Huffmania Blog

November 7, 2016

History of Nintendo

The banner graphic I made for a recent post about the upcoming Nintendo Switch inspired me to draw all of the Nintendo consoles, from the original NES onward. Download a PDF.

Labels: nintendo, video games, Wii

link to this post - posted by Jonathan @ 11:36 PM -

October 31, 2016

Switching It Up — Nintendo's Next Console Champion

In the last few weeks there have been some interesting announcements from Nintendo. First, Nintendo surprised us by announcing a new edition of the original NES, the NES Classic Edition, which appears as a tiny version of the original console. It comes with 30 pre-installed games and a exact copy of the original controller. The included games are great, but there are some sad omissions, such as: the original Contra, Duck Tales, Tetris. But it does have all of the NES Mario Brothers and Zelda games, as well as Metroid, which for me are the only reasons I need to want one.

And then Nintendo released a teaser trailer for it's next major console, the Nintendo Switch (which had been going under the development name NX for some time). The Switch looks to be just as innovative as the Wii was a decade ago in that it merges the two gaming environments of console and portable into one unit. This separation of console and portable dynamic is largely something that was introduced by Nintendo with the Gameboy as a companion to the NES. Nintendo has long been the dominate factor in mobile gaming, so it's interesting that the Switch will bring these two environments together.

The switch accomplishes this by being a nice looking tablet with detachable controls, which can then be placed into a docking station to connect with a traditional HD television.

I've been a Nintendo fan for most of my life. Although I've only ever owned a few Nintendo systems (the Super Nintendo, the original Gameboy, and the Wii), I've had friends and other family who provided access to other systems such as the NES, the Nintendo 64, and the GameCube. Video games for me allowed me to tap into an imaginative place. And this is something that has long been a real strength of Nintendo, and something that I think takes a back seat to the action of games created by more recent development studios for the traditional console makers. This probably goes back to the philosophy of Nintendo's leadership of making things they love.

The Nintendo Switch will be the first system of the 9th generation of video game consoles, a generation that will not see any real new contestants for some time. That's not to say there's not any competition because Microsoft and Sony are putting out updated versions of their consoles to compete for the traditional gamers attention this holiday. These updated versions are slimer and even more powerful than the previous versions, and they include features such as blueray support.

It's ironic that the term 'traditional gamer' applies to more recent gamers who are drawn to the powerful consoles and action based games. To me the real traditional gamers are the ones who'd feel nostalgic for those old school 8-bit and 16-bit titles from Nintendo and Sega, and those drawn to the fun on Nintendo. A lot of those folks will be having kids of there own, so there is a good opportunity here for Nintendo to tap into that nostalgia for those wanting to provide that kind of fun experience for their kids. As this recent Fruit Loops commercial (which I love) points out, there is a real deep affection for those classic games.

I'm really excited for this new Nintendo system, and I look forward to the exciting games it will offer. In addition to Mario and Zelda, I hope we'll see new Metroid, Contra, Castlevania, Street Fighter. I also hope that content for previous consoles and portable systems will be available via an e-shop. I'd really like to be able to download classics and games I might have missed on recent portable systems and consoles (A Link Between Worlds, New Super Mario Brothers U, Wind Waker HD, Mario Maker, etc).

Labels: nintendo, switch, video games, Virtual Console, Wii

link to this post - posted by Jonathan @ 12:05 AM -

September 28, 2015

Who will be the next console champion

About 9 years ago I wrote a blog post predicting why the Nintendo Wii would win the war of the 7th generation of video game consoles. And it kinda did, at least in terms of hardware by selling a tremendous amount of units, over 100 million (by comparison the Xbox360 and PlayStation 3 each sold around 84 million, which was not too shabby).

This was great but in itself is not really winning, because the real money comes from licensing the software that runs on the platform. Where the Wii excelled was in it's innovative controls, specifically thanks to the Wii remote and nun-chuck. The wii remote opened all sorts of exciting new interactive opportunities. Problem was, the only games you really needed to make the most of the Wii experience were the ones that came bundled with the product. Development from third party game creators never really materialized for the Wii due to the systems limitations. The Wii hardware was a success, but revenues for games licenses would never match that of Microsoft or Sony.

Now that we're a couple years into the 8th generation of consoles, the Wii's successor, the Wii U has only sold a tenth of the original Wii's numbers, which is sad because the Wii U is a fantastic machine. The Wii U's controller contains a second screen making the experience of using it more like the two screen experience of using Nintendo's very popular DS portable gaming device. However, Microsoft has already caught up to Nintendo, and Sony has more than doubled Nintendo in units sold.

This time Microsoft and Sony's approach is as it was for their 7th generation systems – build high powered consoles, to appeal to the hardcore gamers. The PlayStation 4 differs in that it is focuses more on the just that, a high power system for gamers, and the Xbox One is attempting to be an all purpose media center. But overall, these systems are essentially improved versions from the last go around.

While many analysts and video game industry insiders have forcasted Nintendo's inevitable demise as a hardware manufacturer, and conversion to being just a game developer (much like what happened to Sega following the Dreamcast), I believe they are seriously underestimated the companys tenacity for innovation and producing games that are fundamentally enjoyable on the most basic levels (and remain so decades later). Nintendo has a certain magic in it's game making ability that few competitors can match.

Nintendo machines may not have the same horse power as their rivals under the hood, but they don't need to, because their great strength is in the story telling and that highly enjoyable nature that is ingrained in the games Nintendo has been crafting for decades. Their catalog of intellectual properties are a museum of the best of video game history.

I think as a software and hardware manufacturer, we can expect to see Nintendo in it for the long haul. Fans are already excited for what the next Nintendo console (code named 'NX') will over, and there is still much to come for the current Wii U system's legacy, including the upcoming vast open world of the next Zelda game – that could be the Killer App that gives life to the Wii U. Time will tell.

***

There may be a new contender for the champion of this generation of video game consoles – a company that, like MS and Sony, is both focused on the market of serious hard core gamers, and as with Nintendo, a company who's sole focus is gaming. Valve, the creators of the Half-life series of games, and developers of online streaming service Steam, a convenient distribution method for gamers to purchase games from many publishers, is developing an open gaming platform that will work on many different machines – the Steambox.

True hard core gamers have always preferred PCs over consoles because of the pure power possible on PCs that just cannot be matched on consoles. Valve is bringing their Steam platform from PCs to the living room with the Steambox open platform and handing it over to system makers to create a variety of devices to match consumers desire for the latest and greatest specs.

Integral to this is the development of the Steam controller which provides the ease of a traditional console controller but with more advanced functions that mimic the options of a desktop environment. This advanced controller could be the make or break for the Steambox. Either way, the prospect of PC quality graphics in a living room environment should provide serious competition to Microsoft and Sony. Valve, like Nintendo, has a solid collection of intellectual property that continue to offer worlds of fun. It would be worth getting a Steambox just to play Half Life and Portal in HD on your living room screen.

Labels: video games, Wii

link to this post - posted by Jonathan @ 10:54 PM -

February 10, 2010

Wiish List

A while ago I predicted that Nintendo would win the war in next generation video game consoles even with a less robust piece of hardware, the Wii. Because the heart of Nintendo is strictly a video game company (although in its over a 120 year history its been: a trading card company, a taxi service, and operated “love hotels” a popular service in Japan where space for privacy is at a premium), unlike its major rivals now, Sony and Microsoft who are involved in multiple business models.

I really like the concept of the Virtual Console, which allows Wii users to download copies of classic games to play on the Wii. In particular I really enjoyed “platformers” (platform games), which basically involved 2-dimensional side scrolling characters jumping side to side to various platforms. More recent genres of games often involve 3-dimensional environments, such as first-person-shooters, often require computers to assist in creating the visuals. But I much prefer the animation of those older games, and the simplicity of running and jumping from platform to platform. On some of the more challenging games (Ghoul's and Ghosts) it requires amazing timing, to the same degree required for the best players of Halo.

One of my all time favorites, Contra, combines the platform genre with the run-and-gun genre as the characters jump and shoots at outer-space invaders. Unfortunately as of yet it is not yet available on the Wii Virtual Console – which brings up my number one complaint for the Virtual Console: the lack of games available.

The Wii's Virtual Consol has the potential to be really profitable from people like me who are very nostalgic for games from our past. There are some great titles available but there are some surprising one's missing, which is why I've compiled an updated list of additions to the Wii Virtual Console line up broken down by their respective consoles:

NINTENDO (a.k.a. Nintendo Entertainment System, or NES)
-Contra
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 2 – The Aracde Game
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 3

SUPER NINTENDO (a.k.a. SNES)
-Bubsy
-Cool Spot
-Aladdin
-Stargate
-Jurassic Park

SEGA GENESIS (a.k.a. Mater Drive)
-The Castle of Illusion Staring Mickey Mouse – this was an awesome game with a great sound track.
-Sonic And Knuckles
-Splatterhouse 3
-Contra: Hard Corps

NINTENDO 64
-Goldeneye,
-Perfect Dark
-Battle Tanks - Global Assault
-Killer Instinct

ARCADE
-Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles
-Ghouls and Ghosts
-Magic Sword
-Dark Stalkers
-Smash TV
-Captain Commando

Of the games I've listed, its quite surprising to me that some of these have not become available for the Virtual Console. The top of my list would be The Castle of Illusion Starring Mickey Mouse, which was an amazingly fun game with a great soundtrack. I've been waiting for Sonic and Knuckles, which has been available on the Japanese version of the Virtual Console for quite some time. Konami has released Super C (NES) and Contra III (SNES) and gone to the trouble of creating an all new Contra game called ReBirth, so why isn't the original Contra available? Original arcade games have recently started being released on the Virtual Console, so I'm hoping the original arcade version of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles makes it's way to the VC (and of course its NES port!). (TMNT is one of my favorite arcade games. I spent so many quarters in this game at an arcade by a boardwalk in Ocean City Maryland. Ah, memories!) Bubsy and Cool Spot were excellent side-scrolling platformers made for 16 Bit systems – they would be big hits I'm sure.

I wonder if despite Nintendo's success with the Wii its old rival Sega might have a 1-Up being that it has left the console wars and can develop games on multiple systems. I really enjoyed the latest Super Mario Bros which goes back to Mario and Luigi's 2D “platform” gaming origins – but I was always enjoyed Sonic a little more than Mario...so I was really excited to read that a new Sonic the Hedgehog is in development that goes back the the 2D platform formula. Its goes right back to where Sonic and Knuckles left off. It looks like it plays just the original Sonic games, but the graphics look updated to today's high definition standards. It will be available as a direct download to Wii, Xbox 360, and PS3. I must admit that while the business model of direct downloads probably makes a lot of sense financially for the games publisher, the inner nerd in my desires to hold the physical copy of a game disk and examine its game manual.

But I would not let that one holdup to keep me from getting excited about this upcomming Sonic game.

It would be remiss if I did not acknowledge that there are some of the great games available currently on the VC: The Legend of Zelda – A Link to the Past is one of the best video games ever made. Sonic The Hedgehog 1, 2, and 3, Contra III, Super Mario World, and Super Metroid were and still are a lot of fun to play. Donkey Kong Country has graphics that are still amazing nearly 15 years later.

Labels: video games, Virtual Console, Wii

link to this post - posted by Jonathan @ 9:11 PM -

October 14, 2008

Wii possibilities

A few weeks ago while my friend Robert was in town I finally snagged a copy of MarioKart for Wii. I've been very impressed so far with Wii's games, most espicially the games created by Nintendo. The game is leaps and bounds ahead of previous Mario Karts. The Nintendo 64 version was the one my friends in college played frequently when we needed to avoid studying. What I believe makes the Wii version better aside from excellent playability and visuals is the ability to play against actual humans from across the world through Nintendo's internet service.

If I have one gripe about the Wii it is the under-captilization of its potential. Specifically the Virtual Console has a huge potential to tap into old schoolers like myself – those who grew up on the classic platform (a.k.a side-scrolling) games of the 80s and 90s. The tiled Wii menu is pratically a museum environment for playing the games we grew up on. Younger gamers just don't have the appreciation for those older side-scrolling games, which is to be expected. Most hard core gamers today seem totally immersed in First-Person-Shooters (FPS), like Halo, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games, MMORPGs for short (like Word of War Craft, more commonly abbreviated as WOW). As I recall Goldeneye was the game that really caused an explosion in mainstream popularity of the FPS genre. And Goldeneye is a great example of a game missing in the Virtual Consol. Its certainly a game I would love to play again had I the chance.

There are some excellent games available ... Metal Slug, Contra III, most Super Mario games and Sonic the Hedgehogs. I see that Nintendo has just released one of my favorites on the VC: The Secret of Mana. But there are so many games still not included that has me wondering why. So here's a list of the games I would like to see released on the VC:

Contra (NES)
Contra 4 (Genesis)
Contra Force (NES)
Mickey's Castle of Illusion (Genesi)
Castlevania: Dracula X (SNES)
the Final Fight sequels (SNES)
Magic Sword (SNES)
Castlevania 3 (NES)
The Secret of Mana 2 (SNES - it was never released in the USA)
Blaster Master (NES)
Duck Tales (NES)
Blaster Master 2 (Genesis)
Bubsy (SNES and/or Genesis)
Goldeneye (N64)
Perfect Dark (N64)

Labels: video games, Wii

link to this post - posted by Jonathan @ 6:00 PM -