Why isn’t Nintendo cool anymore unless it’s throwback ?
In September 1996 parents waited for hours in lines around the country for the console that would come to shape the childhood of millions of boys and girls born in the 80s and 90s – the Nintendo 64. The sixty-four being derived from the 64 bit CPU, which was leaps and bounds ahead of the next contender. This was the start of the fifth generation of console gaming – and by my personal standards, (with the help of the PS2 in 1999) the redefinition of the gaming industry.
Those who grew up with the N64 still rave about, now “throwback”, titles such as Super Smash Brothers, 007 Goldeneye, Super Mario 64, The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and the racing duo Mario Kart 64 and Diddy Kong Racing. As of 12/31/2009 the N64 had sold almost 225 million game cartridges[1].
Nintendo has always been associated with these more “childish” successful titles, many 1st party or 2nd party games. Big names like Mario, Zelda, Donkey Kong, Starfox come to mind. As consoles entered the sixth and seventh generation, it stopped being cool to play games like Super Paper Mario or Pokémon Snap – and instead titles like Halo, Call of Duty, Battlefield have become socially ‘in’. As more “adult” titles have become popular less and less people seem to play (or at least don’t admit to playing) the new Zelda, Starfox or Mario titles. All of a sudden these new titles have pushed the modern titles of the same franchises we all played as kids into “uncool” territory.
However, there is an interesting phenomenon that occurs surrounding the titles we play now versus the titles we once played. Though it may not be cool to play the modern titles in Nintendo franchises, such as Super Mario Galaxy or the new Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword – it’s still cool, if not cooler than playing Xbox 360 or PS3, to play your N64 copy of Super Smash Bros. In fact, the price point supports this argument. Super Smash for N64 as of today ranged in price on Amazon from $35 all the way up into the hundreds (for in-the-box new copies).
In basements, college dorm rooms, and frat houses across the nation people are still playing the games they grew up with – and it’s still okay to talk about how you spent hours trying to catch that lunker in Ocarina of Time without cheating and using the sinking lure or how you own at GoldenEye even though your friends play as Odd Job and they’re impossible to kill.
Come on people – lighten up a little bit. Though you may think the Wii isn’t that cool, and though Nintendo seems to have taken the family friendly route – stop trying to act “cool” and pick up a Motion Plus controller and dive into Skyward Sword. After all, many reviewers (see IGN’s review “Ocarina of Time has met it’s match”) think it’s better than even Ocarina of Time (if that’s possible, right?) We all play COD and Skyrim and Assassin’s Creed too – but don’t neglect your childhood because these games are as captivating, story driven and satisfying as ever.
