QUOTE
	"The 8-bit limitations of the NES actually provide more freedom than many current games."

The views and opinions expressed herein do not necessarily state or reflect those of Nintendojo as a whole or any of its affiliates.

Alright, that's it. I've had it. I'm tired of people complaining about Nintendo's lack of graphical prowess. We dealt a lot with this when the Wii was first released. It had nowhere near the graphical capability of the 360, and because of that it was a terrible system. What about high-tech graphics inherently makes everything better?

Seriously, look at this generation's games. Did excellent graphics save The Conduit from disappointing gamers when the gameplay didn't live up to the hype? Is Final Fantasy XIII an amazing game just because how beautiful it is? Don't even get me started on Far Cry.

It seems like, as an industry, gaming is focused on the newest and greatest. If it's not outputting ten-bazillion polygons it's not worth the $50 $60 that it costs. Seriously, we're so wrapped up in how realistic the world looks nowadays that we don't even care that we're playing glorified updates of Dragon's Lair, a game that is only remembered nowadays for how unforgiving it is and the fact that the artists behind it were huge names in the animated film industry. Gamers complain all the time about playing "press X to not die" quick time events, but if the graphics are good enough, it's overlooked how much of an integral part these cheap programing tricks are. I'd rather be in complete control of Link all the way through his adventure and have moderately lower quality graphics than have a stunning game which I stared at for ten minutes before being prompted to press a button.

You see, the thing that is amazing about games is that they're about choice. When I play The Legend of Zelda, I stop to pick up every Rupee that enemies drop, I try to get every item, I get the blue tunic before I even enter the first dungeon, no matter which quest I'm on. But another gamer may sit down with a completely different strategy. He or she could decide to try and get to Ganon with no sword, to ignore killing any enemies but the ones that are required to be killed to advance, or to beat the game in under 20 minutes. And nothing is wrong with any of those approaches. The player is not restrained by the limited graphical capabilities of the NES. There are no forced quick time events. The game is played exactly how the player wants to. The 8-bit limitations of the NES actually provide more freedom than many current games. By today's standards, though, The Legend of Zelda is just as outdated as Dragon's Lair.

So I'm sick and tired of it. I don't care about being able to count the number of nose hairs of my fully-voiced (by Nolan North) protagonist. Sure, if you want to improve the graphics of the game before is ships, by all means, do it. But the gameplay needs to be first. I don't want to be a passive observer because I play games.

Have some reactions, comments or questions? Feel free to either:
Hit the Forums and/or Email our Podcast at showmail [at] nintendojo.com!