Poll: Are core gamers too harsh on Nintendo?

[Macgyvercas]

I'm harsh on Nintendo because they are neglecting the core fanbase in favor of catering to the casual gaming market. I'm also ticked at them for those god awful motion controls. And I was raised on Nintendo, BTW.

Bottom Line Nintendo: Stop it with the casual games. And lose the motion controls.

 

[regallmighty]

Nintendo as its focus on fun, and if that means giving up on super graphics then thats there disition. they should not be bashed about it

 

[Taerdin]

I dislike Nintendo, I think gamers aren't harsh enough on it.

They essentially make games for children. I mean if you really look at the stories for these games, they're basically like the plot to a family movie. Mario is constantly saving a princess in a world where no real tragedies ever seem to happen. I mean a giant evil turtle steals a woman away and basically just...uhh... does nothing... why did he even steal her? Just because he's the bad guy and thats what bad guys do. If the game was marketed towards people older than 12 then maybe some actual things would happen in the plot, like Mario would doubt his abilities but then overcome obstacles and save the princess who was about to be raped by a giant turtle man or something. SOMETHING.

(and yes I know that plot was shit, but at least it was SOMETHING. The plots to these games are all magic happiness and nothing real even remotely happens. I'm sure I can't be the only one who sees that the plots to nintendos games are essentially the plots to family movies).

Now I understand how these kind of plots hooked a generation of gamers and now that they've grown up they still enjoy the nostalgia aspect of seeing their favourite children's games still releasing new titles and playing somewhat like they remember, but as someone who didn't grow up with Nintendo I'm left scratching my head wondering why these games are really so great. The only answer I can come to (for myself) is that they aren't really great, and rather its some kind of nostalgia aspect that I missed out on. Its just like how I have fond memories of certain things from when I grew up, but if I went back today and tried watching an episode of Gargoyles or something I might be like, "AWESOME! I loved this show!" But if I were to show it to my 24 year old friend and ask him if he wanted to watch it with me all night he'd probably laugh at me, or make fun of me.

So basically, Nintendo makes good game.... for children. If in a few years when I have a kid Nintendo is still making games I'll probably buy him Nintendo games as they are certainly targeted directly at him. But as for me, I will stick to the PC/PS3 for the most part, and avoid taking part in a plot with characters who seem to have little or no real motivation, mechanics that are simple to understand and hand holdy (superguide? really?), colourful worlds out of a kids picture book, goofy stereotypical over the top ness which is funny to kids but borderline politically incorrect among adults (MAMA MIA! *adjusts thick italian porn stache*), and writing that is clearly simple and targeted towards younger minds.

Now normally when I type out a critical post like this I think twice about it. I'm like, hey if I wrote that much then I probably said something I didn't quite mean to say that way and it will be taken wrong and someone will attack me with it and thats a headache I just don't need. But just this once I'm actually going to post this crap and you're just going to have to deal with it.

Also, 900.

 

[Grunge4Ever]

The Metroid Prime series is way better then a lot of shooters on the X-box, anyway most hardcore gamers who bash Nintendo are people who think Halo is the best game in history. Mainly they are trying to feel grown up by playing games that have blood and swearing.

 

[Jonatron]

Nintendo as its focus on fun, and if that means giving up on super graphics then thats there disition. they should not be bashed about it

I bought what I thought would be my only console I'd need because of their good reputation and because of all those old franchises they maintain. I've bought a whole lot of games for it but the half of the pile which is third party is mostly shit. It's taken a long time but I'm on the verge of getting a 360, which I am very much anticipating. I don't mind graphics so much, but there is atmosphere and gameplay which the Wii has for the most part shown itself incapable of providing. Favourite Wii titles for me Super Mario Galaxy (242 Stars, woo!) and RE4 (Stunning game). But there's a massive chunk of mainstream gaming that a Wii owner misses out on. Nintendo deserve their bashing. I trusted them with my paltry, youth budget and they betrayed me.

I loved a lot of the time with it, but I've killed the back catalog and everything I want to look forward to is on the other side of fence.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

well in part, cause they made the Wii which was good in intentions but bad in graphics and practice... let's just say that: so-so

 

[wooty]

For me personally, my fascination with Nintendo faded when the SNES died out and we went into the Playstation era, they just couldn't make the N64 speak to me so I left.

 

[Toriver]

The Metroid Prime series is way better then a lot of shooters on the X-box, anyway most hardcore gamers who bash Nintendo are people who think Halo is the best game in history. Mainly they are trying to feel grown up by playing games that have blood and swearing.

Good call, short and to the point. I do find this to be true. Who says you have to have a lot of blood, profanity, and sex to have a good game? Nintendo still makes quality games for its consoles. If people still buy them and have fun with them, I don't see too much of a problem.

 

[Outright Villainy]

The Wii I have mixed feelings for. When nintendo gets cracking to it, Twilight princess, mario galaxy, smash bros and metroid, they make fantastic games that are just as good as the old ones. (mario galaxy being even better than 64 In my opinion)

But then... Nothing. No games coming from nintendo even remoteley interesting to someone who's played games more than 10 minutes in their life, and the wii gathers dust. Of course when the new zelda and mario comes out I'll get them immediately (even though galaxy 2 isn't different in the bloody slightest), It's really frigging annoying spending loads on a console with dated hardware, when nintendo didn't even bother to make more decent games once they caugth the "casual" market.

Simply, this is the last nintendo console I'll buy until they start making some freaking games again, because the only reason to get a nintendo console was for the kick ass first party games (for me, this elevated the n64 from the worst to best console in history.)
A decent (great even) game every couple of years doesn't really cut it.
/rant.

 

[Treblaine]

*snip*

So basically, Nintendo makes good games.... for children.

Arguably true, but in between civilian massacres in Modern Warfare 2, Chainsawing aliens to death in Gears of War 2 and tackling the social issues of interspecies sex in Mass Effect... are you really surprised that people want to escape from those games from time to time for a more pleasant and playful experience?

Even if you never played Mario or Zelda as a kid, people like to escape to the mushroom kingdom or Hyrule and explore the magical enchanting elements of a game, that would be better described as "universally appealing" rather than "for kids".

And it's not like that is ALL that the Wii does and it's not like Wii has a monopoly on "playful easy going" games as Playstation 3 has 'LittleBigPlanet' and 'Flower', while Wii has House of the Dead: Overkill, Resi 4/Darksider/Umbrella Chronicles, Dead Space Extraction etc.

I mean an 18 rating on a game is just an age rating, not a score indicating quality. A game doesn't HAVE to be violent or mature for it to appeal to a mature audience.

I like violent games as much as the next red blooded male (and err, I guess chicks like em too, huh) but damn it if it doesn't drain you after a while incinerating your umpteenth Japanese Soldier with a Flame thrower seconds before he bayonets you through the eye socket... that's where a fun adventure platformer can come in perfect, exploring, looting, leveling up.

I don't mean to paint you as some square headed jock who can't have bloodless fun, I'm sure that's not the case, but you may have left that unintended impression with your post.

 

[Taerdin]

Even if you never played Mario or Zelda as a kid, people like to escape to the mushroom kingdom or Hyrule and explore the magical enchanting elements of a game, that would be better described as "universally appealing" rather than "for kids".

Well I mean, people can enjoy a good family movie. I could probably sit through Toy Story and have a pretty good time, but I'd be kidding myself if I thought that that movie was made without kids in mind as the main audience for it. I'm not saying these games aren't enjoyable 'for anyone' I'm just saying they're made in terms of what children will understand and get into, and not necessarily the kind of thing that someone at my age wants to spend the rest of his life locked into. I can only take so much of the simplified plots, occasionally I like to be challenged, to be made to think, to be made to feel. Kids games are a good distraction from time to time, but for me I need something with more meaning from time to time.

And it's not like that is ALL that the Wii does and it's not like Wii has a monopoly on "playful easy going" games as Playstation 3 has 'LittleBigPlanet' and 'Flower', while Wii has House of the Dead: Overkill, Resi 4/Darksider/Umbrella Chronicles, Dead Space Extraction etc.

Oh I know this. I'm not even talking about the Wii's vast library as a whole and making a blanket generalization over it and calling it law. I'm obviously talking about a very specific subset of games, which I hoped you would understand. I never really made any comment like "WII HAS KIDS GAMES SO ITS NOT WORTH HAVING OR PLAYING EVER" or something crazy like that, I actually said I would get one for my kid, the point was that I dont feel like I'm the target audience for nintendo's adventures anymore. I'm really not trying to start a console war here, I just think its naive to think that nintendo isn't mostly targeting children or younger players.

I mean an 18 rating on a game is just an age rating, not a score indicating quality. A game doesn't HAVE to be violent or mature for it to appeal to a mature audience.

Oh I wouldn't dare make a statement like this, and I don't believe I did. While the rating on the game obviously does not denote quality, the fact that Nintendo's main franchises have lower ratings sure is a tell tale sign of who they're targeting (hint: E for EVERYONE!). Which means they must make their games kid friendly otherwise... well... they'd miss out on that money and who wants that?

I like violent games as much as the next red blooded male (and err, I guess chicks like em too, huh) but damn it if it doesn't drain you after a while incinerating your umpteenth Japanese Soldier with a Flame thrower seconds before he bayonets you through the eye socket... that's where a fun adventure platformer can come in perfect, exploring, looting, leveling up.

I don't mean to paint you as some square headed jock who can't have bloodless fun, I'm sure that's not the case, but you may have left that unintended impression with your post.

I left the impression that I'm some square headed jock? How? I can't help but feel that this is some kind of gigantic stereotypical generalisation you're placing on me. Yes because I dislike things that don't have me in mind as their target audience, I must be some square headed jock who can't have bloodless fun. Bravo. *slow clap*

I've never owned an xbox and I don't play first person death match multiplayer type games. I also dont play sports games, racing games, or even play physical sports (so much for that jock comment huh?). I enjoy a good adventure game, in fact Beyond Good and Evil was an amazing game I can point to and say, "hey this game would be good for kids, but do you know what, it also had some thought provoking and quality content in there for more mature people to enjoy" because well it kind of did. Sometimes (read: most of the time) I just need a bit more from my games then "you need to save this person because... you are the good guy and thats what good guys do... and you need to defeat this guy because... he is bad... and thats what you do with bad people... grey areas? screw that! motivation? pfft whatever"

I find it hilarious that apparently you think in extremes. I don't like lighthearted games so I must be the opposite! BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!!! Whatever dude... stick with logical arguements, reasoning, and making points, leave the gross generalisations to the rest of the Escapist community.

 

[Plurralbles]

nope. Nintendo even messes up their good franchises and they haven't had an original bone in their body since the 90's.

 

[TelHybrid]

I'd say yes.

I think The Wii is a good console with good first party support.

The console itself is decent enough, large backlog of downloadable games, impeccable backwards compatibility, good 1st party games like Mario Galaxy and Metroid Prime 3 and such.

It's just the 3rd party support. It's ridiculously poor. Nintendo can only make a handful of games, most of their franchises only receive one game per console. Usually there's some good 3rd party games to beef up their console. The loss of Rare doesn't help, or the fact that it doesn't get many multi-platform games.

Once we see a true Wii Zelda (i.e. not a port), F-Zero, Star Fox, Donkey Kong (assuming they got the rights from Rare), and *can't think of more examples right now from tiredness* it might get a bit more life back into it.

As for casual games... have a look at some of the casual franchises that other consoles get too, not to mention genres that repeat themselves.

Casual examples: Guitar Hero/Rockband, Buzz, Lips, Singstar, Fuzion Frenzy...

Repetitive examples: Sports games.

 

[Veldt Falsetto]

Look at Mario for example, hes been in almost every genre going and they keep doing new things with him, yeah Galaxy was a platformer but it's different to anything before it.

Is this a joke?

Super Mario Galaxy is shitte compared to the original Super Mario 64. And i am not just saying that because i have fond memories of that game, if you wanted me to i could list all sorts of reasons why Super Mario 64 is better on almost every level.

I said it was different not better

 

[e2density]

Nintendo is losing the market that made them popular.

And they have been trying to get them back with remakes...

 

[SnootyEnglishman]

I grew up on Nintendo playing NES,SNES 64 hell i even own a Virtual Boy...yes i said it Virtual Boy. But Nintendo's thing has and always will be "fun for the whole family" and it's worked for them so far and i still enjoy them to this day.

 

[Small Waves]

Is this a joke?

Super Mario Galaxy is shitte compared to the original Super Mario 64. And i am not just saying that because i have fond memories of that game, if you wanted me to i could list all sorts of reasons why Super Mario 64 is better on almost every level.

I would say that 64 was better, but after the 2nd or 3d play through, there is no more challenge left and with a free day you could blast through the game with all 120 stars before it's time for dinner, which I have done several times.

As a gaming experience, Galaxy beats it out in every direction, but 64 has more replay value despite being inferior, and I fucking love Super Mario 64.

 

[Skooterz]

Honestly, no. Because Wii has like 2 or 3 games going for it right now, the rest are all either bad, or should really be classified as casual games. Not to mention that the main Nintendo franchises like Mario have all been pretty much milked dry. The games are still good don't get me wrong, its just that the concept really hasn't changed much, and its gotten stale.