Nintendo is the Disney of video games. This is represented in the way it crafts its games, hardware and outside peripherals. Some of these did not pan out as well as Nintendo had hoped, such as the Nintendo Wii U or the Virtual Boy. However, even in these failures, and especially in its successes, Nintendo shows what no other console manufacturer has, and that is pure, unadulterated joy. Their games may not be the best looking in terms of photorealism, but if you ask me, I’d prefer to have fun playing the game rather than looking at pretty visuals any day.
One of Nintendo’s more famous ways of making games is creating the game play style first, then seeing if it will work with an established franchise. For example, “Kirby’s Epic Yarn” was originally designed to be a brand new franchise. But Nintendo thought the game would be a good addition to the Kirby franchise, so Good-Feel, the developers of the game, changed the game. This way of creating a game is perfect for Nintendo’s mantra: the game should first be fun to play, then look at everything else.
The newest Nintendo product that was just unveiled, Nintendo Labo, is a perfect embodiment of their love for creating things for all people. Nintendo Labo looks to be a new way to play games and in a way that has not been created before. The new creations revealed by Nintendo last Wednesday were different, and that is why Nintendo is great. It tries to find the new thing before it’s there, and this has led to some of the failures mentioned above, but it also led to big successes, like the Wii.
Sometimes to a fault, Nintendo creates most of their games with all ages in mind. For games like Mario and Kirby, this is perfect. Platformers are great entry-level games and ramp up the difficulty well, allowing many people to enjoy them. It doesn’t hurt that Nintendo is the best in the business when it comes to making games in this genre. Then, Nintendo has franchises like Metroid and the Donkey Kong Country games for people that enjoy a challenge. “Donkey Kong Country: Tropical Freeze” is one of the most difficult games I’ve played, and it was created by Retro Studios, a second-party subsidiary of the oft-considered kiddy company Nintendo.
Nintendo is one of the best video game companies in the world because of its willingness to change their games, and rethink the conventions of a series. Look at the 3D Mario series. Nintendo created one of the most important and innovative games of all time for the Nintendo 64, “Super Mario 64,” and then didn’t release another one in the 3D Mario series for six years. Even then, it was radically different from “Super Mario 64,” and that game is “Super Mario Sunshine.” The game was not as lauded as Mario 64, but did bring many new things to the franchise like the FLUDD and full voice-acting, other than Mario. But, Nintendo didn’t stop there. In 2007 and 2010 respectively, they released two of the highest-rates games ever made, “Super Mario Galaxy” and “Super Mario Galaxy 2,” which changed the series again. Then, the series went smaller with the underrated “Super Mario 3D Land” and “Super Mario 3D World.” It all culminated with the 2017 release of “Super Mario Odyssey,” that brought back some of the things fans wanted, like an open-world type game, but also added the capture mechanic, changing the way players go around the level. Look at all of the changes which have been made in just a seven-game span. All of the changes made to the series helped the games feel different from one another and keep the series from getting stale.
The Nintendo Switch looks to be the reinvigoration of Nintendo.. After years of taking clues from “The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time,” “The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild” changed so much about the Zelda series that it almost feels like it is not even a part of the same series. The game is all about being able to do whatever the player wants, whenever the player wants. The series hasn’t had that since the original game in the series, and even that game had some linearity. Breath of the Wild allows the player to do anything in any order they choose, or to not do them at all. If the player wants, they can skip all the dungeons and go straight to the final boss. Maybe I’ll try that in my next run through the game.
In the days of countless sequels that release year-after-year, Nintendo the company that keeps changing what it does, even after something succeeds. Nintendo still has similar games. The New Super Mario Bros. series has been fairly criticized for being too similar to each other, but the way Nintendo creates is something gamers should cherish now. The company may not be here forever.
