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It was only a decade, a mere ten years in the stretching eternity that is human history, since Nintendo ruled the games console market. Now they are struggling to keep second place, and to add insult to injury, it is against a monopolising Yankee rather than a rival company. And what has caused this fall? None other than the teenagers that, as children, put Nintendo at the top.
Nintendo has been running much longer than Sony or Sega. In the days of Donkey Kong arcade machines, the only major rival was Atari, who were destined for bankruptcy. Then came the NES, the beginning of Nintendo’s reign. Rival consoles from Sega began to appear, with names like Master System and Mega Drive, but, despite fighting valiantly, they never gained the recognition that Nintendo managed. From the early 80’s, well-known families of characters were born; Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and from our friends at Square came the Final Fantasy universe – characters that remain with us, unscathed by age. Sega created the Sonic world, which has also lasted, though it emerged from the world of 2D games with a fizz rather than a bang.
Then the revolutionary game boy was born, and it pounded Sega’s Game Gear into an early grave, ruthlessly taking out competition that was far ahead of its time. And from the profits of the Game Boy and NES came the SNES, bringing Nintendo into its element. The franchises of Mario and Zelda expanded - especially the Mario games, which delved into the world of Karting and puzzle games. The Final Fantasy universe gained fame and fortune, oblivious to the future dispute between Square and Nintendo that has now, thankfully, been resolved. Life was good, people didn’t care whether they were a Sega or Nintendo fan (though the press tried to create the Mario vs Sonic War).
And then, unknown and unpredicted to all, a new evil rose. Street Cred. The children that had put Nintendo at the top were now on the verge of their Teenage Years, vulnerable to peer pressure and the influences of marketing. No longer was it considered acceptable to wear backpacks with both straps, no more could they admit to watching cartoons – and no longer could they confess the indescribable pleasure received from Nintendo games, games that they had been proud to play.
And amidst this chaos, rose a new enemy, The Playstation, stealing Square and the Metal Gear games from Nintendo’s gentle grasp and blinding teenagers with Lara’s computer generated breasts. The Playstation became the ‘cooler’ console and began to beat Nintendo down with a compact disc-shaped stick. Nintendo rose up once more, though only slightly, with the incredible Nintendo64, with technical superiority and games that were twice as good as the best of the SNES. And these were ignored. Fans of Zelda and Mario were jeered and pressured to buy Playstations or the fifteen-minutes-of-fame-flop that was the Dreamcast.
The Playstation 2 appeared, boasting backward compatibility and better graphics (better resolution for the Tomb Raiders baps). The Nintendo tried to come back years later with the Gamecube, but it was too late…
….Street Cred had already done its damage. The Cube’s fantastic games were ignored or insulted by Xbox owners, oblivious that their ‘technologically superior’ brick…er…console, did not live up to its potential. And such franchises that put Nintendo where they were began to suffer.
I know this, as I am one of those teenagers living in a Playstation world. But I have stuck by Nintendo, and you must to. It is imperative, if we are to stop this madness…
Nintendo has been running much longer than Sony or Sega. In the days of Donkey Kong arcade machines, the only major rival was Atari, who were destined for bankruptcy. Then came the NES, the beginning of Nintendo’s reign. Rival consoles from Sega began to appear, with names like Master System and Mega Drive, but, despite fighting valiantly, they never gained the recognition that Nintendo managed. From the early 80’s, well-known families of characters were born; Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and from our friends at Square came the Final Fantasy universe – characters that remain with us, unscathed by age. Sega created the Sonic world, which has also lasted, though it emerged from the world of 2D games with a fizz rather than a bang.
Then the revolutionary game boy was born, and it pounded Sega’s Game Gear into an early grave, ruthlessly taking out competition that was far ahead of its time. And from the profits of the Game Boy and NES came the SNES, bringing Nintendo into its element. The franchises of Mario and Zelda expanded - especially the Mario games, which delved into the world of Karting and puzzle games. The Final Fantasy universe gained fame and fortune, oblivious to the future dispute between Square and Nintendo that has now, thankfully, been resolved. Life was good, people didn’t care whether they were a Sega or Nintendo fan (though the press tried to create the Mario vs Sonic War).
And then, unknown and unpredicted to all, a new evil rose. Street Cred. The children that had put Nintendo at the top were now on the verge of their Teenage Years, vulnerable to peer pressure and the influences of marketing. No longer was it considered acceptable to wear backpacks with both straps, no more could they admit to watching cartoons – and no longer could they confess the indescribable pleasure received from Nintendo games, games that they had been proud to play.
And amidst this chaos, rose a new enemy, The Playstation, stealing Square and the Metal Gear games from Nintendo’s gentle grasp and blinding teenagers with Lara’s computer generated breasts. The Playstation became the ‘cooler’ console and began to beat Nintendo down with a compact disc-shaped stick. Nintendo rose up once more, though only slightly, with the incredible Nintendo64, with technical superiority and games that were twice as good as the best of the SNES. And these were ignored. Fans of Zelda and Mario were jeered and pressured to buy Playstations or the fifteen-minutes-of-fame-flop that was the Dreamcast.
The Playstation 2 appeared, boasting backward compatibility and better graphics (better resolution for the Tomb Raiders baps). The Nintendo tried to come back years later with the Gamecube, but it was too late…
….Street Cred had already done its damage. The Cube’s fantastic games were ignored or insulted by Xbox owners, oblivious that their ‘technologically superior’ brick…er…console, did not live up to its potential. And such franchises that put Nintendo where they were began to suffer.
I know this, as I am one of those teenagers living in a Playstation world. But I have stuck by Nintendo, and you must to. It is imperative, if we are to stop this madness…
Watch for the bricks, I was saying exactly the same thing yesterday and they almost castrated me, WITHOUT ANAESTHETIC!!!
The branding that a console has certainly gives it a head start in the popularity stakes, you only have to look at the 50 million Playstation 2 owners to see that. But Nintendo has its own "niche" as it were, the Gamecube is still being stereotyped against as a kiddies console, but to be honest out of the people that own the console who really cares? The Nintendo games will keep the fans coming back, and the 7 billion in Nintendo's pocket will cement it in the industry for some time to come.
It was only a decade, a mere ten years in the stretching eternity that is human history, since Nintendo ruled the games console market. Now they are struggling to keep second place, and to add insult to injury, it is against a monopolising Yankee rather than a rival company. And what has caused this fall? None other than the teenagers that, as children, put Nintendo at the top.
Nintendo has been running much longer than Sony or Sega. In the days of Donkey Kong arcade machines, the only major rival was Atari, who were destined for bankruptcy. Then came the NES, the beginning of Nintendo’s reign. Rival consoles from Sega began to appear, with names like Master System and Mega Drive, but, despite fighting valiantly, they never gained the recognition that Nintendo managed. From the early 80’s, well-known families of characters were born; Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and from our friends at Square came the Final Fantasy universe – characters that remain with us, unscathed by age. Sega created the Sonic world, which has also lasted, though it emerged from the world of 2D games with a fizz rather than a bang.
Then the revolutionary game boy was born, and it pounded Sega’s Game Gear into an early grave, ruthlessly taking out competition that was far ahead of its time. And from the profits of the Game Boy and NES came the SNES, bringing Nintendo into its element. The franchises of Mario and Zelda expanded - especially the Mario games, which delved into the world of Karting and puzzle games. The Final Fantasy universe gained fame and fortune, oblivious to the future dispute between Square and Nintendo that has now, thankfully, been resolved. Life was good, people didn’t care whether they were a Sega or Nintendo fan (though the press tried to create the Mario vs Sonic War).
And then, unknown and unpredicted to all, a new evil rose. Street Cred. The children that had put Nintendo at the top were now on the verge of their Teenage Years, vulnerable to peer pressure and the influences of marketing. No longer was it considered acceptable to wear backpacks with both straps, no more could they admit to watching cartoons – and no longer could they confess the indescribable pleasure received from Nintendo games, games that they had been proud to play.
And amidst this chaos, rose a new enemy, The Playstation, stealing Square and the Metal Gear games from Nintendo’s gentle grasp and blinding teenagers with Lara’s computer generated breasts. The Playstation became the ‘cooler’ console and began to beat Nintendo down with a compact disc-shaped stick. Nintendo rose up once more, though only slightly, with the incredible Nintendo64, with technical superiority and games that were twice as good as the best of the SNES. And these were ignored. Fans of Zelda and Mario were jeered and pressured to buy Playstations or the fifteen-minutes-of-fame-flop that was the Dreamcast.
The Playstation 2 appeared, boasting backward compatibility and better graphics (better resolution for the Tomb Raiders baps). The Nintendo tried to come back years later with the Gamecube, but it was too late…
….Street Cred had already done its damage. The Cube’s fantastic games were ignored or insulted by Xbox owners, oblivious that their ‘technologically superior’ brick…er…console, did not live up to its potential. And such franchises that put Nintendo where they were began to suffer.
I know this, as I am one of those teenagers living in a Playstation world. But I have stuck by Nintendo, and you must to. It is imperative, if we are to stop this madness…
Nintendo has been running much longer than Sony or Sega. In the days of Donkey Kong arcade machines, the only major rival was Atari, who were destined for bankruptcy. Then came the NES, the beginning of Nintendo’s reign. Rival consoles from Sega began to appear, with names like Master System and Mega Drive, but, despite fighting valiantly, they never gained the recognition that Nintendo managed. From the early 80’s, well-known families of characters were born; Mario, Zelda, Metroid, and from our friends at Square came the Final Fantasy universe – characters that remain with us, unscathed by age. Sega created the Sonic world, which has also lasted, though it emerged from the world of 2D games with a fizz rather than a bang.
Then the revolutionary game boy was born, and it pounded Sega’s Game Gear into an early grave, ruthlessly taking out competition that was far ahead of its time. And from the profits of the Game Boy and NES came the SNES, bringing Nintendo into its element. The franchises of Mario and Zelda expanded - especially the Mario games, which delved into the world of Karting and puzzle games. The Final Fantasy universe gained fame and fortune, oblivious to the future dispute between Square and Nintendo that has now, thankfully, been resolved. Life was good, people didn’t care whether they were a Sega or Nintendo fan (though the press tried to create the Mario vs Sonic War).
And then, unknown and unpredicted to all, a new evil rose. Street Cred. The children that had put Nintendo at the top were now on the verge of their Teenage Years, vulnerable to peer pressure and the influences of marketing. No longer was it considered acceptable to wear backpacks with both straps, no more could they admit to watching cartoons – and no longer could they confess the indescribable pleasure received from Nintendo games, games that they had been proud to play.
And amidst this chaos, rose a new enemy, The Playstation, stealing Square and the Metal Gear games from Nintendo’s gentle grasp and blinding teenagers with Lara’s computer generated breasts. The Playstation became the ‘cooler’ console and began to beat Nintendo down with a compact disc-shaped stick. Nintendo rose up once more, though only slightly, with the incredible Nintendo64, with technical superiority and games that were twice as good as the best of the SNES. And these were ignored. Fans of Zelda and Mario were jeered and pressured to buy Playstations or the fifteen-minutes-of-fame-flop that was the Dreamcast.
The Playstation 2 appeared, boasting backward compatibility and better graphics (better resolution for the Tomb Raiders baps). The Nintendo tried to come back years later with the Gamecube, but it was too late…
….Street Cred had already done its damage. The Cube’s fantastic games were ignored or insulted by Xbox owners, oblivious that their ‘technologically superior’ brick…er…console, did not live up to its potential. And such franchises that put Nintendo where they were began to suffer.
I know this, as I am one of those teenagers living in a Playstation world. But I have stuck by Nintendo, and you must to. It is imperative, if we are to stop this madness…