Back when I got my Nes, Nintendo may have been my least favorite developer. Well, after LJN, Acclaim, and a lot of other companies that made shovelware at the time. I was into stuff by Capcom, Konami, Data East, and Sunsoft. Nintendo's early stuff really seemed to suck.
After a while, I got my hands on stuff like Punch Out and Super Mario Bros. 2 and things started to look up. That was when I noticed something that I didn't notice when I played the older Nintendo stuff (didn't play Zelda and Metroid until later. Played a lot of Donkey Kong, Balloon Fight, Mach Rider and other archaic stuff). Games like Spy Hunter, Jaws, Contra, Shadowgate, Bionic Commando, Ninja Gaiden, etc--they got old. Nintendo's titles always seemed to be replayable and fun. So, my love affair with Nintendo began.
Old Nintendo always seemed to push new boundaries. Yeah, a lot of the time, it was some other company that made the product and they just licensed it. That didn't change the fact that the Power Pad, Zapper, Super FX Chip, Mode 7 graphics, MMC3 Chip, and more just seemed like something from the future. They were always pushing new boundaries but at the same time, always offering the most polished and fresh gaming experiences you could find. No broken games or games that felt like rip-offs. If the Nintendo name was on the box, it was quality. Something that meant a lot back when money was tight and shitty games lurked around every corner.
And Nintendo of today? Yeah, they dabble in a lot of stuff that doesn't appeal to me. Things like Wii Music, Pokemon, and Nintendo Land--not the kind of stuff I'd spend my hard earned money on. When they release something like Mario Galaxy, Wave Race, Skyward Sword, or Metroid Prime 3, old jaded d21lewis suddenly becomes young, wide-eyed d21lewis. No other company does that for me. No other company has a hard line straight to my childhood like Nintendo does.
So, the "Too long, didn't read" answer is: Old or new, Nintendo is Nintendo and I love 'em. The other companies are managing to polish their games to Nintendo quality these days, though.
