Backward-looking purveyor of all things Mario
Looking at some of the titles that have sprung up on Nintendo’s white Wunderbox since it’s launch, you would be forgiven for thinking that Nintendo was a company which, having seen a decline in its stature in the post-sixteen bit era, was now suffering from stagnation. From Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn to Animal Crossing: City Folk, and from New Super Mario Bros. Wii to Punch-out!, Nintendo can sometimes seem like a company which has rejected modern video game conventions, and opted instead to burrow deep back into its glorious history in the hope that a dedicated fan base and Nostalgia alone will save it. This interpretation of Nintendo as the backward-looking purveyor of all things Mario, however, fails to appreciate that Nintendo has been and continues to be an innovator.
Let's Start at the end.
Most evident among Nintendo’s recent innovations of course has been its introduction of a new interface in the form of motion controls. While its true that motion-based controllers are nothing new, both the NES and SNES having had their fair share of head-gear, gloves and guns, the Wii was the first home console to successfully employ a motion controller as its default control scheme. In so doing, Nintendo have managed to not only cater to their core fan-base, but have also managed to fire the imaginations of nontraditional gamers in a way not possible since the days of the NES. Nintendo's 'blue ocean' strategy required them to act boldly, and having done so, they now reap the rewards.
Revolution breeds revolution.
The originally named 'Revolution', was just that. Not only was it a sharp departure from the general trend of the video games industry (which was beginning to reflect many of Hollywoods less desirable features), it has also shaped our understanding of how games should be experienced. Indeed, the Wii, itself the product of Nintendo's shrinking market presence, has in turn went on to spur other developments. It has already proven for instance that it has the potential to rejuvenate the sports game genre. With Nintendo’s own forays into sports games we have seen very rudimentary movements being replicated in the Wii Sports titles, but the most recent Tiger Woods games for Wii have really shone a light upon what is possible in a sports title. Given that sports games as a whole are in something of a slump this generation, largely due to their iterative nature, the development of motion controls could very well be the spark needed for a renaissance in these sorts of titles.
Crucially, the Wii has also pushed its rivals to follow suit with their own motion controllers, with both Microsft's 'Kinect' and Sony's 'Move' being tacit acknowledgements that Nintendo had shifted the playing field. The full implications of this competition for the casual crown have yet to be seen, but if previous console generations have taught us anything, it's that Nintendo, while having frequently introduced us to new concepts, has invariably been the last of the console manufacturers to take these concepts to their logical conclusions.
“(T)here’s no way we’re going to let that happen again.” -
Perrin Kaplan (former Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Affairs) referring to other console manufacturers adopting Nintendo's designs. (Forbes - 02.07.06 )
While it isn’t necessary to go into each in detail, it is worth recalling some of the important developments and innovations which Nintendo has had some hand in ushering in, and also to highlight how many of these concepts have been adopted, and in many cases refined, by Nintendo's competitors.
Perhaps Nintendo's most recognisable, and certainly its most cherished, creation has been the directional pad; a control scheme so comfortable and intuitive that every console since has sought to replicate it. This simple plus-shaped button has in many respects defined Nintendo's mantra of simple and intuitive controls, and its influence is strongly felt even to this day with upcoming releases such 'Metroid: Other M', 'Kirby's Epic Yarn' and 'Donkey Kong Country Returns', all seemingly beholden to the design philosophy put down by the NES. While Nintendo's competitors have come out with variations on the theme, the original remains the best.
Nintendo was of course also a driving force in the adoption of the analogue control stick as a control scheme with the N64, and yet they have failed in subsequent systems to remain abreast of their competition by providing a satisfactory second analogue stick. Similarly, the N64 introduced us to tactile feedback with the rumble pack, only to be outdone by its competitors with built-in force feedback capability. It could also be argued that Nintendo was traditionally the console of choice for those looking to play multiplayer, having created many of the quintessential multiplayer experiences with landmark titles like Super Mario Kart, Goldeneye, Perfect Dark and Smash Bros; yet Nintendo remains hestitant to fully embrace online as a platform for expanding these experiences.
Nintendo was also arguably at the forefront when it came to creating fully realized three dimensional worlds and yet, as of late, seems content to rest on the admittedly substantial laurels of their N64 outings, in particular Super Mario 64 and Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time (a trend which seems set to continue with many of Nintendo's proposed 3DS titles). I would also be remiss not to mention the creation of an entirely new genre with Wii Fit, another of Nintendo's creations which has been flattered with its own imitators.
Nintendo has also brought to bear a number of more subltely innovative processes in the realms of marketing and managing consumer expectations, which need not be explored here, but suffice to say that Nintendo's decision to remain within the constraints of last-generation hardware has shifted industry expectations; a shift which may ultimately result in longer life-spans for systems, but also a slowing of the graphics arms race.
It is of course a matter of contention among many commentators as to whether or not all or any of these developments are welcome ones, but if there's one criticism that could not be levelled at Nintendo, it would be that they have remained stationary.
Leave luck to Heaven (Nintendo roughly translated)
"Nintendo is the company which makes the most innovative products. I am not sure that I would be able to make games like that elsewhere. At Nintendo I can make the games which I want."- Miyamoto (When questioned about working for other video game companies).
Nintendo's drive to innovate can be attributed to many factors, but one of the most important is that Nintendo is first and foremost a games company (be it cards or video games). Indeed, whereas the Xbox makes up for a relatively small proportion of Microsoft’s revenue and the Playstation is but one of Sony’s hardware divisions, Nintendo is completely dependent upon the video games industry. Indeed, both Nintendo’s competitors are major players in the realms of software and hardware respectively (a fact which is not acknowledged enough when discussing Nintendo’s decision to work with last-generation hardware) . In this sense Nintendo is the only console manufacturer that is wholly dependent upon the survival of the games industry. It is understandable, therefore, why Nintendo would be so hesitant to leave the fate of the industry to luck.
It would seem, therefore, that Nintendo’s history has been defined by two often contradictory motivations: to push the industry forward, but at a pace which remains approachable and profitable. Each time Nintendo has innovated, it has created new and interesting ways to interact with games. Their policy of building hardware around the specific experiences that they want to instill, rather than building games to show off what the hardware is capable of, has certainly resulted in some of the best video games ever made, but it has also resulted in the occasional misstep (the Virtual Boy) and some unwelcome developments (mini-game collections). It is important to remember, however, that Nintendo's ability to take calculated risks has also been the motor for much of the industry's forward momentum. Indeed, on more than one occasion it has been Nintendo’s uncanny ability to identify trends which has saved the industry from becoming stale. Sure Nintendo has been reusing the same jump mechanic since 1985, and you can be sure that each time a boy in green garb opens a chest we will be greeted with the same great bar of music, but these things are our gaming heritage, and haven’t precluded Nintendo from making changes when they were necessary. Let’s hope this legacy continues.
Topic: Leave Luck To Heaven (Nintendo's drive to innovate). (Read 14023 times)
