Controversial: Is Nintendo currently in its golden age?

[Pikman]

In my opinion Nintendo are making the poorest games they have in a long, long time. While the software they currently produce is still good, it's a long way short of what they created for the Super Famicom and N64.

Oh and I wouldn't call F-Zero GX ****, but it's not as good as F-Zero X.

[Pikman]

Nintendo are ****ed. Jesus Christ is that not apparent to everyone?

Golden age? where the **** was you playing when i was playing a NES and a SNES?

Nintendo can't sell games.

lets say we give Nintendo and Sony one million to make a game

Sony make sex, drugs and guns at hollywood high

Nintendo make mum and dad milk a cow.

Who do you think would have a golden age then?

Ahh but see, that's why Nintendo fans love Nintendo.

I buy Nintendo consoles because I don't want sex, drugs and guns in my games.

[MD]

Nintendo has sex, drugs and guns in games.

Sex = Pikman

Drugs = Pokemon

Guns = Metroid

Bouncy Women = Soul Cabiler II

I thank ya.

[gingerj]

I dont expect nintendo to all of the sudden decide to make gta clones. But its better than there current set of clones. They claim as a company to make the most innovative games around but all i've seen this generation is poor sequels and all of about 3 new games one of which wont go any further than asian soils. Compared to there snes days or even there n64 days they are nothing, in fact they've ruined many games in this generation. 1080, Custom Robo, Mario (in the form of anything bar sunshine), pokemon and wave race. They still ignore many genres which would get them the new fan bases that they need i.e realistic sport sims. Urgh it just irritates me the direction they are heading. As i said they should drop in-house development and most of there teams and go buy out some worth while second party developers i.e. bandai, capcom or atlus which in many respects all go down the same sort of moral high ground that ninty do.

[jezzace]

Everyone loves F Zero GX.
but there's just something about it that rubs me the completely the wrong way.
Maybe it's Casinopolis.

Couldn't agree more. I sold it after having it for 3 days then whipped out f-zero X and played that for a month.

Nintendo goldenage :- What MD said. Snes to N64. I.e Yoshi's Island to Mario 64 sums it up.

[razu]

Super Mario World and Street Fighter 2 on SNES was my Nintendo golden age. Games on the NES were great, but the SNES just tipped the graphics to a perfect level, equalling the gameplay and so making the perfect package. SMW still has all the charm it had on launch. Its technological wonders have faded, (mode 7 effects and fullscreen sprites amount to two unfiltered, pre-lit triangles in today's world), but in the future I doubt any of today's games will stand up as well as SMW does today.

That said, I've just thought through my current gaming landscape: I am currently playing Viewtiful Joe. If I need a game to fill 1/2 hour I play GC Mario Golf. I am going to play Luigi's Mansion next. My SNES is set-up, with sf2 turbo in it. I play a random GBA game every lunchtime, (I can even play Pinball Dreams on it, FFS). I have played more than 50 hours of pokemon sapphire in recent times. I am currently looking forward to Paper Mario, Gran Turismo 4 and Ham Ham Sports. I play Hyper Street Fighter on PS2 and Links 2004 on Xbox. So, given my current and near future gaming I'd say Nintendo are riding high in the razu household.

As ever, I have to add that as time goes on games don't dissappear. So, every time a good game is released the age gets 'golder' as you can still play all the old games as well as the current crop.

[Kaladron]

It's good to see some people agree with me.

And yes, I'm a Nintendo and Sega fanboy which is probably why I love this generation the most. Monkey Ball forever!

[fishbowlhead]

ooh a contraversial Gamecube discussion, i like these threads, all the nintendo fan boys get all defensive. Oh well such is the life of a fanboy.

Anyway back to my point, bourght a gamecube back about a month ago now. i went on a mad spree and spent over ?300 on a gamecube and almost all the games worth getting. And what a supprise i havent played the dam thing scince the day after i got it. Nintendo have officially lost there magic and if i sell it again this time that will be it.

Oh and DS is just plain Meh. (probably got a better battery life that PSP though)

[buster_broon]

I love Nintendo - call me a fanbois if you wish but yes i am

i treasure my gamecube most out of my next gen stuff (neo being my favourite)

there are loads of games i love

and as for the DS - i will be getting it just for wario ware

other great games will be a bonus

[Pikman]

I too adore Nintendo and still consider them the best software developer in the world, but the fact is they are not as good as they were in years gone by.

[Sprite Machine]

Oh and DS is just plain Meh.

Can I borrow your crystal ball?

[Sprite Machine]

they have yet to realise that online play is the way...

..to bankrupsy?

They still ignore many genres which would get them the new fan bases that they need i.e realistic sport sims.

!!

If Nintendo released a 'realistic sports sim', it'd have absolutely no chance of succeeding comercially. And more to the point: WHY would you want yet more bleedin' sports sims when the market is already absolutely chock-full of the damned things?!! It would be pointless! No-one would buy it because it'd be seen as the 'second-rate' choice to the already existing and already recognised titles (perhaps the only reason Wave Race did fairly well is because that perticular sport is not well-represented already. Even that had to rely on "the most realistic water effects you've ever seen" tagline to sell itself.*cynical eye-rolling*)

Nintendo are a successful, profitable, and generally well-liked company that has found its niche and continues to sell to it. It is not a case of the 'fanboys' being blinded by past glories to some sort of mediocrity and lack of 'getting-with-the-times' at all; but rather the opposite: Those who have 'moved-on' expect the big N to be something they simply aren't.

Online play, realitic games, violence and 'edgey' themes are done to death (and are frankly a bit boring). The reason Nintendo are a successful, profiting company is because they don't try to compete with this bloated and stagnant piece of the market pie.


Personally, this is only my first generation with a Nintendo console during its shelf-life (as opposed to picking up my N64 when they'd all died off) and I'm not disappointed at all. Some of my favourite games this generation (and ever) have been on the Gamecube. Is it their Golden Age(tm) though? I don't think so. But I wouldn't want them to be anything else. If games became nothing but online frag-fests, I'd probably hang up my joypads for good.

[gingerj]

Well i'd rather them spend time developing a winning eleven beater than wasting there time with kirbys air ride of doshin the giant, and with the use of sales i'm sure the gaming population would rather that.

Come on other than pikmin have they done anything worthwhile with a new franchise? We have what Geist and Giftpia and the second one wont even see most peoples gc because of the language barrier. I think next generation i'll probably get a xbrick 2 and a playstation 3. The allure of nintendo exclusives just isn't there anymore. Normally nintendo get a 3rd party developer support that is amazing that goes hand in hand with there own titles but this generation i haven't seen anything like it. Snes had squaresoft the n64 had rare. Maybe Capcom? This generation but other than VJ so far its hardly been great.

I'd love them to adopt a Sega ethic. Like take a look at there dreamcast games, they managed not only the niche titles like cosmic smash but smacked up the main stream with games like sega gt or there own sports line. I like that they dipped there hand into everything just so that there fan base wouldn't be unhappy. If only they had an extra year with the DC they might of done a **** load better. Maybe nintendo might pick up on what gamers actually want instead of ports of old titles, i think nintendo are beating EA these days taking the sequals king trophy.

[Sprite Machine]

Well i'd rather them spend time developing a winning eleven beater than wasting there time with kirbys air ride of doshin the giant, and with the use of sales i'm sure the gaming population would rather that.

You'd want Nintendo to spend time and money on developing a game like Winning Eleven to rival the much-loved Winning Eleven on a system which already hosts Winning Eleven, rather than doing something different?

Come on other than pikmin have they done anything worthwhile with a new franchise?

No (in fact I don't even like Pikmin that much), but they've done some great and original stuff with their existing franchises.

Normally nintendo get a 3rd party developer support that is amazing that goes hand in hand with there own titles but this generation i haven't seen anything like it. Snes had squaresoft the n64 had rare. Maybe Capcom?

Yeah, I see what you're saying. Nintendo don't have a STRONG 'back-up' second-party reliable softco like they used to have, but I think they've made up for it with the frankly huuuge (by Nintendo standards) 3rd party support they have this time around, and the few hangers-on, too (yes, like Capcom - they've been great this generation).

I'd love them to adopt a Sega ethic. Like take a look at there dreamcast games, they managed not only the niche titles like cosmic smash but smacked up the main stream with games like sega gt or there own sports line. I like that they dipped there hand into everything just so that there fan base wouldn't be unhappy.

They went down the pan for being over-ambitious. Do you really want Nintendo to do that too?

i think nintendo are beating EA these days taking the sequals king trophy.

Don't be silly.

[112]

Its a given that without pokemon, nintendo would have been finished a long time ago. But to call this a golden age is not a very accurate statement. the idea of a golden age implies a company doing well in their sales and well as pleasing the gaming society as a whole. Neither of which are happening at the moment for nintendo.

I personally dont see nintendo having changed much from the snes days. Sure with a newer platform they may churn out a few original ideas. But the countless numbers of re-hashes still rear their heads.

This current generation is no dofferent from the N64 - the machine still lags behind its opponants; their innovative games still go generally unoticed by the majority of gamers; they are still pigeon holed into a child like status; they refuse to use a medium like its competitior making games production harder for dev co's.

My personal opinion is of only support for their current machine, as its to me where the company should have been with the N64. And i am really enjoying the originality of the games that have come to pass. Everything about the system from its packaging and way a game plays screams care and attention. Something that lacks in most, if not all western developed games.

To sum up, the idea of the golden age, id have to say - no it is not at the stage and will not be for a while. And from the way things are going id say it might not be ever again. Quality does not make a gaming system - its quantity (eg playstations numerous churned out drivel of the same thing).

I feel that we should enjoy what we can for the time being as you never know when nintendo could follow in the way of sega, and find mario on a plastation 5 or xbox 8.

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