Topic: Are we Nintendo fanboys for life?

[JonLeung]

I make no secret of my age on this board, I was born in 1980, so I'm 26 years old.  And whether you consider it sad or just ultra-geeky or can identify with me, I think I was born at the right time to see the evolution of video games.  Though I'm sure you'll contend with my likely bias as it's mostly been from the Nintendo side of things.  My question is...will I be a Nintendo fanboy all my life?

If you'd rather not read my WALL OF TEXT life story of growing up with Nintendo, skip down to the second-last paragraph.

---

My earliest memories are probably when I was two or three, and one of those is when my dad brought home a ColecoVision.  The pack-in game was Donkey Kong, and soon we would get Donkey Kong Junior.  We enjoyed many ColecoVision games in its day, but for some reason treasured Donkey Kong.  Was there some kind of Nintendo magic?  Or simply because it was the first?

Some of my early elementary school friends had other systems, so I also had a taste of Atari 2600 games.  I'm sure many people who were born slightly before me or even about my age would say that I probably missed out on memories of Asteroids and Pitfall Harry and Kaboom! and whatnot.  I had played them, even E.T. (and enjoyed it at the time!  o_0) but for me, it was all about the ColecoVision instead, sorry to say.  (When that broke, we got an Adam computer, which had a slot for ColecoVision games.)  It wasn't until my friends got NESes that I actually became envious.

When I was still a young'un (elementary school age) a lot of my free time was being dragged around by my mom while she was shopping.  So one day, when finishing another shopping day at Mill Woods Town Centre, fate had her make a tiny slip on the curb near the bus stop.  It wasn't anything serious, or so it seemed at first, but because of the awkward way her foot landed, some bones in her foot fractured, and it soon swelled up and became extremely painful to walk on.  She would have her foot in a cast and be unable to walk for weeks.  Because she feared that she wouldn't be able to entertain me and my brother with her shopping (oh, no! *rolls eyes*) before the day was even over she asked my dad to buy what we'd long envied, the NES.  We got the three-game set, with Super Mario Bros., Duck Hunt, and World Class Track Meet, as well as the Zapper and Power Pad.  Oh, glorious day!

It was probably 1988, and Super Mario Bros. 2 was the current rage.  Frequent stops to Video Station let us rent so many games in the three years before the Super NES arrived, so my 8-bit memories are probably as full as anybody else's.  I never did see The Wizard in theaters - but I do distinctly remember my first glimpse of Super Mario Bros. 3 - and it's strange to think that I knew already that it would be the best NES game ever before being aware of the hype.

We moved to a different neighbourhood in 1990, and so I had a different set of friends.  One of my new best friends had a Master System, NES, Sega Genesis, and soon the Super NES.  My junior high years, filled with the awkwardness of growing up, were thankfully accompanied and comforted with some of the best years in video games; the 16-bit era.  I was clearly led by Nintendo from here on - I defended the Super NES against the Genesis and my Super NES selection was mostly first-party games, unlike the variety I had on the NES.  At this point I finished nearly every game on a rental, though, but only Nintendo games seemed to me worth buying, especially now that me and my brother were buying our own games and not dependent on parents to do so.

The N64 came out partway through high school, and there are many a memory of GoldenEye matches.  My friend with all the game systems, who almost had an aversion to blood even in junior high, finding it "unnecessary" and even off-putting, seemed to be growing up and accepted the violence of GoldenEye (what seemed to be much at the time, especially for him) probably the most of many of my friends.  But one day he said something that I remember so distinctly: "Yoshi's Story is 'too kiddy'".  If he was growing up, shouldn't I be, too?  Oh, the insecurity!

University began for me in 1998, the same year Pokémon came out.  I never had a Game Boy but that was the pusher that got me one.  Or two, rather, a Game Boy Pocket and a Game Boy Color.  Looking back on it I'm sure people looked at me as if I were childish - enjoying what kindergarteners would while in university, making no secret my attempts to catch 'em all.  In the latter half of our university years, I remember the ridiculous arguments I had with my friends - they had given in to the PS2, they claimed the GameCube was garbage without even knowing what games were on it.  Even the same friend I've referenced who always seemed to have all the current systems at any time said he was only going to MAYBE rent a GameCube just for Super Smash Bros. Melee.  Because I was the first (and for a while) the only one with a GameCube and not a PS2, I seemed to have gained a reputation for being a Nintendo fanboy - what I don't like is that they probably think I'm blindingly so.  I'll admit there is some successful marketing and life-shaping on Nintendo's part - but considering how many PS2 and especially Xbox games I've played on the PC, I'm prone to think their criticisms are more shallow than my own because you pretty much need a Nintendo console to play Nintendo games.  At least I've played many games apart from the Nintendo ones.

And now here I am, with a decent job (though I'm still looking for what I really want to do with my life) on the advent of the Wii.  The NES defined my elementary years, the Super NES for junior high, the N64 for high school, the GameCube for university (give or take a year or two), and now here I am in real life, ready for the Wii.

Assuming five-year spans for every console, will I find my soul mate before the end of Wii's life span?  Will I marry her while anticipating the 6th or 7th Nintendo console?  Will we have kids born around the time of the 8th or 9th console?  Will my kid(s) form memories with the 10th console the same way I had with the first one, the NES?  Will they grow up with the 11th, 12th, and 13th consoles?  Will I retire by the launch of the 13th console, which if console life spans are consistent could come out when I'm 66?  Assuming I live to the average age for Canadians of just about 81, I may die while wishing I could play the upcoming 16th Nintendo console.  (They say people living today may easily live to 150 years or more thanks to medical advances, so if I'm lucky I might live to see the later 20somethings or even the 30th Nintendo console.)

---

And this is what I'm getting to - 15 or 16 generations of game consoles in my lifetime, or up to maybe even twice as many?  That is...incomprehensible to me.  When I'm loading up the Virtual Console feature on my 15th generation Nintendo console, if I forgot to keep playing Brain Age, senility may set in and I may have trouble remembering if a game I loved in my middle age was from the 7th, 8th, or 9th game console.  If Nintendo continues to be innovative, each game system could be very distinct - but that's still a lot of consoles to sort through.  Sure, I can remember the differences between nearly a dozen iterations of Game Boys, but when I'm a geezer will there be a hundred or more?

Do you think we'll all still be Nintendo fans all our lives, as all the consoles become a blur, eventually the current Nintendo people (including Miyamoto) are long dead, and companies that don't even exist now have their potential rises and falls as competitors?  

[Avinash_Tyagi]

As long as they keep on putting out the great games yes, and who knows, maybe some of us will be working to bring out some of those games.

[Ian Sane]

I figure eventually a wife and kids will take up enough of my time that I won't be able to follow Nintendo or gaming in general as closely as I do now.  I look at most people over 30 with kids and they become really out of touch once they have kids.  They don't know current music or movies or anything.  My Dad has an amazing record collection.  He has a horrible CD collection.  He doesn't know about anything to do with pop culture unless I tell him.  My Mom routinely will bring up some commercial she thinks is hilarious and it will be some commercial that's almost a year old but she just saw for the first time.  I'd like to think that as I become old I don't become so spazzed but it will probably happen.  For most of us when we're 50 we'll see a Zelda game at a store and think "hey a new Zelda" and in reality the game will be already four years old at the time.

Plus when you're a fan of something you never know if they'll continue in a direction that you like.  I used to be a huge WWF fan.  The idea of not routinely watching WWF and other wrestling programs never crossed my mind.  Well I haven't watched WWE in at least two years and I get my wrestling fix entirely from watching old matches I missed the first time around.  The WWF (and the American wrestling scene in general since WCW and ECW died) has changed into something I don't like so I'm not a fan anymore.  That could happen to Nintendo with any of us.  Nintendo has changed a lot in the 24 years I've been alive.  In another 24 years they could be completely different.

[Arbok]

I used to love both Sega and Nintendo's stuff... until Donkey Kong Country swung me more in the direction of Nintendo, and I gradually lost interest in the Genesis despite the fact that I had a much larger library for it then I had for the SNES (although my NES one was still the largest). Oddly enough, Sega's attack ads ever so often kind of drove me further into Nintendo's camp too, while the only direct attack I recall Nintendo making was that "Shemga" one or whatever when they were pointing out the size of the chips in DKC or something and how it wouldn't fit in the Genesis cart.

Today, it's pretty much Nintendo or nothing. I could see myself losing interest some day, in fact today I play hand held games mostly as it fits in with my schedule and I can play it during lunch at work. If I do lose interest in Nintendo, though, it will likely be because I lost interest in video games in general.

In terms of this and my other passion (Japanese cinema), video games would likely be the first to go.

[S-U-P-E-R]

I used to be hardcore NINTENDO-OR-DIE fanboy, but then I grew to love all video games, eventually. Even bad ones. :3

[Smash_Brother]

I'll buy from the company which tries the hardest to earn my money. Right now, that's definitely Nintendo with the DS (the GC didn't try as hard...).

Also, I prefer buying from the "little guy", the underdog, because I know for a fact that they're product will be of a higher quality.

I know the Wii will offer me a better gaming experience because Nintendo finally realized that they ARE the underdog. I don't think this had been made clear to them until just recently when the GC placed 3rd.

The little guy needs to have better stuff because it's his survival on the line. Sony and MS can release garbage products and still have a multi-billion dollar empire to fall back on. Nintendo is working without a net, and they know they need to deliver this round because there's nothing between them and the cement floor otherwise.

Will this last for life? Maybe, so long as Nintendo doesn't come full circle and start believing that no one can challenge their supremacy again and start acting like Sony is acting now.

[NinGurl69 *huggles]

PlanetFormerNintendoFans.com

[GoldenPhoenix]

Well I am 22 (almost 23) and my first real dive into gaming was the NES, my NES was used though and I think I got it in 89 along with a Sega Master system. Mario Bros 3 and Legend of Zelda are probaly the two most memorable gaming experiences during that time (Mario 3 being one of my most memorable EVER, my excitement from that game hasn't been topped yet). Since the N64 days I've gotten every Nintendo console both handheld and home system.

[JonLeung]

I even have a few Game & Watches.  The only major North American-released Nintendo system I don't have myself is the Virtual Boy.  (I don't count the Pocket Pikachu, or foreign things like the FDS, 64DD, Q or iQue.)  I rented the VB, but I was hesitant about getting one.  Seems like I'm not missing much, though I may have to acquire one someday to prove my Nintendo geekiness.

I also don't have the original Game Boy or the Game Boy micro or DS Lite, but then again I have the Game Boy Pocket, Game Boy Advance and GBA SP, and the DS, so it's not like they're much different, game selection-wise.  But I will probably pick up a DS Lite regardless.

I guess I'm a little naive - many things could happen that could disrupt the likeliness of consistent five-year life spans.  And as has been mentioned, once I have a family, I may not have as much time for games.  And even if there are over a dozen Nintendo consoles in my lifetime, I'm likely going to treasure those in my childhood the most...I don't think anything could ever top the NES and Super NES in terms of my enjoyment of them, despite how much time I could spend on current game consoles now.

I feel sorry for kids now who have been growing up on the PlayStations.  They probably see the NES and Super NES as primitive, before their time, as I almost see the Atari 2600.

[ThePerm]

isnt Billy Berghammer like 34 now?

[KnowsNothing]

I fear that when I grow up I'll be too preoccupied with a family and a job and a life that I won't be able to follow videogames anymore.  The day I say "Hey, a new Zelda" when walking into a store will be a sad experience indeed.

This thread also makes me question the future of video games.  Will there even be a 30th Nintendo console?  It seems hard to imagine....I mean, we're at the fifth Nintendo console right now and we're already seeing the need for some radical change in the industry so it doesn't get stale...So after the Wii, will there be two more motion-controlled generations with only graphical improvements, and then another radical change after that?  How will things evolve?

[ThePerm]

it would take roughly 125 yeras for nintendo to be on their 30th console, by that time i think they could do way better technology than a console. Actually in the next 10 years what we consider entertainment will radically change.

[Bill Aurion]

I've been playing videogames since I received my NES in 1989, but it wasn't until the N64 that I started leaning towards Nintendo fanboy...Even still, I have tried to own every system so I could get the full videogame experience, and that continues with my purchase of a 360...(I don't own and don't ever plan to own a PSP, and there's no way I'm plunking down 600 bucks for a PS3)

I feel like I'm getting more and more fanboyish with every coming year, but seeing what Nintendo is doing to the videogame world versus Microsoft and Sony, it's not all that surprising...

[ThePerm]

just imagine in 15 years ps3 will be a seriously dated peice of hardware, by then we should have scenario simulators

[Ian Sane]

"The day I say 'Hey, a new Zelda' when walking into a store will be a sad experience indeed."

Actually that might be kind of cool because you'll know nothing about the game itself so playing it will be entirely a fresh experience.  When I first played A Link to the Past I had never played any Zelda game before, didn't have the manual, and didn't know what to expect.  Since I was accustomed to short action games I assumed that after getting the three pendents and defeating Aganhim the game was over.  So imagine my surprise when I found out that there was a whole other world to explore and that I wasn't even half done!  Now in retrospect the obvious references about the Golden Land and the Moon Pearl stuff should have clued me in but I wasn't as familiar with game "formulas" back then.  Now, even if I didn't know the details, I would have guessed.  But still being totally ignorant in the future might somewhat recreate that feeling.

But then there's always the risk that at that point Nintendo no longer is any good and you discover this new Zelda game is horrible.  I shudder to think what it's like for people who used to play Frogger back in the day, say "hey a new Frogger", and then get their childhood raped.

[Caliban]

I would wish they would release a console every 7 years, 5 is too short and 10 is too much. And I think that in 15 years, heck, Nintendo's console after the Wii will be significantly different I hope. Will I be a Nintendo fanboy forever? Yes I will, wether Nintendo still exists or not because they will always be remembered.

[Hostile Creation]

I agree with Caliban, I will always be a Nintendo fan, even if only for what they've already done.
As of now, they're still innovating and creating spectacular games, games that I generally like more than any others in the industry.  If they eventually die out or (as inconceivable as it seems to me, things do change) become something less than they are now, I'll still respect them for how they once were.  I have tremendous respect for Nintendo.

I'm into writing and film.  That's what I want to do, and I'm really well-versed in authors and filmmakers alike.  But of all the brilliant authors and directors or anything (musicians, artists, etc), I don't respect any of them as much as I respect Nintendo, on a creative level.  Trust me, I have a great deal of respect for some.  But Nintendo has shaped a creative art form in such an impacting way (more than any individual affected any other creative medium, more than Shakespeare affected writing, more than Hitchcock affected film), it's just amazing.
I may go into more detail later.  I'm not up to it at the moment.

Also, I hope to never go out of touch with Nintendo and gaming.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

Quote
Originally posted by: Ian Sane
I figure eventually a wife and kids will take up enough of my time that I won't be able to follow Nintendo or gaming in general as closely as I do now.  I look at most people over 30 with kids and they become really out of touch once they have kids.  They don't know current music or movies or anything.  My Dad has an amazing record collection.  He has a horrible CD collection.  He doesn't know about anything to do with pop culture unless I tell him.  My Mom routinely will bring up some commercial she thinks is hilarious and it will be some commercial that's almost a year old but she just saw for the first time.  I'd like to think that as I become old I don't become so spazzed but it will probably happen.  For most of us when we're 50 we'll see a Zelda game at a store and think "hey a new Zelda" and in reality the game will be already four years old at the time.

Plus when you're a fan of something you never know if they'll continue in a direction that you like.  I used to be a huge WWF fan.  The idea of not routinely watching WWF and other wrestling programs never crossed my mind.  Well I haven't watched WWE in at least two years and I get my wrestling fix entirely from watching old matches I missed the first time around.  The WWF (and the American wrestling scene in general since WCW and ECW died) has changed into something I don't like so I'm not a fan anymore.  That could happen to Nintendo with any of us.  Nintendo has changed a lot in the 24 years I've been alive.  In another 24 years they could be completely different.

Difference is Ian with Kids you can continue your love of games by playing with them.

[Hocotate]

I've been playing Nintendo games since the NES and I've always held them in very high regard. I would like to think I will always be following video games as closely as I do now, but sadly, I doubt it. I'm getting married sooner then I had thought and this person is the only thing that has disctracted me this much from video games. Nintendo will always hold a special place in my heart.

I know if I ever have children I'm starting them off with Nintendo's console to keep the flame burning. I can't imagine myself ever disliking Nintendo.... Perhaps when Miyamoto, Iwata, and the whole bunch are all gone things could go bad, but I would like to think otherwise.

[JonLeung]

Quote
Originally posted by: Avinash_Tyagi

Quote

Difference is Ian with Kids you can continue your love of games by playing with them.

I should make flash cards with the Mega Man bosses.  Then when I have a kid, s/he'll go into kindergarten already knowing all the Robot Masters and which games they came from.

Hey, to an obsessive gamer like myself, that kind of information is important.

[IceCold]

The first game I ever played was Super Mario Bros on the NES. I was entranced by that game.. wow, nothing has even gotten close to what I felt when I first played it at 6 years old. Super Mario 64 came close, but I was eneamoured with the fact that I could control something on the television. Since then, Mario and Nintendo have owned a special place in my heart. When I think of Nintendo I think of my childhood, and I remember all the good times I had. I am inextricably linked with them, and I will never forget the memories I had playing Nintendo games. I have never owned a non-Nintendo system; I am not a fanboy, and I like  a few games on other systems, but I just have never felt any desire to pick up another system. I don't think I ever will, either. I guess that doesn't really seem rational, but I honestly have never had the slightest interest in buying a non-Nintendo console at all. My inclination towards Nintendo is probably greatly helped by how they innovate and their charming style. I appreciate all of the things they did first, and their desire to constantly improve. And then the intangible thing about their games that make them special; the magic ingredient. It is in all the Mario, Zelda and Metroid games. It is in Pikmin and it is in Yoshi's Island.

I don't think I'm really a gamer. Maybe I'm just playing for the sake of playing; there are only a few times when games evoke any emotion. I strongly dislike most RPGs, I don't understand what's so good about even the best FPSes these days, all the war games bore me to death, and fighting games I only like in spurts. It's just something about Nintendo that appeals to me, and makes me connect to their games. Few other developers do this to me. When I play their games, I guess I "enjoy" them, I beat them and life goes on. It seems like my experience is vicarious on those games. And this is why I believe I will lose interest in games faster than most of you. When there is no spark from Nintendo to keep me interested, I will say goodbye to the gaming industry. I won't have any regrets, either.

I'm scared of the future in this regard. What will Nintendo do after the Wii and the DS? How will they keep innovating? Will the market crash in a generation or two, with the insane prices, the game saturation, and the amount of money spent on games that just receive graphical upgrades? Will gaming just become a niche thing, and Nintendo will be forced to either change directions or downsize? Nintendo has only had 4 generations of systems. Only 4, and they have evolved so much in those 20+ years. I just can't imagine what it will be like 4 generations from now.

[wandering]

Will Nintendo still need me, will Nintendo still feed me, when I'm 64?

I don't know. I love Nintendo, they're my favorite company... but, I'm not adverse to change. Videogames may not be important to me down the line - by then I might only care about my family, or feeding starving people, or taking over the world and eating starving people. I might leave Nintendo eventually.

Or Nintendo might leave me. Miyamoto isn't getting any yonger, and I could see Nintendo turning evil, Disney style, after his death.

Til then, though, I'll enjoy the ride.

[Avinash_Tyagi]

I think Nintedo is in safe hands for the future, personally I dream of the day when games mimic a star trek holodeck, where basically you can actually be in Hyrule or the Mushroom kingdom, and i think that's where Nintendo seems to be headed, more towards placing you the player into the game, rather than just controlling it.

[TrueNerd]

I will love Nintendo for the rest of my life, no matter what the future brings. It's gotten to a point where Nintendo has thrilled me so many times throughout my life that no matter what evil they may do, it will never outweigh the good stuff. Hell, no future evil will ever outweigh Super Metroid.

Someone pointed out that they felt bad for kids raised on PlayStations these days and I was just having this discussion with a coworker of mine the other day. I work at the second rate video store that is Hollywood Video, and these two kids, probably 7 or 8 years old, were so excited to be renting Cars, the game based off the movie. Now, I haven't played the game, but I'm betting it's a completely mediocre experience at best. It is just an absolute shame that most kids play movie licensed games, Halo, and nothing else. I was raised on Mario, Mega Man, Sonic, Metroid and Zelda. Those games are infinitely better then the games kids are playing today and I pity them.

I blame this on the maturation of games and their subject matters. What was the best game of last year? Resident Evil 4. Not a game for kids by any stretch. The year before that? I would argue Metroid Prime 2 was, but most would say Halo 2 or San Andreas. None of those are games for kids. Even games like Ratchet and Clank have loads of innuendo in them. There is no doubt that this industry has been catering to one audience for about 15-20 years now, the one that grew up with the NES, moved on to the Genesis, and then the PlayStations, and now the 360. Nintendo still makes good games that kids can play, but they're not cool. It is a shame.

Huzzah for an off topic rant with no point.  

[ShyGuy]

We ain't, go-in nowhere, we ain't, goin nowhere
We can't be stopped now, cause it's Fan Boy for life


(courtesy of P Diddy)