Nintendo Ruined Video Games

[Lost Dragon]

Getting hard to remember which magazines used what covers to attract readers.

 

I do remember Edge with the smashed up N64, they later did a follow up..the end is nigh type cover for the Xbox..take on an earlier cover praising it, to one which portrayed it as failing to keep developers onboard.

 

US magazine advertising is another era that seems to differ to that i witnessed here in the UK.

 

I was aware Sega had advertised the Saturn as a 64 bit console in Japan at 1 point, but wasn't aware of the 2 page..there is a naked woman on this page..when you've got Sega Saturn's triple 32 bit processing (2 more than Sony Playstation) advert.

 

I find the US side of press coverage really quite fascinating to dip into.

 

This little island of ours was realky quite sheltered by comparison.

 

I have very fond memories of my 8 bit home micro days as a UK resident, but i cannot help but wonder if i would of been a very different Gamer, had my childhood and early teenage years been spent in the USA.

[Flojomojo]

That's funny ... I think you Brits got the smarter end of game magazines. I envy your peoples' experience with the Spectrum. Yeah yeah we had Toys R Us and much lower prices, but it must have really been something to be able to look at those graphics and have fun with them.

 

Also, the fact that you can sustain Retro Gamer always amazes me. Maybe because distribution is easier/cheaper on the self-contained island nation?

 

EDGE and Next Gen were almost identical for the first year or two. I'm not sure when they diverged, but Next Gen fizzled and EDGE continues.

 

I lived in England for half a year in 1980, when Atari VCS was just taking off. You guys had a regular Empire Strikes Back comic, which was great -- nevermind that it was reprinting our Marvel stories in black and white ... it's what I knew.

[roland p]

N64 was really cool with its SGI related hardware inside. I had lots of fun floating around with Pilotwings. I'm tempted to get an N64 just to play Pilotwings again. I wasn't really into ps1 until Resident Evil came along, another cool gaming experience.

 

Funny how Nintendo tried to be cutting-edge bitd (N64, GC maybe), but now take a modest approach when it comes to hardware.

[+GoldenWheels]

That's funny ... I think you Brits got the smarter end of game magazines. I envy your peoples' experience with the Spectrum. Yeah yeah we had Toys R Us and much lower prices, but it must have really been something to be able to look at those graphics and have fun with them.

 

Also, the fact that you can sustain Retro Gamer always amazes me. Maybe because distribution is easier/cheaper on the self-contained island nation?

 

EDGE and Next Gen were almost identical for the first year or two. I'm not sure when they diverged, but Next Gen fizzled and EDGE continues.

 

I lived in England for half a year in 1980, when Atari VCS was just taking off. You guys had a regular Empire Strikes Back comic, which was great -- nevermind that it was reprinting our Marvel stories in black and white ... it's what I knew.

 

I subscribe here in the states....what an awesome magazine. To an American who had no knowledge of British computing etc, it was like discovering a whole new world.

 

My absolute favorite is when they compare differing versions of a game across multiple platforms ("conversion capers" I think they call it).

[zzip]

Star Wars fandom talks about "The Dark Times" between Return of the Jedi (film, 1983) and the release of Heir to the Empire (book, 1991) ... nothing was happening and it seemed like our series was OVER. We had to find other things to do, different hobbies and obsessions. For example, Star Trek started spinning up again, with more films, and a new TV show. That wasn't the same, but it was OK for what it was, and it had a lot of books and junk tied to it. Batman awoke, got some innovative (or at least darker) comics, films, games. There were other nerdly pursuits.

Well George promised us 9 films then said "never mind, I'm only doing 3". So as far as we knew, it was just a pop culture thing that had run its course. It was not as much of an institution as it is now either. Nowadays you can scarcely go a day without encountering a Star Wars reference. It wasn't like that back then. It was largely ignored by the general public until sometime in the 90s. Kevin Smith started putting out movies that were full of SW references, Lego did Star Wars legos. Finally Lucas announced he was going to do the prequel trilogy. I was genuinely shocked that it came back as strong as it did even before the second trilogy dropped. Toys for kids who didn't grow up with the first trilogy the same way we did, etc.

 

I would think the financial situation of the time probably had something to do with risky game business of the day. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Early_1980s_recession

What's interesting though, is the games crashed just as the general economy was recovering. Maybe they are what economists call 'countercyclical'. They are a cheaper form of entertainment than say taking a Vacation, so people bought them when times were tough. But once they had a little money in their pocket, they took actual vacations instead? My memories of the time were that my parents discouraged any unnecessary trips due to high gas prices, including trips to the movies or mall, but we could walk to a nearby arcade, supermarket or laundromat and play arcade games, or go to friends houses and play theirs. Maybe that's part of why we played so many games in those days.

[Flojomojo]

The cycle of product could have been a factor, too. I don't know exactly how long it would take a VCS game to go from concept to development to manufacturing to distribution, but it can't have been too quick. Seems like Activision only put out a few games a year, for example.

[Lost Dragon]

That's funny ... I think you Brits got the smarter end of game magazines. I envy your peoples' experience with the Spectrum. Yeah yeah we had Toys R Us and much lower prices, but it must have really been something to be able to look at those graphics and have fun with them.

 

Also, the fact that you can sustain Retro Gamer always amazes me. Maybe because distribution is easier/cheaper on the self-contained island nation?

 

EDGE and Next Gen were almost identical for the first year or two. I'm not sure when they diverged, but Next Gen fizzled and EDGE continues.

 

I lived in England for half a year in 1980, when Atari VCS was just taking off. You guys had a regular Empire Strikes Back comic, which was great -- nevermind that it was reprinting our Marvel stories in black and white ... it's what I knew.

 

I had friends who had a ZX Spectrum, but my sole ownership of a Sinclair device was the ZX81,loved it for likes of 3D Monster Maze etc.

 

Went for a 2600 after that then the 800XL,switching to C64 when software support for the XL dried up.

 

The ZX Spectrum was fantastic for isometric and wireframe 3D, but it's xolour clash and poor sound,let alone dead flesh keyboard,put me off it.

 

You guys embraced disk and cartridge at a time we had cassettes.

In hindsight even here in UK I should of gone for the Amiga over the ST,but a £100 price difference and a lot of free software saw me buy the ST.

 

We had some fantastic magazines..likes of Mean Machines,Zzap64, The One, The Games Machine,Ace,Raze etc at their prime still stand up well today.

 

But we also had magazines like Ultimate Future Games,MEGA,etc.

You would see claims such as the Sega Mega CD having no hardware for sprite scaling etc printed as fact, games that were never headed to various platforms given potential release dates as staff writers simply assumed they would be concerted, mock up shots presented as in game etc etc.

 

UK has a lot to be proud of magazine wise,but a lot also to be ashamed of.

The scoring rivalry was bloody stupid as well..

 

Last i knew of RetroGamer Magazine,they were trying to break into the US market, as sales down (as they are for many magazines here) year on year.

[high voltage]

Wow, in total, I used to have ~6000 UK gaming magazines, most of them were sold or trashed.

Still got ~500 leftover.

They were essential reading every month, magazines like ZZAP64 were full of great reviews and humour

Edited April 30, 2018 by high voltage

[Lost Dragon]

Whoops.

Earlier post which i thought hadn't been saved, appeared after all.

 

So deleted the replacement post.

Edited April 30, 2018 by Lost Dragon

[zzip]

The cycle of product could have been a factor, too. I don't know exactly how long it would take a VCS game to go from concept to development to manufacturing to distribution, but it can't have been too quick. Seems like Activision only put out a few games a year, for example.

Hmm to me, it seems like Activision spammed the 2600 market with really simple games that had fancy graphics. Tennis, Fishing Derby, Barnstorming, Skiing, Skyjinks, Megamania, Checkers, Stampede, Freeway, Grand Prix, Dragster, Laser Blast, Kaboom, Ice Hockey-- and more all released in a 2 year period.

 

That's more games than the so-called "Villains" of the crash ever put out (IE 'Games By Apollo', US Games, 20th Century Fox, etc)

[schuwalker]

 

 

Star Wars fandom talks about "The Dark Times" between Return of the Jedi (film, 1983) and the release of Heir to the Empire (book, 1991) ... nothing was happening and it seemed like our series was OVER. We had to find other things to do, different hobbies and obsessions. For example, Star Trek started spinning up again, with more films, and a new TV show. That wasn't the same, but it was OK for what it was, and it had a lot of books and junk tied to it. Batman awoke, got some innovative (or at least darker) comics, films, games. There were other nerdly pursuits.

 

 

I always associate the Star Wars "dark times" around the '87-'90 era.

 

Here's why:

- Empire Strikes back was not released to video till '84

- Return of the Jedi was still in theaters in '85 and didn't come out in video till '86

- the last 17 Kenner "Power of the Force" action figures were released in '85

- Kenner figures were still available for sale (and cheap) at K&B Toys around '86

 

1987 all that disappeared and fandom came to a halt till a resurgence from the Timothy Zahn novel.

[schuwalker]

Well George promised us 9 films then said "never mind, I'm only doing 3". So as far as we knew, it was just a pop culture thing that had run its course. It was not as much of an institution as it is now either. Nowadays you can scarcely go a day without encountering a Star Wars reference. It wasn't like that back then. It was largely ignored by the general public until sometime in the 90s. Kevin Smith started putting out movies that were full of SW references, Lego did Star Wars legos. Finally Lucas announced he was going to do the prequel trilogy. I was genuinely shocked that it came back as strong as it did even before the second trilogy dropped. Toys for kids who didn't grow up with the first trilogy the same way we did, etc.

 

 

 

 

This had to be around the mid '80s, I picked up a magazine (can't recall if it was Fantastic Films or something else) which had " Star Wars 4" in big letters and had Darth Vader in his cocoon chamber from Empire Strikes Back. I do recall it talking about the 9 film trilogy but not continuing the series till "movie technology caught up". I need to find that issue again.

 

As user Flojomojo stated earlier, it was the Zahn "Heir to the Empire' novel that got the ball rolling again. I should give credit to that Dark Horse comics line too - that was a great series. When that 1995 Power of the Force line was released, Star Wars fandom was really gaining momentum. With the hubub talk and the final release date of the Star Wars Special Edition in '97, the franchise was the zeitgeist in pop culture again.

[AtticGamer]

Nintendo revitalized the USA market, which is where the crash happened mostly. Europe couldn't care less about the NES and was happily playing ZX Spectrum, C64, CPC, Amiga/ST and later the Master System.

[Lord Thag]

I'd say it's more fair to say Nintendo popularized several console style genres like the modern take on platformers, console/japanese style RPGs, and several long running franchises that continue to get sequels today. It expanded gaming away from the PC/Arcade style games that dominated the early market, and paved the way for gaming to enter the main stream with more of what we term 'console' style games.

 

They didn't 'save' gaming from the crash, though they certainly gave the industry a well-needed shot in the arm. The demand was always there. Atari or Sega or some other company would have picked up the pieces regardless.

 

 

[MrMaddog]

 

I subscribe here in the states....what an awesome magazine. To an American who had no knowledge of British computing etc, it was like discovering a whole new world.

 

My absolute favorite is when they compare differing versions of a game across multiple platforms ("conversion capers" I think they call it).

 

That was my experience owning an Atari ST in the States during my college years. I'd always buy imported magazines like ST Format not only to find out what software & games are out there but also for the freeware stuff on the coverdisks. I just felt that the Amiga & ST games were more mature than the stuff I already played on the NES/SNES, not to mention even the Sega games were primary marketed towards teenagers so I dirfted more towards computer games.

 

And yes I bought Retro Gamer issues from B&N whenever I get the chance...

[+wongojack]

This thread wandered around a few main points, but I enjoyed it. I wound up thinking about it again later, and I realized that the way some feel about Nintendo ruining video games is the way that many feel about America ruining . . . pretty much everything else.

 

America ruined food

America ruined wine

America ruined beer

America ruined movies

America ruined music

America ruined theater

 

Of course there would be a raging debate about each one of these, and I'm not saying I agree, but I think it is a little ironic to find a bunch of Americans (including me) complaining about a company from Japan ruining one of their treasured inventions and turning it into something slightly different that ended up being more successful. Especially since America has morphed and changed the cultural outputs of so many other people groups around the world.

[Keatah]

If Nintendo didn't save videogames, then someone else would have. And we'd be bitching about them instead of the big N.

[Zap!]

This thread wandered around a few main points, but I enjoyed it. I wound up thinking about it again later, and I realized that the way some feel about Nintendo ruining video games is the way that many feel about America ruining . . . pretty much everything else.

 

America ruined food

America ruined wine

America ruined beer

America ruined movies

America ruined music

America ruined theater

 

Of course there would be a raging debate about each one of these, and I'm not saying I agree, but I think it is a little ironic to find a bunch of Americans (including me) complaining about a company from Japan ruining one of their treasured inventions and turning it into something slightly different that ended up being more successful. Especially since America has morphed and changed the cultural outputs of so many other people groups around the world.

 

Of that list, I don't see how anyone could argue that America's movies aren't the world's best. While there are many great foreign films, Hollywood just dominates. I'll give you beer though. I strongly prefer the rest of the world over our beers.

[Flojomojo]

Of that list, I don't see how anyone could argue that America's movies aren't the world's best. While there are many great foreign films, Hollywood just dominates. I'll give you beer though. I strongly prefer the rest of the world over our beers.

The beauty of it is, /we don't have to choose/ because we can have it all, or pick what we like from all the options of the world. I'm glad I don't have to import games from Japan anymore, because localization and distribution is so much better. I like not having to scrounge for rare games because of digital distribution. I like being able to choose from dozens of local and international beers and wines. Streaming music has ruined record stores for me, but makes music so much more accessible and discoverable. The only thing that's "ruined" is me, spoiled by so many options and not enough time to try everything.

[Asaki]

I'm glad I don't have to import games from Japan anymore, because localization and distribution is so much better.

...unless you like Dragon Quest games... ¬_¬

[youxia]

 

I don't see how anyone could argue that America's movies aren't the world's best. While there are many great foreign films, Hollywood just dominates.

 

Well, they aren't There might've been periods when it was true but certainly not in the last decade or two. Unless you talk about highest grossing or most expensive of course, but to me it does not translate as "best". This mantle goes to the US TV output these days.

 

As for "Nintendo ruining videogames", not sure if anybody can really take it seriously. It's just a variation on the "Sony/MS ruined videogames" trope which occasionally arises depending on posters tribal orientation. If anything ruined videogames it was greed and corporisation of previously enthusiast-driven industry.

[Flojomojo]

...unless you like Dragon Quest games... ¬_¬

Got em on my iPhone, as nature intended

[Tanooki]

Same here I have DQ1 and 4 my two favorites on my phone, pretty sure I added at least DQ1 to my android tablet but I rarely use it unfortunately.

 

I really don't care of it being Quest or Warriors, as I really really enjoy DW1+2 and DW3 on the GBC format.

[Asaki]

Got em on my iPhone, as nature intended

1. I don't think nature intended you to play DQ games without buttons.

 

2. I don't think DQ XI is coming to iPhone.

[Flojomojo]

1. I don't think nature intended you to play DQ games without buttons.

 

2. I don't think DQ XI is coming to iPhone.

My nature is different from your nature :-P and I'm not thinking about 9 until I finish 7, if ever.