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What does Nintendo mean to you?

Joy, happiness, laughter, memories and frustration:

The first four are self-explanatory, for anyone who has played Super Mario World, Animal Crossing, Earthbound, Paper Mario tTYD, SSBMelee, Canvas Curse, Pikmin 3 and a truckload of games like them.

The last one is self-explanatory for anyone who had to wait 20 years to play Earthbound, wait 2 years to play Animal Crossing, is waiting in vain for Fatal Frame 4/5, waiting for 3rd party support...
 
Nintendo is like an ex-girlfriend i parted with on good terms.

I'm sure that we could hook up every now and then and have some fun, but we have different interest now, so it wouldn't work out in the long term.

Thinking about her still makes me smile every now and then.
 
Memories with great fun games....with a lot of limitations and a strict and VERY stubborn old school Japanese corporate mentality.
 
When I think of Nintendo I think of highly-polished, colorful, casual fun games. Stuff like Mario Kart 8, Mario Galaxy, Zelda games, etc come to mind. Also whenever someone says the word Nintendo I always picture a SNES in my mind for some reason.
 
For me, great childhood memories followed by my learning of their weird management decisions and how much better they could currently be. Still, some of best games ever.
 
King Cobra said:
You know what I mean, they have yet to bring a full fledge pokemon game to consoles. They know it sell millions but they are so deaf to what their fans want they have yet to make one.
Click to expand...
No I really don't. What would be the difference? Unless you want Platforming? The 3DS games have fully realized 3D worlds.
 
NYCrooner said:
When I think of Nintendo...

Good
  • Tons of childhood nostalgia
  • Nintendo universe feels like the Disney of gaming
Bad
  • Frustrating business decisions
  • Horrible third party relations
  • LE's? What is that?
Ugly
  • Virtual Boy
Click to expand...
Edited my answers in. I have a love-hate relationship with them.
 
Zelda & Metroid, NES nostalgia, and a slew of well-to-immaculately crafted games who's stories, characters, and themes aren't particularly interesting.
 
Lots of broken souls in this thread. From the NES through the Wii U, Nintendo is familiar and fun. Not only that, but Nintendo is quality; I don't even bother with reviews of Nintendo games.

I've been using Nintendo products for over 25 years and will keep doing so. There will always be a place for a more "adult" systems like PS4, but nothing beats Nintendo for me.
 
They're a company that I can't help but love on the sheer weight of nostalgia alone.

But as a games company, they're toy makers, not artists, and they've not matured with their audience or the market at large.

They're almost technophobes, but purely down to their blinkered, arrogant dismissal of anything that originates outside their walls until they absolutely have to face up to it.

Their management, marketing, business and creative attitudes are at best archaic, and self harming at worst.

They're an old childhood pet, almost blind, cancer riddled, and senile, but one that I love too much to have put down.
 
Nintendo is the company that was synonymous to games in my childhood; who I rebelled against as a 'blue dude with attitude' Sega fanboy in my tween years; an afterthought who made so many others happy with Mario 64, Pokemon and Metroid Prime, but who I could not connect with at all anymore as a teen and young adult; who I hated for what I perceived they turned into during the Wii years for forcibly disconnecting with the gamer I've become; and who I begrudgingly, secretly root for (and in some ways, pity) now as a revered elder statesman in some ways fighting to stay up, a vanguard of pure, innovative gaming in my adult years, now with a role in my life again along with its rivals, like an old enemy you ultimately respect and realise has always shaped who you are no matter how much you deny it--with their charming characters, their own rebellious ideas and practices and their quest for binging joy through perfection.

Nintendo, you changed my life and I respect you, and it is too damm fun being your frienemy all these years. *tip of the cap*
 
TheHall said:
Nintendo is like an ex-girlfriend i parted with on good terms.
Click to expand...

Golden. This is my take as well.

I guess I'm just an old fogie as Nintendo isn't wrapped up in my personal childhood nostalgia. That's Atari/Coleco/Intellivision/TI-99 for me.

So while I totally enjoyed their NES/SNES Golden Age, they didn't strike me as anything remarkable beyond that, in comparison to what other devs were doing.

I still maintain that they're essential for the industry though. Offering parents a safe haven to indoctrinate children to the medium.
 
- great games for all ages
- best local multiplayer
- strange business decisions
- handhelds make even public transport bearable
 
What Nintendo means to me?


Fun
My childhood and teenage years
Great platformers
The reason you can play the games you play today
Solid games with fun mechanics and co-op


I never met a Mario game I never liked (well outside of Sunshine)
 
nostalgia pumping good times

when i think nintendo i think pokemon, ocarina and growing up in the 90's and the new games they make build on things i am familiar with
 
What does Nintendo mean to me?

Great video games, terrible corporate decisions. Fantastic game design but out of touch with modern gaming in general, especially with regard to online services and console hardware (barring the lighting in a bottle that was the Wii).

I haven't bought a Nintendo anything in over ten years (Gamecube). I'd love to buy a new console from them, if they made one that appealed to me. If they sold their games on the PC I'd buy every single fucking one of them, day one, that's how I feel about their game design and quality. But I'm not paying $400 (Wii-U + pro controller) just to get in the door to be able to play their games.

Back in the SNES days though, Nintendo was synonymous with gaming, no doubt about it.
 
A company that releases overpriced, underpowered, outdated hardware aimed at children.
A brand that is almost completely irrelevant in the UK.
A company that cannot or will not change within modern society.
Mario.
 
King Cobra said:
You know what I mean, they have yet to bring a full fledge pokemon game to consoles. They know it sell millions but they are so deaf to what their fans want they have yet to make one.
Click to expand...

Well there isn't much saying it would do well other than fans saying they'll buy it. I mean of the franchises that are on both portable and handheld, handheld always seems to sell more.
 
Aaron D. said:
Kind of OT, but isn't this an outdated sentiment at this point?

AAA shooters are like what, less than 2% of the market these days? Seems like they're not even a blip on the radar outside of a couple "Mario franchises" like CoD and....I don't know, Battlefield or something?
Click to expand...
2% of the market, but like 50% of overall funds, and like 90% of overall wealth.

That there be some lopsided foolishness.
 
Since the 90s?

Ocarina of Time and nothing else.

I have not purchased 1 thing from Nintendo since I purchased my Nintendo 64 and about 5 games for the system.

Fun times, but as far as consoles go, the original Xbox is my favorite console ever. Favorite gaming device?

Amiga 1000

Second favorite

Amiga 1200

then...the Xbox.

Halph n Halph said:
A company that releases overpriced, underpowered, outdated hardware aimed at children.
A brand that is almost completely irrelevant in the UK.
A company that cannot or will not change within modern society.
Mario.
Click to expand...

Your perception seems jaded. While Nintendo is no longer relevant to me I've played enough video games to know that what they do with their software deserves some accolades even if I don't like the "kiddie" look of their titles. It's hard to explain, but they seriously nail down the feel of your input with a controller and what's happening on the screen.

redcrayon said:
Polish. Great action games I can play with my wife that aren't full of the AAA obsession with approaching photorealistic depictions of violence, decapitation, impalement, dismemberment etc etc (this is about whether she'll play it, not what i think of it). Naff hardware.
Click to expand...

If I had to choose just one word "Polish" would be it. I agree with the rest of your post, but since my favorite gaming genre is sports I'm left watching Nintendo's offerings from afar.

Polish in what they put out though.
 
Mengy said:
What does Nintendo mean to me?

Great video games, terrible corporate decisions. Fantastic game design but out of touch with modern gaming in general, especially with regard to online services and console hardware (barring the lighting in a bottle that was the Wii).

I haven't bought a Nintendo anything in over ten years (Gamecube). I'd love to buy a new console from them, if they made one that appealed to me. If they sold their games on the PC I'd buy every single fucking one of them, day one, that's how I feel about their game design and quality. But I'm not paying $400 (Wii-U + pro controller) just to get in the door to be able to play their games.

Back in the SNES days though, Nintendo was synonymous with gaming, no doubt about it.
Click to expand...

A Wii u and pro controller will set you back $260 more than likely, and even then you don't NEED a pro-controller. I never even use mine.
 
Polish. Great action games I can play with my wife that aren't full of the AAA obsession with approaching photorealistic depictions of violence, decapitation, impalement, dismemberment etc etc (this is about whether she'll play it, not what i think of it). Naff hardware.
 
A company that remembers why I like video games, and doesn't shit them up trying to make them something they are not.

To me all the random setbacks that come about from weird decisions are easily outweighed by the fact that they just know what a video game is.
 
Stilton Disco said:
They're a company that I can't help but love on the sheer weight of nostalgia alone.

But as a games company, they're toy makers, not artists, and they've not matured with their audience or the market at large.

They're almost technophobes, but purely down to their blinkered, arrogant dismissal of anything that originates outside their walls until they absolutely have to face up to it.

Their management, marketing, business and creative attitudes are at best archaic, and self harming at worst.

They're an old childhood pet, almost blind, cancer riddled, and senile, but one that I love too much to have put down.
Click to expand...
Great post.
 
Unchecked nostalgia for a generation of the somewhat brainwashed.

Strategy genius such as intentional shortages.

Excellent platformer and kart racing game development.

Stilton Disco said:
They're an old childhood pet, almost blind, cancer riddled, and senile, but one that I love too much to have put down.
Click to expand...

Okay now I'm just sad.
 
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