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8. The Nintendo 3DS launch
You would think that a company with a track record of awesome console launches would be pretty good at this sort of thing. However, Nintendo finally proved us wrong in 2011 with the Nintendo 3DS. The successor to the wildly popular DS was poised to be the next big thing in portable gaming, but a perfect storm of mediocre games and high price tags made its launch come down with a dull plop rather than an all-out firework display.
The price of the Nintendo 3DS was tremendously pricey, at a staggering $250 with no games included. To put this into perspective, Wii was also $250 at launch with Wii Sports included. Surely the games and features of the Nintendo 3DS could make up for its high price? Unfortunately, this was not the case. 3DS launched without a killer app we have come to expect for a Nintendo system, and its overall launch library was ultimately very forgettable. The Nintendo eShop wasn’t available at launch either, and while the Nintendo 3DS sold quite well at first, owners were very starved for content.
Luckily, Nintendo completely rectified this issue by issuing a rebirth of the Nintendo 3DS in the form of a hefty price drop and a stellar line-up of games since launch. Sadly, the rest of the blunders on this list did not end so happily…
The funny thing is that most people I know who support nintendo also own a Playstation 3. Even though they betrayed nintendo, people who love nintendo still enjoy the playstation. I can only imagine what could have been if nintendo kept their deal.
I’m a big PlayStation fan myself. If they had stuck together, we might have gotten some sort of awesome mega super console! Although, much of the PlayStation character did come from the fact that it was a brand new system from a company not established in games. Who knows what would have happened?
It’s not betrayal; it’s connoisseurship. You can’t limit yourself.
This list is one of the first “top 10” lists on this (or any gaming) site that I totally agree with. Not that that validates anything (I know lists are just opinions anyway.) Just wanted to say: great job on this well-rounded list. Not only does it cover many generations, but also strikes a balance with the kind of hardware (consoles, handhelds, and virtual boy) as well as software… and even the Super Mario Movie. It even made me think about Rareware. I had been of the opinion of “good riddance, who needs ‘grabbed by the ghoulies?'”, but you got me thinking about what could have been… Oh how I yearn for a Jet Force Gemini sequel. Love the site. Keep the great features coming!
PS. I was worried from the picture on this feature that you were going to mention allowing Team Ninja to handle Metroid: Another M. While it’s not my favorite Metroid (I’ve beat them all the week they’ve come out. Yes, even the original.) I did enjoy “Another M.”
i love the n64 era and i know that cartriges have their limitations, but i cannot imagine playing ocarina of time with a loading screen.
I agree, and I love those cartridges. But Squaresoft and Nintendo were such good buddies before N64. If Square had stayed Nintendo exclusive, Final Fantasy VII would have been on N64, and we might have even gotten some FF characters on Smash. Now that would have been pretty cool.
History is tough to research, and many books tend to contradict each other. I wouldn’t blame a lot of this on Nintendo. According to my research, many were seemingly logical decisions that turned out badly because Nintendo dealt with the wrong people.
Yeah, hindsight is 20/20. No business intentionally tries to make bad decisions, but some just turn out bad. Nintendo made the Virtual Boy because they thought it would sell, but it didn’t. I’m glad Nintendo takes risks like that, because then we would never have had systems like The Nintendo DS and Wii. I do think Nintendo has made better decisions than some other companies too.
At any rate I totally understand when defending a cause looks pointless. I’m a member of a variety of groups (Nintendo fans, not least of all) that take a lot of bashing, and just when it seems we’re making progress, someone stands up and does something incredibly stupid in our name. Sometimes, I just want to believe it’s our opposition trying to make us look bad.
So relieved to see that you didn’t put Other: M on here! That game gets such a terrible rap for what is a fairly good, if not great, game! Good list!
Three words: Wii Vitality Sensor. I literally shuddered when I saw this. Luckily it never saw the light of day.