Nintendo: Difference between revisions

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Under the leadership of young Hiroshi Yamauchi after World War II, the company expanded its business model to everything from a taxi service to a chain of [[Love Hotels]] to children's toys. Many of those were invented by talented young people like Gunpei Yokoi, and Nintendo hit it fairly well with inventions such as the Ultra Hand, the Love Tester, and the Ultra Machine. Eventually, Yamauchi decided that Nintendo would become an entertainment and games company.

Nintendo is currently the only one of the big three players in the current console wars to solely make video games and consoles; Microsoft and Sony are enormous titans in other industries <ref>Chances are high you are on a computer running Windows, with headphones made by Sony</ref> but Nintendo is forced to stay viable in order to compete in the game market. They must do this by keeping their products affordable and selling them at a profit, forcing them to use older technology instead of selling at a loss with newer technology. This also forces them to cut some features that the competing consoles have such as DVD/Blu-Ray playback and an expansive online service at the level that the Xbox Live and Playstation Network do. The stakes are also much higher for them, as they've stated that the day they no longer make consoles is the day they drop out of the game business entirely. Granted, business smarts may say otherwise if that day happens.

 

 

 

 

 

== Home Consoles ==

* [[Nintendo Entertainment System]] (NES): The eight-bit system that gave us many of the [[Video Game Long Runners|venerable franchises]] that are still around today. Credited with spurring the recovery of the industry after the Great Crash of 1983.

* [[Super Nintendo Entertainment System]] (Super NES): 16-bit generation. It was the best seller of the generation, according to [[That Other Wiki]].

** [[Satellaview]]: A Japan-only add-on for the Super Famicom allowing broadcast downloads of games through satellite radio, backed by live-streamed audio sometimes featuring voice-acting.

* [[Nintendo 64]]: While not so successful as its two predecessors, mostly due to sticking with the cartridge format over the cheaper and (for the time) high-capacity CD format, it ''did'' bring titles that are still highly regarded, such as ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time|The Legend of Zelda Ocarina of Time]]'', ''[[Super Mario 64]]'' and ''[[GoldenEye 007 (1997 video game)|Golden Eye 1997]]'', the latter of which managed to show that [[The Problem with Licensed Games|not all licensed games have to suck.]]

* [[Nintendo GameCube]]: Their first system to use optical discs, but like the Nintendo 64, it suffered from a lack of third-party development and lagged behind the competition. However, in recent years, the console and a handful of its games were [[Vindicated by History]].

* [[Wii]]: The current system, the selling point being its simple motion controls. It has been the basis for a rise in Nintendo's fortunes, outselling its competitors by tens of millions. A focus on drawing in casual gamers, as well as drawing in the long-timers by assimilating its own past, as well as that of others, has been the impetus for that. The Wii became known for many of its health and sports-related games rather than the company's traditional run-and-gun gameplay.

 

== Portable Consoles ==

* [[Game and Watch]]: A popular series of handheld games that predated the Nintendo Entertainment System.

* [[Game Boy]]: The portable equivalent of the NES, their first handheld console that used interchangeable cartridges. Despite being less powerful than the other handhelds on the market, its superior battery life, Nintendo's hold of 3rd partys at the time and a little game known as [[Tetris]] led to widespread popularity.

* [[Game Boy Color]]: Same thing as the above, but with color and slightly more power behind it.

* [[Game Boy Advance]]: In graphical power, the equivalent to the SNES. One of the best-selling game consoles of that system, and the last 2D-gaming device dedicated created by Nintendo.

* [[Nintendo DS]]: One of the most successful gaming consoles ever created by Nintendo, next to the Wii. The first mainstream gaming device to utilize a touchscreen. Equal to the N64 in power.

* [[Nintendo 3DS]]: Just as powerful, if not more so, than the Wii, the handheld's major selling-point was its 3D features.

 

* Also see ''[[Nintendo Power]]'', which for years was the company's in-house magazine and remains one of the most popular gaming publications.

 

Nintendo was once the go-to company for video-games, and as such, they hold a larger place in entertainment history than any other video game company. The list that follows is only a partial selection of an absolutely massive 30+ year lineup on at least five different consoles and many hand held variants:

* ''[[Animal Crossing]]''

* ''[[Brain Age]]''

* ''[[Ice Climber]]''

* ''[[Kid Icarus]]''

* ''[[Kiki Trick]]''

* ''[[The Last Story]]''

* ''[[The Legendary Starfy]]''

* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''

* ''[[Magical Vacation]]''

* ''[[Meteos]]'' (Co-published with Bandai)

* ''[[Nintendogs]]''

* ''[[Nintendo Wars]]''

** ''[[Elite Beat Agents]]''

* ''[[Mario's Picross|Picross]]''

* ''[[Pikmin]]''

* ''[[Pushmo]]''

* ''[[Rhythm Heaven]]''

* ''[[Sin and Punishment]]''

* ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FOX]]''

* ''[[StarTropics]]''

** ''[[Dr. Mario]]''

** ''[[Mario Kart]]''

* ''[[Swap Note]]''

* ''[[Trace Memory]]''

* ''[[Wii Sports]]''

** ''[[Wii Sports Resort]]''

* ''[[Xenoblade]]''

* ''[[Adventures of Lolo]]''

* ''[[Air Fortress]]''

* ''[[Kabuki Quantum Fighter]]''

* ''[[Kirby]]''

* ''[[Pokémon Ranger]]''

* ''[[Pokémon Snap]]''

* ''[[Pokémon Stadium]]''

* ''[[Super Smash Bros.]]''

* [[Hiroshi Yamauchi]]

* [[Shigeru Miyamoto]]

* [[Rare]] (sold to [[Microsoft]] in 2002)

* [[Retro Studios]]

 

* [[Bleached Underpants]]: Before video games, one of their ventures was a chain of [[Love Hotels]].

* [[Console Wars]]: The longest-standing player in them today. The [[Sega Genesis]] vs. [[SNES]] conflict was one of the most infamously brutal in gaming history.

* [[Digital Piracy Is Evil]]: After their experiment with discs with the [[Nintendo Entertainment System|Famicom]] Disk System led to massive piracy on the system, Nintendo has been massively cautious when it comes to piracy ever since. Most system updates for the Wii have been intended solely to kill potential exploits for homebrew.

* [[Excuse Plot]]: The company had their original heyday when this was the norm, but they've still applied it to certain franchises today, sometimes because of the [[Grandfather Clause]], other times because they've found that having a plot is secondary to the quality of the main game. Miyamoto himself has gone on the record to say that sometimes a plot can be an ''obstruction'' to the quality of the gameplay, regardless of how good the plot itself is.

* [[Grandfather Clause]]: Nintendo games in general aren't exactly known for having good stories and deep characters but hardly anyone seems to care, probably because they've always been this way and people don't usually play them for the plot. Most of the stories are rehashes, [[Mario]] still rescuing Peach (or some other girl) from Bowser.

** [[Super Mario RPG]] plays with this; Peach is kidnapped, but shortly thereafter is rescued, and both she and Boweser permanently join the party to defeat the [[Bigger Bad]].

* [[Heroic Mime]]: Most of their leads are this or have been this, but [[Metroid|some]] have been given a voice, for better or for [[The Legend of Zelda CDI Games|worse.]]

* [[Iconic Logo]]: Red for most of the company's video game-making history, but officially switched to gray in 2006.

* [[Mascot]]: [[Super Mario Bros.|Mario]], who is also considered to the mascot for video games in general.

** [[Nintendo Hard]]:

** [[Trope Maker]] and [[Trope Namer]]; largely the case with NES games, present in a small few titles since, and coming back through the creation of [[Hint System|the Super Guide feature]] in recent first-party games.

* [[Platform Game]]: [[Trope Codifier|Codified]] this genre. While Nintendo have ''many'' '''many''' successful games, series, and IPs spread over a variety of [[Video Game Genres|genres]], some of the most [[Super Mario Bros.|loved]] and [[Donkey Kong Country (video game)|well]]-[[Wario Land|received]] [[Yoshi's Island|series]] and [[Kirby|franchises]] are of this genre as well.

* [[Rule of Fun]]: The foundation of game design at the company.

* [[Super Title 64 Advance]]: They are mostly associated with this trend, doing it with their own games and sometimes letting third party developers do it when releasing on their consoles.

* [[Surprise Creepy]]: They have a reputation for making sweet, family-friendly games... and thus a lot of the weirder and scarier elements of games they develop or publish tend to blindside people.

* [[Tonka Tough]]: ALL<ref>[[Your Mileage May Vary]] regarding [http://www.google.com/#pq=nintendo+ds+lite+hinges&hl=en&sugexp=kjrmc&cp=24&gs_id=q&xhr=t&q=nintendo+ds+lite+broken+hinges&pf=p&sclient=psy-ab&source=hp&pbx=1&oq=nintendo+ds+lite+broken+hinges&aq=0v&aqi=g-v2g-b1&aql=f&gs_sm=&gs_upl=&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.,cf.osb&fp=a4183349b9a276ea&biw=1440&bih=719 the hinges] and shoulder buttons of the [[Nintendo DS Lite]]</ref> of their consoles were/are nigh-indestructible, especially the [[Game Boy]] and [[Nintendo GameCube|GameCube]]. The usual joke is that Nintendo products are made of [[Unobtanium|Nintendium]].

 

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[[Category:Video Game Companies]]

[[Category:Creator]]