Where would we be now if the NES didn't come when it did?

[sguy78]

richardhutnik said:

Ryudo said:

Lingyis said:
if not NES, something else would have come along, even if weren't as influential. the NES wasn't that revolutionary, no need to put it on a pedestal.

Yes it was.

Nintendo invented the D pad which is now standard. Plus it introduced us to games like Mario and Zelda which were breaktrhough back then.

Atari was about dead and practically no one even heard of master system.

 

That reminds me of the first time I saw an NES in a KMart near I was.  I was used to joystick controller, and wondered where they heck the controller was for the NES.  The store employee in the electronics department pointed to the D pad controller, and I was like, "You GOT to be kidding me".  Well, I did get an NES and did get used to it.  But the D-Pad definitely killed off maze games.  Pac Man like games generally SUCK with a D-Pad.

It was better than the joysticks that preceded it though.