2004 was also pretty bleak for Nintendo, wasn't this the year that they actually halted production of GameCube's for awhile because low sales had caused them to have warehouses full of unsold systems?
As Mr.Kaluszka implied, by this time, the gaming press,'analysts', 3rd parties, rival fanboys pulled down their pants and took a proverbial diarrhea dump on Nintendo. It was coming from all directions.
I remember patiently waiting for Crystal Chronicles on that wintery day. The gamestop near me just got their shipment in, and booted it up, GBA in hand when I got home. I played solo because I coudn't anyone to play with...
But I still had a blast dungeon crawling, and the random skits.
When I picked up MGS:The Twin Snakes, I was shocked at the game's length. Even going at a snail's pace, I beat the game in 2 weeks. But still, it was a fun romp at Shadow Moses Island. My favorite boss fight was Vulcan Raven, there was something satisfying by beating the brute by laying land mines that never got old.
Zelda:Four Swords adventures was an interesting spin off. I loved the LttP/4 swords style along with the clever use of GBA-Connectivity. By this time, even Nintendo knew it was useless to push this as a selling feature, but they went out with a bang wit this title.
Oh, Mega Man Anniversary collection. Or as I like to call it, the game of the summer. The most frustrating moment was trying to beat Yellow Devil in MM1. There was no select trick, so it had to be done the old fashioned way. When I finally did beat it, it was smooth sailing from there. Though the Wily levels in MM2 took me for a loop, since it ramped up the difficulty in comparison to the robot masters.
I didn't pick of Tales of Symphonia until early fall, but when I got it, it was the only game I wanted to play. I neglected papers and homework, oh I don't want to think about it. I was kind of glad when I beat it, as I could function normally again.
2004 was pretty bleak for the DS (even the first half of 2005 was), so Super Mario 64 DS won by default.
The DS had a quick turn around from the initial announcement around the end of Janurary, to launch in late November. It was slim pickings. Remember Ping Pals? The Ubisoft dating sim? Yeah...
When I was working a holiday job at a retailer of Games/Music/Movies, basketball player Rip Hamiliton from the Detroit Pistons showed up at my shift! This was the year they won the championship, so the metro area was abuzz with Pistons fever. Anyway he comes in, in his warmups, and his championship ring so big, it was dare I say, bling-blingin? Anyway, he asks me if they had a Nintendo DS, and once I got the bass back in my voice told him we were sold out. He kept walking around the store, while my store manager looked around to make sure he wasn't bothered. Also during this time, there was still demand for PS2/Xbox systems, whereas our store had to stop ordering 'Cubes because they weren't selling...
2004 saw big exclusives for each respective system: Halo 2, GTA:San Andreas, and Metroid Prime 2: Echoes. Whereas the Halo 2 and GTA sold millions in a few short weeks, MP 2 barely cracked the 6 figure mark. If the price cut of '03 was the writing on the wall, MP 2's sales figures was the pink slip. Gamers, 3rd parties
quit on the 'Cube.
Granted, the arrival of Reggie and Twilight Princess were a breath of fresh air, we wouldn't see the fruit of the new Nintendo until later.
Topic: A Decade of PGC/NWR: 2004 (Read 14633 times)
