Nintendo is a quirky company. It is also a very rich company. While many people often attribute Nintendo’s successes to luck, more so than any other company, their success is the result of constant innovation, not always following trends (for better or worse) and learning from their biggest mistakes.

nintendo in the games industry

The N64 popularised the use of analog sticks, the GameCube flirted with the concept of having a console that is easy to take to a friend’s house and the Wii brought motion controls to the spotlight. Whether you think some of these things are gimmicky or not doesn’t matter at all. The Wii laid the foundation for motion control tech used in VR today and made Sony and Microsoft try (and fail) motion control for their consoles. That idea from the GameCube-era, combined with the central dogma of the Wii U (playing your home console away from TV) is basically what the Switch is. Virtual Boy and 3DS. I could go on and on. Without Nintendo, the industry would be stagnant and most likely focused on the same old stuff for years and years.

innovation, experimentation

More recently, with the success of the Switch, Nintendo proves this point once again. A lower-spec console is re-establishing Nintendo’s presence in the eyes of hardcore gamers. Why? Because it offers something new. Sure, there are ways to play PC/home console games on portable machines but none of those are as easy to pick up, set up and play as the Switch. Buy and play. Simple as that.

crafting experiences that matter

That innovation continues to software as well. Nintendo creates experiences and gameplay styles that slowly become the norm in game creation. But that’s not a one-way street. The Legend of Zelda Breath of the Wild is a perfect example of Nintendo studying open-world games and making their own type of sandbox game, more interactive than any AAA experience to date. New ideas are born from Nintendo and established ones get a Nintendo twist. That’s how Nintendo drives the industry forward. The only thing they need to do now learn some lessons from Microsoft and improve their online services.

Do you think the gaming industry would be plagued with a lack of imagination and creativity without the likes of Nintendo?

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THE ZELDA FORMULA
With the release of Twilight Princess in 2006, Nintendo gave outspoken Western Zelda fans what they always wanted; a dark game with a realistic art-style. This was the game that introduced me to the series and made me want to explore older games.
After years of catching up it wasn’t difficult to notice how each game in the series after Ocarina of Time follows a formula. This formula works and produces fantastic games.

THE GREAT DIVIDE
Skyward Sword, released in 2011 (just one week after TESV: Skyrim) was a product of this game-development ‘’algorithm’’. It showcased the gameplay possibilities of 1:1 motion control, it was epic in terms of story and was the catalyst for the creation of an Official Zelda Timeline. But fans and critics alike couldn’t help but compare it to games coming out around the same time. They felt that this Zelda formula finally needed a modernization. After all, a game should strive to attract new audiences as well as die-hard fans and modern gamers have become accustomed to adventure games or RPGs that give you complete freedom to complete quests/ dungeons in whichever order you please.

BABY STEPS
Nintendo listened to the criticism. Their teams were hard at work on producing new ideas to revamp the Zelda formula and take advantage of technology that allows them to do something that wasn’t possible in the 90s; asymmetric gameplay. This was implemented in the 3DS game A Link Between Worlds, which is the furthest deviation from the traditional formula in recent years. The game felt modern, fresh and attracted attention from both critics and gamers as one of the best entries in the series. The seeds for the overhaul that is Breath of the Wild were sown.

A BREATH OF FRESH AIR
With the success of A Link Between Worlds, Zelda developers finally had assurance that change is welcome by everyone when done right. Breath of the Wild marks a new age for the Zelda series. The gameplay is heavily influenced by Western adventure games and RPGs on everything from asymmetric gameplay to HUD design. The game was celebrated upon announcement and gathered a great amount of attention on social networks and from the mainstream media.

THE GAMBLE
With a release date set for 2017 on Wii U and the new Nintendo home console, the NX, the latest entry in the series has a lot of pressure on its shoulders. Will this game be able to push sales of the NX as well as maintain the interest of a Japanese audience? I can only hope that the recent success Nintendo had with thinking outside the box doesn’t make them arrogant or over-confident and turn their attention away from the importance of such a gamble.

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The Nintendo Wii U will not satisfy a lot of gamers that have gaming as part of their life and they constantly play new games, trying always to beat them all and achieve every possible high score. However it promises a lot of simple fun playing with each other some of the classic games, especially for kids. The kids we all now and the kids we all adults hide inside us. That is a big plus for Nintendo. And in combination with tons of multiplayer cooperative party games and the capability to use old Wii accessories and games, makes it really nice and fun to have one even though it cannot reach at any chance the performance of PlayStation 4 or Xbox One. Beside that fact here is what we got for a try we appreciate from Nintendo.

1. Lacks a lot of third party games

The new Nintendo Wii U it doesn’t support DVD or Blue-Ray discs. As a result a lot of famous and known games (Call of Duty, Watch Dogs etc. etc.) from very successful gaming companies (as Ubisoft etc.) are not available. This directly removes the classic type of ‘gamer’ from the audience that would buy it. And for a gaming console…this is not good. Especially when the manufacturer is specified exclusively on gaming. A lot of people love the classic games that are available in Nintendo, but without third party games the Wii will never be a big success and will never be able to compete the big libraries of games that PlayStation and Xbox have.

2. GamePad battery life too short

In terms of gaming experience the Wii feels nice and high tech especially because it comes with a tablet-style GamePad(is a tablet with some extra buttons for gaming) which makes it available to play even if the TV is in use. It is a very pity though that the battery life of the GamePad is too short. Very innovative from Nintendo the way it is done but they didn’t make it well. Is a portable gadget for gaming and it feels nice to play….but it doesn’t last for long.

3. It doesn’t share games with the 3DS handheld

As we mentioned, Nintendo is specified in gaming devices so it produces some other types too. One of them is 3DS handheld. As we noticed from people that have Nintendo devices, they all desire a connection between them. It would be ideal if someone could share games between them. It would make a different gaming experience, especially for those who play with portable devices.

4. The on-board storage is not enough

So we have a console that does not support DVDs and Blue-Rays so it needs stored and installed on-board every game you want to play, and every profile, and well if you have a lot of kids accessing it, everything each one of them makes on the console. In long term use, the 32GB (or 8GB) of memory is not enough. And come on, a modern aged console it should be able to make other things too as streaming media. The memory capacity is definitely not enough.

5. It is simply expensive considering what you get!

The Nintendo Wii U costs from around $300 to $360 dependent on which version you buy. Well, it is nice and fun. And of course is very suitable if you get it for kids use. But, what else is it able to do? What is the range of ages and people that supports? The interface is improved but it isn’t yet that easy and good to use extensively. Nowadays consoles are not exclusively for gaming. Must support other media streaming and in general a big range of entertainment, not only gaming. Is Nintendo supporting that? The processing power and performance is definitely not even close to its rivals. Is this performance enough for today’s usage? Those are just question marks Nintendo needs to answer if they want to go for a really good and entertaining console.

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