The story of the growing distance between me and Nintendo….

I haven't posted anything since my Metroid piece back in September (Life has a way of making you EXTREMELY BUSY), to which I apologize to the two who decided to "follow" me on here. Couple the fact I have such a hard time finding something good to write, especially when I see so many others nail exactly how I feel on a specific topic, and write it so well.

For many self professed hardcore gamers, my post comes 2 years too late after Nintendo's infamous Cammie Dunaway presentation and "The Flying Tomato". But the bemoaning and wailing from the so-called hardcore fan base, from journalists or gamers, isn't what started it for me. It's been Nintendo's decision making in the past year, and the direction they seem to be taking. Allow me to clarify and give some of my personal history with Nintendo. Plus, this is more a rant than anything, so don't be surprised if I go off the track a bit…

I didn't grow up on the NES. I was too little to play it, so back to the store it went. Fast forward to about 5 years later, and I started gaming with the SUPER NES. It has and is still a profound part of my life as a kid. And it wasn't just the Nintendo games that were some of my personal favorites, games like PLOK!, JOE and MAC, SUPER Adventure Island, Dino City, Rocky Rodent, and countless others were quite impressionable on me. But I'd be foolish not to mention Donkey Kong Country's release, and my vividly recalling my dad telling me, "That's the future of games there." With Super Mario Kart, I finally did something I thought I'd never do at the time, beat my dad at a video game.  I even remember so foolishly turning down the original Star Fox on the Super NES, telling my dad, who offered to get if for me right then and there as a SNES demo stand had it playing, "Nah, looks lame." (Years later, I finally played it, and saw how wrong I was).

Fast forward to the N64, and I had my first taste of 3D gaming, having not really played PC games yet, this too was a big moment. I had never played much of co-op or multi-player, but it wasn't until Mario Kart 64, Cruisin' World, and Goldeneye, that I got a feeling of competition amongst my peers. Ocarina of Time became my first REAL time experiencing a Zelda game. Mischief Makers was my first time playing a Treasure title, and Rayman 2 felt like a genuine adventure across an animated world.

Say what you will about this game, but the music, and the Birdman suit are still great.

I'm hoping you're still with me on this, because as you can tell, I've been a Nintendo kid for all of my life. Probably the mot prominent titles for me on the Gamecube, was Luigi's Mansion, Viewtiful Joe, F ZERO GX, and Metroid Prime. I've stuck with Nintendo, and as a fan, defended a lot of their decisions. Then comes the Wii, to change everything I once thought about Nintendo, and even Miyamoto himself.

 

As horrifying as this is to many, it still isn't what set me off.

When the Wii Remote was finally unveiled, I was floored. A remote? That's what we'll be controlling the games with? And motion control? Sure! Why not? Nintendo hadn't stirred me wrong yet. I wisely reserved the Wii at launch, and enjoyed it for a number of years. Wii Sports as well as Resort are still favorites of mine, as are Metroid Prime Trilogy, and New Super Mario Bros. Wii. But it was last year that everything changed. Last year for many disgruntled Nintendo fans, was Nintendo's banner year by providing titles for their fans. After a few years of trying to cater to a new audience mockingly dubbed "the casual gamer", Nintendo was finally catering to it's rabid fan base, a bad move.

As much as I liked seeing Nintendo provide a plethora of titles last year, only a single title held my interest. I sound crazy, but Super Mario Galaxy 2 was the biggest rip off I ever felt from Nintendo. It may have had a bunch of production values, and orchestrated music, and bunch of other fluff, but it felt like nothing more than an add-on pack for Mario Galaxy 1. I already tore into Other M, so I won't go into that again. It was Kirby's Epic Yarn that surprised me the most. An easy game? Sure, but it was the only title my wife actually enjoyed playing along with me. But let's be honest, Kirby has never been that big of a seller for Nintendo either. Donkey Kong Country Returns was marred by the over abundance of motion controls to do EVERYTHING.

What really pissed me off, is the hostility Miyamoto and others within Nintendo have expressed against making more 2D Mario games. They don't like making them, and so instead, they try to "force" 2D into 3D, as a means of trying to sell Miyamoto's personal preference to us. It hasn't worked, and still won't. Did Mario 64 help the DS at it's launch? No. New Super Mario Bros. was the best selling Mario title on it. PERIOD. The same rings true of NSMB for the Wii. I can't even begin to describe the excitement I felt from going to the store on the launch day for that game. The game store was FLOODED with people picking it up. The same couldn't be said the day Mario Galaxy 2 came out.

Critics call this game lazy, what do you call the endless "cinematic" DLC riddled games today? And why doesn't Nintendo provide us more Mario Games like this?

 

I feel that with the 3DS, Nintendo has shown it's true colors. They never really cared about catering to a larger audience, they didn't care about upholding the "Blue Ocean" Strategy. It all came down to eventually going and making only what THEY want to make. If you read most of the recent Iwata Asks interviews since the unveiling of the 3DS, you can see that they've had a life long obsession with 3D, and thanks to all the money from the Wii and DS, they finally could justify making their dream. Too bad the market hasn't shown much interest in 3D. Couple the fact that the economy is still barely recovering. But obviously that doesn't phase them. They honestly think that people are going to plunk down the price of a console for a handheld that has the worst battery life in any of Nintendo's strong handheld history, solely because they're Nintendo. The 3D effect is already being criticized, and many, don't even use it. And they want us to pay $40 a pop for the games, some being remakes and ports. I guess Nintendo hasn't learned from Sony's mistakes with the PSP, console game aren't games that are portable. Just look at some of the ports on the iPod and you'll see what I mean.

remember this thing? No? Those Fancy new AR cards will wind up in the same way, just wait.

I'm sure I'm being overly harsh right now, but as time has gone on, I feel that Nintendo is no longer catering to ones such as myself. My tastes haven't changed too terribly much. But Nintendo seems to be going this route of, "Just shut up and let us do whatever we want! We know better than what everybody thinks!" They paid dearly for that thinking with the N64, same with the Gamecube. No doubt, they'll be kicking and screaming when the number crunchers at Nintendo force them to make games that will sell (games that people overall will play).

 

"See? Now all those idiots can play 3D Mario because it's in, say it with me now, 3D!!!"