292: The Making (and Unmaking) of a Nintendo Fanboy

[Psychemaster]

I was a Nintendo kid. I have fond memories of a limited edition gold Zelda cartridge I burned endless hours on whenever I could get my hands on it... And I've played on every single Nintendo console ever made with the exception of the Virtual Boy (because nobody would ever want to inflict that on themselves)

Nowadays, though, I only use my Wii for playing Brawl, and my DS for Pokemon. It's been said too many times that Nintendo lacks third-party support and I agree with that sentiment - maybe if there were more people making playable games for the Wii I'd actually use it.

 

[108Stitches]

You haven't received many comments, but I think your article was brilliant.

Breaking away from the company that introduced you to the wonders of videogames is one of the most difficult things I've ever done.

It's a lot easier when the company stops making hardware, see Atari.

or Sega. I never got into the whole Nintendo scene, being one of the few master system owners, then subsequent Genesis / Sega CD / 32X / Saturn. My real horror came when I had to choose between Sony / MS.

It was difficult though, having a son that was also a gamer who demanded the N64 and started the family down the N path anyway (gamecube, GB, GBA, DS, wii). He is also the reason we have a 360 rather than a PS3, despite the PS1/PS2 that are still floating around the house somewhere.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

I had two "friends" who fit I thought about when reading the part about riding your bike to a home that had a NES. They were kids I knew from summer camp, and I made the mistake of inviting them over once. They found out we had a NES and for an hour and a half, they sat in my brother's room and didn't say two words to me or my brother. Every time they came over, it was straight to the NES. I remember walking around the side of my house once and seeing them coming around the corner on their bikes. I ducked for cover, made sure the doors were locked, and didn't let them in. After ringing the doorbell ten times, they finally gave up. It hurt my feelings that they didn't want to play with me, but just wanted the system.

You make no mention of The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time. I remember hearing friends at school talk about that and wishing that I had an N64 instead of a PlayStation. Did you not like that game?

I'm afraid I am one of those "rich" people who owns every current console. One of my co-workers was saying how, since I had a PS3, I was missing out on the best multiplayer for Black Ops and how the 360 is simply a better system. I laid out the positives for the PS3, but he wouldn't listen. I simply smiled and said, "Okay, if that's what you want to think." Then, as I was walking away, I turned around and said, "Oh, I have a 360 also. I own them both." That shut him up pretty quick. Fun times there.

Sorry for rambling.

 

[foryth]

Excellent article... you must be early/mid 30s.

 

[the-kitchen-slayer]

I can say my console history has been an odd one. I grew up a PC gamer, and even then, behind on the times. 5 1/4" floppies in the ninties? damn, old stuff.

Anyways, my first Console was an NES, which went and bricked about 1998. Then, I stuck with PC up until 2002 or so, when I got a Sega Genesis for free. That Sega still works, I may add. can't remember when, but my friend sold me his N64 when he upgraded to PS2, which was pretty cool as well. About the only time I really caught up with the console's was recently, about 2006, when I started working, and therefore bought a PS2. A few short, but sweet, years later, I went PS3.

I could be called a sony fanboy, if you really wanted to, but I've played on all three consoles, and have found that I honestly just don't like the Xbox, more for it's game lineup than anything. Granted, it has several good games (gears of war come to mind), but not enough that make me willing to shell out money to go and get one. I'm also not a multiplayer fan, so that big reason for getting an Xbox doesn't apply to me either.

 

[CronoDAS]

The PS1 was better for single-player games, but the N64 was definitely better for multiplayer ones. Just look at the consoles themselves: the N64 had four controller ports, while the PS1 only had two.

 

[BehattedWanderer]

You know, come to think of it, Nintendo's had a late-bloomer problem the past few entries. I didn't realize the N64 had the issue, myself receiving the system about a quarter into its life cycle, for my birthday. The Gamecube and the DS both had a problem of very little delivery early on, only to gain great selections a little later in their stages. And apart from a few good releases early on, I think we're all pretty aware that only recently has Nintendo started putting high-quality titles on the Wii.

But, I remember getting the N64, along with Mario Kart, and two extra controllers. My dad, my sisters, my friends, we could all play. I had occasionally seen Sony's better picture quality, and the guy who would buy our house commented once on the graphic state of my N64, saying "Wow, that doesn't look too good, why don't you play a Playstation game, where the graphics are better?", but my N64 was all I had at the time, and, to me, it still looked fantastic.

Besides, a little later I had 4 controllers, and that meant I could get three friends together and we could play Mario Kart, Tetris, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark, Diddy Kong Racing, and even Donkey Kong 64's odd, odd little multiplayer. On the Playstation, at the time I only knew of single and two player games, so the N64 won that round, in my eyes.

 

[flagship]

Nice article, I had a similar journey. I was obsessed with Nintendo but had to face reality when nearly everything I wanted to play was coming out on the Playstation not my beloved N64.

 

[Gothproxy]

Nintendo-heads scare me. Just plain, flat out, scare me.

Though I enjoyed my time with the SNES and games like Shadowrun, Secret of Mana and Romance of the Three Kingdoms, I have never understood what makes these die-hard people go absolutely NUTS for Mario and Link and Donkey Kong to the point of crying at a news conference announcing that the newest Zelda game is in the works.

That, and they just creep me out.

 

[New Troll]

I lucked out when I was about 7 and my mom married a guy with a gamer son the same age as me. Well, actually he's two months younger than me, but you get my drift. So with every system match-up, he'd get one and I'd get the other. He got his NES, I got my Master System. He got his Super Nintendo, I got my Genesis. He got his Neo Geo, I got my 3DO. Even now, twenty-five years later, he's more 360 where-as I'm more PlayStation 3, though these days we have to buy both systems for ourselves. But the kicker was we both played both, so life was grand. I had my Wizardry games on his NES just as he had his Streets of Rage games on my Master System. And again, we both played both. Life was indeed grand.

 

[CrystalShadow]

It's funny what your perceptions can do.

I looked at this article and the first thing that popped into my head was 'wow. American Snes consoles are ugly.'. Pointless, but accurate I guess, in a relative sense. (The European and japanese versions are mostly rounded edges, the US version is... All sharp corners.)

Anyway...

Yeah, things like this happen, and often it's what happens if you can't afford more than one choice. (or aren't allowed to have more than one).

Some personal experiences are somewhat ironic though; All my memories of early Playstation games weren't positive at all.

They had fun concepts, but in my opinion, horrible graphics (lots of pixelation, to be precise; No real texture filtering), I hated the controller, and by extension, most of the games felt like they were difficult to control, and I had a hard time dealing with waiting 5 minutes for things to load. (something I got used to later on because it started to happen on PC's as well.)

On the plus side, it did seem to have more elaborate content in games, voice acting, better music... All stuff that can presumably be traced back to the CD capacity compared with tiny cartridges.

I'd hazard a guess that it's a large factor in why anyone considers playstation games to be better looking too. There's simply more scope for highly diverse and detailed environments which would be difficult to cram onto a cartridge.

Cartridges have their advantages, but they have a tiny capacity, and they're very expensive.

I recall hearing that the cartridge for an SNES game cost about $26 dollars to make, while a CD cost's about 10 cents...

You can see why they went out of favour.

Thankfully, modern console wars aren't as annoying as the ones back then. I've only ever owned Nintendo systems, but that's always been a financial thing; Even back in the SNES days I would probably have gotten more than one console if I actually had the money. (Though ironically, I doubt I would have gotten a playstation when it was launched. That console really just does not sit well with me. It only became a temptation later on when it had a huge number of games, and the dualshock controller had been created.)

 

[Corbett Owens]

Great article. I can relate to being the kid with the SNES and playing Mortal Kombat. Punching a dude only to see sweat come flying from his mouth was sort of a let down, until I played the Genesis version and tried to use that kooky A-B-C button configuration. After the SNES, I switched sides and got a Playstation, and I've stuck with them. However, I have since then purchased an Xbox 360 and a Wii, because each console has such great titles, it's hard not to have your cake and eat it, too.

 

[kokirisoldier]

That was a great article. That sounded a lot like my time growing up as a late 80's baby with a super Nintendo controller in my hands, not buying a non-Nintendo console until the "white playstation 1" thing.

 

[Trent_Steel]

That's more or less the exact same path I took. Teenage Mutant Hero Turtles, Fester's Quest and Zelda II may not be considered classics, but as my introduction to a two-decades old hobby they were to me. As time progressed through the 16 and 32bit eras, it's amazing how much I fell for the propaganda of the console specific mags, conveniently ignoring the more prolific and better titles offered by the "GreyStation" whilst telling myself loading times mattered.

Oddly enough, once Goldeneye was released, a lot of my GreyStation owning friends switched over to the N64, though I think we were more the exception rather than the rule.

I continues my staunch refusal to accept facts into the Gamecube era, though with Super Mario Sunshine, Tony Hawk's 3 + 4, Wind Waker, Monkey Ball, Metroid Prime, Timesplitters 2 and Eternal Darkness to keep me going, times weren't quite as lean as some of the darker N64 days. Chameleon Twist and Top Gear Rally are forgotten for a reason.

I got a DS, but the Wii was a step too far for my loyalty. I'd still like one for Super Mario Galaxy, DKC Returns, Zelda and a few others, but made the executive decision to move to Sony.

Even though I don't play their games as much now, I still take some delight at the manner in which Nintendo, who for almost a decade saw their market share plummet, their decisions ridiculed, managed to outsmart the others and dominate gaming (at least from a profits point of view) once again. I'll always want them to "win" so to speak, so I guess I'm still a fanboy at heart.

 

[rembrandtqeinstein]

I'm not a fanboy, I owned consoles from every manufacturer, NES, Genesis, PS1, PS2, Wii. But I will defend Wii against the brown shooter, sports franchise, halo bros who deride it as a kiddy system.

My only regret is genesis over snes. 3 buttons just weren't enough for the evolving gameplay I wanted.

What I like about Nintendo is that the number one overriding factor is fun. The cartridge vs cd decision was made in part because they decided that waiting for load times weren't fun.

Battle Arena Toshinden sold me more than anything else on the potential of ps1. However I extensively borrowed a friend's n64 to play the iconic goldeneye, mario 64, perfect dark, ocarina of time. There were a lot of hidden gems of that gen such as Jet Force Gemini and other non-goldeneye/pd RARE games.

For PS2 vs gamecube the backwards compatibility (and dvd play) is what sold me. The

And I defend Nintendo in this gen because they still aim for the most fun. And as an adult with family responsibilities the amount of fun/time invested in a Wii beats anything the competition has to offer hands down.

 

[Tomo Stryker]

Your right you know, I love my old original Xbox. But it is old and outdated, which is why I spent time fixing an old 360 that I still love today instead of a PS3. All those kids who aren't spoiled try to be cheap and stick with what they know, which is why they don't go out and purchase two copies of Black Ops for both of their consoles while complaining to their mom that they want 'another' pony (/sarcasm).

I don't regret getting a PS3 but ever once in a while I wish I had a PS3 so that I could play Killzone. But in about five more years we will be arguing over the PS4 and the Xbox 720 and it will be a new era for gaming.

 

[j-frost]

You writing my bio or what?

Love it <3

 

[Zom-B]

What? The N64 was awesome, Nintendo only started going downhill with the Gamecube (and then crashed and burned with the Wii).

aside from Super Mario 64, i never liked the N64. i always thought the colours were washed out and the graphics poor. i know that Nintendo was pushing the boundaries of what their system could do, but to me almost all of the games using "3D" polygon graphics were really quite ugly.

the Gamecube on the other hand, while somewhat of a failure, i always had a soft spot for and still have one, albeit packed away in my closet.

 

[Chibz]

What? The N64 was awesome, Nintendo only started going downhill with the Gamecube (and then crashed and burned with the Wii).

I viewed the N64 as a personal betrayal, what with its awful controller. I couldn't care to look past that. If the controller pisses me off, it has a detrimental on every game's gameplay.

 

[Chibz]

What is this? It didn't show up until a long time after I posted the second one! Ugh...