Some people are quick to greenlight everything Nintendo does without question, fanboys of the highest caliber. Other people are quick to dismiss Nintendo as a kiddy game company behind the times in terms of what the other systems are doing: online multiplayer, HD, multimedia, etc. Here is what I think of Nintendo, and there's a little bit of truth in both arguments.
Nintendo is and has always been ahead of the game in some way or another, and a trendsetter. It single-handedly invented the story-based video game with Donkey Kong, saved console gaming with the NES, ruled the 16-bit era with the SNES, invented effective analog gaming, created the first four-player system and truly did invent 3D graphic gaming with the 64, invented true 3D gaming with the Virtual Boy somewhere in there (albeit in awful execution), invented handheld gaming with the Gameboy, turned touch screens into an innovative new gaming control scheme with the DS, took motion control and turned it into an effective and fun way to control games with the Wii, and now they've made the first gaming device to use 3D capabilities without the use of glasses in the 3DS. They're immensely innovative and geniuses of their craft, but if they don't do something before everyone else does, they don't want to do it at all. See: disc-based game format, multimedia support, HD support, serious online multiplayer support, solid third party support, the list goes on. Nintendo feels the need to innovate, and if they weren't the inventors of a certain aspect of gaming, they don't want anything to do with it. It's narrow-minded and egotistical, and Nintendo will eventually learn the hard way that they need to admit once in a while that someone else did something before they did that they should be doing as well. They're too prideful and full of themselves, and I think that's their biggest downfall.
The same rings true for their franchises. Granted that Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and their other major first party IP's usually consist of solid material and buying one of those games often results in a good purchase, but Nintendo relies too much on that small handful of franchises and seem to be afraid to try new things outside of gameplay innovations. By that I mean fresh, new ideas for games or series that they haven't already done dozens of times. Pikmin was a risk-taking new IP and it performed wonderfully. Though of course, it was Miyamoto doing what he does best once again. What will happen to Nintendo when the inevitable day of Miyamoto's death comes? They won't be able to ride the money train chugging along the tracks of his brain forever. Sure, they could and will continue to pump out new titles in his beloved franchises, but without him working on them it's entirely possible that they won't retain their same charm and vision and will being a downhill slide. Of course it's always interesting to see what wacky things Mario, Link, Samus, and Kirby are up to in their next adventure, but the industry is still waiting for Nintendo to break out of its comfort zone and create some amazing new ideas to spring from. If Nintendo were as ballsy with their IP as they are with their technology, I think they would truly represent the greatest game company out there, but as it stands, their story and character ideas are slowly growing stale. Unfortunately, until they learn to overcome that sense of prideful stubbornness, they'll simply continue to be the same old Nintendo. We love them, but we should still be able to acknowledge when they need to grow up a little.
