NES to SNES: It's too early for new hardware

[Gabriel]

I thought this was interesting. It's people complaining about how Nintendo was "forcing" people to upgrade their systems. The implicit statement is that everything should have just coasted along with the NES. This is despite the fact that Sega was already breathing down Nintendo's throat with the Genesis and it was pretty damn clear the NES was not cutting the mustard in 1991.

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MTzyz2TgGls&feature=context-vrec

[BillyHW]

Parents = Stupid. Journalists = Stupider.

 

And OMG, he's driving backwards!

[godslabrat]

Yes, it's dumb.

 

But, look at the historical context. The NES era was an aberration in the normal console life cycle, since it was the first successful post-crash system. It essentially re-started the industry, and a larger-than-typical percentage of its users were first-time console buyers. And their parents. Their parents who had never before been asked to spend three digits on a TOY and then $50 a pop for follow-up items. A lot of them bought the console with the idea that it was a one-time purchase, like a VCR or an LP turntable, and that they shouldn't have to buy another one unless the current one breaks. In short, they weren't paying attention to the Atari generation. This was all new to them.

 

Bear in mind this is at a time when technology wasn't mainstream. Most people didn't have computers. Cell phones were pretty scarce. Cordless landline phones and microwave ovens were still seen as being major purchases.

 

So then, Nintendo comes along and says they have an all-new system that costs a ton and DOESN'T USE THE OLD GAMES. You know, those $50-a-pop purchases that the old system required, and you thought they'd be good forever? Now you're supposed to throw them out. (Why throw them out? I don't know, but I hear this line a lot) So yes, to them it did seem like Nintendo was trying to force them to upgrade. Yes, it was a stupid idea, but it was born out of nearly an entire generation of customers not having any experience with console upgrades.

 

Nintendo saw this coming. They tried to engineer the SNES to be backward-compatible, but it wasn't cost-effective (most likely, they knew the SNES would have to be more expensive than the Genesis, and they didn't want to widen the price difference between the two). So they had the problem of potentially alienating their customers with the "forced" upgrade. To soften the blow, Nintendo tried to re-affirm their commitment to both systems. Read their promo material at the time. Every time they're asked if the SNES is backwards compatible, they respond with how easy it is to keep both systems hooked up. They even show how to hook up both systems in the SNES manual (presuming that the buyer already has an NES). And many times, they claim they will continue to support the NES and not "pander" to the SNES-buying masses. They kept that promise for about a year.

 

But yeah, the last years of the NES were a host of challenges you're probably not going to see again in the console industry.

[moycon]

In my opinion, the same thing was happening then that is happening now.

Consumers aren't buying new games at full price any more the way they did. They have no incentive too. They can get an equally great older game for much less, or just wait a few weeks and get the latest game at a steep discount.

I remember when Gilligan's Island came out on the NES. It was one of the last of the NES games.The game didn't stand a chance of doing anything profit wise for the company that released the game.

It sat new on the shelf with like a $44.99 price tag surrounded by a sea of games that were $7.99-$19.99. About 3 weeks later it dropped in price. You see that exact same thing happening today.

The reason consoles get killed off before their time is simply because the stop being profitable for the companies releasing games.

We will see it again, just like we saw it the last six generations.

[xg4bx]

i'm honestly surprised that the term "vidiot" wasn't used in the story.

[Mendon]

In my opinion, the same thing was happening then that is happening now.

Consumers aren't buying new games at full price any more the way they did. They have no incentive too. They can get an equally great older game for much less, or just wait a few weeks and get the latest game at a steep discount.

 

I agree 100%. The only exception to this that I can think of is Nintendo as they keep their games at full price longer than any company around.... years and years.

 

And sometimes they never lower the price but just stop presssing copies (looking at you Metroid Trilogy).

 

 

Mendon

[MagitekAngel]

Anybody else catch "Super Mario Bros. 4?"

[Rex Dart]

Saw it, yeah.

 

[Vic George 2K3]

I didn't think that 1991 was too early for NES owners to switch up to the SNES. Although I didn't like that Nintendo offered nothing to help NES owners switch up to the SNES. Another thing was that I had gotten into owning an NES in 1991, whereas before that I was playing NES games with my brother's NES and decided to get one of my own so I wouldn't have to constantly glom off my brother's game system. Nintendo offered me no reason to switch up to the SNES until Mario Paint came out in 1992, yet I still held onto my NES until 1993, when I decided to get a Sega Genesis.

 

It's hard to really say now, unless you're a big Nintendo fan, whether switching up to a newer generation system is really necessary. Technology-wise, we can only see possibly marginal improvements in the area of graphics, but nothing that really has the "wow" factor of previous generations. Also, judging from the commentary from this message board, there are people who don't like the idea of companies having games be mostly downloaded purchases, never mind the "installment plan" of having to pay for a game piece by piece to get the whole thing. I'm not saying that there can't be further improvements to how we play video games, but the companies are having a hard time trying to come up with something that hasn't been tried before that would make anyone want to invest their time and money with the purchase of a new system. Maybe it's just to catch up with the Joneses of personal computer technology always coming up with that oh-so-awesome-and-sexy upgrade that makes game system owners wish that their systems could always remain on the cutting edge.

[+wood_jl]

I didn't think that 1991 was too early for NES owners to switch up to the SNES.

 

I agree, wholeheartedly. Seeing as how the MegaDrive/Genesis was released in 1988/1989, how could anybody?

[BillyHW]

Sept. 1991 was already too late, in my opinion.

[Austin]

I agree, wholeheartedly. Seeing as how the MegaDrive/Genesis was released in 1988/1989, how could anybody?

 

Um, all the kids that were at the mercy of their parents, combined with discovering new things being difficult without a constant stream of magazines or rich friends nearby.

[+Gemintronic]

So, we have a topic on the NES in the Modern Gaming section and a topic about first person shooters in the Classic Gaming section..

 

..did I miss the fact it's Opposite Day?

[Tr3vor]

All I can say about this is derp. Everything becomes obsolete at some point, and the bigger, better versions come out. Why b*tch about it?

 

and to that mom, of course companies market stuff so you pay more money. Thats the point. she looks like she thinks that she has that all figured out lol.

[Rex Dart]

To be fair... TVs, cars, telephones, tape players, radios, and most other consumer electronics back then would get more than five years' use. The idea of something being made obselete so quickly was probably new to her. But yeah, it wasn't difficult to figure out that computers (and game systems) were different and faster-paced.

[+thegoldenband]

But yeah, it wasn't difficult to figure out that computers (and game systems) were different and faster-paced.

 

I remember mainstream sitcom jokes about that sort of thing going back to the mid- to late-1980s, at least. I think people realized that the computer/video game market was different, they just resented it and felt like they were being scammed. Given the number of systems that have been introduced and then unceremoniously dropped within 2-3 years, it's not an unreasonable feeling.

[Petran79]

Same reason my dad got us an Atari2600 and later an NES without even asking! Later he got me a Gameboy for my birthday. A pleasant surprise.

When I asked him later why he didnt buy us an Amiga 500 instead, he said it was too expensive. But at least there we could have copied the floppy disks from friends, like everyone was doing, instead of buying expensive games! So I run over at a teen guy who had an Amiga 2000 in order to experience some real and mature games and also decent arcade ports in 16-bit awesomeness.

And today people are complaining about PS3 and Xbox graphics, even if they are so cheap in price.

 

also one has to keep in mind that at that time you had to pay mostly in cash and not by credit card or monthly installments. So this made those goods more expensive. Also recycling wasnt so advanced and wide-spread as today in most countries. using recycled products or recycling-friendly materials also plays a role in deterioration.

 

I remember the SNES being the most popular console at that time. I knew from magazines also about the Neo Geo and later about the Atari Jaguar and 3DO, but most shops wouldnt have them at all.so there was no choice but to buy a MegaDrive and its variations or a SNES. When microcomputers like Amiga were slowly being replaced by IBM PCs and MS-DOS gaming became dominant, there wasnt any choice either.

 

today we know so much, yet regarding choices things are even worse!

[+Gemintronic]

The Amiga over NES adult view is ironic. Windows and Office just "appear" on parents computers when Little Timmy "fix" their PC. TurboTax gets passed around like a bowl of popcorn. How the NES could be cheaper in their view is stupifying.

[Petran79]

The Amiga over NES adult view is ironic. Windows and Office just "appear" on parents computers when Little Timmy "fix" their PC. TurboTax gets passed around like a bowl of popcorn. How the NES could be cheaper in their view is stupifying.

 

 

ironic also that the adult NES game "Sweet Home", the pre-cursor of Resident Evil, was never released outside Japan. For me it ranks among the top 5 NES games and certainly it has the best atmosphere.

 

Also Clock Tower, another good horror SNES game was never released outside Japan either

 

We should be happy that Maniac Mansion had an NES release, even with the edited hamster scene