Topic: Walt Disney World and Nintendo: A Tale of Revisionist History

[tylerohlew]

Paying respect to Nintendo's past goes horribly wrong at the House of Mouse.

http://www.nintendoworldreport.com/blog/31794

Despite playing a growing role in the gaming landscape, Disney doesn’t make any effort to remind you of this fact at their Walt Disney World theme parks. You won’t find Sora walking around, confusing tourists with tales of his adventures. Scrooge McDuck isn’t bouncing around on a modified pogo stick. Warren Spector wasn’t even there! I thought for sure I’d see him, searching the crowds for someone to look at his latest Minnie Mouse watch. In my time there I didn’t see anything you, the loyal Nintendo World Report audience, would care about.

But then everything changed on my last day.

The lobby of the Pop Century resort showcases its theme: a celebration of the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, and '90s. The hallway is divided into each decade, with a glass case showcasing various goods reflective of that period’s popular culture. After my initial disappoint in the NES missing from the '80s portion of the wall (which is understandable if you slept from 1985 onwards), I came across this.

Nothing like watching Encino Man and playing some Game Boy, buuuuuudy.

“Super awesome,” I thought, “the Game Boy was terrific. Pocahontas was cool too.” And what better way to show how awesome the Game Boy was than with Tetris and Super Mario Land! They’re even in those sweet plastic casings I’ve sullied over the years.

But, all I had to do was look up to watch my enthusiasm come crashing down.

Whoa, whoa, whoa...

There it was. A few metal numbers showed me just how much Disney really cared about the Game Boy. The 1990s? Honestly? The Game Boy came out in 1989! Same with Mario Land and Tetris. Is this an oversight? Or is something more sinister at work? And who would ever place the Dreamcast over the Super Nintendo to represent the '90s? What is this madness...

What else will Disney shuffle around to concoct their bizarro history? By all accounts, Disney could create just the type of past they want. Move, delete, revise… it’s all possible. Now it’s just the greatest handheld of all time being pushed up a few months, but what’s to stop them from further warping the annals of history? Perhaps even removing memories of the GameCube… from our very minds.

[broodwars]

Apparently the Dreamcast had a lot of support from Disney judging by those images.  : : Eh, I don't think this is "revisionist history", just a collection of stuff the company had lying around from those days.

Besides, that image seems to peg the Game Boy's importance at 1994 with the Pokemon craze, which is appropriate.

[NESticales]

What do you mean? I was totally using a flip phone and reading how to use the Internet with my laptop years before I picked up a Game Boy. Oh, I was also still rollerblading in the late 90s... pffft that picture is all sorts of hilarious.

[Ian Sane]

The Dreamcast is the more offense inclusion since it was around in America for literally less than four months in the 90's.  But the Game Boy is totally more of a 90's thing.  You said yourself it debuted in 1989, that's the last year of the 80's.  Most of the Game Boy's life was in the 90's.  The Game Boy's entire 80's existence is less than a year.  They probably should just have included 90's Game Boy games like Donkey Kong, Link's Awakening or Pokemon.

[Glad0s]

I'm surprised that this article wasn't written by Mike Sklens....

[tylerohlew]

Thanks for the comments, guys.


Just so we're clear, I dion't actually consider this revisionist history. Just having a bit of fun at Disney's expense.


Just playing the anal fanboy we know and...love?