario formula, and had a lot of rough patches. It certainly paved the way for the series as it currently stands, but those that view the N64 game as superior are blinded by nostalgia. Zelda has gotten quite repetitive though.

Mario 64 did not have 'rough patches'. The gameplay was fluid, fun and bug free. It also had a lot of content.

Mario Galaxy on the other hand is an 8 hour long crap fest with lame gameplay that's largely unchanged from earlier Mario games. The game just sucks and if it weren't for the Wii's lack of alternatives and the Mario title, it would not have done well.

[Timminz]

This thread might have made a little sense if it were posted in the Game Cube era. As far as Nintendo systems go, GC loses, with N64 in a close second. The Wii has returned Nintendo to glory, in my eyes.

[Bruceswar]

This thread might have made a little sense if it were posted in the Game Cube era. As far as Nintendo systems go, GC loses, with N64 in a close second. The Wii has returned Nintendo to glory, in my eyes.

Bingo! WII was and is a smashing hit.

You can slam Nintendo all you like, but they have a very large following. Ever seen a shirt with Halo on it? Likely not, but Mario, NES controllers, Zelda and many others yes. Nintendo has good marketing and does well with it. And since they are a Japanese company maybe they decided not to go full on blood and guts, rip the heart out type games. Then again maybe I am Bias....

Click image to enlarge.

[the.killing.44]

Ever seen a shirt with Halo on it?

Many.

[Bruceswar]

BTW for those downing the N64... You cannot tell me you did not spend hours playing multiplayer on Goldeneye 007 or playing Smash Brothers... or even Zelda... Maybe Mario Kart for a bit...

[Bruceswar]

Ever seen a shirt with Halo on it?

Many.

Not near as many as Mario... or Zelda..

[john9blue]

Seriously? Aside from obvious gamekillers like Metaknight the amount of training to get good at someone has become even higher.

No way... Melee has a lot more advanced techniques. The game's been explored for 8 years as opposed to Brawl's 2. In fact I think the developer specifically designed Brawl to have shallower gameplay than Melee.

That's only one game though. The GC as a whole I think had slightly better games than the Wii, but obviously was sold to a narrower market. Nintendo needs to use all the Wii money to design a killer console next-gen with fantastic games, because Wii owners aren't going to buy the Wii 2 just for some upgraded graphics and a faster processor.

Is that collection yours, Bruce?

[Snorri1234]

BTW for those downing the N64... You cannot tell me you did not spend hours playing multiplayer on Goldeneye 007 or playing Smash Brothers... or even Zelda... Maybe Mario Kart for a bit...

Well duh. Of course. But I spend countless hours playing Tekken 3 on the psx too and I'm not going to say that was the best game ever.

[Snorri1234]

Seriously? Aside from obvious gamekillers like Metaknight the amount of training to get good at someone has become even higher.

No way... Melee has a lot more advanced techniques. The game's been explored for 8 years as opposed to Brawl's 2. In fact I think the developer specifically designed Brawl to have shallower gameplay than Melee.

That's only one game though. The GC as a whole I think had slightly better games than the Wii, but obviously was sold to a narrower market. Nintendo needs to use all the Wii money to design a killer console next-gen with fantastic games, because Wii owners aren't going to buy the Wii 2 just for some upgraded graphics and a faster processor.

More advanced techniques? Like what? It's not like brawl actually changed much of the controls or game-mechanics. They added and removed a few things but we'd have to go into some serious nerd-discussion about that shit.

As for the GC, most games were worse especially Mario Sunshine.

[Frigidus]

the n64 was an amazing console and the controllers were the best ever made imo.

uh...no they weren't. That shit was actually quite ridiculous. I still can't use my left thumb today because of that controller.

Agreed. Nintendo had the disadvantage of starting simple and adding on from there. They tried to stick with the A B scheme, and it has resulted in some of the craziest controllers ever. The GameCube controller was better, but it's hard to get much worse than a controller with 3 handles for 2 hands. In my opinion the PS1 controller has proven to be the perfect scheme.



Seen here after they added joysticks, it didn't need to change at all. When Sony first pitched the PS3 with its boomerang looking thing, I facepalmed.



Why fix what isn't broken? XBox showed that they agreed by only making mild changes from the PlayStation design. I'm still sort of waffling on whether the trigger/buffer thing is an improvement, but the PS controller has one distinct advantage over the XBox's:



The joystick's aren't on different planes. Bad call.

[nagerous]

This thread might have made a little sense if it were posted in the Game Cube era. As far as Nintendo systems go, GC loses, with N64 in a close second. The Wii has returned Nintendo to glory, in my eyes.

You serious?? N64 does not lose... I had over 50 games for that bad boy and spent a large portion of my childhood to teen years engaged in many of the classics that was churned out on it including Lylat Wars, Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Super Mario, Mario Kart, F-Zero X as well as RareWare classics like BanjoKazooie and Goldeneye.

[maasman]

I love the N64, was the first game console I played, and even today I probably have more fun playing perfect dark than halo. I do like halo, but perfect dark is more fun to me. The controller was ridiculous, but I think the z-trigger was a great idea. N64 games still look pretty decent too, at least the first party ones.

[muy_thaiguy]

Yeah, the controller for the N64 always bugged me, but I still had fun playing Mario Kart 64, SSB, and numerous wrestling games. As well as several Star Wars games, like Battle for Naboo. Though, Banjo Kazooie pissed me off when I got to the Beach level with the Giant Crab.Never really got much farther then that.

[nagerous]

Yeah, the controller for the N64 always bugged me, but I still had fun playing Mario Kart 64, SSB, and numerous wrestling games. As well as several Star Wars games, like Battle for Naboo. Though, Banjo Kazooie pissed me off when I got to the Beach level with the Giant Crab.Never really got much farther then that.

You mean the 2nd level... That was a piece of piss, the only thing easier was beating that massive ant at the top of the hill on level one.

Also, I had no issues with the controller, it was my first console and I felt the design was perfectly fine for some great gaming, never really used the D-Pad though to be honest.

[Timminz]

This thread might have made a little sense if it were posted in the Game Cube era. As far as Nintendo systems go, GC loses, with N64 in a close second. The Wii has returned Nintendo to glory, in my eyes.

You serious?? N64 does not lose... I have a deep nostalgic love for it.

I said it was the Game Cube that loses. N64 was only second worse.

[nagerous]

This thread might have made a little sense if it were posted in the Game Cube era. As far as Nintendo systems go, GC loses, with N64 in a close second. The Wii has returned Nintendo to glory, in my eyes.

You serious?? N64 does not lose... I have a deep nostalgic love for it.

I said it was the Game Cube that loses. N64 was only second worse.

You implied it was a close second in the losing game, hence my passionate defence of it. Now retract your statement!

[Timminz]

This thread might have made a little sense if it were posted in the Game Cube era. As far as Nintendo systems go, GC loses, with N64 in a close second. The Wii has returned Nintendo to glory, in my eyes.

You serious?? N64 does not lose... I have a deep nostalgic love for it.

I said it was the Game Cube that loses. N64 was only second worse.

You implied it was a close second in the losing game, hence my passionate defence of it. Now retract your statement!

Never! Based mostly on the fact that it was the system which contained the worst Mario Kart ever, yet so many stupid people say it was the best.

Golden Eye was pretty kick-ass.

[khazalid]

i guess we will have to agree to disagree on controllers and SSB! the d-pad was rarely used though, and reserved mainly for the peripheral functions. as for smash bros... you cant wavedash anymore

[muy_thaiguy]

Yeah, the controller for the N64 always bugged me, but I still had fun playing Mario Kart 64, SSB, and numerous wrestling games. As well as several Star Wars games, like Battle for Naboo. Though, Banjo Kazooie pissed me off when I got to the Beach level with the Giant Crab.Never really got much farther then that.

You mean the 2nd level... That was a piece of piss, the only thing easier was beating that massive ant at the top of the hill on level one.

Also, I had no issues with the controller, it was my first console and I felt the design was perfectly fine for some great gaming, never really used the D-Pad though to be honest.

Well, that and trying to figure out where all of the puzzle pieces were to try and unlock other levels. Don't know how many times I got lost trying to find them. Though the first level was easy. But now, sadly, my controllers are shot to hell.

And it was my second after the Super Nintendo, so of course the controller would have been awkward for me.

[maasman]

I grew up on mario kart 64, thought it was great, double dash was good too
I don't care much for the wii version, though I don't own it, and can't play it because my wii is broke

[jsholty4690]

BTW for those downing the N64... You cannot tell me you did not spend hours playing multiplayer on Goldeneye 007 or playing Smash Brothers... or even Zelda... Maybe Mario Kart for a bit...

My friends and I still have Goldeneye tourneys. I miss those lazy saturdays playing Goldeneye and Battle Tanx for 12 hours. Ah, the good ole days.