Nintendo's worst mistakes.

Samtemdo8

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- Cartridges on the N64 sacrificed textures and music for good load times, which was a poor trade off.
- The Virtual Boy should never have seen the light of day.
- Not putting a DVD player in the GameCube.
- Calling the Wii U the Wii U.
- Making the Wii U have the tablet controller.
- Pissing off Sony so much they decided to make the PlayStation.

And finally something that didn't hurt sales but irks me to this day:
- Not making the screen in the Game Boy Advance backlit
1. Ehhhh Textures are debatable, to me I think N64 edges out the competition of the time
2. The least they could have done was re-release certain Virtual Boy games that could clearly work on systems not Virtual Boy, like that Virtual Boy Wario Land
3. I think they should have factored that in pricing, Gamecube doesn't have DVD player but the console is cheaper then a PS2 if you just wanna play games.
4.Yes
5. One value it had is being able to make DS games still be viable on new hardware.
6. Nintendo was that afraid of the Piracy scene they saw in the use of CDs
7. Thank goodness for the GBA SP
 

Samtemdo8

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Rather heavy censorship on their games early on, ended up costing them with Mortal Kombat, although they about faced with MK2. That weird nintendo creators program where they would dmca any vid that wasn't from someone who was a member.
Curious if there were any youtubers that signed up on that program and benefited from it
 

BrawlMan

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I think they should have factored that in pricing, Gamecube doesn't have DVD player the console is cheaper then a PS2 if you wanna play games.
Yet most AAA games were still at a $50 price tag. Not complaining, just pointing that out. Also, most games that allowed it, still had "DVD style features", or unlocks when beating a game or using cheat codes.

Virtual Boy Wario Land
That needs a port so hard!

6. Nintendo was that afraid of the Piracy scene they saw in the use of CDs
A lot good that did!
 

Worgen

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Whatever, just wash your hands.
Curious if there were any youtubers that signed up on that program and benefited from it
I would be shocked if there weren't at least a few that did. It is one of those weird things where I heard a lot about it as it was implemented but then not much till it was being phased out.
 

CastletonSnob

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Seeing a lot of "Backing out of the SNES CD add-on deal with Sony" posts.

I see no reason to believe the SNES CD add-on would have succeeded, given how badly the Sega CD flopped.
 

BrawlMan

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Seeing a lot of "Backing out of the SNES CD add-on deal with Sony" posts.

I see no reason to believe the SNES CD add-on would have succeeded, given how badly the Sega CD flopped.
It stood a better chance, because Sony was actually taking their time and not rushing out a product before being cancelled. Plus, it's a big mistake that costed Nintendo dearly for two whole generations. You don't like the truth, too bad. Reality is a cruel biatch, if you let it be that way.
 

CastletonSnob

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It stood a better chance, because Sony was actually taking their time and not rushing out a product before being cancelled. Plus, it's a big mistake that costed Nintendo dearly for two whole generations. You don't like the truth, too bad. Reality is a cruel biatch, if you let it be that way.
Yeah, it was a mistake, but Nintendo certainly didn't help themselves with the decisions they made for those two generations, like sticking to cartridges for the N64 and using mini-discs for the GameCube.

Even if the partnership didn't fall apart, there's still a chance that the SNES CD add-on fails and Nintendo sees its failure as proof that CDs aren't the future and still sticks to cartridges for the N64. Nintendo was already uneasy toward CDs during the deal with Sony.

There are a lot of variables and "what ifs", is my point.
 
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BrawlMan

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Yeah, it was a mistake, but Nintendo certainly didn't help themselves with the decisions they made for those two generations, like sticking to cartridges for the N64 and using mini-discs for the GameCube.
Yes, all that is true and we all get that, but them screwing over Sony was the starting point that led to a huge domino effect to other disasters. All of it mostly self-inflicted.

Even if the partnership didn't fall apart, there's still a chance that the SNES CD add-on fails and Nintendo sees its failure as proof that CDs aren't the future and still sticks to cartridges for the N64. Nintendo was already uneasy toward CDs during the deal with Sony
You said that a thousand times, it doesn't excuse them. And even if the console or add-on fails, Sony would have never made Playstation, and they still would have had a ok relationship regardless. And then Sony would have taken interests elsewhere and moved on. If Nintendo was really that uneasy, they never would have made the deal in the first place. So once again, all self-inflicted leading to the Domino's disasters they set in in place upon themselves.

There are a lot of variables and "what ifs", is my point.
Giving your track record, you didn't exactly make that clear. You should have started that or said that at the end of your argument.
 

CastletonSnob

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You said that a thousand times, it doesn't excuse them. And even if the console or add-on fails, Sony would have never made Playstation, and they still would have had a ok relationship regardless. And then Sony would have taken interests elsewhere and moved on. If Nintendo was really that uneasy, they never would have made the deal in the first place. So once again, all self-inflicted leading to the Domino's disasters they set in in place upon themselves.
I think Sony would have entered the console market with or without Nintendo. The SNES add-on was just their way of getting their foot in the door.
 

BrawlMan

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I think Sony would have entered the console market with or without Nintendo. The SNES add-on was just their way of getting their foot in the door.
Yes, but Nintendo gave an extra advantage by getting them first look on how consoles are made in the process. Sony at that point new what to do, when to do, where to do, and to be way more laxed with policies. The spite they had for Nintendo at the time, just gave them extra motivation and focus.
 

CastletonSnob

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Third parties would have had no reason to take a chance with a newcomer in Sony if the N64 used CDs, because Nintendo was still the market leader at the time.

If the N64 used CDs and Nintendo kept all the third parties, the Playstation might very well have just been another also-ran in the console market.
 

Bedinsis

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Calling the new 3DS the New 3DS.
How do you figure?

Calling the Wii U the Wii U was a mistake because it confused consumers of being something Wii related like a peripheral, but New 3DS was like the old 3DS, but new.
 

Drathnoxis

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How do you figure?

Calling the Wii U the Wii U was a mistake because it confused consumers of being something Wii related like a peripheral, but New 3DS was like the old 3DS, but new.
Because it's a stupid confusing name, isn't that obvious? It's 7 years old now, but it's still 'new.' It's just good it's also the last DS or talking about it would have become really difficult. It's dumb like the Xbox One being the 3rd Xbox.
 
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Bedinsis

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Because it's a stupid confusing name, isn't that obvious? It's 7 years old now, but it's still 'new.' It's just good it's also the last DS or talking about it would have become really difficult. It's dumb like the Xbox One being the 3rd Xbox.
In that case it is only a bad decision in retrospect, as in it is barely confusing now, and hardly worthy of being labelled one of Nintendo's worst mistakes.
 

BrawlMan

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In that case it is only a bad decision in retrospect, as in it is barely confusing now, and hardly worthy of being labelled one of Nintendo's worst mistakes.
Speak for yourself. Tell that to the highly confused parents, uncles, aunts, or grandparents and great-grandparents
 

Gordon_4

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Speak for yourself. Tell that to the highly confused parents, uncles, aunts, or grandparents and great-grandparents
It’s not that difficult to figure out. And if they have trouble, that’s what employees at the store are there to help them figure out.
 

XsjadoBlayde

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When they keep doing this, they can go fuck themselves


Remember those incredibly charming scans taken from the Super Mario 64 guidebook that is full of intricate 3D models of each level I reported on last week? Well, sadly the powers that be at Nintendo have decided to flex their muscles once more and issued the scan's uploader (Dave Shevlin of Comfort Food Video Games) with a takedown notice.

In a statement to Kotaku, Shevlin said:

"Sadly archive.org sent me their usual takedown notice email telling me Nintendo of America challenged the copyright of the scan and it was removed.

"Frankly I'd love to challenge the legitimacy of that and how Nintendo of America would have anything to do with a Nintendo of Japan licensed Gem Books guide from 1995 but I can't really fight the Nintendo legal team here. It's incredibly disappointing.

"While I fully understand protecting one's IP and copyrights, I didn't think I was hurting anyone by scanning and uploading a 27-year-old guide that is extremely out of print. Truthfully, I think it helps Nintendo while only hurting the people selling this guide for literal hundreds of dollars. All I wanted to do was spread my love of this incredible guide and to a larger extent my love for the company.

"I'm a rookie to the video game preservation scene but I can't think of anything more depressing than how it's a bunch of hard-working people spending their free time and money painstakingly archiving and preserving history while major corporations like Nintendo are doing nothing to help. In fact, they're actively hindering the cause."

This is hugely disappointing, but alas it is what has come to be expected from Nintendo. After all, the company has gained quite a reputation for its strict copyright policy over the years.

Other projects that have had to succumb to Nintendo's whims include Pokémon Essentials, a kit that allowed users to design their own Pokémon adventures, and Super Mario 64 HD, a free fan project that remastered the N64 game's first level.

More recently, Nintendo has been taking aim at YouTube channels streaming soundtracks from its games.

Then, at the start of this month, videos demonstrating emulation of Nintendo consoles on Valve's Steam Deck began mysteriously disappearing from YouTube.
 
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bluegate

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The topic creator would probably have gotten along swimmingly with trollshi.

Plenty of mistakes already mentioned, another mistake is them not jumping onboard earlier with what has been the standard in gaming for near 25 years; controllers with two analogue sticks, four back buttons and 10 face buttons.
 
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Catfood220

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Trying to reinvent the wheel with every Paper Mario game when all the fans want it a JRPG style gamein a similar to The Thousand Year Door with maybe some gameplay tweeks to keep things interesting. I like The Origami King but all the while I was playing it, all I could think was "why couldn't this of been a JRPG. The mechanics are all there".

And why we're at it, how come Paper Mario, TTYD and Super Paper Mario, you know, the good ones not been packed into one cartridge for me to buy? The market is out there Nintendo, just stop being precious about your mascot and do it. Do you not like money Nintendo?