Monday thoughts: Why do you love Nintendo?
Monday, May 21st, 2007 at 12:27pm by Kyle
So this will be my first in a weekly series of columns on various topics. For the first edition I pose a simple question with an answer that might not come to you so easily.
Its Monday morning. You’ve already scoured the inter-tube looking for a listing of the VC releases this week. You’ve called Game/stop/crazy/ware to see if any early DS titles have been released. You’ve adjusted your income so that you can afford Pokemon-Massacre 8. You’ve checked Infendo every 15 minutes for updates and you’ve listened to Infendo Radio 3 times this weekend. Lets face it, you love Nintedo.
Why do you love Nintendo?
Is it the nostalgia factor? Is there a pavlovian response everytime you hear the sound of a coin being collected that makes your heart skip a beat? Is there one overiding feeling you get everytime you see the tri-force that keeps you coming back over and over again?
For me there is a difference between the Nintendo fan and the generic gamer. The Nintendo fan is a child at heart that expects games to both touch them on an emotional level while stimulating them with a new experience that innovates in ways other than better looking games.
To answer this question I have to look inward as to why I still have the boxes of my old systems sitting in the top of my closet. I don’t have any intention of throwing away these boxes eventhough they have been taking up storage space. I don’t know why I keep them, maybe some day I can re-package my old systems and give them to my kids so they can have the same excitement that I had opening them up. Maybe I just like seeing the Pod Racer edition N64 box staring down at me whenever I need to get a pair of jeans. It sits up there as a reminder to me of all the good times I had in college staying up late with friends playing Virtual Pro Wrestling 2, or Pod Racer, or whatever.
I think the answer for me is simple. Nintendo reminds me of good times.
Most Nintendo properties are created to evoke a positive emotional response. You’ll never find Mario going after someone for revenge. You’ll never find Link trying to chop someone into bits for any reason other than to save Hyrule or Zelda. Its the feeling I get when I see Mario running around overcoming obstacles with out resorting to curb stomping locust grunts that make me feel happy.
So I pose this question to you Infendo Nation. What is it about Nintendo that makes you come back for more?
May 21st, 2007 at 12:51 pm
zelda- its so pure. in so many ways, its the perfect epic.
and mario kart 64. what amazing multiplayer.
and, although I can’t quit xbox live… nothing beats being in the same room as your friends while you play. bond, perfect dark, anything is better when your friends are right there, and not just over a microphone.
oh… and thank you for Startropics and that Power Guide to get me through it!
May 21st, 2007 at 1:06 pm
What I like about Nintendo is that the company has a more philosophical approach to the Art of video games than the other companies in the same business.
I love the artisitic views of the big heads of Nintendo, and I also revere the social phenomenon that the Wii and the DS brought all around the world.
May 21st, 2007 at 1:27 pm
I have to go for the Kid-At-Heart response. The first game I ever REALLY played all the was through was Zelda, and I can play what is basically the same game over and over again and never be bored. I don’t need or want it to be reinvented or made more mature. I love it for what it is.
Sure I’m grown up now, and I like some more adult stuff. I loved the last GTA game and did some pretty sick stuff in it. But I come back to Nintendo when I want something that’s silly and fun.
And I’ll take style over realism any day. I still think that people look like moving wax statues in most “realistic” games. I’ll take Wind Waker and Paper Mario graphics, thank you.
May 21st, 2007 at 1:32 pm
If I had to sum it up in one word, it would be “Yoshi“.
But it’s more, actually: like p@ul, I also love the unique artistic approach Nintendo gives to its creations. They have sort of a “signature” to them, both in hardware and software, that is difficult to define. It is a combination of simplicity and using existing technology in a fun way.
May 21st, 2007 at 1:48 pm
I agree, it’s all about the fun. I remember playing Mario on the NES as a kid until my thumbs were sore. Add Duck Hunt and Zelda on that system all the way through today and Nintendo represents all sorts of fun times I’ve had since I was 8 years old.
May 21st, 2007 at 3:20 pm
They still make great first party games.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:02 pm
They make the games I want to play over and over again. And also, I grew up with Nintendo so I have an attachment to them.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:54 pm
Metroid of course! Nintendo has just always had that videogame magic. To me they have done for videogames what Star Wars did for movies.
May 21st, 2007 at 5:12 pm
The reason i keep coming back to nintendo is partially due to the fact they’ve stood the test of time, partially to the fact I grew up on nintendo systems and partially to the fact nintendo makes all sorts of crazy fun games.
They’ve made world-renowned game characters like Samus, Mario, Donkey Kong, Yoshi, etc. that whenever you mention any of those big names people know what your talking about. They also make soo many high replay value games, and I also enjoy the fact they don’t just think that gamers only want more graphics. To me, if a game has the best grpahics in the world but it’s plot and gameplay suck, I won’t even touch it for more then 10 minutes.
Nintendo is just that good in my (slightly biased) opinion.
May 21st, 2007 at 7:00 pm
If I really would love Nintendo, I would probably say for many NES-games, especially SMB and Zelda II.
And for re-introducing point-and-click adventures to handheld gaming, namely the NDS.
May 21st, 2007 at 8:53 pm
They have a cult following and they’re way old-school.
May 21st, 2007 at 9:20 pm
I share the same feeling, Nintendo reminds me of good times. Sadly though, I’ve had to give away my previous consoles to get money for the next one. Now the VC will allow me to not regret those decisions.
Nintendo = fun time with friends and family. And it’ll always be that way for me, even if the other consoles have their own awesome stuff going on.
May 22nd, 2007 at 3:05 am
hmmm…that’s a good question. because they are unlike sony and microsoft. nintendo is in it for the entertainment aspect. they started out in cards and toys about 100 years ago, and their name is synonomous with fun and entertainment. sony started out as strictly an electronics hardware manufacturer. and microsoft had enough money to buy their way into the game industry. bottom line, nintendo has shigera miyamoto, genius and visionary, and MS and sony don’t. nintendo is really the only true video game company that exists now. MS and sony, not so much. one has a monopoly on operating systems, and the other manufactures almost every kind of consumer electronics imaginable. nintendo simply makes video games and are the best at it because that is their sole purpose. and that in a nutshell is why i prefer them over the other game companies.
May 22nd, 2007 at 9:59 am
because I grown with them
because they follow their own decisions.
because if they will try to program on other machines their games will still be the best.
that is why
^__^
May 23rd, 2007 at 8:39 am
the quirks, I have grown up loving them and originality never gets old… obviously. Pokemon = Genius, Zelda Series = Truly Epic, Mario = Father of Platformers, Kirby = Amazingly Strange and Addictive Quirk… I could go on forever… so I will end with. I love DS and wish I had a Wii.