7. Shovelware Paradise
When Wii was first announced, people reeled at the new gameplay possibilities. You could use the motion control to be in the game! The Wii Remote would revolutionize games and the platform would become the next big thing! Well, it is true that Wii became the next big thing, but it didn’t quite live up to the initial ideas we had about it.
Nintendo and some select third party developers made truly amazing games for Wii, but unfortunately, it also became the place where many games went to die. Its library was full to the brim of crappy knock-off titles, poorly done ports, and minigame collection after minigame collection. As the Wii started to look like a wasteland for players looking for quality titles, Nintendo’s reputation among gamers once again went downhill.
What’s unfortunate is that this wasn’t necessarily Nintendo’s fault. Most of these games were made by other companies looking for a quick buck. However, Nintendo’s attitude with the Wii and what kind of audience it catered towards really facilitated the production of all the shovelware. Nintendo could have always turned down the games, I suppose, but now the company’s currently trying to reverse the damages to its reputation with Wii U by proving that it makes “real games” for “real gamers.” While you and I know that Nintendo has always had quality titles, the shovelware epidemic on Wii certainly didn’t help them.
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.